Elias and Akeno reached the shrine.
Akeno ran inside, happy to see her mother and ready to eat her afternoon snacks.
Elias waited until Akeno was safely eating in the kitchen.
Then, he gently pulled Shuri into the quiet hallway. He told her everything.
He told her about the bad magic he felt and the leaf ghost he had sent to track them.
"Magicians,"
Shuri whispered. Her face turned pale.
"The clan hired outside magicians to find us. I have to go out there. I must protect the shrine."
She turned to grab her weapon, but Elias gently held her arm.
"No, Shuri-san,"
Elias said firmly.
"You stay here and protect Akeno. I am going."
"But there are too many of them!"
Shuri argued, her eyes full of worry.
"They use dangerous magic. You could get hurt! You could die!"
"That is exactly why I need to go,"
Elias smiled. His eyes were calm and brave.
"This is my opportunity. Remember my power? If they hurt me, I learn. Even if they kill me, I will just come back stronger. I need to feel their magic so my body can adapt to it. It is the only way I can protect you both."
Shuri looked at him. She saw he wasn't acting like a scared boy. He was acting like a true guardian. She knew he was right. She slowly nodded.
"Please,"
She whispered.
"Come back to us."
"I always will,"
Elias promised.
Elias slipped out the back door and ran into the dark forest. He closed his eyes and felt the connection to his little leaf ghost. It led him deep into the trees.
Soon, he saw them. There were five men wearing dark cloaks. They were standing in a circle. In the middle of them, a bright red magic circle was floating in the air.
It was a communication spell. They were trying to call the Himejima clan to report where Shuri and Akeno were hiding.
Elias didn't wait. He threw a quick Onmyudo paper talisman at the red circle.
Crack!
The communication spell shattered like glass. The connection was cut off.
The five magicians jumped in surprise. They turned around and pulled out their magic wands.
Elias stepped out from behind a large tree. He held his wooden Naginata in his hands.
"You are looking in the wrong place,"
Elias said coldly.
The magicians didn't talk. They just attacked.
Their magic was very different from Onmyudo. They didn't use paper or natural energy. They used complex math, long chants, and magic circles.
One magician shot a blast of sharp ice. Another shot a stream of hot green fire.
Elias spun his Naginata and blocked what he could, but there were too many of them.
They moved fast and attacked from all sides.
Suddenly, a massive spear of yellow lightning hit Elias right in the chest.
The force threw him back into a tree. The pain was blinding. His vision went dark, and his heart stopped beating.
He slumped to the ground, completely still. He was dead.
The magicians lowered their hands. They let out a long breath of relief.
"Just a foolish kid,"
One of them laughed.
"He is dead. Let's fix the communication circle and call the clan."
But as they turned around, the true horror started.
A warm, gentle light glowed on Elias's forehead.
His broken ribs snapped back into place. His burned skin healed in seconds. His heart beat again, stronger than before.
Elias opened his eyes and slowly stood up. He cracked his neck.
"Wow,"
Elias said softly.
"That really hurt."
The magicians froze. Their eyes widened in pure terror.
"W-What are you?!"
One of them screamed.
They panicked. They fired all their magic at once.
Fire, ice, wind, and lightning rained down on Elias.
Elias died again.
But this time, he came back in only two seconds.
They attacked again, chanting their spells as fast as they could. But this time, the fire didn't burn his skin.
The ice shattered against his chest.
The lightning just felt like a small tickle.
Elias's body had adapted. He was now completely immune to all of their magic.
He dropped his wooden Naginata and started walking toward them.
The magicians backed away, trembling in fear. Their strongest spells were doing absolutely nothing to this boy.
But that wasn't the worst part for them.
Elias held out his hand. His body had soaked up their magic like a sponge.
He understood exactly how it worked.
Magicians needed to calculate math in their heads to make Western magic work. It took time, focus, and long words.
But Elias didn't need calculations.
His body simply knew the magic by pure instinct.
Elias didn't chant. He didn't draw a magic circle. He just pointed his finger.
Boom.
A massive, perfect blast of yellow lightning—ten times stronger than the one that killed him—shot out of his hand.
The magicians screamed as the lightning hit the ground in front of them, blowing them off their feet.
They were knocked out instantly, their wands broken in half.
Elias stood in the quiet forest, looking at his hands.
He felt stronger, faster, and more powerful than ever.
He smiled. He was ready to protect his family from anything.
Elias walked out of the dark trees and back to the shrine.
The moon was shining brightly, casting a peaceful glow over the garden.
Shuri was standing on the wooden porch. She was pacing back and forth, holding her hands tightly together.
When she finally saw Elias walk through the gate, she let out a huge breath of relief.
She ran down the steps and grabbed his shoulders.
"Elias! You are safe!"
Elias gave her a tired but confident smile.
"I told you I would come back. The magicians are gone. They won't bother us anymore."
Shuri could feel a new, heavy energy coming from him.
He was standing taller, and the magic inside him felt massive, like a quiet storm.
She looked at his clothes. His shirt was torn, and there were dark burn marks on the fabric.
But the skin underneath was completely perfect.
She swallowed hard. She was afraid to ask, but she had to know.
"Elias... out there in the forest... did you...?"
Elias shrugged. He acted like it was no big deal.
"Oh, yeah. I died a few times. They hit me with a giant lightning bolt first. Then they used fire and ice. But I just came right back! And after a few times, their magic couldn't even scratch me. It was actually pretty easy to beat them after that."
Elias was smiling, proud of his new strength. But Shuri did not smile back.
Instead, her eyes filled with tears. She pulled him into a tight, warm hug.
Elias blinked in surprise, not knowing what to do with his hands.
"Elias, listen to me,"
Shuri said softly. Her voice was shaking, but it was very serious.
"I am so glad you have this amazing power. I am so glad you came back to Akeno and me."
She pulled back and looked right into his eyes.
"But you must never, ever act like dying is normal."
Elias frowned a little. He was confused.
"But Shuri-san, it makes me stronger. It's my superpower. It helps me protect you guys."
"Yes, it gives you strength,"
Shuri nodded, her hands gently holding his face.
"But just because you can come back does not mean dying doesn't hurt. It is still painful. It is still scary. Every time you die, your mind and your soul feel that terrible shock."
Elias looked down. He remembered the blinding, awful pain of the lightning piercing his chest. He had tried to hide it, but it had terrified him.
"If you use your death like a simple tool,"
Shuri continued, her voice full of motherly love,
"You will stop caring about your own life. You will stop feeling pain, and then you will stop feeling joy. You will lose your humanity. You will lose yourself."
She wiped a tear from her own cheek.
"You are a good, kind boy, Elias. Please, do not turn into a cold weapon just to keep us safe. Getting killed should be your absolute last resort. Promise me you will try your hardest to live first. Fight to survive, not to die."
Elias stood quietly in the moonlight.
He took a deep breath and let her words sink into his heart. She was right.
He couldn't just throw his life away carelessly. He had to value himself.
"I understand,"
Elias whispered, looking back up at her.
"I promise, Shuri-san. I won't lose myself. I will be careful."
Far away, in the swirling colors of the Dimensional Gap, Dee was watching everything through the glowing mark on Elias's forehead.
She leaned on her black umbrella and let out a soft, relieved sigh. She nodded her head slowly.
As the literal concept of Death, Dee knew everything about dying. It was her whole world.
But because of that, she didn't know how to explain to a human boy why he should value his own life.
If she tried to tell him that dying was bad, it wouldn't make any sense coming from her.
She had been so worried that Elias's new Adaptivity power would make him reckless.
She didn't want him to throw himself into pain over and over again. She didn't want his bright, sweet soul to become dark, numb, and broken.
"Thank you, Shuri,"
Dee whispered to the empty void.
She smiled, gently touching her silver ankh necklace.
She was so incredibly thankful that Shuri was there to teach him this lesson.
Shuri was teaching him how to hold on to his human heart.
Dee loved Elias more than anything in the multiverse, and she definitely did not want to lose her boyfriend to madness.