So here we are Bruzzahs, back again for another chapter. Been busy rereading and catching up on peak. Has any of you read Surviving The Game As A Barbarian, Eternally Regressing Knight, and The Regressed Mercenary's Machinations? If not then I suggest you do.
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~Start~
Mahito ragdolled across the ground, skipping and tumbling like a broken puppet before finally skidding to a stop in a heap. He groaned, arms trembling as he pushed himself up, then suddenly hacked up a violent spray of blood, splattering the ground beneath him.
3...
2...
1...
The five minutes were up.
Yuki's eyes snapped open—his consciousness back in control.
"GET AWAY NOW!" he shouted with everything he had.
Issei flinched, heart pounding—but he didn't hesitate. He remembered the plan, what Yuki had told them at the start. Without a word, he turned and bolted back, his wings flaring as he soared through the air. He landed next to Rias, who was still struggling to stand, with Kiba now awake and helping her up.
"Buchou, Kiba—you guys alright?!" Issei asked, breathless.
Kiba nodded with a grimace, his arm wrapped tight around Rias. She was pale, shaky, but forced out a weak, "Yeah... we're okay..."
Meanwhile, Yuki was barely holding himself together, every breath ragged. His limbs felt like lead, his soul frayed at the edges. But he wasn't done.
'Now's my chance. I gotta end this. No more stalling.'
He dragged himself through the rubble like a man possessed, bleeding, limping, barely upright. His eyes scanned until—there. A long, jagged shard of glass, poking out from the wreckage.
He grabbed it without thinking. His hand instantly split open, blood dripping down his arm—but he didn't care.
"I'll end this... right fucking now."
With a snarl, he raised the glass to his neck, hand shaking.
"Urgh—RAAAHHH—FUCK IT!"
And then—he swung.
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Minutes ticked by.
Issei and Kiba stood still, tense, watching from afar. Yuki's back was still turned. No movement. No sound.
Issei's gut twisted.
"What the hell's he doing?" he muttered, fists clenching.
"Why isn't he moving...?"
Kiba said nothing. The silence was deafening.
"I'm gonna check on him," Issei said, voice low and firm as he started walking toward Yuki.
"What?!" Kiba called out, eyebrows shooting up. "But didn't he literally tell us to stay the hell back?"
"I know what he said," Issei shot back without slowing down. "I'm still going."
There was something twisting in his gut—tight, cold, wrong. He didn't know what Yuki was doing, but every instinct in his body screamed that something was off.
"I don't know what kinda plan he's pulling, but... something's not right. I can feel it."
His footsteps echoed through the cracked pavement, the silence making everything feel heavier.
"Wait," Kiba said suddenly.
Issei paused and looked over his shoulder.
"I trust you," Kiba continued, tone quiet but serious. "But let me take Buchou back first. Then I'm coming with you—just in case."
Issei gave a small nod. "Alright. Don't take long."
Kiba turned to Rias, who was clearly still disoriented. She resisted at first, grabbing his arm weakly.
"No—Issei—don't go—"
"I'll be fine," Issei said, gently. "I just need to check on him."
Reluctantly, she let Kiba guide her back toward where Koneko and Akeno were holed up. The whole place was too quiet. The air felt... wrong. Heavy. Still.
Issei waited until Kiba got back, then the two of them moved in—slow, cautious, every step heavy. Yuki hadn't moved an inch.
"Yuki? Hey—what the hell are you doing?" Issei called out, his fists clenched tight, body tense and ready for anything.
Kiba followed just a few steps behind, his eyes locked on Yuki. His hand gripped a newly conjured sword, faint sparks crackling along the blade—just in case.
"I…! I can't! I CAN'T!!!" Yuki suddenly shouted back, voice cracked and shaking. His back still faced them, and his whole body trembled like a broken wire about to snap.
"What do you mean 'you can't'? What the hell's going on?" Issei barked, picking up his pace.
"ARGH—FUCK! I CAN'T DO IT! I CAN'T DO IT!!!"
Issei finally got close enough—and his heart dropped.
Yuki was on his knees, holding a jagged shard of glass against his neck. His hand was shaking violently, knuckles white from the grip. Tears streaked down his face as he grit his teeth, pushing with everything he had.
But the glass never pierced.
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" Issei yelled, lunging forward to grab him—but Yuki scrambled backward, practically rolling away.
Then, again—he thrust the glass toward his throat. It stopped an inch short.
"STOP IT! ARE YOU SERIOUSLY TRYING TO KILL YOURSELF?!"
"I HAVE TO!" Yuki screamed, voice raw. "IT'S THE ONLY FUCKING WAY! BUT I CAN'T—I LITERALLY CAN'T!"
He tried again, shoving the glass toward his neck with everything he had. His muscles bulged, his veins looked like they were about to burst, sweat pouring from his face. But his hand froze every single time—just barely before breaking skin.
He looked like a man being puppeted by his own fear and failure, stuck in a loop he couldn't escape from.
"No matter how much I try… it won't let me do it…!" he choked out.
And that's when they realized—
It wasn't just hesitation.
Something else was stopping him.
Yuki's hand trembled, fingers slick with his own blood… and then he just let the glass fall. It hit the ground with a dull clink, barely a sound—but it felt loud in the silence that followed. His shoulders slumped, head hung low, breath ragged like he'd been running a marathon through hell.
Then—without warning—he bolted.
"Yuki?!" Issei barely had time to react before Yuki was on him, charging forward like a man possessed, one hand stretched out.
Instinct kicked in. Issei raised his left arm—Boosted Gear flaring—and blocked the grab. The impact wasn't strong… but the desperation behind it made him freeze.
"Take this…" Yuki rasped, lifting his head.
Issei saw it then. The tears in his eyes. The guilt. The panic. The resignation.
"I fucked up… this is all I can do now," Yuki muttered. His grip on the gauntlet tightened. Cursed energy exploded off him in chaotic waves.
"SO GO!" he screamed, eyes burning. "RUN AWAY! GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME! TAKE RIAS, KIBA—EVERYONE—JUST GO, OR YOU'RE ALL DEAD! JUST—GO!!"
Issei opened his mouth to shout back—but then froze.
His instincts screamed.
Danger.
In that split-second, he yanked himself backward, Boosted Gear glowing hot as he rocketed away. Kiba, sensing something was horribly wrong, followed suit—no questions asked.
Then they saw it.
Two grotesque stitched hands burst from Yuki's back like parasites. One gripped the top of his head. The other clamped around his chin.
Yuki stood there, trembling, locked in place.
Eyes wide.
Face frozen in utter horror.
"No… no no no—" his voice cracked, barely more than a whimper as more tears spilled down his cheeks. He looked right at Issei and whispered, voice breaking apart—
"I don't want to die…"
SNAP!
A sharp, wet crack rang out through the air.
His neck twisted violently.
And just as his body started to fall—Mahito's grinning face slithered out from behind his shoulder, mouth practically brushing Yuki's ear.
"Shhh… ahhh, don't cry, don't cry… it's over,"
Mahito whispered with mock affection, voice like knives dipped in poison. "The moment you took your soul off guard—when you took back control—you already lost."
Yuki couldn't even scream. His eyes glazed over, jaw slack, as his limbs twitched uselessly.
"Heh… what, you thought just because you grew some balls to actually fight back, you were now some kind of hero? You thought you were the main character?" Mahito sneered, eyes gleaming with cruel amusement. "Kehehe…"
Then the hands shoved Yuki's head down into his own chest like he was being folded into himself. His arms followed, then his torso, legs—every piece of him being sucked into Mahito's mass like a puppet being stuffed into a skin-tight bag.
Until there was nothing left.
Only Mahito stood there.
Smiling. Full. Empowered.
And Yuki… was gone.
Issei just stood there.
Frozen.
Mouth open. Hands trembling. The shock, the despair—it all hit him at once like a freight train to the chest. Yuki was gone. Just like that. After everything… after all the shit they went through—every life they had failed to save, every wound, every drop of blood they'd spilled, every second they fought like hell just to take Mahito down—he was still here.
Still standing.
Still grinning.
Like none of it ever mattered.
Issei's heart pounded in his ears, and his vision blurred for a second. He was rooted to the spot, unable to move, caught in a whirlpool of rage and helplessness.
But Kiba?
Kiba snapped out of it first.
Before Issei could even shout, Kiba had vanished, a blur of movement and sparks, his sword already drawn and trailing arcs of lightning as he dashed forward.
"KIBA—NO!!" Issei screamed, too late.
Mahito turned, his twisted smile never fading, and his right arm morphed, stretching and sharpening into a grotesque jagged blade. He swung it, aiming to slice Kiba clean in half at the waist—
But Kiba dropped, low and fast, sliding right under him.
In one fluid motion, Kiba twisted mid-slide and slashed both of Mahito's hamstrings. Blood splattered as the cursed spirit was forced to kneel.
Mahito started shifting his other arm to counter, but Kiba had already circled right in front of him.
Flash.
In a blink, Kiba severed both arms, his sword howling with energy, lightning dancing up the steel.
He didn't stop.
He spun—swift, without hesitation—blade whipping around in a deadly arc, aimed straight for Mahito's neck.
But Mahito… never stopped grinning.
His face further twisted into a wider grin, eyes wild with ecstasy.
His jaw unhinged—literally snapped wide open like a snake.
And from inside that gaping maw, four tiny stitched arms unfurled, moving fast and sharp. They twisted into two separate hand signs at the same time.
Issei's stomach dropped.
He watched all this if it was in slow motion.
Suddenly, it was as if the air got sucked out of the world.
Every sound vanished. Everything went silent.
And then, that voice—Mahito's voice—echoed out like a funeral bell
"Domain Expansion: Self-Embodiment of Perfection!~"
Voom.
A black sphere erupted into existence, swallowing Mahito and Kiba in a flash, snapping into place like a prison of living shadow.
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We are so back! This chapter is extremely short for my tastes. But due to time constraints, I have to cut back to 1k+ to 6k words at most. But I'm going to upload more consistently now and not disappear for multiple weeks per upload. See you Bruzzahs, in the Kenjussy we thrust 🙏.