Chapter 58 - Kinoko RusubanHollow Night, 28 minutes earlierOh, this was far too good to be true. It had to be.

  Victory wasn’t just intoxicating—it was divine. I could feel it swelling inside me, threatening to lift me off the very ground, as though the world itself had recognized my rightful pce above all.

  My vines, once thin and brittle, now surged with renewed vitality, weaving through the cracked concrete like veins of life. Under my command, they breathed existence back into this decaying arena.

  Behind me, my underling Noise—the loyal, wretched creatures—staggered to their feet, their bodies slowly reassembling from the battle’s remains. Each twisted figure took a step back, reverently parting as I began my approach. It was as if they, too, acknowledged my undeniable triumph.

  Daisuke’s broken form, a grotesque smear of blood and flesh, clung desperately to life beneath me. He crawled across the ground, barely breathing, his body reduced to little more than an insect struggling underfoot. I watched him writhe, his defeat so absolute, so ughably pitiful, that I couldn’t help but let the sound escape.

  A ripple of ughter—light and carefree—bubbled out of me, filling the air.

  Daisuke’s mangled body was hoisted up, vines coiling and tightening around his limbs, his blood trickling down like a sacrifice offered to the earth. His head dangled toward the ground, arms limp, while his tatty weapon, his lighter, and that intriguing journal, sat beneath him, waiting.

  Behind the tome, however, y some kind of stone with pinkish glow so soft I would’ve mistaken it for some kind of gem.

  My rewards, so generously id at my feet.

  My hand shot out, and with the flick of my fingers, two thick vines sprang from the earth, wrapping themselves delicately around the lighter, journal, and that intriguing new item. They slid toward me as though revering their master, stopping just a few paces ahead.

  A third vine quietly circled around the ebony chain of Daisuke’s kusarigama, dragging it away into the shadows cast by the overpass ahead – for safekeeping, of course.

  Before me, the Noise had split apart, the rabble falling back, creating a path. Each creature lowered its grotesque, malformed body in reverence, bowing as I approached.

  If you felt so poetically inclined, I supposed you could say their devotion to me was a mirror of this decrepit world – no, the universe itself slowly bending to my will, perhaps finally recognizing my dominance.

  I strolled forward with slow, deliberate steps, savouring the moment, my grin stretching wide. This – this is what power felt like. This was my birthright.

  Kozuki shuffled behind me as I approached my quarry, her palpable discomfort growing with every step closer I took.

  "Allow me," I said, holding up the back of my palm to silence her, my voice dripping with authority. “I’ll be fine.”

  A moment of pause, then a begrudging groan from her lips.

  “…As you wish.”

  Of course, as I wished. I always got what I wished.

  The vines lowered the lighter, journal, and gemstone before me, as though they were offering tribute to a king. I accepted my prizes, taking the lighter and treasure in my left hand, the journal in my right. My vines, my servants, retreated back into the earth, with even the ground swallowing them with the same obedience.

  I stood there, basking in the glory of it all. I could feel the night air itself humming with my power. The vines, the creatures, the earth—they all knew.

  And soon, so would everyone else.

  Some moments ter, once I’d finished my interrogation of the record, I snapped my fingers, again arousing my servants to action. With a flick of my index finger, a particurly strong vine found Kurogane’s left cheek, smacking it with such force he began to swing to the right.

  If not for misfortune of having known Daisuke for too long a period of time, I may not have picked up on the vitriolic scowl he immediately sent my way, concealed underneath the ruffled bck thatches of hair washed over with runnels of viscous red essence.

  He was straining to say something. I could just about make it out.

  “Fuck…you…”

  I sighed.

  “Good morning to you too, Daisuke.”

  It wasn’t very long until he’d realized that he’d been out for quite some time already, with his weapon, the journal, and the lighter all in my possession. I didn’t miss the panic begin to set in his eyes. I recognized it – the look of a cornered animal, of one who’d just understood their final moments were no longer drawing near, but rather, unforgivingly pying out right in front of them.

  I beckoned one of my twisted underlings to my side, and its grotesque form doubled over on the ground, offering its back as my seat. I graciously accepted the offer.

  “You…” He began, watching my descent onto my temporary stool. “You..can control them. The Noise…”

  “There’s no fooling you, eh old friend?” I replied with a smile.

  I then opted to remain silent, allowing the dusty cogs in his traumatized head to whir, realization eventually falling across his features.

  “On that first night…the group that ambushed us near Tipsy Tose…the thing that bit me…”

  His eyes found mine. It was the first time I’d seen him look at me with more shock than disgust, and in all honesty, I found it rather endearing – like performing a magic trick to a toddler.

  “That was all you.”

  A wave of silence washed over the underpass, as though being brought in by the cool night breeze, as Daisuke and I dared one another to break eye contact.

  Eventually, his gaze settled weakly on something behind me.

  “What…what else have you done? Does she know?” There was an undeniable edge to his tone, though I couldn’t quite pce it as anger or concern.

  I leaned forward, growing slightly tired of his incessant babbling.

  “What do you know about this journal?”

  As expected, silence.

  “I had a feeling you’d do that.” I sighed, and then lifted a few fingers.

  Behind Daisuke, a dark shape twitched. A sickening crack shot out from behind him then, and he screamed in equal parts pain and shock, recoiling.

  I waited for his whimpers and whines to calm down before trying again.

  “…Perhaps you didn’t hear me the first time. I asked you, what do you know about this journal, Daisuke?”

  The look he gave me then cemented it. It was like he was looking at me for the first time all over again, realizing just who, or what, I was. That was the exact moment I knew there was no turning back for either me or him from that point onward – not until one of us died.

  Fortunately for him, I didn’t pn on keeping him long.

  Still reeling from the love tap of my servant, Daisuke began to speak.

  …..

  “My, my,” I smiled, offering a zy cp in his direction. He didn’t look me in the eye. It was easy to deduce that, in this moment, the only person he hated more than me was himself.

  It was just as I thought. The journal’s author was one of our predecessors, and the contents delineated the events that occurred in the st ‘Hollow Night’.

  Not only that, it corroborates the identity of that Noise from st night, ‘Inja’, as a previous pyer, as well as revealing the identities of the previous cohort.

  There are even mentions of Asahi Yoshida, the soul who originally owned this EXS ability of maniputing pnt life.

  Indeed, now just hearing or reading his name seems to elicit the same reaction in me as the calling of my own. I imagine I don’t have long left until I…well, no need to go into that for now. There was still plenty of work at hand to be done before that could happen.

  Truthfully, the journal only seemed to confirm what Juno had already revealed to me in secret – the truth about our reason for being here. About what the Hollow Night really was.

  Yes, there were small pieces that still needed to be fit into pce. Why, for example, had Inja remained here as a Noise? Who had been responsible for that, and to what end?

  I looked back at Daisuke, who was once again meeting my eye, his self-hatred now only serving to further fuel his vendetta against me.

  “…And that’s all you know?” I sought to verify.

  To nod would have been too submissive, too agreeable, so Daisuke opted for silence once more. A smirk crept across my face.

  It was time to for the two of us to say goodbye.

  I leaned in, savouring the thrill of this final moment. Daisuke's broken form dangled helplessly in front of me, suspended in the grasp of my vines, his blood dripping sluggishly onto the shattered ground beneath us. His eyes were dull, the fire I'd seen in him just minutes ago all but extinguished.

  Pathetic.

  “Well! Let’s not drag this out any longer than we need to, hmm?" I cooed, my voice honeyed with mockery.

  "I’ll make this quick, for your sake. Does that sound good?” I paused, tilting my head in feigned consideration, as if I really cared. “Though, before we end this little game, I do have to ask...”

  I grinned. The words came to me effortlessly, as they always did when it came to tormenting the weak.

  “What’s her name again? Chinami? Sweet little thing, isn’t she?”

  Daisuke's body twitched. A faint reaction, but one I caught instantly. Ah, there it was!

  The weak spot.

  "I had one of my…friends look into her for me. I believe you both went to the same elementary school?” I continued. “I bet you’ve been pining after her for years. Poor little Daisuke. Don’t tell me that’s what’s been driving you this whole time?”

  I clicked my tongue in pity, watching as his breathing hitched ever so slightly.

  “Fighting so hard just to survive…all for a fantasy. A delusion of a chance with a girl who probably forgot you existed up until a few days ago. Or worse...” My smile twisted, my tone growing darker.

  "Maybe she’s just waiting for someone stronger to come along. Someone... well, no need to sugarcoat it. Someone like me."

  I circled around him, relishing the way his muscles stiffened at every word. I could almost see the images forming in his mind. The way she’d look at me. The way she’d melt under my charm, just like all the others. Girls like her always did.

  “Rusuban…” He growled, as though warning me to back away. The gesture was ced with a danger that only made me want to continue further, if only to see how much it would take to break him.

  “It’s a shame she’s used goods, though. Did you see the meatheads she was with that day at Tipsy Tose?” I feigned a thinking pose. “…Ah, wait. Sorry, dumb question. Of course you did. One of them did use you like a punching bag after all. Didn’t that cw machine game even end up broken because of what he did to you?”

  No external reaction, but that was exactly the sign I’d been looking for. Looks like I’d finally broken him.

  “You know, I’m actually pnning to pay her a visit after all this is over. Let her experience what a real man can do – maybe even keep her for myself. It would save her from those losers she was with. I think you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

  I leaned down, lifting his chin with the tip of my finger until our eyes met. His eyes, lifeless and hollow, stared back at me.

  "Of course you would," I whispered.

  For a moment, there was nothing but silence. And then, it happened – something so unexpected even I was, momentarily, caught off guard.

  A low, gut-wrenching sob escaped Daisuke’s throat. His eyes, no longer empty, began to fill with tears. His entire body trembled, not with anger, but with fear and sadness.

  "P-Please," he choked out, his voice trembling, breaking as the tears spilled down his cheeks. "Don't... don't touch her... Please... she doesn’t deserve..."

  I blinked, thrown off by the sudden shift. I expected anger—rage, maybe—but not this. The sight of him, hunched over, broken, crying like a child, almost made me pause.

  Almost.

  “She doesn’t deserve…?” I repeated mockingly, shaking my head in disbelief. “Daisuke, you can barely protect yourself. How exactly do you pn on protecting her?”

  His body jerked at my words, and he clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white. The sobbing quieted, but the shaking didn’t stop.

  In fact, it seemed to get worse.

  His breath hitched, sharp and erratic, and that’s when I felt it. A shift. A cold, malevolent presence coiling itself around us, tightening.

  "Why...?" Daisuke’s voice cracked again, but this time it was different—darker, deeper. "What did I ever do to…? You…all you people do is take from me. “

  His tears dripped down, staining the ground, but his voice was gaining strength, turning jagged, scraping at the air like nails on a chalkboard.

  “You take…and take… and take and take and take…” He began to babble. I took a single step backwards.

  Without warning, a low, guttural sound like a roar tore from Daisuke’s throat, raw and primal, as though something deep within him had snapped. The temperature dropped, and the air around us grew unnaturally still.

  I blinked, taken aback. What was—?

  “…No more.” Daisuke's voice, ragged with fury, trembled in the air. There was a strange distortion to it, a vibration that I couldn’t pce.

  Something was wrong. His voice—no, his entire presence—had changed. His breath grew louder, harsher, like a beast struggling to speak through a human throat. His body trembled, muscles flexing unnaturally, veins pulsing beneath his skin. His eyes—those eyes I’d mocked just moments before—now burned with a strange, unnatural light.

  “You’ll never… take anything…from anyone… ever again! I’m going to…to…”

  Before he could finish, the vines that bound his broken body trembled, quivering under some unseen force. A strange, violent energy pulsed through him, radiating outward in jagged, invisible waves. My Noise skittered backward, an uneasy shuffle passing through their ranks.

  “What—?”

  A sickening crack echoed through the air. Daisuke’s limbs began to jerk and spasm unnaturally, his head snapping even further up as a blinding surge of EXS exploded outward from him. The vines restraining him snapped like twine.

  My heart dropped.

  “No...” I muttered, falling several steps back instinctively. “This can’t be...”

  Daisuke’s form contorted, shadows seeping from his skin, swirling like a living nightmare around him. His face was hidden now, consumed by the darkness twisting and writhing around his body, warping him into something monstrous.

  The sheer weight of his EXS was unbearable—crushing, oppressive. It cwed at my mind, filling every corner of my consciousness with an overwhelming sense of...no.

  It couldn’t be.

  Despair. It was despair in the truest, rawest form I had ever felt it.

  “No... no, no, no!” I stammered, scrambling backward as the vines I’d controlled moments ago shrivelled and died. God, I could feel the life force being drained from them, as if his very presence was devouring everything around him.

  I reached into my pocket, my trembling fingers fumbling as I pulled out the cracked pair of multicolour goggles. Inja’s artifact.

  “Work, damnit!” I cursed, jamming them over my eyes.

  Through the shattered lens, a plethora of data in the form of charts, diagrams, and rapidly recalcuting digits scrambled across my vision. I desperately scoured each quickly shifting figure as though they held the answer to the bottomless pit of anxiety expanding in my chest, but in my heart I already knew well what was happening.

  Daisuke’s EXS—it wasn’t just swelling. It was skyrocketing, climbing higher and higher until it defied any scale I could comprehend. His body, once mimicking that of his human form, was becoming something far worse.

  “…Impossible.” I croaked, backing away as I felt the air grow heavier, as though the gravity around him had intensified tenfold.

  My Noise, my only hope, began to die off one by one, their forms crumbling to ash as my time limit with them reached its end. I was losing my numbers. My strength. But what did it matter?

  What could possibly be my answer to this?

  Before me, Daisuke’s body grew, his skin melting away into pitch-bck darkness, limbs elongating, warping, twisting into something inhuman. His skin, once pale and bruised from our battle, dissolved into a writhing mass of pitch-bck darkness, like ink bleeding through the fabric of reality itself. The substance dripped from his form in thick, tar-like tendrils, which coiled and writhed like serpents slithering over one another, consuming what remained of his human flesh.

  His limbs elongated unnaturally, his bones audibly cracking and shifting beneath the swirling darkness. His arms stretched, becoming grotesque, sinewy appendages ending in cws—long, jagged talons that gleamed with a sickening, glossy sheen.

  His torso was swelling and expanded, his once slender frame now a hulking monstrosity, rippling with an unnatural muscuture that seemed to pulse with every beat. Grotesquely, his spine gradually arched backward, jutting out from his skin in cruel, sharp ridges, each one lined with spiked protrusions that ran the length of his back.

  His face—heavens, his face—was no longer recognizable as anything remotely human.

  There was only a swirling, endless void where his flesh had once been.

  His mouth stretched grotesquely wide, lips splitting into a jagged grin that was all wrong, revealing rows of jagged teeth that seemed to shimmer as if coated in oil.

  And then, there were his eyes. Those dull, broken eyes that had once begged for death now gleamed with an ethereal, unnatural glow—a piercing, burning light that cut through the suffocating darkness around him.

  They were not the eyes of a man; they were hollow, vacant, like two beacons of pure despair burning through the night. Looking into them felt like staring into the void itself, as though they held the power to rip the hope straight from your soul.

  I stumbled, almost tripping over my own feet as I stared at the creature before me, my chest heaving with panic.

  This wasn’t just power. This was terror.

  “Wha-?” I rasped, my voice weak, breathing rapid, almost drowned out by the roaring energy pouring from his form.

  It didn’t answer. Instead, its monstrous figure turned slowly toward me, its once human face now completely consumed by the shadows, glowing eyes staring straight through me.

  I could feel my heart racing, thudding painfully against my chest. Damnit! DAMNIT! This wasn’t supposed to happen. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go!

  His form shifted again, and I could see the tendrils of darkness swirling around him like smoke, thickening, growing. Pathetically, the rising anger swelling in my chest was swiftly evicted by a visceral, instinctual fear I had never felt before.

  And then, with a low, guttural growl, Daisuke stepped forward.

  I froze, paralyzed.

  This... This was wrong. This was all wrong. I had beaten him! I had won!

  For the first time in as long as I could remember, I felt something cwing at me. Not anger. Not irritation.

  It was fear.

  “RETREAT!”

  A gruff, yet panicked voice cut through the chaos, a sharp command that snapped me out of my frozen state. I snapped around to see Cunningham on all fours, hauling toward us, but I could make out the anguish in his expression, as though he’d much rather be running in the opposite direction.

  Still, it was only when I felt a sharp sting spread across my left cheek, causing my vision to shift to the right, that I arose from my stupor.

  “AWAKEN!” Kozuki cried, withdrawing her palm. She grabbed my arms with a strength I’d judged her wholly incapable of, and dragged me onto my feet.

  “Haste! We taketh our leave!!”

  I didn’t need to be told thrice.

  With a st panicked gnce toward the twisted, monstrous thing that had once been Daisuke, I shook free of Kozuki’s grip and ran.

  I didn’t dare look back.