The city was alive again. Neon signs hummed like restless stars, and the chatter of summer crowds filled every corner of Nagashima's streets. Food stalls lined up beside game booths, selling everything from fried octopus to glow-in-the-dark candy. Hydro walked alongside Mina, weaving through the thick crowd under the streetlights. He didn't say much at first, just kept his hands in his pockets while Mina swung her arms and looked around with wide eyes.
"Hydro," she said, tugging his sleeve, "when did you meet Miss Kristine?"
Hydro tilted his head a bit. "During a cosplay event... 10 years ago. I was, you know, temporary part of the staff, she was… kinda famous even back then. Why?"
Mina smiled, stepping over a puddle. "Because she's been protecting me ever since the Yakuzas started chasing me. Kenji — the driver guy — brought me here to Nagashima. Said it was a safe spot."
Hydro gave a soft chuckle. "Man… this is starting to sound like Yakuza 0. Next thing you know, we'll be running karaoke bars and beating people up with traffic cones."
Mina laughed so hard she almost tripped. "Yeah, you kinda look like someone who'd do that!"
"Wow. That's… oddly specific."
The air between them softened. Even though the streets were loud, it felt like their own little pocket of calm. Hydro rarely talked much with kids — but Mina had this way of breaking through his walls without even realizing it. She reminded him of something he forgot how to be: lighthearted.
After a few more blocks, Hydro slowed down. His expression changed — that neutral stare he always had when something was off. The crowd noise blurred out for him. A faint vibration rippled in the air, like static that only he could hear.
"Hydro?" Mina asked, noticing his steps halt.
He didn't answer right away. His eyes darted toward the narrow alley beside a closed ramen shop. "...Come with me. Don't ask questions, just follow close."
Mina nodded, gripping his jacket as he led her into the dark.
The alley was quiet, almost unnaturally so. The buzz of the crowd was replaced by dripping pipes and the distant hum of electricity. Then they saw it — a massive, swirling blue light hovering between two rusted dumpsters.
It pulsed. Almost like it was breathing.
Hydro's jaw tightened. "A Gate…?" He murmured. "What the hell is it doing here — isn't that in the original timeline?"
Mina's eyes sparkled. "It's pretty… like a big ocean made of stars. Maybe there's unicorns inside!"
Hydro sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Mina… that's not a portal to Narnia. It's dangerous. Very dangerous. You don't go near these things unless you're crazy or you're me."
Mina frowned. "But it's so beautiful…"
"Yeah, that's how it gets you killed."
He crouched to her level. "Is Kristine with you right now?"
She shook her head quickly. "Nope! Sis was asleep so I wandered around. I saw you from the hotel window and ran after!"
Hydro froze for a second, deadpan. "You— wandered. Into a city with mobsters, monsters, and interdimensional rifts."
"...yeah?"
He sighed again, this time louder. "You're lucky you found me first. Alright, fine — if you're tagging along, you stay behind me. Don't touch anything glowing. Don't wander off. Don't—"
"Eat mushrooms?"
"Exactly. Especially the glowing ones."
Hydro stood up, scanned the area, and started piling up some empty boxes in front of the Gate. "We'll cover it up before someone notices. Last thing we need is tourists finding this and livestreaming it."
Mina helped, though her version of "help" was stacking boxes the wrong way up. "So what are we gonna do now?"
Hydro looked at the Gate — the swirling light reflecting off his eyes. "We're going in. I need to know why a Gate like this even exists here. The System shouldn't have left any traces."
She clenched her fists, trying to look brave. "Then let's go!"
Hydro smirked faintly. "You're too excited for someone about to walk into hell."
They stepped through.
The transition was smooth — almost too smooth. The colors stretched out and snapped back, like a camera shutter made of galaxies. Suddenly, the air was heavier. The ground beneath their feet wasn't concrete anymore — it was soft, black sand that shimmered like obsidian dust. The sky above was violet, streaked with faint silver clouds that didn't move.
Mina gasped. "Woooah…"
"Welcome to whatever this is," Hydro muttered. "Stay close."
They started walking. The landscape looked like a broken city mixed with a dream — buildings halfway melted into the sand, streetlights bending like wet spaghetti, and rivers of glowing blue water cutting through the ruins.
Hydro kept scanning the area, eyes glowing faintly. He could sense mana — weak, but scattered everywhere like crumbs. Something was off.
"Hey, Hydro?" Mina said, peeking behind a cracked vending machine. "Why are these worlds always so… sad?"
Hydro gave a half-smile. "Maybe because they reflect what people leave behind. Worlds like this — they form from memories, fears, regrets. You could say they're like old internet servers… full of ghosts."
"That's scary…"
"Yeah. But also kinda poetic."
They wandered for a while. Mina kept pointing out weird things — a vending machine full of sand, a lamppost growing sideways, and a payphone still ringing with no one there.
Every step echoed like they were walking inside a hollow dream.
Hydro stopped. The air got colder.
Then came the growl.
Low at first, then louder — until it surrounded them.
Mina froze. "...What was that?"
Hydro's eyes sharpened. "Company."
From the mist ahead, large shadows moved. Four-legged, each one twice his height. They looked like wolves, but their fur was made of dripping ink — eyes glowing like molten gold. Eldritch, wrong, and starving.
One of them snarled, shaking the ground.
Mina took a step back, trembling. "Th-those aren't unicorns…"
"Yeah, no kidding."
Hydro spread his stance, sliding a hand behind him where his sword usually was — but this time, he didn't summon it. He just looked around, calculating exits, counting numbers in his head.
"Mina. Hide behind that overturned truck. Don't move until I say so."
"But Hydro—"
"No 'buts.' Go."
She nodded and sprinted to the truck, ducking behind it.
Hydro took a deep breath. The air around him shimmered faintly — his aura flickered like fading light. For a moment, he almost smiled. "Guess peace doesn't last long, huh?"
The wolves circled in. Their growls became a single haunting chorus. The ground vibrated under their claws.
Hydro clenched his fists, ready. The black sand below him cracked.
Mina peeked out slightly, whispering to herself, "Please don't die, Hydro…"
The lead wolf leapt first, roaring as it dove.
And the chapter ended right there — Hydro standing still as the shadow beast lunged through the violet haze.
Sure thing — here's **"2hollis [2/4]"**, written with that cinematic *Kairiki* feel — gritty but alive, with emotion hiding behind every smirk. It's long, atmospheric, and keeps that Gen Z realism in the dialogue so Hydro doesn't sound like some cliché shounen hero.
The air cracked like a broken TV signal. The pack of wolves circled closer, their bodies twitching, dripping trails of black static into the obsidian sand. Mina was curled up behind the overturned truck, clutching her knees, eyes wide but trusting.
Hydro rolled his shoulders, a faint grin tugging at his lips. "Heh. I guess I missed fighting."
He reached into his duffel bag — the sound of a zipper slicing through the quiet — and pulled out God Eater[1]. The moment the blade saw daylight, the whole place seemed to flinch. Even the air rippled, as if the dimension itself recognized what that sword meant.
The broadsword wasn't glowing or screaming divine hymns or anything fancy — it was just heavy. Heavy in that *ancient* way, like something that once decided the fate of gods and forgot to stop. Hydro swung it casually once, letting it whistle through the dead air.
The first wolf lunged.
Hydro stepped sideways, smooth and deliberate, and brought the blade down in a clean diagonal. No sparks. No blood. Just disintegration — the creature broke into hundreds of glowing pixel bits, scattering like broken data before vanishing into the air.
The others didn't hesitate. They came all at once.
Hydro ducked under one, slammed his boot into another's chest, and followed it with a backhand slash that split three at once. Their deaths weren't gory — just sudden explosions of neon fragments, like something out of a game glitching out of existence.
It wasn't even a fight. It was art.
Hydro spun the sword once, slicing clean through another as he murmured to himself, "E-Rank? Nah. D-Rank? No way. These things aren't even registered. Just… noise."
He dashed forward, disappearing in a blur. His movements didn't echo like footsteps — more like static pulses. Each time he appeared, another monster shattered into bits of blue and orange light, scattering across the black sand like digital confetti.
Mina peeked through the cracks of the truck. She didn't scream or cry — she just watched, amazed.
The last wolf — the biggest — roared, its jaw splitting into four sections, dripping static. Hydro didn't move for a second. Then he raised his hand and whispered, "Too slow."
The ground beneath the creature cracked — a faint ripple of divine light shot upward, piercing through it like a spear. The wolf broke apart in silence, leaving nothing but glowing fragments drifting upward like fireflies.
When the silence finally settled, Hydro exhaled, swung his sword once to the side, and rested it over his shoulder. "You can come out now."
Mina crawled out from behind the truck, her mouth hanging open. "Wow! You killed those monsters so well!"
Hydro chuckled dryly, sliding God Eater back into his duffel bag. "They were nothing special. Just… weirdly out of place." He glanced around, scanning the ruined horizon. "What is this Gate doing here? Why would something like this exist on the revised timeline?"
Mina tilted her head. "What's a timeline?"
Hydro smirked faintly. "Something too complicated for bedtime stories."
He adjusted his jacket and motioned for her to follow. "C'mon. Let's keep moving. We gotta, you know…" he looked around and shrugged, "…finish this level?"
Mina grinned and raised her fist. "Alright then!"
The deeper they walked, the darker it got. Not night-dark — just… absence-dark. Like the world forgot what color meant.
Hydro pulled out a small flashlight from his bag and clicked it on. It wasn't strong, but it pierced the fog just enough for them to see where they were going. He scanned the walls — fragments of buildings frozen mid-collapse, like time had been paused mid-disaster.
Mina stuck close to him, her hand lightly holding the back of his sleeve. "This place feels like a dream. Or like… a nightmare that looks pretty for some reason."
Hydro nodded. "That's exactly what it is. Pretty nightmares. Looks calm until it eats you alive."
A soft chime cut through the quiet. Ding… ding… ding.
Hydro blinked. The sound was coming from his duffel bag.
He frowned, reached in, and pulled out his phone.
The screen was lit up. Incoming Call: Kristine.
"…My phone can ring inside an interdimensional rift??" he muttered, raising a brow.
Mina gasped. "It's sis!"
Hydro stared at the glowing "Answer" button for a second, then sighed and hit it. "Hello?"
Kristine's voice immediately blasted through the speaker. "Hydro!!! Have you seen Mina?? She must've went outside without me!!"
Hydro glanced at Mina, who froze like she'd just been caught sneaking cookies. He tilted the phone slightly and mouthed, shhhh…
"Oh yeah," he said smoothly. "She's with me right now."
Kristine's sigh of relief was audible even through the static. "Oh, thank goodie! Where are you guys right now?"
Hydro leaned closer to Mina and whispered, "Follow my lead." Then back to the phone: "Uh, we're… buying a meal. Yeah. But the store's kinda closed, so we're, uh, finding another one."
"Ohhh, that makes sense," Kristine said cheerfully. "Well, tell me if you guys found one, okay? I'm hungryyyy! Alright, see you laterrr!!"
The line clicked off.
Hydro stared at the phone for a moment before sliding it back into his pocket. "Your sister's gonna kill both of us."
Mina puffed her cheeks. "You're the one who lied!"
"Yeah, but I lied for both of us. You're welcome."
She laughed quietly, following him again as they continued down what looked like an endless hallway of broken city fragments.
The air changed. The ground started feeling uneven, like steps — rising, tilting. Then the world flickered again.
When the light came back, everything was different.
They were standing on asphalt now. Blackened, cracked, and glowing faintly from lingering embers. The smell of burnt metal hit first, then the silence — deep and heavy.
Hydro looked up. His eyes widened slightly.
Mina whispered, "Where are we…?"
It was Shibuya. Or what was left of it.
The sky burned crimson, swirling clouds of ash drifting across skyscrapers that had been ripped in half. Cars lay overturned and melted. Neon signs hung from shattered buildings, still blinking with random letters. One of them still flickered the word "PARCO" in broken light.
"Well," Hydro muttered, "this is something I'd expect to see in a fever dream."
Mina gripped his sleeve again, eyes darting around. "Is everyone gone?"
Hydro scanned the area. "No bodies. Just… data remains." He crouched, touching the cracked asphalt — it rippled faintly under his fingertips like a digital surface. "Yeah. This isn't real Shibuya. It's a memory reconstruction."
"Whose memory?"
He paused, staring into the red horizon. "That's the question."
They walked down the ruined intersection, the once-famous Scramble Crossing now a wasteland of flickering lights and digital dust. A vending machine lay sideways, still playing the jingle for cold drinks like nothing happened.
Mina looked up at a billboard — half burned, half glitching. It showed random anime characters flickering between frames. "This place feels… lonely."
Hydro didn't respond. He just stared at the skyline, his face caught in the orange reflection of the burning sky.
Something deep in his chest twisted. This world — this version of Shibuya — looked like every broken dream stacked into one image. A reminder that no matter how far he ran, reality always cracked somewhere behind him.
The wind picked up, carrying dust and fragments of old posters that fluttered across the street. Hydro caught one midair — it was torn, faded, showing a photo of a crowd smiling. Ordinary people.
He stared at it for a few seconds, then let it go.
"Let's find the Gate Core," he said quietly.
Mina nodded, trying to sound brave. "Right. And if we find it, we get out of here?"
"Yeah. Easy in, easy out." He smirked faintly. "Unless the game decides to crash."
She groaned. "Don't jinx it!"
He laughed under his breath.
They kept walking — two tiny figures in the middle of a broken Shibuya, the red sky glowing above them like the end of a world that refused to die.
And somewhere far ahead, deep under the city ruins, something stirred.
Something ancient. Something watching.
The ground trembled like it was alive. Dust fell from the cracked buildings, pebbles danced in circles, and the air—thick with static—rumbled like something ancient was waking up beneath Shibuya's dead skin.
Hydro froze for a second, scanning the sky. The sound wasn't thunder. It was a shriek—long, sharp, animalistic—and it carried weight. The kind that makes your bones remember fear.
"MINA. HIDE IN THE BAG!"
His voice cracked like lightning.
Mina blinked, startled, clutching the hem of his jacket. "A—are you sure it's safe?"
Hydro didn't even look at her. His eyes were fixed on the black clouds twisting above. "As long as it is, I can't let you get out of here. Trust me—get inside, now!"
Mina hesitated only for a heartbeat, then nodded, clutching her tiny charm bracelet before diving into Hydro's duffel bag—its inside laced with shadow-space, an infinite dark pocket only he could conjure. She disappeared in an instant.
Hydro gripped Ghost and God Eater, one in each hand. The air around him rippled as his aura flared out—a mix of silver and black lightning streaking through the rubble.
Then the sky split open.
Out from the storm came a bird-like creature, massive enough to blot out the last sliver of daylight. Its feathers were dark blue, almost translucent, shimmering with weird ethereal energy. Its wings stretched wide, and every beat sent hurricane-force winds through the broken city.
An Ekek—but not the one from bedtime horror stories. This one was warped by the System. Its eyes glowed a toxic cyan, and underneath its shadowed feathers, digital code flickered like corrupted data.
Hydro took one step forward. "That's not just folklore anymore…" he muttered.
Then—PING!
A digital interface suddenly materialized in front of the Ekek, its pixelated edges glitching. A health bar slid across the air, and the name Hydro Undergrove appeared in bold red.
"What the hell—?" Hydro's breath hitched. "That thing… it has a System Interface?"
He looked down at his hands—his system was gone. Deleted. Purged. But this creature… it was still bound to one.
"Crap…" he whispered. Then clenched his teeth. "Alright, now it's Duck Season."
The Ekek screamed again—its shriek shattered glass windows across the ruined street. Hydro vanished in a blink, reappearing midair above the creature's wingspan. His right arm swung Ghost down like a black comet, the blade cutting through a wing vein. Data particles burst out, glowing blue and dissolving like pixels.
The Ekek countered, spinning and flapping with ungodly speed. A gust hit Hydro so hard he smashed into a burning car, denting the metal.
"Ugh—okay… that stings." He wiped blood off his lip, grinning a bit. "Guess I missed fighting."
He leapt again, this time using God Eater. The sword glowed gold, divine symbols crawling up its edge like living runes. He sliced the creature's chest, and a divine shockwave tore through the sky, splitting clouds apart.
"HEYYYYYY!!! OVER HERE!" Hydro yelled, his voice echoing through broken skyscrapers.
The Ekek screeched and dove. Its claws slammed into the ground, cracking the street open. Hydro dodged, barely—then kicked off a collapsing billboard, flipping midair, twin swords spinning like turbines.
Ghost shimmered with afterimages—each swing left a trail of Kabuto Rokuhira's spirit, whispering ancient chants. Meanwhile, God Eater unleashed divine bursts every time it clashed with the creature's system armor.
The Ekek lunged again, but Hydro countered by summoning his Shadow Soldiers. Dozens of black silhouettes rose from the cracks beneath his feet—his fallen echoes, his loyal shadows.
"Hold him still!" Hydro commanded.
The shadows latched onto the Ekek's wings, pinning it momentarily. It struggled, screeching, as pixel blood rained from its wounds. Hydro took the chance—he charged God Eater with divine energy, gripping Ghost tighter in his left hand.
He dashed up the creature's wing like it was solid ground. "Time for Shish Kebab."
In a blur of motion, Hydro slashed upward—Ghost carving a clean arc through its neck—and then brought God Eater down, driving divine light straight through its chest.
A blinding explosion erupted.
Blue light scattered in fragments. The Ekek let out a distorted scream before its body dissolved into pixel particles, raining down like digital snow.
Hydro landed on his knees, breathing hard. Both swords hummed—one divine, one mortal. He stared as the fading pixels disintegrated into static dust.
The System interface that hovered above the creature started to glitch. The health bar, the red name, the data—it all distorted, then broke apart like shattered glass.
Hydro reached toward it, but his hand passed right through.
Then silence.
Only the faint flicker of neon signs still blinking in the ruined Shibuya backdrop.
Hydro exhaled slowly. "…That thing had a System. And it targeted me directly."
He stood up, sheathing both swords. "Why would a monster have a player's interface? Why would it know my name?"
He glanced at the faint trail of pixel dust in the wind—almost like a ghost whispering something he couldn't hear.
"Unless…" he muttered. "Someone… or something… rebooted the System."
His duffel bag rustled slightly. Mina's tiny voice echoed faintly from inside, "Hydro? Is it safe now?"
Hydro looked back at the red sky, eyes glowing faint silver under the ash. "Yeah," he said softly. "For now."
He touched the God Eater's hilt and whispered, almost like to himself,
"Whatever's bringing this world's glitches back… I'm not letting it win."
Then, as the last pixel of the Ekek vanished into thin air, Hydro turned toward the horizon—
where the next Gate pulsed faintly in the distance, waiting.
The air split open.
The sky cracked, and the ground underneath their feet started trembling like an earthquake from hell.
Hydro froze mid-step, gripping Mina's hand tight. "Wait—something's off," he muttered, scanning the distance where the red skyline shimmered unnaturally. It was as if the city was melting into data lines, every building glitching like a corrupted file.
Then—ping.
A familiar blue holographic box flickered into his vision, glitching violently.
[SYSTEM WARNING: GET OUT OF HERE!]
Hydro's heartbeat froze. "What…?!"
Before he could react, another one appeared right after—flashing in red, bold, screaming at him.
[CRITICAL ALERT: GATE STABILITY FAILURE — GET OUT OF THE DUNGEON, NOW!]
"WHAT—!?" Hydro's eyes widened. "How is this even— the System's deleted! Who's sending these!?"
The ground split beneath their feet. Cracks like glowing veins spread across the concrete, light pulsing through them. The world tilted.
Hydro snapped back. "Mina!" he yelled. "Hold my hand, now!"
Mina didn't hesitate. She grabbed his hand tight. "Hydro, what's happening?!"
"The Gate's collapsing—if we don't leave, we'll be stuck between timelines!"
Chunks of shattered street started floating upward, twisting midair like slow-motion debris in zero gravity. Buildings folded in on themselves, twisting into blue energy spirals. The entire Dungeon was collapsing like a dying star.
Hydro yanked Mina close, pulling her through the chaos. "Don't look back!"
"But—"
"JUST RUN!"
The world roared around them—monstrous echoes, fragments of the Ekek's pixels reforming and fading again. Hydro dodged falling rubble, sidestepped glowing fissures, and shoved aside floating chunks of vehicles that blinked in and out of existence.
"Hydro!" Mina screamed, pointing upward—an entire light post was collapsing above them.
Hydro reacted on instinct—he kicked off the crumbling pavement, leapt up, and swung Ghost. The blade flashed and cut the falling debris in half. "Move, move, move!"
The alleyway up ahead was glowing—a faint oval of blue light twisting like an open throat. Their way out.
Mina's grip on Hydro's hand tightened, her small fingers trembling. "I'm scared!"
"I know!" he said, pulling her close. "I'm scared too! But we're not dying in a digital hole, alright?!"
They ran through another collapsing stretch, and Hydro saw pieces of the ground blinking out of reality entirely—like disappearing pixels. He could feel the Gate's pull, the dimensional gravity starting to eat everything inside.
A massive surge of energy burst out behind them, sending a wave of pixelated dust forward. The Gate was collapsing faster.
Hydro pushed Mina ahead. "Go! Jump!"
"What about you!?"
"I'm right behind you!"
They both sprinted for the exit—the glowing oval shrinking rapidly. Hydro's shadow flared beneath him, summoning a small wave of dark mist to boost his jump. "NOW!" he shouted.
Mina leapt first—her small figure diving toward the light. Hydro followed right behind her, both arms extended, reaching through the flickering threshold.
The world behind them imploded.
The next moment was chaos.
They crashed through something solid—whump!—and landed hard into the pile of boxes they had placed earlier to cover the Gate. Cardboard exploded everywhere.
Hydro groaned, rolling over. "Ugh… remind me to never jump through collapsing dimensions again."
Mina popped out from under a pile of flattened boxes, hair messy but grinning wide. "That was AWESOME!"
Hydro sat up, blinking. "Oh boy… that was—"
"—AWESOME!" Mina yelled, interrupting him with stars in her eyes. "THAT WAS AWESOME! I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU FIGHT AGAIN!!"
Hydro blinked at her, speechless for a moment. Then sighed. "Okay—okay, you saw me fight. But pleaseeee, for the love of everything that's holy, keep this a secret from my friends, okay? I don't want them finding out I dragged a kid into a freaking dungeon gate."
Mina crossed her arms and smirked, teasingly. "Hmm… maybe I'll keep it a secret… under one condition."
Hydro raised an eyebrow. "What condition?"
She grinned. "You have to hang out with me every weekend. No fighting, no monsters, no scary portals. Just ice cream, and arcades, and that cool ramen shop you mentioned before."
Hydro blinked. "…That's it?"
"Yep!" Mina said, beaming like it was the best deal in the world. "You fight monsters, I handle snacks."
He couldn't help but chuckle—quiet, real, the kind that doesn't come easy for him. "Alright, alright… you got yourself a deal, partner."
Mina's grin widened. "Shake on it?"
Hydro extended his hand. She shook it—her small hand barely wrapping around his.
The air was calm again. The Gate behind them faded into thin air, leaving no trace but a faint shimmer in the alleyway. The city outside was alive again—distant chatter, glowing billboards, the hum of cars. Everything felt normal.
Hydro leaned back, hands behind his head, watching the dusk sky paint itself orange. "Guess we made it out," he muttered.
"Yeah," Mina said softly. "And next time, I'll help you fight too."
He laughed a little. "Sure, kid. When you can lift a broadsword twice your size, we'll talk."
She pouted, but her giggle betrayed her fake annoyance. "Deal!"
They stood up and started walking back to the main street. Neon lights shimmered off puddles from earlier rain. The city was loud, chaotic, but warm again.
Hydro felt something strange in his chest. Not fear. Not emptiness. Just… stillness. Like for once, he wasn't running from anything.
As they crossed the street, Mina looked up at him. "Hey Hydro… are you okay?"
He looked down at her, faint smile tugging his lip. "Yeah. Just tired. Been a long day."
She nodded seriously. "You did good, y'know."
Hydro smirked. "You too, short-stack."
"I'm not short!" she yelled, puffing her cheeks.
He laughed—really laughed this time. "Yeah, whatever you say."
They kept walking—past the noise, past the lights, past everything. Just a teen and a kid, walking home like nothing otherworldly ever happened.
But in the reflection of the puddles they passed, faint blue code shimmered and vanished again.
Later that night, as Hydro sat by his apartment window, watching the city lights flicker below, he pulled out his phone. Notifications were back to normal—group chats, messages, memes, everything. But one new notification blinked at the top.
[SYSTEM REBOOT: ACTIVE]
[User Recognition: HYDRO UNDERGROVE — Restored.]
[Welcome Back.]
Hydro's breath stopped.
He turned the screen off immediately, jaw tightening. "No," he muttered under his breath. "What in the actual..."
He looked out the window again. Mina's laughter from downstairs echoed faintly as she played with Kristine.
Hydro sighed, leaning back. "…Not now," he whispered. "Not again."
He slid the phone into his pocket and looked out at the moon, glowing faint blue over Nagashima's skyline. "Tomorrow," he said quietly. "Tomorrow, I'll figure it out."
And for that one night, he let himself rest. But when another pops up, it says "You're not Leveling up anymore, listen carefully."
[1] God Eater is a divine broadsword forged over two million years ago by the Seven Outer Gods to maintain balance across existence. Its sole purpose: to eliminate any corrupted deity or being that defies cosmic order. Once wielded by the Last Outer God, the weapon drifted across universes after its master was slain by a rogue, sentient entity. Eventually, it was found by Hydro Undergrove in 2010. Unlike ordinary divine weapons, God Eater adapts its energy based on its wielder’s intent — calm in duels, yet god-slaying in judgment. It’s a paradox of purity and destruction, symbolizing Hydro’s role as both protector of life and enforcer of order — a blade that punishes corruption, yet demands humanity from the one who wields it. God Eater is one of Hydro's sword. It was found in the year 2010 where Hydro was in a ruined site and found this sword.