The fists did not stop.
They fell from everywhere—above, below, behind—crushing streets, pulverizing buildings, smashing bodies like toys hurled against concrete.
This wasn't combat.
It was slaughter.
Akira hit the ground hard, breath torn from his lungs. He rolled instinctively as another fist obliterated the space he'd occupied moments earlier.
Ren was still standing.
Bleeding. Breathing hard. Smiling through it.
"C'mon!" Ren shouted, wiping blood from his mouth.
"That all you got?!"
Another blow descended.
Ayla twisted away at the last second. The street where her head had been vanished in an explosion of asphalt. Shockwaves ripped her off her feet, sending her skidding across the ground. Blood streaked from her shoulder.
The Misoke twins crossed their arms.
The impact hit like artillery.
Concrete shattered beneath their heels as they were driven backward, bodies swallowed by dust and rubble.
Akira reacted on instinct.
The urumi snapped upward, steel ribbons screaming as they intercepted a descending strike.
For half a second—
It worked.
Then the remaining force punched through.
Pain detonated through his ribs as he was hurled into a wall. Stone cracked. Breath left him in a wet gasp. He slid down, vision blurring, iron flooding his mouth.
We can't see it.
We can't track it.
We're being played.
"Kaito—!" Akira turned.
Too late.
A fist formed inches from Kaito's face.
It hit.
The blow crushed him into the street. Asphalt fractured like glass beneath his body as his scanner flew from his grip, spinning uselessly before shattering in a burst of sparks.
Sound vanished.
Light dimmed.
And Kaito fell.
Darkness came quietly.
Then—
Light.
A shopping mall in Kisaragi City.
Bright floors. Crowded walkways. Voices overlapping in harmless noise.
Kaito stood in front of a shelf stacked with discounted medical supplies.
Heating pads.
Pain relief patches.
"…She'll need this," he murmured.
His mother's legs hadn't worked properly for years.
Cold nights were the worst.
He picked up a blanket, hesitated—
Then smiled.
She'll complain.
She always does.
But she'll still use it.
His phone vibrated.
Once.
Twice.
Then it wouldn't stop.
The massive screen above the atrium flickered.
Every display changed at once.
> BREAKING NEWS
NIGHTMARE ENTITY CONFIRMED
LOCATION: Kisaragi CITY — SECTOR A
EVACUATION FAILURE REPORTED
Kaito froze.
Kisaragi City.
His city.
"No…"
The bag slipped from his fingers.
Smoke.
Sirens.
Screams.
He ran.
Past barricades.
Past burning streets.
Past people crying into phones.
Too slow.
Always too slow.
He reached his house.
Or what remained of it.
The roof was gone.
The walls were gone.
"Mom…?"
No answer.
Then—
A hand.
Thin.
Still.
Bent wrong.
His mother's hand.
Kaito fell to his knees.
"I was just—"
"I was buying something for you…"
The world burned.
And something inside him hardened forever.
"GET UP."
Reality slammed back.
Kaito's eyes snapped open.
Pain flooded his body.
Ribs shattered. Lungs burning. Blood filled his mouth as he coughed violently.
Laughter echoed distantly.
"HAHAHAHA~!"
Something warm slid across his cheek.
Blood.
His blood.
It didn't pool.
It flowed.
Kaito's eyes followed it.
A small hole in the road.
Not wide.
Not dramatic.
Just enough.
His blood trickled into it.
Downward.
Kaito's pupils shrank.
His breath hitched.
"…There."
He didn't hesitate.
Didn't doubt.
He screamed.
"IT'S UNDERGROUND—!!"
The laughter stuttered.
Akira spun. "What?!"
"My scanner wasn't wrong!" Kaito shouted, coughing blood.
"ME concentration is below us—the clown's underground!"
The street trembled.
Another fist began to form.
"NOW!!" Kaito roared.
The Misoke twins moved instantly.
No discussion.
They brought the hammer down together.
BOOOOOOM—!!
The road shattered.
Concrete exploded outward as the street collapsed inward, exposing darkness beneath.
Something moved below.
The laughter twisted—lower, angrier.
Ayla froze.
Her hands shook.
Her breath caught.
Then she moved.
She sprinted.
Leapt.
Akira hurled the AM chain with everything he had.
"AYLA—!!"
She caught it midair.
And dove.
Fists erupted from below, swiping blindly.
Ayla twisted between them, daggers flashing as she dodged by instinct alone, fear screaming in her chest.
She hurled the chain downward.
"HOOKED—!!"
The ground buckled.
Akira braced, muscles screaming.
"PULL!!"
The Misoke twins dug their heels in.
They pulled.
The street split apart.
Concrete tore free as something massive was dragged upward.
The clown emerged screaming.
Not playful.
Not mocking.
Half-formed. Twisted. its limbs snapping wildly as it tried to retreat underground.
"LET GO—!!"
They moved.
All at once.
The hammer fell like judgment.
Silver daggers carved arcs through the air.
The urumi snapped forward, steel ribbons screaming as they struck true.
The Misoke twins seized the opening.
One grabbed the AM chain.
The other hurled it skyward.
CLANG—CLANG—CLANG!!
The chain wrapped tight, locking limbs, crushing joints. The Nightmare thrashed, laughter collapsing into shrill, furious screams as its body was forced still.
From the shattered storefront—
"Ugh… damn it…"
The real Ren staggered out, coughing dust and blood, blinking in confusion.
"…Why does everything hurt?"
Silence fell.
The Nightmare went still.
They just breathed.
High above—
Akirawa watched.
"…Good," he said quietl
END OF CHAPTER 13