Witchbound: My Power Grows With Every Trial

Takuma's body jolted with each new cable that forced itself into the mechanism embedded in his back. His muscles convulsed as Reiji seemed determined not to give him up while breathing.

In the meantime, Ren pushed himself up from where he had been kneeling. Just a few minutes ago, those same conduits had lashed toward him, and Takuma had been the one to cut them back and protect him from them. He didn't understand why or what was going through his mind, but that act of choice from Takuma lingered heavily on him. He knew he couldn't just stand by.

The Pact Blade was nearly depleted at that point, with the Pact Glyph barely infusing any energy into it at all. However, a faint spark still remained, flickering like a dying ember refusing to disappear. Ren clenched it tighter, ignoring the trembling in his hands, and stepped forward.

The cables sensed him immediately. Several pulled free of Takuma's body and lashed toward Ren, sharp as spears. But Ren moved as well, and in a flash, he was able to cut them all through. Yet, that wasn't enough. He then pushed deeper, forcing his blade against the mechanism at Takuma's spine until ultimately causing it to snap under the pressure. It ended up spraying more fluid across the floor. As soon as that happened, Takuma's chest lifted in a harsh and raw breath, which turned into a series of coughs.

Across the chamber, the cables twitched as they recalibrated. Reiji's wall pulsed with them as though the entire system was deciding how best to punish them both. Ren foresaw the intention quickly, so he figured this was his best chance, even if he did not trust at all what he was about to do.

He turned his hand over, keeping his palm wide against the floor, then steadied his breathing as best he could. The stone felt cold and wet with the residue of the black fluid, but he pushed past that distraction. In his mind, he replayed the only moment he had ever tried this before, and even then, it had been by chance. He had no idea if it would actually work this time around, and even if it did, whether it wouldn't ultimately cause more harm than good.

His Glyph Sense.

"I'm sorry if this fails," Ren said in a low voice, unsure whether Takuma would actually hear him or not.

Takuma's head tilted toward him with his eyes still fogged from the pain. He only looked at Ren, half bewildered, half pleading for the torment to end.

A Pact mark flared along Ren's wrist, and soon afterward, the ground responded to it. A glyph took shape beneath his palm, spiraling outward in a layered blue geometry. It spread with complex patterns that climbed stone and anything else it encountered in its path.

Ren pushed harder, pulling his palm away from the ground and letting the glyph form itself in the air. A thin seam opened, widening bit by bit with a crackling sound. Through it, the shape of a familiar environment appeared. Takuma might not have recognized it, since for him it had probably been decades already, if not more. But Ren knew the place very well. It was the very entrance to Naraku, with its corrupted torii gate, through which he had passed with Kagami not long ago as they both entered the forgotten place.

A strange feeling pulled at Ren's stomach. It was a mixture of relief and dread at the same time, since the trick seemed to have worked, but at the same time, he knew he wouldn't be going through it just yet.

Sweat gathered along his brow as the crack was difficult to stabilize against the weight of Naraku's corrupted systems.

Behind him, Reiji's voice cut through, sharp and amused. "If you do this, you seal your fate to this place, boy."

But Ren ignored him.

The portal shimmered, wide enough to take in a person, and Ren had deliberately placed it right beside Takuma.

When he deemed it stable enough, he lowered himself beside him. Then, he looked him straight in the eyes and tried to be as efficient with his words as he possibly could.

"No matter what happens," he said with certainty in his voice, "never forget Shiori. Make that your number one rule. Always."

Takuma blinked through the pain, struggling to grasp the weight behind the words, but Ren didn't let him linger.

"If we ever meet again," he added, "I'll thank you properly for what you did. But for now, this is all I can do."

Takuma frowned slightly, confused by the events. Still, he tried to rise, as though to somehow resist what he sensed was coming, but Ren didn't allow it. He pressed a firm hand against Takuma's shoulder, then with a sharp motion shoved him sideways into the shimmering portal.

Takuma's eyes widened as he fell through, and just like that, the portal sealed back shut, leaving the hall just as empty as it had found it.

Ren stayed where he was for a few moments, with the sting of the spell still lingering in his body. He had no guarantee Takuma had actually landed where he intended. All he could do was hope his gamble hadn't done worse instead.

"You chose your path on your own," Reiji murmured from the wall. "Fate will be less forgiving than I ever was."

Ren ignored him because his eyes had caught something glinting on the floor beside him. The bracelet. It lay where it had fallen, untouched, with its faint glyphs still pulsing weakly along the rim. Takuma hadn't managed to take it in due time, so now it lay abandoned here. The irony of it pressed sharp against Ren's chest so he laughed slightly at it. He didn't care that no one was there to understand it.

He bent, picked it up, and looked at it. The metal was cold, but the glyph was now clearly visible, displaying the name of the Tsukigata Clan.

Straightening, Ren faced Reiji once more.

"All right then," Ren said, tightening the grip around the bracelet.

And he stepped forward, ready to face his new and probably final challenge.