Rei and Uriel Explode (レイとウリエル爆発 / Rei to Urieru Bakuhatsu)

Rei stepped forward, and the storm lost its grip on him. Blue white fire crawled over his skin like living veins, starting at his wrists and racing to his shoulders, pooling in the hollow of his throat until his entire silhouette glowed like a furnace wrapped in rain. Every drop that landed turned to steam before it could slide down, hissing off his collarbone in thin, angry curls that mixed with the smell of scorched earth and wet iron. Mud bubbled under his boots as the ground recoiled from the heat.

Hajime tried to stand, but the pain from his cracked rib forced him back to one knee. Izumi was already there, sliding a palm between his shoulder blades to steady him. Green light flickered beneath her skin like moss in a snowstorm while her eyes never left Rei.

Across the crater, the Forsakers closed the distance, their boots sinking into what was once mossy ground. 

Shinji reached him first, one hundred pounds of scar tissue and bad decisions, with a cleaver raised high. He swung as if he wanted to split the world in half. Rei slipped inside the arc of the blow and delivered a straight punch to Shinji's liver, followed by another, and then a third, all targeting the same bruised spot. Shinji's lungs collapsed into a wheeze, blood frothing at the corners of his mouth. He still reached for Rei's neck, desperate to smother the fire with his raw muscle.

Rei clamped the back of Shinji’s skull with one hand and drove a knee up effortlessly. The impact was a wet, hollow sound. Teeth shattered against teeth. Blood poured over Rei's knuckles and wrists. Shinji dropped to his knees, exhaled a ragged snarl, and stayed there, one hand clawing at the mud like he could still fight.

Orange wires snapped through the air next, glowing like heated steel. One nicked Rei’s throat and carved a shallow line across his collarbone, blood welling hot and immediate. Another sliced his thigh, parting skin in a perfect curl that peeled back like wet paper. He caught the wire at his throat with an open palm, the steel biting deep into his flesh until it scraped against tendon. Yanking it, he sent Takumi sliding forward on the mud, his boots slipping as his eyes widened with fury and pain. Rei met him with a powerful uppercut to the solar plexus, causing all breath to leave Takumi’s chest. Rei ripped the wire free, flesh and all, and flung him sideways through a curtain of false bodies. The mirage shattered into glittering shards that dissolved in the downpour, Takumi landing hard on his cracked ribs with a sound like breaking wood.

Golden silhouettes rose from the flanks, hands of light reaching for wrists, ankles, eyes. They left blistering handprints where they touched, searing through Rei’s sleeves and raising welts on his forearms. He slipped through the angles, knuckles turning a face to dust, elbow writing across a projection’s temple. He stepped onto a shoulder of light and dropped both heels into the mud.

Then the world remembered gravity.

Iovah stepped forward, and the air turned to wet iron. Rain hung between blinks. Rei’s boots sank ankle deep, the suction pulling at his calves. Iovah threw a short right with the kind of authority men spend lives earning. Rei shaved the line and answered with three punches, one to the ribs, second to the chest, with the third sinking and staying, knuckles grinding cartilage until Iovah’s breath hitched. Iovah’s head came in tight, forehead splitting Rei’s lip wide open. Blood flooded his tongue and mouth. He spat and showed his teeth in excitement.

Pressure bled off in a ring of force. Hanging rain fell all at once. Iovah’s stance slid half a step. Rei’s palm flew under his sternum and lifted him airborne, causing him to land outward in a dark patch of mud as he let out a guttural sound.

Shinji crashed into Rei's hip for a tackle, arms cinched, trying to smother the aura under mud and muscle. Rei sprawled through his shoulders, hooked an underarm, and turned. Shinji's shoulders hit the ground first, followed by Rei's elbow striking the back of his neck. A wet crunching sound followed. Blood and rainwater mixed into a pink slurry that ran down Shinji’s spine.

A blade of sound zoomed in on his kidney. Rei palm slammed it. The knife screamed as it met the earth. He shoved Hikari away by her collarbone. With a force so strong it gave with a soft pop, her arm hung wrong.

“You wanted to play, right?” Rei said, voice low and steady. “You'll die right here.”

Light coalesced into a shield and met a straight punch, scattering into warm grit that dissipated in the rain. Rei kept his eyes on Iovah as gravity reasserted itself, feeling heavier now. He trudged through it, his boots dragging but never stopping.

They exchanged blows like men aware of the stakes. Elbows and short punches flew, forearms grinding against each other. Blood sprayed from split knuckles. Rei relentlessly targeted the same rib until Iovah's breath came in jagged gasps. Iovah steadied himself and responded with a hook that lifted Rei an inch off the ground. He landed with a laugh, blood on his teeth like war paint, the cut on his lip reopening with every grin.

Shinji stood up again because some men are built wrong. He threw as if he wanted to push his limits. Rei lent him two seconds of hope, then repossessed it with a straight that walked the jaw sideways, again. Shinji’s head snapped back. More teeth were scattered across the mud. He dropped again, this time face-first, blood pooling under him.

A wire grazed Rei's cheek, leaving a thin line of red that felt cold in the rain. In response, Rei unleashed blue-white flames that engulfed Takumi. He screamed helplessly as his skin sizzled. An expertly timed left hook followed, sending Takumi's feet off the ground as his head descended rapidly. He managed to roll away, clutching his side, orange threads flickering like dying embers.

Iovah didn't raise his voice. "I've trained with commanders before. There is something off about this one."

Rei's eyes were pinpricks as the flames roared louder, creeping at the edges of his vision.

Hajime watched through one good eye, unable to stop the tremor in his hands. "He's not showing off," he rasped, his voice thick with blood. "This is Rei."

Izumi didn't blink. "I hope he's okay..."

Rei trapped Iovah in a clinch, battering his gut with knees that sank deep. Iovah's stomach became a wall of humility. Yet, Iovah still managed to land a compact hook at the back of Rei's skull that tilted his world. Rei rolled his neck to maintain his focus and smiled as if nothing had happened.

Shinji dragged himself up and dove for Rei's waist in a pitiful attempt. Rei seized his neck, squeezing until Shinji's eyes rolled back, then released him before he lost consciousness. Shinji hit the mud and remained there.

Megumi lifted a hand. "Enough."

Rei stood with his hands at his sides. The flames crawled over his shoulders and along his back, craving another moment. His fingers trembled with excess power, seeking a target. His pupils were dilated, black swallowing blue. The battle high burned behind his iris like a second sun. Blood trickled from the cut on his lip, the slice on his thigh, and the burn welts on his arms.

Rei glanced at the man on one knee and the woman who refused to let him fall any further.

He allowed his shoulders to lower slightly.

Iovah spat a mouthful of blood into the rain. He opened and closed his injured hand as if reading a map of the night. His palm was a ruin with fingers bent at odd angles.

“You fight like judgment in human form,” he said, his voice gravelly. “You could have ended our lives.”

Rei’s mouth thinned, but the grin behind it remained. “You came to take him,” he said, gesturing with his chin toward Hajime. “Next time, bring your resolve.”

Silence pressed in, filled by the storm.

Iovah stood firm and unmoving. “Forsakers, fall back.”

They moved like wounded wolves, one dragging another. Their footprints filled with water, and the clearing exhaled smoke and steam.

Rei shifted as if he might follow, but Izumi cut him off. “Rei, that's enough.”

His flame responded to her voice. It settled, heat radiating off him in slow ripples. He took a step back, his knees loosening. He caught himself with one hand, his head hanging as rain hissed off his shoulders.

Hajime crawled toward him and placed a palm on the ground to steady himself. “You absolute maniac,” he said, laughing until it hurt again. “Thank you.”

Rei exhaled a sound that was half laugh and half shiver. “It's been a while since I've used anything beyond the basics.”

Izumi took his jaw in her hand and turned his face toward hers so she could see his pupils, small and bright. The high was draining, but it wasn't gone. 

“Don’t do that again, 'kay?”

Rei blinked up at her. “Don't worry about me. There's a reason I'm the most feared around.”

Footsteps crossed the high roots, and lanterns moved through the canopy like slow green comets. Voices called names down through the leaves. Ropes uncoiled. The forest allowed itself a breath.

From the tunnels, Mira stepped out, her cane sinking into the mud and her eyes sharp. “Thank goodness.”

Kenta followed, swinging his arm with a cleaver in his grip. He stood beside Hajime. “Are you okay?”

Akari ran forward, a water skin in her small hands. She splashed Rei’s face. “Here, drink up.”

Jiro emerged last, his old blade nicked.

Rei’s fire finally smothered out. Steam lifted off his bare forearms and dissipated into the air.

Hajime slowly straightened until his back found a position that could tolerate the pain. Izumi took one last look toward the trees where the Forsakers had vanished and let the green in her hands dim to nothing.

Far beyond the trunks, five shadows walked in the rain and remained silent for a long time. When they finally spoke, it wasn't about losing. It was about their next plan.

Morning cut a white seam along the broken roots. Steam rose lazily from the earth like breath finally taken. Rei rolled his shoulders slowly, as if unloading a weight the storm could not see. Hajime drew a long breath and allowed it to hurt. Izumi began finishing medical treatment before they set off.

Afterwards, they said their goodbyes and began their journey toward Solarii.