Darkness.
Not the peaceful kind.
Just an empty darkness where he couldn't tell whether his eyes were open or closed.
His thoughts felt distant. Muffled. Like trying to listen after an explosion had gone off beside his head.
Honestly, that was probably what happened.
Then a voice reached him.
Faint at first.
Distorted by static.
"...single evil..."
The words disappeared before returning.
"...cannot defeat..."
"...human race..."
"...perished long ago..."
He frowned.
That voice sounded familiar.
Eventually, the static cleared enough for the entire sentence to reach him.
"There isn't a single evil he cannot defeat. If such a thing existed, then the human race would've perished long ago."
The words repeated.
Again.
And again.
Like a damaged recording that no longer knew how to stop.
A bitter smile slowly formed on his face.
Of course.
Genos.
The darkness shattered.
Sound returned first.
Distant explosions. Collapsing concrete. Screams that were quickly swallowed by everything else.
Then came the smell of smoke and blood.
His eyes opened.
The first thing he saw was a ruined sky.
The city was burning.
Though calling it a city at this point was probably generous. Entire districts had collapsed, massive craters covered what remained, and fires stretched across the horizon.
The last city.
Humanity's final refuge.
And now, its grave.
Yuki remained seated among the rubble for several moments while his mind slowly caught up with his body.
Something nearby caught his attention.
No.
Someone.
Genos lay several meters away.
His body had been destroyed. Cracks covered what remained of his face, and pieces of his mechanical frame were scattered throughout the surrounding rubble.
There was no light left in his eyes.
Yuki stared at him.
Then a quiet laugh escaped his mouth.
Small. Humorless.
The kind that came out when reality had stopped being funny a long time ago.
"Yeah," he muttered, his voice rough. "I guess you were right."
Silence answered him.
Genos remained where he was, far beyond the point of responding.
Yuki allowed himself a few more seconds before looking away.
The dead deserved to be mourned.
Unfortunately, mourning had become another thing that needed to wait.
His attention shifted toward the enormous corpse nearby.
Grief Eater.
One of the last remaining Monster Cadres.
Or rather, a former one.
Titles like Tiger, Demon and Dragon had stopped meaning much somewhere along the way. Nowadays, only one classification truly mattered.
Alive or dead.
Fortunately, Grief Eater belonged to the second.
The creature was a mountain of flesh covered in countless eyes, with twisted limbs growing from every direction and a mouth occupying most of its torso.
Yuki's sword remained buried through its skull.
He stood, grabbed the hilt and pulled.
The blade slid free, followed by a torrent of black blood. The corpse twitched once beneath him.
Then it stopped.
For good this time.
A roar echoed across the city.
Another explosion followed.
Then another.
The battle continued.
Because of course it did.
The world wasn't considerate enough to stop ending simply because he had finished his own fight.
"Yuki-san!"
A familiar voice called from the distance.
Yuki turned and found a figure running across the rubble toward him.
Mumen Rider.
Satoru.
His friend, and one of the few people Yuki still trusted enough to watch his back.
Satoru looked considerably worse by the time he reached him. His armor was damaged, dust and blood covered most of his body, and the number of visible injuries suggested he had fought through half the city to get there.
Somehow, he was still standing.
"Sorry," Satoru said immediately. "I came as soon as I heard you were fighting Grief Eater."
He stopped to catch his breath.
"There were some problems along the way."
Yuki glanced at his damaged armor.
"I noticed."
Satoru gave him a tired smile.
It disappeared the moment he saw Genos.
The rest of whatever he intended to say died with it.
For several seconds, neither of them spoke.
There had been a time when Satoru would've rushed forward. When he would've searched for any sign that Genos could still be saved.
That time had passed.
They had both seen too many bodies to mistake death for anything else.
Satoru slowly lowered his head.
"I see."
That was all.
No denial. No anger. Not even another useless promise that they would avenge him.
At some point, all of those things had become luxuries.
After a moment, Satoru looked toward Yuki again.
"We defeated Ruin in the south. Master Bomb and Sonic were with me."
That finally pulled Yuki's attention away from Genos.
"You did?"
Satoru nodded.
"About thirty minutes ago. They headed toward the Northern Wall afterward, and I came here."
His gaze moved toward Grief Eater's corpse.
"Looks like I was late."
"Regardless, that's good. Ruin was becoming a problem."
Under normal circumstances, killing another Cadre would've been worth celebrating.
Unfortunately, normal circumstances had stopped existing a long time ago.
Another section of the city collapsed in the distance. Dust rose above the buildings, followed shortly by the sound of another battle.
Yuki watched it happen.
"Not that it matters much anymore."
Satoru frowned.
He already knew where the conversation was heading.
Still, he tried.
"You shouldn't blame yourself."
Yuki said nothing.
"You've done everything you could."
No response.
Eventually, Satoru sighed and sat beside him on the rubble.
For a while, the two simply watched the city burn.
Then Satoru tried once more.
"Even someone like you can only do so much."
His gaze moved across the ruins.
"Being the strongest doesn't change that."
Yuki remained silent.
"That's what being human means."
Human.
For some reason, the word felt strangely ironic nowadays.
Yuki looked toward Satoru.
Then toward Genos.
Then at what remained of humanity's last city.
Before he could answer, the atmosphere changed.
An overwhelming presence erupted somewhere in the distance.
Several ruined buildings twisted before bending inward, as though reality itself had become unstable around them. A green haze slowly spread across the sky.
Not quickly.
Not violently.
It looked almost peaceful.
Like poison quietly leaking into the world.
Satoru rose to his feet.
"That..."
His voice trailed off.
Even from this distance, the pressure felt wrong.
There was no better way to describe it.
Satoru glanced toward Yuki.
"Yuki-san, that's—"
"I know."
Of everyone still alive, no one recognized that presence better than he did.
The moment Yuki felt it, an old memory surfaced.
Dark green hair.
Green eyes.
A trembling hand slowly slipping from his grasp.
"Yuki..."
A voice barely louder than a whisper.
Then silence.
The memory disappeared as quickly as it came.
Unfortunately, reality wasn't much better.
The green haze continued spreading.
Satoru let out a quiet breath before walking toward Genos. He removed what remained of the cape hanging from his shoulders and carefully draped it over their fallen friend.
It wasn't much.
But it was the last thing he could still do for him.
When Satoru turned back, he stopped.
The air around Yuki had changed.
Not dramatically. Not explosively.
But enough for someone who had known him this long to notice.
"Yuki-san."
Yuki slowly stood.
His gaze remained fixed on the distant haze as he released a slow breath. The pressure around him settled.
The anger remained.
He had simply forced it back under control.
"I'm fine."
Satoru looked unconvinced.
Honestly, Yuki couldn't blame him. They had known each other for far too long for an empty reassurance to work.
Still, Yuki wasn't lying.
"I won't let my anger control me," he said. "Not again."
For several moments, Satoru studied him.
Then he sighed.
"I'll help."
The answer wasn't surprising.
If anything, it was the most predictable thing Satoru had said all day.
Yuki shook his head.
"No need."
A frown immediately appeared on Satoru's face.
There it was.
Once again, he assumed Yuki was trying to shoulder everything by himself.
"Satoru."
That gained his full attention.
"I mean it. I'll handle her."
There wasn't anyone else who could.
"Once I'm done, I'll extract the cube."
Satoru's expression immediately changed.
"Don't tell me."
"Yeah."
Yuki nodded.
"I'm going to use it."
A brief silence followed.
"I'll use the cube to pull that thing here."
The plan should've sounded insane.
Unfortunately, they were long past the point where insane plans felt unusual.
Satoru stared at him before rubbing a hand across his face.
"So we're really doing it."
"Look around."
Yuki gestured toward the city.
The collapsed buildings.
The fires.
The dead.
The few people still fighting despite all of it.
"It's not like we can recover from this. Everyone's safety stopped being part of the discussion a long time ago."
Satoru remained silent.
There wasn't much he could argue against.
"Besides, there won't be a better opportunity," Yuki continued. "If that thing realizes what we're planning, we'll probably die before we get another chance."
"And after you bring it here?"
Yuki finally looked at him.
"I'll use that technique."
No explanation was necessary.
Satoru already knew which technique he meant.
The one they had spent years developing.
The one no one had ever successfully tested.
The one absurd enough that it might actually work.
Satoru was silent for a moment.
"Extracting the cube from her won't be easy. Even for you."
"I know."
"And this is usually the part where you tell me you have a backup plan."
"I do."
That earned a raised eyebrow.
Yuki pointed toward him.
"His name is Satoru."
Satoru stared at the finger aimed at his chest.
Then he sighed.
"I walked into that one."
"You did."
A small laugh escaped both of them.
It wasn't loud, nor did it last very long.
But it was genuine.
A rare thing nowadays.
Eventually, the laughter faded.
The green haze continued spreading across the horizon, waiting for them.
Yuki gave his friend a small nod.
"It's time."
Satoru returned it.
Together, they took their first step forward.
"Let's end this."
The ruined city blurred.
The fires became distant. The explosions softened. Even the weight of the sword in Yuki's hand slowly disappeared.
It felt as though something was pulling him away from the battlefield.
Then everything faded.
The city.
The voices.
Satoru walking beside him.
Until only darkness remained.
A soft rustling sound eventually broke the silence.
Not an explosion.
Not screaming.
Just the quiet sound of fabric being woven.
Yuki frowned.
No.
Hiroyuki opened his eyes.
A familiar ceiling greeted him.
The smoke was gone. So was the ruined city.
Only the peaceful atmosphere of the Gojo Estate remained.
For several moments, Hiroyuki stared upward and allowed his mind to separate the memory from the present.
The rustling continued nearby.
He turned his head.
Senjumaru sat beside the bed, quietly working on a piece of cloth. Needle and thread moved through her hands with practiced ease.
It was a strangely peaceful sight after everything he had just seen.
Without looking up, she spoke.
"Did you have a nightmare?"
Hiroyuki blinked before looking back toward the ceiling.
"Did I?"
"You looked troubled."
He considered the question.
"No."
Calling it a nightmare didn't feel right.
Nightmares were things that never happened.
What he had seen was a memory.
An unpleasant one, certainly.
But a memory nonetheless.
"I dreamt of the past."
Senjumaru's needle stopped.
Only for a moment.
Then it continued.
"I see."
No questions followed.
She already understood.
Some memories did not require an explanation.
Especially those ones.
A comfortable silence settled between them.
It had been nearly two weeks since their return to the Gojo Estate.
Surprisingly peaceful weeks, all things considered.
Meetings had been held. Messages had been exchanged. Preparations had quietly moved forward.
Most of the work would never be seen by the people it was intended to affect.
Exactly as intended.
The Gojo Clan had officially committed its support. The groundwork had been established.
Now, only the remaining pieces needed to move.
Eventually, Senjumaru set the cloth aside.
"It has been finalized."
That immediately gained Hiroyuki's attention.
"The final approval arrived this morning."
He sat upright, the remaining traces of sleep disappearing almost instantly.
"So it's official."
"Yes."
A simple answer.
Yet it represented weeks of preparation.
Hiroyuki released a faint breath.
"Good."
One thing off the list.
Unfortunately, the next item wasn't going to be nearly as cooperative.
"The Zenin Clan?" Senjumaru asked.
"The Zenin Clan."
Silence followed.
For some reason, neither of them looked particularly optimistic.
Hiroyuki eventually left the bed and stretched.
"Well."
A small smile appeared on his face.
"Let's go convince some people."
Senjumaru calmly rose from her seat.
"Yes."
And with that, the two began preparing for their next trip.