[Chapter Header]
ARC: Back Attack Land
Riko lay sprawled on the floor amidst the wreckage, struggling for breath.
The air reeked of burnt gunpowder and twisted metal.
He tried to push himself up, but his body trembled, every muscle screaming in protest.
He coughed violently, a crimson stain blossoming on the carpet beneath his face.
"Damn..." he rasped, fighting for air. "What... what was that? Did the whole floor just collapse?"
Through the thick, acrid smoke of the explosion, a silhouette began to emerge.
Baka walked slowly, finishing the last bite of his apple.
He looked down at Riko with a gaze brimming with contempt, as if observing a particularly persistent insect refusing to die.
"Still breathing, are we?" Baka sneered, his voice a grating, metallic rasp.
"It's pathetic, seeing something so weak cling to life. You're just garbage that found itself in the wrong place, at the wrong time."
Riko's eyes darted to the small, black sphere that had rolled to his feet just before the blast. It seemed to pulse faintly with an eerie energy.
"What... what was that thing you threw?" Riko stammered, trying to find strength in his trembling legs.
Baka let out a chilling, maniacal laugh. "Hahaha! That? That, little worm, is your one-way ticket to hell.
My Bomb Devil Balls aren't just explosives... they're art."
He casually pulled another sphere from his pouch and tossed it.
Riko, instinctively, threw himself into a desperate dive to the right. The sphere rolled past him, coming to rest a few feet away.
Suddenly, Baka brought his hands together.
CLAP!
The moment the clap echoed, the sphere detonated with terrifying force.
The shockwave slammed Riko several feet back, sending him crashing into a shattered wall.
Flames erupted, consuming the office furniture and spreading rapidly across the floor.
Riko was now trapped, surrounded by fire. His ears rang from the deafening blast.
He squinted through the smoke, trying to pinpoint Baka, but his enemy seemed to have become one with the darkness.
Suddenly, a strange, metallic clink... clink... echoed from the floor near him.
Riko froze. Slowly, he looked down, between his feet.
Two more black spheres lay there, inert, waiting. Riko's eyes widened with absolute terror.
Across the smoke-filled corridor, Baka raised his hands. A sadistic grin stretched across his face.
CLAP... CLAP!
BOOM!
A double, colossal explosion ripped through the floor.
The entire skyscraper seemed to lurch, as towering flames burst from the broken windows, painting the night sky of the city a furious red.
Baka kicked through the debris, picking his way through the shattered walls and twisted steel beams.
He looked down at the spot where Riko had been, spitting on the floor.
"Worthless piece of shit," Baka spat, his voice dripping with venom. "You weren't even worth the gunpowder. I've stepped on bugs that put up a better fight than you."
He turned away, heading toward the emergency stairwell.
He needed to move fast; the building was becoming a furnace.
Inside the stairwell, the emergency red lights flickered violently—on and off—casting long, jagged shadows against the concrete.
Baka scanned the area, his eyes narrowing. Suddenly, a shadow lunged from the darkness.
It was Riko!
His face was covered in soot and blood, but he swung with everything he had left.
With a bored sigh, Baka reached out and caught Riko's wrist mid-air with crushing force.
"Still here?" Baka whispered, leaning in close. "You're like a cockroach. It's starting to get annoying."
Without effort, Baka shoved him.
Riko's face slammed hard into the concrete wall with a sickening thud.
Before he could recover, Baka kicked him square in the chest, sending him tumbling down the stairs.
Riko rolled down the metal steps, his body hitting every sharp edge until he landed on a lower landing, gasping for air.
Looking up, Riko saw Baka standing at the top of the stairs.
Baka reached into his bag and began dumping dozens of black spheres down the stairwell like rain.
"Hahaha! Let's see you crawl out of this one!" Baka's laughter echoed through the hollow shaft.
Down on the street level, far below the chaos, a man stood leaning against a lamppost.
He was calm, a cigarette dangling from his lips as he waited for the traffic light to turn red.
He flicked his lighter, but the flame died instantly. He tried again. Nothing.
Suddenly, his cigarette went out on its own, as if the air itself had been sucked away.
"What the hell?" the man cursed, staring at the dead ember. "Why did this go out? Dammit... all I want is a little flame, God! Is that too much to ask?"
He began fumbling through his pockets, searching for another lighter. "Just a flame... just one little fire..."
CLAP. CLAP. CLAP. CLAP.
A rapid succession of claps thundered from above, sounding like heavy gunfire.
The man froze. He didn't need a lighter anymore.
High above, on the 97th floor, a massive explosion erupted.
It wasn't just a blast; it was a volcanic eruption of fire and glass that lit up the entire district.
The shockwave shattered the windows of the surrounding buildings, sending a rain of diamonds down toward the street.
The man stood paralyzed, his mouth hanging wide open as he stared up at the skyscraper.
The orange glow of the destruction reflected in his eyes, making the night look like mid-day.
"ehh..." he whispered, the dead cigarette falling from his lips. "I guess I got my fire."
Baka walked calmly through the corridors, the red emergency lights flashing rhythmically across his face.
"Finished so quickly... ah, finally," he muttered, certain that he had settled the score.
Suddenly, a sharp, metallic sound: CLANG!
Out of the darkness, Riko lunged like a wounded predator.
Before Baka could even register what was happening, Riko drove a jagged iron rod deep into his leg.
Baka froze, his eyes bulging in shock.
"You bastard... you're still alive?" Baka roared.
Before he could utter another word, Riko delivered a brutal kick directly onto the embedded iron.
The metal sank deeper, tearing through muscle and bone until it erupted from the other side of the leg.
CRACK!
Riko followed up instantly with a lightning-fast punch to the face.
Baka screamed in agonizing pain.
"You filthy worm! I'll rip your heart out and watch you take your last breath! I'll tear you to pieces, do you hear me? PIECES!"
Blinded by rage, Baka tried to strike back, but Riko was faster.
A devastating hook to the jaw sent Baka stumbling backward, blood spraying from his mouth.
Riko didn't wait. He spun around and sprinted down the hallway, his breath coming out hot and ragged.
Behind him, Baka gripped the iron rod with both hands.
With a raw, guttural sound and a cry of pure hatred, he wrenched it out.
"You die today, Riko! There is nowhere to hide!"
He began throwing his black spheres like a madman.
BOOM! BOOM!
Explosions detonated one after another right at Riko's heels.
The corridor became a hellscape of fire.
Riko ran with everything he had, feeling the searing heat scorch his skin.
Suddenly, the massive glass window of the skyscraper loomed ahead.
BOOM! One final blast shattered the glass into a million shards.
Baka reached the edge and peered down, convinced Riko had leaped to his death.
But the silhouette falling through the air wasn't a man. It was a heavy, wooden desk.
Down on the street, the scene was sickening.
A man in a suit walked beside a stunning young woman.
Standing before them, his ex-wife—clutching their young son's hand—was weeping, pleading with him.
"Please, don't leave us like this..." the woman begged.
The man backhanded her across the face, sending her sprawling.
"Shut up, you fool! We're done, get it? Take this brat of a son and get lost! I don't want him—he reminds me of you and your misery! Look at her," he said, gesturing to the girl by his side, "she's young, she's beautiful, and she makes me feel alive. You two are just dead weight I'm throwing in the trash!"
The man turned his back to walk away with the girl, leaving his family in the dirt.
In second, the heavy desk falling from the 97th floor slammed into him with the momentum of a meteor.
CRUNCH!
Blood erupted in every direction, painting the pavement and the girl's dress.
She began to scream hysterically: "ahhhhhhhhh! NO! OH MY GOD!"
The other woman, in a state of total shock, immediately reached out and covered her son's eyes, shielding him from the sight of the mangled corpse of the father who had just disowned them.
Justice had fallen from the sky in the most violent way possible.