Chapter 21 – A Promise Forged in Ice

Yura Aseina lay sprawled on the ground. The snow had cushioned her fall after passing through the portal, but the world around her was merciless: an endless blizzard, its dagger-like flakes enough to shred any ordinary human.

For her, however, the frozen air was as comforting as a summer beach.

“Where am I?” she asked, scanning the white expanse with caution. “I don’t recognize this place.”

“That’s normal,” a deep voice answered from within the storm. “You can only enter here through Dimensional Slash.”

Phantom’s figure emerged from the snow.

“You bastard!” Yura spat, her breath steaming with hatred.

“Ice Slash.”

A crescent of white carved through the air. Phantom deflected the attack with measured precision, the impact against a nearby mountain erupting in an explosion that shook the ground.

“Good strike. Now I see why you’re SSS-rank,” he said, tone neutral.

“Don’t mock me!” Yura roared. “I want that sword back!”

Her form vanished in a blink.

“Silent Yuki.”

A storm of rapid cuts swirled around Phantom. He dodged some, blocked others… yet several slashed through his coat, leaving shallow marks across his skin.

At last, Phantom yielded ground, dropping to one knee in the snow, his breathing heavy.

Yura stopped before him, her eyes cold as a polar gale, her gaze a violent kind of seriousness.

“I don’t want to kill you,” she said, leveling her katana at him. “So answer my questions.”

A sharp crack split the silence.

Yura frowned and looked down. A thin, sky-blue thread, barely thicker than a hair, ran along her sword.

“What is this…?”

“A trick your mother taught me,” Phantom replied.

His left hand gave the thread a sharp pull.

“Phantom Breaker.”

The katana shattered into a thousand shards of ice. Yura stared in disbelief—her weapon, her inheritance… reduced to nothing.

“Now I think we can talk…” Phantom said.

But she didn’t answer with words. She lunged at him, striking with her fists.

One blow after another landed, but with each hit, her strength waned, until they became weak, trembling punches—accompanied by sobs she had kept buried for years.

“Why?” she cried.
“Why can you use the Yuki’s powers?”
“Why would my mother give you that sword?”
“Why… isn’t she here anymore?”

Phantom didn’t try to stop her. When her arms finally lost all strength, he simply embraced her.

Yura continued to weep against him, as though each tear chipped away at the ice sealing her heart since her mother’s death.

“I’m sorry, Yura…” he murmured, his voice heavy with sorrow. “It’s all my fault. She entrusted Yukihana to me to save the world… and I… couldn’t help her.”

The young woman pulled back, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. Her eyes, red from crying, locked onto his.

“Who… or what are you?”

Phantom was silent for several seconds, gazing at her as if seeing Yukino’s reflection.

“My name was Takao Ryonosuke. I was summoned from another world… a place called Japan.”

“For years, I was known as the ‘Hero of the Sword.’”

“My blessing allowed me to master any fighting style quickly… and that’s why your mother offered to mentor me, in the midst of the war against the Demon King.”

Yura listened—disbelieving, yet unable to look away.

“She taught me Dimensional Slash, a technique passed down through the Aseina family.”

“Do you really… know how to use Dimensional Slash?” she asked, her voice caught between awe and suspicion.

Phantom turned his gaze toward the white horizon.

“This place is called Antarctica. Harsh climate, endless mountains and snow… and almost no food.”

“Your mother trained me here for twenty years, until I mastered the technique.”

Yura’s eyes narrowed.

“Now I understand why no one could detect you… It’s a technique for clean assassinations. My family’s trump card.”

“That’s right,” Phantom nodded. “The only one capable of ending the Demon King.”

Yura stepped forward, hand outstretched.

“Even so… I want you to return Yukihana. It belongs to my people… it belongs to me.”

“I’m sorry. I still have work to do. But I promise I’ll return it to you.”

“I need it to take back my nation,” she pressed.

“Without Dimensional Slash… I doubt it.”

She lowered her gaze, silently acknowledging the truth in his words.

“That’s why I can’t give it back yet. I have to free Yukihana first.”

“I promised your mother that if she ever needed my help, I would come without hesitation.” He paused, lowering his voice. “Besides… helping you is something I want to do.”

He placed a hand over his mask. The transformation dissolved slowly, revealing his true face.

“Don’t hate me… please.”

Yura watched him in silence, until his lips spoke her name.

“Ren…”

“I’m sorry, Yura. I never wanted to lie to you… I just didn’t want to involve you in all this.”

“If there’s one thing I learned from Yukino, it’s that everyone deserves to be free. I’ll understand if you hate me… but I want a future without slaves, without nations oppressed by tyrants.”

This time, she was the one to embrace him tightly.

“Idiot… I could never hate you. You’re the only one who always treated me like anyone else, who came close to me despite everything.”

“Yura, I—”

“Promise me,” she interrupted, refusing to let go. “Promise you’ll free Yukihana… just like you freed Cegris.”

Ren returned her embrace with equal strength. Despite everything, they both felt the same—unity. Acceptance.

“I promise. I’ll carry out the Aseina legacy,” he said with quiet resolve.

Her cheeks flushed.

“That’s right… you’re an Aseina. You have to take responsibility.”

Ren didn’t know it, but to the Yuki, those words were a declaration of family—something only lovers would say to each other.

“I need to bring an end to Monteverde’s little show,” he murmured, stepping back.

He opened a portal—not to the plaza, but to a forest near Urus.

“I’m sorry, but I have to take you out of the picture. I don’t want anyone thinking you work for ‘the Phantom.’ I promise we’ll meet in a few days at the guild.”

Without warning, Yura stepped forward and kissed him on the lips. It was so sudden that Ren froze, his face burning.

“I’ll be waiting for you… Ren Sinclair of Aseina,” she said with a radiant smile. In all the time he had known her, he had never seen her smile like that.

She stepped through the portal without taking her eyes off him.

Ren gave himself a light smack on the face.

“Focus… focus…”

Even if he didn’t want to admit it, he was still a teenager who hadn’t felt love in years—and the young Yuki had melted a part of the ice around his heart.

He took a deep breath, put the mask back on, and became Phantom once more. A dimensional rift opened before him.

He was ready for the final act of this Opera.