Shigure stood under the crimson sky watching the temple burn. The screams behind him felt distant like echoes from a past life he no longer belonged to. The flame's heat licked his skin but he didn't move. His clothes were soaked in blood most of it not his but some definitely was. The bandages on his side had long been torn open. He didn't care.
The girl he saved was gone. Again.
Every time he tried to reach someone they slipped away like smoke through his fingers. This time he swore he was fast enough. Smart enough. Strong enough. But reality didn't care about promises. The gods didn't care. Fate only watched.
A broken whisper clawed at his throat.
"I'm tired of losing..."
Behind him the masked figures stepped through the burning wreckage. They didn't run. They knew he was too broken to fight back. His sword was still in the corpse of the one who mattered. His legs didn't move. His fingers didn't close. He could barely breathe through the silence in his head.
One of the masked ones raised a blade.
Then froze.
The sky cracked.
Not thunder. Not magic.
A soundless ripple of reality itself being torn open.
The masked ones looked up.
So did Shigure.
And for the first time in forever
He smiled.
Because something worse than him was coming.
And it would burn everything.