The three figures moved slowly along the gray sidewalk of the deserted area. Tokyo around them seemed strangely silent and still within that authorized zone. The location where they were permitted to move looked nothing like a vibrant city. Omos walked along the edge of the street, observing the storefronts of the closed shops, while the wind kicked up a little dust from the concrete.
Zalinio began to fall behind, dragging his feet in obvious exhaustion. His patience had run out long ago, and the absolute silence of the area made the situation even more frustrating for him. He looked at his companions and called out complainingly:
'How much longer are we going to walk? I'm so tired and hungry.'
His voice echoed against the empty walls of the buildings. Kaiser couldn't tolerate any further delay. He stopped abruptly on the sidewalk and turned his head, his eyes flashing with irritation as he glared at him.
'Can you just shut up already? You've given me a headache with your whining!'
The rhythmic grinding of heavy boots against the asphalt abruptly ceased as Omos came to a dead halt. Oblivious for a fraction of a second, Kaiser and Zalinio took two more steps forward before noticing the sudden gap behind them.
Keeping his gaze fixed on the empty road ahead, Kaiser tilted his head slightly. 'Do you know where he is, Omos? Got any intel, or are we just wasting time?'
Omos didn't answer. His eyes darted left, then right, before locking onto a massive shadow looming over the intersection. Following his gaze, Kaiser looked up, his breath hitching instantly.
The sickening sound of tearing concrete and groaning steel echoed from above. Perched atop a five-story high-rise was a grotesque, multi-legged silhouette—a devil shaped like a colossal, bloated spider, violently unhinging its mandibles to rip chunks out of the roof. It looked as if it were trying to swallow the entire building whole.
'Well, look at that...' Kaiser muttered, his eyes narrowing into cold slits.
Zalinio's hands began to tremble, his exhaustion momentarily forgotten as his heart hammered violently against his ribs. 'So... what's the play here? What are we doing about that freakish spider?'
'Nothing,' Omos snapped, already turning his shoulder away from the scene. 'We walk away.'
A sudden surge of heat rushed to Zalinio's face, the veins bulging prominently at his temples. 'Are you out of your mind? Look at the lights in those windows! There are civilians in there. You're just going to leave them to get chewed to pieces?'
'Not our problem,' Omos growled, a deep, bitter exhaustion coating his words as his shoulders slumped. 'I'm starving. I'm running on empty. That five-hour hell trip from Sinish to Tokyo completely broke me. I'm done.'
'Omos, you coward!' Zalinio roared, the shout tearing raw from his throat.
Omos whipped around, his jaw clenched so tight his teeth ground together audibly. 'Back off. Don't push your luck with me right now.'
'Will both of you shut your damn mouths?' Kaiser's voice cut through the tension like a frozen blade. He hadn't broken his stare from the creature, his pupils tracking the rhythmic pulsing of its armored abdomen. 'I'm trying to find its weak spot.'
'You've got to be kidding me,' Omos muttered, shaking his head as he took a step backward into the shadows. 'Why the hell are we looking for a fight? Forget this; I'm out of here.'
He turned to leave.
Zalinio's hand locked onto the back of Omos's hoodie with a sudden, violent tug, bunching the fabric aggressively and yanking him back with pure, unadulterated fury.
Rolling his shoulders, Kaiser stretched his arms out before swinging his right hand toward Omos, his palm snapping open in a cold, silent demand.
'The weapon,' Kaiser said, his voice flat.
Omos stared blankly at the open hand. 'Uh...'
'Hurry the hell up already,' Kaiser snapped, his fingers twitching with irritation.
A sharp rasp cut through the quiet as Omos yanked open the zipper of his tactical pack. Reaching deep inside, he pulled out the weapon and passed it over.
The hilt and pommel were forged from a complex, thorny, industrial material—something almost alien, coated in a matte, pitch-black finish that seemed to swallow the dim Tokyo neon.
Its crossguard shared the same dark structure, but at its dead center rested an intricate emblem shaped like an eye. The outer ring of the eye bled a deep navy blue, while the inner core—the pupil—pulsed with a brilliant, glowing sapphire light that cast sharp shadows across Kaiser's face.
A low, vibrating hum resonated through the air as the weapon awakened. The blade itself wasn't solid steel but a chaotic, shattered mass of raw energy and jagged crystals bound together by sheer force.
At the base where the hilt met the guard, the matte black material dissolved entirely, bleeding into the first bright blue crystalline flakes. The main body of the blade burned in a dominant, deep royal blue.
Trapped within that unstable mass, thousands of tiny, razor-sharp, glowing cyan fragments and frantic lines of light arced violently, creating a permanent, localized effect of shattering energy. At the very tip, multiple blindingly bright points of light converged, sharpening into a lethal apex of pure power.
Kaiser gripped the hilt, his knuckles turning white as his eyes locked back onto the colossal spider tearing through the high-rise.
He dropped his center of gravity, shifting his feet into an explosive offensive stance.
Closing his eyes, Kaiser plunged his mind into absolute darkness.
In the black void, a sharp blue flame ignited, rippling outward like sonar through the spider's massive form. The energy surged rapidly, tracing the devil's segmented limbs and mapping its anatomy until it flooded the carapace—the housing of its vital organs.
A sudden brilliance illuminated his thoughts as the devil's internal structure digitized into a glowing blue puzzle. Every piece locked into place until only a single, jagged void remained at the center, right where its heart throbbed. With a cold mental click, the final piece slotted into the core.
[Weakness Detected]
"You're finished," Kaiser whispered.
Launching himself forward, he exploded into a blur of terrifying, precise velocity. The sapphire blade cleaved through the air, carving a blinding arc of crystallized light across the night sky.
The strike didn't just split the devil. It sheared clean through the concrete high-rise itself, bisecting both monster and building in one flawless stroke.
The gargantuan spider collapsed heavily into the street, its legs giving out as Kaiser completely shattered the vital biological machine that kept the fiend alive and hunting. Jet-black, foul blood erupted from the bisection, flooding the asphalt in a heavy, steaming downpour.
Another one down.
Tossing the blade back to Omos, Kaiser watched as the other man quickly secured it in his pack.
They resumed their march through the deserted streets, the oppressive silence of Tokyo wrapping around them once more.
"Hey," Zalinio muttered, his voice raspy. "Where the hell are we even going? What's the actual plan here?"
"Can we just find a place to rest?" Omos groaned, his boots dragging heavily against the asphalt. "I'm about to drop dead from exhaustion. All we've done is walk."
Zalinio bit his lower lip, a stark spike of irritation cutting through his fatigue. "Will you shut your damn mouth? I've told you a thousand times today. Your non-stop whining is driving me insane. What, is he your long-lost brother or something? Good grief..." He stared down at the pavement, his breath heavy.
Kaiser looked at them, a grim thought crossing his mind. It's strange how they still haven't figured it out.
Noticing his silence, the other two broke their bickering to cast a bewildered glance at him.
Kaiser didn't slow his pace. "I'm the only one who didn't get dragged into the fake world. Why? Because I located its weak point and shattered it entirely."
He let out a cold breath. "I know for a fact that Akos isn't even a member of Alpha. But before the fake world triggered, he entered our city. His goal is simple: either slaughter us or force us into this system."
"But fate had other ideas," Kaiser continued, his eyes narrowing. "The Fake World was never meant to last. It only has twelve hours left. It's going to collapse—not because of us, but on its own. Yugo has completely lost control."
Zalinio's eyes widened. "Wait... Yugo lost control? What the hell is he going to do? He has to be cooking something up."
Kaiser stopped dead in his tracks.
"He is," Kaiser whispered, his jaw tightening. "He's preparing to tear us to pieces before they can even harvest our memories and energy."
At that exact moment, far beyond the concrete borders of Tokyo, the horizon shattered.
Thousands of devils swarmed the landscape. Massive, winged fiends blotted out the sky while colossal, earth-shaking beasts trampled the ground below, all surging forward in a terrifying horde straight toward Tokyo.
Far from the mounting chaos engulfing the rest of Tokyo, the stark monolith of the Private Devil Hunter Defense headquarters stood undisturbed against the night sky.
Perched at the very edge of the concrete rooftop, Amaya looked out into the distance, her sharp gaze locking onto the shimmering outline of the barrier. A freezing gust of wind whipped her hair across her face, but her silhouette remained deathly still.
"These deeds... this current," she whispered, her voice a low, venomous hiss that died instantly in the air. "It must be erased from their memories forever."
Her fingers dug hard into the cold concrete ledge, the skin over her knuckles stretching tight. "As long as the victims are convinced their very existence amounts to nothing, it will suffice. Because from what I can see, you failed to do exactly what was demanded of you."
Glaring down toward the unseen shadows below, her lips curled with absolute disdain.
"What filthy slaves you are."