The battlefield had quieted.
Fifty demons lay in ash.
But Sahiru stood like a statue of grief and fury, carved from ice.
His blade was still in hand, dripping remnants of scarlet energy. His cloak fluttered in the night wind. Not a single emotion flickered on his face.
Then—
The headache returned.
It slammed into his skull like thunder against stone. He gritted his teeth, stumbled back, and fell to one knee. His breath sharpened, shallow and quick. He clutched his face—
Blood dripped from his right eye.
And it burned.
"Ngh—!"
The demons, watching from the shadows, froze. Something unnatural was happening.
The wind stilled.
The trees whispered warnings.
Above them, the moon twisted into a deep crimson red.
It was no longer night. It was an omen.
And Sahiru's eye changed.
The blood vanished into the glow. The pupil became sharper, glowing like a blade dipped in fury and loss. From violet, it shifted to an intense scarlet—burning, cursed, eternal.
The demons took a step back.
"Wh-what is this…"
"That eye… it's not human—!"
And then—
Facade Breathing, Ninth Form: Death Reaper.
A single swing.
The world tore open.
A scarlet wave surged across the land, swallowing the horde of demons like a devouring eclipse. None had time to scream.
When the villagers emerged cautiously from their homes, the carnage was over.
Sahiru sat at the center of the battlefield—a lone figure atop mounds of ash, his sword buried in the earth beside him. One eye was hidden beneath his long bangs. The other…
Scarlet. Piercing. Cold.
The crimson moon lingered above.
An elder stepped forward, voice trembling.
"A-are you… Sahiru Orasawa?"
He didn't speak. He only nodded once.
The people bowed in gratitude. They wrapped a clean white bandage and handed it to him.
He tied it over the scarlet eye without a word.
And he walked away.
By dawn, he was gone.
But the elders gathered and spoke in hushed voices.
"That young man… he carries the weight of the dead."
"He fought like a god… but his heart is shattered."
And so, in the center of Kaminari Village, they erected a small shrine.
A shrine to the shadow with the scarlet eye.
To Sahiru.