The War in Solarii Part 3 (ソラーリの戦争 / Sorāri no Sensō)

The ground split before either of them touched it.

A tremor rolled through the ruined plaza, cracking the stone in a wide circle around Rei and Akane. A strike or a technique didn’t cause it. Just the flare of Seiki vibrating between them. The weight of two fighters who knew each other too well and had bled together in all the worst ways years ago.

Steam drifted through the air from the broken fountain. Blood-red droplets sizzled on the heated stone. Chains rattled softly as Akane stepped off the fountain rim with the kind of grace that didn’t belong in a war zone.

“Rei,” she said, as if greeting an old friend. “Why haven't you cut me down?”

Rei didn’t answer. His eyes didn’t blink. His grip on Seraphion tightened, but only for a moment. Then he let the blade drop. It hit the stone with a dull ring, flame dying instantly.

Akane’s smile widened. “Oh. You finally learned.”

A gust of wind tore between them, sharp enough to peel the thin skin off a nearby corpse. The demon spawn flinched back instinctively, tails tucked. They remembered this feeling. Rei’s presence had shifted.

His breath steadied.
His heartbeat evened out.
His shoulders dropped.
His feet planted.

Then his gaze locked on Akane with surgical precision.

“Uriel Ascension. Phase One.”

Nothing exploded around him.
There was no blast, no light, no grand transformation.
If anything, the world grew quieter.

His flame didn’t change colour.
His aura didn’t roar.
His Seiki didn’t erupt.

Rei simply became sharper.

Heat rippled upward. Loose rubble lifted slightly off the ground. A faint ringing pressed into the ears of anyone nearby, like the world itself had been pulled tight.

Akane’s eyes lit up. “Fuck, I missed that look.”

She raised her arm slowly.

Not to attack.

To show him.

A single glossy-black nail pressed to her skin.

Rei blurred.

One blink.
One breath.
He was already in front of her, fingers clamping around her wrist before the nail could touch flesh.

The speed wasn’t human.
It wasn’t angelic.
It was simply Rei, unfiltered.

Akane laughed in his face.

“Too slow.”

Her other hand sliced across her shoulder before Rei could stop her.

Blood sprayed out in a crescent arc.
It didn’t fall.

It twisted downward, hit the stone, and split into a towering beast with too many joints and a mouth that opened vertically. A demon spawn the size of a carriage slammed its claws into the plaza and screamed.

Rei didn’t flinch.

He twisted Akane’s arm sharply, forcing her back as he brought his knee up. She bent, rolled with it, and kicked at his ankle. He slid sideways, caught her leg mid-air, and pivoted behind her, twisting for a neck lock.

She let her body fall limp, slipping free like a snake shedding skin.

Her bare foot arced upward toward his jaw.

Rei blocked it with his forearm. Akane’s bone had snapped from impact.

Akane’s leg dangled loosely as she hopped back, grinning widely despite the broken limb.

“Fuck, I love when you get serious.”

Rei didn’t respond. He stepped in and struck her across the jaw with the back of his fist. The blow sent her spinning across the plaza, skidding through blood and broken glass. She caught herself on her elbows, hair whipping wildly around her.

Demon spawn rushed in to protect her.

Rei didn’t hesitate.

He dashed into the swarm barehanded.
Not to punch.
Not to block.
To kill.

He struck the first demon spawn through the eye socket. His fingers went in up to the knuckle. He ripped downward, splitting its skull in two. The second leapt from behind — Rei grabbed its throat mid-air, twisted, and slammed it into the ground so hard its spine burst through its back.

Three more charged him at once.

Rei’s breathing never changed.
Not once.
Not for a moment.

His movements were small — barely visible. A shoulder tilt. A half-step. A weight shift. Every counter was brutal and perfect.

He grabbed the jaw of one spawn and tore it sideways, ripping the head apart like wet cloth. Another tried to bite his leg. Rei stomped its skull hard enough to crater the stone.

The last one pounced.

Rei caught it by the face with one hand and crushed its skull like fruit.

Akane rose slowly, head tilted.

“Oh, Commander... you’re shaking. Don’t tell me I'm too much fun for you.”

Rei’s voice was quiet.

“You’re still holding back. You haven't used a named move once. What's your goal here? This isn't a retaliation for what Hayate did in Zebulum. I know you too well.”

Akane giggled, covering her mouth as if embarrassed.

“Maybe I just like dragging things out with you. We don't see each other very often, ya know!”

She flicked her finger.

A blood spear shot toward his heart.

Rei shifted his torso a single inch. The spear passed behind him, embedding in the stone hard enough to crack the ground open.

He disappeared.

Akane blinked.
Then reeled as Rei’s elbow smashed into her ribs.

She flew backward, hit a pillar, and shattered it. Blood sprayed from her mouth in a fine mist. She started laughing again.

“Oh, this is it. This is the real you! No one gets me like you.”

Rei appeared above her, heel dropping toward her skull.

She dodged by letting her knees buckle, collapsing to the side of his strike. The floor beneath her cracked from the impact of Rei’s missed stomp.

He followed instantly, grabbing her by the hair and swinging her into the remains of the pillar.

Her skull dented the stone.
She moaned — not in pain, but in delight.

“You used to always fight me like this,” she whispered. “Like you don’t know whether to kill me or—”

Rei punched her across the mouth before she finished speaking. Her jaw snapped sideways. Blood dripped down her chin. She spat out a tooth and smiled wider.

“Hit me again.”

Rei grabbed her throat.

Akane drove both thumbs into the wound on her shoulder, widening it. Blood poured out and splashed onto the floor.

Four more demon spawn erupted from her blood and sprinted toward the inner gate of Solarii.

Rei’s head whiplashed toward the direction they ran, but he was too late to react.

Akane whispered against his grip.

“All part of the fun. Just focus on me, Rei.”

Rei tightened his hand, choking her.

But she only smiled.

“You’re never fast enough where it matters.”

Her chains rattled as she pulled her knee to his ribs. The blow cracked three bones. Rei’s expression didn’t change. He slammed her backward again, pinning her against the cracked stone as the last of the spawn vanished down a broken stairwell into the inner district.

Far away, the muffled screams of guards echoed.

Akane’s grin widened even as blood ran from her lips.

“Oops.”

Rei’s fist rose.

Akane lifted her chin.

“Why haven't you come back?” She whispered. “You know how much I loved you.”

Rei’s fist trembled.
His breath grew sharper.
Two voices clashed in his skull.

He finally let loose. He smiled wide-eyed with a feral grin.

Akane moaned as her face lit up with wild joy.

“I knew you'd lose yourself in me.”

The plaza shook again.

Rei struck.

Akane caught his wrist barehanded — her arm bending at an unnatural angle as she absorbed the impact — and pulled him into a spin, slamming him into the ground.

He rolled and rose instantly.

They collided again.

And again.

Fast.
Unhinged.
Wild.
Precise.
Violent.
Beautiful in the way natural disasters are.

The ground became a blur beneath them as they traded blows that could shatter bone and tear through Seiki and defences. Craters opened. Buildings cracked. Fire lifted off the ground from the pressure.

Akane ducked under a cross-strike and whispered as she passed his ear.

“You're fighting like you’re afraid I’ll die.”

Rei grabbed her by the throat and hurled her across the plaza.

This time, she didn’t land gracefully.
She failed to catch herself.
She failed to twist.
She slammed into the ground and slid several feet, leaving a trail of blood.

She sat up slowly, wiping blood from her eye.

Then she smiled at him with pure, feral hunger.

“You feel it too, right, Rei? That high just gets more and more intense the longer you fight someone strong. Please, don't make me beg... give me more.”

And Rei gave it to her.

He was on her before the words finished leaving her mouth, grabbing her arm, twisting it behind her back, shoving her face-first into the stone. She slammed her head back into his nose. Blood sprayed. Rei didn’t move. He slammed her into the ground again.

Her laughter echoed across Solarii.

Every person who heard it felt their stomach drop.

Far beneath them, demon spawn tore through the inner district, already slipping past burned staircases and shattered gates.

Solarii’s vault guards died screaming.

And Akane, pinned under Rei’s grip, only smiled wider.

Akane’s head rested against the stone, hair draped across her cheek, blood trailing from her nose in a slow, lazy line. Her breathing was uneven and broken, not from fear, but from the thrill of it all.

Rei lifted her by the throat and slammed her into the ground again. The stone fractured around her, dust spraying up around them.

She giggled.

“I'm shaking now,” she whispered. “Don’t pretend this isn’t the most alive you’ve felt in years.”

Rei didn’t answer. He was on a high he didn't want to end. He threw her across the plaza.

Akane twisted mid-air, spine bending in ways that should have snapped her back. She landed on her hands and feet like a feral animal, her broken arm dangling, her shoulder leaking blood.

A demon spawn crawled out of that blood, small and wiry, with jagged jawbones scraping against the ground. It screeched and bolted toward the city’s inner stairwell.

Rei moved to intercept.

Akane appeared in front of him instantly, her body blurring forward with a violent snap.

“No, you don’t.”

She drove her knee into his stomach so hard his back hit a collapsed wall. Brick crumbled around him. Before he could recover, she was on him—hands grabbing his shirt, pulling him forward so their faces nearly collided.

“You’re mine right now,” she hissed.

Akane kissed Rei passionately for a moment, and Rei kissed her back.

Rei’s forehead then smashed into hers.

Akane’s head snapped back with a sharp crack. Blood spurted from her nose. She staggered and caught herself, swaying in place.

Her laughter came out choked and breathless.

“This is so good,” she rasped. “Hit me some more, Rei, please!”

Rei was already on her. His fist cracked across her jaw. She spun. He kicked her ribs. She folded over. He grabbed the back of her neck and drove her face into the stone with enough force to crater it.

Her skull bounced, but her grin didn't fade.

“Let's get married,” she cooed, cheek pressed against rubble. “I'd be a great wife, right?”

Rei grabbed her arm and wrenched it upward until the bone snapped cleanly. Her scream rang sharp and high—but still she smiled through the pain, eyes wild and glassy.

“You don’t hate me, or else I would be dead by now, Commander.”

He kicked her off him, sending her rolling across the ground. She came to a stop against a melted statue, chest heaving.

Demon spawn filtered between the ruins in small numbers now. The ones that had escaped were already far beyond reach. Rei heard faint screaming echo from the inner sanctum—distant, muffled, final.

Akane noticed the change in his eyes.

“You heard that too,” she said softly.

Rei levelled his gaze at her. His muscles tensed.

“What did you do down there?” he asked.

Akane wiped the blood off her lips with two fingers and smiled as she licked it away.

“You know I can't spill secrets, silly.”

Rei lunged.

Akane met him head-on.

They collided in a burst of raw force. There was no technique, no finesse, no names shouted. Just two fighters tearing into each other with everything they had left.

Rei’s foot swept behind her ankle.
Akane let herself fall backward to avoid the elbow that would have crushed her temple.
Rei planted his palm and spun into a low kick—Akane hopped over it and raked her nails across his forearm.
Blood splattered.
Rei didn’t react.
He slammed his shoulder into her chest and hurled her into another pillar.

It exploded.

She coughed blood, then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

“You’re being so rough,” she said warmly. “I thought I was your delicate little flower?”

Rei didn’t speak.

He descended on her like a guillotine.

His fist cracked against her cheekbone.
He caught her leg and struck her shin hard enough to snap it at the centre.
He grabbed her by the jaw and twisted until her neck popped.

She fell to her knees, head hanging crookedly.

Then slowly—slowly—she straightened it back into place, tendons stretching, vertebrae cracking.

“That's all you got?” she whispered, eyes half-lidded.

Rei exhaled once.

Akane felt the shift.

He wasn’t calming down.
He was sinking deeper into Uriel's Ascension - Phase One. Into that cold, horrible clarity that made the world slow around him. Akane could see her own reflection in his eyes.

It excited her more than anything.

“I remember this,” she said. “Alright, hit me.”

Rei’s fist slammed into her stomach.

The sound was like a cannon firing.

Her body folded around the hit. Her mouth gaped open, blood spraying in a thick stream. She hit the ground and slid fifty feet before coming to a stop.

She didn’t get up right away.

She laughed silently, shoulders shaking, breath broken and ragged.

Then she lifted her head and stared at him with eyes glowing red-black.

“You’re perfect,” she breathed.

Rei approached slowly.

Not with rage.
Not with hate.
With purpose.

Akane rose to her feet, limping, wiping blood from her jaw, body bent at angles that showed how much she was forcing it to move.

“Come here,” she whispered. “I have to be leaving soon.”

Rei’s expression didn’t change.

But his steps didn’t slow.

The entire plaza quaked around them.

Further inside Solarii, a vault door ruptured—with screams, steel bending inward, and a burst of red-black light as the demon spawn reached the inner chamber. The First Seal Scroll was ripped from its pedestal and carried deep into the shadows.

Neither Rei nor Akane looked in that direction.
Neither broke eye contact.

Rei and Akane stood across from one another like the world didn’t matter.

Akane breathed in deep, chest rising, lips parting. Almost true sadness for a moment.

“I hate not seeing you.”

Rei didn’t speak.

He didn’t need to.

He stepped forward, and the ground cracked under his foot.

Akane came back to reality and laughed as she charged.

Their bodies collided again, and Solarii felt the weight of two monsters who should never share the same battlefield.

The war raged on around them.

Guards died in the vault below.
The Seal Scroll vanished into the night.
The heavens split with the screams of giants, demons and angelic Wills.
Hajime and Izumi held a fragile, dying line.

But nothing in Solarii was as terrifying or as mesmerising as Rei and Akane tearing into each other under a sky of fire.

And neither of them had any intention of stopping.