[00:00 AM | Kyoto City – Gate Activation]
The sky split above Kyoto.
A crimson spiral of kanji symbols twisted through the heavens, casting light on the ancient city now rotting from the inside. Buildings stood still, but their shadows writhed. Roads cracked like dry paper, and something... ancient... exhaled.
At the center stood a black torii gate, massive and warped, surrounded by ten stone lanterns burning blue.
No civilians. No wildlife. No wind.
Only the Gate.
A silence so loud it pressed against the skull.
---
[Mount Fuji Base Camp – Departure]
"All teams, move!" a commander yelled.
Kaito and Aya stood at the front, the first to cross.
Aya gripped her dual katanas, cold mist trailing from her breath.
"You ready?" she asked.
"No," Kaito replied. "But we never are."
And together, they stepped through the torii.
---
[System Message – Personal to Kaito & Aya]
> Gate of a Thousand Curses
Infection Variant – Multi-Zone Labyrinth
Rule 1: Communication Disabled.
Rule 2: Cursed Touch = Death (Randomized).
Rule 3: One Hour per Stage.
Final Rule: If one dies, the other will be cursed in their place.
Time Remaining: 10 Hours
May Your Truth Guide You.
---
[Stage 1 – Tōrō of Spirits]
The world beyond the torii was black and white—no color, no warmth.
They stood in a massive graveyard, headstones stretching endlessly in every direction. The sky was ash. Blue lanterns flickered along a path.
A whisper rolled over them:
"Walk in silence, lest they wake."
Kaito glanced at Aya, nodded once. No words. No sounds.
They moved.
Every step crunched on ancient gravel. Each lantern they passed shimmered—within them were faces. Eyes open, unmoving. Watching.
Aya's breath caught. One lantern had her father's face.
Kaito saw his own.
---
Then the wind shifted.
A scream tore through the silence—not from Aya or Kaito, but from the lanterns themselves.
The dead had awakened.
Lantern flames turned red. The earth groaned.
"Run!" Aya hissed.
They broke into a sprint. Shadows lunged from the ground, trying to catch their legs. Lanterns shattered behind them like glass fireworks.
A wall appeared ahead—Stage 2's torii gate.
They leapt through—
---
[Stage 2 – Namahage Village]
The silence vanished. Noise exploded—drums, bells, screams.
They were in a snow-covered village. Wooden masks stared from walls. Fires crackled in barrels. Dozens of Namahage—red- and blue-faced ogres in straw garb—marched through the streets, chanting:
> "Where is the lazy one? Where is the liar?
Bring them out—we must correct!"
One stopped and turned toward Kaito.
"You... are both."
Aya drew her sword.
"No," Kaito said, stepping forward. "Let me handle this."
He took a breath.
The Namahage held out its hand. "Confess, or burn."
Kaito's lips parted.
"I'm a fraud. I hide. I pretend to be weak because I'm scared of losing myself."
Aya looked at him, stunned.
The Namahage froze.
Then... it smiled.
"Truth… accepted."
They parted, revealing the next gate.
Aya whispered as they passed, "You never told me that."
Kaito: "Some truths need the right monsters."
---
[Stage 3 – Forest of the Kijo]
The next step plunged them into a twisted woodland. The trees were gnarled and skeletal, dripping with black sap. Crows screamed overhead—only they had no eyes.
A broken sign hung above the entrance:
"Beware the Kijo – She hungers for emotion."
Kaito and Aya pressed on, each footstep sinking into damp earth.
Suddenly, rustling.
Another team emerged—Duo No. 50—a Chinese pair in crimson armor.
Jin Tao wielded twin sabers, his aura a golden flame.
Li Mei, a spiritualist, held prayer beads glowing with light.
"Finally, someone else made it this far," Jin said, breathing heavily.
"Six others didn't," Li Mei muttered, glancing around. "There's something wrong in this forest."
As if summoned, laughter echoed—like glass breaking inside a throat.
The trees warped, twisting together to form a towering female figure—The Kijo, her eyes glowing white, claws long enough to split mountains.
"I smell fear... love... regret..."
She pointed at Li Mei.
"You think you can forgive him, don't you?"
Li Mei's eyes widened.
"Don't listen—" Jin began, but it was too late.
The Kijo twisted reality. A vision enveloped Li Mei—of Jin holding another woman, laughing.
"No! That's not real!"
But doubt cracked her spirit.
She screamed.
The Kijo surged forward and tore her apart in one motion.
Blood hit Kaito's cheek.
Jin roared, launching at the demon in fury. His sabers slashed clean—but passed through her body like mist.
The Kijo laughed—and consumed him next.
Duo No. 50: Eliminated.
Aya gritted her teeth. "She feeds on fractured trust…"
Kaito clenched his fist. "Then let's give her none to eat."
They locked hands, forming a bond of certainty.
The Kijo lunged—but found only steel. Aya's blades sliced her mask.
Kaito whispered a single word: "Erase."
His unseen power surged—just enough to disrupt her form.
The Kijo shattered into black wind.
The forest opened to the next gate.
---
[Stage 4 – Bridge of 1000 Truths]
A crimson rope bridge suspended above a bottomless abyss. Below, the screams of every fallen duo echoed.
A stone slab appeared at the start:
> "Speak your greatest truth, or fall with your lies."
Aya stepped forward first.
Her voice was quiet.
"I once wanted to kill my partner… because I thought no one would ever match me. I was wrong."
The bridge rumbled—but held.
Kaito stepped up.
"I don't want to save the world. I just want to save her."
The bridge shook violently—then calmed.
They crossed in silence.
Behind them, wind carried the screams of those who failed.
---
[Stage 5 – Abandoned Shrine of the Fox]
Kitsune statues littered the area, many cracked, some bleeding.
Candles lit the path as dozens of fox spirits appeared—each beautiful and terrifying.
One stepped forward. "Answer our riddle, or become our playthings."
She grinned. "What lives inside a lie, feeds on desire, and dies when believed in?"
Kaito stared.
Aya whispered, "Hope?"
"No," Kaito muttered. "It's... a secret."
The Kitsune shrieked in delight.
"Clever mortal."
They let them pass.
But behind them—two more duos arrived… and screamed as the spirits pounced.
---
[Stage 6 – Tengu Ascent]
A rocky cliff rising to heaven. Hundreds of Tengu—long-nosed warriors with wings—dive-bombed any climbers.
By now, only three duos remained.
One was already falling—slammed into the rocks by a Tengu's spear.
Another pair tried to fight mid-air. Their screams ended the moment they struck the ground.
Only Kaito and Aya remained.
Aya used her wind-step skill to glide upward.
Kaito ran on falling boulders, arms bleeding, lips curled in defiance.
A Tengu struck at him—only to miss as Kaito imagined he had no weight.
He became thought—and reached the top beside her.
Below, the final two corpses hit the rocks.
---
[Stage 7 – Cursed Well of Yurei]
A dried-up well surrounded by spectral women in white.
Hands reached from the depths, clawing, begging.
They latched onto Kaito's leg. Aya tried to pull him, but—
"Let go!" he shouted. "They're illusions!"
"No!" a voice whispered from the well. "We're real. We're the ones you let die."
Kaito's eyes widened.
It was the voice of a boy from his high school.
Then his mother's voice.
Then his own.
"Lies," Aya hissed, slicing the air. "You're not his past."
Kaito screamed—and released a burst of raw will.
The well exploded, scattering the Yurei like dust.
They collapsed near the next gate, panting.
No others followed.
---
[System Message]
> Remaining Participants: 2
All Other Duos: Deceased
Enter Final Stage: Pagoda of the Sealed One
Aya's hands trembled.
"Only us now..."
Kaito looked at the gate. "We were always alone. This just proves it."
---
[Stage 10 – Pagoda of the Sealed One]
A crimson sun hung overhead, casting the ruined battlefield in a blood hue. The pagoda stood tall—ten stories high, surrounded by shattered charms and broken seals. Wind howled with the sound of prayers never answered.
At its apex: a sealed chamber carved with names—10,000 names of the fallen.
A single name at the center still glowed.
> "YAMI-NO-KAMI – GOD OF THE BLACK NIGHT"
Aya stepped forward. Her voice trembled. "He's not just a demon… He was a god once."
Kaito clenched his fist. "So? I'm the devil they didn't invite."
The pagoda doors opened.
A vacuum of darkness sucked them inside.
---
[Boss Chamber – Yami-no-Kami]
It was silent.
No movement. No sound. No light.
Then—
A heartbeat echoed across dimensions.
BOOM.
The room pulsed. Darkness bled from the walls.
From the void stepped a titanic being, its body composed of endless night, its face a shifting mask of oni, kitsune, tengu, and something formless... unknowable.
Eight arms unfurled from its back—each holding a different weapon of ancient myth:
Muramasa Blade
Raijin's Drumstick
A Bone Prayer Bead
A Crying Baby Skull
A Katana made of Moonlight
A Crimson Fan
A Bell Without a Clapper
A Mirror Reflecting Nothing
And in his chest—a hole, endless and yawning, filled with screaming souls.
> [System Notification]
Boss Battle Initiated: YAMI-NO-KAMI – GOD OF THE BLACK NIGHT
Survive. Or be remembered as names on the seal.
---
Round One – Testing the Intruders
The god moved faster than reality.
A wave of pressure hit Aya and Kaito like a tsunami.
Aya skidded across the marble floor, coughing blood.
Kaito was hurled into a pillar—which broke.
Yami-no-Kami didn't speak. He didn't need to. His thoughts infected theirs.
> "You walk into my grave... not knowing you were born to die in it."
Kaito stood, shoulder dislocated.
"Then let's make this tomb a little louder."
He snapped it back in place with a grunt.
Aya drew both blades—wind and lightning danced in her veins.
They moved together—flashes of silver and white.
Aya's blade clashed against one of the god's weapons—Moonlight Katana.
It broke her right sword instantly.
Kaito tried to imagine the blade not existing—but the god was immune. Something resisted his power.
Yami-no-Kami raised the Crimson Fan—with a single flick, the pagoda floor exploded, revealing a void underneath.
They fell—
---
[Phase Two – Below the Seal]
They landed in a chamber of illusions, surrounded by the phantoms of every dead duo.
They screamed.
"Why did YOU survive?"
"You were never the strongest!"
"You should have died instead of us!"
Aya covered her ears, trembling.
Kaito's eyes flickered.
"I've always survived. Not because I deserved it…"
He closed his eyes.
"…but because I made the decision to."
With a surge of inner strength, his hidden power—still undefined—rippled.
He imagined silence.
And the illusions vanished.
Aya looked at him.
"Your power... what are you?"
He grinned weakly. "Still figuring that out."
---
[Final Phase – True Form of Yami-no-Kami]
The god landed, his form now compressed—six meters tall, humanoid, and terrifying.
He now held a single weapon—a sword made of pure darkness, a blade that bled stars.
Aya activated her ultimate skill:
"Raijin's Descendant: Armor of Lightning."
Her body crackled with divine voltage.
Kaito stepped forward, eyes glowing white.
He whispered a single thought:
> What if everything stopped… just for a second?
Time stilled.
But the god moved inside that stillness.
"Your imagination is vast. But I am the boundary."
The blade stabbed through Kaito's chest.
Aya screamed.
Kaito coughed blood, grinning.
"…was hoping you'd say that."
He grabbed the blade with his heart, locking it.
Aya's body exploded with light.
She descended like thunder—one final strike.
> "SHIN RAIGO – DIVINE DOWNFALL!"
She pierced the god's skull.
For a moment—silence.
Then—
The god shattered.
---
[System Notification]
> BOSS DEFEATED: YAMI-NO-KAMI – CLEARED
Survivors:
– Kaito Yamada
– Aya Shirogane
> All Other Awakeners (48 Duos + Duo #50): DECEASED
Gate Status: CLOSED.
Country: JAPAN has Cleared the
> Reward:
– 1x National Relic (Japan)
– 2x Personal Relic
– Title: "Survivor of the Night God"