Ichigo slowly raised his hand. A low hum filled the air. It was so quiet you could almost miss it, but the effect was instant. The grouh them started to tremble, sending ripples outwards as if the earth itself was breathing. Then, with a sharp hiss, magic circles on the forest floor activated, revealing more than fifty sleek wolves.

  These "Cerberus Children" emerged with an uling grace. Their fur gleamed ichy sunlight filtering through the trees. Their red eyes glowed like embers, coldly and precisely sing their surroundings. Eaoved in perfeison with the others, their cws scraping lightly against the dirt as they formed a circle around Kuro’s team.

  Xero’s grin widened, his bck eye gleaming with uraiement. “Now this is what I’m talking about!” he said, lifting his massive bde onto his shoulder.

  Ichigo, standing still in the noisy mess like someone leading a scary band, smiled a little at them. He was a normal person—his dark eyes were very bright, and he moved as smoothly as any good fighter. “You three?” he said, his voice quiet but with a little threat. “You’re nothing pared to Fire Fly’s best things. Let’s see if you survive.”

  Kuro thought quickly, trying to figure things out. The Cerberus Children were faster and strohan regur wolves, and they worked together perfectly, making them much more dangerous. They were hunters, made to be quid exact, and everything they did showed that.

  “Reika, Xero,” Kuro said, his toeady, his calm anding their attentioe the rising tension. “The wolves are yours. I’ll handle him.”

  Xero’s ughter echoed through the forest, loud and reckless. “Don’t have to tell me twice!” he said, ung himself forward without hesitation. His massive bde carved through the air, its edge slig ly through the first wolf that lu him. Sparks flew as the creature’s body split apart, its remains colpsing with a metallic screebsp;

  Reika smirked, brushing her crimson hair back with an almost theatrical fir. Her hands glowed with radiant energy as she stepped into position. “Try not to die, you two,” she said coolly before unleashing a wave of devastating projectiles. Each bst found its mark with pinpoint accuracy, tearing through the cyberic wolves in a cascade of explosions.

  Ichigō watched the chaos unfold, his smirk deepening. “Not bad,” he said, his gaze fixed on Kuro. “But you’ll need more tharics to survive me.”

  Kuro didn’t respond. His sharp eyes were locked onto Ichigō, studying every detail of his stance, every subtle movement. There was no mistaking it—this man was dangerous. Not just because of the teology embedded in his body, but because of his skill and fidence. He wasn’t just a creation of Fire Fly. He was a on, hoo perfe.

  As if sensing Kuro’s thoughts, Ichigō raised an eyebrow. “Analyzing me, are you? Smart. But it won’t help.” With a fluid motion, he drew a sleek bde from his side, its edge gleaming faintly. “e on then, Kuro. Show me what Fire Fly’s greatest failure do.”

  The insult didn’t faze Kuro. He stepped forward, his movements deliberate, aricity crackled faintly around his fists. “You talk too much,” he said, his voice calm and resolute.

  Their csh was immediate and explosive. Ichigō’s bde moved like a fsh of lightning, each strike aimed with deadly precision. Kuro tered with lightning-fast reflexes, weaving through the attacks with a mix of raw speed and calcuted teique. Sparks flew with every impact, the forest floor trembling uhe force of their battle.

  Meanwhile, Xero was a blur of motion, his bde cleaving through the Cerberus Children with reckless abandon. Each swi shards of metal flying, but the wolves didn’t falter. They adapted, their attacks growing more coordinated as they surrounded him. “e on!” Xero roared, his ughter wild. “Is this all you’ve got?”

  Reika, in trast, moved with elegant efficy. Her energy projectiles burst in fiery explosions, obliterating wolves in precise clusters. But her sharp eyes opped sing the battlefield, ready to cover Xero if his recklessness led to a mistake.

  The forest had bee a battlefield of sparks, fire, and fury, and at its ter, Kuro and Ichigō fought like titans.

  Kuro looked back at Ichigo, who was standing perfectly still in the middle of the mess, with a small smile on his lips like he was enjoying the show. All around them, the sounds of fighting were loud—Xero’s loud ughing mixed with the metal screeches of the Cerberus Children being cut down by his sword, and the sharp bangs of Reika’s energy attacks as she took apart their attackers one by one. But Ichigo didn't seem worried at all, his eyes fixed on Kuro like he was better than him.

  “Do you even uand the power you’re up against?” Ichigō asked, his tone dripping with mockery. His posture was rexed, almost casual, as if he didn’t sider Kuro a threat worth exerting himself for.

  Kuro didn’t respond. Words wouldn’t ge anything here, and he wasn’t about to waste his breath. Instead, he moved.

  With a sudden burst of speed, Kuro closed the distaween them in an instant, his movements fluid and almost impossible to predict. His fists crackled with electricity, the energy c through him like a living thing.

  Ichigō reacted swiftly, his bde arm snapping up to intercept Kuro’s advahe metallic edge whistled through the air, but Kuro slipped past it with effortless precision, dug low and driving a lightning-infused palm strike toward Ichigō’s torso.

  Ichigō twisted away, his terstrike ing as fast as a coiled viper. Kuro leaned back just in time, the bde slig through the space where his throat had been a split sed earlier.

  Each exge was like a carefully chraphed storm. The forest around them seemed to tremble uhe force of their blows, the impact sending shockwaves rippling through the air. Sparks of electricity and faint trails of energy illumihe gloom, their battle casting flickering light onto the arees.