Then the hall began to shake violently. Cracks spread across the walls, and fissures appeared all over the seven stone statues. The statues' faces and bodies were revealed beneath the cracks, identical to the figures they had depicted. At last, the statues all came to life. The ghoul-like monster that had been inside one of them let out a strange cry.
"Roar! Come forth, my servants! Slaughter to your heart's content!!!!"
A cloud of black mist formed inside the hall. Slowly, it turned into a horde of pitch-black, humanoid apes with savage faces, crimson eyes, and sharp claws.
"Eee-ya-ya!!!" the apes shrieked, then charged at Senba Gari and his son.
"Damn it! Gari, run! Now!!" Senba Ryo had been staring blankly at everything before him, but when he saw the apes suddenly rushing toward them, he hurriedly shouted to his son and ran for the exit.
Senba Gari still clutched the Stone Belt in his hand, staring blankly at what was happening. When he heard his father call out, he came to his senses and hurried after him.
"Hello! This is Senba Ryo! Can anyone hear me? Hello! Please respond if you can hear me! Mamoru! Fatso! Li!" Senba Ryo shouted into the walkie-talkie, but the only response was the crackle of interference.
"Damn it! Please, don't let anything happen to them." Senba Ryo anxiously prayed that nothing had happened to his companions above ground.
"Eee-ya-ya!" Suddenly, an ape charged at them from the side, raised its sharp claws, and slashed at Senba Ryo's head.
"Bang!" A gunshot rang out. A bullet wrapped in azure light struck the ape in the head, sending up a spray of sparks.
Taking advantage of the moment while the ape reeled from the hit, Senba Ryo hurried over to his son, who held the Stone Belt in one hand and a gray handgun in the other. Strange runes covered the gun, and white smoke curled from its barrel.
"Phew... That scared the life out of me. Thanks, son." Senba Ryo patted his chest and thanked his son, still shaken.
"Stop talking and move!" Senba Gari ran to his father, shoved the gun into his hand, grabbed his other hand, and rushed toward the exit. But a horde of apes blocked the way, forcing the two of them to stop and take cover.
"I'm sorry, Dad. I brought this on all of you." Senba Gari clenched his fists and apologized to his father, filled with guilt.
Senba Ryo rested a hand on his son's head and gave it a gentle rub. "You idiot. What good is apologizing now? We should be figuring out how to get out of here."
"How are we supposed to escape? They've blocked the exit." Senba Gari stared dejectedly at the obstructed doorway.
"No. There is a way," Senba Ryo told his son.
"What is it? Hurry up and tell me." Senba Gari looked at his father hopefully.
"I have a Teleportation Talisman. It can send someone to another Location Talisman. I already placed one above ground earlier, but it can only transport one person."
"So, Gari, you have to survive. Do you understand?" Senba Ryo gazed tenderly at his son's face, as if trying to commit it to memory.
"W-wait, Dad. You're joking, right? You have to be joking! Didn't we agree to get out of here together? So don't you dare make this decision on your own!" Senba Gari looked at his father in anguish, pleading that he had misheard him.
"But—"
"Enough! Even if you send me out, I'll just come running back. So get that idea out of your head!" Senba Gari cut his father off, his expression resolute.
"This... Sigh. Fine. Let's think of another way and then get out of here." Senba Ryo looked helplessly at his son's determined gaze.
"That's more like it. Come on, let's see if there's another way out—uh." Senba Gari had just turned around when Senba Ryo knocked him unconscious.
Senba Ryo rubbed his son's head. "I'm sorry, Gari. Forgive your selfish old man." He then stuck a talisman to Senba Gari's chest, recited an unfamiliar incantation, and Senba Gari vanished.
Scene change—
In a forest, a figure suddenly appeared in the undergrowth.
"Mm..." His eyes slowly opened. Seeing that he was no longer in the temple hall, Senba Gari immediately got to his feet and shouted in every direction, "Dad! You bastard! Where are you?!"
Still shouting, he made his way out of the forest. What he saw left him frozen.
Before him was no longer their camp. Instead, there were corpses everywhere—bloodied corpses, including many people he knew.
"Uncle Mamoru! Fatso! Li! Where are you? Answer me! Come on—uh..."
Senba Gari was shouting as he searched for his companions, but then their cold, lifeless bodies appeared before him.
"Dad, Uncle Mamoru, Fatso, Li, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!! It's all because of me! Because of me! You wouldn't have died otherwise! Sob, you wouldn't have died! Sob, ahhhhhhh!" Senba Gari wept in grief before his companions' bodies.
Suddenly, a middle-aged man's voice rang out. "Hey! There's someone over here! Come quickly!"
Scene change—
"Ring, ring, ring, ring." In a room at the Sky.Court apartment building in Kanda, a phone rang. A girl with golden hair tied in a ponytail picked it up.
"Hello, is this Arisa?" The girl's pleasant voice rang through the room.
"Mm, it's me, Sis. I'm coming to spend summer vacation with you next month. Remember to come pick me up!" A clear, high-pitched little-girl voice answered from the other end of the phone.
Preview—
"Is that guy targeting this place this time?"
"Boom!!!!"
"Arisa! Where are you, Arisa?!"
"Roar, roar, roar!"
"Help! Somebody, please save me! Help, Sis!!!"
"Bang!"
The Turmoil in Akihabara
At night, in a café somewhere in Akihabara, a boy sat at the table farthest inside. He wore a linen-colored baseball cap, a white short-sleeved shirt beneath a black sleeveless jacket, and dark jeans.
Beneath his cap, a pair of deep black eyes looked somewhat languid. Black strands of hair peeked out from under the brim. This boy was Senba Gari.
Beside Senba Gari lay a long gray cloth bag. He gazed out the window at the crowds passing by.
"Is that guy targeting this place this time?"
He also unzipped the bag, revealing what had been inside: a wooden sword covered in strange runes and the Stone Belt he had taken from the ruins.
"This time, I won't let it get away again." His usually languid eyes filled with resolve.
But why was Senba Gari here? It all went back several months.
Time transition—
A few months earlier, several days after Senba Gari had been rescued from the ruins, he was being interrogated at the Criminal Investigation Department.
"Bang!" He slammed both hands down hard on the table.
"Damn it! Everything I said is true! Why won't any of you believe me?" Senba Gari's agitated voice came from an interrogation room.
A voice answered from inside. "Sir, please calm down."
"Sigh, there he goes again. That kid really must have something wrong with his head," said a middle-aged man standing in the hallway outside the interrogation room with a young woman.
"Don't say that. He watched the people around him suddenly die, and now his father is missing, with no body found. His fate is unknown. Anyone would react like that." The young woman beside him looked sympathetically toward the interrogation room.
Inside, two detectives sat across from Senba Gari, who looked extremely agitated.
"I already told you! Those monsters did all of this! Why won't you believe me?" Senba Gari stared at them in agitation.
"Sir, please calm down. Don't get upset. Could you listen to what we have to say?" A young detective seated opposite him tried to soothe the visibly agitated Senba Gari.
"That's right. Please calm down a little and hear us out." A detective in his twenties, seated beside the young officer, spoke up once he saw Senba Gari beginning to settle down.
"Fine. Go ahead. I'll listen." Senba Gari realized that continuing like this would get them nowhere, so he calmed down too.
"Okay." Seeing that Senba Gari was willing to cooperate, the young detective glanced at the senior officer beside him. When the officer nodded, he began to speak.
"Ahem. Well, we went down into the ruins before, but we couldn't find the temple hall you mentioned, the seven monsters, or..." The young detective paused, then continued in a sorrowful tone, "your father's body. In other words, your father's fate is still unknown."
Silence. A deathly silence. Senba Gari lowered his head and clenched his fists.
His hoarse voice slowly broke the silence. "Then... did you find anything else?"
"Yes. We found a handgun. It seems to have some strange runes carved into it." The young detective seemed to remember something.
"I see. That's mine. Can I have it back? And can I leave now?" Senba Gari unclenched his fists and lifted his head to look at the men opposite him.
"Yes, you can. If we find anything, we'll let you know right away." This time, it was the senior officer who spoke.
"I see. Thank you. Goodbye." Senba Gari stood up and walked toward the door.
"You'd better think this through. Once you walk out that door, your life may no longer be normal," the senior officer suddenly warned him.
The hand on the doorknob paused for a moment, then turned it and opened the door. As he did, Senba Gari replied, "It's not like I can go back to how things were anyway." His figure slowly disappeared from view.
"Senba, why did you—"
"Why did I let him leave, right?" The senior officer, Shinnosuke, cut the young detective off before he could finish.
"Yeah." The young detective nodded.
"Because a more important mission is waiting for him." Shinnosuke looked toward the spot where Senba Gari had vanished, his gaze filled with nostalgia and relief.
"Huh...?" The young detective looked at his senior in confusion.
A few days later, Senba Gari began traveling the world in search of clues about what had happened in the ruins. In the end, he found his way here.
Preview
—Time, time—
"This time, I absolutely won't let it get away."
"Boom!"
"Oh no, there are still so many people over there." Senba Gari was about to get up and leave when a sudden loud noise reminded him that Akihabara would be crowded at night. He quickly picked up the long cloth bag and hurried toward the door.
Scene change—
As Senba Gari rushed toward the scene, Akihabara was in chaos.
People screamed in panic; police cars and ambulances wailed; officers shouted through megaphones as they tried to keep order; doctors hurried along with stretchers while the injured cried out in pain—and a blonde girl was calling out, too.
"Arisa! Where are you, Arisa?!" Eli Kousaka called her little sister's name as she questioned the people fleeing past her.
"Excuse me, sir. Have you seen a little Russian-Japanese girl? She has soft golden hair, comes up about to my chest, and is wearing a white dress."
"No! Get out of my way." The passerby tossed back the words coldly and ran off.
"Ma'am—"
"Get lost! Stop blocking the way!" The same thing happened again, and Eli realized just how merciless the world could be.
"Arisa! Where are you, Arisa?!" But Eli didn't give up calling out.
"Miss, please leave. It's dangerous here." A police officer came over, grabbed Eli by the hand, and pulled her aside.
"No! I'm not leaving. My little sister hasn't gotten out yet!" Eli shouted at the officer in agitation.
"I'm sorry, miss, but this is our duty. Please cooperate." Ignoring Eli's protests, the officer dragged her toward the safe zone.
"Let go of me! Let go! I have to find Arisa!" She was too weak to break free and could only let the officer drag her away.
Second scene change
Somewhere in Akihabara, the surrounding buildings had become ruins. The once lively district had been reduced to rubble in the chaos.
"Sob, Sis, where are you? Arisa's so scared."
In one part of the ruins, a little girl with soft golden hair and a white dress was crying and calling for her sister.
Before her lay many corpses, along with a monster. Yes, this was Lion Mlortha—a beast with a lion's exterior and a human's body, a black mane, and two sharp fangs jutting from its mouth. Its savage claws clutched a severed human hand, and its crimson eyes gave off an aura of constant, brutal cruelty.
"Roar!" Lion Mlortha bellowed.
Now it was walking toward Arisa, one step at a time.
When Arisa saw Lion Mlortha coming toward her, she tried to run, but her legs had gone too weak to move.
"Help! Somebody, please save me! Help, Sis!!!!" Arisa prayed that someone would come, yet she didn't want anyone else to come here and die. All she could do was cry out for her sister, hoping to find some comfort.
At that moment, Lion Mlortha raised its claws high, about to strike Arisa.
Seeing it move, Arisa slowly closed her eyes.
"Sis," she murmured, still thinking of her sister.
"Goodbye."
"Bang!" A gunshot rang out, and an azure bullet struck the lion monster.
Fierce Battle! Escape! A Fight to the Death!
"Bang!" A gunshot rang out, and an azure bullet struck Lion Mlortha, sending sparks flying from its body.
A voice came from behind Arisa. "Well, well. Looks like I got here just in time, you lousy lion." From the distance came the sound of footsteps, slowly drawing closer.
Hearing another voice, Arisa opened her eyes and looked behind her. The sight in the distance would be etched in her heart, a memory she would never forget.
Accompanied by the sound of footsteps, a black-haired, black-eyed boy walked toward them. He wore a linen-colored baseball cap, a white short-sleeved shirt beneath a black sleeveless jacket, and dark jeans. In his right hand, he held a gray handgun etched with strange runes, white smoke curling from its muzzle. In his left, he carried a wooden sword marked with the same strange runes. It was Senba Gari.
When he reached Arisa's side, Senba Gari's expression remained unchanged, as if he had long since grown used to this. He calmly surveyed his surroundings, then turned to the girl beside him and frowned slightly. Lowering his head, he muttered, "Looks like this one's going to be a bit of a problem."
"Roar!!!!" Lion Mlortha was furious that Senba Gari had dared interrupt it as it tried to kill the little girl, so it charged straight at him.
"Look out, big brother!" Arisa didn't know why Senba Gari had appeared here, but she still shouted a warning.
"Heh, you're in a hurry, huh? Just as I thought, you're only a mutated, corrupted animal. No reason or sense—just acting on instinct." Hearing Arisa's cry, Senba Gari looked up and gave a faint smile as Lion Mlortha charged toward him.
Before you continue