The moment the ripple opened—

  Chaos.

  Ubuyō warriors surged forward like a bck tide. Screaming. Twisting. Bodies malformed by failed resonance, crackling with corrupted Tamashkii.

  Ren didn’t hesitate.

  “Tsukuyomi—Second State.”

  His aura shifted. The silver moon crest on his back pulsed, and his body became a blur of precise, elegant motion. His bde shimmered with pale energy, the very air bending as time stilled around him. One clean ssh—

  Silence.

  Then—

  Five Ubuyō fell at once, severed with surgical calm.

  Ryuko smirked, his cloak fluttering behind him. “Can’t let you have all the fun.”

  He stepped forward, his own form erupting in dark mist. “Erebus, Second State. Nemean!”

  His body glowed with crimson streaks as shadow pooled beneath him. From that shadow—chains whipped forward, binding limbs, breaking bones, dragging enemies into the darkness with brutal precision.

  Meanwhile, Akira held the line, arm gleaming with spiraling Tamashkii. His spirit arm moved independently—blocking while the other grabbing a charging Ubuyō and smashing it into the ground. His bde struck with devastating momentum, creating ruptures in the earth.

  “Three down, fifteen to go!” he called, grinning.

  A roar echoed through the field.

  Yumi stood at the edge, her eyes narrowing.

  “Kiyohime… light me a path.”

  The air around her shimmered.

  A fre of dragon-shaped fire burst forward—an elegant stream of golden fme that carved a clear path through the horde.

  Hinokami no Michi.

  (The Fme God’s Path.)

  The bze didn’t just burn—it purified. Every Ubuyō caught in its wake evaporated into sparks of corrupted Tamashkii.

  Yumi stepped through the path, her bde glowing faintly with residual heat. “Keep moving. We can’t let them push past the gate.”

  The others followed—until they felt it.

  Something shifted.

  Tamashkii flowed unnaturally through the air. Sparks from fallen Ubuyō didn’t dissipate—they floated. Spiraled. Pulled toward something.

  Ren’s eyes widened.

  “…It’s flowing somewhere.”

  Ryuko pointed ahead. “You think there’s a source?”

  Akira nodded. “Or something feeding off it.”

  Before they could move—

  A single ripple in the air.

  A blur.

  Ayase stepped through the carnage without drawing his bde.

  Instead—he lifted a hand.

  A Ubuyō lunged at him.

  Ayase flicked his fingers.

  The creature stopped mid-air—suspended by invisible threads of Tamashkii. Then, with one swift motion, it contorted unnaturally, bones snapping before it colpsed in a heap.

  Another Ubuyō charged.

  Ayase calmly pced his palm toward it—no contact, just focus.

  Boom.

  A perfect hole punched clean through the enemy’s chest. It evaporated into sparks.

  Ayase moved like a conductor, orchestrating the very essence of battle.

  Controlling Tamashkii in the air, not just within himself.

  Yumi stared in quiet awe. “He’s not even fighting…”

  Ren nodded. “He’s commanding.”

  Ryuko whistled. “Now that’s a lieutenant.”

  More Ubuyō approached, but Ayase didn’t flinch. With every motion of his palm, another fell. His control was fwless—seamless. Not a wasted movement.

  Then—

  The squad stopped.

  They all turned, following the sparks of Tamashkii.

  They weren’t floating aimlessly.

  They were drifting.

  Toward something.

  Akira narrowed his eyes. “…Ayase.”

  Ayase gnced over his shoulder. “What?”

  Then—

  “Behind you!” Akira shouted.

  Too te.

  A massive hand reached from the shadows—

  Toshiro.

  His palm smmed into Ayase’s skull, cracking the ground beneath them as the lieutenant was driven into the earth.

  The shockwave bsted outward.

  The squad staggered.

  Ren’s eyes fred. “Ayase!”

  Ryuko’s expression darkened.

  Toshiro looked up slowly, his red eyes gleaming.

  Cracks spread across the stone under his feet.

  “You shouldn’t have turned your back.”

  He lifted Ayase’s limp body by the colr.

  And grinned.

  “Let me show you how the New Order fights.”

  He flings Ayase’s body into a wall.

  CUT TO BLACK.