*BANG!*
The muzzle flash exploded between them, tearing the silence of the night apart.
The bullet passed straight through Kagerou's head.
For an instant, his face collapsed into drifting smoke, features unraveling, dispersing, before snapping back into place as if nothing had happened.
"…?!!"
Hairo's mind went blank.
He fired again.
*BANG! BANG! BANG!*
Gunshots rang out wildly, echoing across the rooftops. Tiles shattered. Lantern posts splintered. Wood cracked and screamed as bullets tore through anything they touched.
Hairo staggered backward, his footing unsteady.
His aim was gone.
Precision had been replaced by raw, animal fear.
"DIE! DIE!"
Each pull of the trigger was desperate.
Each shot meaningless.
Kagerou did not rush him.
He did not even draw his blade.
He walked.
Step by step, bullets tore through his arms, his chest, his throat, only for every wound to dissolve into smoke, scattering briefly before flowing back together, whole and untouched.
It was like trying to kill fog.
Hairo's hands began to shake.
"N-No… this isn't possible…!" he gasped, his back slamming into the edge of the roof.
Loose tiles shifted beneath his foot.
Below them, the city remained silent.
Watching.
Waiting.
The shadow wolves howled in confusion, circling wildly, snapping at smoke they could not grasp.
Kagerou stopped just one pace away.
"How many have you killed, demon?" he asked calmly.
Hairo looked up, eyes bloodshot, finger trembling on the trigger.
"Y-You're not human…!"
Kagerou exhaled slowly. Smoke curled from his lips, blending seamlessly with the mist surrounding them.
"No," he replied softly.
"I'm worse," His hand drifted to the hilt of his ninjatō. "I'm a Demon Slayer"
With a smooth motion, Kagerou drew his blade, and in that same instant, the smoke dispersed.
His form solidified.
His presence sharpened.
Hairo felt it immediately.
The pressure changed.
The air shifted.
This was no longer fog.
This was flesh.
Hope surged through him, thin, frantic, but real.
This was his chance.
His only chance.
"AHHH!" Hairo screamed.
He swung the rifle up, abandoning all thought, all restraint, and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
*BANG!*
Blood spilled freely, oozing down his arm and sinking into his shadow.
The darkness beneath him stirred.
The rifle was swallowed whole, dragged into the writhing black at his feet, and from that same shadow, Hairo drew something else.
Something far more destructive.
Stick grenades.
One after another, they emerged from the darkness in his grasp.
Without pause, Hairo hurled them toward Kagerou.
To ensure they would hit, he gave a single, sharp command.
The Shadow Wolf lunged.
Its massive form surged forward, jaws wide, aiming not to kill, but to bind, to halt Kagerou's movement for even a heartbeat.
Grenades and shadow closed in at the same time.
Yet Kagerou did not flinch.
As always, he remained calm.
His eyes flicked briefly to the roof beneath his feet, to the house below, an unfortunate place, sheltering an unfortunate family. He doubted they would remain here after tonight's chaos, and so he did not allow the thought to linger.
"You made a mistake, demon," Kagerou said softly. His ninjatō was already in his hands. "Fourth Form: Phantom Dance"
*Swing*
Then-
*BANG!*
An explosion tore through the rooftop.
Then another.
And another.
By the time the first blast echoed, Hairo had already leapt away from the house.
The chain of explosions roared through the night, loud enough to be heard across the entire town.
Fire bloomed.
Smoke surged skyward.
The sheer force of the blasts ripped the mist apart, clearing it for kilometers around the impact zone, leaving only scorched air and towering columns of smoke in its wake.
Below, the homes of the unlucky residents burned.
Hairo stared down at the devastation in silence.
Then, slowly, a grin crept across Hairo's face.
And then.
"Ha… ahahaha!" His laughter rang through the darkness, sharp and unhinged, echoing above the ruined streets. "I… I win! Ahaha-"
*Step*
The sound was soft.
Too soft.
Hairo's laughter cut off instantly.
Cold sweat slid down his face as his body stiffened. Slowly, mechanically, he turned his head toward the source of the sound.
Standing there.
Untouched.
Unscathed.
Not a single scratch upon him.
Was Kagerou.
"…Y-You!" Hairo shouted, panic, fear, and disbelief twisting his face into something ugly. "HOW CAN YOU SURVIVE THAT?!"
"I just survived," Kagerou replied casually.
The calm in his voice was unbearable.
"AHH!!" Hairo screamed again, desperation overtaking reason. He reached into his shadow, grabbing anything, anything, and hurled it toward Kagerou.
Kagerou moved.
His ninjatō flashed once.
*Clang!*
The projectile was cut cleanly from the air.
And in that same instant... Kagerou multiplied.
Several identical figures appeared around him, each perfectly formed, each holding the same stance, each breathing in perfect sync.
Hairo's eyes trembled.
"Th-This…"
Kagerou took a step forward.
Every illusion moved with him.
Perfectly.
In unison.
"W-What is this?!!"
"You're too loud," said every Kagerou at once. "I think this is where we end it"
When spoken by many mouths at the same time, the words were no longer speech.
They were a verdict.
Hairo's mind snapped.
He tore everything from his shadow and unleashed it at once.
Every firearm in his arsenal.
Bullets screamed through the night... And not a single one struck true.
Each shot was deflected.
Each deflection birthed another Kagerou.
Again.
And again.
Until... Hairo stood surrounded.
What twisted his face now was no longer shock.
It was a horror.
Out of options, trembling, Hairo dragged out the last thing he believed could end this nightmare.
A Gatling gun.
Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger.
The roar was deafening.
He spun wildly, spraying bullets in every direction, firing at every Kagerou he could see, but… Nothing.
Smoke cleared.
The illusions remained.
Untouched.
"Are you done?" The voice came from everywhere. From nowhere.
It echoed inside Hairo's skull, as though death itself were whispering into his ears.
Hairo tried to scream.
No sound came out.
He had emptied everything.
Every weapon.
Every trick.
Nothing worked.
His legs gave out.
He collapsed to his knees.
Kagerou walked forward.
Slow.
Certain.
Unstoppable.
He stopped one meter away.
Hairo prostrated himself on the ground, shaking.
"Tell me, demon," Kagerou said calmly. "If you have anything left, take it out"
A pause.
"This is your last chance"
There was no mercy in his words.
Only finality.
He did not wish to kill something that had already lost the will to live.
Hairo slowly lifted his head.
What stood before him was not a boy.
Not a human.
But the God of Death itself.
His gaze drifted to Kagerou's ninjatō, then down to his own trembling hands.
A mocking smile crept across his face.
"What is a mistake?" Hairo asked quietly. "Is abandoning Bushidō a mistake?"
Kagerou did not hesitate.
"…No," he said. "Your mistake was giving up on being human"
Hairo's eyes widened, just a little.
Then he smiled.
"…I see"
Kagerou studied him for a moment.
"Is that all?" he asked.
Hairo gave no answer.
His head lowered, shoulders slack, as if the weight of the world had finally crushed him.
Kagerou snorted softly.
"So that's your answer," he said.
"I see," His grip tightened around the hilt. "Then this is where your journey ends"