An eerie silence descended over the ancient hall. Broken stone and shattered boulders littered the floor beneath a thick haze of dust, punctuated only by the occasional groan of strained pillars echoing through the gloom. Every eye remaining in the hall was locked in place, the slow, silent descent of falling dust the only motion in the space.
Then, Benji’s feet pushed off the ground as he broke into a sprint across Toka's flank.
In a flash, Haramuci’s hand whipped back from his coat, flicking a pair of throwing knives straight toward Benji’s path.
Before the blades could reach their mark, Toka intercepted them, driving a dense energy into an open-palm strike that shattered the metal mid-air. But Haramuci had already closed the distance. The moment Toka’s gaze flicked back forward, a heavy fist buried itself directly into his stomach.
"GAAAGH!"
The breath exploded from Toka's lungs as the concussive force launched him backward through the dust haze. He slammed hard against a boulder near the perimeter, the stone cracking under the impact.
Before Toka could even regain his footing, Haramuci was already airborne above him, driving a ruthless superman punch straight down at his head. Toka crossed his forearms in a split-second guard.
BOOM!
The blow detonated against Toka's defense, echoing loudly off the chamber walls and kicking up a thick cloud of dust as Toka was forced onto one knee. Haramuci pressed the offensive without hesitation, raining down a lightning-fast barrage of fists to crush Toka's guard.
Locking his hands together into a hammer-fist, Haramuci brought both arms crashing down.
Toka’s eyes darted upward. Twisting his torso sharply to the left, he slipped the overhead strike and drove an open palm directly into Haramuci’s exposed ribs.
Haramuci growled in pain, but his expression instantly snapped into a twisted smile.
Toka’s eyes widened. Before he could retract his arm, Haramuci clamped down on Toka’s wrist, yanking him violently forward off balance. With blinding speed, Haramuci palm-struck Toka directly across the forehead, slamming his head violently into the stone floor.
The stone floor shattered on impact, and a spray of water tore past Toka's teeth as his vision went black.
He reached down and seized a fistful of Toka’s hair, unceremoniously hauling his limp form off the cracked stone before hurling him sideways. Toka’s body crashed violently against a broken pillar, collapsing into the rubble with a heavy thud.
Across the chamber, Benji’s boots slid across the slick stone as he reached Yomi’s motionless body. The dark, jagged trail of blood smeared the floor where she had fallen. Panicking, Benji hooked his arms beneath her shoulders, gently lifting her head into his lap.
His eyes dilated in utter shock.
"The bleeding... it stopped already? But how?"
Fumbling with trembling hands, Benji pulled back her blood-soaked clothes to inspect the horrific puncture wound in her chest. His breath hitched. "Her vital point was spared too!"
Desperate to know if she was still alive, he skipped checking her wrist and pressed his ear directly against her chest. A long, shuddering sigh of relief escaped his lungs as he caught the faint, rhythmic flutter of a steady heartbeat. She was holding on.
The heavy explosion of stone shattered the air nearby, showering thick dust over them both. Benji instinctively threw his arm up, coughing violently through the haze.
As the airborne grit began to settle, a towering, dark shadow stretched across the floor, completely swallowing Benji and Yomi in its gloom.
Benji’s breath froze in his throat.
Slowly turning his head upward, he met Haramuci’s terrifying, pitiless glare. His right fist was already raised high, muscles coiled to crush both of them beneath a single, lethal blow.
Panic seized Benji, paralyzing his limbs....
"MATSUKAZE SHIHAI."
Haramuci’s left eye flicked sideways. "Huuh!?"
Before he could complete his thought, the dense burst of wind compressed into a gale of spiritual pressure detonated violently against his exposed ribs... Toka stood rooted in a low, razor-sharp stance, having channeled his entire reserve into the precise, point-blank strike.
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"GAAAAAAAAAGH!" The guttural shriek of agony tore from his throat as the raw force snapped his ribs like brittle kindling.
The pressure blasted Haramuci off his feet, sending him hurtling across the cavern like a cannonball until he plowed directly into the massive stone pillars along the right wall, burying him beneath a mountain of collapsing rock.
"Toka?!" Benji snapped his head toward Toka, his eyes wide with relief and shock.
Toka stood doubled over slightly, heavy sweat dripping from his chin as his lungs labored for air. "How's... she holding up?" he managed to ask, his voice raspy.
"She's still unconscious," Benji replied, gathering Yomi closer into his arms, "but she has a steady pulse. She's going to make it."
"Good," Toka exhaled, forcing his spine straight despite his aching body. "Go... you both need to get out of.."
The heavy, grinding rumble cut him off. Deep within the corners of the collapsed pillars, rock shifted and tumbled away as Haramuci growled, pushing the massive stone slabs off his body.
Toka jolted, his posture immediately coiling back into high alert as Haramuci hauled himself to his feet.
"Go!" Toka barked over his shoulder, his eyes fixed on the dust haze. "Get out of here, hurry!"
Benji didn't hesitate, quickly hoisting Yomi's limp frame into a secure carry and retreating toward the breach.
As Haramuci stepped out from the settling dust, a luminescent, light-green of Seikon energy surged along his skin, pulsating through his veins in a violent, controlled rhythm.
Toka’s heart sank as he recognized the wavelength. "Wait... he's Stage One?"
Haramuci brushed crushed rock off his shoulders, rolling his head until his neck popped with a sharp crackle. "So... that's the infamous spiritual wind technique Danzeki warned me about, huh?"
"AHAHAHA!"
Toka held his ground, shifting his weight into a firm defensive stance without uttering a word.
"Honestly, if I hadn't countered at the last second with my own flow, that hit would've been lethal," Haramuci admitted as he rolled his shoulders, the muscles popping loudly in the quiet cave. "Still... that was some hell of a technique you've got there."
Toka’s eyes remained icy and fixated, refusing to blink.
"What? Oh, come on! Don't give me that look, it was a genuine compliment! Besides..." He shrugged his shoulder, "...There's nothing I like more than a fella with some real guts and strength."
His gaze drifting sideways toward Kairo’s motionless body lying a few paces away.
Toka’s breath caught in his throat.
"Speaking of strength..." Haramuci purred. "Who would've thought he would trigger his awakening at a time like this, heh? I mean, look at him."
He turned his eyes back to Toka, his tone turning conversational. "When I first felt that terrifying pressure surging off his body, I knew instantly... I knew he was right on the brink of it. So what did I do?" His smile. "I gave myself the luxury of hiding in the shadows, waiting for the absolute perfect moment to take my revenge."
*Asshole...* Toka thought, his jaw clenching tightly.
"The kid put me through so much hassle," Haramuci sneered, his voice rising with annoyance. "Having to send my strongest subordinates after his head, only to suffer loss after loss. And just when I finally have him right in my grip... stupid brat goes and triggers an awakening! Come on, you know what I'm talking about, don't you?"
"No," Toka said coldly. "I don't."
"Oh, don't play dumb with me!" Haramuci scoffed, his sharp gaze locking onto Toka’s eyes. He raised his right fist, light-green Seikon energy flowing smoothly through his veins. "You know as well as I do what happens once someone crosses that bridge.
The moment your soul opens the floodgates, the journey becomes a direct gamble between life and death. The deeper you plunge into your spiritual flow, the higher the risk. And what's waiting at the very end of that road?"
Toka’s throat tightened, trying not to break his composure.
"That's right," Haramuci whispered into the silence. "Death!"
A cold gust of wind whipped through the cavern, carrying a wave of fine dust as the fractured stone pillars high above let out a long, deafening crack.