The main door to the Supression-Cells opened
Inside, the room was dim, cold, and still—etched with faded runes of aura-nullification on every wall.
Ryo looked to his left, down on one of the Prisoners.
Akechi.
He sat on the floor, shackled by the ankle, a faint smirk tugging at his lips as his eyes lifted lazily to the intruder.
"Took you long enough," he said. "Thought you'd forgotten me."
Ryo closed the door behind him and took a step forward, hands in his pockets.
"How could I…," he muttered.
Akechi's grin flickered for a moment, then vanished. He sat up straighter.
"…So what is this? Reminiscing before the gallows?"
"Stop pretending."
The silence between them thickened. Two men—once comrades—now separated by betrayal. Ryo didn't sit. He stood just within the flickering edge of the suppression field.
"You didn't come here just to look at my face," Akechi said, quieter now.
Ryo didn't answer immediately.
"Is this your doing," Ryo finally asked.
"Is what my doing?"
Ryo stood there in his thoughts for a few seconds.
"I thought so."
"This wasn't like you," Ryo added.
He stood there in silence for a short duration.
Then.
"…Why did you betray us, back then?" he asked finally.
Akechi leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes.
"Why? isn't there something more important up there," Akechi asked.
"I want to know."
Akechi looked deep into Ryo's eyes.
Then with a serious expression, "I wanted to kill fear."
Ryo said nothing.
Akechi turned his head toward the ceiling, voice softening.
"You all judge too fast," Akechi said "Ryo, let me ask you."
"What do you think the Aura we use is?"
Ryo couldn't answer.
Akechi's lips parted.
"I studied it since university,
I went through ancient writings about it,
I even experimented on my own body and I came to the conclusion."
"It's Imagination."
Ryo tilted his head. "Are you trying to confuse me?"
Akechi continued.
"Have you ever wondered why Devils exist?"
"Because they are feared," Ryo answered.
"That's not everything," Akechi added, "I think at some point someone started talking about Devils as this unstoppable feared force.
Something that punishes humans for being bad.
That's when they started existing...
We fear devils. That fear births more devils.
A cycle.
An endless one."
Akechi's eyes opened slowly. "If humans could live with devils… if they didn't fear them… devils would stop forming. Eventually, they'd vanish entirely."
"And you thought you could make that happen with experiments?"
"Someone had to try," he said, voice raw with something that almost sounded like regret. "I knew it wasn't allowed. I knew what the Association would do. So I became what you call enemy."
He looked at Ryo. "That way, if it failed, they'd have someone to blame. A villain that they could stop. This way fear doesn't spread."
"…And Yorihito?" Ryo asked.
Akechi's expression darkened.
"He's dead. If someone from my group did it, they acted without my word."
He looked away. "I don't kill allies. Even pawns."
Ryo was silent again.
"During my research… I stumbled onto something else."
Ryo raised an eyebrow.
"The Abyss," Akechi continued. "A realm beyond the living world. Buried in ancient hunter documents and rituals."
"The Abyss," Ryo repeated. "Like a spirit world?"
"No," Akechi replied. "It's more like a seperate room and in that room, is something powerful..."
Ryo didn't speak.
"They call it the Seed of the Abyss."
He paused.
"I wanted to reach it. But to do that… I would've needed to kill a lot and I wasn't willing to do that."
"…So what are you saying now?"
"I'm saying someone might be using this Game as a distraction," Akechi said, narrowing his eyes. "10 Million People are more than enough to gain a power strong enough to open the Gate."
"The Gate to the Abyss?"
"I know where it is," Akechi confirmed. "But you'd have to fly there."
Ryo makes a worried face.
"You want my help," Akechi asked, with a slight smirk.
"No," Ryo said flatly.
Akechi smiled.
"Then I'll wait here until the enemy opens it."
Ryo exhaled slowly. His hands left his pockets as he stared at the chains. His voice was low and cautious as he bit his lower lip.
"…Fine. You'll help, until this is over."
Akechi chuckled.
Ryo stepped forward to undo the cuffs, but Akechi calmly lifted his arms.
With a soft shiver of energy, the shackles snapped open and disintegrated into dust.
Ryo looked surprised for a second.
Akechi said. "These Chambers are sealed by Kagami, right"
Ryo didn't respond. He just turned away, silent.
"Come on, don't ignore me"
Akechi rolled his shoulders, testing the freedom of movement, his aura flickering subtly—low, but no longer suppressed.
"I know we had some trouble," Akechi muttered, "But I respect you."
Ryo paused at the door.
"I respect you too," he said in hesitation.
The door slid shut behind them.