Convict Unit: Black Parade

Thirty years had passed since the Gates first opened.

In a world teeming with superhumans wielding every imaginable power, only one standard decided who could claim the rank of S: the power to Domain Break.

It was the ability to sever another’s world with your own—to forcibly overwrite their reality.

Just as the powers of the Awakened were bound to those of monsters, Domain Break was a reflection of the Gates themselves.

A Counter-Gate. Humanity’s ultimate weapon against the legions of the beyond.

And now, here, that power was unfolding.

An endless plain of glacial blue stretched into the horizon, over which fell a flurry of snow-white blades.

The woman who ended the Gate War thirty years ago.

One of the Old Five Heroes.

The executioner who struck down a demon lord…

This was the Domain Break of Callsign Ghost: a cold, cutting winter.

Releasing a long, white breath, Ghost slowly leveled the black blade in her hand at the Rose Princess.

“Now…”

Her eyes, the same piercing blue as this world she had created, flashed as she spoke.

“This is my domain.”

The ice field shuddered.

The frozen plain trembled as if struck by an earthquake, and every human on it staggered, struggling to keep their balance.

Even in this chaos, Jae-hee’s eyes were locked on Ghost, determined to burn every detail of his master’s miracle into his memory.

“You’re getting way too cocky for a bratty princess who hasn’t even been crowned.”

Ghost raised her black blade to the sky.

“You’re deposed, you goddamn monster.”

By her command, the blizzard of blades that filled the sky began to swirl and churn, coalescing with a deep thrum. It soon merged into a single entity that split the heavens—at once a colossal blizzard, a vibrating tempest, and a single sword.

Ghost brought her own black blade down in a clean, straight arc. Following her motion, the massive sword of snow and wind plunged toward the Rose Princess.

“…!”

The Rose Princess tried to counter it, but she quickly realized the truth.

This was not her domain; it was Ghost’s world. Most of the authority she wielded as a Gate Lord had vanished. The power that had been amplified within her own territory had been drastically diminished.

She had no way to stop the blade of the blizzard.

With a piercing shriek, the Rose Princess decided in a last-ditch effort to attack the swordswoman instead of the sword itself. Her golden eyes flashed as she charged forward.

But the distance between her and Ghost was too great. It even seemed to be widening as the ice field continued to expand.

Ghost took one final, steadying breath and delivered a short declaration.

“Die.”

The blade of the white tempest descended upon the blue ice field without a sound.

And the world split apart.

***

The fleeting winter faded, and the world returned to its true form.

The blizzard of blades, the boundless ice field—gone without a trace.

The Blood Clan’s crimson castle, once moments from completion, lay in ruins, swept away with it.

What remained was nothing more than the second basement level of Gangnam Station.

As the team regained their senses, they looked to where the Gate Lord had been.

The B2 platform floor had been cleanly severed, as if by a colossal blade. The cut was so perfect it offered a clear view straight through the empty space, from the second basement level down to the fifth.

And in that single strike, the Rose Princess’s entire body had been atomized.

Only a pool of blood remained where the monster had stood.

“Ha.”

The black blade slipped from Ghost’s hand as she let out a ragged breath. She swayed, then slowly pitched forward.

“For a final strike… that was sloppy…”

“Master!” Jae-hee rushed forward, catching Ghost’s body just before she hit the ground.

She had fought with a hole blown through her chest, its progression only temporarily halted by the Doctor’s ability, and had gambled her life on that ultimate strike.

Ghost’s face was ashen, a trickle of blood leaking from the corner of her mouth. 

Tears welled in Jae-hee’s wide eyes. “Don’t die…”

Ghost managed a weak smile. “You think I have a choice in the matter?”

“You can’t go, not yet. We still have one day of lessons left… I’m not taking a refund, just finish the lesson…”

“Darn kid… saying shit like this even at the end.”

“You still have to teach me that sky-splitting technique…”

“That’s not exactly something you can teach, you know…?”

Jae-hee was now hiccupping, tears and snot streaming down his face.

Ghost coughed up another mouthful of blood and looked up at the foolish boy’s face.

However brief the period, he was still her student, after all.

What final lesson could I possibly give him?

Just as she pondered this, an ominous squelching sound echoed through the station.

Everyone turned in alarm to see the scattered pools of blood coalescing.

“What the…”

Shocked, Status Window pushed his glasses up and checked his screen. “I-it’s the Rose Princess desu! She’s not dead yet desu!”

“…!

The Blood Clan’s castle had been annihilated, but its raw materials remained.

The chunks of flesh, membranes, and droplets of blood covering the platform began to squirm and pull together. Even after being shredded by the storm of blades, the Rose Princess was attempting to regenerate.

“I ground her very core to dust, and she’s still trying to resurrect?”

Ghost trembled with disbelief. “The nerve of this thing… Urk!”

“Master!”

The Doctor quickly applied her temporal-stasis ability to Ghost once more. “We can handle this. You need to rest.”

“Hah, hah… Ugh.”

Meanwhile, across the platform, Silken Bodhisattva was shaking Little Lamb, cradled in her arms.

“Please, don’t die, don’t die, my love, please…”

Little Lamb’s twitching eyes fluttered open, his gaze hazy.

Stunned, Silken Bodhisattva broke into a wide, joyous grin. “My Lamb!”

“Lady… Bodhisattva…?”

“Thank God, thank God… I thought you were really gone…”

She had thought the Rose Princess had drained him completely, but he had clung to the last of his lives. It was just enough.

Silken Bodhisattva wiped her eyes roughly with her sleeve and hugged Little Lamb tightly. “I’m never using you as a sacrifice again. Just stay by my side. All right…?”

Smiling weakly in her embrace, Little Lamb’s expression suddenly hardened as he spotted something.

The heavy thud of footsteps echoed across the platform. A giant made of fire was approaching.

It was Firestarter.

He had been temporarily incapacitated after being impaled by the Rose Princess, but he had managed to pull himself back together.

His body may have recovered—but his mind was still gone.

“Evil… Must be… burned… at once…”

Repeating the meaningless phrase, Firestarter reached for the nearest living thing: Silken Bodhisattva and Little Lamb, huddled on the floor.

Panicked, Silken Bodhisattva held up a hand. “Wait, Firestarter! Snap out of—”

But her words couldn’t reach him. His brain had already been cooked.

With a roar, the fire giant shot a pillar of flame from its hand without hesitation.

Just before the flames hit, Little Lamb used his last ounce of strength to shove Silken Bodhisattva aside.

As she was pushed away, she stared back at him, her eyes wide with disbelief.

“Lady Bodhisattva.” Little Lamb offered one final smile. “Be happy…”

The roaring flames washed over his smiling face.

Firestarter’s inferno mercilessly incinerated his own ally. Little Lamb’s final life was consumed, and the one who seemed destined for eternal life was reduced to a pile of ash.

“No…”

Right in front of her lover’s charred remains, Silken Bodhisattva screamed.

“Noooooo!”

The other prisoners broke into a cold sweat as they watched Firestarter, now completely berserk, turn the area into a sea of fire.

“Goddammit… he’s completely lost it.”

AA-Rank prisoner, Firestarter.

His ability allowed him to become a giant of flame. He could maintain his sanity while contained within his fireproof suit, but once the suit was destroyed and he assumed his true form, his power surged—and his reason burned away with it.

With a low whoosh, flames spread across the entire platform in an instant. Acrid smoke filled the air.

The Doctor sighed. “Well, I think we’re screwed.”

A spreading fire, a berserk AA-Rank prisoner unable to distinguish friend from foe, and the slowly regenerating blood of the Rose Princess.

The surviving prisoners were all at their absolute limit.

The encroaching flames and smoke made it harder and harder to breathe. They all sensed the end was near.

Jae-hee gently reached out, wordlessly taking Ghost’s blood-soaked hand in his.

Whether it was because she was too weak from her injuries to resist, or because she felt pity for the boy in his final moments, Ghost didn’t pull away.

Master and student held hands, quietly awaiting their end.

And then it happened.

Drip.

Drip. Drop.

“Huh?”

Something cold landed on his cheek.

Jae-hee looked up, confused. “Raindrops…?”

One drop, then another, fell through the cracks in the ceiling. And then, with a sudden roar, the drops turned into a torrential rain.

Jae-hee could only blink, unable to comprehend the situation.

Rain falling at a time like this was one thing, but how could it be pouring so fiercely this far underground?

But Ghost, seeming to understand, let out a strained, mocking laugh. “Ha… what a slow-ass hero’s entrance.”

With a deafening crack, the insane downpour, with its terrifying water pressure, bored cleanly through the asphalt, concrete, and steel plates, creating a tunnel.

A perfectly circular shaft that pierced straight from the surface down to the station platform.

And through that tunnel, a man descended, floating gently through the air.

He wore a gray raincoat over a dark gray suit, the hood of the coat pulled over his head. His face was hidden in shadow.

With his hands stuffed deep into his raincoat pockets, the man slowly descended from the sky, his dress shoes landing on the platform floor with a soft tap.

“Burn, burn! All evil must be burned—!”

Firestarter, his momentum completely undiminished by the heavy rain, charged the man, spewing a brilliant torrent of flame.

The man didn’t even glance at him.

Instead, with a thunderous roar, a massive column of water crashed down from the sky, slamming Firestarter to the ground and pinning him there.

No matter how much of a fire giant he was, he stood no chance against an endless deluge that engulfed his entire body. Firestarter was crushed against the floor.

“You are…”

Even as he was being flattened by the water, Firestarter managed one last shout.

“Don’t tell me, you’re—”

The roar of the rain washed away the rest of his words.

“Ugh… ah…”

As for the Rose Princess, who was still squirming and gathering her blood in a desperate attempt to recover, another pillar of water crashed down from the sky with a great roar, trapping her within a sphere of churning water.

“…”

The flames that had been raging across the platform had long since been extinguished by the downpour. The berserk prisoner and the undead monster were both neutralized.

With the situation under control, the rain around the man began to lessen. Faint sunlight streamed through the light drizzle.

“The top dog of the New Five Heroes…” Status Window stammered, his mouth agape at the miraculous display. “Hailed as the strongest Awakened not just in East Asia but, effectively, the entire world. The ultimate S-Ranker—”

As the man strode calmly through the rain toward them, Status Window spoke his name.

“Hunter designation, ‘Rainman’…!”

The man’s footsteps stopped.

He stood right before Ghost.

Silence.

For a moment, their eyes met: the strongest Hunter of the new era, standing tall, and the fallen criminal of the old, collapsed on the floor.

Through the sound of the still-falling rain, a young, emotionless male voice drifted from beneath the raincoat’s hood.

“It’s been a long time, senior.”