Chapter Sixteen: “Foxfire Rising”

Chapter Sixteen: "Foxfire Rising"

Tournament Arc – Round I, Match Four

Scene One: The Arena Ignites

The sigils around Platform Four pulsed a dull red, flickering like embers. The wind died suddenly, sucked into a moment of anticipation.

From one side of the gate, Sakura Natsumi emerged—her movements fluid, eyes sharp, her fox spirit flickering beside her like a flame given form. Each step left behind a shimmer of heat.

Her gloves were already glowing—symbols for Shinigami binding arts coiled around her wrists like serpents. The fifth tail of her fox had finally awakened this morning. And it was hungry.

Opposite her, the smoke hissed as a blood-slicked figure stepped forward.

Kagehiro Zeno — Second Year.

Clan: Zeno. Specialization: Blood Manipulation.

Nickname: "The Arterial Reaper."

He was shirtless under a sleeveless battle cloak, his chest marked with jagged scars that pulsed. His aura smelled like copper and rot. And in his hand, a razor-chain whip, still damp from morning "practice."

He grinned like a wolf before the kill.

"The fox girl. Satoru's sidekick. Didn't expect you to last long enough to face me."

Sakura tilted her head. Calm.

"You won't be the last to underestimate me. But you'll be the one who regrets it most."

Announcer Sigil: "Match Four — Begin!"

Kagehiro wasted no time. He stabbed his thumb into his chest.

"Blood Gear: Fangline Pulse!"

Red chains exploded from his ribcage, spiraling like bone-serpents. Sakura flipped backwards, landing mid-air on a fox-formed flame step.

"Fox Art: Tail-Flick Redirect!"

The flame step shimmered. Her fox coiled the chain mid-spin, redirecting it back to its owner. Kagehiro grunted as his own weapon gashed his shoulder.

The audience gasped.

"First blood's mine," Sakura said coolly, echoing his earlier catchphrase.

Kagehiro crouched low, licking the blood off his palm.

"Cute. But cute things break easy."

He raised both hands—forming a seal made of his own veins.

"Blood Barrier: Cystic Spire."

A crimson wall rose, hiding him inside a living cocoon. Out from the top—eight blade-tipped whips unfurled like insect limbs.

Sakura's fox howled.

"Fifth Tail—Divergence Mode!"

Nine blazing tails split off into individual fox-spirits. Each moved independently, slashing through one blood whip. The arena roared.

Sakura leapt midair, spinning—

"Seal Technique: Shinigami Drop!"

She came down with a flaming palm aimed at Kagehiro's barrier—

But—

"Trigger Vein: Counter Surge!"

A hidden glyph pulsed on the inside.

The barrier exploded.

Sakura was thrown back, skidding across the stone.

Her shoulder dislocated. Blood ran down her temple.

She tried to stand.

Kagehiro walked toward her, grinning wider now.

"Almost pretty when you're bleeding."

He raised his weapon—now transformed into a rib-scythe covered in hexed blood.

"Blood Seal: Arterial Execution."

The scythe howled with cursed whispers.

"This blade doesn't kill the body. It kills the soul."

He lunged.

Sakura raised her right hand—bloodied, trembling.

Her fox spirit stood between her and the blade.

"Even dying... I don't run," she whispered.

The blade came down.

The impact—

Never landed.

A flash of red-black energy ignited the platform blowing the smoke away. The air cracked. Light and smoke swallowed everything—

When it cleared—

A hand held the scythe's edge.

Between them stood:

Takashi Satoru.

Shirt open. Eyes burning. One hand raised. Unflinching.

The crowd awed in shock.

The blade shivered under his fingers.

"That's enough."

Kagehiro blinked. Rage overtook his surprise.

"She lost! This is MY win—"

He pulled back the blade.

Takashi didn't move.

Kagehiro screamed, raising the scythe again—

"I SAID—"

Takashi extended two fingers.

"Oblivion Thread:.....Pulse Reversal."

The moment the blade moved, a single red-black thread snaked around Kagehiro's sword.

CRACK.

The blade exploded.

Kagehiro flew twenty feet back, slammed into the ring wall, and dropped like dead weight.

Unconscious. Defeated. Erased from aura flow.

Silence.

Then the scoreboard flashed:

"Match Four: Victory – Sakura Natsumi."

The crowd didn't cheer. They just stared.

Rengoku watched from above.

"He stopped a Blood Reaper… with one hand."

Sakura tried to sit up.

"I had him…" she whispered.

Takashi knelt beside her.

"I know. But you were bleeding. And I don't lose family."

She blinked once, looking at him with love and said,: "thanks", then passed out.

He caught her gently.

Above, Kaien Tsukihara stood, shaking slightly.

"He interfered... but saved her life."

"What matters more? The rulebook, or the survivors?", Amara Zenin said.

Yorei didn't speak for a long time.

Then simply said:

"Let the next match begin."

🐺 Final Shot:

Takashi carried Sakura from the ring, passing the other competitors—none dared make eye contact.

In his wakr, every step he took shook the rocks and stones, not with magic but with fear.

To Be Continued in Chapter Seventeen