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.
They crashed into the vending-machine alley, boots splashing through a thin sheet of water. Tenshi skidded to a stop, chest heaving, devil smoke curling around him in thin black coils. His vision wavered, his demon head flickering like a dying flame.
The hybrid stepped out of the shadows—
slow, heavy, unstoppable.
Blood smeared across his coat.
His blade-arm dragged a long, ugly line across the concrete.
He raised the blade.
Tenshi readied his sickles.
Both of them breathed once.
Just once.
The air tightened.
No sound.
No warning.
No long exchange of blows.
Everything happened in a single instant.
The hybrid lunged—
a final, brutal, killing strike.
Tenshi didn't dodge.
He stepped into the attack.
For half a heartbeat, their silhouettes overlapped in the narrow alley—
one huge and monstrous,
one small and sharp,
both covered in blood.
Then—
a flash of metal.
A single slash.
Fast.
Clean.
Almost invisible.
Tenshi slid past the hybrid, both sickles drawn.
He didn't even look back.
The hybrid stopped mid-swing.
A thin red line traced itself across his chest.
Then another across his throat.
He blinked.
The sword-arm slipped loose from his grip.
THUD.
His knees buckled.
He fell sideways, collapsing in a heavy heap against the vending machine.
Tenshi stood a few meters away, shoulders rising and falling in uneven breaths. His devil head flickered off, disappearing into smoke as he returned to human form.
He didn't celebrate.
He didn't smile.
He just whispered:
"…finally."
The hybrid's body twitched once—
then stilled completely.
The fight was over.
Fast.
Brutal.
Unexpected.
Tenshi wiped blood off his mouth with the back of his hand and leaned against the vending machine, panting.
"…damn," he muttered.
He let his eyes close for a moment.
Just one moment.
Then he pushed himself up, unsteady on his feet.
The street was quiet.
Too quiet.
He tightened his grip on his sickle handles—
and headed back
Tenshi stepped out of the narrow vending-machine alley, the hybrid's corpse lying crumpled behind him. The afternoon sun hit his face, too bright, too warm on skin still trembling from the fight.
His transformation faded in a shiver of smoke.
The sickles vanished.
The horns vanished.
The eyes dimmed.
Only a boy remained.
Blood dripped from the gash on his ribs.
His shirt clung to him.
His breathing was uneven.
He took one step toward the street.
Then another.
The world swayed.
He reached for the wall beside him—
missed—
and stumbled forward.
"…I… really hate… devils…"
The words came out broken, thin like paper tearing.
He took one more step.
Then his legs folded.
Tenshi collapsed onto the empty pavement, body hitting the ground with a dull thud.
No one was there to see it.
No one to catch him.
No one to shout his name.
Just the hum of distant traffic.
The faint buzzing of a neon sign.
And a soft breeze sweeping down the deserted alley.
Tenshi lay unconscious and alone
in a pool of sunlight and blood.
The street stayed painfully quiet.
Too quiet.