The interior of the building felt wrong.
Not haunted.
Not devil-infested.
Just unnervingly empty—like someone had wiped the place clean of life and forgotten to add anything back. The air was stale, tasting faintly of dust and detergent. The long fluorescent lights hummed in a tired rhythm above the team as they stepped deeper inside.
Asahi immediately took point.
"Kaito. Ren. Basement," he ordered, not raising his voice—he didn't need to. Authority clung to him as naturally as his shadow.
Kaito stretched his neck with a loud crack.
"Finally."
Ren slipped his hands into his pockets and sighed. "Morning raids should be illegal."
"You two. Move," Asahi said, already heading toward the stairwell.
The support members hurried after them.
The basement team disappeared down the concrete steps, the sound of their footsteps fading quickly.
That left the lobby quiet.
Tenshi waited, hands loosely in his pockets, eyes drifting toward the elevator. He could feel the tension humming under his skin—not fear, just a strange buzzing energy he always got before a fight.
Yua Kanzaki stepped up beside him, claws flicking out once before retracting. Her amber eyes were bright against the dim hallway.
"You'll be okay," she said softly.
Tenshi blinked. "Yeah."
"You have to be." She smiled, warm enough to cut through the cold air. "You promised me taiyaki, remember?"
Tenshi nodded once, face blank but ears growing faintly warm.
Yua grinned and slipped into the elevator toward the fifteenth floor, her movement light and springy.
"See you after."
The doors shut with a soft thud.
Now Tenshi was alone in the lobby.
He slid into the second elevator, pressing the button for 16. The door closed, and the old metal box juddered to life.
Floor 3.
Floor 5.
Floor 8.
A distant impact shook the building—Kaito smashing through something in the basement already.
Floor 11.
Floor 12.
Tenshi leaned against the cold metal wall, tapping his fingers against his thigh.
Floor 14.
Floor 15.
A faint, sharp scream filtered through the ventilation system.
Probably Yua's floor.
He didn't flinch.
Then the elevator slowed.
Floor 16.
The doors opened with a long, low hiss.
A hallway stretched forward—long, poorly lit, lined with unmarked doors. Tile floor cracked in places, dust gathering along the corners. An oppressive heaviness seeped into the air, as if the building itself knew what lived up here.
Tenshi stepped out, shoes clicking softly.
The silence pressed against his ears.
Then—
a shadow moved at the far end.
Slow. Heavy. Deliberate.
A tall figure stepped into the dim light.
Long black coat.
Broad shoulders.
Only one normal arm.
The other—
a fused weapon.
A long, dark sword-blade growing directly from his forearm, dripping with thick, dark blood. The metal caught the flickering light, jagged and uneven, as if it was grown—not forged.
The hybrid tilted his head.
His voice came out low, rough, like someone dragging metal through gravel.
"Human. Leave."
Tenshi sighed. "Can't."
The hybrid stepped forward.
Another step.
Another.
Each footfall heavier than the last.
"You. Die here."
"Yeah, yeah," Tenshi murmured, scratching his neck. "I get that a lot."
He rolled his shoulders.
He exhaled.
And then—
BOOM
—his head exploded instantly.
A blast of blood splattered across the wall, followed by swirling black smoke rising like dark steam. His new devil head formed in less than a heartbeat—jagged teeth, hollow eyes glowing faintly, silhouette sharp like cut metal.
Twin sickles appeared in his hands—dark, Arlecchino-shaped blades with crimson veins pulsing faintly along the edges, handles wrapped tight for grip.
Tenshi stepped forward, transformed.
The hybrid roared.
They clashed in the center of the hallway like two storms colliding.
Steel shrieked.
Sparks burst.
The tiles cracked under their feet.
Tenshi slashed upward.
The hybrid blocked, blade ringing with a deep metallic howl.
The hybrid swung downward—
Tenshi dodged, the sword smashing into the floor where he stood a second ago.
Pressure crashed through the hallway.
The hybrid charged.
Tenshi sprinted.
They collided again, weapons slamming together with enough force to rattle the elevator doors.
Tenshi drove a sickle forward—
The hybrid twisted, forcing Tenshi against a wall.
Tenshi kicked off, flipping backward.
The hybrid slashed through the drywall, carving a long cut through the corridor.
Dust fell like thin snow.
Tenshi clicked his tongue.
"Annoying."
The hybrid growled.
"Kill. You."
They clashed again—
harder
faster
more violently.
—
15th Floor
Yua darted through a hallway, claws extended.
Bullets whizzed past her as she zigzagged through overturned desks.
"Two ahead!" she yelled to her support teammates. "Trap on the right!"
Her senses were sharp—too sharp.
Gunpowder.
Fear.
Blood.
She leaped onto a filing cabinet and kicked off it, landing lightly as gunfire tore the air behind her.
Her heart pounded.
But she kept going.
She had taiyaki to eat later.
—
Basement
Asahi kicked open a reinforced door.
Kaito crashed into an enemy, headbutting him into a wall.
Ren flicked three needles into another man's arm, then stepped aside with a bored sigh.
One support member shouted, "Asahi! Another group—!"
"I see them," Asahi muttered, stepping forward.
A massive cockroach limb burst from the floor beside him, smashing into three enemies at once before dissolving into dust.
Kaito blinked. "Bro. What the—"
"Asahi's contract," Ren murmured, unimpressed. "He trades lifespan for broken bones."
"Shut up," Asahi said calmly.
They fighting continued.
—
Back on the 16th floor
Tenshi crashed into a glass office door as the hybrid slammed him sideways. He rolled on the floor, skidding past overturned chairs.
The hybrid stepped through the broken doorway, blade dripping blood.
Tenshi pushed himself up.
The hybrid lifted his weapon—
Tenshi twirled his sickles.
The air thickened.
There was no room left for words.
Only killing intent.
The real battle began.
Glass shattered around Tenshi as his body tumbled backward through open air. For a split second, sunlight blinded him—warm, sharp, unavoidable. The roar of wind flooded his ears.
Sixteen floors.
A long way down.
His transformed head tilted slightly as he fell, sickles still in his grip.
"…shit."
Then—
CRASH
He slammed into a cluster of steel trash bins in the narrow alley behind the building. The impact bent them inward, metal screaming, lids blasting off. Dust, garbage, and sunlight all swirled around him.
Tenshi groaned, rolled onto his side, and coughed.
"…ow."
He wasn't dying.
Just annoyed.
The transformation flickered.
His devil eyes burned.
The smoke around his body surged again.
Above him—
a heavy impact shook the wall.
The hybrid had jumped out after him.
Concrete cracked along the vertical line where the hybrid slid down the building, boots grinding against the wall. Halfway down, the hybrid kicked off, arc-flipping through the air with monstrous force.
And then—
BOOM
He landed in the alley, sending a shockwave across the pavement. Dust shot upward in a thick cloud.
Tenshi pushed himself up and twirled a sickle.
The hybrid stepped forward, coat swinging in the windless corridor. His blade-arm glowed faintly under the sunlit dust.
"You. Break," the hybrid growled.
Tenshi smirked.
"Try."
They clashed in the narrow alley.
Sickles met sword with a deafening shriek.
Sparks scattered across the brick walls.
Tenshi slid backward with the force, boots scraping asphalt.
The hybrid swung wide—
Tenshi ducked, the blade carving a chunk from the wall behind him.
Tight space.
Barely enough room to dodge.
Perfect.
Tenshi lunged forward and sliced the hybrid across the ribs.
The hybrid roared and kicked him hard.
Tenshi slammed into the opposite wall, cracking brick.
He exhaled sharply.
"Okay… annoying."
The hybrid rushed him again—
but Tenshi darted under the blade and sprinted deeper into the alley maze.
The hybrid followed.
They raced through a twisting path of garbage bags, crates, chain-link fences, and rusting AC units. Tenshi leaped over a fallen ladder, sickles flashing behind him. The hybrid swung wildly, sparks exploding off metal dumpsters.
Mid-sprint, Tenshi realized something important:
The hybrid was faster now.
Maybe the fall woke something primal in him.
Maybe he was designed for outdoor fighting.
Maybe the sword-arm felt freer in the open air.
Either way, Tenshi felt it in his bones.
A shadow crept into the alley behind him—
No.
Not the enemy.
Just the building collapsing slightly from the impact of their fight earlier. Dust drifted down like soft ash.
⸻
15th Floor — Yua
A tile fell from the ceiling and shattered beside her.
She froze, heart pounding.
"That's Tenshi's fight…" she whispered.
Support Member Eri turned to her. "Are you okay?"
Yua nodded shakily, then forced a smile.
"He's… he's probably fine."
But her voice betrayed her tension.
She dashed forward again, claws scraping lightly as she turned a corner.
She felt something tug in her chest.
A bad feeling.
A sharp fear.
But she kept running.
She had promised a taiyaki date.
She wasn't going to let him die before that.
⸻
Basement — Asahi
Asahi didn't look up as dust drifted from a broken ceiling.
Kaito punched a man so hard he hit the opposite wall.
Ren flicked a needle into an enemy's throat. "Tch. Missed the artery."
Asahi's eye twitched.
That was Ren's version of a complaint.
Then he paused.
His heartbeat skipped.
A small, instinctual dread rippled through him—unique to someone who had watched people die too many times.
"…Tenshi," he muttered under his breath.
Kaito glanced back. "What about him?"
Asahi didn't answer.
His jaw tightened.
His grip on his weapon tightened.
He couldn't lose anyone else.
Not again.
⸻
Tenshi swung one sickle backward blindly.
It scraped the hybrid's blade, buying a split second.
The hybrid shoved him.
Tenshi stumbled into a metal dumpster.
Before he could move—
the hybrid grabbed him by the face and lifted him.
Tenshi snarled and slashed upward, cutting the hybrid's forearm—barely a scratch, but the hybrid dropped him.
Tenshi hit the ground, rolled, regained his footing.
They clashed again.
The alley shook.
A pipe above them burst from the force, spraying water everywhere. Steam and mist clouded the alley, turning everything into blurred silhouettes.
Tenshi's devil eyes glowed faintly through the fog.
The hybrid's blade gleamed like a guillotine.
Tenshi inhaled—
and darted forward.
Claws.
Fangs.
Steel.
Blood.
All crashing together in a tight space no wider than a sedan.
The hybrid roared as Tenshi sliced his thigh.
Tenshi took a slash to the shoulder.
He barely felt it.
He spun with both sickles—
blocked again.
Sparks flew like fireflies.
The hybrid shoved him against the wall.
Tenshi twisted out, ducked under the blade—
and kicked off the wall to leap over the hybrid's shoulder.
He landed behind him and slashed—
the hybrid blocked backward, blindly, with terrifying instinct.
Tenshi skid backward, breathing hard.
"…damn."
This guy was strong.
Stronger than Kaito.
Stronger than Ren.
Stronger than anyone but Daigo.
Tenshi flicked his sickles.
The hybrid raised his blade-arm.
Then—
they charged each other again, weapons raised for a brutal mid-alley collision—
when suddenly—
the hybrid grabbed Tenshi by the collar mid-charge and FLUNG him out of the alley and into the wide street.
Tenshi rolled across asphalt, creating a trail of red smear from his blood.
He groaned, sat up—
and the hybrid stepped out of the alley, walking slowly, sword-arm dragging a long ugly scratch across the ground.
The street was empty.
Silent.
Sunlit.
Heat rising off the asphalt.
Perfect arena.
Tenshi stood, sickles ready, breathing sharp and controlled.
The hybrid stopped ten meters away.
Their shadows stretched long.
"…round two," Tenshi muttered.
The hybrid lunged.
And the fight on the street began.