The night breeze was calm, yet heavy with unspoken dread. In the of Okutama, a figure stood motionless. Takami, his face veiled by shadow, cast a faint glow from his eyes.
The soldiers turned at the sound of his voice.
"Huh?" One of them snorted mockingly, his lip curling upward. "You wanna play hero too, eh? I think you missed the part where a bullet was left in the brain of one of your pals." He let out a chuckle, callous and indifferent.
Takami's voice cut through the night like frost. "So hurting them wasn't enough. Some were murdered, others left for the gods of chance to decide their fate." He stepped forward, the earth crunching faintly beneath his heel.
"Hey, step back!" another soldier barked, nerves flaring. The broken man they'd been beating stirred faintly on the ground. With one eye cracked open, he caught sight of Takami—and smiled. Relief. Recognition. Then unconsciousness.
Takami's face remained expressionless, but a fire stirred in his gaze.
"I'm done playing games with you," the first soldier murmured, as the he raised his fist. In one fluid motion, Takami blocked the strike and pushed him to the ground, not with force, but with precision.
"Who is your leader? Who sent you?" Takami asked.
The others hesitated, their confidence faltering. The fallen soldier stood up and tried to strike from behind with a pocket knife. Takami pivoted smoothly, grabbed the his wrist, twisted it, and threw him forward. The motion was effortless.
But that humiliation enraged them. All four rushed him at once.
Blades glinted under moonlight. Takami weaved between strikes, flipping one over his shoulder, tripping another, ducking a wild swing. Yet they were persistent. A blade found his shoulder. Another jabbed into his thigh.
Takami winced. With a grunt, he grabbed one attacker and flung him into the others like a battering ram, creating distance. Blood trickled, his breath sharp. He reached into his inventory and summoned a healing potion, and then he drank it.
"I see."
A gunshot cracked the night. Pain blossomed in his stomach. Takami staggered, expression blank. His mind drifted. "The old man was never wrong. Humans really are the worst monsters."
He sighed. Shadow blade materialized in his hands, curved like it had crawled from nightmares. He drank another potion, his wounds sealing with a hiss.
"Spirits? Humans? Doesn't matter anymore. I'll kill every monster, whatever the form."
One of the soldiers froze. "Did that blade just… appear out of nowhere?"
Too late. In a blur, Takami was upon him, an arc of steel, a flash of red. An arm fell. Then the head.
⟨Player has killed a human⟩
⟨Punishment: Some system features permanently closed⟩
Takami blinked. No reaction. Interface faded. He looked at the remaining three.
A twitch. A smirk.
⟨Emotional instability detected - Player has lost control.⟩
Yes, he was no longer in control.
"Now, who's next?" He said with a grin.
One soldier yanked a dagger. "I'm awakened too, y'know! I won't lose to a psycho—"
A blink later, his head spun from his body, thudding to the dirt.
"Mmm… easier than expected," Takami said. A flick of the blade.
The last two trembled, scrambling for cover. Bullets fired. Takami was gone. A heartbeat later, he crouched behind one, grabbing his head and smashing it into the wall. Over. And over. And over. Skull cracked. Lifeless.
Only one left.
The man threw down his gun, hands shaking. "P-Please… I'll talk! I'll tell you everything, where the others are! Even my cap—"
Takami lifted him with one hand.
"That sounds like work, doesn't it?"
He stabbed the soldier in the chest and threw him to the floor.
Elsewhere in Okutama, gunshots had drawn attention. Soldiers readied themselves, rifles loaded, eyes scanning.
The captain stepped from a cabin, brushing dust off his shoulders. He smiled like a man who'd won before the game started.
"Looks like their little superhero's back again."
He glanced at a tree. Tied to it, barely breathing, was the innkeeper.
"Hey, old man," he said with a chuckle, "Let's hope you're still breathing when I crush your hero."
The wind answered. Cold and silent.
Kyoto.
Helicopters thundered down onto the rooftops of Kyoto's outer district. As their blades slowed, a black convoy of government cars waited at the landing site. Out stepped Jin, dressed in sharp black, eyes colder than winter steel. Behind him, a group of agents in matching suits and shades followed in perfect sync.
Waiting to receive him was a cloaked man with silver-trimmed edges and a swaggering stance: Tai Gento, guild master of Yokai Corps, one of Japan's lower-tier guilds but still ranked sixth in the nation. Beside him, the ever-nervous Denki, his loyal assistant.
"Welcome, Mr. Jin," Tai bowed slightly.
Jin didn't stop. "Where's the highest reading detected?"
Tai blinked, then snapped to attention. "That'd be northeast of Mount Osore, deep red spike an hour ago."
"I'll need a lockdown in place immediately," Jin ordered, sliding into the black car.
Tai nodded. "I will send my top-tiers if needed. Just say the word."
"Understood." The car door shut.
As the convoy rolled out, Tai turned to Denki, chest puffed with pride.
"Did you see that? I was right next to him. That was practically a historic moment for our guild!"
Denki smiled. "Totally... historic."
"You took the photo, right?"
Denki froze. "Uhhh..."
Tai's expression twitched. "You didn't take it, did you?"
He pulled a staff from his cloak, "let's talk."
Denki immediately bolted.
"COME BACK HERE, YOU IDIOT! I just want to talk… with my staff!"
Back in Okutama.
Takami walked quietly, his boots crunching against scattered debris and broken glass. The townspeople peeked from cracked doors, whispering, recognizing the young man who had once saved them, now back again.
He stopped when he saw the old innkeeper tied to a tree, bloodied, barely conscious.
The glow in Takami's eyes dimmed. His hand trembled as he placed it on his own head, conflicted. But he shook it off, rushed forward, and tried giving the old man a healing potion.
⟨HP Cannot be restored - Too low, Potion has no effect.⟩
"Dammit…" he growled, jaw tight.
And then, they emerged.
Soldiers poured in from alleys and corners. Guns drawn, eyes wild. A trap.
Takami stood slowly, his eyes igniting like wildfire. The Shadow Blade materialized in his hand with a dark shimmer.
"Too late for regrets."
The first soldier lifted his rifle. Before the word "fire" could leave his mouth, Takami's hand was on his face, boom, the soldier smashed into a wall like a ragdoll.
Then all hell broke loose.
One came at him with an electrified baton, Takami ducked, swept his leg, and stabbed him through the shoulder. He ripped the blade out and flung it into another's chest, before dismissing and materializing it again in his hand. A roundhouse kick cracked a skull, a backflip dodge led into a brutal stab through the gut.
Another soldier rushed with a two-handed daggers, Takami sidestepped, grabbed his arm, and twisted it until bone snapped. The man screamed before a clean jab silenced him forever.
Bullets rang through the air.
Takami disappeared in a blur… glitching, reappearing behind them, blade dragging against the ground. He cleaved one in half at the waist. Another he sliced diagonally, body twitching before it collapsed.
One soldier begged, throwing his gun aside and dropping to his knees.
"I surrender, spare me,"
Takami grabbed him by the neck. "Told you it was too late."
With a cold slam, he drove the man into the concrete. Silence followed.
From a nearby house, a slow clap echoed.
"Well done. Cleared out my boys like they were trash bags," said a voice.
Out stepped a man with an evil grin, red eyes glowing like Takami's. He wore the captain's uniform, sleeves rolled, expression loose.
"You're the one we've been hunting… but you seem to be more of a monster yourself than a hero. But one thing is sure. I'm not taking you alive."
Takami frowned, eyes gleaming. "You talk too much. That's already one pain to handle."
"Oh? We're alike, you know," the captain said, stepping forward. "That's not reallyyou in control, is it? Same thing in our eyes. Same hunger."
"Whether or not I'm sane doesn't matter anymore, If it's to protect innocent lives. I've already started, ending it is the only choice left."Takami replied.
"You've just been lucky enough not to kill anyone important. But you and I… we're bo—"
CRACK!
A brutal punch slammed into the captain's face, sending him flying into a wall. Dust clouded the scene.
Takami exhaled. "Told you. You talk too much."
The dust cleared, revealing the captain still standing, grin wider, blood dripping from his lips.
"Guess I'll skip the warm-up then." He cracked his neck, red eyes igniting. "May the best monster win."