The cold thickened.

  It no longer merely touched the skin—it pressed inward, seeping through armor, through breath, through thought. Frost spiderwebbed across the street, crawling up walls and lampposts as if the city itself were being claimed.

  The Royal Knight rolled his shoulders once, calm as stone.

  “Sir Jian Luocheng,” he said, voice steady. “Heavenly Jade Spear—Spade.”

  Rhen exhaled sharply. “One of the Four Royal Knights… great.”

  Akitsu’s eyes never left Yurei. “He doesn’t feel like the same thing we fought before.”

  Yurei smiled.

  “You are correct.”

  The ground beneath his feet cracked as absolute zero surged outward again. Ice exploded in jagged waves, racing toward them like a living thing.

  “MOVE!” Jian barked.

  He spun Spade in a blinding arc—jade light flaring as the spear struck the ice-wave head-on. The impact didn’t stop the cold, but it split it, diverting the frozen surge to either side like a cleaved river.

  Rhen phased instantly, stepping through the remaining frost without resistance.

  Akitsu dashed the opposite direction, cloak snapping, Joyeuse flashing into his hand.

  Yurei moved.

  He didn’t rush.

  The world came to him.

  Vines erupted from beneath the ice, animated by Wildlife—thick, thorned tendrils snapping toward Akitsu like serpents.

  Akitsu skidded, slashing through two—then froze.

  Not physically.

  Conceptually.

  “…Too slow,” Yurei whispered.

  A third vine wrapped around Akitsu’s ankle.

  Rhen shouted, “Shouga!”

  He reappeared beside Yurei mid-phase, fist solidifying for a strike—

  Yurei turned.

  Wildlife answered again.

  Roots burst upward, entangling Rhen’s arm mid-materialization. Frost followed instantly.

  Rhen cried out as ice raced up his limb.

  “GHOST—!”

  He phased fully just in time, arm tearing free—but frost clung to his sleeve, crystallizing and shattering as he stumbled back.

  Jian didn’t hesitate.

  He lunged.

  No aura. No magic. Just perfect technique.

  Spade struck Yurei’s side in a thrust so precise it pierced the shadow-shell and hit something solid beneath. Jade light rippled violently.

  Yurei recoiled half a step.

  “…Skill,” Yurei acknowledged. “Rare.”

  Jian didn’t respond.

  He attacked again.

  Spade became a storm—thrust, sweep, pivot, strike. Each movement flowed into the next, forcing Yurei backward step by step. Frost cracked under the pressure.

  Akitsu tore himself free of the vine and surged forward.

  “Joyeuse—flare!”

  Light erupted, carving a burning cross through Yurei’s chest.

  For a moment—

  Yurei staggered.

  Then he laughed.

  The light froze.

  Literally.

  The flare crystallized mid-air, shattering into glittering shards that fell uselessly to the ground.

  Akitsu’s eyes widened. “…You froze light?”

  “Energy,” Yurei corrected. “Is still energy.”

  Wildlife surged.

  The ground beneath Akitsu erupted.

  Hands—frozen hands—burst upward, civilians long dead, reanimated by vines and frost, grabbing at his legs, his cloak, his arms.

  “Shit—!”

  Akitsu slashed wildly, cutting through frozen limbs, but more grabbed him, anchoring him in place.

  “Akitsu!” Rhen shouted, starting toward him—

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  “Don’t!” Akitsu snapped. “He wants you close!”

  Yurei raised one hand.

  The temperature dropped again.

  Absolute zero focused—not wide, not chaotic.

  Personal.

  Akitsu felt it first in his chest.

  Not cold.

  Absence.

  His breath stopped. His heartbeat stuttered.

  “…So this is different,” Akitsu muttered weakly.

  Jian hurled Spade.

  The spear tore through the air like a jade comet, striking Yurei square in the throat.

  The impact detonated the street.

  Yurei was thrown back—hard—crashing through a frozen storefront in a shower of ice and stone.

  The cold pressure lifted.

  Rhen reached Akitsu instantly, gripping his shoulders. “Hey—stay with me!”

  Akitsu tried to respond.

  His lips wouldn’t move.

  Frost bloomed outward from his sternum, racing across his veins, his neck, his jaw.

  “…Rhen,” he whispered. “If I go—don’t hesitate.”

  Rhen’s eyes widened. “No. No—don’t say that.”

  Akitsu smiled faintly. “You’ll know what to do.”

  Yurei emerged from the rubble.

  Unharmed.

  “You are persistent,” he said. “I will correct that.”

  He pointed at Akitsu.

  The world stopped.

  Absolute zero struck Akitsu directly.

  Not a wave.

  Not an aura.

  A verdict.

  His body froze instantly—every cell locked, every thought crystallized mid-formation. Frost exploded outward, encasing him in a flawless statue of ice and light.

  “NO!” Rhen shouted.

  Yurei flicked his wrist.

  The statue tipped.

  It hit the ground—

  And shattered.

  Ice. Light. Blood.

  Gone.

  Silence fell.

  Rhen stared at the fragments.

  “…Akitsu?”

  Jian’s jaw clenched. “…Damn it.”

  Yurei turned to them calmly. “One.”

  Rhen’s power surged violently, Ghost phasing erratically as rage tore through him.

  “I’ll kill you,” he said, voice breaking. “I swear—”

  “Rhen,” Jian snapped. “Control yourself!”

  Too late.

  Rhen vanished—reappearing inside Yurei’s space, fists swinging—

  Wildlife impaled him mid-phase.

  Roots pierced through his side as frost detonated from within, forcing him solid.

  Rhen screamed as he was thrown back, slamming into a frozen wall.

  Yurei turned away.

  “Next—”

  A sound interrupted him.

  Not from the street.

  From nowhere.

  A low hum.

  A ripple in reality.

  Behind Yurei—

  A red door opened.

  In a place that should not exist.

  Yurei froze.

  “…What,” he said slowly, “…is that?”

  From the Ethereal Realm—

  Akitsu Shouga opened his eyes.

  Black water stretched endlessly around the red island.

  Ninety petals drifted quietly.

  “…Guess that answers it,” Akitsu muttered.

  The red cherry blossom tree shed another petal.

  Ninety-one.

  A red door stood open.

  Through it—

  He saw Crestfall.

  Saw Rhen bleeding.

  Saw Yurei turning, confused.

  Akitsu stepped forward.

  “Round two,” he said softly.

  And walked through the door.

  Reality screamed.

  Light and spirit erupted as Akitsu reappeared mid-air behind Yurei, body reformed by Conjure’s authority, Joyeuse blazing brighter than before.

  Yurei spun too late.

  Akitsu drove the blade down—

  And the night shattered again.