A dimly lit chamber. The air was thick with power, suffocating in its presence.

  At the center sat a man, twirling a small pill between his fingers.

  Itsutsu Hayashi.

  The glow of the pill reflected in his darkened eyes—brimming with something manic, something unhinged.

  Around him, twenty warriors stood in silence, awaiting orders.

  One figure stepped forward, his smirk almost zy.

  YuYu.

  “Master,” he drawled, tilting his head. “There’s still a lot of Jūmonban and Kyūmonban guards posted around Suna’s chamber. Might be a little tough to get through.”

  A chuckle.

  Low at first. Then, it grew.

  Itsutsu’s lips curled into something between amusement and certainty.

  “That is no matter.”

  The pill spun faster between his fingers.

  “Nothing in this world can come between a man and his wife.”

  He raised his hand, fingers slicing through the air with effortless grace.

  The space trembled.

  And then—a door.

  A rift of swirling darkness formed before them, its edges rippling like liquid shadow.

  Itsutsu stepped forward.

  “It is time for our reunion.”

  As he crossed the threshold, six warriors followed.

  The door shut.

  Silence.

  Then—

  Screams.

  ?

  The faint scent of incense.

  Soft candlelight flickered against the wooden walls.

  Suna y still in her bed, frail but breathing. Her skin was pale, her Tamashkii signature barely flickering—like a candle on the verge of extinguishing.

  Then—

  The door creaked open.

  Footsteps.

  Slow. Deliberate.

  A figure stepped inside.

  His robes were stained with blood. His presence warped the air itself. His eyes gleamed with unnatural light.

  Itsutsu.

  A smile stretched across his face, filled with something twisted.

  “Oh, Suna… my love.” His voice was a whisper. A breath of madness and longing entwined. “I have finally done it. I can finally save you.”

  He stepped closer, his fingers twitching.

  “I have created the salvation we need—the key to our evolution. We can all be reborn, Suna. We can all evolve together.”

  A pause.

  Suna’s hazy eyes flickered toward him.

  A long, heavy silence.

  And then—

  “Who… are you?”

  A sharp, violent flicker in Itsutsu’s gaze.

  His breath hitched.

  “Suna… my love, don’t jest with me.” His voice wavered with an unsettling mix of amusement and something darker. “It’s me. It’s Itsutsu.”

  His hands trembled as he reached toward her.

  “I have done everything for you.”

  Suna just stared.

  Her eyes—clouded, weak—held something unshaken.

  “I don’t… I don’t know you.”

  A crack.

  A fracture in Itsutsu’s mind.

  But he held it back.

  “No. No, you must remember our son, at least. Watari.”

  That name.

  A flicker of recognition.

  Her lips parted.

  “Watari…”

  Her frail body stirred slightly.

  “My dear Watari… oh, my poor boy…”

  And then—her eyes found Itsutsu again.

  A flicker of true awareness.

  “Itsutsu… is that… you?”

  His heart clenched.

  She remembers.

  His grin widened.

  “Yes! Yes, my love! You see? I told you—”

  But her voice cut through him.

  Soft. Fragile.

  “Please tell me you’ve been taking care of our boy.”

  Silence.

  The grin froze.

  A heartbeat. A breath.

  Then—

  Itsutsu blinked.

  “Our… boy?” His tone had shifted. Unstable. Confused.

  “I— I have been working to better the Chūkan. To better you. The boy is… irrelevant at the moment.”

  Suna’s face darkened.

  Itsutsu’s voice trembled with desperation.

  “We can be together again, Suna. We can evolve. And then—then we can meet our boy. And we will evolve him too!”

  His hands clenched the air, his dream so close he could taste it.

  “The Ten Households no longer matter. The Hayashi will rise on their own!”

  Then—

  A whisper.

  “No.”

  He froze.

  His gaze snapped back to her.

  Suna’s eyes—fully lucid now—bore into him.

  “Truly… who are you?”

  “The man I’m looking at…” Her voice wavered, but her words were firm. “Cannot be my husband.”

  Something inside Itsutsu snapped.

  His breath sharpened.

  His Tamashkii pulsed.

  Then—

  A voice at the door.

  “Master.”

  Itsutsu’s head snapped to the side.

  Daisuke stood by the entrance, golden eyes scanning the hall.

  “Reinforcements are here.”

  Heavy footsteps thundered outside.

  Itsutsu exhaled sharply.

  “Now is not the time.”

  The door burst open.

  Ten guards flooded the room.

  Their weapons drawn.

  Their eyes sharp.

  And then—

  Itsutsu turned.

  “I said… now is not the time.”

  His hand lifted.

  His Reibaku shimmered.

  One motion.

  One cut.

  Ten bodies fell.

  Ten lives ended in a single instant.

  Blood painted the walls.

  Itsutsu turned back to Suna.

  And then—

  He stopped.

  Something was… wrong.

  Suna y there.

  Still.

  Her chest—motionless.

  Her Tamashkii—gone.

  She was…

  Dead.

  For the first time in years—

  Itsutsu’s mind emptied.

  He stared.

  A moment stretched into eternity.

  Then—

  Something broke.

  A shuddering breath.

  Then another.

  And then—

  Tamashkii surged.

  The walls shook.

  The air colpsed inward.

  The room itself groaned under the force of his agony.

  He had done everything.

  He had devoted everything.

  And in the end—

  He had lost.

  A scream tore through the halls.

  A roar of raw, unhinged devastation.

  Itsutsu Hayashi was no more.

  What remained—

  Was a monster.