The crimson burst from Tsukasa's strike sent a shockwave rippling through the cathedral square, shattering stained glass windows and cracking the ancient stones beneath their feet. The force flung Renar backward, his body skidding across the blood-soaked ground until he crashed through a toppled statue of some long-forgotten saint.
Dust and debris hung in the air.
Tsukasa lowered his blade, the red glow of Kiva's armor gleaming in the moonlight. His breathing was steady — unhurried. Despite everything Renar had thrown at him, Tsukasa hadn't even used a fraction of his true strength.
"Still standing, huh?" Tsukasa muttered.
The rubble shifted. A twisted laugh echoed from the debris, hollow and feral. Renar pulled himself free, blood trailing from the corner of his mouth, his once-immaculate white cloak now tattered and soaked crimson. The sickly red gleam in his eyes had intensified, and the hunger radiating off him was no longer concealed.
"You think… this is enough to stop me?" Renar spat, his voice warped, fangs bared. "You're nothing but a pretender wearing a monster's face!"
Above them, the clouds parted, revealing the massive blood-red moon Renar had summoned earlier. Its light intensified, a pulse of malignant energy washing over the city. The ground itself seemed to groan as Renar raised his arms to the sky, the blood pooled at his feet rising unnaturally around him.
"I'll show you true power," Renar howled. "Blood Moon Ascendance!"
The blood spiraled around him, forming a crimson vortex that lashed at the earth, tearing up cobblestones and slashing at nearby walls. Civilians still trapped in the square screamed as the malevolent magic struck them down. A dozen more innocents collapsed, lifeless, their bodies pale and drained in seconds.
"Dammit—he's feeding on them!" Lumi shouted from a nearby alley, throwing up a barrier of golden light to shield a group of terrified townsfolk.
Elara cursed under her breath, cutting down a collapsing beam and pulling a child to safety. "We can't let him keep this up — there won't be anyone left to save!"
The High Priest gritted his teeth, his ancient hands trembling as he reinforced Lumi's barrier. "His power is peaking! Tsukasa must end it now — or Havenmere falls."
Back in the center of the chaos, Tsukasa's eyes narrowed behind his crimson visor. The Blood Moon's power churned above, and Renar's aura had grown so thick with darkness it was like a second night swallowing the city.
But Tsukasa wasn't fazed.
He rested his sword on his shoulder and muttered, "Still holding back… but I guess it's about time to shut you up."
Kiva's armor emitted a fierce glow as he took a step forward. The earth cracked beneath his feet from the pressure. The fanged motif on his chest snarled as though alive, and the Kiva buckle howled.
"Wake up," Tsukasa whispered.
His aura flared, a ring of blood-red energy circling him, matching Renar's twisted moon. But where Renar's magic was corrupt and ravenous, Tsukasa's power felt steady — ancient, relentless, and precise. It wasn't about hunger. It was about control.
Tsukasa pointed his blade at Renar.
"One more round, bloodsucker."
Behind him, Lumi and Elara exchanged a quick look.
"Come on," Lumi said. "We buy the others more time. No way he's doing this alone."
Elara smirked, blood on her cheek, her daggers gleaming. "Wouldn't dream of letting him have all the fun."
And together, the companions plunged back into the chaos, racing to drag the last of the innocents out of the danger zone — trusting Tsukasa to finish what he started.
And the real battle began.
The sky burned crimson, the Blood Moon hanging like a bleeding eye in the heavens. Renar howled as his blood magic writhed around him, tendrils of red mist spiraling toward the corrupted moon.
"You can't stop this!" Renar bellowed, his fangs glinting. "I am the night's chosen! The Blood Moon answers to me!"
But from within the blood-soaked haze, a low, menacing voice cut through.
"You're not the only one who knows how to dance under a crimson sky."
A flash of magenta light — then Tsukasa stepped through the mist, his armor gleaming, his stance lethal. The Kiva emblem on his chest pulsed, and from the shadows, the familiar screech of Kivat the 3rd echoed as he soared to Tsukasa's wrist.
"It's feeding time, Kivat!"
"Aw yeah! Let's show this fake what a real king of the night looks like!" Kivat shrieked gleefully.
Tsukasa lifted Kivat, biting down on his own hand — a surge of crimson energy flooding the air as chains erupted from the ground around him, encircling Renar like a cage.
The Blood Moon above flickered.
Elara's eyes widened. "Is he… using the Blood Moon's energy?"
"Not using," Lumi whispered. "He's taking it."
Tsukasa hurled Kivat into the air. The tiny bat spun, his wings wide as he called out:
"Wake up, Fangire blood! Darkness Moon Break!"
The ground split as a surge of dark red energy formed beneath Tsukasa's feet. A massive, spectral image of the Kiva emblem burned behind him, while crimson chains lashed onto the Blood Moon's glow — stealing Renar's own power.
Renar staggered, his face twisting in disbelief. "No—wait, that's mine! You can't—!"
But Tsukasa was already in motion.
He leapt high into the sky, the world seeming to slow around him. The Blood Moon's crimson glow concentrated into his right leg, the armor around it transforming into a hellish, spiked crimson greave — like a god's executioner.
Spectral chains snapped as Tsukasa's form blurred downward, his heel wreathed in dark flame and moonlit crimson.
The air trembled.
"Time to put you down… permanently."
Renar screamed in rage and desperation, firing a final wave of blood magic upward — but it was too late.
Tsukasa's Kiva Darkness Moon Break slammed down, his foot crashing into Renar's chest.
The impact detonated in a colossal burst of crimson and violet energy, the force splitting the earth for miles and sending a shockwave that scattered the clouds. The Blood Moon itself trembled, dimming as its tether to Renar shattered.
Renar's scream was lost in the explosion, his body vaporized in a storm of crimson particles.
When the light faded, only Tsukasa remained, standing alone in the shattered square, the Kiva emblem still glowing faintly behind him.
Kivat flitted down, perching smugly on his shoulder. "Well, guess there's one less bloodsucker in the world."
Tsukasa clicked his neck and smirked behind the visor. "Told you. There's always a bigger monster."
Around them, Elara, Lumi, and the others emerged from the rubble, the surviving civilians looking up at the armored figure in awe and terror.
Elara grinned. "Typical Tsukasa."
"Yeah," Lumi sighed. "But damn if it wasn't beautiful."
The Blood Moon faded from the sky — its reign broken.
And Havenmere, for the first time in decades, saw a clear night.
The night the so-called hero fell.