The Breaking Embrace

"YUMEMARU!!!"

The thunder of the closure was final.

(CLACK-RATCHET-GRRRNNN!)

The arc of light from the Half Moon extinguished the moment the breach sealed with a clash of metal against metal, leaving Yumemaru submerged in an artificial gloom, lit only by the erratic glow of overloaded gears.

(CLANK... HISSSS...!!)

Whereupon Yumemaru landed heavily in the center of what was now a perfect, urban-scale cell.

"Haa... haa... kgh..."

There was no elegance in his fall; the blow to his solar plexus had left his lungs burning and his vision blurred, while a steady stream of crimson blood dripped from his chin, staining the aurora floor that—under the pressure of the prison—was beginning to turn an ashen gray.

"HKKK-URGH!"

He gasped raggedly for air, the metallic taste of blood flooding his mouth.

(SH-SH-SH-SHIN!!)

But there was no time to process the pain.

"Tsk!"

Without warning, the invisible slashes returned; but this time they didn't come from the sky—they ricocheted off the prison walls, multiplying their angles of attack.

"Tenjou no Kaze!"

In response, Yumemaru, forcing his muscles to the breaking point, raised Split Moon once more.

(SHIN-SHIN-SHIN-SHING!!)

Becoming once again a whirlwind where the silver flashes of his sword clashed against the vacuum in an omnidirectional dance.

(SHIN-THUD-SHIN-PACH!)

Each impact resonated in his bones like a hammer as he defended himself, unable to see the origin of the attacks, reacting only through pure survival instinct.

(VZRRTT-SHING-DOK!!)

The air around him was saturated with static and sparks of pulverized metal as he intercepted blows that no sense could perceive through speed alone. Seizing a thousandth of a second between the bursts of slashes, Yumemaru propelled himself toward the shadows projected by a gigantic piston moving rhythmically.

"Hck... khrrr...! Just... one damn second... I can't... keep up with them in this state..."

Yumemaru hid in the mechanical darkness, pressing his back against the cold bronze, attempting to suppress his spiritual presence while the city continued to reassemble itself with an endless creak.

(GRRR-NN-DDD!)

He knew that hiding was useless in the long run.

(KRR-R-R-A-CKKK... CHONK!)

They were out there, watching, learning from the rhythm of his breathing and the angle of his defense.

"Dammit..."

Yumemaru tried to calm the pulse of his presence and merge with the surroundings.

"Damn it... I get the message. This isn't just a prison... it's a punishment."

He knew the personality of each of those wretches all too well; he knew they were all lunatics who were settling a debt, and with whom it was impossible to reason.

"What’s the matter, failed swordsman?"

Then, amidst the grinding of the gears, a voice he would have preferred never to hear again filtered through.

"Are you warming up already, or is the air of your own weakness becoming too heavy for you?"

The voice seeped through the cracks of the gears, vibrating with a resonance that was both melodious and terrifying. It possessed an icy elegance, the authority of one who knows they are superior, but it carried a savage undertone—a thirst for conflict that seemed to want to tear the very air apart.

(SHRAAAAAK!!!)

Before the echo of the question could fade, a vacuum slash sliced through the metal of the piston as if it were butter.

"Dammit!"

Yumemaru leaped at the last possible second, his body spinning in mid-air while bronze fragments rained down around him.

"Are you going to tell me you're still furious about last time?! It was just a strategic move!"

After landing on the grayish aurora floor, Yumemaru broke into a run, feeling her gaze pinned to his back.

"Strategic?"

The voice replied with a piercing softness that made Yumemaru shudder.

"You gave me a taste of your strength, you forced me to unsheathe my will... and then, when the blood was finally boiling, you simply walked away. That wasn't strategy, swordsman. It was an insult."

(VRP-VRP-VRP-VRP-VRP-VRP!!!)

Suddenly, the ceiling of the mechanical prison vanished beneath a web of omnidirectional slashes.

"But there is no resentment."

Accompanying those words came a flood of invisible steel, a rain of technical hatred that sought to claim every corner of the cell. Yumemaru was forced to wield Split Moon in a frantic choreography, blocking impacts that felt like hammer blows.

"LIAR!!"

(ZING-TK-SHIN-PACH-ZING-TK-SHIN-PACH-VZZZZZT-SHING-SHIN-K-K-K-K-SHING!)

Mid-shout, Yumemaru’s feet skidded as he blocked the unleashed omnidirectional attacks, dodging a slash that opened a thin line across his shoulder.

"Nobody wastes this much energy unless they’re holding a personal grudge! What hurts you is that I left you wanting more, ending the game too soon!"

In response to those words, a short, musical laugh—drowned out by the clashing steel and charged with a murderous intent that made his teeth vibrate—was the only reply.

"This time, you won't run."

To her, Yumemaru was the most valuable prey: the only one who had given her a real fight, and the only one who had the audacity to leave it unfinished.

(VZZZZZT-SHING-VZZZZZT-SHING-VZZZZZT-SHING-VZZZZZT-SHING-VZZZZZT-SHING!)

"Now!"

With surgical movements of Split Moon, he had been tracing an opening in the grayish aurora floor.

(S-S-S-S-SCHRIIII-T... K-CHONK-BWAM!)

In one fluid motion, he plunged the blade in and dropped through the hole, seeking refuge in the lower levels of the city, far from the warrior's gaze.

"The probability of you choosing this escape route was eighty-four percent."

However, as soon as his feet touched the metal walkways of the underground, a new vibration rippled through the air.

"Commencing experimentation."

It was a voice both mechanical and melodious, devoid of the previous one's warlike passion, but charged with a clinical curiosity that made his skin crawl.

(CREAK... CLANK-CHUNK!!)

In response to her words, the bronze pipes around Yumemaru began to twist and reassemble like metal serpents, closing the hallways and seeking to ensnare his limbs.

"Dammit!"

Reacting in an instant as he recognized the voice, Yumemaru broke into a run, his boots echoing against the metal.

"I understand that lunatic up there chasing me for her wounded pride, but you?! Why are you chasing me?!"

"Simple."

She answered with a terrifying neutrality.

"To collect data. Your physiological reactions under extreme stress are data points I cannot afford to waste when gathering information."

(HISSSSSSSSSSS!!!)

The valves on the pipes burst wide open, releasing a lethal mixture of vapors—a cocktail of mind-clouding aphrodisiac gases, flammable clouds ready to ignite, chemical sedatives, and mists of corrosive acid that began to dissolve the metal of the walkways.

"It was stupid to even ask you!"

Yumemaru spun his sword at a dizzying speed, turning Split Moon into a circular saw of silver light that generated a hurricane-force gust to repel the gases.

"I should have remembered that to you, this whole world is nothing more than a damn test tube!"

The "scientist" did not respond with anger, but with the sound of gears adjusting as she dissected every ounce of energy Yumemaru spent to stay alive.

"Damn you both!"

Yumemaru then saw the sparks from the gears clashing with the flammable gases.

(SKREEEEEE!)

The "scientist" was preparing a controlled detonation.

(K-BOOOOOOOM-FWOOSH!)

At the last second, Yumemaru plunged Split Moon into the metal ceiling. With an upward slash fueled by desperation, he carved a breach, propelling himself toward the surface just as the air behind him turned white.

(BOOOOOOOOOM!!!)

A tongue of chemical fire and bronze shrapnel erupted from the depths, blasting him toward the surface with devastating force.

(THWACK!!!)

However, the relief of escaping that hell lasted less than a second.

"UGHH-K-BLUURGH!"

Scarcely had his head cleared the opening when the world came to a halt.

"Everyone always forgets about me..."

Soundless, traceless—a dry, imperceptible impact struck him full in the face. Yumemaru felt his bones vibrate as a fresh mouthful of crimson blood erupted from his lips.

(SMASH... CRASH-GRAAAAASH!!!)

His body was sent flying by the impact of an invisible blow, ricocheting off the remains of a clock tower before landing violently in the middle of the central plaza.

"Haa... kgh... Dammit..."

On the ground, Yumemaru spat a thick clot of blood onto the cracked pavement.

"Of all of them, it had to be you to deliver the blow. The most problematic of the trio..."

The air in the central plaza shifted.

"It’s so painful... It hurts me so much to have to hurt others when the only thing my heart desires is to embrace them..."

A new voice sprouted from nowhere, laden with a childish shyness that contrasted horribly with the devastation surrounding it.

"I love you so much... all of you..."

Yumemaru tried to stand, but an invisible pressure forced his shoulders down again.

"That's why... that's why I have to break you. If I don't break you until there's nothing left, how can I keep you inside me forever?"

The figure remained hidden, but her presence expanded like an oil slick.

"You and your stupid concept of love!"

The combination of that melancholic voice and the imperceptible violence of her blows revealed the third "sister": a creature who sought neither data nor honor, but an eternal union through dismemberment.