Chapter 16: No More Running
Yusuke rolled his shoulders, standing up from the bed. His energy was crackling, pushing against his skin like it was too much for his body to contain.
Across the room, Raizen sat in the dark.
No throne, no armor—he didn't need them.
His presence alone commanded the space.
Those sharp, ancient eyes watched Yusuke—judging. Calculating.
Waiting.
"Still hot-headed, I see," Raizen finally muttered.
Yusuke scoffed. "Like you're any better."
Raizen smirked, the sharp edges of his teeth flashing in the dim light.
"Damn right I'm not."
A wind swept through the room—cold, biting. It smelled like rain, like blood, like war.
Yusuke turned toward the bed.
Keiko was still asleep. Peaceful, for once.
But she was too pale. Her body was still too weak.
His fists clenched.
She deserved better than this.
She deserved a life.
He exhaled through his nose and turned back to Raizen. "We do this fast."
Raizen chuckled—low and dangerous.
"Fast?" His voice was deep, heavy with something older than time itself.
His gaze flickered toward the window, where lightning tore across the sky, illuminating the mountains beyond the castle walls.
"Boy," he murmured, stretching out his arms, his own energy rising like a dormant beast waking up, "you don't rush war."
Yusuke's jaw tightened.
Raizen stood.
The very air shifted.
It felt heavier. Denser.
Like gravity itself bowed to him.
Yusuke had felt it before—this presence. The kind of power that makes the universe hold its breath.
Raizen wasn't just a king.
He was the King.
And he had never once lost a war.
Raizen rolled his shoulders, casual, effortless. Like this was just another night. Another battle.
"Tell me something, Yusuke." He stepped forward, his voice almost conversational. "What's your plan?"
Yusuke frowned. "Huh?"
Raizen tilted his head. "Your plan."
Yusuke blinked. "Uh. Find Kageyami. Beat the shit outta him. Come home."
Raizen chuckled. A deep, knowing sound.
"That's why you're still a kid."
Yusuke's eye twitched. "What?"
Raizen stopped just inches in front of him, his towering frame casting a shadow.
Yusuke felt it—that sheer, immeasurable power rolling off him in waves.
"Kageyami is not a fighter." Raizen's voice was calm, patient—but deadly. "He's a tactician. He doesn't throw punches. He moves pieces. And you?" His eyes glowed faintly in the dark. "You're playing into his hands."
Yusuke clenched his fists. "So what? You think we just let him sit there? Let him get away with everything he's done?"
Raizen let out a slow breath.
Then—his energy surged.
The castle trembled.
The air crackled, alive, pulsing with raw, unfiltered power.
Raizen's gaze locked onto Yusuke.
"I think you should listen."
Yusuke swallowed.
Raizen had a way of making even him shut up.
The Demon King walked past him, toward the open balcony overlooking the kingdom.
The wind howled against the castle, sweeping through his hair, tugging at his robes.
But he stood, unmoving.
"Tell me," he said, voice smooth. "What do you think Kageyami's been doing while you were busy playing the enraged lover?"
Yusuke gritted his teeth. "Hiding."
Raizen smirked. "Wrong."
Yusuke's eyes narrowed.
Raizen turned toward him, his face eerily calm.
"Kageyami was never going to run. He was waiting for you to come to him."
The words hit like a gut punch.
Yusuke felt his heartbeat slow.
Raizen leaned against the stone railing. "He's been preparing. Reinforcing. Studying every move you've ever made."
His gaze turned sharper.
"You don't win a war by running toward it like a dumbass with fists."
Yusuke's teeth gritted.
"Then how?"
Raizen's smirk widened.
His energy coiled around him, dark and ancient, stretching across the sky like a storm waiting to break.
"We bring war to his doorstep."
The wind howled, thunder shaking the heavens.
"His territory."
"His people."
"His empire."
Raizen's eyes gleamed, the warrior king reborn.
"We don't attack him."
His voice dropped to something cold. Dangerous.
"We take everything from him."
Yusuke's breath hitched.
Raizen turned fully, rolling his shoulders.
"You ready, kid?"
Yusuke looked back.
Keiko was still there.
Still breathing.
Still his.
That was all he needed.
He turned back to Raizen.
His Mazoku blood stirred, burning under his skin.
Yusuke smirked.
"Let's f*ing end this."*
Raizen's grin widened, teeth flashing.
A warrior. A king. A monster.
"That's more like it."
And the moment they stepped out into the night—
The sky split open.
Energy roared around them.
Raizen's power surged, stretching for miles, waking every demon that had ever feared him.
And Yusuke—
Yusuke let the beast out.
A thunderous explosion of energy tore through the sky, cracking the ground beneath them.
Their war had begun.
And Kageyami had nowhere left to run.