[Chapter Header]
ARC: Back Attack Land
Akos was drenched in blood, his strength fading fast as Hitomi looked down at him with a murderous grin. "The end has come, you pathetic sorcerer!"
Hitomi raised his massive spike-like hand, driving it down with lethal force toward Akos's skull.
Akos's eyes fluttered, blood leaking from his mouth, as the spike closed the distance—but suddenly, the world turned pitch black.
When Akos snapped his eyes open, he wasn't on the floor anymore; he was suspended in a dark void filled with shimmering stars.
He gasped as he realized he was floating high in the sky, looking down at the city lights below him.
The Devil's Mouth was there, and Hitomi was falling through the air alongside him, both of them stripped of their solid ground.
Yuzana's screams echoed through the clouds: "AAAGHHHH! We're falling! We're all falling!"
Floors 134 and 70 of the skyscraper had completely vanished, obliterated by a massive spatial eruption.
Debris, jagged stones, and steel beams began to rain down on the streets below, crushing cars and shattering the pavement.
On the ground, citizens froze in terror, staring up at a gargantuan, demonic mouth hovering in the clouds as they scrambled to call the police.
At the police station, the phones were ringing off the hook; an officer grabbed a receiver, shouting, "What the hell is wrong with all of you?!"
"Please! Come quickly!" a citizen screamed into the phone. "It's raining people! Bodies are falling in the middle of the city!"
"What kind of garbage are you talking about, you brat?!" the officer barked, thinking it was a prank.
"I'm begging you! Just look up!" the voice sobbed before the officer slammed the phone down in rage.
The officer arrived at the city center, muttering to himself, "I'm going to find the idiot who made that prank call and tear him apart... where is this rain of peo—"
He stopped mid-sentence. A heavy, sickening shadow loomed over him. Before he could even tilt his head, a wet, thunderous thud echoed through the street.
A body collided with him with the force of a falling meteor, crushing him instantly into the asphalt. His partner froze in horror as dozens more silhouettes began to tear through the clouds like hailstones of flesh.
The streets of the city were no longer gray asphalt; they were painted crimson, with blood splattering over cars, sidewalks, and terrified bystanders.
High in the sky, Ronika and Riko were free-falling through the clouds, along with Baka, who realized the gravity of the situation.
"Damn you, Nani!" Baka roared against the howling wind, his voice cracking with desperation. "You've overloaded it! You're going to kill us all!"
Desperate to survive and take everyone down with him, Baka brought his hands together one last time. CLAP!
A blinding white light erupted from his palms as he aimed the shockwave downward toward the massive demonic mouth.
[BAKA: TSAR BOMBA]
An apocalyptic explosion detonated in mid-air. A blinding flash, with a temperature rivaling the surface of the sun, vaporized the air itself.
The remaining glass of the skyscraper shattered into a million shards. Cars, people, debris, and lifeless bodies were sucked upward by the vacuum of the blast.
The Devil's Mouth didn't just die—it disintegrated. A rain of thick, demonic blood poured over the city like a nightmare storm.
Meanwhile, far away at the harbor, the air was unnervingly still. Cairo was sitting on a pier, fishing, while Luno stood beside him, eyes fixed on the horizon where the city sat like a silent giant.
"Hey, Luno," Cairo asked, his voice low, matching the heavy atmosphere. "Why do you hate Akos so much, anyway?"
"I don't hate him," Luno replied shortly, his hands tightening into fists. "But..."
"But what? Keep going."
"There's something wrong with him. A darkness that shouldn't be there. It makes my skin crawl."
"You always were too sensitive," Cairo sighed, though he didn't laugh. "I don't hate him either, but I'm terrified of what he's hiding. He's a walking trigger, Luno. One day, he's going to—"
Cairo stopped. The horizon didn't just brighten—it ignited.
Luno was frozen, his mouth slightly open, staring at the city skyline as the silence of the harbor was shattered by a distant, bone-shaking rumble.
Cairo followed his gaze and felt his heart stop. In the center of the city, a massive, thick pillar of smoke was rising into the heavens, forming a terrifying Mushroom Cloud.
"WTF..." Cairo whispered, the fishing rod slipping from his hands and splashing into the water.
Jin and Kiro stood on the 67th floor, the wind howling around them. There were no floors left above them—only the open sky and a rain of blood.
"Look at what you've done," Jin spat, wiping blood from his chin. "You used that twisted creature to kill so many people. Why? Is it because you aren't strong enough to beat me on your own?"
Kiro offered no reply, his gaze as cold as ice. He lunged with terrifying speed, burying a fist deep into Jin's face and sending him skidding across the concrete.
Before Jin could recover, Kiro was over him. His hand glowed with a sinister blue aura as he drove a punch straight into Jin's stomach.
Jin's eyes nearly popped out as blood sprayed from his mouth. He clutched his midsection, gasping, "What... what is this? I can't feel my body..."
Kiro began to walk toward him, a silent personification of death. Suddenly, the entire skyscraper began to tilt and sway, groaning under the structural damage.
Jin struggled to his feet, coughing up more blood. As Kiro lunged again, Jin managed to catch his arm and delivered a desperate headbutt.
Kiro didn't even flinch. He grabbed Jin by the throat and lifted him off the ground, holding him over the jagged edge of the 67th floor.
Jin looked out at the city lights and the stars, his vision blurring. "Why... why was your first hit so weak, but the others... so heavy? What are you using?"
Kiro pulled back his fist for the final blow. Jin, realizing this was his last chance, clenched his own fist and swung with everything he had left.
BAM! Kiro's fist buried itself into Jin's stomach, but at the exact same moment, Jin's fist connected with Kiro's face.
It wasn't a normal punch. A brilliant, blinding white energy exploded from Jin's knuckles upon impact, creating a sharp, cross-shaped burst of light that seared through the darkness.
The force of Kiro's punch sent Jin flying backward, out of the building and into the empty air, plummeting toward the streets below.
Kiro collapsed onto the floor, clutching his face in agony. His vision went dark, and blood began to pour from his mouth, ears, and eyes, which turned a deep, bruised red.
"That punch... what was that?" Kiro wheezed. Suddenly, he felt a sickening pressure in his gut—something was trying to claw its way out.
The Devil's Mouth, having entered Kiro through their dark pact, began to crawl out of Kiro's throat like a scorched, dying worm.
The creature's body was charred as if it had been burned from the inside out. With its final breath, it whispered: "You fool... he is a user of Ninjitsu..."
The Devil's Mouth shriveled and died. Kiro screamed, clutching his jaw as he felt his entire mouth beginning to swell and rupture from the internal damage.
Below them, Jin continued to fall through the darkness, the ground rushing up to meet him at terminal velocity.
A genuine, heartfelt smile spread across his face. Every breath felt like he was swallowing broken glass, and a cold numbness was rapidly spreading from his chest to his limbs—the unmistakable silence of a body failing. He didn't need to hit the pavement to know he was gone; he could feel his life leaking out into the cold night air, his insides turned to pulp by Kiro's final, crushing blows.
For the last time, Jin forced his heavy eyelids open to gaze at the night sky.
The stars reflected in his fading pupils, glowing with a brilliance that seemed to consume the entire horizon, washing the world in a final, blinding light.
But suddenly, the peaceful haze shattered. His heart gave a jagged, painful thud against his ribs.
Something was diving toward him through the clouds, cutting through the wind at an impossible speed.
Through the blur of the gale and the crimson mist stinging his eyes, he saw it clearly: a silhouette with massive, pure white wings, tearing through the darkness to reach him