Komon sat motionless amid the gallery of horrors, his mind desperately clinging to fragments of happier memories. He could still see Riko's genuine smile during their first coffee date, hear her laughter echoing through the park where they'd shared so many afternoons. Even when Night Raiders missions dragged him through hell—facing space beasts that defied imagination, watching innocent people die—thoughts of returning to her warmth had made every sacrifice worthwhile.
Now those precious memories felt like poison in his veins.
How could I have been so blind?
The paintings surrounding him pulsed with malevolent energy, their twisted subjects seeming to writhe when he wasn't looking directly at them. Dark brushstrokes formed shapes that violated natural law—amalgamations of flesh and shadow that leaked depression and terror like infected wounds.
This wasn't art. This was madness given form.
As despair settled over him like a funeral shroud, something else began to take root—a creeping darkness that felt almost alive, wrapping invisible tendrils around his heart and mind.
Suddenly, visions flooded his consciousness: Riko's family on that fateful night, their car stopped by something monstrous that had emerged from shadows. Her parents' screams. Her brother's terror. Blood on asphalt under alien starlight.
"AHHH!" The anguish tore from his throat, echoing off walls lined with nightmare imagery.
His communicator crackled to life with an emergency dispatch order. Through the haze of emotional devastation, one thought burned bright: the space beast responsible for destroying Riko's family.
I'll make them pay. Every last one.
Komon stumbled from the house and into his vehicle, hands shaking as he started the engine. The drive toward the rendezvous point blurred past in a fog of rage and grief.
"Because of you, Riko will disappear forever."
The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere—whispered on wind that shouldn't exist inside his sealed car.
"Who's there?" Komon's head snapped left and right, searching for the source. "Show yourself!"
"Everything is your fault. Her family's suffering exists because of your choices."
"Shut up!" His knuckles went white against the steering wheel. "That's not true! You're lying!"
The insidious voice pressed deeper into his fracturing psyche, exploiting every crack in his emotional armor. Images flashed unbidden through his mind—the first bus attack when he'd reported to Night Raiders, bodies scattered like broken dolls while official reports blamed mechanical failure.
How many times had he watched the Memory Police sweep away evidence of space beast attacks? How many families had been told their loved ones died in "accidents" while TLT maintained their precious social order?
Riko had shown him the truth behind those sanitized reports. Every casualty became a statistic, every tragedy buried under layers of bureaucratic fiction.
"I won't fight to protect their lies anymore!" Komon's voice cracked with fury. The darkness whispered approval, feeding on his disillusionment. "TLT needs to burn!"
As if summoned by his rage, an space beast materialized on the road ahead—one of the creatures responsible for his world's collapse.
But this wasn't the same Komon who'd once trembled before such monsters. He raised his Difai gun without hesitation, finger dancing on the trigger as energy blasts lit up the evening air.
"Come on!" he screamed, pursuing the fleeing beast as it retreated into forested hills. "Run all you want—I'll find you!"
Trees exploded under the barrage of his weapon's fire, ancient oaks toppling like matchsticks as Komon lost himself in the hunt. Every shot carried his accumulated grief, his betrayed trust, his need to hurt something that could actually bleed.
"Damn you monsters!" His voice turned hoarse from shouting. "You killed innocent people! Before you hurt anyone else, I'll send you straight to hell!"
The forest became a war zone as Komon's assault intensified, his rational mind drowning in an ocean of dark impulses that felt increasingly natural.
Just as the abyss prepared to claim him completely, familiar voices cut through the chaos.
"Komon, wake up! This is all illusion!"
Jun Himeya and Daigo emerged from the tree line, their combined presence radiating calm authority that penetrated his berserker haze. Jun's hands glowed with gentle light as he and Daigo worked in tandem, driving away the shadow that had wrapped itself around Komon's consciousness.
A shriek of frustrated rage echoed through the forest as something dark and formless fled his body, dissipating like smoke before dawn.
"Mr. Jun? Daigo?" Komon blinked in confusion, the world snapping back into sharp focus. Around him lay the devastation of his rampage—shattered trees and scorched earth where moments before he'd been battling alien nightmares.
"You were controlled by a psychic space beast," Jun explained gently. "Everything you just experienced was manufactured illusion."
"Illusion?" The word felt foreign on his tongue.
"Someone is targeting you specifically," Jun continued, his eyes holding deep concern. "This attack was too coordinated to be random."
Before Komon could process the implications, a figure in white appeared at the forest's edge—Riko, her dress pristine despite the surrounding destruction.
"Riko!" Relief flooded through him as he ran toward her, hands reaching for her shoulders. "Thank god you're safe! I thought something terrible had happened—"
She pushed his hands away with cold precision, her familiar features transformed by expressions he'd never seen before.
"Komon." Her voice carried no warmth, no recognition of their shared history. "I'm already dead."
The words hit like physical blows, each syllable driving deeper into his chest.
"My family and I died because we encountered you."
"Because of me?" He stumbled backward, the ground seeming to tilt beneath his feet.
"I was murdered because I met you," she continued with pitiless clarity. "Now I'm nothing but a puppet, dancing to strings held by others."
Her voice shifted, becoming something that no human throat should produce—layered with harmonics that spoke of endless darkness and hunger.
Komon watched in horror as the woman he loved transformed into the familiar enemy that had haunted their battles: Dark Faust, avatar of consuming shadow.
"Nagu?" The name escaped as barely a whisper.
"I am Dark Faust," she declared, dark energy crackling around her form. "Endless darkness that devours all light."
"Then I'll shatter your darkness completely!"
Jun's Evoltruster blazed to life, silver radiance challenging the growing shadows as Nexus manifested in towering glory. Dark Faust responded in kind, her human guise expanding into the giant warrior of darkness that had plagued their world.
"Komon, move!" Daigo grabbed the stunned man and pulled him clear of the battlefield as two titans prepared for combat. Even a careless footstep from either combatant could crush them instantly.
Nexus shifted into his red juvenile form, the Meta Field expanding like a soap bubble of starlight to contain their battle. But as the dimensional barrier descended, Dark Faust pressed her hands to her chest and released waves of corrupting energy that transformed the protective field into something twisted and malevolent—a Dark Domain that strengthened shadow while suppressing light.
The dimensional shift pulled all of them inside, including Gustave, Daigo, Komon, and the mastermind who'd been orchestrating this tragedy from the beginning.
"Interesting," Gustave murmured, studying their new environment with professional curiosity. Dark energy saturated the air like cooking smoke, thick enough to taste. "My first time in one of these shadow realms. The atmospheric pressure feels significantly different."
The Meta Field's original purpose—protecting civilians while empowering Nexus—had been completely inverted. Now Dark Faust moved through her element like a shark in blood-warm water, while Nexus struggled against the oppressive environment.
Still, Riko's damaged body couldn't match Jun's perfect health. Even with environmental advantages, Dark Faust found herself slowly losing ground to Nexus's disciplined assault.
"Another giant of light lurks among you," a voice echoed from the shadows, dripping with malicious amusement. "Why doesn't he transform? Perhaps I should provide additional motivation."
Mizorogi Shinya's laughter preceded the appearance of two more space beasts—grotesque creatures that materialized with hungry roars, their presence turning the odds decisively against the heroes.
"Hahaha!" Dark Faust's own laughter joined the chorus as Nexus's kick sent her staggering backward. "Now the real fun begins!"
"Mr. Jun!" Komon's voice carried desperate worry.
"Gustave, protect Komon," Daigo said with quiet determination.
"Leave it to me." Gustave answered
Daigo's hand found his Spark Lens, golden light answering his call as Tiga joined the battle in all his ancient glory.
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