The rubble is still falling, and the air is charged with ash and echoes of defeat...
Kurosaki takes a step back, narrows his eyes, trying to see through the thick dust, then raises his voice:
- "Who is that? I don't remember you among the players..."
[The image is still blurred... until the wind picks up, he stands in the dust, his arm loose, his head lowered... but his eyes... are burning]
🔴 Crimson eyes glowing with explosive energy, one look silences the place.
Naoko (with rare surprise):
- "You...?"
Kurosaki, in a mocking tone:
- "Who is this? I can only see someone who can barely stand-"
[In a flash, Kurosaki's voice disappears as he sprints toward Takeru, fist raised and screaming]
- "I'll crush you before you say a word!"
🩸 "Bend Gaze" 🔻
In an instant, without physical movement... Takeru's eyes go straight into Kurosaki's eyes. Everything suddenly slows down. Not time, but the opponent's perception of it.
Kurosaki feels as if his heart has been squeezed by an invisible force.
- "What the...?! What's that look?!"
His footsteps falter, and the muscles that were preparing to strike convulse in the air. His mind collapses for a split second in a shocking internal silence... As if a "voice" inside him is saying:
> "Back off... Don't come closer."
A moment of hesitation... Just a moment... but it was enough.
---
From afar, Ryoko raises an eyebrow:
- "He hesitated? Impossible... I haven't seen Kurosaki hesitate since this hell began."
Ryuichi, despite the pain, smiles slightly:
- "It's mana... but it's not just any mana... it commands him."
---
Kurosaki resists, snarls, and charges forward again, but loses momentum. His fist swings toward Takeru... but the latter slowly raises his hand, not to block it, but only to extend his fingers... With a barely perceptible movement, Kurosaki bows slightly... his chest shrinks, as if his very being is being forced to "lower" out of respect... or fear.
Takeru's voice is calm, deep, and carries not anger but authority:
- "Don't raise your hand against me... again."
[The dust has not yet settled from Kurosaki's shuddering moment, and Jihan watches in amazement and pallor, holding a small wound on her shoulder in her hand, her eyes never leaving Takeru's...]
Naoko, from the top of one of the ruins, stares coldly:
- "Takeru... You're not part of my plan..."
Kurosaki, still half-bent over, backs up a bit, then bursts out laughing as he wipes his bloody mouth:
- "Hahaha! Takeru?! So you're the one who confronted Dr. Naoko? So you were alive? Good... things just got a lot more fun."
But Naoko doesn't laugh. His eyes narrow, and his black mana begins to rise up like snakes of shadows, exploding all around him...
- "I won't let you steal the show, false throne..."
In a flash, Naoko disappears. The sound of air splitting echoes, and a dust explosion falls to the ground. He lunges at Takeru with a straight attack that can only be seen as a flash, preceded by a dark blade of condensed mana.
---
But Takeru didn't move. He didn't dodge. He didn't even raise his hand. He just whispered softly...
> "Kneel."
---
🔗 "Prison of Will - Will Shackles" ⛓️
As soon as the word left his lips, something indescribable happened. In the air, around Naoko, "invisible light cracks" appeared, as if time itself was broken for a moment.
Naoko, in the middle of his rush, feels something encircling his mind. A blurry vision sweeps across his eyes. Manae's pulse is erratic.
- "What...? Manai... Retreating?!"
Another Takeru appears in front of him... a fictionalized version, not much different from the original, but looking directly at him, saying:
> "Stop here."
Then invisible chains appear around Naoko - wisps of dim light that bind his ribs, his limbs, Manae's surroundings... He suffocates for a moment, stopping in midair suddenly, as if gravity has lost its meaning for him. He can't move. He can't think.
---
From afar, Ryoko whispers:
- "...Takeru...wasn't kidding."
Ryuichi, almost unconscious, barely mumbles:
- "He's forcing Naoko's mana... to obey?!"
---
Naoko tries to break free, but his face reveals that he's not facing ordinary pressure. He's fighting Takeru's own will. His voice shouts angrily, in a tone unbecoming of one who thought he was the master of the battle:
- "Stop... Stop manipulating my consciousness!!!"
---
But Takeru takes a step forward, and each step sends a shudder through the ground. His crimson eyes glow even more, and his voice comes out as if it holds the decision:
> "You are not my opponent... You are an obstacle."
---
The moment freezes. Kurosaki is unable to laugh. Jihan puts her hand over her mouth, trembling. Even Ryuichi, lying on the ground, feels something he's never felt before.
A prestige unlike any power.
Takeru hasn't fired a single blow yet. But he has Naoko frozen in mid-air.
Naoko (in an angry muffled voice, bound in mid-air):
- "...is this your power? Psychic restraints? Manipulation?"
Inside, the black mana screams. He mutters arcane words in the language of the Black Race, emitting symbols and shapes that dance as if carved into the air.
Naoko suddenly screams, his eyes glowing a bloody black:
> "Bloodline of Destruction: Rupture Shroud!"
Dense black mana swirls explode around his body, like holes in reality. Invisible chains crack, a sound as if space-time is collapsing is heard, and with it, restraints are broken with superhuman strength. Red and black light fills the space.
Kurosaki (with a crazy smile):
- "Ah Naoko... Here comes the real fun!"
In a flash, Naoko dashes towards Takeru after being freed, his entire body covered in a halo of shattered black mana, shards of time and light flying from it, his sword made of bones and shadows, brandishing it...
Naoko (with demonic fury):
- "I will cut you to pieces... and plant each part of you in a different dimension!"
In a shocking shot... the sword plunges into Takeru's body... A violent, shocking cut, a torrent of blood flying, a deadly silence.
But... something isn't right.
Takeru doesn't fall.
The blood doesn't reach the ground.
Naoko stares in front of him... but the body he cut doesn't fall, doesn't disappear... it "disintegrates" into crimson streaks of light.
An inner voice, deep... as if the world itself were speaking:
> "Sovereignty cannot be broken... by the logic of attack."
---
Suddenly... the atmosphere changes. Mana condenses beneath Takeru's feet, dust swirling around him as if choosing to bend. The sky above him cracks silently, no lightning, just crimson pulses vibrating within the clouds.
His eyes are completely transformed into pure crimson.
Behind him, a huge aura appears... not humanoid. It's in the shape of a Manichean throne, topped by three circles of crimson light, each of which rotates slowly, making a sound as if time itself is twisting.
---
Ryoko, despite his condition, whispers tremblingly:
- "...this isn't just mana. This is... a new law."
Ryuichi, with a half-closed eye:
- "...it's starting to subjugate reality itself."
---
Takeru, his voice is low, deep, but everyone hears him... not with words, but with an order:
> "Shut up."
---
In an instant, Naoko opens his mouth to scream... but he can't. No sound comes out. No mana moving. No air around him. Even his heartbeat slows... as if the law has changed, as if the world has responded... only to Takeru.
Naoko lies on the ground after the "shut up" command, unable to move. His chest rises and falls with difficulty. The black mana around him has evaporated, and his voice chokes in his throat.
Takeru advances toward him slowly... his footsteps make no sound, as if the earth itself is afraid to disturb him.
Suddenly, in slow motion...
Takeru raises his left foot, and stomps on Naoko's chest hard... Not with a sound, but with dignity.
---
Takeru (in a low, cold voice):
- "All this threat... All that pride... and in the end? You don't even deserve to be an opponent."
He presses his foot down further... Naoko's ribs crackle.
---
Takeru kneels slightly, looking directly into his eyes... and the crimson eyes radiate a quiet fire, as if speaking to his soul rather than his body.
Takeru:
- "Did you think you belonged in this world? You are an illusion... a broken tool in the hands of a loser."
---
Then... suddenly, without any preamble... Takeru grabs Naoko by the neck, as if his weight means nothing, spins him around half a turn, and then hurls him with superhuman strength into a basalt steel wall behind the arena.
The sound of the crash is terrifying. The wall shatters. Naoko recoils and falls like a ragdoll... without resistance.
Takeru slowly turns toward Kurosaki, who has been watching the scene, frozen. His eyes gradually widen, as if what he sees is not human... but something else.
Takeru advances... a step... then a step... each one lifting a light dust, silencing the air itself.
---
Kurosaki, with a trembling tone and a fake smile:
- "T... Takeru... are you going to kill me? Are you going to kill this old man? Huh... you're young, you still have life... I... I'm nothing."
---
Takeru stops. He looks at him as a king looks at a beggar in his palace.
Takeru, in an indisputably authoritative tone, as if echoing from a higher realm:
- "I will not dirty my hands on a walking corpse."
Then, his eyes glow even more... crimson covers his eyes completely, and new circles begin to spin behind him, resembling additional eyes. One of them suddenly opens... over Naoko's body lying on the ground.
Huge "crimson eyes" open above Naoko... as if Takeru's soul had formed there. To everyone's shock, Takeru gives an order... coldly:
> "Kill Kurosaki."
---
Jihan (in a choked whisper):
- "...that's not control...that's slavery."
Ryoko clenches his fist, muttering:
- "Even the will of the assassins... is his."
---
Naoko, who was barely breathing, suddenly rises like a rag doll. His eyes are closed, but he moves with terrifying agility, his sword once again formed from shadows and bones, his heart beating with an irresistible command.
Kurosaki takes two steps back, shudders, and then screams:
- "Wait! This is madness! Takeru! Don't do this! Stop-"
---
But Takeru doesn't respond. He just stands tall, like a king who has ruled... and let the people carry out.
Kurosaki stands in place, raising his trembling hands in a desperate attempt at defense, but Naoko, under the control of the Crimson Dominion, pounces on him without hesitation.
The air is cut with mana sparks, and the black sword slices through space in front of him.
Kurosaki screams and retreats, but the speed is superhuman. The first strike penetrates his vest, opening a wound on his left shoulder.
---
Kurosaki (screams):
- "T-stop! Please! Stop! I'll do what you ask!"
But Naoko doesn't hear... he's not here as a human. Just a walking sword.
A second blow slices the ground beneath Kurosaki, and he falls to the ground, rolling, begging... his dusty face covered in blood and dirt.
---
🩸 [cry of surrender]
Kurosaki crawls on the ground... panting... his face yellowed, his eyes watery.
Kurosaki:
- "I swear... I swear I'll do anything! Just... just stop him! I'll do anything you ask! Anything!!!"
---
Takeru, in his deep, cold voice, takes a step closer:
- "Anything?"
Kurosaki (shaking his head madly):
- "Y-Yes! Anything!!!"
Takeru closes his eyes for a moment, then opens them, crimson burning like embers in the depths of his eyeballs:
Takeru:
- "Where is Erica?"
Kurosaki freezes. The blood stops in his veins. He backs up slightly on his elbows, as if the question alone is heavier than the blows.
Kurosaki (in a broken voice):
- "If I tell you... they'll kill me... I don't understand... you don't know who they are... they won't spare me!"
Takeru doesn't respond. He just slowly raises his finger, then points at Naoko.
Naoko lunges again, this time with his sword pointed at the neck. In a split second, Kurosaki's eyes contract in terror, and the words come out before the sword reaches him.
Kurosaki (screaming at the top of his lungs):
- "In... the seventh bunker under the main lab! Under the Bio-Intelligence Development Department! You'll find her there! Erica... she's alive!!!"
At the same moment, Naoko comes to a complete stop... the sword stops millimeters from Kurosaki's neck, still in a pouncing position, but not moving.
Takeru slowly lowers his finger.
Then he says in a hushed tone, like a judgment:
- "Order canceled."
Naoko goes straight down, his body trembling as if his soul has been restored... he falls to his knees, panting as if he's come out of hell.
The calm that follows the storm is not the calm of peace, but a heavy silence, like standing on the edge of an abyss.
---
Jihan
Her eyes dart between Naoko, who is still kneeling, and Kurosaki, who is shaking on the ground like a broken dog.
She muttered under her breath:
- "What did we just see...?"
Her hand grips her trembling arm, and the sane part of her tells her one thing:
This isn't just mana... Takeru has become something else.
---
Ryuichi
He was in the back, watching... his eyes gradually widening with each passing second.
He raised his hand toward the glasses that were over his eyes, and pressed against the side of the frame:
Ryuichi (whispering):
- "Aura? Answer me."
(silence)
- "Aura? Analytical status? Mana range? Answer me!"
(no sound)
Slowly removing the glasses, he stares at them... the faint blue light has disappeared.
Ryuichi (inwardly worried):
- "...I'm out of charge..."
He suddenly realized that he no longer had anything between him and the unknown. This time, he has to decide with his mind... no technology will help him.
---
Ryoko
He stood up, smiling, but with a faint coldness.
Ryoko (in a low voice):
- "So that's it... you force people to kill while laughing, and keep yourself from getting dirty. A true king, Takeru."
Then he added in a tone of pride mixed with caution:
- "But I'm starting to like it more than I thought I would."
Takeru didn't look at them. He did not comment. He just looked at Kurosaki with his crimson eyes.
The air around him is still charged, and the mana field is unstable.
Just one look... a look that carried no words, but one stern command:
> "Stay where you are. Don't move. Your turn is over."
Kurosaki, though bleeding and sore, couldn't even nod.
His body responded before his mind, as if every cell in him understood that this was not a request... but a judgment.
Jihan, Ryuichi, Ryoko... they turn toward Takeru.
Takeru advances calmly, his mana not yet calmed, but now directing it like a steady spear toward the target.
Ryoko (with a smile):
- "Let's go... it's time to get the secrets out of the ground."
Jihan (cautiously):
- "The seventh bunker... are you sure it's there?"
Takeru (without turning around):
- "Yes. And it's not just a basement... it's a dungeon."
Ryuichi puts the glasses in his pocket and whispers:
- "Then let's find out what's hiding in the shadows."
The four move on, shadows coalescing behind them, mana crisscrossing in a silence that foreshadows a coming storm.
Underground passageways, narrow, cold, made of dim steel, emit a dim, amber-colored light that intensifies the closer they get to the core.
Their footsteps echo with a regular sound, each surrounded by their own atmosphere... but the silence doesn't last long.
Ryoko (looking sideways at Takeru, with a smile tinged with amazement):
- "Takeru... those eyes... that technique... I've never seen anything like it in my life."
(steps lightly beside him)
- "What's her name?"
Takeru (in a calm tone):
- "It's not a technique... it's a condition."
(Pauses for a moment, then continues without looking at him)
- "Some call it 'Crimson Sovereignty'... but it's not a sovereignty. It's a curse."
---
Ryuichi (thoughtfully):
- "If it's a curse... why are you using it?"
- "You weren't forced... you chose."
Takeru:
- "Sometimes... to catch the truth, you need to get your hands dirty first."
---
Jihan (cautiously):
- "And can you always control it?"
Takeru (looking in front of him, eyes still slightly glowing):
- "When I use it for a short time... I can give commands, separate emotions, like a king standing on the edge of a throne."
(He pauses, his gaze becoming more serious)
- "But if it lasts too long... something changes."
Ryoko (with a more serious expression):
- "What changes?"
Takeru (in a cold tone, but not hiding his concern this time):
- "I begin to lose the sense of the difference between an ally and an enemy."
- "Between mercy... and blood."
- "And if I cross a certain threshold, I won't be Takeru anymore."
---
Ryoko (looking at him intently):
- "So you stand on a fine line... between king and monster."
Takeru (whispers without turning around):
- "Exactly."
---
Ryuichi (in a hushed voice, as if talking to himself):
- "Aura... you're right. This is not the evolution of a manoi... this is an aberration."
---
Jihan (nervously):
- "How long can you go on like this... before you collapse?"
Takeru (looking at the metal door in front of him, labeled Vault 7):
- "Enough... until we get Erica out."
---
A moment of silence.
The sounds of machinery in the background make a low moan, and then the sound of an electronic lock disintegrating echoes.
Takeru slowly reaches for the lock.
---
Ryoko (in a serious whisper):
- "Let's finish this... before your curse swallows you, King of Ashes."
The door opened.....
A large room, the walls covered with thick steel plates, connected to power tubes, emitting a faint blue light that pulsates every few seconds. In the center of the room... a huge metal chair, like an updated execution chair, with cables and restraints hanging from it.
Erica, tightly bound. Blindfolded. Her breathing is unnaturally quiet, as if she has no sense of the world. There are new scars on her arms, as if someone has been experimenting on her.
Takeru advances slowly, his steps heavy. Ryoko stops laughing. Ryuichi whispers to himself. Jihan puts her hand over her heart.
---
Ryuichi (in a whisper):
- "...is she alive?"
Jihan approaches quietly, placing her hand on Erica's neck.
- "Yes... her pulse is stable. But she is under strong tranquilizers."
---
Ryoko stands by the door cautiously, eyes searching the shadows, as Takeru approaches the restraints.
Takeru (in a low voice):
- "We found you... Erica."
---
Ryuichi prepares to remove the blindfold, but...
"Bang..."
The sound of slow... clear... metallic... footsteps approaching from outside the vault.
---
Everyone freezes. Jihan retreats. Ryoko turns around quickly. Takeru slowly raises his head, his gaze turning to embers.
---
The sound of footsteps gets closer...
Then...
A long shadow appears on the ground... followed by a body in a dark black cloak, its face hidden behind a gray metal mask with red eyes that glow softly.
---
The Masked One.
---
Ryoko (shocked and whispering):
- "...him."
Ryuichi (stunned):
- "No... that's impossible..."
Jihan (taking a step back):
- "He's..."
---
The masked man stops at the entrance to the basement.
Silence reigns. A faint red glow emanates from the mask.
Then, in a deep, electronically distorted voice...
- "At last... you are gathered."