Gilded Ashes-Chapter 276: Babysitting a Weapon

Raizen’s mind froze in the worst way.

A second ago, Enya owned the battlefield. She cut fog apart with living wood, turned rain into background noise, and killed Nyxes like they were toys.

Then the dark projectile hit. A clean, violent impact to the chest, followed by a blast that obliterated her vines and left a hole in the air where she used to be.

Now she fell.

And Raizen’s body still didn’t move.

He stood there with his blades half raised, rain sliding off them, staring up as if staring harder could rewind time. He felt his breath catch, and a piece of him kept thinking it wasn’t real. Enya didn’t fall. Enya didn’t lose control. Enya didn’t get hit.

But the armor tumbled through the gray like a broken doll, not caring about what he thought.

Raizen’s grip tightened until his knuckles hurt. His eyes tracked the fall, tracked the distance, tracked the angle, tracked how the wind and rain pushed her just slightly off where she should’ve landed.

It was too far for him to run there in time.

He could dash. He thought it the same way he thought every fight decision. Quick. Cold. Measured.

If he dashed now, he reached the drop zone in...

No.

Even with everything. Even with his best.

There wasn’t enough time. Not even his dash was enough. His legs kicked into motion anyway, because he couldn’t accept a calculation that ended with someone hitting the ground.

He started sprinting forward, boots splashing shallow mud. His blades flared faint gold. He tried to pull the light into his muscles, tried to make the world compress the way it did when he dashed...

But he didn’t get the chance.

The ground beneath where Enya should’ve crashed literally detonated.

Not with darkness, Eon sparks, or Nyx mist.

With sheer force.

An explosive sound, loud enough to make your spine shiver, and a shockwave that shoved rain sideways for a blink. Dirt and broken roots blew upward. A thick dust cloud rolled across the battlefield like a curtain being thrown.

Raizen stumbled, instinctively raising an arm to shield his face. The Ukaians nearby yelled, not in panic, but in sudden confusion. Beasts bellowed and shifted, feet scrambling on wet soil.

Enya vanished into that dust.

Raizen’s heart jumped into his throat. His mind started racing towards the worst possible outcomes-

Then the dust thinned.

A shape stood where nothing should’ve been standing. Really tall. Broad shoulders. Feet planted like the world couldn’t move him even if it tried.

A massive hammer hovered beside him, looking heavier than the armor itself. Not glowing. Not burning, just there.

And over his shoulder, limp but held firmly, lay Enya’s armored form.

Raizen stopped mid-step.

Kenzo.

He didn’t understand how Kenzo arrived. He didn’t understand how Kenzo crossed the distance without any flare of power. He didn’t understand how Kenzo hit the ground so hard it left a small crater behind and still caught someone mid-fall like it was easy.

He just stood there, rain dripping off his hair. Then, he adjusted his grip on Enya, secure and careful despite how casual he looked about everything else. The armor’s dark plates gleamed wetly. Her helmet still hid her face.

She didn’t move. Raizen’s stomach twisted.

Kenzo didn’t look at Raizen yet. He looked forward. Nyxes still moved through the fog like hunger with life. Some crawled on all fours, some had a poor imitation of a beak with sharp edges, some stood upright with arms stretched too long. They didn’t hesitate. They didn’t care who arrived or what got hit.

Kenzo stepped into them like he stepped into rain.

He swung once.

The hammer didn’t just hit a Nyx. It erased it. One clean arc that made the Nyx’s body split and burst into gilded ash that scattered into the wet air like glowing dust.

Kenzo’s second swing went through that lunged from the side, and destroyed the ones behind it, too, with a sound like stone breaking.

He moved forward, not fast like Raizen’s dash, but unstoppable. Every step carried immense weight, he could see it at how much the mud lowered. It also didn’t feel like he was showing off. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Nyxes tried to swarm him. Kenzo didn’t let them. When one went for his legs, he stomped down, and the ground itself trembled under his boot. The Nyx collapsed into the mud like it hit a wall.

When two attacked at once, Kenzo didn’t retreat. He angled his shoulder, took one impact on the side of his chest plate like it was a shove, then turned and ended both of them with a single swing that caught their bodies mid-motion.

The Ukai beasts hesitated, wide eyes shining in the fog. Their tamers shouted commands, but you couldn’t understand anything anymore.

And then Kenzo looked up, spotting Raizen.

His mouth pulled into a grin like he showed up to a party late and expected applause. He pushed through the last cluster between them. The hammer rose, and fell, completely breaking the ground beneath it, making the Nyxes lose their balance. With another sweep, he effortlessly took out five more.

Finally, Kenzo stopped right in front of Raizen.

Enya still hung over his shoulder. Kenzo’s breath didn’t sound heavy. His cloak looked damp, sure, but he didn’t look tired.

He tilted his head.

"Hah!" he said, loud enough to cut through the rain and battle cries. "Told you babysitting a weapon ain’t easy!"

Raizen’s jaw fell.

His eyes flicked to Enya again. Still no movement. Still limp. The armor made it hard to tell if she even breathed.

"Kenzo" Raizen finally managed, voice rough. "She..."

Nyxes shifted behind Kenzo, regrouping, pulling themselves into new shapes in the fog.

Raizen’s instincts snapped back into place.

He moved his feet. Blades lowered. Weight settled.

He inhaled.

Gold lit along the edges of his weapons. He tried to pull the Eon up, tried to flood his body the way he always did when it mattered most.

The light flickered, then went out.

Raizen frowned, forcing it.

Again.

A sharp pulse surged up his arms, then died again. The gold dimmed. His blades went dull.

Raizen’s heart skipped.

He tried again, harder, jaw clenched, every muscle tightening.

Nothing.

An invisible force stopped the Eon inside him from forming, like his own body suddenly refused.

His blades flickered a third time, a desperate spark, and then the light faded completely.

Raizen stood there with steel in his hands and no power behind it.

Kenzo’s grin softened.

Raizen swallowed, rain running down his cheek like sweat. He tried one last time. His Eon still didn’t answer.

Something stopped it.

And the Nyxes were moving in again.