The world felt heavier than before.
The air—thick, suffocating—pressed down on Asahi's shoulders like an invisible force, squeezing the life from his limbs. His knees trembled. His vision blurred. Exhaustion clawed at his consciousness.
"Ahhh… let me just lie down for a bit…" he murmured, his voice barely a whisper.
His body tilted, surrendering. As if gravity itself had turned against him.
From somewhere nearby, a sharp voice cut through the fog.
"Tch. Not the time for sleep, dumbass!" FA barked, irritation lacing his tone.
But Asahi didn't respond. The sound was distant. Muted. His eyelids fell shut.
"MA… be ready," he mumbled.
"Hm…" came the indifferent hum in return.
The world around him dissolved. Sounds faded. Time slowed. Asahi let go—just enough—to sink inward.
---
Inside his mind, there was only void.
Silent. Endless. Weightless.
Am I even doing this right? his thoughts echoed, bouncing off the invisible walls of darkness.
A throb flared in his left eye. A dull, pulsing ache that radiated through his skull.
Do I even feel regret… for killing you all?
Another pulse. Sharper this time. Something stirred. A weight began to settle behind his left eye—dormant power waiting to awaken.
I know you're there… the Black Man… BA… watching… waiting…
And then—pain.
A sharp spike tore through his skull. His body convulsed.
"—Tsk!" he gasped, clutching his head, his teeth clenched as if to hold himself together.
But it didn't stop.
Dark tendrils slithered through his mind, dragging whispers with them. The voices started soft.
Help me…
Asahi's breath hitched.
Help me…!
The voice grew louder. Distorted. Wrong.
HELP ME!
Screams. Hundreds of them. Ripping through his skull. Crawling. Clawing. Tearing.
Blood began to seep from his ears.
FA stood nearby, silent. Watching.
Asahi's hands flew to his ears—but the voices weren't coming from outside.
They were inside him.
---
And then—
A shift.
A space of nothing. No sky. No ground. No light.
Just blank.
A voice echoed from the void.
"…Asahi… help me…"
There he stood—BA. Broken. Hollow.
His left eye was gone, ripped out as if by some cosmic punishment. His limbs twitched. His breathing came in shallow gasps. He looked… human. But barely.
"Do you… regret it, Asahi?"
Asahi's chest tightened.
"…Huh?"
BA let out a dry, humorless chuckle. It didn't sound alive—it sounded like something that had died long ago.
"Do you regret… killing me?"
Asahi froze. Blood still trailed from his ears. But he said nothing.
BA's voice cracked.
"You could have shared your blessings, Asahi."
"Shut up…" Asahi whispered, fists trembling.
BA's voice fell to a whisper, heavy with grief.
"How does it feel… to be a murderer, Asahi?"
Silence.
A beat passed. Then another.
Finally, Asahi spoke.
"I have already done things… that can never be forgiven."
Tears slid down his face. But his expression remained unchanged.
"I have already… regretted so much."
He smiled—but not out of joy. It was twisted. Wrong. A smile born of torment.
"Now, I'm surrounded by regret."
He raised his head. Eyes burning.
"But still…"
His voice shook—not with fear, but resolve.
"I will kill you. No matter how many times it takes."
He screamed—a raw, primal sound that echoed across the void.
"ARARARARRRR!!"
He wasn't just talking to BA.
He was talking to every version of himself that dared to challenge the world he protected.
---
BA smiled.
A weak, fading expression.
"Asahi…"
Asahi's breath was still ragged.
"…What?"
BA's lips moved, trembling with something eerie.
"Kill everyone, okay?"
A cold wave washed over Asahi.
"I… never… regretted it," he muttered. His voice lifeless. Numb.
BA gave one last bitter laugh.
"…Yare yare…"
And he was gone.
---
Asahi's body collapsed within the Dimensional Dream—sprawled against the endless void, motionless.
FA sat nearby, arms crossed, his expression unreadable.
"…Tsk. What a mess," he muttered.
Then—movement.
Asahi's eyes slowly opened.
No. One eye.
His left.
A swirling void of darkness, pulsing with red sparks like dying stars in a black sea.
FA narrowed his eyes. "…Huh?"
Asahi remained still. Empty. A shell.
And then—a voice.
MA.
Screaming. Inside Asahi's head.
"ARARARRARAR… HELP ME… I CAN'T BEAR IT ANYMORE… ARARARARARR!"
The voice cracked like thunder through his skull. Asahi's body twitched. Blood poured from his ears again.
FA flinched.
"…The hell's happening?" he whispered.
No response.
Asahi just lay there—his eye glowing. Consuming.
FA moved quickly. Urgently. He placed his hand against Asahi's forehead.
Dive in.
---
Inside Asahi's Mind.
Void. Cold. Silent.
FA frowned.
"…His mind is blank?"
Then—a sound.
Low. Twisted. Familiar.
Help me.
FA's pulse spiked.
HELP ME.
Louder. Closer. Crawling under his skin.
HELP ME!
He couldn't breathe.
HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME!
Screams engulfed everything.
FA gasped—his hand jerking back as if burned.
He was bleeding.
His ears—dripping red.
"…This is bad," he muttered, staring at the blood on his fingers.
Silence returned.
But the weight hadn't left.
"…Why do I feel like it's still there?" he whispered to himself.
Then—movement.
Asahi's fingers curled.
Slowly, he rose. Blood trailing from his ears, face pale. His body shook—but he stood.
"…Asahi?" FA called, hesitant.
Asahi lifted his head.
One eye dull and broken.
The other—a burning abyss.
FA's stomach turned.
"…This isn't normal. Asahi… what the hell did you do?"
Asahi said nothing.
Then—softly, brokenly:
"FA…"
His voice cracked.
"I… did it."
FA's eyes widened.
Asahi's face twisted. Agony, fear, guilt—all melded into one expression.
And then—another scream.
MA.
"RARARARRARARRA—NO! NO! I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE!"
Even MA was breaking.
FA clenched his fists.
"…MA's hearing them too," he realized, eyes wide. "But why?"
Then he saw it—the look in Asahi's eyes.
Not fear. Not confusion.
Clarity.
Buried beneath layers of suffering… was resolve.
"…I have to kill them," Asahi thought. "Every Asahi… before they reach my world…"
His hand clenched. His breath steady now.
FA swallowed hard.
He had seen it. He knew this moment was coming.
"…You have to do it, Asahi," he thought, heart heavy. "Because I saw what's waiting in the future…"
A silence fell.
But it was the kind that came before a storm.