Susan heard a strange sound the moment their lips parted.
She turned instinctively—only to see the headless body of the boy collapse, and Ryuuto standing over it, his blade still dripping red.
The image froze her. Shock bled into fear, then confusion.
Without thinking, she clutched at his chest, trembling.
Ryuuto flicked the blood from the Executioner's Blade, tossed it into the air, and it dissolved into glowing dust—vanishing back into the summoning realm.
"Let's move," he said calmly, as if they'd just finished a morning chore. "We've got a school to get back to once Devil Island's gone."
Susan blinked hard. "You—weren't you injected?"
Ryuuto shrugged, a lazy grin spreading across his face.
"Turns out it was a knockoff. Couldn't even scratch me."
Susan narrowed her eyes. "Then you lied to me?"
He tilted his head. "You'd rather I didn't?"
She sighed, half-annoyed, half-relieved. "You really are impossible."
"Thanks," he smirked.
Grabbing his hand and Katie Dee's, Susan cloaked all three in invisibility.
Katie whispered, "Can you keep me hidden while I use my mutation?"
"What for?"
Ryuuto's voice dropped into that dangerous calm. "I'd rather no one knew I did this. Magneto's the one everyone saw raising hell here. If Devil Island goes down, they'll assume it was him."
Susan hesitated. "That might be tricky. Your energy output messes with my field."
"That's fine," Ryuuto said, landing softly on the rooftop. "Susan, take Katie and go. Meet me at the northwest tower—look for the cherry blossoms."
Susan frowned. "You'd better show up, you jerk."
"Wouldn't miss it."
A shimmer of force surrounded the two women before they vanished into the air.
Left alone, Ryuuto exhaled, rolling his shoulders. His form rippled—skin, hair, and eyes shifting as his system flared.
In seconds, Orochimaru's pale face stared back from the reflection of a shattered window.
"This world has no Hokage," he muttered. "No one will even know who the hell this is."
Below, Magneto and Hulk were still tearing the island apart.
Ryuuto's smirk returned. "Perfect distraction."
His hands moved in a blur. Energy flared around him as he activated Light-Heavy Rock Technique, rising into the air until he hovered thirty meters above the battlefield.
The air bent. The wind screamed.
"Let's make this clean." His hands formed the next set of seals.
"Dust Release: Primordial Stripping Technique!"
A white cube of light ignited between his palms—transparent yet pulsing with atomic fury. It looked almost peaceful… until it fell.
Magneto froze mid-flight, eyes wide. He'd seen that before—once in Australia, when the sky itself had fractured under that same technique.
"Everyone retreat!" Magneto bellowed.
His Brotherhood didn't need to be told twice. They ran, dragging the wounded and screaming as the cube grew—spreading, swallowing the entire research complex.
The Hulk, of course, ignored the warning. His roar shook the bridge as he chased Magneto like a green meteor.
The cube struck.
Light exploded, silent and white as death.
Everything inside—metal, stone, flesh, data—disintegrated at the molecular level, turning into drifting motes that shimmered like mist.
Thirty seconds later, there was no Devil Island.
Only a vast hollow sphere gouged into the sea, the edges glowing faintly as water cascaded inward.
Ryuuto hovered above the chaos, watching the void collapse with a look somewhere between pride and pity.
"Guess that's that."
He flicked his hand; the cube's remnants shattered into harmless motes, dissolving into the wind.
When the last trace vanished, he turned and soared toward the northwest tower, crimson cloak flicking behind him like a fading afterimage.
Down below, Steve Rogers arrived just in time to see the aftermath—waves surging where an entire island once stood.
"The hell did this…" he whispered, then spotted Hulk still rampaging.
"Banner! It's over!" Steve called out. "Change back, big guy!"
The Hulk's answer was a swing of his massive fist, knocking Steve halfway across the bridge.
Steve coughed, dragging himself upright. "Yeah, temper's still a problem."
He spat blood, looked at the sea swallowing Devil Island, and muttered, "Whoever did that… better be on our side."