The chapter picks up right where that monstrous collision left off.
On one side stood a dead-serious Kye, and on the other, Grimm in pure, unbridled bloodlust—thoroughly exhilarated to test the absolute limits of his capabilities. Their brutal clash had already raged on for nearly an hour, yet neither showed the slightest intention of backing down. Would this violent night finally bring a definitive conclusion to their battle?
VOLUME 3 - CHAPTER 28 - BEGINS....
Kye drove a heavy, kinetic kick into Grimm's chest, sending him skidding backward. Capitalizing on the momentum, Kye hurled both of his twin blades straight at Grimm. In a shocking display of aerial agility, Grimm twisted his body mid-air, evading both daggers cleanly before regaining his footing.
Yet before he could touch the ground—
BANG!
Kye materialized behind him, driving a devastating knee strike directly into his spine!
Instead of crumbling, Grimm reached backward and clamped his hand around Kye's neck with crushing force.
Grimm: "Tell me, Kye Kurasaki... does this gaze of mine terrify you?"
Kye: "What...? Ugh... What the hell are you babbling about?"
Grimm's grip tightened to an iron vice, his irises dilating into pure darkness.
Grimm:"Death Stare."
Kye stiffened instantly. His body locked up, his trembling hands violently clawing at his own face as suffocating primal dread overwhelmed his senses. Yet, within a fraction of a second, Kye forcefully snapped out of the trance—breathing raggedly, his heart hammering against his ribs as cold sweat mixed with rain and blood.
Grimm: "This is the innate power running through our bloodline. But what disgusts me most is that while ordinary fools never recover from this gaze, you managed to pull yourself together in mere seconds. You truly are built differently, Kye. The stronger an opponent is relative to me, the weaker the stare's hold becomes... and this little test just proved that you're still weaker than I am."
Those words pierced deep into Kye's pride, echoing relentlessly inside his head.
'Weak... Weak...!'
The taunt spun through his racing thoughts, but before he could regain his mental footing—
BOOM!
A vicious kick slammed straight into Kye's gut! Grimm capitalized on the opening instantly, unleashing a relentless tsunami of full-force strikes—devastating hooks, crushing elbows, and sweeping roundhouses that tore into Kye without a single millisecond of reprieve.
Kye's face and torso were battered, drenched entirely in crimson.
Before the outcome of that savage assault could be seen, the scene cut away violently toward the Alliance!
Cipher reached Arisa and Elena. Both of them lay completely motionless, deep in unconsciousness.
Cipher: "All of you are going to die such a horrific death today that you'll remember it for eternity. I will carve every single one of you into pieces... torture you so endlessly that you will beg for your own lives to end. And as for these two girls? What I'm going to do to them—"
Before the words could leave his mouth, his throat choked on his own blood. No sound came out.
Hollow had crawled from behind, picked up the jagged, shattered piece of his broken death blade from the dirt, and driven it straight through the side of Cipher's neck.
With bloodshot, manic eyes, Cipher whipped around and clamped his hand around Hollow's throat, hoisting him off the ground with monstrous force.
Cipher: "You filthy little insect... you think you're all grown up now, don't you?! I will slaughter you first! I can't even believe... I'm being pushed to this miserable state!"
[Flashback]
A deep, violent memory surfaced in Cipher's mind.
Years ago on a rain-slicked alleyway, a much younger Cipher and Grimm lay battered and bleeding on the brink of death before Null.
Null: "What stubborn little brats you two are. Refusing to yield even at death's door... do you truly wish to die here? I already erased your entire ancestral legacy in a single sweep anyway. What difference does it make now? Come with me quietly."
Cipher's inner voice echoed over the memory:
'I wanted to tear that motherfucker apart with my bare hands. That monster wiped out our entire Bardigus Family—a bloodline that carried a dark legacy of slaughter for generations. Mercenaries who executed anyone for the right price... our name, our generational wealth, the primal dread we commanded across the underworld... Null wiped it all out in a single night. He was an absolute monster. The family that ruled through fear was brought down by his sheer terror. And yet... he took Grimm and me in.
From that day forward, Grimm and I held only one true goal: to grow stronger in the shadows, execute every order without question, and eventually... kill Null with our own hands.'
[Back to the Present]
Cipher's grip tightened to an iron vice. Hollow's windpipe was crushed, unable to gasp for air, his trembling fingers barely managing to reach toward the activation module of his tactical suit.
Ripping the shattered steel blade out of his own neck with a sickening squelch, Cipher roared at the top of his lungs:
Cipher: "YOU PATHETIC RATS RUINED MY ENTIRE PLAN! HOW THE HELL DID YOU WEAKLINGS PUSH ME THIS FAR?! HOW COULD I LOSE TO TRASH LIKE YOU?! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I will butcher every single one of you, tear down anyone who steps in my way, and when this is over, Grimm and I will execute Null and take over everything!"
Hollow's lips curled into a faint, bloody smile.
Just as his vision started to darken completely,
Hollow channeled the absolute last spark of his adrenaline and drove a heavy kick into Cipher's ribs! The momentum caused both of them to crash down and slide across the concrete, separating them by a few feet.
Cipher's eyes went wide with pure panic as he saw what Hollow had done—
BLAAASSTTT!
Hollow had manually overloaded his own damaged tactical suit, deciding to act as live bait to shield the others and guarantee Cipher's destruction once and for all!
Lying paralyzed across the gravel, Saito screamed in sheer horror:
Saito: "YOU RECKLESS IDIOT! WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?! IN THAT CONDITION, YOU WON'T SURVIVE EITHER!"
With zero energy left to even stand, Saito dragged himself across the rough ground, crawling through dirt and broken glass toward the burning impact zone.
He finally reached the smoke-filled crater and looked down.
Cipher was dead.
His breathing had completely stopped. His massive frame was charred, mangled, and torn to pieces—so utterly disfigured that no one would ever recognize him as the terrifying Special Executive who once ruled the shadows.
A few feet away lay Hollow, his body battered and burned, though the reinforced inner plating of his suit had shielded his vital organs from total vaporization.
Saito frantically pressed two trembling fingers against Hollow's neck.
A faint, steady pulse tapped against his skin. Saito let out a tearful, relieved breath—Hollow was alive.
Without wasting a single second, Saito ripped pieces of his own shirt to wrap around Hollow's deep lacerations, applying pressure to stop the bleeding while securing the perimeter to keep everyone stabilized.
After some time, Saito used whatever leftover emergency medical gear and field kits he had to patch everyone up. It was just enough to stabilize their vitals and ensure no one would succumb to fatal trauma in the immediate hours.
Hollow remained in critical condition, desperately requiring prolonged rest and intensive medical care. Recognizing the urgency, Saito turned to Arisa and Elena—who had finally regained consciousness—and instructed them to immediately head to the local hospital in town so Hollow, as well as the two of them, could receive proper treatment.
Elena: "Saito, what about you? What are you going to do? You're in terrible shape yourself!"
Saito managed a faint, tired smile.
Saito: "So what? I can manage to walk with the help of this metal rod. You three need to get out of here. We came to gather intelligence, not get bogged down in a death match. This whole clash was completely unexpected, and we haven't secured our main objective yet. Go on, don't worry about me. Besides... we won this fight together, didn't we?"
Though deep concern remained etched across their faces, Elena and Arisa understood the reality of the situation. Supporting Hollow's limp body between them, they began making their way toward the nearest hospital.
Using a sturdy piece of debris as a makeshift cane, Saito slowly dragged himself forward, stepping past the shattered entrance and heading deeper inside the SS PARTNERS facility.
The violent combat had ravaged the entire structure, heavily compromising both the ground and first floors.
As Saito disappeared into the darkened corridors of the building, the scene shiftedseamlessly back to Kye at that very exact moment.
The clash between Kye and Grimm had reached a fever pitch. Both were battered, bruised, and gasping for air, but the intensity only climbed higher. The relentless exchange of blows had taken a visible toll on Kye, his movements slightly sluggish compared to the start, yet his resolve remained unshaken.
Grimm: "How much longer, Kye Kurasaki? How much longer can you possibly keep fighting like this?"
Kye let out a ragged, sharp breath, his gaze burning with cold fire.
Kye: "The faster you drop dead, the faster this fight ends. Got it? So shut your damn mouth... and fight me!"
Without a second to lose, both surged forward, closing the distance in a blur of motion. They traded strikes with ferocious speed, each blow a deadly dance of evasion and impact.
Suddenly, Kye's leg crackled with raw, unstable lightning, surging with lethal voltage as he unleashed a blistering roundhouse kick toward Grimm's head. Grimm narrowly evaded the strike, pivoting out of the way—but that was exactly what Kye wanted.
As Grimm moved to dodge, Kye's other fist ignited—not with lightning, but with a swirling, dense pressure of water.
Kye: "Water... pressure surge!"
BAM!
The punch collided with Grimm's guard. Grimm blocked the impact, but he hadn't accounted for the shift in momentum. As Grimm blocked, Kye drove his leg back up, landing a devastating kick squarely into Grimm's stomach.
CRACKLE!
The combined force of electricity surging through the water medium created an internal discharge, sending high-voltage shockwaves directly into Grimm's organs.
Grimm was sent flying backward, stumbling as he tried to regain his balance.
Grimm: "You bastard... you're using elemental attacks? Not just one, but multiple types at once?"
Cough! Cough!
Grimm spat a thick glob of blood onto the charred ground, his eyes wide with disbelief.
Kye didn't give him a second to breathe. His stance shifted, the air around his hands distorting as he drew upon his newfound power.
Kye: "I don't just coat my attacks with elemental power anymore,
Kye extended his hand toward Grimm, and a surge of flames erupted, coalescing into a massive, searing hand of fire. It bridged the distance between them in a heartbeat, clamping down tight around Grimm's throat!
Grimm immediately began to struggle, his skin blistering as the heat scorched his flesh. But, refusing to be overwhelmed, Grimm locked his gaze onto Kye's eyes from a distance, channeling his "Death Stare" with lethal precision. The mental agony shattered Kye's concentration, and the fire-coated phantom hand dissolved into nothingness.
Grimm: "What kind of twisted power is this? You treat elements as if they are extensions of your own body? I have never seen a fighter capable of this... Just what are you made of, Kye Kurasaki?"
He paused, a dark, calculating look crossing his face.
Grimm: "But even this won't be enough! I may be weaker than Cipher in raw physical power, but overall... he is inferior to me. He is a fool, a brute who lacks my tactical mind and my abilities.
Understand this, Kye—I plan to kill Null, and I will kill that weakling of a brother of mine too. I want to rule the summit alone. I do not tolerate anyone standing by my side."
Kye: "So you'd kill your own brother just for that?"
Kye spat, his voice laced with disgust. "You're a sick, twisted animal. You aren't even human... if you were, you wouldn't be doing this."
Suddenly, the atmosphere shifted.
The air grew deathly thick, pressing down like a physical weight. Oxygen seemed to vanish from the clearing, and the transparent sky began to warp, bleeding into a suffocating, blackish hue. The entire environment was being swallowed by a void of pitch-black air.
Kye: "What... what is this?"
Cough! Cough!
Kye stumbled, blood erupting from his mouth. He clutched his throat, gasping for air that wasn't there. His muscles locked up, his body feeling as heavy as lead.
Grimm: "Divine Pressure. Die, Kye!"
Kye's legs gave out, and he collapsed to his knees.
'How...!' Kye's mind raced as his vision fractured. 'My throat... I can't even scream! What kind of oppressive pressure is this? My body is literally breaking apart... blood is pouring from my eyes... I can't breathe... my mind is going numb!'
Kye's vision was failing, the world turning into a blurred, suffocating gray.
'No, no, no! I have to do something! I need to act right now, or I'm going to die here... but I can't even stand under this crushing weight!'
Before we could witness Kye's desperate counter-move, the scene shifted violently—far away, to the inner sanctum of the SS PARTNERS MainMeeting Headquarters.
It was a cold, cavernous hall. Standing silently near the back were the Chief Executives of the organization :-
Bansho
Null
Fang
Borius
But on the raised dais sat four mysterious figures. Their faces remained shrouded in deep shadow, hidden from sight even to those in the room.
Null: "Cipher's device has gone completely unresponsive. Should I assume... he is dead?"
One of the figures sitting on the bench replied, his voice dripping with icy indifference.
Unknown Master: "Assume? Does it really matter what you assume? Besides, wasn't your operative supposed to be nowhere near the subject, 'Kye'? How exactly did he manage to die?"
Null's expression hardened, his tone turning grave.
Null: "That is precisely the problem. Kye and his Alliance... they are far more powerful than our initial assessments. We need to start taking them seriously."
Bansho stepped forward, his massive frame casting a shadow over the floor.
Bansho: "Don't stress yourselves, Masters. Leave them to me. Just get me the intel, and I'll handle the rest myself."
He cracked his knuckles, a predatory grin forming on his face.
Bansho: "I haven't had a chance to get my hands dirty in a long time. If it's necessary... The Indestructible Bansho the Great himself will descend to crush them."
Just as the tension in the room reached its peak, the heavy blast doors at the end of the hall hissed open.
A figure stepped inside. He wore a long, heavy black coat and a wide-brimmed cowboy-style hat that obscured his face entirely.
The moment he entered, an unnatural silence fell over the room. For some inexplicable reason, every single one of the eight people sitting there—including the mighty Chiefs—froze.
Their eyes widened. A palpable sense of shock, or perhaps fear, washed over the headquarters.
Before anyone could say a single word, the figure stopped in the center of the hall.
And with that enigmatic arrival, the chapter came to an abrupt, chilling end.
[ END OF CHAPTER 28 ]