"Why didn't we get teleported like we were supposed to?" Kazuki blurted out, his voice tinged with frustration as if the entire game didn't already weigh on his mind.
Abyss turned his massive shark head slowly, Kazuki still can't believe he got cornered by someone even the number two struggled to beat. "Ah, that answer is one I am quite eager to explain." His lips curled into a faint, cryptic smile. "I spent one hundred of my points to ensure that our positions remained unchanged. The game is an intricate thing, is it not? And in such intricacy, there lies beauty." He took a step forward. "I am not like the other's Kazuki. And I have had an interest in that boy since the first day, Kobe Arakawa—Soryu. He will return for that dead body over there." His voice dropped, turning from poetic reverie to a chilling silence.
"And when he does, I will be here waiting to pounce and devour my prey."
Kazuki's thoughts began to whirl. He shifted uncomfortably, the weight of Abyss's words pressing on him like a fog. That boy. Kobe. Kazuki didn't know him, but he already had a sense he would rather stay as far away from him as possible. This whole game, this whole mess—it was beyond anything Kazuki could have imagined.
As Abyss continued to speak, Kazuki's thoughts began to wander back to the choices that had led him here, tangled in this game with the likes of an Abyss. A high school dropout, that's what he was, a failure in his own eyes. No diploma, no future, just drifting from one bad situation to another. He was always getting involved with the wrong people. Always, always, always.
Kazuki let out a sharp, almost bitter laugh as he crossed his arms. "Yeah, you and your poetic nonsense. You're all the same. Just another freak that thinks he's the center of everything, really, you're just a damn... mess." His gaze flickered to the ground. "And I bet my dumb old man will still blame me for this somehow."
His shoulder's sagged, a quiet resignation spreading through him. He didn't want to think about the wrong turns, the bad people. It was too late for that. Besides, if he thought about it too much he'd have to face the truth at some point that he had made the choice to walk this path.
But not now. Not while Abyss was standing in front of him, so calm... so... controlled. A man of intellect, his eyes reflecting a mind that was calculating, always calculating.
Abyss, hearing Kazuki's words let out a small, knowing laugh, his voice a low, sonorous hum. "You think so little of yourself Kazuki. It is both a blessing and a curse. You see, when the world seems beyond your grasp, you can still remain untouched by it, free from responsibility. Yet in that same breath, you are bound to it, like a puppet to it's strings, caught in the motions of fate."
Kazuki looked up at Abyss, irritation flickering in his chest. "I'm no puppet. I'm not like you. You're just... the worst of the worst."
Abyss's smile widened, an amused glint flashing in his eyes. "Am I? Or do you simply not understand yet? How far beneath me you are, how much deeper the game of life goes than you could imagine."
Kazuki clenched his fists. He wanted to rage out against the shark. But he wasn't that crazy, he wasn't that strong. If Abyss felt like it, he could twist Kazuki's head off with very little effort, and then he would just crunch down on his corpse.
Without warning, something flickered in the air. Kazuki's breath caught as he saw it: paper wings. All rushing in their direction, so fast that he could barely follow them with his eyes. They fluttered in the air, their speed making it impossible to track their precise movement.
Kazuki's eyes widened. What the hell?
He didn't get much time to think about it. Abyss let out a low chuckle, almost as if the unfolding scene was some sort of beautiful poem and he wanted to flow with the ink on it's page. "Now Kazuki. The wings of fate arrive."
Abyss leaped into to the air with a blur of motion leaving a gust of wind in his trail from the cloud he was on that Kazuki had provided.
His laughter rang out, full of exhilaration.
"Come Kazuki. The game is far from over."
____
The air around me roared with the flurry of paper darting forward in endless arcs. They carried sharpness that wasn't just physical but emotional. Each fold was imbued with the fury of Yui's lifeless body, the weight of my failures, and the purpose I had to see this fight to it's end.
Ahead, perched on a conjured cloud, Abyss laughed. His shark-like grin split wide, teeth glinting even in the overcast light of the battlefield. Beside him, that same boy, Kazuiki, Abyss called him, he fumbled.
His hands trembled as he summoned more clouds to hover between us. Abyss in stark contrast was calm, but he struggled to keep his excitement at bay.
"Now Kazuki," Abyss spoke, his voice deep, and carrying even above the sound of the winds I had created. "the wings of fate arrive."
Without waiting for a response, Abyss launched himself into the air, the cloud beneath him exploding into vapor from the sheer force of his movement. He moved with deadly elegance, a blur of water and muscle that radiated power. My wings pushed me forward, aiming to intercept him, but he spun through them with terrifying ease, his massive hands swatted away the sharp edged paper like it was nothing more than a nuisance.
I wasn't surprised. I was furious.
I followed, sending more paper blades streaking toward him. Each one folded mid-flight, twisting into new, unpredictable shapes. He caught a few, the water around him forming a shield that dissolved my attacks upon contact. But I wasn't aiming to hit him yet, I was testing him, learning the rhythm of his movements.
Kazuki hovered awkwardly nearby, his feet shifting nervously on a newly formed cloud. I turned my attention to him briefly, sending a couple paper knives his way. He yelped, throwing a thicker cloud up to block it. The knives sliced through with ease.
The knives sliced both of his ears, not off just leaving a deep shallow gasp.
Abyss, seeing this let out a booming laughter. "Come on now Kobe Arakawa." he said, calling out my name for the first time. "The boy is but a leaf caught in a tempest. You wouldn't pluck it would you?"
I didn't answer. I couldn't afford to. My focus shifted back to Abyss. And just in time. He thrust his arm forward, sending a geyser of water hurtling toward me. I darted to the side, narrowly avoiding the torrent, but the residual spray hit me like shrapnel, each droplet carrying enough force to bruise.
"Good," Abyss said, his voice rich with satisfaction. "You're not dull. Show me more."
I gritted my teeth, my hands moving instinctively as I summoned another barrage of sharp paper feathers. This time they split into two groups, attacking him from opposite sides. Abyss's grin widened, and with a sweep of his arm, he conjured a vortex of water that swallowed them whole.
"He's a monster," I muttered under my breath, frustration bubbling beneath my skin. I sent out another attack twisting into the shape of spears aimed for his blind spots. Once again, they dissolved before they could land. It was like trying to cut through steel with air.
Then I seen him do something strange. A flicker of water formed in the air in front of his hands, it formed to a little circular lens. My mind raced and quickly put together what he was planning to do.
'Reflect light.'
I dropped the wings and in place left a paper clone of me, he took his eyes off me for a second which allowed for the attack to be directed at the fragile clone. Abyss's eyes lit up, and with a flick of his wrist, he formed a sphere of water in front him.
The sunlight bent through it, intensifying into a blinding ray that shot forward with impossible speeds. I dodged it by a hair, and the clone disintegrated.
Light-speed attacks. He wasn't just a predator. He was trying to match death itself.
"That's how Yui..." My voice trailed off as the realization hit me. The attack—the one that had killed Yui—it was a weaponized beam of light. Magnified and directed with lethal precision. My heart pounded as I tried to formulate a plan.
"Show me your fire!" Abyss called out.
I didn't respond, instead using folded paper platforms to propel myself higher. My wings scattered, creating a storm of blades that rained down on him. Abyss countered with a surge of water, his movements almost lazy in their precision.
Kazuki tried to join in, sending a dense cloud towards me in what I assumed was an attempt to blind me. It barely registered as a threat. I sliced through it with a single motion, the edges of my paper sharp enough to disperse the vapor instantly. He froze, eyes wide, before darting back behind Abyss.
"Get out!" Abyss roared. "You're ruining the fun!"
Kazuki didn't hesitate. He jumped from cloud to cloud before flying off with one of them, his movements frantic and uncoordinated. I didn't bother to follow, he wasn't worth my energy.
"Now," Abyss said, his grin widening as he turned back to me. "Lets see what you're truly made of."
Before that last syllable had left his lips, he lunged. The air cracked with a force of his motion, a streak of shimmering blue and grey as his form blurred towards me. I barely had time to react. My paper coiled around me instinctively, layers folding and weaving into barriers that absorbed the initial strike, a hydra-like whip of water slicing through the air with precision.
The impact drove me back, my shoes skidding against the drenched pavement. My mind raced, and I pushed my quirk further, sharper and faster. Shapes, think shapes. Scissors emerged, their edges honed by compression and desperation. I hurled them at him, one after another, a storm of cutting force aimed at his legs.
Abyss didn't dodge, he leapt into the air, twisting with the grace of a dancer, the scissors flashing past him in an arc. He landed with a splash into the water he'd saturated the area with, vanishing beneath the surface like a predator retreating to it's lair.
My heart thundered as I scanned the ripping pools, knowing he could reappear anywhere. Think. Stay ahead. Don't fall into his rhythm.
The water surged violently behind me. Abyss erupted from it's depths, his form magnified, water cascading off his body in glistening torrents. His claws slashed downward, and I barely managed to hurl myself to the side, the air displaced by attacks cutting like a blade.
"Is that all?" he mocked, his voice a guttural prowl. "I expected more."
I clenched my fists. More, then. Fine, let's try something new.
I thrust my hands forward. Crafting something I had never done before: a lightning bolt. Thin, jagged, and razor-sharp, it formed from overlapping layers of paper, compressed and aligned into a weapon meant to pierce.
With a burst of effort, I hurled it toward him, and to my surprise I was even struggling to follow it's speed. It's path cut the humid air with deadly intent. Abyss saw it an smiled, his arms spreading as if to embrace the attack. It stuck him square in the chest, and for a moment, everything seemed to stop.
His grin faltered, his body convulsed, his eyes went wide with shock, not from electricity, but from the phantom pain the weapon carried. He staggered, water dripping from his limbs as he recoiled a step.
"Clever, and cool." he hissed, his voice tinged with genuine surprise. His frame rippled unnaturally as he recovered, and the grin returned, now wild and full of something akin to joy. "You managed to rattle me. Not many can claim that."
Before I could respond, the water behind me exploded. Abyss emerged in a blur, his clawed hand aiming for my throat. I spun, folding paper into a shield just in time to catch the blow. The force sent me flying, crashing through a half collapsed wall. My ribs ached, my vision blurred, but I refused to stay down.
"Impressive." Abyss called out, his voice carrying through the destruction. He paced toward me, each step deliberate, the water pooling beneath him as if drawn by his presence. "Endeavour fought with the same fire. That refusal to bow. But tell me—" His form shimmered, growing larger, his muscles swelling largely and disgustingly, he was augmenting his size, water filled his muscles. "—can you keep up with me, when I truly unleash?"
With a flicker of my wrist, a paper bird shot forth, it's wings beating furiously as it soared towards Abyss. Mid-flight, it unfolded, refolding itself into a massive weight with the label 1tonne on it. It was a solid, crushing block that plummeted like a meteor. The ground quaked as it struck, the shockwave ripping through the air and knocking debris from nearby ruins. Dust and water mingled into a chaotic swirl, and for a moment, I thought I had him.
Abyss's roar tore throughout the streets, a sound that could have been rage, pain or exhilaration. And then came his laughter. Deep, resonant and unrestrained.
"Magnificent!" he cried, his voice booming over the destruction as he emerged, larger and more monstrous than before. His shark-like frame bulged, veins like rivers of power coursing over his body. "You've surpassed my expectations, Kobe Arakawa! Truly, you are a marvel!"
A marvel? I felt anything but. Every move I made was born of years of conditioning mixed with desperation, every strike I carried the weight of failure. Images of Yui flashed in my mind—the moment her body fell, lifeless, because I wasn't fast enough, wasn't strong enough. I wasn't enough.
I crafted a giant folding fan with a neat and delicate design. It's elegance sculpted from paper. Abyss fired off a tidal wave, "Good, Show me more!"
The fan was above me, waiting my command, Abyss was still asking for more of me...
I swung my arm in motion. The wind that followed blew like a hurricane. Debris and metal poles and light posts lifted off the ground, the ground Abyss was standing on shattered apart. He blew past it and was sent below to a lower level. The wind was still rushing past me in a strong gust that left me unharmed.
Abyss got up again, his torso was fully exposed with old and new scars all over them. Why is he still getting up? Is he happy with this? How can he keep going?
"{He's a monster.}"
A familiar voice spoke to me, it was childlike and melancholic. I turned to look at it, at him, at me. It was a small version of me, lacking the dreads and the piercings. Head looking down at his shiny black shoes and a voice that sounded like it was about to break apart.
"{He's a monster that keeps on eating. Will you let him swallow you whole?}"
'No.' It was an answer given to no one, since I knew nobody was actually there.
I began folding my last construct of the fight. Layer after layer compressed under my trembling fingers, every fold imbued with purpose. This wasn't about fire, electricity, or water. To beat an unstoppable force, create another unstoppable force.
As I worked Abyss crouched down, then jumped. But as he seen the creation he was jumping into his eyes widened in shock and his grin softened into something almost reverent. "Ah," he muttered, his tone quieter now, as if witnessing a revelation. "So this is your crescendo."
When it was ready... it fell. A shimmering construct of paper that unfolded as it descended, blooming into the shape of a bomb. As it hung in the air for a moment I ascended higher, the weapon's size dwarfed the buildings below. A small Family Mart could fit within it's hollow core.
And then, I let it fall.
Abyss's grin widened, his arms spread as if to embrace the apocalypse. "Life and Death," he said in a serene voice amidst the oncoming chaos. "Two sides of the same beautiful coin."
The detonation was cataclysmic. The world almost seemed to fracture under the sheer force. Buildings toppled like dominos, their steel skeletons groaning before collapsing into rubble. The ground split open, shockwaves rippling outward and shattering every window for blocks. The sky itself seemed to ripple, the air was filled with dust, paper fragments, and the distant screams of the city caught in the storm.
I hovered above it all, floating, suspended in the air. My body was weightless, my limbs trembling, my heart pounding against my ribcage like a trapped bird. Around me, hundreds of paper cranes fluttered in the air, circling me like silent weeping angels.
Below, the battlefield was unrecognizable—a ruin of broken structures and churned earth. But it wasn't just destruction. In the air, high above the devastation, were my creations: massive birds and dragons of paper, their wings spanning tens of meters. They carried civilians, heroes, and even villains away from the blast zone, their forms graceful as they soared toward safety.
I hadn't realized I'd done it. Somewhere, amidst the fight, my quirk had acted on it's own, driven by some buried part of me that still wanted to protect, to save.
"{You have gained ten points!}"
My throat burned, my chest tightening with emotions I couldn't name. My eyes stung, but I blinked away the tears. The last time I'd cried was years ago, when I was being shepherded into the back of a pick up truck to what I believed would be a prison. But this pain? This was worse. This was more akin to a wound that wouldn't close.
I thought of Yui again, her face, her voice, her laugh. And then her silence.
"I'm sorry," I said, my voice breaking. "I should have—" My words caught in my throat, the weight of my guilt choking me.
The cranes around me shimmered in the fading light, their delicate wings reflecting the fractured sunlight through the dust. They felt like her somehow—fragile, beautiful and fleeting.
I floated away, slowly. Back to where her body lay. The air felt heavier as I drifted towards where her body was. Untouched amidst the ruins. The paper cranes that had swirled around me like guardians began to scatter. Only one remained, trailing beside me, it's soft fluttering form was like an echo of the life that had been stolen from her.
The ground was uneven, fractured from the force of the battle, but I landed gently. I took a step forward, my legs unsteady beneath me, until I reached her. Yui was exactly how I left her—pale face but serene, her body cradled in the arms of a world that had failed her.
My breath hitched. My hands clenched into fists at my sides as the reality of it sank in. She wasn't coming back. The fire in her eyes, the laughter that used to fill the space of our grim reality at one of my dumb remarks, was gone. All that remained was this silent and still form.
I knelt beside her, my knees pressing into the broken ground. My fingers trembled as I reached out, brushing a stray lock hair from her face. She felt so cold. So distant. It was as if she had already become a part of the ruins around us.
"Yui..." her name came out as a whisper, barely audible over the soft rustle of paper in the wind. My throat felt raw, my chest hollow. I wanted to cry, to continue raging at the unfairness. But there was nothing left. The fight had taken everything from me.
"I'm sorry," I said, my voice cracking. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I'm sorry I wasn't enough."
The paper crane that had followed me landed softly on her chest, folding itself into a smaller, simpler shape, also mourning her. I stared at it for a moment before I reached out, letting my quirk take over. Slowly, deliberately, I began folding.
Each motion was precise and ritualistic. My fingers moved with a grace I couldn't feel, the paper shaped into an envelope. Layer by layer, I folded my sorrow, my guilt, and my affection into it. When I was done, I placed it over her heart, pressing my hand against it as if I could somehow send my feelings to her through it.
"This... is all I can do for you now," I whispered. My voice was shaking, my eyes were burning, but the tears wouldn't fall. They never did. Even now, when everything inside me felt like it was breaking apart, I couldn't cry.
I stood slowly, my legs threatening to give way beneath me. The envelope, enveloped her. She wouldn't be lost in this game. I will carry her out with me.
I pressed my hands together and closed my eyes.
"Goodbye, Yui Kodai."