Kimura lay sprawled across the fractured ground, every ragged breath dragging molten fire through his lungs.
His fingers twitched against the rubble, slick with blood that no longer gushed but oozed sluggishly—thick, dark, already clotting against torn skin.
He raised his ruined hands before his eyes.
The knuckles were split.
Skin peeled back.
Nails cracked to the root. His left wrist bent at an angle no living man's wrist should bend.
The sight was grotesque—yet his battered mind barely registered it.
Pain had long since dulled into something heavier, something inevitable.
A creeping shadow that promised only one end.
Where the golden skeleton's corpse should have lain, there was nothing.
Only blackish-golden wisps drifted upward, dissolving into the violet sky like smoke from a dying fire. The creature that had nearly ended him—stripped his flesh with arrows and blades—was gone, as if it had never existed.
He wanted to feel pride.
Triumph.
Relief.
Instead, a hollow laugh escaped his throat—cracked, pitiful.
"Heh… I guess I won," he whispered hoarsely. "Not that there's anything to be proud of."
His head lolled to the side, eyes drawn to the alien heavens above.
The sky pulsed with hues of purple and deep indigo, swirling as though mocking his survival. Stars—if they were stars—winked faintly, but none carried the warmth of the night skies he once shared with Saki. Nights where they walked hand in hand after his deployment, whispering dreams for the future.
That sky was gone.
This one only laughed.
Blood bubbled at his lips as he coughed. He spat it out, the metallic taste biting his tongue. His vision swam, darkness closing in at the edges.
He pressed a palm against his chest.
Broken ribs ground beneath his skin.
Each breath felt like a knife slowly dragged through his lungs.
"Heh… guess my revenge won't be completed after all," he muttered before another wet cough shook him, splattering fresh crimson across the stone.
His soldier's instincts took over, tallying the damage with brutal clarity.
Shattered bones.
Torn muscles.
Punctured organs.
Veins shredded.
Blood thickening inside him like jelly.
A sinking ship with no repairs left.
"I can feel them…" His voice trembled, yet he forced the words out.
"Broken bones. Ruined lungs. Muscles torn apart. Even my blood… it's dying with me."
A laugh escaped him again—warped, broken—before collapsing into a sob.
Despair & Self-Hatred rattled through
Kimura with his half broken breathing.
It was shallow and uneven, as though his body debated whether it was worth continuing.
The fractured ceiling split into double images.
Even the world was abandoning him.
He turned his head slightly, every movement punishment.
His cheek pressed into dust and grit, but his eyes refused to leave the sky.
Somewhere beyond it—
Saki's gentle smile.
Her laughter when she teased him for returning from the barracks bruised and scraped.
Airi's small hand tugging his sleeve, begging for another bedtime story.
He had promised them.
A soldier's oath.
A husband's vow.
A father's bond.
And he had failed every one.
Tears carved hot trails through the dirt on his face. He bit down hard, tasting blood over blood.
"I'm sorry, Saki!" he howled, voice raw, animal.
"It's my fault! If I were stronger—just a little stronger—you wouldn't have suffered! Airi would still be alive!"
His chest convulsed, sobs tearing from lungs already drowning.
The memories burned hotter than broken bones.
"Today… I broke every promise I ever made," he whispered. "And for that—I hate myself."
The battlefield erased itself around him.
The skeleton's remains dissolved into nothingness, leaving Kimura alone with despair thick enough to suffocate.
"Even with all this pain," he murmured, shaking,
"the pain of separation… is still the worst."
[ Trial of the Scaletron Dungeon has began ]
A voice rang inside his skull—deep, articulate, absolute.
[Congratulations. You have completed the Trial of the Scaletron Dungeon.]
Kimura's eyes snapped open.
"Who's there!?"
A pitch-black translucent screen materialized before him.
[Trial Level: Easy]
"Easy?" he spat. "You call this easy!?"
The screen flickered.
New words burned in blood-red script.
[You have met the requirements to become a resident of the Dimension of Endless Nightmares.]
[Do you wish to become its hunter?]
[Y / N]
Kimura laughed hoarsely.
"Heh… yeah. I finally lost it."
But the screen remained.
[Acknowledgement received.]
[Beginning process…]
Reality cracked.
Black miasma poured forth.
The countdown began.
Cocoon of Nightmares...
Black sludge engulfed his body, forming a pulsing cocoon.
Da-dum.
Da-dum.
Inside, his body was rewritten.
Bones reforged.
Veins flooded with shadow.
Pain replaced by something worse.
[Process Initiated.]
Ba-dam!
The Heartbeat of Nightmares
Whispers filled the abyss.
Hunter.
Suffer.
Devour.
Kill.
A symbol burned into his mind.
[Step 1: Reconstruction.]
[Step 2: Binding.]
[Step 3: Corruption.]
Rage became all that remained.
"VANKO!" Kimura roared into the void.
"You will be the first—and last—life I take!"
Outside—
CRRRAAAACK!
The cocoon split.
The Nightmare was about to be born.