The glitched hands flickered into existence behind Jikken with a simple motion of his arm. Dozens of them. They hovered in the air like a silent army waiting for command.
Jikken stood calmly in the center of the street, his right arm free at his side while his left arm remained folded neatly behind his back.
The hands curled slowly, preparing to strike.
Then—
Something touched his shin. Jikken paused. He looked down.
A small plush toy clung tightly to his leg. It was trembling.
Its button eyes were glossy with stitched tears, its tiny arms wrapped around him like a frightened child holding onto a parent.
The toy looked up at him.
"Daddy…I'm scared…"
Its voice was that of a terrified little boy.
Jikken froze. The glitched hands behind him twitched uncertainly.
Are they all…
His gaze slowly lifted. The street looked like a slaughterhouse. Plush bodies torn apart. Stuffing scattered across the pavement. Half-finished toys crawling desperately across the asphalt.
Some reaching for the heroes.
Some reaching for nothing.
…children?
For a moment, Jikken nearly broke. The glitch across the right side of his face flickered violently, fragments of black, white, and gray distortion scrambling like corrupted data. But he shook his head.
No.
These ones could not be children. They were toys. Puppets. Creatures under the control of The Toymaster.
Jikken slowly raised his gaze toward the towering plush monster across the battlefield. The Toymaster stood there, unmoving. Watching, waiting, and calculating.
Jikken's mind raced.
And that must mean…
He…
…is the child.
The thought twisted through his mind like broken code. His expression faltered. The glitch across his face began to spiral chaotically, distorting his features into a messy storm of flickering shapes and fractured pixels.
How could something like that...
Something so grotesque…
So monstrous…
Be a child?
"JIK–KEN!"
The shout cut through the battlefield.
Jikken's head snapped toward the voice.
It was Anahera.
Also known as Evergarden.
"Snap out of it!" She called.
Roots burst violently through the pavement around her.
The ground cracked as thick vines spread outward like living veins across the battlefield. They lifted her upward, raising her above the chaos.
Anahera stood tall, even among heroes.
Taller than most women, she had long whitish-silver hair that had green stripes flowing down her back like pale moonlight. Her ice-blue eyes glowed with sharp focus against her pale skin.
Her suit was a sleek whitish-silver bodysuit, decorated with thick twisting vines that spiraled along the sides of her torso and legs like living armor, its surface also dotted with greenish-cyan crater-like patterns—resembling chains of sharp-edged craters—that spread subtly across the fabric.
At the center of her abdomen was a large circular opening.
Inside it floated a glowing cyan core, swirling with drifting particles of energy that shimmered softly like fireflies trapped in glass.
Jikken stared at her for a moment. Then he nodded. The glitched hands behind him steadied once more. The battle wasn't over yet.
Hesitation…would get everyone killed.
Kanasei stood slightly away from the chaos, beside Mugen.
The battlefield raged only a short distance away—lightning flashing, vines tearing through asphalt, glitched hands crushing waves of enemies—but for a brief moment, Kanasei found himself strangely still.
His thoughts circled one question.
Where did The Toymaster come from?
He hadn't appeared gradually. There hadn't been reports of him approaching. No buildup nor a warning. He had simply appeared.
That doesn't make sense… Kanasei thought. Someone should've seen him before he got this close to the facility.
The more he thought about it, the more it bothered him.
Stomp.
Kanasei blinked.
STOMP.
The ground trembled slightly. His head snapped upward. And all he saw was a gigantic plush hand reaching straight for him.
Kanasei's eyes widened. Fear rushed through him like ice water.
The massive form of The Toymaster loomed overhead, its crooked black smile stretching across its face as it lunged forward.
Then—
Plink.
The Toymaster vanished.
Or rather, it fell.
Straight down through the ground. Kanasei stared in disbelief.
"Did he just phase through the ground?!" He blurted in his mind as he quickly looked down.
There it was.
A Shoji door, identical to the one Mugen had created earlier. It was open beneath where The Toymaster had been standing.
Kanasei turned his head. Mugen stood calmly to his right, the Biwa resting in his hands.
"Step back," Mugen said quietly.
Kanasei didn't hesitate. He quickly moved several steps away. Mugen plucked the Biwa again.
Plink.
Another Shoji door appeared. But this one opened in the sky. A moment later, The Toymaster fell out of it. The giant plush monster dropped through the air. But before it could hit the ground—
Plink.
Another door opened beneath it.
The Toymaster disappeared again. But this time Mugen didn't stop.
Plink.
Plink.
Plink.
Plink.
Plink.
Shoji doors began opening everywhere.
In the sky.
Across the ground.
Even sideways in midair.
The Toymaster fell endlessly from one door to another, tumbling through an impossible maze of portals.
Up.
Down.
Sideways.
Again. Again. And again.
Kanasei could barely follow what was happening anymore. Only God knew where the creature was going each time it vanished into another door.
Finally, Mugen played one last note.
Plink.
A Shoji door appeared high in the sky. The Toymaster dropped out of it. This time there were no more doors waiting. The monster plummeted.
Down.
Down.
Down.
Toward the street.
Plink.
Another door opened on the ground exactly where the monster would land. But something was different.
Two dark, smokey hands slowly rose from the doorway. They gripped the wooden frame. Something began pulling itself out.
A creature climbed from the darkness. It was tall and demonic. And it was completely black. The only color on its body was the glow of its red eyes. The creature stepped halfway out of the door and slowly pulled its right arm back.
The Toymaster fell closer.
Closer.
Closer—
BAM!!!
The creature's fist smashed directly into The Toymaster's head.
The impact was monstrous.
The plush head flew sideways through the air, spinning wildly before crashing down the street. It exploded as it smashed into a car. The Toymaster's massive body slammed into the pavement moments later.
The Shoji door vanished, and the demon vanished with it.
Mugen exhaled softly.
That was easier than I expected.
From a short distance away, Kanasei grinned under the bandages. He jogged over excitedly.
"Woah! That was so cool!" He said. "I didn't know you could do that!"
Mugen smiled modestly.
"Oh, it wasn't much."
The two began chatting casually as the battlefield grew strangely quiet.
The Toymaster's minion toys had suddenly stopped moving. Frozen and still.
Stomp.
Kanasei blinked.
Stomp.
He turned his head toward the sound, still smiling. But the smile vanished instantly. What he saw replaced his excitement with cold fear.
The gigantic body of The Toymaster was still standing. It was walking slowly.
But there was one problem. It didn't have a head.
Black ink, thick and dark like tar, sprayed from its neck as it walked.
Step.
Step.
Step.
The massive body reached the place where its head had landed. It bent down and picked it up. The exploded head had already sewn itself back together. It slowly placed its head back onto its neck. Thin black threads immediately began stitching the head back into place. The grotesque sewing sound filled the air.
Kanasei and Mugen stood frozen in shock as the last stitch tightened.
The Toymaster slowly turned toward them. Its crooked smile widened.
"Foolish…of you…to think that I would die from such attacks."
Its voice cracked violently as it spoke—shifting from deep, to childish, to distorted in the same breath.
"I am no weak…villain…who uses hands."
Its black eyes locked onto Kanasei.
The Toymaster tilted its head slightly.
"I…am…"
"…death for you."