The world disappeared in white.
One moment, the garden behind the Aizawa residence was bathed in sunlight, filled with fragile laughter and the small comfort of ordinary conversation. Airi had been joking about Leon's impossible battles, Daichi was boasting about finally mastering one of his rooftop movements, and even Haruto's expression had softened beneath the peaceful morning sky. Then reality tore open without warning.
A blinding white portal erupted above the garden.
It was unlike anything they had ever seen before.
Leon's portals had always carried darkness with them—smoke, distortion, the lingering scent of another world. This one was different. Pure white light flooded the air with such intensity that it hurt to look at. Before anyone could react, a violent force burst outward. The wind screamed across the garden as flower petals, chairs, and loose objects were ripped from the ground.
Shiori reacted first.
Her hand reached instinctively for Leon's machete resting nearby. The familiar weight settled into her grip like a promise.
"Leon-kun?!"
Her voice vanished into the roaring wind.
The pull intensified immediately.
Airi cried out as her feet left the ground. Her fingers desperately clawed at the grass while the Serum A-7 vial around her neck rattled violently against her chest. Nearby, Daichi dug his heels into the earth and grabbed a stone bench with both hands, muscles straining as the impossible force dragged him inch by inch toward the light.
"What is this?!" he shouted through clenched teeth. "This isn't one of his portals!"
Haruto had already drawn the biomarker device from his pocket. The screen flickered wildly, numbers jumping beyond readable values as though the very laws governing dimensional travel had broken apart. His eyes narrowed.
"It's targeting us!"
That realization hit harder than the wind itself.
This wasn't an accident.
Someone—or something—had pulled them here deliberately.
The branch Haruto grabbed snapped with a sharp crack. In the next instant, all four of them were lifted into the air. Shiori's grip tightened around the machete as the world dissolved into white.
Then came impact.
Hard concrete slammed into her shoulder.
The breath escaped her lungs as she rolled across rough stone slick with rain. For several seconds she could hear nothing except ringing in her ears and the hiss of falling water. Slowly, painfully, she pushed herself upright.
The smell hit her first.
Decay.
Rot.
Old blood.
Death lingering so deeply in the air that it had become part of the city itself.
Acid rain hissed against rusted metal. Crumbling buildings stretched across the horizon like broken monuments to a forgotten civilization. Far below, distant groans echoed through empty streets while unnatural cries carried across the darkness like predators announcing their territory.
This was no ordinary ruined city.
This was Mirekun City.
No.
This was Leon's Mirekun City.
The world that had forged him.
Shiori's chest tightened.
For the first time, she truly understood.
Not through stories.
Not through scars.
Reality.
This was the place that had stolen his trust. The place that had taught him survival before kindness. The place where every day could become a battle for another sunrise.
Nearby, Airi curled into herself, face pale as paper. "The smell..." she whispered weakly. "It smells like death."
Daichi slowly rose to his feet and stared at the skyline in silence. The usual fire in his eyes had dimmed into something else—understanding. After everything Leon had endured here, it was a miracle he had remained human at all.
Haruto checked the biomarker again. The signal flickered uncertainly before stabilizing into a faint green pulse. His expression sharpened immediately.
"He's alive."
Three heads turned toward him.
Haruto adjusted the display and studied the readings carefully. "Weak signal. Several kilometers away. He's still alive."
Relief surged through the group.
Only for it to freeze moments later.
A shriek echoed across the night.
High-pitched.
Predatory.
Wrong.
Shiori's blood ran cold. She had heard that sound before—the monsters Leon called Nightmares. One cry became two. Two became many. Somewhere below, movement stirred in the streets as figures wandered through the ruins like shadows wearing human shapes.
Shades.
Dozens of them.
Perhaps hundreds.
The city was alive.
And hungry.
Daichi picked up a rusted pipe lying nearby and tested its weight. "Guess the training starts early," he muttered, though even he couldn't hide the tension in his voice.
Haruto pointed toward a nearby communications tower rising above the rooftops. "Higher ground. Better visibility. We move now."
Shiori tightened her grip on Leon's machete and looked out over the endless ruins stretching beneath the acid rain. He had warned them never to come here. He had begged them to stay safe.
But fate had ignored his wishes.
Her eyes hardened with quiet resolve.
"Leon-kun protected us," she said softly, rain sliding down her face like tears. "Now we protect him."
No one argued.
Terrified but united, the four of them stepped onto the rooftops of a world built from survival and sorrow.
For years, Leon Mercer had carried the weight of Mirekun City alone.
Now—
His world would have to face all of them.
Night in Mirekun City was unlike anything they had imagined.
The darkness here did not merely hide danger.
It belonged to it.
Acid rain fell steadily from the ruined sky, hissing against rusted metal and broken concrete. Every rooftop carried the scars of survival—collapsed structures, abandoned shelters, bloodstains too old to identify. Below, the streets had become rivers of death. Dozens upon dozens of Shades wandered through the ruins in endless packs, their groans echoing between hollow buildings like the city's final breath refusing to fade.
And above them—
The hunters ruled.
A distant howl pierced the night.
Then another answered.
And another.
The sound sent ice through everyone's veins.
Nightmares.
Not one.
Several.
Hunting.
Shiori ran at the front of the group, Leon's machete gripped tightly in her hand. The weapon felt heavier here. Not because of its weight, but because of what it represented. This was the world that had shaped Leon Mercer into the man they knew. Every rooftop beneath her feet had likely carried his footsteps once.
Ahead, another gap opened between buildings.
Too wide.
Too dangerous.
Too normal for this city.
Shiori accelerated anyway.
Her heart pounded as she pushed off the ledge. For a terrifying moment, all she saw beneath her was darkness filled with moving bodies. The infected streets seemed endless below, waiting patiently for mistakes.
She barely made it.
Her boots slammed against the opposite roof, but the wet surface betrayed her immediately. Her foot slipped. The machete nearly left her hand as her body slid toward the edge.
For one horrifying second—
Gravity won.
Her fingers caught the rooftop ledge.
Pain shot through her arms.
The city waited below.
Hungry.
A hand grabbed her wrist.
Strong.
Steady.
Haruto.
Without wasting a second, he pulled her back onto the rooftop.
"You jumped too early," he said calmly, though even his breathing had grown heavier. "Adjust for the rain."
Shiori nodded silently.
No argument.
Only survival.
Nearby, Airi stood frozen at the edge of another gap, pale and trembling. The distant groans rising from below only made it worse. A cluster of Shades had begun gathering near the base of the building, their movements slow but purposeful, as though sensing unfamiliar prey above.
"I can't do this," she whispered, voice shaking. "The gap's too big."
A sudden snarl erupted from below.
Several infected had begun climbing a rusted fire escape.
Their jaws snapped at empty air.
Only meters beneath them.
Daichi reacted instantly.
He grabbed Airi by the arm before fear could root her in place completely.
"You can."
His voice carried no hesitation.
Only certainty.
"Move."
Before she could protest, he pulled her forward. Together they leaped across the gap, landing hard on the next rooftop. Airi stumbled but remained standing.
Alive.
For now.
Lightning flashed overhead.
And in that brief burst of white light—
They saw them.
Four figures standing on distant rooftops.
Tall.
Lean.
Wrong.
Nightmares.
Their pale forms were silhouetted against the storm, unmoving at first. Then one lifted its head toward the sky.
A howl split the night.
The others answered immediately.
The sound echoed across the city like a signal.
Not random.
Coordinated.
Hunting.
Haruto's expression darkened.
"Alpha pack."
Even he sounded tense now.
"They've marked us."
The words settled over the group like ice.
Because Leon had once told them the truth about Nightmares.
At night—
Humans stopped being hunters.
They became prey.
The rooftops that had once seemed safer suddenly felt far too exposed.
As if sensing their fear, the city answered.
A nearby roof collapsed without warning under years of decay. Chunks of concrete crashed into the streets below, drawing dozens of Shades toward the noise. Their collective groans rose into the air like a tide.
The rain intensified.
Visibility dropped.
The Nightmares began moving.
Fast.
Far too fast.
Shiori's chest tightened.
Her breathing grew uneven.
This place wasn't difficult.
It was impossible.
And suddenly—
She understood.
Leon had survived here.
Not for days.
Not for months.
Years.
Alone.
The realization struck harder than fear ever could.
Her grip tightened around the machete.
"He survived this..."
Her voice barely rose above the rain.
Her eyes trembled.
Then hardened.
"Alone."
Lightning flashed again.
The distant Nightmares were closer now.
Much closer.
Shiori lifted the blade.
Not as a weapon.
As a promise.
"We won't fail him."
No one answered.
No one needed to.
Scraped.
Terrified.
Exhausted.
The four of them continued forward across the broken rooftops of Mirekun City.
And somewhere in the endless darkness ahead—
Leon Mercer still fought alone, unaware that the people he had tried so desperately to protect were now walking through his nightmare.
Rain hissed softly against rusted metal as the four of them crouched behind a cluster of abandoned air-conditioning units, barely daring to breathe. The cold concrete beneath their feet was slick with decades of neglect, and somewhere below, the endless groans of Shades drifted upward from streets that had long ago stopped belonging to the living.
Ten meters away—
A Nightmare prowled.
For the first time since arriving in Mirekun City, they saw one clearly.
Not from a distance.
Not through fear-clouded memories.
Up close.
The creature stood nearly eight feet tall, its body stretched into a grotesque mockery of humanity. Muscles shifted unnaturally beneath pale, leathery skin, moving like living cables wound too tightly around bone. Its claws scraped slowly across the rooftop with a sound that made their stomachs twist, leaving thin grooves in concrete as if stone were nothing more than paper.
Moonlight briefly broke through the clouds.
The creature's teeth glinted.
Too many.
Too sharp.
Designed for tearing.
Shiori's breathing stopped.
This—
This was what Leon fought.
Every night.
Alone.
The Nightmare suddenly froze.
Its head tilted.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Toward them.
Shiori's grip tightened around the machete until her knuckles turned white.
The creature sniffed the air.
Once.
Twice.
Its pale eyes narrowed.
And then—
It screamed.
The sound wasn't merely loud.
It was wrong.
A frequency beyond human hearing slammed into them like a physical force. Pain exploded inside their skulls. The air itself seemed to vibrate violently as nearby windows shattered in cascading bursts of glass. The scream cut through bone, through thought, through instinct itself.
Shiori collapsed to one knee instantly.
Her hands flew to her ears.
Warm liquid slid between her fingers.
Blood.
Her vision blurred as agony lanced through her head. The world tilted sideways for a moment, and all she could hear was ringing.
This wasn't a roar.
It was a weapon.
Below, the streets reacted immediately.
Dozens of Shades scattered in panic, fleeing from a predator even monsters feared.
Beside her, Airi had curled into herself completely, trembling so violently that she could barely breathe. Tears streamed down her face unchecked as terror overwhelmed reason.
"It's death..." she whispered brokenly. "That's not a monster—that's death..."
For the first time since entering this world, fear had stripped away every layer of optimism she carried.
Daichi remained standing only through sheer stubbornness.
His fists trembled.
Not from readiness.
From realization.
One strike.
One.
That was all it would take.
Against that thing, his strength meant nothing.
His voice came out quieter than anyone had ever heard.
"Leon fought these..."
The sentence died halfway.
Because none of them could comprehend it.
Not truly.
Not until now.
Haruto pressed one hand against his bleeding ear while staring at the biomarker clipped to his belt. The device flickered uncertainly before briefly flashing yellow.
His expression darkened immediately.
The implications struck harder than the scream itself.
If a single Nightmare was this terrifying—
Then Leon's transformed state...
No.
He refused to finish the thought.
The creature snarled once more.
Then moved.
Not ran.
Not jumped.
It launched itself.
In a single burst of impossible speed, the Nightmare crossed an entire rooftop and disappeared into the darkness beyond. The movement was so fast their eyes barely tracked it.
Silence followed.
Heavy.
Unnatural.
Only the rain remained.
The four of them sat there in stunned disbelief, blood staining their fingers as ringing echoed endlessly in their ears.
Their fear wasn't abstract anymore.
It had shape.
Claws.
Teeth.
A scream powerful enough to break glass.
And Leon Mercer had survived among them for years.
Alone.
Shiori slowly lowered her trembling hands. Blood streaked her palms, but her grip on the machete remained steady. Her fear was real—she would never deny that now.
But beneath the fear was something stronger.
Understanding.
At last, she truly understood the weight he carried.
Her voice emerged as a whisper lost beneath the rain.
"So this is your world..."
Her eyes closed briefly.
Then opened with renewed resolve.
The terror remained.
But so did her choice.
She rose to her feet.
"We find him."
No grand speech.
No dramatic declaration.
Only a promise.
And together, beneath the ruined sky of Mirekun City, they moved once more into the darkness that had shaped Leon Mercer into the man they refused to abandon.
The rooftop remained silent after the Nightmare's scream.
Not peaceful.
Never peaceful.
Their ears still rang from the ultrasonic assault as acid rain continued to fall across the ruins of Mirekun City. Blood stained their fingers where they had instinctively covered their ears, and for several moments none of them moved. The world itself seemed quieter now—not because danger had passed, but because their minds had yet to recover from witnessing it.
Then something landed nearby.
The impact shook the rooftop.
All four froze instantly.
Another Nightmare.
This one was larger.
Broader shoulders. Longer claws. Its pale frame moved with unsettling fluidity, every motion carrying the effortless confidence of an apex predator that had never known fear. It landed less than fifteen meters away, crouched low like a hunting beast, and began sniffing the air.
Below the rooftop lay the remains of a Shade.
Fresh.
Recently killed.
Perhaps by another survivor.
Perhaps by something worse.
The Nightmare's head snapped toward it.
And then the feeding began.
What followed wasn't merely hunger.
It was efficiency.
The creature tore into its prey with terrifying speed, reducing flesh and bone with the same casual ease a person might tear paper. The sounds alone were enough to make their stomachs churn—the crack of broken bone, the wet impact of claws against flesh, the low growl of a predator consuming without restraint.
Blood painted the rooftop.
Steam rose where rain met warmth.
The Nightmare fed without urgency.
As though it had all the time in the world.
Shiori's body went rigid.
Her hand slowly rose to cover her mouth.
Her breathing became uneven.
Not because of the gore.
Because of realization.
Her eyes remained fixed on the creature.
On its strength.
Its brutality.
Its overwhelming physical power.
And a thought she had desperately tried to avoid surfaced once more.
Leon's transformed state.
His true form.
The thing he feared.
The thing he fought.
Her voice emerged as little more than a whisper.
"So that's what he controls..."
The words trembled.
Not with fear of him.
With fear for him.
Because if this was what a Nightmare truly was—
Then every time Leon transformed, he wasn't simply fighting enemies.
He was fighting himself.
Beside her, Airi had gone pale.
Her hands shook visibly as she pressed herself against the rooftop's concrete surface, trying to become invisible.
"I don't understand..." she whispered weakly. "How did he survive here? How is anyone supposed to survive here?"
There was no answer.
Because there wasn't one.
Daichi's fists clenched so tightly his nails bit into his palms. For the first time since arriving in Mirekun City, even his confidence had cracked. Strength meant something in their world.
Here—
Strength merely delayed death.
He stared at the Nightmare in silence before speaking quietly.
"One mistake."
His voice lacked its usual fire.
"That's all it'd take."
No one argued.
Because they all knew it was true.
Haruto remained kneeling beside the biomarker, though even his analytical calm had begun to fracture. His eyes tracked the Nightmare's movements carefully, measuring distances, speed, and reaction times.
The calculations only made things worse.
"Our weapons are insufficient," he said at last. "Against a single Nightmare in open combat, survival probability is extremely low."
His gaze darkened.
"And Leon fought these for years."
The statement settled heavily over the group.
Years.
Not days.
Not weeks.
Years.
Alone.
The Nightmare finally finished feeding. It slowly lifted its head and sniffed the air once more. For one horrifying moment, its pale eyes shifted toward their rooftop.
Everyone stopped breathing.
Even the rain seemed to pause.
Shiori's grip tightened around Leon's machete.
Daichi lowered his stance.
Airi silently clutched her Serum A-7 vial.
Haruto's hand hovered near the biomarker.
If it attacked—
There would be no escape.
The Nightmare stared.
Waited.
Then, with a low growl, it launched itself across the rooftops and vanished into the darkness with impossible speed.
Only after several seconds did anyone breathe again.
The rooftop felt colder now.
Heavier.
The reality of Leon's world had become impossible to deny.
Shiori slowly stood first.
Her legs trembled.
Her hands shook.
But her eyes remained steady.
She looked toward the endless city stretching beneath the storm.
Toward somewhere in the darkness where Leon Mercer was still fighting.
Still surviving.
Still carrying this burden alone.
Her grip on the machete tightened.
"That's the world he protected us from."
Her voice was quiet.
Certain.
"And that's why we find him."
No speeches followed.
No arguments.
Only movement.
Beneath the ruined sky of Mirekun City, four ordinary people stepped forward once more into a nightmare that had shaped the man they refused to abandon.