(At this moment, please listen to soundtrack song "D_Truth_R By Kohta Yamamoto" while reading this chapter for more intense feeling.)
"Sacrifice…?"
Axamu's voice trembled, but it didn't break.
"I don't want to be one."
His knees shook under the crushing pressure, his muscles screaming as if gravity itself was pressing him into the floor. Still, he forced himself to stand straighter, teeth clenched, breath uneven.
"Whatever you intend me to do," he said, voice hoarse,
"I will defy it."
The glitching man stared at him.
Then—
"Fine."
One word.
The figure raised its hand slowly into the air.
The moment its fingers spread, the world fractured.
Reality glitched violently as the darkness inside X Tower twisted, colors tearing like broken film. Outside, thunder exploded across the sky, lightning crawling down the tower walls like veins.
"We might as well," the Watcher said calmly,
"watch you suffer."
Its hand clenched.
Suddenly—
A red window slammed into Axamu's vision.
[WARNING!]
[WARNING!]
[WARNING!]
The alerts stacked endlessly, overlapping, shaking violently in front of his eyes.
"Huh—?" Axamu gasped, panic flooding his chest.
Another red window appeared.
[Status Up will be removed permanently from your status!]
[Status Up will no longer be rewarded!]
Axamu's eyes widened.
"Wha—?!"
The glitching man smiled.
Wide.
Twisted.
Satisfied.
"Now suffer," it whispered,
"as you defy us."
Another system window appeared, blood-red.
[Your body will be weakened!]
Another.
[From now on, all battles will be REALITY-BASED!]
Another—larger, heavier, crushing.
[Every hit inflicted on your Beyblade will directly affect your body!]
[The world will temporarily convert into REALITY during battles!]
Axamu staggered backward.
Cold sweat poured down his face as his hands shook uncontrollably.
"What the hell is this—"
Pain exploded through his body.
It felt as if something inside him snapped.
"—ghk!"
Axamu doubled over violently.
Blood spilled from his mouth, splattering onto the cracked floor.
"Damn… it…" he muttered weakly, wiping the blood from his lips with shaking fingers.
His vision blurred as he forced himself to look up.
The glitching man stood there, smiling—unchanged—while the pressure intensified, squeezing Axamu's lungs, his heart, his very soul.
"What the hell did you do to me…?" Axamu growled through clenched teeth.
The Watcher answered without emotion.
"It's a penalty."
Its voice echoed from everywhere at once.
"Because you chose to defy us."
"We, the Watchers, have issued judgment."
Voice keep echoed from everywhere at once.
"Honestly, we the watchers make you, the "Extra", for to make the story interesting."
"Because we though the story was too cliques, boring and full of happy of friendship."
"Now we add you, an "Extra" to make the story plot more cruel, unpredictable and twisted since that more interesting."
The glitches slowed, becoming deliberate—cruel.
"Proceed to climb the X Tower," it said.
"If you want the penalty removed."
Its face glitched, eyes darkening.
"Follow the story we give you."
A pause.
Then—
"Extra."
The word landed like a curse.
The pressure surged again, forcing Axamu to his knees as the tower shook violently. Thunder roared outside, lightning illuminating the Watcher's distorted grin through shattered windows.
Axamu gasped for air, blood dripping from his chin, fists trembling against the floor.
But beneath the pain—
beneath the fear—
Something else burned.
Hatred.
And a quiet, terrifying resolve.
If this was their story—
Then he would tear it apart,
even if it killed him.
---
It hurt.
It hurts.
It hurts—
The words echoed endlessly inside Axamu's mind, over and over, drowning out everything else. His body trembled violently as if something inside him was being torn apart piece by piece. His muscles burned, his bones screamed, his organs felt like they were collapsing inward.
It hurts.
It hurts.
It hurts.
He bit down hard, blood filling his mouth again as his vision shook. Every breath felt like broken glass scraping through his lungs.
Then—
Something moved.
Axamu froze.
A presence—
behind him.
Cold.
Too cold.
Something wrapped around his back.
His body stiffened as unseen arms slowly coiled around him, tight yet deliberate. A hand slid up his spine, another circling his neck from behind, fingers resting just enough to remind him—
You can be crushed anytime.
Axamu's breath hitched.
Fear surged through him, deeper than the Watchers' pressure.
"W-wait…" he whispered, voice barely there.
Something leaned close to his ear.
Its presence glitched, distorted, wrong—like overlapping voices speaking at once. The sound wasn't a language. It scraped against his mind directly, bypassing his ears, filling his head with fractured noise and broken meaning.
He couldn't understand it.
Not the sentences.
Not the intent.
Only one word broke through clearly.
"£ñd."
The moment that word reached him—
Something snapped.
A wave of energy erupted from Axamu's body, violent and unnatural. The air warped around him, cracking as if reality itself was bending. His eyes widened, pupils shrinking into something darker, deeper—almost abyssal.
The pain was still there.
But it no longer mattered.
Axamu's body moved on its own.
The Watcher—
the glitching man—
staggered back.
"Wha—?" it uttered, glitching violently.
"What are you—"
Axamu's arm rose slowly.
Not trembling.
Not hesitant.
Calm.
Then—
He swiped the air.
There was no explosion.
No sound.
Yet the effect was absolute.
The glitching man shattered mid-existence, its form tearing apart like corrupted data being erased. Its laughter cut off instantly as its body fragmented into light, noise, and nothingness—vanishing completely.
The pressure vanished.
The glitches stopped.
The thunder outside died away.
Within seconds, the X Tower fell silent.
Lights flickered back on.
The air became still.
The night returned to normal.
Axamu stood there for a brief moment, eyes empty.
Then—
His body gave out.
The unknown presence released him.
Axamu collapsed forward, hitting the cold floor as consciousness faded completely. The eerie energy vanished as if it had never existed.
He lay motionless.
Unpossessed.
Unmoving.
Behind him, Shirayuki remained unconscious—safe, untouched.
---
…Minutes passed.
Axamu's eyes slowly fluttered open.
The first thing he felt was pain—dull, lingering, like the aftershock of something that should have killed him. His body felt heavy, weak, as if every muscle had been stretched beyond its limit.
"…hn…"
He pushed himself up slightly, breathing shallowly. The X Tower was quiet. Too quiet. No thunder. No glitches. No pressure crushing his lungs.
He looked left.
Right.
"Where…?" he muttered.
Fragments of memory surged back.
The glitching man.
The suffocating pressure.
The system turning red.
His body breaking—
blood spilling from his mouth—
Axamu clenched his head suddenly.
"Ghk—!"
A sharp pain stabbed through his skull, as if something inside was rejecting the memory itself. The moment he tried to recall what happened after that—
His head throbbed violently.
"…damn it," he whispered, breathing hard.
He stopped forcing it.
That's when he noticed her.
"Shirayuki."
Axamu quickly crawled over to her and gently shook her shoulder. "Hey—wake up. Shirayuki."
She stirred, eyelids fluttering before slowly opening.
"…mm…?"
"Axamu…?"
Relief washed over him instantly.
"Are you okay?" he asked, voice low but urgent.
Shirayuki blinked a few times, then nodded weakly. "Um…" She touched her head lightly. "I feel… sleepy."
"That's good," Axamu said quietly, exhaling.
Shirayuki sat up slowly, looking around the dark tower. "What… happened?"
Axamu froze for half a second.
Then he smiled.
It wasn't forced—but it wasn't fully honest either.
"…Nothing," he said softly. "You just fainted. That's all."
Shirayuki tilted her head, clearly confused, but she didn't press him. "…Oh."
Axamu stood, offering his hand. "Let's go home."
Shirayuki looked at him for a moment—then nodded. "Okay."
As they walked out of the X Tower together, Axamu kept his expression calm.
But inside—
Something deep within him was still trembling.
And something else—
Something unknown—
Had not left him completely.