The cold did not relent.
Snow spiraled as if stirred by ghosts, and the once-majestic courtyard of the Aizu compound became a stage of blood and battered wills. Ishikawa, bent but unbroken, faced Captain Hayate Kurigawa. The shattered war fan lay half-buried in rubble. Cracks laced its polished surface like spiderwebs struggling to hold form.
"You walk through the wind," Hayate said, breath visible. "But not unscathed."
Ishikawa coughed, pain lancing his side. Blood stained the snow black.
Hayate's haori flared as the wind he commanded began to churn violently, circling his body like a storm returning to its eye. From beneath his robes, he pulled a hidden blade—shorter than a katana, longer than a tanto. A Kogatana, etched with jade runes.
"Fan or not," he murmured, "the wind obeys my will."
Ishikawa readied his twin blades. His left hand trembled.
Then—
"Asaki!"
A new voice split the air.
From the collapsing shrine, Asaki stumbled forth, her sword—Kiyoki—clutched in both hands. Her breath came ragged, her body bruised, but her spirit burned bright.
"I won't let you take him!" she cried.
Hayate didn't even turn.
"You're the girl who wields the sword of reason," he said. "That blade was forged for clarity. Pity it was placed in shaking hands."
Asaki's eyes narrowed. "Then let them steady."
She stepped forward, feet firm.
Ishikawa looked up. "You shouldn't be here—"
"I should," she replied. "Because I remember."
Flashes of memory surged in her. The night Yumi was kidnapped. The fire consuming Kalari. The helplessness that gripped her.
No more.
Asaki raised Kiyoki, and its surface glimmered with snowfall light. The blade began to hum.
Shikkiri: Shirayuki no Mae (執切り・白雪の舞) — Snow's First Dance.
A burst of white energy exploded outward. Hayate turned at last, brows raised.
"Interesting," he said.
From Kiyoki, spirals of crystalline frost bloomed outward. Asaki twirled, each step graceful, measured, exacting. Ice formed beneath her feet in a perfect spiral.
Ishikawa's eyes widened. "She's created a new form…"
Hayate responded with a flick of his blade.
Fūu Saigen: Kazamune no Tenkai — once more, the air turned against them. Wind blades screamed toward Asaki.
But Kiyoki glowed brighter. Snow hardened midair, forming a lattice of frozen symbols.
Each blade of wind struck a wall of frost—and shattered.
Asaki charged.
Shikkiri: Tōka Setsurin (執切り・透華雪輪) — Transparent Bloom, Snow Ring.
She sliced upward, a crescent of snow arcing toward Hayate. He parried, but frost clung to his sleeve. Slowed. Restrained.
Ishikawa rose despite the pain. "We do this together."
He joined her, swords humming with Yamibarai no Kata. Together, they encircled Hayate.
But the captain was not yet undone.
He sheathed his kogatana.
Then breathed deep.
Final Commandment: Kōfū no Kekkai (鋼風の結界) — Barrier of Steel Wind.
A dome of slicing wind burst from him. Asaki screamed as she was thrown back, crashing into stone. Ishikawa was caught mid-step, sliced across the chest.
He collapsed.
Hayate stepped forward, face unreadable.
"I underestimated you," he said to Asaki, who struggled to rise. "But raw emotion is not mastery."
He raised the kogatana.
Wind circled.
"Goodbye."
He struck downward—
—but never reached her.
A flash.
Steel met steel.
Asaki stood. Her blade buried in Hayate's side.
The look in her eyes was not anger.
It was sorrow.
Hayate looked down at the wound. Frost spread from the cut, freezing the blood as it flowed.
He stumbled.
"I see…" he whispered. "Snow… against wind. Balance."
He collapsed.
Ishikawa crawled to her side. "You…"
Asaki knelt beside him. "We finish it together. That's what you taught me."
Above them, the clouds shifted.
The black banners approached.
The Dragon of Ash had not yet entered the battlefield.
But now, two stood ready.
Not just the blade that drinks heaven.
But the snow that sees clearly.
**To be continued…**