Izumi Shines (イヅミの輝き / Izumi no Kagayaki)

The forest stretched endlessly, its roots coiling like veins through the living soil. Light filtered through the canopy in hues of green and gold, with dust drifting between the rays like falling stars.

Rei walked ahead, as quiet as always, with his sword slung across his back. Hajime followed closely, adjusting the weight of their supplies, while Izumi moved between them, lightly trailing her fingers across the ferns as if greeting old friends.

"Peaceful, isn't it?" Hajime asked.

Rei didn't look back. "It never lasts for too long."

Hajime groaned. "Would it kill you to be positive?"

They continued onward beneath the towering trees, whose roots arched like bridges. The air grew heavier, rich with the scent of moss and dew.

Suddenly, a sharp whistle cut through the calm. An arrow struck the ground near Hajime's boot, humming as it quivered in the dirt.

From the shadows ahead stepped twelve raiders clad in red-plated armor. Their chest pieces were marked with faint runes that glowed an ugly yellow, the Bloodforge sigils, the signature of Crimson Legion deserters who had sold their souls for power. Veins of crimson light crawled beneath their skin like living magma.

Their leader, a mountain of a man with a jaw split by old scars, raised a jagged spear wreathed in volatile runes. "Travelers from the capital. Drop your bags, or we'll kill you."

Hajime's gold-silver Seiki sparked. "Friendly bunch."

Rei unsheathed his sword with a lazy smile, blue-white embers licking the edge. "Rin. I'm bored. You're up."

Izumi exhaled slowly and deeply. "Finally. Let’s go, Eve."

She stepped forward, and the forest responded before she spoke. Leaves stilled. Birds vanished. The air itself seemed to hold its breath.

A soft, warm voice murmured inside her mind.

 
They reek of iron and rot. Shall we prune them, little one?

Izumi’s lips curved into a smile. "Prune them clean."

Her palms rose, fingers tracing a single circle in the air. The canopy above erupted into motion, sunlight fracturing into a thousand emerald shards that orbited her like a storm of glass.

"Forbidden Fruit Art: Thorn Garden!"

The ground detonated.

Black-green vines, as thick as tree trunks, erupted in a perfect ring, with thorns longer than swords. Instead of lashing, they danced. A living cyclone of razor-like petals and venomous blooms followed, shredding through the front line in an instant. Armor split like paper, and blood splattered the leaves red.

The leader roared, runes glowing fiercely. “Bloodforge Overdrive: Titan Spirit!”

His body tripled in size as muscles burst through his armor. His spear transformed into a battering ram of molten iron, and he charged forward, the ground cratering beneath each step.

Izumi didn’t blink.

He’s loud, Eve noted, amused. Let’s quiet him down.

“Forbidden Fruit Art: Verdant Tempest!” she declared.

The canopy tore open. A hurricane of razor leaves and slicing winds rained down, each blade infused with Seiki sharp enough to carve stone. The tempest met the titan mid-charge; leaves became shuriken, and wind turned into blades. The leader’s spear shattered, and his enhanced flesh peeled away in ribbons.

Two raiders flanked her, their axes glowing with Bloodforge runes. “Stoneheart Barrage!” they shouted.

Explosive stone shards homed in from every angle.

Izumi spun, her robes flaring. “Forbidden Fruit Art: Bloom Sanctuary!”

A dome of living petals erupted around her, each layer made of a different flower, each flower containing a different poison. The shards struck and detonated, but the petals absorbed the explosions, blooming brighter with each blast. Pollen clouds billowed out, sweet yet lethal. The flanking raiders inhaled, their lungs filled with nectar. Their bodies locked mid-swing, petrifying them into statues of blooming ivy.

Hajime’s jaw dropped. “Holy shit.”

Rei leaned against a tree, grinning. “Told you.”

The remaining raiders formed a wedge, regenerative frenzy kicking in. Limbs regrew. Wounds sealed. They charged as one, a wall of crimson fury.

Izumi’s eyes glowed emerald. Eve’s voice layered over hers, ancient and serene. “How dare you defile the earth!”

Adam… Eve’s tone shifted, suddenly distracted.

Izumi faltered for half a heartbeat. “Eve?”

A flicker of light emerged. A pulsating gold-silver glow radiated from Hajime’s chest, unbidden. Adam’s Will stirred, and ancient eyes opened in the darkness behind Hajime’s own gaze. 

For one impossible second, the forest fell silent. 

Eve’s presence materialized as a shimmering green light beside Izumi. She appeared translucent, barefoot, with hair resembling living vines. Adam stood opposite her, also barefoot, wearing only a simple leaf at his waist, his eyes kind and endless.

They looked at each other across the battlefield.

“…You,” Eve whispered, voice soft with wonder.

Adam smiled, small and sad. “Still beautiful.”

The moment was shattered. Both Wills vanished. Izumi’s cheeks flushed crimson. Hajime blinked, confused, a faint warmth lingering in his chest.

Rei raised an eyebrow. “What the hell was that?”

Izumi shook it off, face burning. “Nothing. Focus.”

She slammed both palms to the ground. 

“Forbidden Fruit Art: Nature-Drowned Avatar!”  

The forest screamed.  

Roots the size of siege towers burst from the soil, coiling into a colossal humanoid form around her. It wore bark armor, a crown of thorns, and had eyes of pure starlight. The avatar towered thirty feet high, each movement shaking the earth beneath it. It raised one immense hand, and the sky responded.  

A meteor shower of seed pods rained down. Each pod exploded on impact, releasing carnivorous flowers that devoured flesh and rune alike. Raiders vanished in the jaws of the petals. One attempted to flee, but a root speared through his spine, dragging him back into the maw of a blooming orchid.  

The leader, half of his face destroyed, crawled toward her, gasping, “Monster…”  

Izumi’s avatar knelt, and a single finger, thick as a tree trunk, pressed against his forehead.  

“Forbidden Fruit Art: Eden’s Final Bloom.”  

Green light poured into him. His Bloodforge runes shattered. His body aged a thousand years in mere seconds; his skin withered, and his bones crumbled away. He dissolved into dust floating in the wind.  

The avatar then dissolved as well. Izumi stood in the center of a crater filled with flowers, her robes untouched and her hair barely ruffled. The forest fell silent, not a leaf out of place.  

She turned back to the others, brushing a petal from her shoulder. “Eve says the warm-up’s over.”  

Hajime stared at the devastation, then at her. “You just… ended them. With flowers.”  

Rei sheathed his sword, the flames dying out. “Remind me to stop pissing you off so much.”  

Izumi smiled, small and cute. “Aww, you guys are so sweet!”  

The path ahead opened, sunlight spilling through the canopy like liquid gold. Solarii waited, but the forest now walked behind them, and it was hungry.