KUSHIDA
The man in white-Ren-stood firmly, his halo glowing faintly, a ring of light trembling between him and Death. His expression wasn't hostile; it was calm, almost pleading, as though he'd come to talk rather than fight.
But Death didn't move. He stood his ground, the air around him humming with quiet menace.
"every soul must yield when the hour of reckoning comes," Kurose said, his voice low;more warning than threat.
"You know this is wrong," Ren replied evenly. "She doesn't deserve to die."
Death's crimson gaze flickered, his tone cold and unyielding. "Everyone dies, Ren. Kings, dukes, beggars,they all meet me eventually. She is no different."
"She is not," Ren admitted softly. "But she deserves better. The world has been cruel to her. She deserves more than to die drowning in regret."
Kurose's shadow stirred, restless and dark. "Her time is up. You know the rules. As a guardian angel, you cannot interfere when Death comes to claim a soul. And you know the consequences of disobedience."
"I do."
Ren's fingers flexed, his stance shifting. The air trembled as light rippled across his form.
"Ren, stop this." Kurose's tone deepened, his presence spreading like ink. "Even if you fight, it's a battle you won't win."
Ren didn't answer. The tension between them crackled
light against shadow
compassion against inevitability.
I took a few shaky steps back, my pulse hammering. They were talking about me, arguing over whether I should live or die, as if I were some cosmic pawn trapped in their law. I wanted no part of it. I wanted to run.
But before I could move, that invisible force; cold, ancient-wrapped around me again. It yanked me still, freezing me in place as the two beings faced each other, my fate caught between them.
"Ren, move away," Kurose warned, voice sharp like steel.
"I can't," Ren said, eyes blazing with quiet defiance. "If you want her, you'll have to go through me."
"The moment you interfere with the law, angels die," Kurose hissed. "They vanish,erased from Heaven and Earth alike. You'd risk your existence for this?"
Ren's voice softened. "Maybe."
Kurose's eyes darkened. "You're betting eternity on a maybe?,on her?"
The world trembled.
The air itself seemed to split as Ren's halo flared,white light spilling outward like a sunrise tearing through endless night. Across from him, Kurose's shadow deepened, thick and cold, swallowing the street until only fragments of the frozen world glimmered beyond the dark.
When they moved, the stillness shattered.
Ren struck first. A blinding flash seared the air, his palm sweeping forward, releasing a wave of radiance that carved through the darkness like a blade of heaven. It struck the ground where Death had stood—
But Kurose was faster.
The shadow behind him folded inward, and he stepped through it as if the world itself bent to make way. He reappeared beside Ren, movements smooth, deliberate. With a flick of his wrist, his black halo expanded, spinning like an eclipse. The street cracked beneath its pressure, asphalt splintering into dust.
Ren countered. Wings of light unfurled behind him in a burst of celestial fire, their glow so pure it hurt to look at. He caught the spinning halo between two beams of light-holding it, for a heartbeat.
Then Kurose clenched his fist.
The halo exploded outward in a pulse of darkness. The light cracked like glass.
Ren was hurled backward, crashing through the frozen mist of suspended raindrops. His form sliced through time itself before he steadied midair, wings flickering, face set in grim resolve.
Kurose rose to meet him, each step soundless. The world dimmed with every movement. Neon signs sputtered and died; the last traces of color devoured by the void curling at his feet.
"You can't win," Kurose said quietly. "Light burns out. Darkness endures."
Ren's eyes blazed. "Then I'll burn brighter."
He dove.
The sky erupted-light and shadow colliding in a storm of chaos. Beams of radiance tore through blackness, illuminating fragments of a world no longer moving. Every strike from Ren sent ripples of gold and silver through the clouds, while each counter from Kurose drenched them in crimson and black.
Ren moved like a storm of light-graceful, furious, divine. His fists and wings blurred, carving streaks of brilliance through the air. Kurose met him with calm precision, his strikes measured, each conjuring tendrils of shadow that twisted like serpents, devouring all light that touched them.
When they clashed again, existence itself seemed to crack. The sky splintered, streaks of radiance spilling through as though heaven had fractured under the weight of their power.
Ren gritted his teeth, pushing forward. "You call yourself Death," he shouted through the chaos, "but even Death answers to the divine!"
Kurose caught his wrist mid-strike. "And yet here I stand," he whispered, voice smooth and merciless.
Darkness surged up his arm, coiling around Ren's hand like smoke. Ren's halo flared, burning the shadow away, but Kurose's power was relentles-ancient, patient, inevitable.
He stepped in and pressed his palm to Ren's chest.
The light flickered.
Ren gasped as Kurose drew a sigil in the air, black lines weaving into a pulsing circle that sank into the angel's chest. His halo dimmed instantly.
Ren's eyes widened. "What did you-"
"The silence of endings," Kurose said.
Light bled from Ren's wounds...not blood, but brilliance, scattering into the night like dying stars. His wings faltered. Every beat weaker. Slower.
But then-beneath the fading glow,something flickered.
A pulse. A heartbeat that refused to stop.
The light returned;first faint, then blinding. Lines of white fire spread through Ren's veins, constellations blooming across his skin. His halo, once dim, roared back to life, larger and edged with gold.
Kurose's eyes narrowed. "Ren…"
The angel's voice trembled but held steady. "If this is how I end," he said, "then let it mean something."
He thrust his palm forward.
The world ignited.
The explosion of light shattered the air, ripping through shadow and silence alike. The shockwave struck Kurose and hurled him into the ground with enough force to make the frozen city quake.
For the first time, Death fell.
And instantly,the invisible force holding me broke.
Air rushed back into my lungs in a gasp. My body shook, free at last. I stumbled forward, trembling, as the storm of light faded into drifting fragments around us.
Ren descended slowly, wings battered and torn, each step leaving faint traces of radiance behind him. He was fading,his glow dimming.But his eyes found me, steady, gentle, resolute.
Behind him, Kurose stirred, shadow gathering again like smoke crawling back toward its master.
Ren didn't hesitate.
He reached me in three staggering steps. His halo,once a perfect circle of heaven's light,flickered in his hand, faint but alive. He looked down at it, then at me.
"I'm sorry," he said softly. "But this is all I can do."
Before I could speak, he pressed the glowing halo against my chest.
The world went white.
The light surged through me like a heartbeat too vast to contain, a warmth so pure it burned the air. My breath caught as I lifted from the ground, weightless, glowing. The light enveloped everything—soft, infinite, endless.
Through it all, I saw Ren's smile;tired, peaceful, radiant.
Then the world slipped away.
The city dissolved into streams of color and starlight as I drifted upward, weightless, suspended between sky and eternity. The last thing I saw was Ren kneeling in the fading glow, his wings unraveling into dust as Kurose rose again behind him, silent and eternal.
And then-
there was nothing but the stars...