Location: The Dark Stone Arena – a forbidden place where only equal souls may fight, built specifically to withstand the collision of supreme powers.
Mousayuki and Sajibro stand at the center of the arena, their gazes locked — somewhere between respect and pain.
Zo-Ken (in a hushed voice):
"They're like mirrors... each reflecting the other."
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The First Strike
Sajibro moves first — a speed that tears the air apart. His twin swords blaze with a dark aura. Mousayuki counters with his scepter, releasing a shadow wave that explodes across the edges of the arena.
Hana (whispering):
"The battle… has begun."
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Round One: Shadow vs. Discipline
Sajibro uses the "Bound Wind Steps" — an ancient technique that allows him to move within shadows.
Mousayuki counters with the "Eye of Balance" — a perception that slows time momentarily.
Blows rain down… collisions carve craters into the ground, fissures split the walls, and the sky becomes a swirl of blue and black smoke.
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Round Two: Hearts Revealed
Sajibro:
"Do you remember the day you said, 'I won't let you fall'?"
Mousayuki:
"And I still stand by that… but not if you're the one choosing to fall."
Sajibro (in pain):
"I was afraid… but fear devoured my heart and shredded my path."
The battle reignites, fiercer than before. Sajibro unveils a forgotten technique — "The Drowning Dragon Flash" — where his blades merge with silence and shadow.
Mousayuki releases the Aura of the Black Throne, and his scepter grows heavier in his grasp.
Each strike ignites the ground. Each roar echoes like the cry of the cosmos awakening.
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Round Three: The End
After a grueling clash lasting nearly an hour and a half, both warriors retreat, their bodies battered, breaths ragged.
Then — in a flash — Mousayuki pierces Sajibro's chest.
Silence falls.
The seal on Sajibro's body glows… and then shatters with a sound like the universe screaming.
A massive aura bursts from Sajibro's form — a power unlike anything seen before.
But… his body collapses.
Hana, who had been watching from afar, runs to him, tears flooding her face:
"No… it's not over yet!"
She places her hands on his chest, beginning a complex healing seal spoken in the language of souls.
The shadows wrap around him gently.
"I'll bring you back… even if it costs me all of my strength."
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The Arrival of Raizen
Before the seal completes, the space fractures — Raizen appears, his soldiers behind him, shrouded in poisonous blue mist.
Raizen:
"That body… now holds the power I've long desired."
He steps toward Sajibro — but Mousayuki stands in his way, panting, his scepter reigniting.
"You'll walk over our corpses first."
He is joined by:
Igris: unleashes "Eternal Silence Blade" — a sword of shadow that freezes time around it.
Kain: summons the Spirit of the Forbidden Knight, his armor now like a mountain.
Zo-Ken: reveals his first beast form, with nine fangs of chaos.
Kara: opens the Book of Forgetting and chants the "Song of Return" — a spell that prevents souls from drifting away.
The battle rages behind them, while Hana continues her seal amid the chaos of time, shadow, and light.
Raizen shouts his final demand:
"The power… should be mine!"
But the leaders fight with madness in their eyes, pouring the last of their will into every strike.
Then… Sajibro's body pulses.
Hana (smiling through tears):
"Come back… just come back."
The chapter ends with Sajibro's body glowing with a pure light, and for the first time in centuries… he returns.
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End of Chapter Seventeen