As Raze arrived at the source of the explosion, the cheerful colors of Sunpetal Elementary were buried under smoke, shattered glass, and blood. The playground was in ruins. A swing dangled crookedly from its chain, and children’s bags were scattered like forgotten memories.

  The school was crumbling.

  Civilians screamed. Young students cried as rescue hunters struggled to get them out. The air reeked of burning plastic and scorched earth.

  Raze stood frozen for half a second—until he looked up.

  “My sister… she’s on the fourth floor!”

  He bolted. No hesitation. Just raw fear and fire in his steps.

  Ryo arrived just behind him, gaze sharp and body tense. He scanned the destruction, then exhaled a sharp breath.

  “A goddamn S-Rank gate… in an elementary school.”

  He clenched his fists, muttering as he followed Raze.

  “This world never stops testing us, huh?”

  Then, without another word, he ran into the chaos.

  Inside the ruined halls of Sunpetal Elementary, Raze sprinted like a streak of fire. As he moved, his coat rippled—then shimmered—replaced by sleek black armor lined with glowing red seams. His hand reached over his back, unsheathing a long sword laced with radiant blue edges, the blade humming with heat.

  A foul stench filled the air.

  From the shadows—

  Ten orcs.

  Grotesque, pig-faced beasts armed with rusted cleavers stomped into view, snarling and slamming lockers aside.

  Raze didn’t slow down.

  “Get out of my way!” he roared.

  With a single leap, he spun in midair and slashed in a blazing arc, flames trailing behind him. The hallway lit up in a fiery burst. Screams turned to squeals, then to silence. The orcs were already charred to cinders before their bodies hit the floor.

  Still running, he growled, “I’m coming, Rin.”

  Meanwhile, Ryo knelt in the debris-filled hallway behind him.

  He closed his eyes and placed a palm gently on the cracked tiles. Frost silently traced along the floor like a radar pulse.

  His eyes opened, sharp.

  “There’s a presence… big one.”

  He looked up toward the smoke-shrouded ceiling.

  “Fifth floor. Hiding at the top like a coward.”

  As the tension crackled in the smoke-filled hallway, a calm yet chilling voice echoed from the staircase.

  "Or... why don’t I rip you instead?"

  Ryo emerged through the haze, walking with a quiet, lethal grace. His face unreadable, but his steps—too steady, too silent—promised violence.

  Raze turned his head, surprised.

  “Ryo—”

  “Go.” Ryo said flatly, eyes locked on the Orc General.

  “Save your sister. I’ll handle this.”

  Raze hesitated only for a breath, then grinned.

  “Thank you, brother.”

  And with that, he dashed up the staircase.

  The Orc General bellowed in rage, lifting its axe overhead.

  “You think you’ll leave? As if I’ll—”

  But before it could finish, Ryo vanished.

  In a blink, he was already in front of the General—

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  His fist drove straight into its ribs.

  CRACK.

  The Orc General's eyes bulged as armor splintered and ribs caved in, the force launching its enormous body like a missile into the concrete wall. The wall crumbled around it with a deafening crash.

  The hallway fell silent.

  Dust floated in the air. The remaining orcs stood frozen.

  Ryo lowered his fist, his voice low.

  “Anyone else want to stop him?”

  Ryo stood tall, his gaze fixed on the Orc General. A cold, almost unnerving calmness radiated from him, the violence in his body barely restrained.

  "Come. No. 921... Hellbrace." Ryo’s voice was as sharp as a blade, yet tinged with an eerie quietness. His words weren't a command, but an inevitable declaration.

  A dark, twisted aura manifested around his left hand as the Hellbrace glove appeared before him—a red and black gauntlet, inscribed with a devil’s seal, swirling with dark energy. The moment it slipped over his fingers, the temperature around him dropped. A heavy weight settled in the air, like the very atmosphere was suffocating beneath the weight of his presence.

  Ryo’s fingers flexed, the gauntlet now fully encased in his hand. His eyes narrowed at the Orc General and its subordinates, a dangerous edge to his words as he spoke.

  "How dare you kill children?" His voice was cold, quiet—but the fury behind it was unmistakable. "Did you know they had a future waiting for them? They were supposed to grow up, live their lives—yet you chose to end it."

  His grip on Hellbrace tightened, and the glove responded, swirling with an intense crimson, black, and dark blue aura. The air itself seemed to distort around Ryo, the energy vibrating with malicious intent.

  "I’m not going to forgive you for this." He muttered. His eyes flicked briefly to the Orcs before him, eyes glowing with the weight of the coming destruction. "I’ll show you hell... one... by... one."

  He raised his left arm, and in a single, decisive motion, he shouted, “Smite… Manus Daemonium!!!”

  A massive surge of energy erupted from Hellbrace. The gauntlet enveloped his arm in a torrent of black, crimson, and dark blue swirling energy. It was as if the very essence of hell had taken form, coiling and twisting around his arm, preparing for an unimaginable force to be unleashed.

  The Orcs staggered back, a mix of terror and confusion in their eyes, but Ryo’s voice cut through it all with a final, chilling line.

  "Well then… say hi to the devil for me."

  In that moment, the world seemed to freeze, and all that remained was the overwhelming, infernal power gathering within Ryo’s left hand.

  [SYSTEM WARNING:]

  “Warning: If you release even half of 50% of Hellbrace’s power, the entire school—and half the city—will be obliterated.”

  Ryo clicked his tongue.

  “Tch… figures.”

  He lifted his left arm, the demonic gauntlet—Hellbrace No. 921—glowing ominously. Crimson, black, and deep azure energy danced around it, like the wrath of a sealed god begging to be freed.

  “Manus,” Ryo muttered under his breath, “exert only 1% of your power for now.”

  The chaotic aura crackled, then calmed—still deadly, but no longer cataclysmic. The air pressure dropped just slightly. The building stopped shaking. The orc horde, including the towering General, relaxed just a bit. Their grip on their weapons eased.

  But Ryo caught it—the way their shoulders dropped.

  And that pissed him off.

  He took a step forward, eyes like twin blades.

  “Why do you look relieved?” he said coldly.

  He raised his armored arm slightly, the glow intensifying.

  “I told the weapon to hold back…”

  His voice dropped, almost growling.

  “…but I never said I would.”

  The orc general flinched as a blast of killing intent crashed into him.

  Ryo narrowed his gaze.

  “You slaughtered children. Their futures… their smiles… all gone.”

  He flexed his fingers.

  “So now, I’ll show you a glimpse of what your future holds.”

  He grinned slightly.

  “When you get there… tell the devil I sent you.”

  As Ryo stepped forward, his eyes locked onto the first orc. With a calm breath, he thrust his fist forward—Hellbrace roaring with a devilish screech that echoed through the ruined school. The blow landed squarely on the orc’s face.

  A moment of silence… then—

  Crack.

  Black veins spread from the point of impact like lightning across glass. The orc’s body convulsed, a twisted scream ripping from its throat as the cracks widened. The darkness pulled at it—flesh, blood, even the soul—devoured inch by inch until only a pile of brittle bones remained.

  Ryo pulled his fist back slowly. The black aura curled around his arm like smoke.

  “That…” he said coldly, eyes glowing faintly,

  “…was Manus Daemonium saying hello.”

  "And this one's mine!" Ryo growled, dashing toward the Orc General.

  The monster took a step back—hesitating. For the first time, fear twisted across its grotesque face. That aura… it wasn’t human. It was suffocating. Demonic.

  Ryo blurred past its guard.

  SHHHK—!

  His arm, wrapped in the cursed power of Hellbrace, pierced through steel armor and thick flesh like it was soaked parchment. And behind the orc—

  Held between Ryo’s gloved fingers—still beating—

  Its heart.

  The Orc General's eyes widened in terror. Time seemed to freeze.

  Ryo’s eyes locked onto his. No remorse. No mercy. Just wrath.

  “Griv.”

  The heart ignited—imploded in Ryo’s hand with a sickening burst of red and black energy. The general didn’t even scream. It just collapsed, lifeless.

  Ryo roared, rage and fury crackling in his eyes. He drove his fist forward—Hellbrace gleaming, flaring with abyssal light. The moment it struck the orc’s arm, a devilish screech erupted, like laughter ripped from a tortured soul.

  The impact was cataclysmic.

  The orc’s head blasted clean off, soaring through the wall and out of the building like a missile, leaving a trail of blood and shattered stone behind.

  A black aura wave surged outward from Ryo’s fist, distorting the air, shaking the foundation of the school like a heartbeat from hell itself.

  Ryo clenched his fist—and Manus Daemonium responded with a low, guttural hum.

  Suddenly, the entire gauntlet shifted, its blackened surface cracking open as countless crimson thorns burst out along his forearm and fist. Each spike pulsed with a faint, malevolent glow, twisting unnaturally like they were alive—a forest of demonic blades, hungry for flesh.

  The air grew colder.

  A sinister pressure pressed down on the hallway as Ryo muttered,

  "Now it’s your turn to feel pain."