“Ash Phantom”-- I Can Hear THAT

Drake Town shimmered in the moonlight—glowing trees, levitating stones, and magical lanterns flickering gently across rooftops. Floating platforms drifted silently between towers like lazy leaves in the air. But peace was shattered.

Veon stood on cracked stone tiles, panting, face bloodied, hands trembling—but his eyes were burning bright.

Obara hovered across from him, half his mask gone, the left side of his face scorched. His silver naginata spun loosely in his fingers, dripping with magical residue.

Veon wiped blood from his lips, voice low.

"I'm not trying to prove anything…" 

"I don't care what the world thinks. You're not walking out of here alive."

Obara chuckled darkly. "Try all you want, little heir of Ryuki. You'll just die tired."

A wind burst from Veon's feet as he launched into the sky. A portal shimmered open behind him—starry and vast.

"Galaxy Flame Birds—SOAR!"

The portal expanded, spilling over a hundred glowing, human-sized birds, each wreathed in cosmic fire. They shrieked, cutting through the skies like burning meteors.

Obara narrowed his eyes. "Interesting."

The birds swooped in from all directions. Obara moved like lightning, twisting, leaping, and slashing with his naginata. Feathers turned to cinders. Magic pulses slammed into rooftops and floating trees, turning everything into a chaotic storm of energy.

Veon stayed mid-air, hand glowing. He muttered, "Let's see you dodge this."

He opened a small portal near his chest—another portal opened silently behind Obara.

Veon reached in, arm vanishing—and from the rear portal, his hand emerged.

"Infernal Pulse—REVERSED."

A massive blast of flame surged from behind Obara, catching him cleanly and throwing him across several floating platforms. He crashed into a glowing tree, shattering it in an explosion of golden leaves.

Veon gritted his teeth. "Beast Burn Blast!"

The explosion ignited the very air. Glowing sigils cracked the ground as the blast rippled through stone, wood, and glass.

Obara emerged from the smoke, burned, coughing—but laughing. "Now we're talking."

He leapt forward. d—Veon did the same.

Their clash was seismic. Staff met naginata, spark against spark. Magical shockwaves shattered statues and levitated debris. A water tower nearby burst, sending streams of floating orbs around them like glowing fireflies.

They crashed through a house, startling a family hiding inside.

A mother screamed, clutching her child. Veon dodged a strike, knocking Obara through a wall into the street. Bloodied bodies lay scattered.

Veon growled, voice hoarse. "This is your justice?"

Obara replied calmly, "Collateral, boy. Justice always has a price."

Veon opened another portal on the side of a tower. Obara sneered and swung his naginata—

—But from a different portal, an enormous shadow slithered out.

"Whispering Coil: MAIRA!"

A black anaconda, thick as a tree trunk, launched from the fake portal, coiling around Obara mid-swing.

Obara grunted. "Tch... trickery."

As the serpent squeezed, Veon whispered, "Rhizo... now."

From above, his hawk Zephyros descended, wings spread, engulfed in blue flame.

"Sky Spirit Hawk—ZEPHYROS, ASCEND!"

Veon clapped his hands.

A second portal opened above Obara—

And from it, a rhino-like beast with crystal spikes burst out. Rhizo, armored and furious, fell like a meteor.

It slammed into Obara's skull, the beast's horn digging in with crushing force.

BOOOOM!

Dust rose. The anaconda dissipated. Obara lay still, body twitching.

Veon, bleeding, stood over him.

"Who… were you trying to kill so badly?"

Obara's eye flickered. He smiled, a final, cruel grin. "He's not awake yet. But he will be. In three months… he'll remember. Before that, I must… kill him."

"Who? Who is he?"

Obara's body trembled. He whispered:

"Ash… Phantom."

He collapsed. Silent.

Veon froze. That name echoed in his chest. Again. Again. It pulsed like a heartbeat in his veins.

He stumbled backward, laughing and crying all at once. "Ash Phantom… why… why does that name… hurt?"

Far away—

In a distant part of Ryuki, Veon's father dropped his tea. He clutched his chest.

"Ash… Forgive me, Ash… please… I failed you…"

In a glowing room of aquarium walls, Kaen—Veon's youngest brother—felt a sharp tremor in his heart. He touched the glass, whispering:

"Ash… you were the best of us. I'm sorry I wasn't there… I'm sorry I left."

And on a rooftop far away, Auren looked up from the sky-train's passing light.

The moment he heard the name…

His eyes turned purple.

His whole body shook violently. Thunder cracked across the sky. Clouds churned black. Lightning danced over rooftops.

Auren clutched his head. He laughed. Then cried. Then screamed.

"I… I am… Ash Phantom!!"

He collapsed, laughing into the storm.

The storm that had raged in the sky—the thunder, the madness, the piercing cries—vanished as if the world had blinked.

Auren collapsed to his knees on the rooftop, breathing heavily. The purple in his eyes faded to normal, his arms trembling. He looked around, dazed.

"…What just happened?" he whispered.

He touched his face. Tears? Sweat? Blood? He couldn't tell. The name… it had echoed like lightning in his soul. But now?

"What… name was that?"

Auren looked up at the clouds, confused. Blank. He couldn't remember.

Veon's father had dropped to his knees moments ago, his hands clutching his heart, whispering, "Forgive me, Ash…" over and over.

Now, he stood upright, breathing steadily.

His brows furrowed. "Ash…? Who is that? Why was I…"

He looked at the photograph of his family on the wall. A faint unease crawled in his chest, but he shook it off like a passing dream.

Kaen stared into the shimmering fish-tank walls of his room. Just seconds ago, he had been frozen, whispering apologies, fists clenched in grief.

Now, he simply… stared. Confused.

"What was I saying?" he muttered.

He looked down at his hands. His heartbeat slowed. There were no tears. He felt no burden in his chest. The name—whatever it had been—was gone.

Like it never existed.

Silence returned. The winds died.

Obara's broken body lay still.

Veon stood above him, panting, staff trembling in his hand. The glowing embers of battle still flickered in the air—Zephyros had vanished into the wind, and Rhizo had returned to slumber.

He had heard the name, too. It hit him like a strike to the soul—a feeling so powerful it made him weep and laugh like a madman.

And now… it was gone.

"Who… was I crying for?" he said to himself.

He looked at his hands—burned, bleeding, shaking—and remembered only the battle.

He had fought. He had survived.

The street was in ruins. Trees burned blue, rooftops cracked. Floating debris drifted slowly down like snow.

Veon fell to his knees.

"...I won." I finally won, he whispered.

No one was there to answer. No applause. No celebration. Just a boy breathing in the silence after the fire.

His first real battle. His first step beyond the shadow of his brothers. Beyond any doubt.

He let the moment wrap around him like a cold blanket.

"I finally… won." That's how it feels...

And then, he collapsed.