CASUALTIES

Emberium | Public Plaza

Kibo and Jarkata sprint through the collapsing Fountain Square, fleeing the onslaught of Celeste and Ryusaki.

At the training grounds— normally a quiet field beside the Academy— are now choked with dust and panicked civilians scrambling for the exits.

Kibo wheels on Jarkata, odachi raised. "Help me evacuate them!"

Jarkata simply sets his stance, rune-lit gauntlets humming. "We end this here."

Kibo shakes his head and lunges at him. Jarkata catches the odachi with one hand, stopping the charge with brute strength. Light flares around his fists as he drives a punch into Kibo's ribs. Shockwaves ripple across the grounds; stone tiles crack like glass. Blood sprays from Kibo's lips and he winces in pain.

"Argh—!"

The shockwave pulverized the nearby civilians. Only red mist and white dust remain. Kibo opens his eyes in shock.

"HEY THEY ARE INNOCENT! Stop with it." Kibo gasps.

"A killer whining about collateral?" Jarkata scoffs, launching another blow. Kibo pivots back just in time. "I'm here for one purpose— Ryusaki's head.And you're in my way."

"Calling me a hypocrite while you slaughter innocents?" Kibo's voice trembles with fury.

"Oh, please. Your clan hurled a black mass at the Academy— was that righteous? " Jarkata snarls.

His composure snaps. "We're here to kill. Nothing more."

White light roars along his gauntlets. "Bo re—Au ra." Silver floods his eyes; veins bulge, muscles swell.

Kibo answers, drawing his blade across burning air. "Se za vi—Od ach i." The odachi ignites in pale flame, his hair flares white.

Kibo raises his now flaming odachi. "I'll stop your madness."

Jarkata sneers harder. "Hypocrite! I'm here to protect order. You are the anomaly. Your very existence harms the world."

He vanishes in blur— one step and he's behind Kibo, rune-bright fist rocketing toward his spine. Kibo pivots, bracing with the flat of his blade just in time. The blow drives him three paces forward; stone buckles under his boots. Bones creak.

Jarkata presses forward, adding weight. Kibo's stance finally cracks. Fractures race up his ribs; exhaling in a hiss.

"Come on— heal!" Kibo growls.

Flames burst from his wounds, knitting flesh and cauterising bone.

He glances around, seeking an escape.

He vaults over a toppled wall, sprinting into a residential district— brick façades, shuttered windows, once-pristine gardens now silent with fear. For a heartbeat, only his laboured breathing breaks the stillness.

A low hum answers.

"I see you." Jarkata calls.

A gauntleted fist spears from the shadow, drilling into Kibo's gut. He crashes through a doorway, skidding across a candle-lit parlour. A father crumples beneath the debris— blood spreading across the cracked tiles. A woman and child freeze in wordless terror.

Horror warps Kibo's face. He staggers towards the street— just as Jarkata drops from above.

"Bo re—Aurealium!"

"No! Civilians!" Kibo shouts.

Jarkata's strike detonates the entire block. Dust and red motes swirl; Kibo blocks the blow, but his left arm snaps with a sickening crack. When the cloud settles, the neighborhood is leveled— flattened into crimson powder.

Kibo's voice breaks. "Why? Stop— don't kill more!"

He gulps air that tastes like iron. "You're fine with slaughter?"

"I'm fine killing you and your master." Jarkata says, ember eyes glowing. "Everything else is collateral. Your clan wiped half the mages in your own land and called it unity— that's mass murder. Remember that before you lecture me. You slaughtered the Yokai, burned all the forests, displaced the animals, unbalanced the world— and now you stand here crying about consequences while having turned the world into hell itself? This is the path I need to take to protect my ideals!"

The words cut deeper than blades. Kibo grips his broken arm, flames flickering uncertainly. The weight of every sin pressing down on him.

"Killing civilians, it was never my choice." Kibo growls.

Jarkata's tone softens. "I once had a dream." he murmurs with a deeper voice. "To protect the world— whether from humans or mages. To preserve the balance. I want to walk through the untouched forests, to freeze time and savor every moment of harmony. But what's happening here— in Japan— It's not just ruining your country. Its damaging earth itself.

Balance matters not because of humans, but because of the cycle.

Jakarta clenches his jaw. He stopped believing in justice— only in the never ending repetition. Cycles. The Nature. Something far beyond himself that he didn't dare to betray. If all balance wasn't real— then all killing was just that, killing.

The laws of nature aren't ours to defy."

He straightens, amber eyes flaring. "But dreams end. Your clan destroyed the infrastructure." He lifts his chin. "My true name is— Cerbaz."

It all used to be simpler. A world you could believe in. Quiet walks beneath canopy trees. The slow hum of magic moving through the soil instead of blood. Johnny once said— "There is a lot of good left. You just need to keep looking."

Sena… she used to smile when birds sang along her quiet magic melodies. As if the world was not dying already.

He kept telling himself. They were weak. Downright naive. When the mages burned, the sky cracked, rivers turned grey. It was not his rage that gave him strength— it was their memories.

He wields them like a blade. Justification sharp enough to sever guilt. He doesn't want revenge anymore. He wants eternal silence. A world without breaking, where nothing dares to move. Even if it costs every humans dream, every child, every little sparkle of innocence— so be it.

Balance above all. Even if in the end it means just becoming the collapse he swore to prevent.

Kibo casts. "Se za vi—vi az es!"

Jarkata shadow-steps down the alley— but meets a heel to the face. Kibo's kick lands with such force it launches Jarkata skyward, blood spraying from his mouth.

The impact leaves a crater in the cobbles. Kibo leaps inhumanly after him, scanning for open ground— his eyes catch the sea beyond the city.

In a blink, he appears at Jarkata's side. "That's my technique." Jarkata rasps.

"You're perceptive," Kibo replies—and delivers a second kick that sends his opponent crashing into the shoreline. Water erupts around them. Jarkata staggers, ribs caved, but still upright.

"Every spell in my arsenal." he pants "Is necessary." He spreads glowing gauntlets. "Zeitspinner—Absolutes Null."

Time shatters. The world dims.

When motion returns, Jarkata trembles with exertion— and Kibo gasps, his own odachi protruding from his chest. Blood floods the surf.

"Time magic." Kibo chokes, knees buckling. "Impossible…"

He collapses, dyeing the water red. Jarkata steps forward, retrieves the blade, and carves another line across Kibo's torso. "Already dead? Disappointing. Celeste— I'm coming."