Chapter 41 – For a Free Yukihana

Flashback — Twenty Years Ago

A snowy afternoon, long past…

A young Tsukihara trained without rest in his family’s dojo. His breathing was ragged, sweat dripping down his brow as he swung his katana again and again.

“No matter how hard I train… I’ll never reach Yukino’s level…” he muttered bitterly.

A voice echoed through the shadows.

“Do you want more power?”

Tsukihara spun around sharply.

“Who said that?”

“You’re no longer your master’s favorite. She gave her sword… to that foreigner.”

The young man’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Impossible! That so-called hero doesn’t deserve our national treasure!”

“That’s because you’re weak… pathetic…”

“Show yourself, whoever you are!” he roared, raising his katana.

From the shadows emerged a tall, demonic figure. It seized him by the throat with one hand, lifting him effortlessly.

“I’ll ask you one more time… Do you want power?”

Tsukihara struggled, teeth clenched.

“Let… go of me!”

The creature smiled, extending an object pulsing with dark energy. A blackened horn, etched with crimson runes, throbbed as though alive.

“All you need do is take it. Surrender your soul… and I will give you the power to claim this nation.”

Young Tsukihara stared at the horn, eyes trembling between fear and greed.

—

“That fool…” Lilith spat, raising a dark seal that blocked a lunging tentacle. “His life ended the moment he used that cursed horn of Azatoth.”

“Save the chatter for later!” Yura shouted, slicing through several tendrils crashing into the plaza. “That thing’s trying to kill us!”

“She’s right.” Ren gave a solemn nod.

“I can restrain its demonic energy…” Lilith gritted her teeth, her seals trembling under the monster’s pressure. “But without the six Medallions of Azatoth, defeating it is impossible.”

For a moment, the plaza was blanketed by the weight of her words. And then, a clear voice pierced the gloom.

“Holy Bless! Sacred Boost!” Latina cried, raising her staff high. A divine radiance exploded over the square, bathing Ren’s and Yura’s weapons in a celestial glow that pushed back the darkness.

“Aseina Style—Winter Waltz!”

The Aseina heiress whirled forward, Yukihana slicing in arcs that danced like blizzards of steel, carving into the demon’s arm.

Ren stepped back, channeling every ounce of fire into Versalles. The blade blazed like a miniature sun.

“Sunshine Phoenix!”

A colossal phoenix erupted from his sword, soaring skyward before diving straight into Tsukihara, engulfing him in a sea of searing flames.

“Live Stage—Crow Day!” Luisina spread her arms wide, and hundreds of dark birds burst from her illusions. A storm of crows swarmed the demon, tearing chunks of ice from his body and clawing viciously at his eyes.

The Shogun roared, his demonic voice thundering like a quake that rattled the city’s very foundations.

“Negative Sphere!”

A sphere of darkness swelled in his palm before hurling toward the group.

The explosion consumed the plaza in a deafening blast. Lilith threw her seals wide, straining to hold back the destructive wave, but the force still flung them all to the ground.

Dust and ash choked the air; every breath was agony.

“You pant… you tremble…” the Shogun’s voice echoed, a blasphemous resonance. “Because you’re insects! I… am almighty!”

Ren grit his teeth as he watched the monster’s wounds close, devoured and regenerated by the same dark flame.

“Got any ideas, Lilith?” he asked, his voice dry.

She let out a broken laugh, laced with bitter mockery.

“You’re the one with ideas. Why don’t you just use your Dimensional Cut? It worked on me, didn’t it?”

Ren lowered his gaze to Versalles. His fingers trembled faintly on the hilt.

“I can’t. Not without a katana…”

“Then grab any blade from these ruins and finish him already,” Lilith spat.

Ren turned toward Yura. The icy gleam in her Aseina eyes answered him with silence.

“It’s not that simple…” Ren muttered. “None of these swords could withstand the Dimensional Cut I’d need to kill him.”

Yura, bleeding from the last strike, could barely stay upright. Her breathing came ragged, uneven—but the fire in her eyes hadn’t dimmed.

“Ren! We can’t take another hit like that!”

“Give me a second!”

“Ren! Ren!”

The Shogun raised his hand toward the sky. Negative energy swelled in colossal spirals, plunging the entire capital into shadow.

“I’ll erase you—along with this city!”

In that instant, Ada’s face flickered in Ren’s mind. Her clumsy attempts to mimic his techniques, the mischievous spark in her eyes when she tried to understand him.

“Ada… thank you for that memory,” he murmured, adjusting his mask.

The air shifted. Ren became Phantom. His spectral presence spread like a tide of darkness. He dashed toward Luisina and Latina, brushing them both with his hand. In a flash, he absorbed all their magic.

“Lilith! Get them out of here!”

The demon didn’t argue. She lunged, seizing them with brutal strength and dragging them away despite their protests.

“What… what did he do to us?” Luisina whispered, drained.

Phantom, shrouded in an aura that seemed to steal the very light, planted himself beside Yura.

“A son of Shion…” the Shogun spat, his voice dripping hatred. “Fine. Die with the rest.”

Ren removed his mask and, in a solemn gesture, held it out to Yura.

“Take it. Wear my mask… and deliver this judgment.”

She didn’t hesitate. She knew him too well to waver. Sliding it on, she felt a warmth unlike anything before—her companions’ power coursing through her veins like a burning river.

Her hand pressed against her chest.

“So this is it…” she whispered, recalling Yukino’s words. When your heart feels warmth, nothing will stop you.

“This warmth…” her voice quivered as she took the Aseina stance. “It isn’t for me… it’s for everyone. Ren entrusted the future to my hands.”

The sky split in two. The Shogun had finished charging his attack. A titanic sphere of darkness—an inverted sun—loomed over the capital.

“Perish! Armageddon!”

“It’s over… Dimensional Cut! Winter Judgment!”

Yura’s voice thundered, and in the next instant, Phantom’s mask blazed upon her face like an omen.

A glacial flash burst from her katana, slicing the air with a blade not of this world. Space itself tore open from end to end, revealing the void of the cosmos: a black infinity, dotted with distant lights, as if reality had been carved apart.

Everything the cut touched froze and shattered. The Shogun’s demonic tentacles crystallized into ice, breaking with the sound of glass shattering. The walls, the snow—even the sky itself—split in a perfect line, beautiful and lethal.

The Shogun’s eyes went wide.

“Impossible…!”

His Armageddon—his sphere of darkness swallowing the capital—was struck by Yura’s slash. The void froze in an instant, fracturing into millions of glittering shards that fell like burning snow.

His demonic roar cracked into a scream of despair as the blade carved through his body, cleaving him in two. His form dissolved into a whirlwind of frost and shadow.

Silence fell over Yukihana.

Only the echo of the cut remained: a flawless void slowly closing, as though the world itself exhaled after judgment.

Yura lowered her katana, Phantom’s mask still veiling her face. Her breath fogged white, her body trembled, but her eyes stood firm.

“This was the judgment of the Aseina…”

The mask slipped from her face, and with it, the spectral energy dissipated like smoke into the snow. Finally, her strength gave way—she collapsed to her knees under the crushing weight of the power she had unleashed.

For a heartbeat, the capital held its breath. Then, the cry of the people erupted across the plaza. Voices broke with tears as they shouted her name again and again.

To the eyes of Yukihana, their princess had returned as their savior.