「 ✦ Rimuru Tempest ✦ 」
"Your town is in the way, so I decided to destroy it."
A jolt of pain—sharp, searing—and then… nothing. Just darkness. Then suddenly, I was awake.
But something felt wrong. Off. Not quite me. Like I'd been pulled through a space that shouldn't exist, between two points that never should've connected. That fleeting instant—the one between facing Hinata Sakaguchi, sword raised and heart full of conflict—and arriving here… it felt longer than my entire life.
I opened my eyes, slowly, and tried to steady myself. My body felt weightless, like it had been rebuilt from scratch, familiar piece by unfamiliar piece. My balance was off, my senses wobbled. Still, I stood.
I took a look around me.
The place around me was vast. A cavern—no, an abyssal cathedral of stone. The walls stretched up into an endless ceiling, so high they vanished into shadow. The air was thick, heavy with mana and malevolence. I could feel it pulsing—an ambient hostility from unseen beasts lurking just beyond the range of my vision.
Wherever I was, I wasn't welcome.
"Where the hell am I…?" I muttered under my breath, voice barely echoing in the sheer vastness of the cavern. My mind, still reeling from the shift, scrambled to connect the dots. I knew I had to stay calm—panic would serve no one, least of all me.
I took a deep breath. "Alright. Start simple."
With no destination in mind, I began walking, picking a direction at random. The silence was almost oppressive. No dripping water, no fluttering bats. My thoughts returned to the last thing I remembered clearly—Hinata Sakaguchi.
Our battle had been random, spontaneous but fierce—filled with buried emotions neither of us wanted to name. And even as blades clashed, all I could think about was her. The woman whose dying wish I vowed to honor. The one I buried with trembling hands.
Hinata's blind faith in anti-monster justice ignited a bitterness in me that refused to fade. But that could wait. I clenched my fists and focused. I had a kingdom to return to. I needed to know where I was—and why.
"Great Sage," I called out mentally. "Have you finished analyzing the mask?"
<< Analysis is complete. Would you like to reproduce it? >>
"Yes. Please."
A whirl of black smoke gathered in my hand, twisting and folding in on itself until the form of her mask—Shizue's mask—materialized from the darkness. Pristine. Untouched by time. A relic of pain, of legacy, of promises I refused to forget. And promises I just might not keep.
I held it up for a moment, letting my reflection peer back from the smooth, pale and porcelain-like surface. Then, with a breath I didn't realize I was holding, I slid it onto my face.
"I'm going to kill her," I whispered. The words weren't loud. They didn't need to be. "One way or another."
Time passed, but I couldn't tell how long. The darkness made it hard to tell, and this cave had no rhythm, no life cycle. Only silence and danger. Eventually, I sensed something up ahead—something big. And I was right.
Lumbering from the shadows was a creature so massive it made ogres look like housecats. A grotesque fusion of tiger and bear, its muscles rippled beneath matted fur, and its maw gleamed with jagged teeth slicked in drool that hissed where it touched stone. Red eyes locked onto me with an almost unnatural rage.
It roared—a thunderous, primal bellow that shook the very ground—and electricity began to arc over its head. Thunder crackled as it lunged.
"Damn."
The beast's enormous claw swung down—easily the size of a small truck—but it never made contact. My barrier caught it mid-swing with a resonant thrum, distorting the air in a shimmer of light.
"Well," I muttered, watching the beast snarl in confusion, "at least this still works."
I raised my left hand, channeling power into it. Shadows gathered like storm clouds in my palm, flickering with violet electricity. With a swipe of my hand, I released it—Dark Lightning surged forth, tearing through the air like a blade.
The beast didn't even have time to scream.
There was a flash—then gore. Violet light mixed with maroon blood, the scent of scorched fur and charred flesh blooming out like a morbid perfume. Its massive body collapsed, twitching once before stilling forever.
I didn't stop to admire the result. I stepped over its remains without slowing. There was more to this place. More creatures. More questions. Because, if the worse of my instincts is right, I might be in another world once again.
··—–—⚜—–—···
A quarter to an hour later, I found myself in a new environment. Greenery spread out all around me, along with grotesque imitations of plant life. I jumped from branch to branch, dozens of velociraptor-like beasts chasing me from the ground below. The one thing that stood out from them was the strange flowers blooming from their foreheads—unnaturally symmetrical, almost too delicate for creatures that looked built to maul.
"Considering everything I've seen so far, it wouldn't be strange for this whole place to be some kind of magical dungeon," I muttered aloud, annoyed, as I shot a bolt of black lightning straight down.
The vaporizing thunderclap exploded on the jungle floor, cratering the earth and sending debris flying like fireworks on a funeral night. That took out about a dozen or more of those flowery dinos, leaving behind sizzling carcasses and curling plumes of smoke.
I landed with a quiet thud on the branch of a twisted tree whose trunk resembled writhing limbs. I wasn't even pretending to question things anymore.
Blood clung to my shoes.
My coat was barely torn, but smeared with the aftermath of a hundred kills. My eyes, I realized, weren't blinking as much as they should've. I was stuck somewhere between instinct and calculation—hyper-aware, utterly cold.
That was somehow uncharacteristic of me—even I could tell.
Another group leapt from the foliage. I didn't move. The instant they appeared, silverly black tendrils of lightning arced from my shoulders, dancing through the air and slicing them clean in mid-leap. Their charred corpses fell to the ground like broken puppets, smoke rising from their joints.
"Eighty-two," I whispered without emotion.
They kept coming. Crawling from tree trunks, emerging from beneath the mossy earth, bounding from behind mutated flora.
"Ninety-one."
"Ninety-four."
"Ninety-eight."
Their numbers dwindled.
I walked through the steam and scorched bark, calm in the middle of that grotesque storm. My steps carried me past ruptured roots and twitching flowers—each one reacting like it felt pain when its kin were killed. It almost made me laugh.
I don't know how long I walked. Time stretched strangely here. My thoughts were more a hum than actual dialogue in my mind.
Kill.
Move forward.
Kill again.
Rinse and repeat.
[Smack]
I slapped myself to snap me out of my predatory trance.
"Fuck. What happened to me?"
And then the atmosphere shifted.
A faint breeze passed. Something that wasn't hostile. Not welcoming either—but different. Like a quiet breath of a living mind. I stepped past a veil of drooping vines into a cavern-like opening. The light inside was different—pale blue, reflecting off damp stone, with faint crystals flickering along the walls. The air was still, almost sacred in comparison to the chaos outside.
And then I heard voices.
Not beastly howls, not death cries. Actual voices. Human. My Magic Sense—now turned Universal Sense—expanded and pinpointed two strange presences.
I walked silently forward, letting my Haki leak just slightly—enough for anyone nearby to notice something terribly strong (I'm stronk) was approaching. No reason to be subtle anymore.
And then I saw them.
A boy—white-haired, one-armed, and visibly human, if scarred and tired—stood before me with a firearm aimed my way, eyes narrowed like someone who'd long since stopped being surprised by weird shit.
Beside him stood a petite girl, delicate and impossibly pale, her long blonde hair flowing behind her. A single cloth barely clung to her form, and her crimson eyes glowed with a power that rivaled ancient vampires. Ironically…
Isn't she an actual vampire?
<
Thought so.
She stood with unnatural grace, her body relaxed, but her gaze sharp—watchful. They stared back at me. I stared back at them. We stood in silence for a moment, the three of us, each measuring the other. My hand crackled slightly with residual aura. The boy didn't flinch. The girl almost smiled.
"…Sup," the boy said, voice low and gravelly. Tired. Detached.
"Hey," I replied, matching the same energy. "Didn't expect others down here."
"Same."
"Huh," I cocked my head. "You're not trying to kill me. That's new."
The girl tilted her head. "You're not one of the monsters."
"Nah," I smirked. "But I've killed about a hundred of them already, so I'm probably worse."
The silver-haired boy gave a dry chuckle. "Hmm. Fair enough."
A pause.
We stood there in a triangle of tension, none of us flinching, but no weapons drawn either.
"I'm not here for you," I said, glancing at the cave walls. "Dungeon trial or whatever this is, you're probably here for your own reasons. So let's just forget we saw each other and—"
"Yeah," he said, interrupting me. "Sounds like a plan."
"Good. Just as long as we're both in agreement," I replied.
I walked past him.
He walked past me.
The girl walked too, without a word.
We passed each other by mere inches. No tension. No killing intent. Just… a pause. And then—
Silence broke.
The next second, the entire world turned on its head.
The girl's hair fluttered like silk caught in a tempest.
The boy's gun spun into position, faster than a blink.
I moved too.
No words.
No warning.
An eruption. A clash. The collapse of restraint.
Bullets flew. Magic screamed. Lightning tore through the air, flames and vines and plants writhing in response. A blade of crystallized magic scraped the edge of my neck, almost impressively close—almost.
I twisted gravity behind me and launched a barrage of black flame spears, forcing the girl to retreat in a streak of crimson mist. She flicked her wrist midair, creating a blinding glyph that launched a blood-red blast across the cave. It didn't matter. The moment I saw it, it had already been countered.
The white-haired boy was fast. His movements, polished. Calm, even.
But he was still normal. Just enhanced. Just human. So mortal.
The moment I got slightly serious, it ended. Time felt like it slowed. My hand reached his chest. He blinked. A pulse of explosive force, my own aura, detonated inside his ribcage.
He didn't scream. Just coughed once. And fell.
"Hajime!" The girl dashed toward him, fury in her eyes—but I was already there. I placed a single finger against her forehead.
And whispered,
"Fall."
Her body froze. The light faded from her pupils. She collapsed beside him, still breathing, bordering on the unconscious. I stood there for a moment, letting the silence return. No theatrics. No bloodlust. Just the aftermath.
"Yue…"
Just like that—it was over.
"Should've just kept walking," I muttered, sitting on a nearby log that somehow managed to stay intact throughout the whole ordeal.
The flowers with eyes on their petals rustled behind me.
Their bodies lay still, twitching faintly—not unconscious, but very much awake… just no longer capable of doing anything about it. The girl's, Yue's, limbs had gone limp, her magic dissolved and scattered. Her eyes—those proud, calculating crimson eyes—were now wide and disoriented, twitching as if trying to refocus on a reality that refused to make sense anymore.
I stood up, stepped over the cratered ground toward them and casually plopped myself down on another fallen log, brushing off a few stray leaves like I owned the forest.
"You're both durable. I'll give you that," I said, stretching one leg out and leaning forward. "But in the end, not worth anything more than mediocrity."
Neither of them replied, though Hajime managed a twitch of the brow. Progress, so I smiled faintly.
"Well. Since you're still alive, let's do something productive, shall we?"
I flared my aura, and a wave of mental pressure washed over them—not enough to hurt, but enough to remind them who was in control. The sort of pressure that made lungs forget how to breathe.
"You seem like decent enough survivors," I said. "So tell me—where am I? What is this place?"
No answer.
I flared my aura again, just once. Hajime coughed violently, a fine mist of blood spraying as the backlash from his failed attempts to fight back earlier finally caught up to him. Yue, to her credit, growled low—half pain, half pride. Her magic, though exhausted, began to reconstruct her body with a speed that surprised even me.
"You can answer," I said, tone gentler now. "Or I can start removing fingers until one of you gets talkative."
That did the trick.
"—Great Dungeon of Oscar Orcus," Hajime choked out between clenched teeth. "Or at least… that's what it's called. Don't know who built it. Full of monsters. Each level is a different ecosystem. You kill the guardian of the entire place, you supposedly get access to treasure unlike any other."
I nodded. "Oh yeah? And why are you here?"
Hajime spat blood, but his eyes were steadier now—like he was trying to gather scraps of dignity. "Surviving, obviously… And to find something at the bottom."
"Something?" I echoed.
"A way home."
"Ah," I said, leaning back against the log. "One of those stories. Summoned hero, trials, betrayal, revenge, all that fun stuff. Haha, cute."
Yue was still silent, though she now watched me with a mixture of fear and focus, like someone staring at a collapsing star from too close.
"You're her support?" I asked, turning toward her.
"I'm his partner," she replied weakly, through gritted teeth.
"Romantic or platonic?"
Yue blinked, surprised. "What kind of question is that…?"
"Humor me."
"…Romantic."
I chuckled. "Even cuter."
Another beat of silence.
"You're not with the Church, are you?" Hajime asked hoarsely.
"Do I look like I'm with anyone?" I raised a brow. "I'm just a lost dude with a vengeance and an awful lot of time."
Yue looked puzzled, but her face paled when I let a small part of my true presence leak out again. The air twisted. The light dimmed. Their mana pools cowered. I pulled it back just as quick, as if drawing a knife across their throats and stopping just short of cutting skin.
"Now then," I said calmly. "I have no intention of killing you. But I do need to get to the bottom of this dungeon. If you're in my way again…"
I leaned forward, smiling with zero warmth.
"You won't get a second round."
Neither of them spoke. Not because they were afraid—though they were—but because they understood. This wasn't a threat. It was a promise that the world itself would honor on my behalf.
I stood, brushing myself off.
"Rest a little," I said as I turned away. "You'll need it. I wasn't even trying."
With that, I disappeared into the deeper shadows of the dungeon.
Behind me, Hajime finally collapsed backward with a quiet thud. Yue crawled beside him, her fingers trembling as she gripped his hand, both of them still breathing—still alive—but no longer quite the same.
··—–—⚜—–—···
「 ✦ Hajime Nagumo ✦ 」
He left.
Just like that.
No portal, no footsteps, no sound. One second he was there—looming like the goddamned embodiment of inevitability—and the next, he was gone. As if the dungeon itself had exhaled and let him pass.
I didn't move right away.
My body felt like it was made of fractured glass. Breathing was like inhaling razors. Every nerve screamed, every instinct clawed for something to hold onto—but there was nothing. Just Yue's trembling hand clutching mine. Still warm. Still here.
Barely.
"…Yue," I whispered, not even sure she could hear me. My voice felt distant in my own skull. Her grip twitched in response.
"I'm here," she said softly, and it broke something in me.
Not from fear. Not even from pain. Just… the quiet knowledge that we lost. Completely. Irrefutably. There was no strategy we didn't try. No trump card we held back. Because it didn't matter.
That thing… He wasn't a person. He wasn't a monster. Wasn't even sure what he was. I sat up slowly. Yue stayed beside me, slumped against my side, her magic weaving sluggishly around our wounds. Her regeneration was always insane, but right now, even she looked like a cracked porcelain doll. Pale. Drenched in sweat. But alive.
I should've been dead.
We both should've been dead.
He didn't kill us on purpose.
That thought hit harder than any spell ever could.
"…He went easy on us," I muttered, my voice bitter, like I'd swallowed rust. "That wasn't even a warm-up."
Yue didn't reply. She didn't need to. I could feel her shame twisting the same way mine was—tight, burning, helpless. My heart pounded in my chest with frustration. With humiliation. With the realization that there were things in this world that not even our desperation could touch.
He sat on a fucking log, interrogated us like we were schoolchildren caught sneaking out after curfew, and left us broken on the floor with all the emotional weight of brushing off lint. I leaned back against the cavern wall, pressing a hand to my face.
"…Shit."
For the first time in quite a while, I realized how small I still was. After everything I'd fought through—the betrayal, the abyss, the fucking monsters—I thought I'd made it. I thought I'd clawed my way into something resembling strength.
But compared to him?
I was a coughing baby against a hydrogen bomb.
Yue shifted beside me, resting her head against my shoulder. She was still trying to act composed, but I could feel the tension in her frame. She'd never looked away from me—not once during that whole nightmare. She never does.
That's what hurt most. Not the defeat itself, but having her see me lose like that. Powerlessly.
"…We need to get stronger," I said under my breath. She nodded. The silence stretched on.
"…He's heading deeper," Yue said softly. "Toward the final floor's guardian."
"I know."
"He'll reach it before we do."
"Yeah."
"And he'll probably erase it like it's nothing."
"Definitely."
More silence.
"Still," I said, eyes narrowing, "If he's the ceiling… then I guess we know how far we still have to climb."
I didn't say it with hope. I wasn't naive enough to think I could just walk into some power-up montage and close the gap. No, this wasn't inspiration. This was survival instinct. Because if he ever decided we were more trouble than we were worth? We'd never get a second chance.
I stood up, slowly. My legs felt like lead. Yue followed suit, swaying just a little, but regaining her poise like she always did. We didn't need to talk about it. We wouldn't stop. We couldn't stop.
I glanced toward the path that guy had vanished into. Somewhere ahead, the next floor waited. And beyond that?
Something unfathomable.
"…Come on," I said, adjusting my grip on Donner, the metal still warm from earlier. "Let's keep moving."
Yue smiled faintly. "Right behind you."
And just like that, we walked deeper into the dungeon—two shadows, smaller than we thought we were, following the wake of a storm that had no reason to spare us. But did anyway.
For now.