Chapter 7: The Guard and the Prisoner
The hideout was deep beneath fractured terrain—an abandoned industrial vault reinforced with layered steel and alchemic seals.
Dim lights flickered overhead.
Daito's mother sat restrained but upright, back against a concrete pillar.
Across from her—
Nagare.
The Lieutenant and General had already left.
Before disappearing into the shadows, one of them had spoken quietly:
"Stay here. Guard her. He will come. He always does."
They knew Daito.
Relentless.
Predictable in one way....He would never abandon family.
And they were counting on that.
A trap waited above.
Layered, calculated, final.
Silence lingered between them for a long time.
Then she spoke.
"You've changed."
Nagare didn't respond immediately.
Finally....
"It's how the world works now."
He stepped closer, though he didn't raise his weapon.
"You either fight for what's right or die trying."
He gestured toward the ceiling.
"Look at Daito. He sides with the NBA knowing damn well they caused all of this."
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"The incurable diseases," Nagare continued.
"The constant Disorder outbreaks."
"The Freakers."
"There is no doubt they created it. For their own benefit, power, control, stability through fear."
He paced slowly.
"They build walls around rich cities, Clean water, Fertile soil, Medicine."
He pointed at the cracked floor beneath them.
"And here? Infertile land, Weak nutrition, Barely any support."
"It's like they want our bodies weak, so Disorder spreads easier."
His voice grew tighter.
"They're playing with people's lives."
Daito's mother watched him carefully.
"There is no excuse," Nagare added, quieter now, "for the civilians that died today."
He exhaled slowly.
"But they were going to die anyway. Disease. Starvation. Neglect."
"At least this way… we fight back."
She looked at him—not as an enemy.
But as a boy, she once patched up after fights.
"You sound tired," she said softly.
Nagare frowned.
"I'm not tired."
"You're carrying too much." She said.
Silence again.
"You think I don't see it?" she continued. "The injustice. The inequality. The way this town has been forgotten?"
She lifted her chin slightly.
"Your anger isn't wrong."
Nagare's jaw tightened.
"Then what would you do if you were me?"
His voice cracked slightly—not with weakness, but with desperation.
"You used to be a hero. Saving people. Treating the sick. Trying to preserve humanity."
"My husband fought for peace and freedom. You wanted to be beside him, just like Daito did."
His eyes searched hers.
"So what would you do?"
She didn't hesitate.
"I would never let my pain decide who deserves to live."
Nagare looked away.
"You think I don't hate what's happening?" she asked.
"I hate it every day."
"But if you burn everything down to fix corruption…"
"…what are you left protecting?"
Nagare's breathing slowed.
"There must be another way," she said gently.
"There must be."
"You don't find peace by becoming what you despise."
His fists clenched.
"I must find the answer," he muttered.
"My predecessors fought for it, You, Your husband."
"Peace. Freedom for all."
His voice dropped.
"But peace doesn't listen anymore."
Alarms flickered faintly in the distance.
A signal.
Nagare's head lifted.
He knew what it meant.
Motion sensors triggered above.
Perimeter disturbance.
Daito had arrived.
Nagare stepped back toward the exit corridor.
"You know he's coming," she said.
"He'll tear through everything."
"I know."
"And you're leading him into a trap."
Nagare hesitated.
Only for a second.
Then—
"Yes."
Her voice softened.
"He won't stop."
"I know."
"And if he dies?"
Nagare swallowed.
"…Then the world loses it's last honest man."
The weight of that truth hung heavy between them.
* * *
Above Ground
BRRZZZTTLE!
FWOOSH!
Far above, the sky split with thunder as the NBA jet descended.
Daito looked out before it even landed fully.
His presence felt different now.
Not broken.
It's not raging.
Focused.
Cold.
He looked at the facility ahead.
Steel doors reinforced.
Watchtowers positioned carefully.
Energy signatures layered like spiderwebs.
A trap.
He knew it immediately.
He stepped forward anyway.
"They think I'm a storm," he murmured.
Behind him, Tasao cracked his knuckles.
"You kind of are."
The Woman in White spoke quietly.
"This is deliberate. They want you to rush in."
Daito nodded.
"They want me emotional."
He drew his sword slowly.
"So I won't be."
His eyes sharpened.
"This time…"
"I'm thinking."
Deep inside the facility—
Nagare felt it.
And for the first time since choosing this path—
Nagare felt afraid.
FWOO!
Kirigaya rose from the smoke below them like a dark mountain.
CRACKLE! CRACKLE!
Stone fragments hovered around him—floating, vibrating under his control.
Then he thrust both arms forward.
SWOOSH! FWOO!
FWIPP!
The air screamed.
Giant stone projectiles ripped loose from the terrain and hurled toward the descending jet.
"Brace!" Tasao shouted.
The team moved in perfect synchronization.
SCRATCH! DEFLECT!
Zumi distorted gravity around the incoming stones, causing several of them to drift harmlessly sideways.
BOOM! BANG!
Tasao smashed two projectiles with brute kinetic force.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
CRACK! BOOM!
The Woman in White fired precision rounds into structural weak points, shattering one massive rock into dust mid-air.
Daito moved last.
He waited until the final stone closed distance.
Then—
SLASH!
Blade flashed.
The stone disintegrated cleanly.
He landed silently.
And before the dust settled—
Daito stepped forward once.
SWOOSH!
SLING!
Then swung.
Kirigaya barely processed the movement.
Steel met flesh.
Head separated from body in a single clean line.
No theatrics.
No hesitation.
THUD!
The body collapsed.
Silence followed.
* * *
Daito looked up.
At least 100 soldiers waited.
Armed.
Martial fighters.
Trained to resist blade combat.
But they were still human.
He exhaled slowly.
Counted.
SLASH! BAM! POW!
KICK! SLASH! PUNCH!
One.
Two.
Three.
As he moved.
He didn't rush.
He didn't waste motion.
The soldiers tried blocking.
Some used martial arts.
Some attempted coordinated strikes.
But Daito operated on another level.
His footwork was war veteran discipline.
His sword was extension of will.
Each strike was measured.
Each kill counted quietly in his mind.
POW! KICK! PUNCH!
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
Fifteen.
Twenty-three.
Forty-one.
Seventy.
Human opponents died differently than Freakers.
They fought back.
They feared.
They hesitated.
But Daito did not.
When the last soldier fell—
Dripp! Dripp!
He stood alone in the blood-soaked corridor.
His team spoke behind him.
"Go ahead," Tasao said.
"We finish here."
Zumi nodded once.
"Bring your mother back."
The Woman in White said nothing.
But her expression carried approval.
Daito nodded.
And walked forward.
* * *
The main dormitory chamber was larger.
Chains hung from the ceiling like metallic serpents.
The "General Deidara-bachi" stood in the center.
Massive.
Covered in biker-style spike chains wrapped around his body.
Deidara-bachi smiled when he saw Daito.
"I didn't expect you to still have energy."
Then he raised a syringe.
Inside—
GLOW!
Dark violet fluid.
"Stimuleigh."
He spoke slowly.
"Experimental enhancer."
"Amplifies Savage biological resonance."
He looked at Daito.
"Even in testing phase, it's efficiency is remarkable."
"You've never seen this, have you?"
Then—
He stabbed it into his own neck.
PSSTLE!
The Transformation — "Frevage"
The effect was instantaneous.
POP! POP!
Veins bulged black across his skin.
RIPP! RIPP!
The chains embedded themselves into his flesh.
Muscle mass expanded violently.
His eyes turned completely black—no sclera, no iris.
Only abyss.
CRACK! CRACK!
FWOOSH!
The building floor cracked under his growing pressure.
Then—
The chains fused deeper.
CLATTER! CLING!
From his body, the chains extended outward like living biological tentacles.
Spiked, violent, uncontrolled.
BOOF! BOOM!
They tore through walls.
Ceiling supports.
Concrete pillars.
The entire dormitory structure began collapsing.
CLING! VIBRATE!
Daito blocked the first strike.
The chain tentacle slammed into his blade with explosive force.
FWOOSH! DRAG!
He was pushed backward.
Barely.
His boots carved lines into the rubble.
FWIPP! CLATTER!
Another tentacle whipped sideways.
FWOOSH!
He dodged.
Then another came from above.
SWOOSH!
CLANG!
He rolled and slashed.
BBRRFF! FWOOSH!
Sparks and stone fragments flew.
"OOAARGH!!"
The Frevage roared—not human, not animal.
Something worse.
Daito stood up slowly from broken concrete.
Blood trickled down his arm.
He spoke quietly.
Not to the enemy.
To himself.
"A man does what he has to do, to get the job done."
The words were not shouted.
They were remembered.
His father's teaching.
Not rage.
Purpose.
Grip!..
He tightened his grip on the sword.
Exhaled once.
And stepped forward again.
SWOOSH! SWING!
CLATTER! CLING!
The Frevage launched ten chain tentacles simultaneously.
The building screamed under structural stress.
Fire alarms rang.
Dust filled the air.
And inside the chaos—
Daito moved.
The dormitory building had already begun dying.
CRACK! CRACK!
Walls fractured outward like cracked ice.
Dust clouds rolled across the open courtyard where the fight spilled out into daylight.
Daito stood across from the Frevage Deidara-bachi.
Chains writhed around the monster like living serpents tasting air.
Black eyes burned without soul.
SWOOSH! DASH!
Air compressed violently outward as the beast lunged forward, chains whipping like hurricane winds.
Daito answered.
CRASH! KICK!
He kicked the ground.
Concrete exploded beneath him in a cratered burst.
He grabbed a massive slab of broken wall mid-air—
And hurled it like a cannonball.
The stone screamed through the sky.
The Frevage swung a chain tentacle.
CLASH! BREAK!
Impact.
The stone detonated into thousands of shards like shattered meteor dust.
Daito did not fight empty-handed.
He fought the earth itself.
BASH!
THWACK!
POW!
Rocks.
Furniture.
Broken steel beams.
Tree bark ripped from shattered courtyard vegetation.
Even massive metal pipes lying beside construction ruins.
He grabbed a metal pipe the size of a human torso
Twisted it mid-motion—
FWOOSH!
And launched it forward like a ballistic spear.
GRAB!
The Frevage caught it with three chains simultaneously.
CLING! CLANG!
The metal screamed as it deformed.
CRASH! BREAK!
Then exploded outward from internal stress.
They collided.
POW! PUNCH!
CRACK! BOOM!
Fist against fist.
Not normal punches.
Titanic strikes.
POW-POW! PANG-PANG!
SLIDE! DODGE! POW!
The Frevage's punch carried compressed airforce rage, hitting like a collapsing mountain.
Daito answered with his right hand—unchained by fear.
SWOOSH! BRRFF!
BOOM!
The impact was so violent the ground beneath them shattered outward in concentric shockwaves.
Dust rose like desert storm spirals.
Nearby structures collapsed from secondary vibration alone.
The Frevage followed with chain attacks.
FWIPP! FWOOSH!
SWOOSH! CLANG!
BOOM!
Ten tentacles struck simultaneously—
One from above.
Two from left.
Three from right.
Four from ground burst emergence.
CLING! CLANG! DODGE!
Daito moved inside the storm.
Blade spinning.
Cutting chain links.
Dodging by hair-width margins.
RIPP!
PSSSH!
One chain grazed his shoulder, ripping jacket and skin in a vertical burst of blood.
He didn't slow.
SWOOSH!
BAM! CRACK!
BOOOM!
He jumped, kicked the Frevage with a double kick and sent it flying through the walls.
SWOOSH!
He rushed following it simultaneously.
Daito grabbed a fallen tree trunk from the ruined street.
CRACK! CRACK! SNAP!
Pulled.
Muscles screaming under pressure.
SWOOSH!
Then swung.
BRRTLE! KA-BOOM!
The tree bark shattered under impact force alone as it struck the Frevage's chest.
Shockwave radius:
Fifty meters.
TWISHH! CRACKLE!
Windows shattered in surrounding buildings.
BRRMM!
Street lamps bent sideways like melting candles.
GWAAARGH!
The Frevage retaliated.
CRUSH!
It stomped the ground.
The earth beneath Daito's feet rose violently upward like a volcanic eruption.
BRRMMM! RISE!
Concrete, soil, and metal reinforcement burst skyward as one giant projectile mountain.
Daito did not retreat.
He ran up the rising debris mass.
Each step cracked stone beneath his boots.
He reached the summit of the flying earth formation—
SWOOSH!
Then jumped.
Mid-air.
Frevage met him.
Chain fists glowing with black biological energy.
Daito inhaled once.
Remembered his father.
Remembered discipline.
Then punched with everything he had.
Right hand.
CLASH! BOOOM!
To be continued.....