Jigoku wakes up next to a blazing campfire, lying on the grass, on his back. Jigoku is dressed in some old rags. The warmth strikes his body, and the wood crackles. It's quiet all around, the forest consumed by the night. Jigoku is practically healed, his wounds closed.
On the other side of the fire sits a figure on a stump.
In stillness and silence, as if the flames don't concern him, though their light dances across his body, highlighting the unnatural structure of his muscles and powerful frame. He is tall, almost inhumanly proportioned. His skin has the color of cold ash, smooth but tense.
190cm tall.
His hair is long, silver, slightly tousled, falling onto his shoulders and back like a cascade of sharp strands of light. In the firelight, they look like pure light reflected off the surface of steel.
His eyes glow with intense red, but it's not the color itself that catches attention—it's the pupil. Thin, vertical like a predator cat's, it slices through the red of the eye like a dagger. Inhuman. Hypnotic. One glance is enough to feel the chill of fear under your skin.
His body is not just a body. Black, thorn-sharp armor grows out from his arms, shoulders, chest. They look like living matter, organic, pulsating fragments of something inhuman. Red glows among them like glowing blood among ice. The armor is embedded, as if into the body, black forms. In the very center of the chest, a red crystal or core shines, looking like the heart of a monster.
His arms and hands are covered in the same black, spiked armor, looking as if made for battle, not for touch. Long fingers end in claws sharp as razors.
Next to him, on both sides, rest massive blades, elongated and single-edged, resembling oversized, raw blades, similar to weapons of an ancient warrior or a fallen shinigami. Each one is slightly curved at the end, as if their shape had been warped by time or the darkness that created them.
The edges of the swords pulse with a deep, bloody aura—not a glow, but rather a living afterglow, vibrating to the rhythm of something primal and hungry. The surface of the blades looks like it's made of bloody glass, semi-transparent, gleaming, yet matte where light tries to reflect, as if the weapon itself absorbs the glow instead of reflecting it. Around the blades, the air seems to tremble and darken, as if it does not tolerate their presence in this world.
The hilts connect with the blades in an unnatural way, not through a classic guard, but through a fluid transition of black, rough structure resembling dragon scale, charred skin, or bone scorched by magma. The whole thing looks as if cut from the inside of a volcano or ripped from the body of an ancient beast.
Jigoku turns his head toward the fire, sees that sitting on the other side is a man who stares straight at him with a murderous, terrifying gaze, as if he knew he was waking up.
Jigoku: Fuck me… I've had enough.
Jigoku swallows his saliva.
The figure on the other side of the fire sits motionless. Nothing can be read from his face, as if he isn't even breathing. Only those eyes. Red. With a vertical, feline pupil. Staring directly at him.
He moves slowly, leaning on his elbows.
Silence.
The figure says nothing. Doesn't move. But something in his gaze changes—not aggression, not surprise. Awareness. As if he knew Jigoku would wake up. As if he was waiting for it.
*Jigoku: Who are you?
*Man: Kageyami. – he says with a masculine voice, but smooth, clear.
*Jigoku: Was it you who saved me?
*Kageyami: I hope you were worth it.
*Jigoku: Thank you.
*How did you heal my wounds?
*Kageyami: I gave you a drop of my blood, but the blood of my kind only heals wounds, not permanent damage, so I couldn't save your knee and eye.
Jigoku looks in shock.
*Jigoku: Thank you, I'm grateful to you… I think.
*I thought I was going to die there… after a while… I even wanted to.
Jigoku looks at his hands.
Jigoku: He probably doesn't belong to Kagura, I don't see the glove.
*Jigoku: Why did you help me?
*Kageyami: I'm looking for someone, I thought that if you're alive maybe you know something and can help me in some way.
*Jigoku: I'm grateful for the help, of course I'll try to assist.
A moment of silence, his gaze still penetrates Jigoku.
*Jigoku: What was that place, what were you doing there, and how did you find me?
*Kageyami: It was old ruins deep underground, a Kagura hideout, but by the time I got there, I found nothing and no one, only you. The room you were lying in was enormous, and the corridors stretched endlessly in every direction. On the sides lay the bodies of other beings and people, probably they've already moved out.
*I'm looking for my brother, his name is Shiso, he looks similar to me.
Kageyami suddenly went silent, still waiting for an answer with a murderous stare.
*Jigoku: Why are you looking for him, if I may ask? Was he kidnapped?
Kageyami's gaze grows even darker, colder.
*Kageyami: He killed them all.
*Our entire family, the whole bloodline, the whole clan…
Jigoku furrows his brows, doesn't interrupt. Kageyami continues, his words spoken like a sentence.
*Kageyami: Father. Mother. Older brother. Our sister. Our clan counted dozens of people.
*He tore them apart like an animal. Without a hint of hesitation.
*Because he wanted to see what he'd feel when everything around him disappeared.
*Jigoku: A psychopath?
*Kageyami: No, he wanted to become stronger.
*They didn't even defend themselves, he slaughtered them without hesitation, his sword devoured them alive, like burning leaves. They died smiling at him.
*I swore I'd butcher that fucker like a pig.
*Jigoku: Sorry to ask, but how he killed them… how do you know?
*Kageyami: I was just returning from a job, but before I got there, something absorbed him, or… he went through some kind of portal before I could scratch him. Whatever it was, I feel like Kagura had a hand in it.
*Jigoku: I see, and where are you from? What's the clan you're talking about?
*Kageyami: I come from the Ketsuga clan, it's a clan of assassins.
*We're stronger, faster, and more intelligent than humans.
*We are a near-perfect race.
*Our clan specialized in assassinations, we also won wars. Of course, everything had its price, and usually it was very high.
*Our clan counted dozens of individuals, now as you know it no longer exists.
Jigoku: Wars alone, what the fuck is he on about… pathological liar for sure. – he thinks, not believing.
*Jigoku: That's a badass clan, I wish I belonged to one like that…
Kageyami smiles gently.
*Jigoku: I haven't seen anyone like Shiso, honestly we were fighting some literal monster, I lost consciousness and woke up in that place.
*Some little girl was torturing me, she was with Kagura. – he says with fear.
*Above her head or fuck knows where from, a giant arm came out, it looked like a diamond turned into a monster.
*Kageyami: Do you know where they might be now?
*Jigoku: I have no idea.
Jigoku: Fuck, maybe he'll help me if I keep him talking… – he thinks.
*Jigoku: Since you helped me, maybe I can return the favor somehow?
*They're gone now, it's hard for me to move, and you're supposedly strong.
*We promised each other with my family that if anything happened, we'd meet in the land of Sangai.
*Maybe you could help me get there, and I'll try to gather some information about your brother
*Kageyami: Hmm… – he murmurs confidently.
*You owe me, agreed.
*But you know it's far? The journey will take us some time.
*Jigoku: I know.
Suddenly Kageyami places his index finger to his lips and gestures for silence. Jigoku doesn't know what it's about.
Moments later, from deep within the forest, loud, rhythmic stomping is heard, as if something is rushing toward them at breakneck speed. The footsteps become clearer, closer. In the darkness of the trees a figure suddenly appears—humanoid, but deformed. Naked, bald, slightly muscular, with a grotesquely mutated lower jaw. His mouth stretches all the way to the sides, filled with a row of razor-sharp teeth. Heavy chains are embedded into his shoulder blades, wrapping around his neck and arms, making him look like a captive monster.
The creature almost shoots out of the forest, charging straight at Kageyami. In a split second, he springs to his feet and vanishes, reappearing just behind the monster's back. Before it can react, its body splits in half, sliced vertically by a single unbelievably fast strike.
From Jigoku's perspective, it looked like the mutant just suddenly fell apart. Only after a moment does a powerful gust slice through the air, a shockwave radiating out around Kageyami, bending the trees under its force. The dull silence is crushed by the echo of a wind explosion. The corpse crashes to the ground with force on both sides of the fire.
Jigoku lifts himself into a sitting position.
*Jigoku: What the fuck was that?!
*Kageyami: That's Mujo, there are many more of them, from what I hear whole hordes are running here...
*Jigoku: I don't fucking hear anything... – he says slightly pissed, as if he's already had enough.
After a moment, countless heavy steps are heard, as if the earth itself is shaking. Louder and louder...
*Jigoku: Fuck me... – he says in shock.
Kageyami quickly approaches Jigoku and throws him over his back.
*Kageyami: Hold on tight!
Carrying Jigoku on his back, Kageyami suddenly launches himself from the ground, like a catapult shot from the shadows. A few meters from the place where the dense, dark forest swallows the last bits of light, a vertical stone wall rises, gray and treacherous, as if separated from the world.
That's exactly where he strikes. His feet touch the protruding edges and cracks in the rock with surgical precision. He moves so fast it looks like he's literally running on a vertical surface, breaking the laws of nature. In the blink of an eye, they reach the top.
The hill is raw, almost cut off from the rest of the forest, rising above it like a solitary stone fortress. The ground beneath their feet is uneven and cold, sharp fragments of rock jut out like bony fingers trying to grab anything daring enough to stand too close to the edge.
The wind hits them fiercely, whipping their clothes and hair, bringing with it the scent of moisture and a storm approaching somewhere in the distance.
As soon as they reach the top, Kageyami kneels on one knee, not from exertion but as if with calculated precision, allowing Jigoku to catch his breath without a jerk. He still holds him on his back, his movements heavy but sure, almost military. The stone ground creaks under his weight but doesn't shift even an inch.
Only now does Jigoku see everything.
Before them stretches a dark expanse of forest. Below, where the trees are denser, only the restlessly moving crowns are visible, but where the vegetation thins out, everything becomes clear. Jigoku can't believe his own eyes.
Hundreds, maybe even thousands of Mujo are breaking through the trees, rushing toward them like one unstoppable wave. Deformed silhouettes move in unnatural ways, some on all fours, others running on two legs, but all with the same insane speed. Their feet break branches, crush the ground, and the whole forest shakes under their pressure. Each of these running Mujo looks almost identical.
Their screams mix with the wind, carrying as an echo through the valley. For a moment, the sound seems to come from all directions at once, as if the forest itself is screaming in agony.
Kageyami kneels unshaken, his eyes carefully tracking the approaching horde. His gaze is cold, deadly, but fully controlled.
Jigoku is in complete shock. He stares at it all with wide-open eyes, then bursts out with a nervous laugh.
*Jigoku: Damn it… – he says in an irritated, half-laughing voice, as if he doesn't quite believe what he sees.
At that very moment, the entire sky explodes with a blinding white light, like a giant camera flash. Jigoku feels pure white flooding his eyes. For a moment, he loses his sight. A moment later, with a delay, a powerful thunderclap shakes the ground and fills the air with a booming wave of sound.
Just beneath the dense storm clouds, a figure hovers. It levitates high, suspended in the air. The whole sky flashes gold, as if itself had submitted to his presence. Each successive flash illuminates the darkness.
Lightning dances around him, tearing the air with deafening strikes, and the space seems to tremble under the pressure of his power.
The figure radiates a dazzling golden glow, as if the entire being was woven from light. His body shines like the sun in the midst of a storm, pulsating continuously with waves of pure energy. Long hair, as if lifted by an invisible force, coils upward, intertwining with the lightning dancing around him. Every strand seems alive, pulsating with golden light.
His eyes are completely white, without pupils, glowing so intensely that they seem to burn shapes into the air.
In his hand pulses a powerful, golden lightning bolt, long like a spear. Its surface is irregular, sparkling, as if constantly being created anew, formed from pure storm energy.
Then everything freezes.
The entire horde of Mujo, which moments ago was rushing through the forest, stops in place as if hypnotized. Their deformed bodies freeze in stillness, as if suddenly turned into stone statues. No screams, no pounding of hundreds of feet. Only a dull, terrifying silence.
Each of them stares at the golden figure in the sky. Their deformed faces, devoid of any clear expression, seem to freeze in immobility, as if fully absorbed by the presence of this otherworldly being.
The air around trembles from the accumulated energy. Electricity fills the space, causing the hair on Jigoku's and Kageyami's heads to rise from the charged air.
The sky lights up with another flash. This time there is no accompanying thunder, only the tension hanging over the entire valley, as if the whole world held its breath.
The being in the sky slowly extends a straight arm forward, palm facing downward. For a moment, it remains in this position, as if gathering all its power from the sky and earth. Then, when his hand is fully extended, he directs it upwards.
In an instant, a giant lightning bolt falls from the sky, slicing through space like a divine verdict. For a fraction of a second, everything remains in absolute silence as if the world held its breath. Only after a moment does a powerful, deafening thunderclap ring out, shaking the air and tearing it to shreds.
At the point where the lightning strikes, a gigantic white ball of energy explodes, spreading in all directions like a bomb explosion. Its edges pulse with unearthly light, and monumental lightning bolts flash from it in every direction, cutting through the air in a chaotic dance.
The entire terrain around becomes an ocean of energy, sparks spreading across the ground, lying like golden flames, and every rock, every tree, and every fragment of earth seems to drown in electric glow. Everything within the range of this power trembles and sparks, as if the world had immersed itself in a sea of raging lightning bolts. Everything around the ever-growing ball looks like a golden ocean shimmering with golden lightning.
Jigoku, half blinded, is in total shock, not fully aware of what is happening.
*Kageyami: We are on the border of Hanran and Joraku! – he shouts to Jigoku, his voice echoing in the air filled with the storm's echo.
*We have to hurry!
Jigoku grabs onto Kageyami with all his strength, literally like a snake.
At the same moment, a powerful lightning bolt strikes the rock they are on. A massive spark of energy explodes, tearing the air apart and making the ground beneath them shake. They rebound with full force from the falling rock, with such power that the rock at their point of impact crumbles, and chunks of stone shoot into the air like projectiles. The force of their rebound throws them hundreds of meters.
When they finally land on the ground, Kageyami doesn't waste a second. He gets up immediately, not waiting for any rest, and runs on without hesitation. Lightning bolts keep striking nearby, disturbing the atmosphere around them.
During their dash through the devastated space, sparks begin to appear around Kageyami and Jigoku, instantly starting to form exploding lightning bolts. The sparks pierce the air, quickly merging into dangerous, flashing discharges. Each spark seems to dance in the air and then explode, creating a new lightning bolt. However, thanks to his superhuman eyesight, Kageyami catches every detail with incredible precision. Before a lightning bolt can fully form, he notices a faint spark, almost imperceptible, that heralds the upcoming discharge. His eyes predict the movement of the lightning with unbelievable accuracy, and he himself, as if ahead of time, avoids the exploding energy before it even materializes in the air.
Kageyami: They seem to appear randomly… – he thinks without slowing his pace, dodging another spark while staring at it piercingly.
When the white ball of energy reaches its maximum size, the world collapses in a blinding flash.
There is no shadow. There are no colors.
There is only absolute white, pure, all-encompassing, brutal.
For that one terrifying split second, reality ceases to exist.
The eyes of Kageyami and Jigoku are flooded with light so intense that it is impossible to endure it, close the eyelids against it, or escape from it.
But Kageyami doesn't stop. He can't.
*Kageyami: Hold your breath! – he shouts with calm and confidence.
Jigoku obeys the order without a word.
And then hell begins.
Kageyami moves.
With a strength that does not belong to a human.
With a speed that defies logic and the law of gravity.
With every step, he tears through the air like living matter.
His feet barely touch the ground, stone edges, stabbing roots, torn fragments of reality before dissolving into a blur.
It looks as if he is not running on the earth but piercing through space like a blade, a shard of something higher, almost divine.
Behind them, an apocalypse is born.
A shockwave chases them like the wrath of an ancient god.
Trees with roots rise into the air, twisted and broken like dry sticks.
Rocks shatter mid-air, torn into tiny rubble swirling in the air like shards of a glass orb.
The ground beneath them shakes, splits apart, collapses in on itself.
Great, jagged fissures open in silence, as if even the planet wants to escape this place.
On their backs, one can feel the breath of cataclysm.
A heat that does not resemble fire.
It's not heat; it's pressure, relentless, omnipresent, overwhelming like an ocean trying to crush lungs from the inside.
Light penetrates everything.
Not only the eyes but also the skin, the insides.
There are no shapes, no contours.
Only unimaginable white that seems to stretch beyond the boundaries of body and mind.
And then, like a blow to the drum of the world, a sound arrives.
Delayed by a heartbeat, the thunder of the explosion tears reality apart.
It's not a roar.
It's a wave of pure force, so powerful that the world itself seems too weak for it.
It's as if a mountain screamed.
As if time fell into resonance.
As if God himself screamed in pain.
A moment of silence is brutally swept away by an apocalyptic roar.
And then… the sphere explodes.
Not in the classical sense. Not with fire. Not with heat.
It explodes with existence.
The shockwave spreads in all directions, a spiral of destruction, like an unstoppable storm that has no beginning or end.
The air is ripped from space, nothingness sucks everything it finds.
The earth tears like parchment, spreading in layers, turning to dust.
Mountains break in half.
Trees crumble before anything physical touches them.
Every atom, every fragment is swept away.
Only nothingness remains.
A burnt-out place where reality used to be.
Silent. Watchful. Alien.
Among it, golden lightning still dances over the earth, the sky, the air that no longer exists.
As if fighting the end.
As if unwilling to cease to exist.
After literally a moment, they stop only many kilometers away.
Behind them stretches scorched, cracked earth, a black desert where life has ceased to exist.
The air is still thick with smoke and dust, which sticks to the skin like ashes from a burnt ruin. From afar, flashes of light occasionally sparkle, single electric discharges jumping over the ruins like the last tremors of a dead titan. Everything behind them is now only an echo of the cataclysm.
They run onto a narrow, steep path carved into the hillside, a raw, earthy road winding upwards between the rocks.
With every step, they move farther away from destruction. The heavy, suffocating smell of burning begins to give way to the cool, clean mountain air.
Finally, they reach the summit. Kageyami stops and kneels on one knee, allowing Jigoku to finally look around.
The view takes one's breath away.
Behind them, hell, dark and silent.
In front of them, a world that survived.
Below stretches a vast valley, covered with forests, intersected by a silvery thread of a river. On the horizon, more mountains loom, bathed in the light of the breaking sun. Above their heads, the sky becomes blue again, as if the storm had no entry here. The sky literally divides itself on the border between darkness and light.
They stand on the border of two worlds, a past consumed by annihilation and a future they have yet to know.