The Siege of Shadows and the Fist of Chaos.

The black rain, which had been a mute witness to the massacre for hours, seemed to pause before the unleashed violence at ground zero.

For the first time since the invasion began, the Regent was retreating. It wasn't for lack of power, but due to the overwhelming coordination of four wills that refused to break.

"Now, Kyosuke!" shouted Natasha.

From the rear, Kyosuke launched his last intact chains. The silver metal coiled around the Regent's left ankle and wrist, restricting his movement. "Got him!" Kyosuke grunted, digging his feet into the asphalt to maintain the tension.

Tanimoto, ignoring the agonizing pain of his dislocated shoulder, slid along the left flank. "Fall, damn you!" He used his broken sword not to cut, but to strike the giant's knee joint. The Regent, unbalanced by the chains, dropped to one knee.

That was the signal. Natasha and Ken attacked simultaneously. Natasha was a purple lightning bolt, her Kijin katana tracing lines of light that cut through the straps of the black armor. Ken, for his part, was brute force, exploiting the openings to land hooks and kicks in the exposed areas.

THUD! CRACK! SLASH!

The Regent roared, unleashing a shockwave to shake them off, but it was too late. His breathing was heavy. His armor was riddled with cracks. "We've got him!" Ken shouted, feeling adrenaline burn through his fatigue. "He's cornered!"

It seemed victory was within reach. It seemed the humans were going to win.

The Regent stood up slowly, shaking off Kyosuke's broken chains. He looked at the four "insects" surrounding him. Far from seeming defeated, an unnatural calm took hold of him.

The Regent raised his giant Odachi with both hands. But instead of attacking, he turned the blade downward. With a sharp, definitive motion, he drove the sword into the ground up to the hilt.

"Secret Art of the Calamity: Domain of the Dead Mountain."

The world changed. The wet ground beneath their feet darkened instantly, as if a stain of black, viscous ink expanded violently from the Regent's boots. The stain grew unstoppably, covering ten, twenty, thirty meters, swallowing the entire street and trapping Ken, Tanimoto, Natasha, and Kyosuke inside.

"What is this?" Natasha tried to retreat, but her feet felt heavy, stuck to the ground.

Upon that absolute darkness, an image began to glow with a spectral, grayish light beneath their feet. Ken looked down and felt a nauseating vertigo. It was a gigantic insignia. A stylized skull wearing an ancient kabuto (samurai helmet). But the most unsettling part was that within the skull's empty sockets and in the helmet's design, the unmistakable silhouette of Mount Fuji flashed intermittently. Not as a symbol of pride, but as a corrupted mountain wreathed in purple flames. It was a heraldry that belonged to no human clan, past or present.

The air became unbreathable. The gravitational pressure increased. Dark silhouettes began to emerge from the ground. They were shadow samurai, faceless, lifeless. They didn't walk. They stood fixed, static like obsidian statues, with their hands on the hilts of their sheathed katanas. There were dozens of them. Surrounding the heroes from every angle.

The Regent, standing at the center, without his sword which remained embedded, placed his right hand on a long knife at his waist, adopting the drawing stance (Iaijutsu). He said nothing, yet his eyes said everything.

Ken felt a chill run down his spine. His "crystal sense" activated violently, screaming one thing at him: DEATH.

The Regent made the drawing motion. Simultaneously, all the shadow statues unsheathed.

The space inside the circle became a blender of slashes. They weren't projectiles. They were simultaneous cuts appearing from every direction. Above, below, left, right.

"WATCH OUT!" Tanimoto yelled.

All four tried to block. Kyosuke created a shield with his chains, but it was pulverized in seconds. Natasha used her speed to deflect, but the cuts were too many. Blood began to fly. Cuts on arms, legs, faces.

"It's impossible to dodge!" Natasha shouted, receiving a deep cut on her thigh.

But amidst the chaos, Tanimoto noticed something. He and Ken, who had survived the incomplete version of this technique minutes ago, had an advantage. But Ken... Ken was moving differently. While Tanimoto could barely deflect the blows, Ken would tilt his neck or shift his torso millimeters before an attack connected, his eyes following an invisible rhythm.

"Ken!" Tanimoto shouted, understanding the situation. "It's like before! Your body remembers the incomplete attacks! You're the only one who can see the pattern!"

Ken looked at his companion, confused but focused. "We can't get close!" Natasha yelled, bleeding from a cut on her arm.

"We'll cover your advance!" Tanimoto ordered. "Everyone, listen! Cover Ken! He's our only chance to break the technique!"

Without hesitation, Ken began running toward the center where the Regent stood. At first, his friends covered him with their abilities. "Chain Shield!" Kyosuke launched a curtain of metal that deflected the first shadows trying to decapitate Ken. "Kijin Style: Gust!" Natasha used her speed to intercept three cuts aimed at Ken's legs, parrying them with her katana.

But as Ken approached the center, the density of the attacks increased. Weapons were no longer enough. "Keep running!" Kyosuke yelled. A shadow appeared in front of Ken. Kyosuke, with no chains left, threw his own body forward. SLASH! The cut went through the commander's back. Kyosuke fell to the ground, spitting blood, but he had cleared the path.

"Kyosuke!" Ken cried out. "Don't stop!" Tanimoto roared. The veteran samurai interposed himself before two more shadows. He used his shoulder to ram them, receiving two deep stabs to the chest. Tanimoto fell to his knees, smiling.

Ten meters remained. The Regent smiled, preparing the next cycle of cuts. A wall of invisible cuts formed in front of Ken. Natasha appeared like a purple lightning bolt. "Go, Ken!" With one last cry of effort, Natasha used her body and her remaining Essence to crash against the energy barrier. Her katana shattered into pieces and the explosion sent her flying away, unconscious and wounded, but the barrier broke.

Ken was alone. Five meters from the Regent. His friends had fallen. Tanimoto. Kyosuke. Natasha. All lay bleeding in the darkness of the domain. One final cut, the most lethal, formed right at Ken's neck. It was unavoidable. He was going to die.

"KEN!" Out of nowhere, a small figure lunged from a piece of rubble. Kazuha. The boy crashed into Ken, pushing him out of the trajectory of the lethal cut at the last second. The attack grazed Kazuha's arm, but saved Ken's life. "Do it!" the boy shouted before rolling across the ground.

Ken stood up. He was two meters from the Regent. He looked around. He saw Tanimoto motionless. Kyosuke bleeding. Natasha broken. Kazuha wounded. They had given him this path. They had given their lives to put him here. Something broke inside Ken. And something new was born.

A black fury, dense and terrible, exploded from within him. "YOU BAAAASTARD!"

His Kijin Manifestation awakened completely. An aura as black as the void enveloped his body, but it didn't disperse; it concentrated, compressing violently into his fists, making them harder than diamond.

The Regent tried to restart the cycle of cuts, but he was exhausted from maintaining the domain. Ken gave him no time. He jumped through the last defense.

Ken connected a right hook directly to the Regent's mask. The impact was colossal. The Regent's head snapped back with a sickening crunch. The giant was sent flying, torn from his position beside the embedded sword. As it lost contact with its user, the Odachi vibrated and the technique dissolved. The darkness dissipated. The shadows vanished. The insignia of the Corrupted Mountain was erased.

The Regent landed heavily several meters away, rolling across the ground. Ken stood panting, his fists steaming with black energy. Both were disarmed. The Regent had lost his sword in the technique. Ken had lost his knife long ago.

The Regent stood up slowly. His armor now had a new crack. He was panting. His Essence had dropped drastically after using his ultimate technique. Ken was also at his limit. Only fury kept him standing.

They looked at each other. Two warriors at the end of the world. Suddenly, the Regent let out a dry laugh. "Hahaha..." Ken, with blood running down his forehead, also smiled. A broken, savage smile. "Heh..."

It was absurd and ironic. The weakest human, the rookie, was giving one of the Generals of the Calamity a beating.

Ken closed his eyes for a second. He remembered Kaori at the base. He remembered Tanimoto from their first encounter. Kyosuke and his jokes. Natasha and her sadness. Kazuha and his bravery. "This punch... is from all of you."

Ken opened his eyes. His right fist charged with so much dark aura it looked like a black hole in his hand. The Regent adopted a karate stance, concentrating his remaining malevolence into a direct blow.

"HAAAAAAAA!" "RAAAAAAH!"

Both charged at the same time. The world reduced to that instant. They crossed the distance in a blink.

Ken launched his right fist. The Regent launched a direct palm strike.

Time froze. Ken's mouth opened in a silent scream. The Regent's blow had connected. His hand had impacted Ken's stomach, sinking deep, perhaps damaging vital organs. Blood gushed from Ken's mouth.

Ken fell to his knees. Then, he collapsed to one side, lying motionless on the wet ground.

The Regent remained standing, breathing heavily, looking at his fallen opponent's body. He took a step to finish off the other survivors. But his leg didn't respond.

The Regent looked down at his chest. The armor, which seemed intact, suddenly cracked. CRAAAAACK! The sound was like glass breaking. The entire breastplate exploded into pieces. Beneath it, the Regent's chest was caved in, with a massive cavity where Ken's fist had struck. The blow hadn't been superficial; the shockwave had completely destroyed his internal organs.

The Regent tried to speak, but only black blood came from his face. His immense body leaned forward. Gravity claimed its prize. Like a collapsing tower, the General of Kanto fell backward.

His body hit the asphalt right beside Ken.

The monster moved no more. Under the rain that was beginning to subside, only the bodies of the fallen warriors and the silence of a victory that had cost too much remained.