Present Day
The boss stormed through the dimly lit corridors, muttering under his breath. "Why can't they handle one person? One." His frustration simmered just beneath his gritted teeth, ready to boil over on whoever was unlucky enough to be nearby.
"Sir." A subordinate beside him stammered, barely keeping pace. "That person isn't ordinary. I don't think we"
The boss stopped mid stride. His glare cut into the man like a blade finding soft flesh. "Neither is this business," he sneered, leaning close enough that the man flinched. "Or have you suddenly grown a conscience?" He shoved him back and strode on into the main chamber without waiting for an answer.
Inside, the caged mystical beasts thrashed and whimpered, fear thick enough to taste in the air. Even the slaves, beaten down and broken, huddled together, eyes locked on the dark tunnel like they already knew something was coming for all of them.
"What the hell is wrong with the beasts?" the boss snapped.
One of his men cracked a whip against a large creature's cage. Instead of lashing out, it shrank into the shadows, eyes fixed on the entrance. The boss snatched the whip from him and struck the bars himself. Even the wyvern inside cowered, pressing itself flat against the cold steel.
"Boss." The nervous subordinate swallowed hard. "The person. He's almost here."
The boss curled his lip. "What do you think we're going to do? We'll kill the bastard and be done with it." But even as the words left his mouth, screams tore through the tunnel behind him, distant and short, cut off like someone had reached in and yanked them out.
The beasts went silent. The slaves didn't dare breathe.
Then nothing.
The silence sat heavier than any of the noise before it.
The boss's fingers twitched. This isn't normal. His mind ran through the possibilities. Mercenaries. Bounty hunters. Assassins. But somewhere underneath all of it, something older and quieter told him none of those fit. It's none of those.
Something rolled out of the darkness and stopped at his feet. A severed head, eyes still locked in whatever terror had taken it in its last second.
The boss looked down at it, unbothered, then lifted his gaze as a figure stepped out from the shadows.
An older man. Black hair streaked through with gray. A plain tunic, worn trousers, boots that had seen better years. Nothing about him should have mattered, and yet the air in the room grew heavy the moment he crossed into the light.
Subaru.
His eyes, calm and sharp, moved slowly across the room. The cages. The slaves. The blood already on the floor. A faint smirk crossed his face.
"Quite the gloomy place you've built for yourself." He wrinkled his nose. "Smells like piss, fear, and bad decisions."
The boss curled his lip. "You've got some nerve, walking in here alone, old man."
Subaru strolled past a cage, glancing at the chimera whimpering inside it. "Oh, I'm not alone. You brought company." He tilted his head toward the tunnel behind him, toward the bodies scattered somewhere out of sight. "They just didn't make it very far."
The boss's eye twitched. "Who the hell do you think you are?"
Subaru let out a breath through his nose, tilting his head. "You kidnapped a child today. I'm feeling generous, so I'll keep this simple. Hand him over, and you and whatever's left of your men can walk out of here."
The boss laughed, low and mocking. "Or what? You think one old man can take on all of us?"
"See, that's the problem with you bottom feeders." Subaru shook his head slowly. "You always think numbers are going to save you." His eyes drifted over the guards lining the walls. "All I'm looking at right now is a room full of corpses that just don't know it yet."
The boss's patience snapped. "Kill him."
The men surged forward.
Subaru barely moved. A flicker, and then a blur.
The first wave froze mid charge, their bodies still leaning into a run they'd never finish. Heads dropped from their shoulders before the rest of them understood what had happened, and the bodies folded to the ground like the strings holding them up had simply been cut.
Blood sprayed across the stone.
The second wave hesitated, boots scraping to a stop.
Subaru wiped his sleeve across his face and sighed. "Really? That's it? I'm almost embarrassed for you."
The remaining men trembled. One dropped his sword outright. Another took a step back without meaning to.
The boss's knuckles went white. "What the hell are you all doing? Attack!"
No one moved.
Subaru chuckled, shaking his head slowly. "Look at them. They already know." His voice dropped, something almost amused running underneath it. "They saw it the second I walked in, even if you didn't. You were dead the moment I stepped through that tunnel."
One man turned and ran. Subaru didn't so much as glance his way. A flash of steel, and the man's head hit the ground before the rest of him had caught up to the fact that it was gone.
Another tried to scream. His throat opened before the sound could climb out of it.
The slaughter was over almost as soon as it began.
The boss's breathing turned ragged. His men, the same ones who'd laughed while cracking whips over slaves' backs only minutes ago, now lay in a spreading sea of red, limp and silent.
Subaru stepped forward, his boots splashing through the warm pools on the floor. "I warned you. I really did. But your kind always has to learn the hard way."
The boss stumbled back and hit a cage. The dire wolf inside didn't snarl, didn't so much as bare a tooth. It just watched, same as everything else in the room, the way any animal watches when something higher up the chain finally walks in.
The slaves stared in horrified silence, but none of them were touched. Subaru passed by without a second look. The beasts stayed quiet in their cages, almost reverent, as if some old instinct in them understood exactly what he was.
Soon only the boss remained standing, bloodied and shaking but upright. His fists clenched at his sides, rage burning in his eyes even through the fear. Subaru tilted his head, one eyebrow raised.
"Why aren't you running?" A faint smirk pulled at his mouth. "You saw what happened to the others."
The boss didn't answer. His mind raced even as his legs refused to move, panic climbing his throat and finding nowhere to go. His fingers crept toward his belt.
Subaru's eyes flicked down. "Ah. There it is. The last, desperate trick."
Without a word, the boss ripped a vial free and downed it in one gulp. The moment it hit his throat, his body convulsed. Flesh twisted. Bone cracked and reshaped itself. Veins bulged black beneath skin that hardened into thick brown plating. His jaw stretched wide, rows of serrated teeth pushing through, and his eyes lit with something like molten fire.
Subaru watched the whole transformation with mild interest, arms crossed over his chest.
"Well," he said, nodding slowly. "Gotta admit, you look better this way. Before, you were kind of an eyesore."
The boss let out a roar that shook dust from the ceiling and lunged, a clawed hand slashing with monstrous speed.
Subaru tilted his head just slightly, stepping aside like he was dodging a lazy breeze.
"Really?" He sighed. "You take a super drug, turn into a giant brute, and this is what you do? Swing like an angry toddler?"
The boss growled and swung again, harder this time. Subaru barely shifted, the attack missing him by inches. He shook his head, almost disappointed.
"I expected more, honestly. Something creative. A little flair. Fire breath, maybe? No? Just mindless smashing, then."
The boss snarled and threw a punch. This time Subaru didn't dodge. He caught the massive fist in one hand, and the entire room shuddered from the impact.
The slaves flinched back. The caged beasts let out low whimpers. Cracks spread up the stone walls from the force of the blow, but Subaru didn't move an inch.
He looked at the fist in his grip, then up at the boss. "Is that all you've got?"
Before the creature could pull back, Subaru drove his knee into its stomach.
The boss's body folded and shot backward, slamming into the wall hard enough to cave it in around him. Dust and broken stone rained down from above.
Subaru rolled his shoulders. "Come on. You drank the fancy juice. Do something with it."
The boss dragged himself out of the rubble, snarling, cracks running across his hardened skin, dark blood dripping from his mouth.
Subaru grinned. "Oh? Still standing. Not bad. Let's see what else you've got, then."
With a roar, the boss lunged again, faster this time, twisting mid air and swinging his tail like a whip. Subaru sidestepped the first strike, but the tail whipped around a second time, aimed straight for his skull.
His arm moved before the thought finished forming.
The crack echoed through the chamber. The tail, thick as a tree trunk, snapped clean in half. The boss howled, staggering back on legs that barely held him.
Subaru sighed. "Did you really think that was going to land? You still don't get it."
The boss bared his fangs, panting hard. "I"
Subaru was gone before he could finish.
In the space of a blink he stood in front of the monster, fist already cocked back.
"You're already dead."
The punch landed. The boss's body folded around Subaru's fist before he was sent rocketing across the chamber, smashing through pillar after pillar, each impact shaking the ground like something underneath was trying to break free. He landed in a broken heap, twitching.
Subaru cracked his knuckles and walked over. "So? Had enough? Or do I need to keep playing with my food?"
The boss groaned, trying to push himself up on shaking arms.
Subaru knelt beside him, voice quiet now. "You feel it, don't you. The fear. The moment it actually sinks in." He leaned closer, almost gentle about it. "That you were never the predator in this room. Not for one second."
The boss coughed and spat blood onto the stone.
Subaru clicked his tongue. "Honestly, I was hoping you'd put up more of a fight. Guess I overestimated you. That one's on me." He raised his fist for the final blow.
Then a whoosh of fire cut through the chamber.
Subaru turned just in time to block it, his hand slicing through the flame like it was nothing more than smoke. As the fire died down, a new voice rang out from the haze.
"Now, now, Subaru." The voice drawled, playful and unbothered. "No need to be so rough."
Zephyr stepped into the light, golden eyes gleaming with amusement, like he'd walked in on something entertaining rather than a slaughter.
Subaru's expression darkened. "I told you never to show your face around me again."
Zephyr smiled lazily, entirely unfazed. "You say a lot of things, old friend. Some of them I just choose to ignore."
Subaru flexed his fingers, jaw tight. "I was this close to having a decent night. And then you show up."
Zephyr shrugged, unbothered. "My apologies for the interruption. But I'll be taking that man off your hands." He snapped his fingers, and from behind him, an injured Raphael was dragged forward, unconscious and pale.
Subaru's eyes flickered, something dangerous passing behind them.
Zephyr smirked. "Relax. He's alive. For now."
Subaru looked down at the boss's limp form, then back up at Zephyr. Without another word he grabbed the boss by the collar and threw him. Zephyr caught the body without effort.
"You're lucky I'm in a good mood," Subaru said, his voice gone cold.
Zephyr grinned wide. "Oh, I know." In a flash, he and the boss were gone.
The moment they vanished, Subaru turned to Raphael and knelt beside him. The boy's pulse was weak, but steady enough.
Subaru let out a short, tired chuckle. "You crossed paths with him, huh. Bad luck, kid."
He lifted Raphael carefully and walked toward the cages. One sweep of his hand and the locks shattered, chains falling away like they'd rusted through in an instant.
The slaves hesitated, eyes moving between Subaru and the broken shackles at their feet, like they didn't quite trust that any of it was real.
"This is your chance," Subaru said. "Free the others and get out of here."
He threw a small glowing orb into the center of the chamber, where it settled and began pulsing with warmth. The slaves flinched at first, unsure, but Subaru's voice softened, just slightly, when he spoke again.
"If you've got nowhere to go, wait here. Someone will come to give you a new life."
The slaves glanced at each other. Fear still sat heavy in their eyes, but something else was starting to take root underneath it. Something that looked almost like hope.
Subaru turned away, Raphael held securely against his chest, and didn't look back. The beasts, the slaves, the wreckage of everything that had happened here, all of it stayed behind him.
He glanced down at the unconscious boy in his arms, his expression unreadable.
"This kid." His grip tightened slightly. "He's been through hell. But whatever he's carrying inside him, it's strong."
Something flickered in his eyes, rare and almost human.
Then, without another word, Subaru disappeared into the night.