The war had swallowed the city whole.
Fire consumed the streets endlessly, painting the sky orange beneath the collapsing darkness above. Buildings crumbled one after another while hunters fought desperately against tides of demons that never seemed to end.
Screams echoed everywhere.
Pain.
Fear.
Death.
The battlefield had become hell itself.
Reika crashed onto a shattered street, sliding violently across broken concrete before forcing herself to stop. Her arm trembled from the impact as she pushed herself upright, breathing heavily.
Blood dripped from the corner of her mouth.
Around her, the city burned.
But then—
Everything suddenly felt distant.
Quiet.
Cold.
She felt it instantly.
A presence.
Watching her.
Reika slowly lifted her head.
And saw her.
Seraphine stood several meters away atop the ruined street.
Motionless.
Expressionless.
The flames around her barely moved, as though even the fire feared touching her.
Her silver hair swayed lightly in the wind.
Her empty eyes stared directly at Reika.
No hatred.
No rage.
Nothing.
And somehow…
That made her terrifying.
Reika tightened her grip slowly.
"…so you're the one."
No response.
Not even a blink.
Then—
Seraphine disappeared.
Reika's instincts screamed.
She barely raised her arm—
BOOM!!
The impact sent her flying through a building instantly.
Concrete exploded around her.
Before she could recover—
Another strike.
Then another.
Then another.
Seraphine moved without wasted motion, every attack perfectly calculated, perfectly precise. There was no anger in her movements.
Only efficiency.
Like death itself had taken human form.
Reika blocked what she could, dodged what she couldn't, but the difference in power was obvious immediately.
Every hit hurt.
Every clash pushed her further back.
She crashed across the battlefield repeatedly, struggling just to keep up.
And Seraphine…
Still hadn't spoken a single word.
Reika landed hard again, coughing blood onto the broken pavement.
Her body screamed in pain.
Her breathing became unstable.
"…I can't win."
The thought came naturally.
Honestly.
She could feel it.
This wasn't an opponent she could overcome.
Not alone.
Not even close.
But then—
She thought about her sister.
About the promise she made long ago.
A weak little girl crying in the ruins of their home.
Reika slowly stood back up.
Her legs shaking.
"…but I can't run either."
Energy surged around her violently.
The air distorted.
Her body began to change.
Skin.
Hair.
Eyes.
Until finally—
Another Seraphine stood on the battlefield.
Silence filled the street.
Two identical figures faced one another beneath the burning sky.
Then—
They vanished.
BOOOOM!!
Shockwaves exploded through the city as the two clashed at blinding speed.
Reika copied everything perfectly.
Every movement.
Every strike.
Every shift in momentum.
The battle became impossible to follow.
Black flashes tore through collapsing buildings while the streets beneath them shattered from the force alone.
For the first time since the battle began—
Reika started keeping up.
Then—
She landed a hit.
A clean strike across Seraphine's side.
Blood scattered lightly into the air.
The battlefield froze.
Reika landed several meters away, breathing heavily.
Her eyes widened slightly.
"…I hit her."
Seraphine looked down slowly at the wound.
Then back at Reika.
And for the very first time—
Something changed.
The pressure around her deepened instantly.
The air became suffocating.
Heavy.
Wrong.
Even the flames around the battlefield began flickering violently.
Reika felt her heart drop immediately.
"…that was a mistake."
Seraphine moved.
This time—
Reika couldn't even see her.
CRASH!!
A fist slammed into her stomach violently.
Before she could scream—
Another strike shattered against her ribs.
Then another across her face.
Then another.
And another.
And another.
Seraphine overwhelmed her completely.
No wasted movements.
No hesitation.
Pure destruction.
Reika's copied form began flickering violently under the pressure.
Her transformation destabilized.
Then—
It shattered completely.
Her original form returned as she crashed helplessly across the ruined battlefield.
Her body rolled weakly through broken debris before finally stopping.
Silence.
Reika tried to move.
Pain shot through her entire body instantly.
Nothing responded properly anymore.
One eye barely remained open.
Footsteps echoed softly.
Seraphine approached slowly.
Calmly.
Like this outcome had already been decided from the beginning.
Reika looked up at the dark sky weakly.
"…so this is how it ends."
For some reason—
She wasn't scared.
Just tired.
Very tired.
And then—
Her memories began surfacing one after another.
A small house.
Warm sunlight.
Her mother laughing softly.
Her father carrying her little sister.
Peace.
Then—
Screams.
Blood.
Darkness.
Demons tearing through everything.
Tiny hands trembling.
Her little sister crying beside their parents' bodies.
Reika remembered the feeling clearly.
That helplessness.
That hatred.
That fear.
Then—
Hunters arrived.
Saving them.
Giving them another chance at life.
And from that day onward—
Reika only had one goal.
Become stronger.
Strong enough to protect the only family she had left.
She remembered working endlessly.
Training until exhaustion.
Taking missions no child should've taken.
Smiling through pain so her sister would never worry.
Then—
More memories surfaced.
Lucan arguing with Takeshi.
Lyra laughing.
Minato lecturing everyone.
Late nights together.
Meals.
Conversations.
Small moments.
A family she never expected to find again.
Tears slowly formed in the corner of Reika's eyes.
"…I really…"
Her voice trembled weakly.
"…liked being with them."
Seraphine stood over her now.
Silent as always.
Reika's vision blurred further.
She pictured her little sister one final time.
Her smile.
Her dreams.
The normal future she wanted her to have.
A weak smile formed on Reika's face.
"I'm sorry…"
A tear rolled down her cheek.
"…sis."
Her breathing weakened.
"I failed."
Seraphine raised her hand.
No speech.
No cruelty.
No satisfaction.
Just a final motion.
One strike.
Clean.
Precise.
And then—
Silence.
Reika's body went still.
The flames around the battlefield continued burning.
But she no longer moved.
No teammates were there.
No one heard her final words.
No one witnessed her final moments.
Reika—
The girl who fought so hard for everyone—
Died alone beneath the burning sky.
Elsewhere — Across the Battlefield
Takeshi suddenly stopped moving.
The lightning around his body flickered violently.
His eyes widened slightly.
"…what was that?"
Far away, Minato froze mid-step.
The wind around him weakened unnaturally.
A strange feeling gripped his chest.
"…someone's gone."
Lucan suddenly halted.
His heart tightened painfully.
For a brief moment—
The chaos around him disappeared.
"…Reika…?"
And somewhere far from the battlefield—
Inside a small apartment—
A young girl sat quietly near a window.
Then suddenly—
Her chest tightened painfully.
Tears welled up in her eyes without warning.
"…sis…?"
She didn't understand why.
But deep down—
She knew.
Something precious had disappeared from the world forever.
ISS Showcase — The World's Strongest
Japan
High above the burning battlefield—
A woman floated silently in the sky.
Calm.
Untouched.
Beneath her, thousands of demons rampaged through the city endlessly.
Hunters fought desperately below.
Losing ground.
Dying.
The woman slowly raised one hand.
Then formed a strange sign.
For one brief second—
The world became completely silent.
Then—
POP.
POP. POP. POP. POP.
Thousands of demons burst apart instantly.
Bodies exploded across the battlefield like fragile balloons crushed by invisible force.
No explosions.
No energy waves.
No resistance.
They simply died.
Entire sections of the city became empty instantly.
Hunters stared upward in complete shock.
No one understood what they had just witnessed.
And the woman—
Said nothing.
Nigeria — Bill Eze
A completely different battlefield.
An army of demons stood before a single man.
Monsters of every rank surrounded him endlessly.
The ground beneath them was already soaked in blood.
Bill Eze stood calmly at the center.
Weapons floated around him silently.
Blades.
Chains.
Spears.
Countless metal constructs orbiting him like satellites.
Then—
He moved.
And the battlefield disappeared into slaughter.
The next moment—
Silence.
Every demon had been butchered apart.
Bodies scattered everywhere.
Limbs.
Blood.
Destroyed flesh covering the battlefield endlessly.
None of them had even touched him.
Bill stood quietly in the center of the massacre.
Uninjured.
Unshaken.
Like war itself answered to him.
And still—
The war continued.
But somewhere within the chaos—
A light had gone out.
And the world itself seemed to feel the absence left behind.