[Chapter Header]
ARC: Back Attack Land
The fight begins.
Akos locks eyes with Kaito.
Kaito charges forward, his sword raised high. Akos steps back just in time, narrowly avoiding the strike.Kaito doesn't stop. He presses the attack. Akos shifts his body to the right and slips past the blade again.
With all his strength, Kaito swings toward Akos's head.Akos tilts his head calmly and drives a fist into Kaito's jaw. The impact forces Kaito to stagger back.
Before Kaito can react, Akos moves behind him.Kaito turns sharply, sensing danger. Akos rushes in, but Kaito attacks first.
Suddenly, Akos jumps into the air.
Kaito freezes in shock, watching Akos rise above him.In the next instant, Akos comes down hard, landing a crushing kick onto Kaito's head.
Kaito regains his balance and unleashes a powerful slash.The blade passes so close it cuts a strand of hair from Akos's neck.
Kaito steps back into his stance.
His movements are sudden… hard to read, Kaito thinks.
Akos takes a step back.Kaito mistakes it for retreat and charges again with rapid strikes. Akos keeps moving backward, narrowly avoiding each attack.The blade passes close to Akos's eye.
Kaito sends a heavy strike toward Akos's head.Akos lowers his entire body and slips underneath the swing.
He grabs Kaito from the side and twists sharply.With a sudden leap, Akos wraps his legs around Kaito's neck from behind. Kaito freezes.
Akos slams him to the ground and holds onto his legs.Kaito struggles violently to escape. Rain pours down onto his face. With brute strength, he breaks free and kicks Akos away.
Akos slides across the ground, then rises immediately.Kaito attacks again.
Akos thrusts an open palm toward Kaito's throat.Kaito barely dodges at the last moment and jumps back, tightening his grip on the katana.
Akos spins and delivers a fast kick.Kaito blocks with his left arm. Akos follows with heavy punches.
Kaito counters with his sword.Akos tilts his head, but still takes a hit to the side.Kaito drives his knee into Akos's face.
Akos is thrown to the ground, blood spilling across the floor.
Kaito moves instantly, raising his katana and slashing down toward Akos's face.Akos twists his body to the right. The blade crashes into the ground beside him.
Kaito pulls the katana free and strikes again, aiming for Akos's right leg.Akos pulls his leg away just in time.
Kaito thrusts toward Akos's heart.
Akos catches the blade with his bare hand.
Blood pours from his palm as the steel bites into his flesh.Kaito pushes harder. Akos strains, forcing the blade away from his chest.
With a sharp kick to Kaito's stomach, Akos breaks free.He stumbles back and takes a breath.
Kaito tightens his grip on the katana, preparing for another strike.
Akos looks up.
Suddenly, the world changes.
Everything goes dark.
Akos finds himself standing on a pillar in endless darkness.He looks around in shock and realizes the truth.
DEVILS END… it's trying to make me lose this fight.
A blade flashes toward him.
Akos moves instantly, shifting his body to the left.The blade grazes him.
BOOM.
Reality snaps back to normal.
Kaito stares at him with a terrifying expression.
"You're dead."
He swings the sword with full force toward Akos's shoulder.Akos grabs the katana with both hands, trying to stop it.
Kaito pushes harder.Akos's hands slip from the blood covering them.
The blade tears into Akos's shoulder — a dangerous wound.
Kaito raises the katana again, aiming for Akos's head.Akos grabs Kaito's arm, but Kaito responds instantly with a punch.
Then—
THUD.
Kaito smashes the pommel of the katana into Akos's head.
Akos collapses onto the ground, his body soaked in blood.
He doesn't move.
He doesn't breathe.
The battle between Keal and Yurezo continues.Neither of them is willing to retreat. Neither is willing to lose.Both are fighting at full power.
Yurezo charges first, unleashing a barrage of rapid punches.Keal raises his arms in front of his face to defend, but the force behind Yurezo's blows shatters his guard.A heavy fist crashes into Keal's face, sending him stumbling backward.
Keal suddenly becomes a blurred line in space.
His speed surpasses the limits of human vision, leaving behind flickering afterimages. In an instant, he appears in Yurezo's blind spot, driving a fist toward the giant's neck—an strike powerful enough to pierce steel.
But Yurezo stands like an unmovable rock within the storm.
Without even turning his head, he raises his arm. The motion looks slow—yet it is perfectly timed.
CLANG!
Keal's punch stops just centimeters from Yurezo's face.The collision releases a shockwave that tears through the asphalt, throwing dust and debris into the air.
Keal doesn't hesitate.
He spins around Yurezo like a raging cyclone, unleashing a relentless series of kicks. Each strike that lands on Yurezo's arms echoes like massive hammers slamming against an anvil.
"Fast, Keal…" Yurezo's voice rumbles, calm and deep amid the chaos."…but your blows lack the weight of experience."
Without warning, Yurezo counters with a powerful right hook.The air around his fist compresses violently.
Sensing death, Keal flips backward through the air.The punch barely misses, yet the friction burns Keal's cheek as it passes.
Keal lands atop a half-collapsed wall.
In raw strength… he's unbeatable, Keal realizes.He has no choice but to use the environment.
Leaping from rubble to rubble, Keal creates the illusion of multiple attacks. Then, from above, he dives down with a lethal axe kick.
But Yurezo is ready.
As the kick descends, Yurezo reaches up and grabs Keal's ankle mid-air with an iron grip——and hurls him straight into an abandoned car.
The metal crumples with a deafening crash.
Before Yurezo can advance, Keal uses the elasticity of the wrecked vehicle to launch himself back.His speed doubles, fueled by adrenaline and sheer determination.
The two warriors collide at the center of the street.
There is no room left to maneuver.
Their fists fly at the same time.
BAM!
Two dry impacts echo simultaneously.Keal's punch connects with Yurezo's jaw.Yurezo's fist slams into Keal's face.
Blood splashes across the asphalt as both fighters stagger backward.
Silence falls.
A frozen moment that makes one thing clear—
This fight is far from over.
Keal begins to rise.Yurezo does the same.
Despite the blood and damage, both of them still have stamina left.
Yurezo moves first.
He steps in and drives a brutal punch straight into Keal's stomach.The impact bends Keal forward, forcing the air out of his lungs.
But Keal doesn't fall.
Using the momentum, he surges forward and swings both fists upward, smashing them down toward Yurezo's head.The strike lands heavy.
Yurezo grits his teeth and plants his feet firmly into the ground.His body trembles, but he refuses to go down.
The asphalt cracks beneath him as he absorbs the blow, standing tall like an unbreakable pillar.
The fight isn't slowing down.
It's entering its most dangerous phase.
Yurezo charges again.
He throws a heavy punch—but Keal catches it mid-swing.
In the same instant, Yurezo moves.A sharp kick slams into Keal's leg.
CRACK.
Keal's leg bends unnaturally. Before he can recover, Yurezo grabs him by the hair and pulls him close.
Punch.
Another.
Another.
Five brutal punches crash into Keal's face in rapid succession. Blood sprays with each impact.
But Keal roars.
Gathering every ounce of strength left in his body, he drives his head forward—
THUD.
A devastating headbutt smashes into Yurezo's skull.
Yurezo is sent crashing to the ground.
Keal doesn't hesitate.
He raises his leg high and brings it down with all his power—
AXE KICK.
The blow detonates against Yurezo's face. Blood explodes across the ground, splashing up to Keal's legs.Yurezo's face loses all expression. His eyes go empty.
But—
Yurezo's hand shoots up.
He grabs Keal's leg—the one pressed against his face—and twists violently.
CRACK.
Keal is thrown backward.
Yurezo rises.
His face is completely soaked in blood, yet his eyes burn with madness.He drives a punch into Keal's ribs.Then another straight into his face.
Keal stumbles back.
Yurezo steps in close and, with savage precision, drives two fingers straight into Keal's eye.
Keal screams.
Darkness floods his right side—he can no longer see.
Yurezo clenches his fist and charges like a wild beast.
Keal watches him come.
Then—
Yurezo slips.
Blood and rain betray him. His foot slides.
Keal's eyes widen.
This ends now.
He leaps—
AXE KICK.
CRACK.
The heel of Keal's foot smashes down onto Yurezo's skull.
Bone shatters.
The impact echoes through the rain-soaked ground.
THUD.
Yurezo's body collapses instantly.
No movement.No breath.
Rain pours relentlessly over his broken form, washing blood and fragments into the dirt.
Yurezo is defeated.
Keal stands over him, rain and blood dripping from his body as he looks down at the shattered skull beneath his foot.
"This is the path you chose, Yurezo."
The rain falls harder.
Blood spreads across the ground.
Keal remains standing—silent—unmoving—staring at the lifeless body at his feet.
The setting changes.
Rain pours heavily over the school grounds.All members of ALPHA are gathered together—silent, tense.
Ronika looks around.
Her eyes narrow.
"Where are the others?" she asks sharply."Where are Reino and Keal? What's going on? Why are they taking so long?"
Thunder rumbles above them.
Naoto clenches his fists, his voice uneasy."What if something happened…?""What if they're dead?""…or worse?"
Before he can continue—
"SHUT UP!"
Taro snaps, stepping forward with fury in his eyes."Don't say that!""You don't know anything, so stop talking like they're already gone!"
Naoto freezes, biting his lip.
Sora stays silent, staring at the rain.Zen crosses his arms, jaw tight.Echo's eyes flicker, unreadable.
Luno sits off to the side, apart from the group.
He doesn't speak.
His gaze is distant.
His mind is still trapped in what he saw during the fight—the blood,the impact,the moment everything almost ended.
That wasn't just a fight, Luno thinks.That was something else.
The rain grows heavier.
And somewhere far away—
The consequences of that battle are about to arrive.
The scene shifts back to the battlefield.
Akos lies on the ground.
His eyes snap open.
The katana comes crashing down toward him.
In a split second, Akos twists his body to the right.The blade slams into the ground where his head was moments before.
Akos explodes upward.
So fast that Kaito doesn't even have time to react.
A brutal punch crashes into Kaito's face, sending him stumbling backward.
Gritting his teeth, Kaito gathers everything he has left.With his final strength—his last hope—he swings his sword in a desperate attack.
But Akos is already there.
"This ends now."
Akos chains his attack.
HUG COMBO.
—THUD! A crushing strike to Kaito's right ribs.—THUD! Another blow to the left side.—SMASH! A punch slams into Kaito's right cheek.Akos pulls back——SMASH! Another punch detonates against the left cheek.
Kaito loses control.
Akos drives three merciless punches straight into his stomach.
Blood sprays from Kaito's mouth as he's thrown backward.The katana slips from his hand and hits the ground.
With nothing left, Kaito throws one last punch as Akos rushes toward him.
Akos ducks under it.
Kaito freezes.
Impossible…I can see it…
Akos's fist.
His end.
THUD!
The punch crashes into Kaito's jaw.
Kaito is launched into the ground—motionless.
But Akos doesn't stop.
He mounts him.
Punch after punch after punch.
Relentless.
Savage.
Kaito's face is no longer visible beneath the blood.
Akos has lost all restraint.
All mercy.
He keeps striking with everything he has.
Suddenly—
A hand grabs Akos's fist.
Hard.
Akos looks up.
Reino stands there, drenched in blood, barely standing himself.
"That's enough, Akos," Reino says through heavy breaths."Let's go."
Akos freezes.
Then slowly pulls back.
He stands up from Kaito's body.
Nearby, Cairo is already carrying Jin.Keal approaches, covered in blood, wiping it from his face. He places a hand on Sukizei's shoulder—Sukizei's face is cut, blood still flowing.
"We have to leave," Sukizei says."They've been waiting too long. They're terrified for us."
Reino exhales shakily.
"…Let's go."
The six of them leave the battlefield together.
Rain and blood cover the entire road.
Behind them—
Yurezo lies on the ground.
No movement.
Rain falls mercilessly onto his face.
Nearby, Yuma lies the same way.
His condition looks no different from a corpse.
The rain continues to fall.