--- BUILDING HALLWAY ---
Narami strolled through the corridors like she owned the place, humming and whistling loudly. "Run, little mouse, run! Run from the cat!" She twirled, her voice bouncing off the walls. "Run, little mouse, run!"
Footsteps behind her. She stopped, turned, and grinned.
Devil Double (Oku) stood there, staring at her with a look that could freeze lava—cold, empty, bored. "Finally," Narami purred, "the game begins, little mouse."
Devil Double's jaw tightened. "You know the consequences of violating someone's freedom, right?" His voice cracked, sharp as broken glass. "There are... there are massive consequences!"
He grabbed a marker from his pocket and slammed it toward her—but it doubled. Two markers now, then four, then eight, shooting at Narami like bullets. She didn't flinch.
She tilted her head right, then left, then right again—smooth, lazy, almost bored—and every single marker whizzed past her ears. "Good, good," she laughed, tapping her chin. "Not bad. But you're not a worthy enemy yet. Tell you what—give me a real challenge. Something interesting. I'm bored."
Oku, from the shadows, grabbed a fire extinguisher and swung it hard. Doubled—four extinguishers now, then eight, then sixteen—they flew toward Narami like a metal hurricane.
She ducked, twisted, and kicked—her leg swept through the air, landing on one of the extinguishers, sending it spinning back at him. Oku's eyes went wide. He yanked a door off its hinges—doubled it—ten doors, stacked like a fortress, shielding his body.
"Nice trick," Narami muttered, cracking her knuckles. "Let's see how long that holds." She charged up energy in her palm—glowing, crackling—and punched straight through the doors. Wood exploded like confetti.
But Oku was already gone. He'd jumped over the barrier, landed behind her, and tossed ten knives—instantly twenty—spinning, glinting, hungry.
Narami's eyes darted. No time to dodge—she twisted her whole body right, left, and twist—and the knives sailed past her skin by millimeters. She caught two of them mid-air. "Bad move, Oku."
She threw them back—hard. He dove into an apartment, and the knives buried themselves in a fire extinguisher on the wall—hiss—a cloud of white powder exploded everywhere.
White, thick, choking. The entire hallway disappeared in a blizzard of dry chemical dust—you couldn't see your own hand in front of your face. Narami coughed, waving the air. "Cheap trick, asshole."
Oku attacked from the corridor—doubled two sofas, sent them flying toward Narami. They slammed into her, throwing her down the stairs. Her head cracked against the wall on the way down.
He leaped after her, landing on top, screaming in her face. "These are the consequences! You never, EVER violate my freedom!"
He grabbed a defibrillator machine and smashed it toward her—doubled, two of them now—but Narami twisted her whole body and dodged. Only to tumble further down the stairs, bouncing off every step.
Oku descended slowly, deliberately, his voice cold and steady. "Freedom is a right given to you by nature. The right to live, to do whatever you want." He paused, glaring down at her crumpled form. "But nature punishes those who abuse that right—who take freedom from others, who violate it."
His eyes locked onto hers. She was sprawled on the floor at the bottom.
"That's why I have orders from nature itself. To kill you."
He smashed the water pipes along the wall. Water burst out, flooding the floor, rushing toward Narami.
She was on her knees, soaked, hair plastered to her face—but she grinned. A nasty, bloody grin.
"Ha! I like you."
She raised her hand, sparks crackling between her fingers. "But I like this more. Lightning."
The electricity shot through the water and hit Oku square in the chest. He convulsed, shaking violently, smoke rising from his uniform.
Narami lunged forward and drove her fist straight into his gut. He flew backward, crashing through a door, splintering the wood into pieces.
Oku tried to get up, but Narami was on him in an instant—kicking his gut, driving him back. He flew into a room, crashing into a wardrobe that toppled over him.
Narami didn't stop. She launched a kick loaded with crackling energy toward his head, aiming to take it clean off. Oku flattened his whole body to the floor, and the kick whistled past his skull by a hair.
He rolled, scrambling away. Narami spun to track him, but Oku had already grabbed the wardrobe and doubled it—two massive cabinets flying at her. She used her perfect balance, stepping off the narrow corner of one cabinet, then the other, dodging them both as they crashed into the kitchen behind her.
But Oku was waiting. Knife in hand, aimed straight at her face.
"See? You humans never understand what freedom truly means!" He swung hard. "That's why you don't deserve to exist in this world!"
He doubled the knife. Two blades now. Narami twisted at the very last second—the blades scraped across her neck, drawing a thin, bloody line across her skin.
She touched her throat. Looked at the red on her fingers. Grinned.
"Ow. That actually hurt."
Oku threw a punch, wild and desperate. Narami caught his wrist with lightning speed, spun him around, and slammed him toward the kitchen counter. Her fist glowed—blue and yellow energy crackling—and she drove it into his skull.
"Tell me something, asshole." She punched him again, sending him flying through the wall, out of the apartment, crashing somewhere in the hallway. "If demons have rights to freedom, then why did you come to this world?"
She stepped through the hole, fists still crackling, voice dropping to a low growl. "Why did you destroy our planet? Our homes? Our people?" She spat on the floor. "And now you want freedom? You're nothing, just garbage.
Oku howled, his voice cracking with rage. "This freedom you're talking about—you invaded our world! You don't have the right to say anything, understand?!"
He slammed his fists against the hallway floor. "I was human once, before I died! I had absolute freedom to do whatever I wanted! Now as a demon, I have the freedom to do whatever the hell I want! Got it?!"
He slammed his hands down again—and doubled the building. The entire structure.
Narami's eyes went wide. Her heart stopped for half a second. "You... you absolute lunatic..."
The building shook violently. Cracks raced up the walls. The ceiling began to collapse, floor after floor crashing down toward them.
Narami spun right, kicked open a door, and ran—full speed, legs burning, lungs screaming. She smashed through a window and leaped out into the open air just as the building crumbled behind her.
The structure folded in on itself, crushing into the ground. The other building—the one Oku had doubled—took its place, but it was already collapsing too. Two buildings, both destroyed. Nothing but dust and rubble.
Narami hit the ground hard, rolled, and stared up at the chaos. "What kind of monster is this demon?"
Suddenly, Oku dropped from the sky, landing in front of her like a madman, screaming at the top of his lungs. "You're nothing but filthy Sorcerers! You took the lives of demons—lives that nature itself gave a second chance!"
He pointed to the sky, eyes bulging, veins popping in his neck. "You don't deserve existence!"
Ten buildings materialized in the air above Narami. Massive. Doubled. Falling straight toward her.
Narami threw her arms wide and screamed to the sky. "GAME OVER, LITTLE MOUSE! THUNDERBOLT WAVE!"
The heavens answered. The sky blazed electric blue, lighting up the entire district like it was noon in a thunderstorm. Ten massive lightning bolts ripped downward, tearing through the falling buildings from above, piercing them like spears.
The buildings exploded from the inside out—glass, steel, and concrete raining down in a fiery hailstorm.
Oku plummeted toward the ground, his face frozen in shock. But Narami had already launched herself onto one of the crumbling structures, riding it down like a surfboard, her eyes locked on his.
He looked up at her, wide-eyed, desperate. She was coming straight for him.
She swung her hands forward, palms crackling with energy. "ASSAULT THUNDERBOLT!"
Dozens of smaller lightning spheres—each one the size of a fist, buzzing with raw power—shot down like a swarm of angry hornets. They punched through Oku's body, leaving smoking holes in his chest, his arms, and his legs.
He didn't even have time to scream.
Narami twisted in midair and drove both feet straight into his skull, slamming him into the ground like a nail into wood.
The impact cracked the asphalt. Dust erupted everywhere. Buildings groaned and collapsed around them, rubble piling high.
The entire area was a graveyard of concrete and twisted metal.
Narami stared down at him, sprawled on the cracked asphalt. But Oku was still alive—eyes wide open, staring at the sky, his chest heaving.
Then he started to cry. Ugly, broken sobs that shook his whole body.
"That bastard... my manager... he took my freedom away from me! " Oku's voice cracked, raw and desperate. "I was just a slave with no rights! Working like an idiot, like someone who didn't have freedom! That dog took my absolute freedom from me!"
He turned his head, blood pooling beneath him, eyes locking onto Narami. "I was just a hostage in that job. Just a hostage! And now in my second chance... you sorcerers took my absolute freedom! YOU TOOK IT!"
Narami looked at him. Cold. Unblinking. Unmoved.
She crouched down, her voice calm and sharp as a blade. "Listen to yourself, Oku. Freedom? You want freedom to kill whatever you find in front of you?"
She gestured at the destroyed building behind her. "Like you did here? You killed innocent people. Civilians. Regular people who never did anything to you. That's not freedom."
She leaned in closer, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Real freedom means everyone gets it. If you have the freedom to kill... then others have the freedom to live. You don't get to take that away just because you're angry."
Oku's eyes widened. His mouth opened, but no words came out.
He went silent. Completely, utterly silent. No sobs. No screams. Just... nothing.
And then—from the sky—a single lightning bolt streaked down faster than sound. It struck Oku directly in the chest.
His body disintegrated on impact. Ash. Dust. Nothing left but a dark stain on the concrete.
Narami stared at the empty spot where he'd been.
"Goodbye, little mouse."