"What a load of crap," Kagekami said, looking Hunter up and down. "Rippers don't look human."
Hunter smiled. "And yet here I am, boy."
He took a slow step closer, unhurried, like someone who had already decided how this ended. "I'm one of a select few Rippers who evolve naturally. Others have to consume humans to get there." He tilted his head. "But why am I telling you this?"
He moved.
The first blow came before Kagekami could process it — a punch to the gut that folded him in half and sent him stumbling backward. He tried to counter and found nothing but air. Hunter was faster than anything he'd fought before, landing hits with precise, almost bored efficiency.
Can I even win this?
Kagekami straightened up and clenched his fists.
Hunter looked at him and chuckled. "That all you've got, boy? Acting tough won't save you. Every other human I've killed put up more of a fight than this — especially the women."
He vanished.
He reappeared directly in front of Kagekami and drove his claws straight into his gut.
The impact sent Kagekami through the air and into the side of a hill. He hit it hard and slid down, leaving a dark streak behind him. He lay at the bottom, blood running freely from the wound, the world going in and out at the edges.
Is this how I die?
Sora's face surfaced in his mind — her smile at the door, her hands on his back treating his wounds, her voice calling his name.
After everything. After all of it. This is how it ends?
Who protects her when I'm gone? Who? My whole life was pain and loss and I couldn't do one thing — one thing — right. Dad never cared. Mum did, and they took her from me.
His fingers pressed into the dirt.
I will never forgive myself if I die here.
Get up.
Get up.
GET UP!.
He rose.
Slowly, deliberately, like something being assembled from the ground upward. Blood still running. Breathing ragged. Eyes fixed on Hunter with an expression that hadn't been there before.
"I won't stop fighting," Kagekami said. His voice had changed — quieter, colder, certain in a way that had nothing to do with bravado. "Not until you're all dead"
Something moved through him. Not power exactly — more like a door opening somewhere deep, something that had been waiting a long time finally being let out.
Hunter felt it before he understood it. His body went still. Every instinct he had — sharpened by years of hunting, by evolution, by the deaths of dozens of humans — was suddenly screaming the same thing.
Run.
Something's not right. A moment ago he was on the ground dying. Now—
Kagekami appeared in front of him.
His fist connected with Hunter's jaw and the sound that followed was enormous — Hunter left the ground, hit the earth and skidded across it, dust rising in a cloud around him. Before he could process what had happened a hand closed around his head and dragged him across the field at blinding speed, the ground tearing up beneath him.
Hunter wrenched free and drove a fierce kick at Kagekami's head.
Kagekami wasn't there. He was already on his feet, landing clean, watching Hunter with those eyes — dark and still, like looking into something that had no bottom.
Hunter straightened up, chest heaving, disoriented for the first time in longer than he could remember. "Who are you? You're not an S-Rank Protector — I know every S-Rank Protector."
"I'm not," Kagekami said. "My name is Kagekami. And I will be the one who eliminates your kind from this world."
Hunter roared and charged — a full sprint, aura blazing, every ounce of evolved power behind it.
Kagekami didn't move. He stood and watched Hunter come and simply wasn't where each blow landed, again and again, until Hunter's attacks became frantic and graceless.
This is what it feels like, Kagekami thought, something electric running through him. No fear. Is this what it feels like to have no fear?
Hunter swung again. Kagekami caught his fist.
The struggling stopped.
"How does it feel," Kagekami said quietly, his eyes like a void, "to be the one hunted?"
Hunter's instincts stopped screaming and simply gave up. He tried to pull back — tried to run — and then a flash of white light crossed the dark and Kagekami's fist drove into his chest.
The sound was final.
Hunter's ribs gave way all at once. His heart stopped. He coughed blood as his legs went out from under him and he hit the ground and didn't move again.
Kagekami stood over the body and looked down at it for a long moment.
I've killed someone- No, something.
He turned away.
I should get home before Sora starts to worry.
Sora sat on the sofa, arms folded, eyes on the door.
Kagekami. It's been two hours. It's dark outside. What is taking him so long? I swear, when he gets back I'll—
The door opened.
Kagekami walked in. Hoodie torn. Blood on the fabric. Moving like someone who was pretending not to be in pain.
Sora was on her feet before she knew she'd stood up. "Kagekami — what happened to you? You look awful. There's blood on your hoodie—"
"It's nothing serious." He raised a hand, aiming for nonchalant and landing somewhere slightly south of it. "I got attacked by a Ripper. I killed it."
Sora stared at him. She looked at the blood. She looked at his face. She filed it away.
"Go wash up."
In the bathroom Kagekami peeled back his hoodie and looked at the wound in the mirror. Deep. Too deep for home treatment. He cleaned it as best he could, wrapped it tight and looked at his reflection for a moment.
Hospital tomorrow.
He turned off the light and headed to the kitchen. The television was on.
— the third devastating Ripper attack of this month was repelled by S-Rank Protectors Ms. Kasami, Luke, Takomi and Creed. All Rippers have retreated to the Death Zone, now estimated to contain over ten thousand Rippers. Recruitment for the Rankers — announced five months ago by Ms. Kasami — closes tomorrow, with approximately two hundred and forty candidates signed up. The following month will be dedicated to field training for those who show sufficient strength. They will form the fighting force in the coming war against the Rippers—
Kagekami looked over at Sora. "How much is left in my account?"
She didn't look up. "Eight thousand, seven hundred and eighteen."
No one will employ me, he thought. So I'll fight monsters instead. That's not a terrible plan.
He turned to Sora with the expression of someone who has just made a decision they feel very good about.
"Sora. Get ready to watch me become the strongest S-Rank Protector who ever lived."
Sora looked up from her phone. "You'll be lucky to make B-rank. A cockroach scares you."
"That's rich from someone who screams at geckos."
"That's completely different."
"It really isn't."
She threw a cushion at him. He caught it, grinning.
"I'm going to bed," he said. "Tomorrow's a big day."
Sora waited until his door clicked shut. Then she picked up her phone and typed carefully into the search bar:
What happens to B-ranks in the field?
Kagekami lay on his back staring at the ceiling in the dark.
"Mum," he said quietly, to nobody. "I'll protect her. I promise."
He closed his eyes.
He opened them in darkness.
Not his room. Not anywhere. Just black — endless, total, the kind of dark that existed before light was invented. He looked down. Water covered the floor, still and perfect as glass. He scooped some up and watched his fingers disappear into it — swallowed by the black as if they weren't there.
He stood slowly.
"Where am I?"
Something shifted. Not a sound exactly — more like a change in pressure. Like the darkness itself had become aware of him. Kagekami's fists closed at his sides.
"Who's there?"
"After all these years." The voice came from everywhere and nowhere, low and resonant, older than anything Kagekami had ever heard. "You can finally hear me, Kagekami."
Two eyes opened in the dark above him. Void-like. Patient. Vast.
Kagekami's heart hammered. "Who — what are you? How do you know my name?"
The darkness laughed — a sound like the universe settling.
"I am a being beyond existence itself. My name is Darkness." The eyes drew closer, or perhaps the dark simply compressed around them. "The darkness that lies dormant within you will soon consume you. And when it does — I will destroy all of creation. What your father put you through is nothing. Nothing compared to what is coming."
Kagekami stared up at him. "How do you know him?"
Darkness laughed again. And then the eyes receded — moving back and back into the void, growing smaller, until they were just two faint points of light in an infinite dark.
Then nothing.
Kagekami jolted awake.
He sat up, breathing hard, and looked around his room. Morning light was pressing through the curtains. The clock read seven AM.
Was that real?
He sat with the question for a moment. Then he got up, pushed it aside and started his morning workout.
An hour later he came out to find Sora at the stove, the smell of breakfast filling the apartment. He brushed his teeth, bathed, and started getting ready for the hospital.
"Are you going to school today?" he called.
Sora's laughter came from the kitchen. "It's Saturday, Kagekami."
He appeared in the doorway. "Right." He grabbed his jacket. "I'm going to the Ranker signup port after the hospital. Don't know what time I'll be back. Keep the door locked."
Sora turned from the stove. Her smile faded slightly. "Do you really have to do this? It's dangerous. I don't want to lose you too."
Kagekami crossed the kitchen and looked at her properly.
"I have to," he said. "Not just for the money — I need to get stronger. Strong enough to protect you." He paused, choosing the next words carefully because he meant them. "If I ever came home and found out I'd never see you again — there'd be no reason left for me to keep going. You're all I have. It's my job to protect you. So don't worry. I'll be back before you know it."
Sora looked at him for a moment. Then she nodded and turned back to the stove.
"Come back late and I'm locking you out," she said.
Kagekami smiled. "Remember the golden rule."
"Yeah, yeah." She waved a hand without turning around. "Always call Kagekami when I'm in trouble."
"Exactly." He picked up his bag. "Goodbye, Sora."
"Goodbye, Kagekami."
He stepped out the door and pulled it shut behind him.
The street was bright and ordinary and full of people who had no idea what was coming.
Kagekami took in a deep breath as he walked into a new chapter of his life