The Tower of Echoes stood like a dark colossus, its shadow stretching across the ground like a silent warning. Kazuo advanced towards it with steady steps, his gaze fixed on his target. The air was thick with tension, but his expression remained unperturbed, as if the weight of the place could not touch him.
Suddenly, a bloodcurdling scream shattered the silence. A warrior emerged from the tower's entrance, staggering and pale-faced. His eyes were wide with fear, and he gasped for breath as he tried to form coherent words.
"Help!" he cried, falling to his knees in front of Kazuo. "My group is trapped! The beast has them! Please, do something!" Kazuo stopped in front of him, his cold, piercing gaze falling on the man like a sentence. For a few seconds, the warrior remained paralysed under the weight of that gaze. Finally, Kazuo spoke, his tone low and sharp as a knife.
'And you abandoned them?'
The warrior opened his mouth to reply, but no words came out. He lowered his head, visibly trembling. Kazuo clicked his tongue in disdain.
'Pathetic.'
Without another word, he left him behind and advanced toward the tower's entrance. But as soon as he crossed the threshold, his "Eye of the Soul" ability activated, revealing the auras of those still fighting inside. There were several small flames flickering against the immense void of darkness. One after another, those flames began to fade.
Each disappearance was accompanied by an echo: screams, pleas, and then... silence. It wasn't just lives being taken. It was something else: a presence, a resistance, which extinguished itself in the air as if it had never existed. Kazuo's eyes sharpened. His body reacted almost immediately. He didn't just speed up. He broke into a run.
Inside the main hall, the scene was one of carnage. The floor was covered in blood and broken weapons, cracks spread like scars, and equipment was scattered everywhere. In the centre of the chaos, a grotesque beast stood triumphant, its dark figure illuminated by the dim light filtering through the cracks in the ceiling.
It was a creature with grey scales and glowing red eyes, with fangs dripping blood and sharp claws stained with what was once human. Aiko, the only conscious survivor, was slumped against a broken column. Her red hair, soaked in sweat and dust, fell in tangled strands over her face as her body shook uncontrollably.
She had lost her sword, broken and lying beside her, and though her eyes were open, they were unfocused, frozen in a state of shock that held her captive..
She had seen everything. Each of her companions had faced the beast bravely, only to fall in the cruelest way possible. One of them had been crushed against a wall, leaving a trail of blood that was still dripping. Another had tried to attack from the air, but had been caught like a toy and thrown to the ground with such force that his body had been torn in two. Every scream, every impact still echoed in Aiko's ears, but fear had paralysed her, her tears falling silently as her lips trembled, unable to utter a sound.
At that moment, Kazuo entered the room. His Eye of the Soul caught the last glimmers of the remaining souls. One faded just before he arrived, disintegrating into particles of light that disappeared into the air. Only one remained: Aiko's, so broken and fragmented that it seemed to be seconds away from extinction.
The beast turned towards him, baring its fangs in a mocking grin. 'Another toy?' it said, its hoarse voice echoing in the space as it took a step towards him. 'Well, one more before the feast.'
Kazuo didn't respond. His gaze was icy, but his movements spoke for themselves. He took a step towards the creature, his hands relaxed but tense, as if every fibre of his being was contained but ready to explode.
The beast let out a roar so deep it shook the foundations of the tower. Its enormous body lunged forward with all its strength and speed, its claws extended like living blades, glinting with murderous intent. Its bloodshot eyes sought the same thing they had found in its previous victims: despair. Panic. Flight.But Kazuo didn't move.
He didn't take a step back.He didn't tense his muscles. He didn't raise any defences.
He just waited.
And just as the creature was an inch from his face, Kazuo's fist rose. It wasn't an exaggerated or theatrical movement. It was clean, dry, so precise that it seemed to split the air in two.
The beast's skull caved in under the impact. The sound was indescribable: crushed flesh, bone breaking like rotten wood. The creature was thrown backwards, hitting the wall with such force that it left a distorted silhouette, a deep hole covered in blood, slime and broken teeth.
A second of silence.
And then Kazuo moved.
He didn't run. He walked. Step by step. Each step seemed heavier than the last, not from fatigue, but from the intention behind it. The creature, still conscious, tried to get up with a guttural groan. One of its legs was shaking. Its jaw hung askew. Terror crept into its eyes for the first time.
Kazuo didn't give it time.
The next blow slammed it into the ground. The skull cracked like an empty helmet breaking. Another blow. The torso collapsed. Another. A rib exploded in a cloud of blood and guts. And then it was no longer a fight. It was punishment.
Fist after fist. Arm after arm. The beast's body began to lose shape, to spill out like minced meat between the cracks in the stone. It couldn't roar. It couldn't defend itself. Every attempt to move was met with a new explosion of bone and muscle that pinned it further to the ground.Kazuo didn't say a word.
He showed no anger on his face.No hatred.
Just that unbreakable calm... the same calm that made it impossible to tell if he was punishing a monster or a reflection of something deeper. Something older.
The ground shook.
The stones beneath the monster's body cracked as if the world itself wanted to turn away from the punishment. And yet, Kazuo did not stop. His knuckles were covered in blood—his own and hers—and the room was now an echo of repeated, relentless thuds.
Outside World
Aether's Realm Broadcast – Main Channel
'What... what are we seeing?' stammered a commentator, covering her mouth with her hand.
'No... I can't continue reporting this. I'm sorry,' added another, turning his face away, visibly shaken.
Thousands of messages piled up on the forum.
💬 User @ElSolitarioFan: 'This isn't a fight. It's an execution.'💬 @KZ_Hype: 'I've never seen a beast cry with its eyes. This... this is too much.'💬 @LuzDeRayushen: 'Can someone explain how something so brutal can be so... fair?'
💬 @ForKazuo: 'That monster killed five players and maimed several others... and yet I feel sorry for him.'💬 @AyameIsQueen: 'I've never been afraid to support someone. Kazuo scares me. And I respect him. At the same time.'
As he struck, an image flashed through his mind. A small boy with messy black hair, throwing frantic punches while his face was contorted with rage. In front of him, another boy fell to the ground, too badly injured to continue fighting.
In the memory, a woman with long hair and a serene face held him firmly by the shoulders. 'Kazuo, stop...' she said in a calm but authoritative voice, her eyes filled with concern. 'Don't let anger consume you.'
The image faded, and Kazuo stopped his blow. He looked down, and what he saw was not the monster's body. There was only a dark pool mixed with the cracks in the floor, all reduced to unrecognisable remains. He had hit the same shattered floor over and over again until there was nothing left.
He rose slowly, breathing heavily as he surveyed the mess he had left behind. His fists were stained with blood and dust, but he showed no emotion. He turned his attention to Aiko, who was still kneeling on the floor, tears streaming down her face and her eyes unfocused.
Kazuo moved towards her, his figure shrouded in shadows as the remnants of the battle settled in the air. And so, in the midst of the chaos,