The world went black.The last thing Yukio felt was the cool, gritty press of dirt against his cheek, the metallic tang of blood on his tongue, and that faint, stubborn thrum of triumph in his chest.He didn't lose. He didn't lose.That half delirious, half defiant thought alone held him fixed to existence till all was lost.---Then came silence. Not peaceful, but just absolute, so deep it seemed to swallow even the idea of sound. The dark bled into gray, then blossomed into blinding white.When Yukio opened his eyes, he was no longer on the battlefield. The fire, the blood, the pain. all gone.No ground, no sky, no smell.Just light. Suffocatingly endless light.He stood or so he thought, in a void so vast it hurt to look at: no up, no down, only weightless stillness.He raised a trembling hand to his chest.No pain, no scars, not even the faintest trace of fatigue.Whole again."…Did I die again?"He muttered; his voice was startlingly loud in the nothingness."Well, that's not fai

The room was quiet, too quiet. The only sound was the soft rhythm of Michibiki's breathing, slow and steady against Yukio's chest. In the dim light, he could feel her weight resting comfortably on him, her head tucked beneath his chin. Sometime during the night, she had migrated across the bed again, using him as a pillow as if it was her divine right. Typical. A blaze of light sliced through the darkness before he could even drift back into a deeper sleep, making Yukio flinch and blink blearily at a rectangular window of blinding white energy hovering inches from his face. "Aww, what now…" He mumbled and threw an arm over his eyes. The shimmering air around the glowing panel showed shifting text. --- [System Alert] [System Unlocked: Threads of Fate] New Path Unlocked - Threads of Fate Your tie to fortune is strengthened. Destiny

The open plain, once a battleground of dirt and noise, had gone still under the gentle mid-morning light. The air was crisp and clean, tinged with the scent of damp soil and pine wafting from the nearby Evergreen Forest. Golden-green blades of grass swayed indolently, whispering secrets to one another in the breeze. The river, which cut through the field, sparkled in the sunlight, its surface rippling like polished glass as it continued on, uncaring about the chaos that had just unfolded beside it. Yukio sat propped against the trunk of a thick oak, the bark rough against his back, his damp clothes clinging stubbornly to his skin. His breathing was steady now, his body whole again thanks to Michibiki's almost frighteningly perfect healing magic. She'd mended his bruises, soothed every muscle, and left him physically sound. But inside, he was wrecked. His pride lay somewhere out in the trampled grass, probably buried under the crater his face had made the last time Michibiki had thr