All the emotions he couldn't feel during the vision swept over him. He clutched at his shirt, struggling to breathe. The crowd froze, their clapping silenced, their eyes fixed on Kael in worry.
Rain began to fall.
A girl in a nightdress, holding a one-eyed teddy bear, danced barefoot in the downpour as she watched Kael collapse.
She placed her hand on his head.
"Come on now, don't break. You're no fun."
"Why! Why did you show me that! Why was I born! Who are you—" His voice cracked, drying out as a throbbing headache consumed him.
She raised a finger to her lips, pausing her dance like an innocent child caught stealing sugar.
"I'll answer one question. The first one. You see… this city—this very city—is the one that shamed Ama, and killed Zoro, as you saw with the children. Now then… I'll let you decide their fate."
A man stepped forward. "Hey, are you o—" But before he could finish, he was gone—his body twisted into a monster. One by one, the rest followed.
The girl's voice rang bright and playful.
"I only turned them because of the darkness already in their hearts. This will last twelve minutes. Until then… I'll let you decide. Bye-bye, my little raven." She waved cheerfully, vanishing into the storm of monsters.
My scream ripped out—deeper than any monster's cry. I was left alone in this cold, cruel world.
Back at headquarters, alarms shook the halls.
"Five thousand monsters have appeared!"
Kaein's eyes narrowed at the location. "Kael…" he thought.
Blaze grabbed his katana with a shrug, muttering, "Run, kid," before revving his motorcycle into the storm.
Heroes across the divisions watched the radar, stunned. Lucen only gazed at it with quiet calm.
Monsters closed in, surrounding me. My heart ached. My head throbbed. What should I do? Should I run? Should I fight? The moment I thought of fighting, my skull felt like it was splitting open.
I vomited.
Humans. They're all humans. Have the monsters I've been killing… always been humans? What difference is there between them?
"They silence those with voices for change, out of their own lust," I whispered, shaking. "I'll be different. I'll be—"
A dark figure wrapped itself around me, its body pressing into mine, its hand gripping my chest as though it held my heart. Its head leaned close, its voice a chorus of whispers.
"What are you doing, Kael? You killed them, didn't you?"
Memories flashed—the children of Ama, Lucen, the squad.
"No… no, you wanted them dead. The difference between you and them is this: you no longer wear a mask. Yours broke a long time ago."
I grabbed my face.
"Whatever you do… wherever you go…" the voices hissed, endless and deep, "you will always be a monster."
A beast lunged to bite me—but its head betrayed it, falling before it could touch me. The blood poured like red amateurs flowers scattering in the wind. I moved through them like a serpent, dancing, severing heads as I went.
"Sir!"
"The numbers—they're dropping fast!"
Kaein closed his novel. Blaze pressed harder on the throttle, the rain whipping against him as he watched the count fall.
Far away, the boy who had been rescued by Kael and Blaze woke to weight on his chest. Blood dripped onto his face—it wasn't his. It was his mother's.
He looked up at her, half-monster, half-human. She smiled, blood streaking her face, yet her human eye softened.
"Be a good boy now, okay? Be strong like your mom. Fight. Fight this cursed world with everything you've got." Her single human tear traced down, cutting a line through the blood.
"Mom!" the boy screamed. His leg was broken—he couldn't move. He hadn't turned like the others.
He crawled, his vision blurred with tears, reaching for her garments, but he fell short.
She walked slowly to me, like a sunflower turning toward the sun. For a moment, I paused. The katana hummed.
She whispered something, I contemplated.
She smiled. "Thank you."
Her head did not resist. It fell as though by her own will.
Her son watched in horror. The heavens silenced his cry.
Hatred filled his eyes. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"
"Sir, reporting… all demons eliminated. By… by one man."
The other divisions stared in awe.
"Who is this kid?"
Lucen walked away, a faint smile on his lips.
Blaze arrived. The city lay in ruins. He stepped through rivers of blood, tripping over severed heads, searching until he found me. A boy holding a black katana—its glow now a deep, burning red.
The blade felt one with him, the dark aura consuming him. Blaze wondered if I was even human anymore, yet still, he extended his arm. This kid… killed five thousand monsters. This kid carries the burden… the burden of a man.
"Kael…"
The rain stopped. At that moment, Blaze heard a voice—not of a boy, but of a man.
"They were forgotten… she was forgotten. Yet I will remember her. You humans… you point at monsters like pigs in mud, yet hide your own filth beneath the mask of angels. And still, you scream for freedom… hypocrites, blind to truth. You—slaves of the world, clinging to your delusion of freedom. Even after death, your souls remain here. And in the end… you become monsters, for not even death will set you free."
I opened my eyes, praying to see a city of laughter and light. But it was no so.
"I was clean. And now I am dirty. I truly am… a monster."