The colossal hammer came crashing down with a shriek that tore through the sky. The gleam of steel flashed, reflecting in Willin's blood-soaked eyes. In that fleeting instant, he could feel death descending upon him—every muscle in his body screamed in desperation, yet he was paralyzed, powerless to move.
BOOM!!!!!!!!!!-
An unseen shockwave erupted, so violent it split the cobblestones beneath them into shards.
The giant's arm froze mid-swing, his bloodshot eyes bulging in disbelief as his body trembled.
— "Wh… what is this…?!" he roared, but his legs had already sunk deep into the ground, pinned by a crushing force. The pavement beneath him splintered, as if a weight of thousands of tons bore down upon his body.
On the rooftop, the archer convulsed, his hand shaking uncontrollably. The bowstring snapped from his grip, his arrow clattering uselessly to the tiles. He clutched his chest, face contorted in agony, lungs straining as though the very air had been stolen from him.
The world turned suffocatingly still.
The screams and chaos of the street vanished into silence, replaced by a dreadful pressure that coiled around every living thing. Civilians fled in terror, scattering like leaves before a storm, leaving Willin kneeling in the blood-stained street.
Willin raised his head, vision blurred with sweat and crimson.
And then… he saw it.
A figure walking steadily from the crossroads, each step measured, deliberate.
In the midst of chaos, his presence bent the world itself around him.
Willin's breath caught. His voice broke.
— "No… no, it can't be…"
Bathed in the crimson glow of sunset, the face became clear.
Holland.
The brother he revered. The man who had once sat drinking with him, who had once sworn he would never tread the path of a Hunter.
And yet, there he was—draped in the uniform of a Hunter apprentice. New, pristine… and yet carrying with it a suffocating aura of death.
Willin, his body battered and bloodied, gasped for air with every breath. But his eyes widened in disbelief when he recognized the figure emerging from the smoky intersection. The pressure radiating from that presence thickened the air, making it heavy to breathe.
—"H… Holland?!!" Willin rasped, his voice torn between shock and trembling. "Why… are you here?!"
Holland wore the trainee Hunter's uniform, a black coat dusted with grime, his eyes gleaming amidst the chaos. A half-smile tugged at his lips—mischievous like a boy, yet calm in a way that defied the storm around him.
—"Hehe… pure coincidence. Hard-Wirrt Academy sent us on a field trip today. Who would've thought I'd run into my little brother tearing up the city hunting demons?" Holland shrugged casually, his playful tone laced with a flicker of warmth. "You've improved a lot since the last time I saw you."
Willin barely had time to respond when a roar shattered the night.
—"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!!! HOW DARE YOU INTERFERE WITH MY BUSINESS?!!!"
The giant's bellow cracked like thunder, shockwaves blasting outward and shredding buildings in every direction. Glass windows exploded, brick walls split apart, debris whirled into the air like deadly shrapnel. Citizens screamed, scattering like leaves caught in a raging storm.
The pressure erupted into a violent shockwave, the gale strong enough to sweep away an entire street. Willin shielded his face, his footing slipping as the sheer force threatened to hurl him to the ground.
But Holland… stood firm. His hair whipped back in the tempest, his gaze calm, as if standing in a meadow breeze instead of a maelstrom.
He tilted his head slightly, casting the giant a sidelong glance, before smirking with playful mockery:
—"Hey… I'm talking to my little brother here. Would it kill you to show some manners? Honestly… a guy your size throwing tantrums like this? No wonder no one wants to play with you."
The air thickened, a clash of extremes: the giant's berserk fury boiling over, Holland's unshaken composure radiating like a wall of iron. And caught between them—Willin, his heart racing with fear, disbelief, and a strange surge of something powerful swelling in his chest.
The scene around them was nothing but a wasteland.
Collapsed buildings lay in ruins, bricks piled in heaps, shards of glass littered the cracked streets. The flickering glow of the few streetlamps left cast long, mournful shadows across the devastation.
Holland calmly brushed the dust off his shoulder, his movements strangely composed amid the wreckage.
But in front of him, the giant was trembling violently.
— CRACK… CRACK…!!
A surge of Gil erupted from his body, so wild it warped the very air around him. In the blink of an eye, he was no longer the hulking man he once appeared to be. His skin turned a furious crimson, veins bulged like writhing serpents over swollen, convulsing muscles.
His eyes burned like fire, and with a beastly roar he raised his massive steel hammer high.
Right before Willin's eyes, the weapon transformed.
Metal shrieked and twisted, reshaping into a colossal axe — its glowing blade so immense it seemed as though it could swallow the sky whole.
Willin swallowed hard, cold sweat rolling down his face as instinct screamed for him to back away.
Meanwhile, Holland simply slid his hands into his pockets, a crooked grin spreading across his lips, as if the real game had just begun.
— "Oh? Form Two, huh?" Holland's eyes gleamed with amusement. "Interesting."
The giant's roar shook the earth, his voice thundering through the ruins:
— "I'LL CRUSH YOU HERE AND NOW, BRAT!!!"
He gripped the axe tight, and black energy burst violently from his body, launching skyward. In an instant, the heavens split apart, a gaping crimson fissure tearing across the sky as though the world itself cried out in fear.
Willin staggered, overwhelmed, barely comprehending what he was seeing when—
— CRACK!!!
A horrifying snap echoed. A violent gust swept through the street, and in that fleeting instant… Holland was already standing right before the giant.
His hand clutched the massive axe blade.
And then—he snapped it.
BOOM!!!!!!-
The enormous weapon shattered, fragments of glowing metal exploding across the ground.
The giant froze, eyes bulging, jaw slack. His so-called evolved Form Two, his pride, his monstrous weapon… broken in a heartbeat, as if it were nothing but a brittle twig.
Holland glanced at him with a sidelong look, his grin widening into playful mockery.
— "That's it? Is that really all you've got?"
The air thickened, suffocating.
Willin stood rooted to the spot, his entire body trembling as an indescribable chill welled up inside him.
The ruined landscape grew even more suffocating as the giant roared, blood seeping from between his clenched teeth. His muscles swelled, veins bulging like coiled serpents beneath his skin, ready to burst with rage.
—"Forgive me… big brother… BUT I'LL TEAR THIS BRAT APART RIGHT HERE AND NOW!!!"
His guttural cry echoed through the wasteland, half-oath, half-curse. His burning eyes locked onto Holland, then shifted toward Willin, who was struggling to stand.
Grinding his teeth, he lowered his voice into a chilling, almost demonic whisper:
—"Do you… know about the Master–Servant Contract?"
Holland narrowed his eyes, a sly smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Tilting his head, he replied with a calm yet mischievous tone:
—"A Contract, huh? So, you've traded your power with someone else?"
The giant's blazing eyes gleamed.
—"That's right… I forged a Contract with my brother! And my Contract… EMBODIES WRATH!!!"
His roar shook the earth, sending tremors through the ruins. Crook still gripped the shattered remains of his axe, holding it like a defiant symbol.
Holland chuckled softly, his voice cutting through the tension.
—"What's your name?"
—"Crook!" — the giant snarled, lips curling into a wild, ecstatic grin.
Behind him, Willin's eyes went wide, sweat dripping down his temples. It was the first time he had ever witnessed such a twisted form of power—a Contract.
Then Crook's body ignited with crimson light. Scarlet veins blazed across his skin, glowing like molten cracks in stone.
A pillar of blood-red energy erupted skyward, splitting the heavens apart, a colossal beam bridging earth and sky.
—BOOOOM!!!
The shockwave tore through everything, blasting the rubble of shattered buildings into dust. Willin collapsed to the ground, coughing and choking on the thick haze, yet still managed to cry out:
—"Holland… do you… do you know what he is!?"
Holland's eyes never wavered, cold and sharp as they pierced through the pillar of red light. His reply came steady, almost casual:
—"A Contract. A bond between Master and Servant—an exchange of power. There are countless variations, each more dangerous than the last. And as you just heard… his embodies Wrath. It only awakens once the enemy knows the true name of the Contract bearer."
Willin's chest tightened, his heart pounding violently, as the crimson glow began to fade.
From within the collapsing light, Crook emerged.
His form had changed—leaner now, but terrifyingly complete, sculpted muscle wrapped around a perfect engine of violence. His hair had grown long, cascading like dark flames licking at the wind. In his hands gleamed a massive double-bladed axe, radiating an aura as though it could split the very world in two.
Crook's blood-red eyes fixed on Holland and Willin, burning with predatory fury. In an instant, his Gil spread outward, smothering the area, drowning the city under his oppressive presence as if it were now his domain alone.
Willin gasped, body trembling under the crushing weight of that aura.
And Holland… stood unmoved. Calm. Hands in his pockets. Eyes glittering with a cold, dangerous gleam.
Miliana darted across the ruined rooftops, firing volleys of icy arrows down as she ran. The frosty bolts cut through the air, but… the assassin girl behind her was simply too fast. In the blink of an eye, that shadow had already closed the distance.
—CLANG!!!
Miliana barely managed to conjure a shield of ice, the assassin's blade slamming into it with a shrill crack.
From beneath the strands of hair veiling her face, the assassin's sharp eyes gleamed. Her lips curved into a mocking smile:
—"Mmm… not bad, little mage~."
Miliana gritted her teeth, hands trembling but refusing to let go of her magic.
—"I don't know who you are… but attacking me is something I will NEVER forgive!"
—"Oh? You sound just like a stubborn little child." – her voice was as smooth as honey, yet the knife slid straight toward Miliana's throat.
—"HAAAAAAA!!!"
Miliana screamed, unleashing a surge of mana. Ice burst outward in every direction, freezing the entire street into a fortress of white.
She panted heavily, chest heaving, arms shaking with exhaustion. But then—
—CRACK…!!!
Fractures ripped through the frozen walls. With nothing more than a single wrench, the assassin shattered the entire block of ice.
Miliana staggered back, eyes wide in disbelief:
—"I-It can't be…!!"
The assassin chuckled softly, her gaze playful, her tone dripping with mockery:
—"Why can't it? That's all you've got, darling~?"
Before Miliana could react—swish!—the blade was already grazing her neck, cold as death.
Death itself was only a breath away.
But then—
—BOOOOM!!!
Both of them froze. In the distance, a colossal red pillar of light erupted, tearing the night sky apart. The overwhelming surge of energy rattled the ground, silencing the entire city as if the world itself had stopped to watch.
Miliana trembled, her lips whispering:
—"Wh-What… the hell is that…?"
The assassin frowned, irritation flashing in her eyes.
—"Tch… That damn Pig is making a mess again…!"
Without hesitation, she pulled a small vial from her belt, flicked it open—puff! A mist hissed out. Miliana had no time to resist before her body went limp and collapsed, unconscious.
The assassin bent down, slung Miliana over her shoulder as if she were nothing more than baggage. Before vanishing into the shadows, she cast one last glance at the fading red pillar in the distance, her smile twisting.
—"What kind of monster… could force that Pig Crook to reveal his true Form?"
Her figure melted into the night.