[Warning: The following chapter contains graphic gore. Reader discretion is advised.]
"Don't bother. I made sure no one could see us," Nanashi said, brushing his hands off.
Good. Not a drop of blood.
"Hiss…"
Vinsk collapsed, clutching his mangled, bloody right hand.
"Huh…?"
Shizuka was still reeling from the surreal experience.
Then Nanashi turned to her—and his gaze was unlike anything she'd seen from him before. His eyes shimmered like a night sky filled with stars.
"Well," he said, gently placing a hand on her shoulder, "Sensei, you really shouldn't go on blind dates anymore. They're dangerous."
"Dangerous? What's going on…?"
Shizuka couldn't make sense of it, but something told her to trust him.
He was her student, after all—and that meant something.
Nanashi pointed at Vinsk, now groaning on the ground.
"This guy's not just a pervert. He's a monster."
"Pervert… monster?"
Shizuka was baffled. The first part she could believe—but monster?
Nanashi's tone turned cold.
"Alright, take me to your basement."
"Yes."
To Shizuka's astonishment, Vinsk's demeanor suddenly shifted. His pain seemed to vanish as he stood up and obediently led the way inside.
Before disappearing into the restaurant, Nanashi turned back with an odd softness in his voice.
"Sensei, you should go home. Or stay here. Your call."
With that, he disappeared inside.
"…?"
Shizuka stood frozen for a moment.
Then she sighed, smacked her forehead, and followed.
He's my student. That means I'm responsible—until the end.
Vinsk unlocked a heavy iron door at the back of the restaurant.
Behind it was a steep, dark staircase leading downward.
From below came strange, bone-chilling sounds.
"Ah!"
"Heehee…"
"Uuuuh…"
Laughter. Screams. Sobs.
All unmistakably female.
Shizuka's expression hardened. Her instincts screamed that something was terribly wrong.
Her rational mind told her to call the police immediately—but Nanashi had already vanished down the stairs.
"Tsk…"
She bit her lip, pulled out her phone, and kept it ready as she followed, her footsteps echoing in the gloom.
They descended into darkness, the narrow steps leading deeper and deeper underground.
A flickering light waited at the bottom.
When she reached the final step and stepped into the lit room…
Shizuka stopped cold.
Her mind went blank.
This… was the most horrifying sight she had ever seen.
—-
My name is Shizuka Hiratsuka.
Today was supposed to be just another meaningless blind date.
Vinsk, the man my parents recommended, ran his own restaurant. They said he was stable and decent.
When I met him, I felt nothing. In fact, I felt something worse—a gut-deep disgust I couldn't explain.
Maybe I'm just tired of searching for something real.
We were about to start a normal meal.
Then Nanashi showed up—like a bolt from the blue.
And he crushed Vinsk's hand on the spot.
I always knew that kid was strong… but this?
He said a lot of things I didn't understand.
Pervert. Monster. Illusion. Something about making people ignore us.
Then he followed Vinsk into the restaurant.
I followed him, saw the heavy basement door, and heard the sounds coming from below.
It didn't feel right.
And when I finally reached the bottom…
What I saw down there…
A surge of overwhelming fear suddenly gripped her heart.
Her pulse quickened, pounding violently in her chest as if trying to break free. Her breathing grew shallow and ragged, and nausea churned within her stomach, threatening to erupt at any moment.
What is that smell?!
So foul… so revolting…
A dizzying stench assaulted her nose, thick and putrid.
Several naked corpses lay sprawled on metal tables around the basement.
The sickening stench partially came from them.
Their bodies were mutilated—covered in pits and jagged wounds where flesh had been gouged away. Some had their abdomens split open, with organs spilling out, dripping blood that stained the floor.
There were also dismembered limbs… even heads that had been split in half, exposing pale brain matter.
Eyes and ears lay scattered on the ground, mingling with milky bodily fluids—enough to make anyone vomit on the spot.
From the ceiling hung rows of steel hooks.
Some were bloodstained. Others… had women impaled on them—naked, pierced through the back, suspended in the air like slabs of meat.
All around were women—disheveled, broken.
They were chained to the blood-streaked walls with restraints designed to restrict movement and induce suffering. Some shrieked and thrashed madly. Others sobbed, clutching their heads in despair. A few screamed in terror upon seeing Shizuka and Nanashi.
The floor was soaked in blood, like a rising tide, seeping into the soles of her shoes.
Her legs began to tremble uncontrollably. She could barely stay upright.
Her body weakened. The world around her twisted and warped, threatening to collapse at any second.
Her hands were ice-cold. Beads of sweat trickled down her forehead and over her cheeks, slick and clammy.
Her senses started to fail her.
Smell: nothing but blood and rot.
Taste: the unbearable bitterness of bile.
Sound: crying… and screaming… so much screaming.
Sight…
She couldn't tear her eyes away from the horror in front of her.
The dismembered limbs, the pools of blood, the grotesque expressions frozen in agony—they burned themselves into her mind.
She felt like she was suffocating, an invisible force wrapping around her throat, cutting off her air.
She wanted to run, to escape this nightmare. But her legs wouldn't respond. Her body felt nailed to the ground.
Despair crept in like a slow, inescapable tide. She was trapped in endless darkness, with no light, no escape.
In that moment of helpless terror, her mind betrayed her—placing herself in their shoes, feeling the agony, the humiliation… the fear.
And then it came—grief and fury, rising like a fire.
"You… you devil…! Are you a devil?!"
No one knew where the strength came from, but Shizuka, her body trembling from head to toe, suddenly let out a roar—and hurled a punch straight into Vinsk's gut.
Thud!
Vinsk's eyes bulged. Vomit spewed from his mouth as he was launched backward.
He crashed into the wall with a sickening thud before slumping to the floor.
"???"
Nanashi blinked in astonishment.
It wasn't the power of the punch that shocked him—it was who had thrown it.
Shizuka.
He had always thought she was just an ordinary woman.
Yet that punch had sent a grown man flying several meters.
There was no doubt now—she was furious. Raging.
This… was Shizuka's Iron Fist.
A real one.
Not like in those poorly-written fanfics where she comically punished students for their antics.
This was the real deal—a calm, righteous fury.
Nanashi liked that punch. Very much.
Granted, the blow was strong enough to kill a normal human.
But Vinsk was no human.
Vinsk stood up.
His gaze fixed on Shizuka, dark and venomous.
"AHHH!"
He threw his head back and let out a guttural roar.
"!!!"
The imprisoned women all flinched in terror.
At the same time, something began to change in Vinsk.
His eyes turned crimson—inhuman, soulless.
Szzzztt…
His shirt split open from behind.
A pair of grotesque, tumor-like wings burst out from his back.
"!!!"
The righteous fury that had carried Shizuka a moment ago now gave way to raw terror.
Vinsk had transformed—from man to monster.
Her eyes darted to Nanashi.
He said it…
He warned me—Vinsk is a monster!
"Don't worry," Nanashi said coolly, noticing her panic. "He can't hurt you. I've already locked him in place."
Vinsk twitched, but could no longer move.
"What… what is going on?" Shizuka gasped.
Nanashi stepped forward, observing the wings and those blood-red eyes.
"He's not human," he said calmly. "He's a ghoul."
Even he hadn't expected this.
The moment he encountered Vinsk with Shizuka, he had sensed something vile. Sin clung to the man like a second skin.
After digging into his memories, the truth came out.
A ghoul.
A new type, too. Something even worse than usual.
"Ghoul…?"
Shizuka could barely comprehend it.
Nanashi didn't answer. His eyes moved across the room, taking in the terrified women shackled to the walls.
His fists clenched slightly.
It had been a long time since he felt this angry.
Vinsk wasn't just a ghoul.
He was a sadistic monster.
He devoured women.
Not like the elegant or calculated cruelty of someone like Douma.
No—Vinsk was filth.
He preferred to feast on women after breaking them, physically and mentally. He tortured them endlessly before feeding.
Each body here had endured unimaginable suffering.
Skin peeled. Bones extracted. Torture without mercy.
The Wings of Sin unfurled.
Now more powerful than ever, the Wings of Sin had evolved—after transforming eight sin of witches into apostles of sin, it had absorbed their unique characteristics.
Nanashi had a hunch.
If the Chaos Wings continued to consume the sins and faith of more worlds, they would eventually transcend their current form.
With this newfound power, he could reshape the outcome of the trial—through the Sin of Wrath.
It would be far too easy to simply reduce someone to ashes.
Instead, he chose to prolong the trial using the sin of anger.
Under its influence, the condemned would suffer an endless cycle—reliving their sins again and again, never achieving the release of true death.
Their punishment would span body, soul, and spirit, each fragment eternally burdened with guilt and torment.
Until only ashes remained.
The black fog of judgment seeped into Vinsk's body.
"Ahhhhh, no! No! NO!!!"
A scream followed—twisted, agonizing, and inhuman.
Vinsk was now experiencing the mutilation of every single person he had ever consumed.
Nanashi intended to make his existence worse than death—just like a certain demon fated to forever chase death but never reach it.
The black wings faded.
Golden light burst forth.
The golden wings bloomed in radiant glory.
The Light of Salvation.
Bathed in its glow, the prisoner's body rapidly began to heal.
But it was more than mere restoration.
It was redemption—true and absolute.
"Go ahead."
Before Nanashi stood a group of women, visible only to him. Tears streamed down their faces, gratitude etched in every expression.
They were the souls of those murdered—restless spirits who had gathered here in anguish.
Now, at last, they would know peace.
"…"
Shizuka stood in stunned silence, her gaze fixed on Nanashi, who now seemed godlike in the shimmering light.
—--
They left the infernal restaurant behind.
Nanashi brought her to a bridge by the river.
The cold wind sweeping across the water might help ease her turmoil.
Having finally calmed down a little, Shizuka couldn't contain her questions any longer.
"What will happen to them?"
Leaning on the railing, Nanashi closed his eyes and let the wind wash over him. "They'll forget everything and return to society."
That was the best he could offer.
Clenching her fists, Shizuka whispered, "To forget everything… maybe that really is for the best."
"Would you like me to erase your memories too, Shizuka-sensei?"
He left the choice to her.
"…"
Shizuka stood still, caught in the cold wind, unable to respond right away.
Her crimson dress fluttered around her, the night breeze playing with her hair. Her face held a look of quiet confusion, lending the moment an almost tragic beauty.
The purgatory-like scenes still haunted her.
Every time she recalled the blood and horror, nausea gripped her chest and her breath grew shallow.
Lowering her head, she didn't answer his question. Instead, she asked, "Vinsk... what exactly is a ghoul?"
Nanashi turned, resting his arms on the railing behind him. His voice was calm.
"Ghouls… they're a kind of twisted demi-human. Creatures who can only feed on human flesh."
"Only feed on people…"
Shizuka's voice trembled. "Are there many monsters like that?"
"I don't know. Have you heard of my Paranormal Research Club?"
"Yes."
"Supernatural beings are like cicadas. You won't notice them while they're underground, but when the time comes, they burst forth without warning."
"There are far more extraordinary creatures in this world than just ghouls—ones that have yet to appear."
That was why the unknown, the anomalous, the unobserved—remained hidden. Ghouls were no exception.
The end of the world was never straightforward.