[Group Echo] walked carefully along the cracked pavement, senses on high alert. The city's atmosphere was thick and suffocating—like breathing through wet cotton.
Kai Mori stopped abruptly, holding up a hand. "Careful...I feel a strange energy around here. Something's off."
George shrugged, hands buried deep in his pockets. "And where exactly, Mori? I don't sense anything specific, but... yeah, I feel a devil nearby too." He glanced at their leader. Our target is Devil Help. The right hand of the Devil himself
Fele Mei jumped in, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "And what exactly is Devil Help going to do for us? He's a devil. Since when do devils do charity work for humans?"
Mori pulled out his phone, his expression deadly serious. "According to the intel from Ruka, Devil Help will help us. But there's a catch: we have to free Tenji from the prison where Yugo locked him first."
"Ummm... guys? I think this is it," Lios interrupted, pointing toward the middle of the street.
He was staring at a manhole cover. "Look... black energy is seeping out of the drain."
Mori reacted instantly, turning to Fele and Lios. "You two stay up here. Guard the perimeter. George and I are going down."
George's face went pale. "Me? No way! There's no chance I'm going down there with all that filthy crap! You want me to go in there? Never in my life!"
Mori stepped closer, a sly grin spreading across his face. "Want me to remind you what you used to do when you were a kid? Until you were sixteen, you crapped your pants! You couldn't use the toilet because you were terrified that a snake would come up through the bowl and bite your ass!
Fele and Lios burst out laughing. But the laughter died instantly.
The air went cold. Everyone turned to stare at Lios.
A low, choked sound escaped his throat. Lios had laughed.
Then he went silent again.
Mori stared at him, completely shocked. "I don't believe it... Lios, you laughed? The last time you laughed was twelve years ago. After that massive Devil attack that destroyed the city—you never laughed again. Not once."
Lios felt uncomfortable with the turn of the conversation. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. "Ugh... leave me alone. Just get on with what you started."
He turned his back and started walking away, clearly annoyed.
Everyone watched him go. "Ahh... okay, let's finish this," Mori said.
Without wasting a second, Mori grabbed George and shoved him violently into the open manhole. George started screaming, but Mori jumped right after him, dragging them both into the darkness.
"You fucking asshole, Mori! I stink! It smells like absolute death down here!" George shouted, frantically trying to wipe the filth off his clothes.
"Shut your mouth and move," Mori snapped back. "We didn't come here for a sightseeing tour."
Devil Help lunged at them from the darkness—fast, brutal, and completely silent. Kai grabbed George by the collar and yanked him to the side just in time.
The attack missed by inches. But Devil Help was already coming again.
Kai snatched George's shirt and pulled him right—another dodge, another near miss. "We came here to talk!" Kai shouted into the darkness.
But Devil Help dropped from above, claws aimed straight at Kai's skull. Kai rolled away, barely escaping. The attacks came in waves—relentless, coordinated, and furious.
Kai stumbled, off-balance. George grabbed him before he could get hit, spinning him to safety. George lashed out with a kick, but Devil Help opened his massive jaws, ready to bite his leg clean off.
Kai threw a punch straight into Devil Help's face, forcing him back a step.
Devil Help rose to his full height. The darkness peeled away from his body, revealing everything at once.
His head was like a dragon's—fierce, angular, with glowing yellow eyes that cut through the shadows. He stood two and a half meters tall, his skin pale white, with a massive, gaping maw that seemed to swallow the light around it.
His legs were thick and reptilian, like a dragon's claws, rooted into the stone floor. His voice was rough, ancient, and dripping with contempt. "So you don't want a fight? Then what the hell do you want from me?"
Kai stepped forward, hands raised. "We came to ask for your help. We need your power."
Devil Help let out a bitter, rattling laugh. "I'm tired of helping you humans. I've been doing it for centuries—but you're all the same. You use me like a tool. Like I'm nothing but a weapon for your convenience."
His eyes burned brighter, his voice cracking with rage. "I've lived for four thousand five hundred years. And not one of you has ever cared about me. Now you come begging for help again?"
He lunged forward, his voice thundering through the tunnels. "I'll kill you all! I'm not the same Devil I was four thousand years ago! I've changed!"
But before he could finish the word, the entire area went white. Absolute. Infinite.
The infinite white void swallowed everything. Everyone stood frozen—paralyzed, unable to move, unable to speak.
Devil Help's eyes locked onto the figure that emerged from the nothingness. His voice cracked with shock and recognition.
"The Body of Nature..." He stared at Ibaraki, his dragon-like face twisted in confusion. "Why did you call us here?"
Ibaraki said nothing. His cold eyes swept across the group. The silence stretched. Unbearable. Absolute
Kai Mori stepped forward, his voice tense. "Who is he? He's not human."
George squinted into the void, studying Ibaraki's form. "Definitely not a devil either—I don't feel any positive or negative energy coming from his body. It's... something else. Completely different."
Ibaraki broke the long silence. His voice was cold, ancient, and utterly devoid of emotion.
"Hayuza..."
Devil Help flinched, his dragon-like face twisting in rage. "Don't call me that name! That person is gone! He disappeared centuries ago! I'm someone new now!"
Ibaraki continued, unbothered by the outburst. "I brought you here to inform your team that the alliance between Yugo, Devil End, and Devil Admin has collapsed. It's become the worst-case scenario—none of us expected this."
He paused, his hollow gaze sweeping across them. "Now everyone has different goals. The chaos is spreading."
Hayuza—Devil Help—interrupted, his voice shaking with shock. "Wait, wait, wait! Those three? Allied?! They've been enemies for hundreds of years! How the hell did they become allies?!"
Ibaraki's voice remained flat. "I'm not in a position to explain."
Hayuza exploded. "Then why did you bring us here?! You won't even tell us what you actually want from us?!"
Ibaraki turned his hollow gaze toward the ceiling. "Right above where you're standing right now—there are ten million citizens. Innocent people. Just unite. Stop the chaos you're creating."
Kai Mori stepped forward again, his voice sharp with suspicion. "I still can't figure out what you are. Devil or human? You have no eyes, no nose, no expression... nothing. No face at all. Who the hell are you?"
Ibaraki turned to him, completely still. "I am Nature itself. I exist in a physical body. I have existed for millions of years."
George and Kai froze. Their jaws dropped. Neither of them could move.
Ibaraki began to fade. "I've said what I needed to say. Goodbye."
Before he could disappear completely, George shouted after him, his voice cracking with desperate rage. "Twelve years ago! In SINISH! There was a massive massacre—two thousand children died! And I KNOW the punishment that came wasn't from some random powerful being!"
He screamed into the void. "IT CAME FROM NATURE ITSELF! I'M SURE OF IT!"
Ibaraki showed no reaction. Not a flinch. Not a word. He simply turned and vanished, leaving them back in the filthy sewer.
Kai Mori slammed his fist against the wall, furious. "He didn't even answer! What the hell is that thing?!"
Hayuza turned his back on them, his voice heavy with ancient weariness. "The questions you asked Ibaraki—about the punishment from Nature? The massacre in SINISH violated Law Number Two: Prohibition of Mass Slaughter. Nature decided to punish them."
George's face twisted with rage. "Lies! All lies! Nature is a lie!"
His voice cracked, raw with grief. "If Nature wanted to punish the criminals who committed that slaughter—fine! Kill them! Just them! But no—it sent a massive devil to destroy our entire village! It killed my grandfather! My grandfather, Hayuza!"
Hayuza didn't turn around. His voice was cold, almost mechanical. "Nature never punishes just one person. It punishes everyone. Everyone connected. Everyone who benefits. Everyone who stands by and does nothing."
He paused, the weight of centuries in his words. "It's always been like this. Nature punishes the world—brutally. People who didn't do anything wrong. People who committed crimes long ago. It doesn't matter. You're all judged together."
George lunged at him, screaming. Kai grabbed him by the shirt, holding him back.
"Are you telling me my grandfather committed a massacre?!" George thrashed against Kai's grip. "Did he kill someone?! Tell me! TELL ME!"
Kai pulled him back. "George! Sit down! Now!"
George kept screaming.
"LET ME GO."
Kai slapped him across the neck. George went limp, crumpling to the ground, unconscious.
Kai turned to Hayuza, his voice calm and controlled. "So. Are you coming with me or not?"
Hayuza finally turned around. A slow, twisted grin spread across his dragon-like face. "Ahhh... your ability, Calm Mandate. You can control me."
Hayuza studied Kai with his yellow, predatory eyes. A slow grin spread across his dragon-like face.
"You're truly strong."
He walked past Kai without another word and leaped onto the wall.
Kai smiled. He picked up George's unconscious body, glanced at the wall with a faint smile, and climbed up after him.
---Narrator---
<
---On another side of Tokyo---
Yizuri Shark and Naoto Arin stood completely still. Above them, a massive frog sat on top of two buildings, staring down at them.
The frog looked at Yizuri. Yizuri looked back and tightened his grip on the sword on his back.
Naoto charged energy into both of his fists.
The giant frog suddenly launched its enormous tongue at them.
The two of them immediately took a fighting stance