Kaname's hand slipped from Yasushi's face, leaving him feeling exposed. The warmth of her touch momentarily lingered before evanescing, quickly devoured by the grim reality facing them.

  Her expression stayed enigmatic despite Zei’s looming presence, amplifying Yasushi's mounting dread.

  He positioned himself between Kaname and Zei, hands clenching the crowbar while water droplets formed a translucent barrier around them.

  "Stay away from her," Yasushi growled, his voice carrying more conviction than his body felt.

  Observing the feeble attempt to confront him, Zei placed his free hand on his waist and burst into a hardy laughter, craning his head upward. His hold around the yazumi’s head cinched, forcing it to painfully gasp for a breath, squirming weakly for freedom.

  "Oh, brave little prince," he playfully mocked, subsiding his chuckles. "Do you really think you're in any position to make demands?"

  Pulling his arm backwards, he launched the mangled yazumi at Yasushi, erupting his water barrier like paper. The impact drove him backwards, crashing into the cavern wall, his spine connecting with stone as the yazumi's body collapsed on top of him. The creature mumbled in agony, tears streaming down its face lying on top of him.

  Yasushi stared into the yazumi's anguished eyes, his body convulsing with horror. His mouth went dry as the wetness of its blood and organs soaked into his clothing. The stench of burnt flesh mixed with its dying mutters petrified him, seizing up his mind and body.

  Watching him succumb to fear, the yazumi took its final breath, leaving its lifeless eyes boring into Yasushi's.

  Kaname rose to her feet and glided forward, brushing past Zei as he advanced toward Yasushi. The shackles around her ankles and wrists forced her into a stilted gait, metal clinking with each attempted step. Measuring the sound of her captivity, her concentration dropped to the restraints, eyes tracking the chains back to the anchor sturdily implanted into the wall.

  Ignoring her peculiar actions, Zei kept his attention on Yasushi, kicking the yazumi’s corpse off him then snatching his right arm.

  "Lesson #1..." he snarked, brutally hurling him across the room. "Ears that can't listen to advice will always follow the head when it's chopped off!"

  His body slammed into the wall billowing dust around him as cracks spider-webbed through the stone. He slumped to the ground, pupils rotating white, sprouting blood out his mouth. Desperately, Yasushi raised his juddering hands, swirling his energy to form another pitiful barrier.

  "Come on!!! Is that all you can muster?” Zei shouted, curling his lips in disgust. The meager water streams harmlessly sizzled around him, striding forward.

  "You're weak! Yet you continue to refuse to heed my words, clinging to this farce you call strength?!"

  He closed the short distance between them in a flash, his hand clamping around Yasushi's hair like an iron vise.

  "Lesson # 2... It's easier to build a strong child…,” he roared, effortlessly hefting his full weight and thrashing him into the adjacent wall. "Than to mend a broken man!"

  The devastating impact crumpled Yasushi’s body, audibly cracking his ribs under the force. A shriek of agony tore from his throat as he slid to the ground. Responding to his urge to fight, water pooled from cracks in the floor, looping around his battered form then propelling a volley of pressurized water shards toward Zei.

  Making no effort to evade, the water splashed against Zei's skin and evaporated without leaving a scratch. He wiped the moisture from his face with the back of his hand, his expression darkening with irritation.

  "When will you learn, boy!"

  His boot slammed down on Yasushi's face, relentlessly grinding his cheek into the muddied dirt. Overwhelmed from the tremendous pressure, the stone fissured beneath them, cratering him further into the ground.

  "Lesson #3..."

  He bent low, whiffing the metallic tang of the yazumi’s blood glazing Yasushi's clothes. "False confidence is a weak man's vice!"

  Blood dribbled down Yasushi's forehead, turning his vision into a crimson blur. Through the red haze obscuring his sight, he stretched his ravaged limbs toward Kaname standing nearby.

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  "K…ka...na?!" he croaked, his voice less than a whisper.

  She stood impassively unmoved, her face a pillar of indifference assessing his broken body sprawled across the fractured floor. Frost seemingly coated her eyes, betraying no emotion. Dismissing his plea, she shifted her gaze back onto the mounted clock.

  11:08

  Zei's eyes flashed with rage and delivered a savage kick, blasting Yasushi through several walls into the small gathering area where his subordinates lounged.

  The group leapt to their feet, startled by the sudden intrusion. Dust and debris clouded the air as Yasushi's body rolled to a stop, teetering on the edge of consciousness as a broken heap on the floor.

  11:09

  Striding through the hole in the wall, he grabbed Yasushi's leg and rang his voice out, addressing the room.

  "Let this be a lesson to all of you!! This is the fate that awaits those who cling to weakness, who refuse to understand true strength."

  Then, with tempered, vicious strength, he hoisted him up and slammed him back down into the ground. The crack of breaking bone echoed through the lounge as his leg imploded under the impact.

  A tormented wail wrenched from his lungs, perishing into whimpers burdened by pain. Battling against the encroaching darkness dimming his peripherals, he barely managed to lift his head. Waves of affliction radiated down his spine, struggling to comprehend his injuries.

  Lacerations crisscrossed his skin, his blood gurgling from countless wounds. His left leg kinked at a grotesque angle, white bone jutting through the gaping flesh split wide open, becoming the gruesome sight destroying his will. Shards of wood and glass embedded themselves deep into his arms and torso, stirring fresh jolts of agony through his nervous system. Swelling distorted his face, sealing one eye shut while the other grappled to focus.

  Zei's cruel words rampaged through Yasushi's mind, each "lesson" searing deeper than his physical wounds. The scenery around him distorted, reality warping as his mind reeled from the brutal revelations.

  Memories of his expectations, recognition and achievements flashed like rapid-fire through his splintering skull, all recollection of his pride turning hollow and brittle.

  HOW??!!...

  HOW AM I THIS WEAK?...

  I AM THE HEIR TO THE CHIKA CLAN! I’VE EXCELLED AT EVERYTHING I’VE DONE!!

  EVERYONE TOLD ME I’M STRONG! I’M THE BEST! WAS IT ALL A LIE? AM I REALLY THIS WEAK?

  11:10

  The subordinates watched in a stunned silence mixed with morbid fascination. None dared to intervene as Zei hovered over Yasushi, his silhouette imposing against the dust-clouded air.

  "Remember this, boy, so your feeble mind can grasp it. You either live strong or die weak. There is no middle ground, no mercy for those who refuse to embrace their true strength. You and your pathetic father need to learn your place!"

  Yasuhi's neck gave out, his head dropping as breathing turned shallow and labored. Consciousness began slipping through his grasp like water through broken fingers. Through the haze of pain and dust, his gaze floated back toward Kaname's direction, her shadow stagnant in the same spot watching the clock's steady ticks,

  Is this why you turn your back on me? …why you said those words?

  Do you no longer care for me?

  Do I mean nothing to you?

  …Now that you know… Now that you see… how I’m weak…

  IS THIS WHY YOU ABANDONED ME?

  The questions screamed within his fragmenting mind, gouging his heart. His body convulsed as rage burned through the physical anguish consuming him.

  YOU THINK I'M WEAK?!

  YOU THINK I'M WORTHLESS!!

  YOU THINK YOU CAN REJECT ME!!!

  YOU THINK I’M SO LOWLY!!!!

  Suddenly, in a moment of utter desolation, his awareness fractured, losing consciousness.

  11:11

  Harboring a sinister intent, Zei stepped onto Yasushi’s stomach, causally proceeding towards a needle-point knife lying on the ground.

  “Since you refuse to understand your disobedience... to accept your weakness…” he whispered, retrieving the blade and examining its edge. “... I'll carve it into you."

  He lifted his index finger, sparking a steady flame at the tip. The knife rotated over the fire until smoke began rising from the heated point. As the smoke dissolved into the air, a deafening clash erupted behind him. Immobilized by an unfamiliar sensation of dread slithering up his spine, his hands shivered without permission, clattering the knife to the ground. Confusion passed across his face staring upon his agitated hands. The screams of his men resonated in his ears like a symphony of trepidation.

  He ploddingly turned around, eyes widening as Kaname unleashed a whirlwind of destruction. She moved with inhuman speed and monstrous strength, belying to her small frame. The chains restraining her, used as lethal weapons crushing and ripping apart his men with every swing.

  His men scrambled to defend themselves, their efforts futile against her ravenous onslaught. The room descended into bloody chaos, overtaken by her unexpected assault.

  Transfixed, a bead of cold sweat flowed down Zei's temple. Genuine fear flickered in his eyes, watching Kaname lick the blood from her hand while holding a severed arm in the other.

  She sighed, circling her shoulder and creaking her neck. Her voice, meek and unbothered, viewing Yasushi's unconscious body.

  "I was ordered to not kill you... I don't understand why, but you're needed alive."

  Her eyes narrowed and struck a foreboding glare at Zei, relinquishing a gush of aura sliding him backwards.

  "So I'm going to break you..."