The street had been pulsing with rain when Ivan's life ended. He had been crossing the road with the vague fatigue of someone who had spent too many nights awake, too many days drifting from obligation to obligation without purpose. The metallic shriek of twisting steel tore the evening apart; then came the violent impact, a flash of red, and the sudden sensation of falling through a void with no beginning and no end.
When Ivan opened his eyes again, there was no pain. No sound. No body.
Only a vast, vacant expanse, dark but not entirely empty. Shadows moved without form, as if the space itself hesitated to decide what it wanted to be.
He realized, slowly, that he was standing on nothing.
And yet, he was not falling.
A voice cut through the silence—not loud, but sharp enough to feel like it pierced the marrow of his soul.
"You died poorly," it said. "But your timing… is exquisite."
Ivan spun toward the sound, but the darkness shifted before he could focus. Slowly—painfully slowly—a figure emerged from the void. It was humanoid, though its proportions were oddly fluid, like someone had drawn its silhouette on the surface of a lake. Behind its head, countless silver clock hands spun in erratic circles, ticking without sound, rotating at speeds that contradicted each other.
Its eyes were blank—white, glowing, unblinking.
Ivan swallowed. "Are you… the Devil?"
"Many devils exist," it replied, drifting closer. "But only one embodies what humans fear most when they are forced to wait. Only one thrives on anticipation, regret, hesitation… and the terror of a moment suspended forever."
Its form solidified slightly, gaining shape with every word.
"I am the Demon of Frozen Time."
Ivan's heart—or whatever replaced it here—tightened painfully. "Why am I here?"
"Because you were in the perfect state between existence and oblivion," the demon answered, its voice smooth and cold. "Your final thought was a longing to undo what happened. To reclaim the moment you lost. Humans who die with such regret become… compatible."
"Compatible for what?" Ivan asked despite himself.
"A contract."
The demon raised its hand. From the darkness beside it, a vast disc of fractured gears appeared, turning slowly in place.
"I offer you the ability to freeze time," it said. "To suspend everything around you. A power that even Primordial Devils cannot replicate."
Ivan felt his breath catch. "Why me?"
"Because you fear wasting time. Because you cling to second chances. Because you would do anything—anything—to avoid losing control."
Its voice deepened, echoing through the void like a thunderclap swallowed by a storm.
"And because you are willing to pay the price."
A cold instinct warned Ivan to back away, yet he found himself drawn closer.
"What price?" he asked.
"Every time you freeze time," the demon whispered, "your body will age. Hours… days… perhaps years. I decide the scale of the cost based on how you use the gift. And in addition…"
Its fingers touched his forehead.
"I will feed on the emotion you feel in those suspended moments. Fear, lust, regret, desperation… all acceptable. But if you fail to give me enough, I will extract what I want directly from you."
Ivan took a shaky breath. "And if I say no?"
The demon tilted its head. "Then you disappear. Utterly. No afterlife. No rebirth. No memory. Nothing."
The darkness around them tightened like a fist.
Ivan clenched his teeth. "And if I accept?"
The demon smiled, though it had no mouth. "You live again. In a world that will tear you apart if you are not careful."
Ivan looked at the demon, at the spinning clock hands, at the fragments of seconds that drifted like sparks in the void. He thought of the life he had wasted, the days he had let slip by without meaning.
He thought of the regret that filled him now.
"I accept," he said.
The demon's hand reached out, pressing against his chest.
"Then let time begin again… with you as its hostage."
Everything shattered.
---
Ivan's lungs convulsed as he drew his first breath in his new world. His knees slammed into wet pavement. His fingers touched cold, sticky blood.
It took him a full second to recognize the smell—iron, smoke, something rotten underneath. Tokyo's neon lights flickered erratically above him. Rain fell hard, and the alley around him glistened with dark pools.
Then he saw the bodies.
Some of them were human. Most were not.
Grotesque shapes with limbs twisted in impossible angles littered the floor. Mouths filled with jagged teeth lay frozen mid-scream. A horned skull lay cracked open like a shattered egg.
Pain shot through Ivan's mind as fragments of sensation crashed into him. Someone had been fighting here. Something massive. Something monstrous.
A scream echoed at the far end of the alley.
"Get down!"
Ivan turned just as a colossal blur of flesh and bone lunged at him. Its arm—if it could even be called that—lashed out like a whip.
Ivan had no time to think.
Instinct drove him.
The world around him snapped like a cord pulled taut.
And then—
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Raindrops froze mid-air.
Blood clots floated like dark pearls.
The monster's limbs stood suspended inches from Ivan's face.
He stared, breath trembling.
Is this… Time Freeze?
His mind raced. The world was frozen. Everything was motionless except him. The demon's voice echoed faintly, as if coming from a distant corridor.
"Careful. Every second you spend here… is not free."
Ivan stepped aside, just barely. The effort felt unnaturally heavy, like his muscles were moving through cold syrup. When he willed the world to continue—
—sound exploded back into existence.
The monster crashed into the wall Ivan had been standing in front of. Its momentum shattered brick and bone alike. Body parts tore off as the creature convulsed, twisting in agony.
Before Ivan could regain his balance, three figures dropped into the alley.
One of them held a katana.
One had an eye-patch and a cigarette.
The third was blonde and radiated an eerie calm.
Ivan recognized her instantly, though he had never seen her in real life.
Makima.
She stepped forward with controlled poise, eyes scanning Ivan with quiet, surgical interest.
"So," she said, her voice gentle but unnervingly steady, "you're the one who appeared in the middle of my operation."
Ivan tried to speak, but his throat tightened.
Makima smiled faintly.
"Welcome to Tokyo," she said. "You're coming with us."
Aki raised his katana toward Ivan. Power crouched over the monster's corpse, sniffing it like an excited wild animal.
Himeno flicked ash off her cigarette, studying Ivan with a mix of caution and curiosity.
Makima's eyes glowed ever so slightly.
"You froze time," she murmured as if she were confirming data. "Interesting."
Ivan's heart dropped.
"How… how do you know—?"
Makima stepped closer. Rain parted around her as if it feared touching her coat.
"Because," she said softly, "there are no coincidences when devils move."
Her gaze locked onto his.
"And you, Ivan, are not normal."
Ivan's blood ran cold.
Makima tilted her head. "A contract user… but not one sanctioned by us. Dangerous, unpredictable, and somehow dropped directly into the center of my territory."
She leaned closer, whispering:
"I wonder… what exactly did you trade to gain such a gift?"
Ivan stepped back, but the wall behind him blocked his escape. His chest tightened. He felt older—only slightly, but undeniably. His joints ached. His breath felt heavier.
The demon's whisper echoed inside him:
"You used my gift. You paid in time."
Makima straightened her posture.
"Aki," she ordered. "Bring him."
Aki moved instantly.
Ivan tried to speak—tried to explain—but the world swayed around him. The cost of his power pulsed through his bones, creeping like frost beneath his skin.
Himeno stepped beside Aki, watching Ivan's trembling stance.
"He's not resisting," she said softly. "He looks… lost."
Makima's smile was barely visible.
"He will resist soon enough. They always do."
Ivan's vision darkened around the edges.
Makima's voice echoed, distant but sharp:
"You belong to Public Safety now.
And I will find out what you are."
Ivan collapsed, consciousness slipping as shadows surrounded him again. A final whisper from the demon lingered in his ears:
"Welcome back to life… hunter."