The air still hummed with the aftermath of destruction. Blue sparks flickered over the cracked pavement where glitch-beasts had once stood, and the neon lights of Akihabara flickered weakly in the distance, like the dying embers of a world that no longer made sense. Kuro stood in the middle of it all, breathing heavily, his hands still tingling with the raw energy that had coursed through him.
It felt good. No, it felt great. Better than anything he had ever experienced. He flexed his fingers, watching the faint blue glow ripple across his skin, a reminder of the power he had just unleashed. The last few minutes had been a blur of chaos, one moment, he was a bystander in the collapse of reality, and the next, he was part of it. No longer just a spectator in this twisted game, but a player with abilities that defied explanation.
Kuro's grin widened. This world, so dull and gray before, was now alive with possibilities. The air itself seemed thicker with potential, as if reality was nothing more than clay waiting for him to mold it. Around him, the streets of Akihabara were unrecognizable, shops shattered, debris strewn across the ground, bodies of both human and beast alike crumpled in the carnage.
He glanced at the rift above, still crackling with energy, still pouring its chaotic influence into the world. But instead of fear, he felt a deep connection to it. The rift was his source, the wellspring from which his power flowed. And with every breath, he felt that connection growing stronger.
"This... this is how it should've been from the start," Kuro thought, a dark satisfaction spreading through his chest. "No rules. No limits. Just raw power."
Kuro paced slowly through the wreckage, stepping over the body of a glitch-beast that had dissolved into sparks only moments before. The glow of destruction lit up the horizon, distant fires casting long shadows across the city. The screams had faded, replaced by a strange, eerie quiet. Those who had survived the initial wave of chaos had fled, leaving behind a wasteland that now belonged to him.
He kicked a piece of rubble, watching it skid across the ground. It didn't matter that this part of the city was a ruin. In fact, he preferred it this way. The destruction was a symbol of his rise, a canvas that he could paint with whatever chaos he desired.
The grin tugged at his lips again, wider now. "They were all so weak," he thought, replaying the scene of panicking civilians in his mind. The businessmen, the tourists, the students, they had scattered like insects, scrambling to escape the carnage. And when the glitch-beasts had torn into them, there was nothing but blind panic. Kuro had watched it all with a kind of twisted glee. Finally, the world was showing its true colors.
"This city was always a lie," he muttered under his breath. "But now... now it's something real."
Kuro paused, his thoughts shifting for a moment. A memory flickered in the back of his mind, his father's voice, harsh and biting, shouting at him from across their dingy apartment. His father's fists, the stench of cheap alcohol on his breath. And his mother, always sitting quietly in the corner, too drunk or too numb to care. He had grown up in that hellhole, powerless, trapped by the miserable lives they had made for themselves. They had dragged him down with them, forced him into a world where everything felt suffocating, hopeless.
But now, looking around at the chaos, at the wreckage of a world that had once kept him in chains, he felt free. All that pain, all that anger, it didn't matter anymore. Here, in this new reality, he was the one in control.
"There's no going back," he thought, his eyes hardening. "This is my world now."
Just as Kuro was about to revel further in his newfound freedom, a distant sound interrupted his thoughts. The high-pitched wail of sirens cut through the silence, growing louder by the second. He turned toward the noise, his grin fading slightly. For a moment, he thought it was just more of the panicked survivors trying to escape the area, but this sound was different. It was methodical, organized.
Then, from the distance, Kuro saw them. Black helicopters appeared in the sky, their blades slicing through the air with a low, rhythmic thrum. Below, on the ground, armored vehicles rolled in, flanked by soldiers in tactical gear. They moved with precision, setting up barricades around the perimeter of the destroyed area. Their weapons were unlike anything Kuro had seen before, sleek, high-tech rifles that emitted a faint blue glow, clearly designed to deal with whatever had come out of the rift.
Kuro narrowed his eyes, watching them with interest. So the government had finally decided to step in. It was almost laughable. They were too late. The city was already his.
A small squad of soldiers began approaching him cautiously, their weapons raised but not aimed. They clearly thought he was just another civilian caught in the chaos. Kuro couldn't help but smirk. They had no idea what they were walking into.
One of the soldiers, a tall man with a helmet obscuring most of his face, stepped forward. His voice was muffled by the equipment, but Kuro could hear the tension in it.
"Hey, you there!" the soldier called out, waving his hand in a universal gesture of "get down." "You need to leave this area. It's not safe. We're evacuating all civilians."
Kuro chuckled to himself, shaking his head. Civilians? These fools really didn't understand what was happening. He stood still, letting the soldier come closer, watching the man's body language tense with every step.
"You hear me?" the soldier repeated, a hint of frustration creeping into his voice. "Get out of here, now."
The rest of the squad was closing in, scanning the area with their strange, glowing devices. Kuro could see the numbers and readings flickering across the screens as they analyzed the glitch energy in the air. Then, one of the soldiers, a shorter man with a bulky scanner, stopped dead in his tracks.
"Wait... something's wrong with his readings," the short soldier muttered, his voice shaky. "I'm getting spikes of energy... massive spikes. He's, he's connected to it somehow."
The taller soldier glanced back at his squad, then turned to Kuro, his grip tightening on his weapon.
"Who the hell are you?" the soldier demanded, his voice cold now. "What are you doing here?"
Kuro's grin widened, his heart pounding with excitement. He didn't answer right away, instead letting the tension build. He wanted to see how far he could push them before they broke.
"Who am I?" Kuro said finally, his voice dripping with amusement. "Let's just say... I'm the one in charge now."
Before the soldiers could react, Kuro raised his hand, and the air around him crackled with energy. The blue light that had been flickering along his skin flared to life, swirling around him like a storm. He felt the raw power surge through him, and with a flick of his wrist, he sent a wave of glitch energy crashing toward the squad.
The ground rippled as if it were liquid, the pavement bending and warping under the force of his attack. The soldiers were thrown back, their weapons shorting out, sparks flying from their malfunctioning gear. Kuro watched with satisfaction as they scrambled to regain their footing, their once-composed movements now frantic and disorganized.
The tall soldier raised his rifle, desperation in his eyes, but Kuro was faster. He focused on the gun, and within seconds, the weapon dissolved into blue sparks, leaving the man staring at his empty hands in shock.
"You really thought you could stop this?" Kuro asked, his voice low and dangerous. "You don't even know what you're dealing with."
Kuro stood over the fallen soldiers, watching as they struggled to recover from his attack. Their weapons lay scattered across the cracked pavement, sparking and fizzling with dying energy. The blue glow that had radiated from their high-tech devices now flickered weakly, like the last embers of a dying fire. It was almost pitiful to watch.
He couldn't help but laugh.
"You really thought you could waltz in here and take control? I mean, come on," Kuro said, his voice dripping with mockery. "What did you think this was? Some kind of clean-up mission? You think you can just show up with your fancy gadgets and take the city back? Pathetic."
One of the soldiers groaned, trying to push himself up from the ground, but his legs buckled under him, and he collapsed back down, gasping for breath. Kuro watched him, feeling nothing but disdain. They were all so weak, mere insects scrambling in the face of real power. His power.
The thought made his pulse quicken. He could still feel the energy thrumming beneath his skin, an almost electric sensation that coursed through him like a live wire. The more he used it, the stronger it became, and with every surge of power, the world around him seemed more malleable, more... his.
"Get up, if you can," Kuro sneered at the soldier, who was now barely clinging to consciousness. "Not that it'll do you any good."
The soldier's hand twitched, reaching for his fallen weapon, but Kuro was faster. He flicked his fingers, and the gun dissolved into blue sparks, just like before. The soldier froze, staring in disbelief at the empty space where his weapon had been.
Kuro knelt down, getting closer to the soldier's face, grinning as he saw the fear in the man's eyes. "See, you don't get it yet. This city isn't yours anymore. The world isn't yours anymore. It's mine now."
The soldier's eyes widened in horror, and Kuro relished the fear. It was intoxicating.
Kuro straightened, standing tall amidst the wreckage, his eyes scanning the ruined streets. The destruction he'd caused was all around him, cracked roads, shattered windows, overturned cars. But beyond the wreckage, beyond the chaos, there was something else. Something deeper.
He could feel it now, clearer than before. The glitches weren't just affecting the creatures and the people, they were affecting everything. The fabric of reality itself was beginning to unravel, bending to his will. It was subtle at first, like a whisper at the edge of his consciousness, but the more he tapped into his power, the more obvious it became.
The city wasn't just breaking. It was changing.
Kuro raised his hand, and the air around him shimmered with that familiar blue light. The static energy pulsed outward, rippling across the ground. He focused, narrowing his thoughts, and the nearest streetlight flickered violently before it twisted, warping into an unnatural shape. The metal bent and stretched, the light at the top flickering before bursting into a shower of sparks.
Kuro laughed again, louder this time. "I can bend this place. I can change anything. You all thought you had control, but I'm the one pulling the strings now."
He extended both hands, and the energy around him surged, crackling with raw power. He could feel the glitches bending reality, warping the very structures of the city. Buildings trembled, their foundations creaking as they shifted under the force of his will. Lights flickered in time with his heartbeat, and the ground beneath his feet seemed to ripple, as though the city itself was bowing to him.
Behind him, Kuro heard the distant sounds of soldiers regrouping. He turned to see the remaining squad members scrambling to recover, their movements frantic and disorganized. Some were trying to pull back, to retreat to the safety of their vehicles, while others were still scanning the area, clearly unsure of how to respond to the chaos.
One soldier, the tall man who had first spoken to Kuro, managed to rise to his feet. His face was pale beneath his helmet, and his hands trembled as he reached for a backup weapon strapped to his side, a sleek, glowing handgun designed for close-quarters combat.
"Stop... whatever the hell you're doing!" the soldier barked, his voice wavering. He raised the gun, aiming directly at Kuro's head.
Kuro raised an eyebrow, amused by the man's desperation. He could see the fear in the soldier's eyes, the realization that he was facing something beyond his comprehension. And yet, the man still tried to fight. It was almost admirable.
Almost.
"You really want to play this game?" Kuro said, stepping forward slowly, his voice low and dangerous. "You're out of your depth, man. You know that, right?"
The soldier gritted his teeth, trying to steady his shaking hands. "I don't care what you are. I'm stopping this."
Kuro's grin widened. "Oh, I'd love to see you try."
Without warning, Kuro extended his hand, and the air around him seemed to ripple. The soldier's gun twitched in his grip, and before he could react, the weapon was ripped from his hands, floating in mid-air, surrounded by a haze of glitching blue energy. The soldier's eyes widened in shock, his mouth opening in a silent gasp as he watched his last line of defense dissolve into static.
"Not so tough without your toys, huh?" Kuro taunted, his voice cold. "You don't need that. Not anymore."
The gun disappeared completely, and Kuro flicked his fingers again. This time, the entire street seemed to pulse with energy. The ground rippled like water, and the streetlights twisted and bent, their metal frames warping into grotesque shapes. The debris on the ground began to rise, hovering in the air for a moment before disintegrating into glowing blue fragments.
The soldier stumbled backward, terror etched across his face. He tried to run, but Kuro wasn't finished. With a wave of his hand, the air around the soldier crackled, and the man was lifted off his feet, suspended in mid-air by an invisible force.
"You thought you could stop this?" Kuro said, his voice a low growl. "You thought you could come in here and fix everything? Fix me? You're just like everyone else, clinging to your rules, your order, thinking it'll save you."
The soldier gasped, struggling to breathe as Kuro's power tightened around him.
"But the truth is," Kuro continued, his voice deadly calm, "you're nothing. And this world? It's mine now."
With a final flick of his wrist, Kuro sent the soldier flying backward, crashing into the side of a nearby building. The impact sent a wave of dust and debris into the air, and the soldier crumpled to the ground, unmoving.
Kuro stood still for a moment, breathing heavily, the blue glow around him slowly fading. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, the adrenaline still surging through him. The power was intoxicating. He had never felt more alive.