"Nara...!"
"Make sure she doesn't snap. Whatever she does, she mustn't open it!"
***
"Ah... ah... ah..."
Nara panted heavily, wiping blood from the corner of his lips.
"Good grief... this is taking longer than I expected," he muttered, voice ragged.
His face was a mess—smeared with dirt, soot, and dried blood. The walls and floor were riddled with gashes and scorch marks.
He shifted his gaze from the demon to Alpha, who stood huddled in the corner, clutching her pouch of gold tightly to her chest.
She trembled, eyes locked on the demon without blinking.
"Sigh... If you keep making that face, you're gonna ruin your beauty, you know," Nara tried to joke.
No reaction. Not even a blink.
'Completely spooked,' he thought, cracking his neck as he turned back to face the demon.
'I can't believe Ken left her in a place like this, knowing her worst fear. Seriously, what happened between those two?'
Before he could ponder more, the demon raised its finger again.
A black spark shimmered at its tip.
"Eek!" Alpha squealed.
"N-Nara! D-Don't just stand there—do something!" she screamed, rubbing the pouch like it was some kind of lucky charm.
"Oh, so she can speak," Nara muttered, eye twitching.
His focus snapped back to the demon.
'A demon that fires anti-tenzen bullets like a turret. Just my luck.'
He remembered weaving through barrages earlier—how those black orbs shattered stone like glass.
He glanced down. His thighs were slashed up, dried blood painting his legs. One had a visible hole punched through it.
'And I've gotta protect her too. Great. Just great.'
His gaze flicked to Alpha, still frozen.
'If only we didn't get split up...'
Another thought hit him. 'Wait. I haven't sensed Hina's tenzen for a while now...'
He clenched his fists.
"I better wrap this up," he whispered, taking a stance.
"This demon... it's a damn machine gun. Stationary, long-ranged, and deadly. And I'm stuck in this box of a room with barely any space to maneuver. Fantastic."
But then—
His eyes caught something.
Behind the demon, glowing faintly, was the summoning circle.
"Wait..."
He blinked.
"I don't have to kill it... If I destroy the seal—maybe it disappears too?"
But doubt quickly crept in.
"What if destroying it just triggers another? Whoever set this up... they're smart. Domain shifts, traps, rotations, seals—feels like an upper-class setup."
His brain throbbed. Smoke might as well have been pouring out of his ears.
"Nara! What the hell are you doing?! Do you want us to die?!" Alpha screamed.
"Oh my babies!" she wailed.
"Aaaagh! This is too much! I'm not Hina—I don't do complicated!" Nara yelled, gripping his head. "Guess I'll have to do this my way. Take the risk and punch through!"
He grinned.
"If another seal shows up, I'll just destroy that too! And if more demons come, I'll beat 'em all till they're tired of showing up!"
He stomped his foot, dragging it back as he grounded his stance.
"I've gotta finish this fast... and find Code and Hina."
His eyes gleamed red, tenzen rippling off his body in a visible haze.
Pam!
He clapped his hands.
Flames erupted from his palms, engulfing his arms in red blaze.
The demon's finger glowed black.
Anti-tenzen formed at its tip.
"Tch," Nara clicked his tongue.
"Oi! Don't think you've got the edge just 'cause you're long-ranged. I've got a few surprises too!"
No reaction.
Just that cold stare.
The orb at the demon's finger thickened.
"Ugh... can't you at least nod? Villains are always running their mouths about ruling the world or ending humanity... makes it easy for guys like me to play the hero. But you—you're making it really hard to feel cool here!"
Still nothing.
"Fine. No talking it out, huh? Then I'll just send you back to hell!"
BOOM!
Fire exploded around him. Nara raised a hand.
The demon aimed its finger.
Two orbs. Red and black.
Nara smirked.
"INFERNO... BURST!!"
A massive fireball burst forth, roaring across the room.
Twoof!
The black orb fired in return.
BOOM!!
The two collided in a blinding explosion. Shockwaves rattled the walls, debris flying.
Nara grinned through the flames.
"Perfect. They neutralized each other."
He crouched.
"But that wasn't the point."
He lunged into the smoke.
"My real target... is the seal!"
But just as he burst through the smoke—
A thick wave of anti-tenzen surged through the air, pressing down like a storm cloud ready to burst.
Nara froze. The heat of the battle seemed to vanish for a second. He couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. His heart thumped once—then stopped.
'What... was that just now?'
He didn't have time to think.
Fwoosh.
Wind rushed past him like a slash, and before he could blink, the demon was already in front of him.
"What the—?"
His words caught in his throat.
The demon's hand was raised, calm and unshaking. A single finger pointed directly at Nara's forehead.
A black orb hovered inches from his skin, vibrating with dense anti-tenzen energy.
Nara's eyes widened. Every instinct screamed at him to move, but his limbs wouldn't respond. His breath hitched.
'No way... it predicted all that?'
The fireball. The explosion. The smoke cover. It had all been read.
'Damn it... Did I walk right into its trap?'
Sweat slid down the side of his face. His pupils trembled.
'Is this the end?'
Then suddenly -
WHUUM.
The room trembled as a pulse of anti-tenzen shook through the air—like something deep and dark had stirred awake.
Nara flinched. That wasn't from the demon in front of him.
It was something... else.
His instincts screamed louder now. The air thickened. Time stretched.
Twoosh!
The orb fired.
"Shit!!"
In that split second, Nara tilted his head with all the force he could muster. The orb grazed his face, tearing past the side of his left eye.
Blood sprayed.
The wall behind exploded in a thunderous crash.
Alpha screamed. "Nara!!"
He stumbled back, eyes blurry with red, and landed hard beside her.
"Oi! Nara!" she shouted, her voice cracking. "What the hell was that?! You froze like a statue! And that... that pressure—what the hell was that?!"
Nara didn't answer right away. He stood there, blood dripping from his cheek, chest rising and falling rapidly. His eyes were wide—still locked on the spot where the orb had been.
Slowly, he wiped the blood away with the back of his trembling hand.
That feeling…
That horrible, gut-wrenching feeling…
It wasn't from the demon.
It was something deeper. Colder.
"This... sensation," he whispered. "What the hell is happening...?"
Then, like a voice whispering through smoke, something echoed in his mind:
'She mustn't snap...'
Nara's breath caught.
He blinked, his mind racing.
He grabbed his face, dragging his fingers down in disbelief.
"No…"
His gaze turned to Alpha.
Her hand still clutched the gold pouch, knuckles white. Her lips were pale. Her pupils, trembling.
"No... it can't be," Nara muttered, eyes widening.
"Hina...!"
***
TBC