The Void of Souls

‏Chapter Two: The Fear of Emptiness

The bullet whizzed past, just inches from Kazuya's head, and struck the wall behind him, scattering fragments of stone into the air. For a moment, as he realized what had happened, he felt something unusual—something he had never felt before: emptiness.

He looked at Saika, who remained expressionless, his gaze fixed as though time had frozen in that instant. "Were you waiting for this?" Kazuya asked in a low voice, his eyes drifting to his own hand, still clutching his gun. He stared at his trembling fingers, confused by the inexplicable shakiness.

"What is happening here?" Kazuya muttered to himself. Something about the situation felt wrong—something beyond understanding. In that fleeting moment, he wondered if killing might be easier than trying to make sense of this strange interaction between him and Saika. The real challenge wasn't carrying out the task, but in grasping what it all meant.

Before he could think further, an image appeared in his mind—a vision of Yuki, a member of the Justice Group, the girl who always seemed to follow him everywhere. Yuki, who constantly sought to justify the chaos around her, even if it meant sacrificing herself in the process.

"I killed him... you'll kill me too, won't you?" Her voice echoed in his mind, laced with pain.

But Kazuya snapped back to reality when he felt something heavy pulling at his soul. The air seemed dense, suffocating, as though everything around him had turned into a lifeless void. Saika had stepped closer now, the distance between them reduced to mere steps.

"You've been a part of this from the very beginning, Kazuya," Saika said, his voice calm yet filled with an otherworldly weight, each word resonating with cosmic significance.

"What are you talking about?" Kazuya whispered, clutching his wrist where the tattoo marked his skin, as if trying to ground himself against the growing sense of emptiness.

"You're not the killer you think you are," Saika replied. "And I'm not the target you imagine me to be. We're just reflections of each other."

Kazuya froze, processing Saika's cryptic words. They felt like pieces of a puzzle, slipping into his mind like fragments of a broken dream—something elusive, something he couldn't quite grasp. But more than anything, he felt a deep sense that Saika knew him better than he knew himself.

"What do you mean?" Kazuya demanded, staring into Saika's eyes. He felt as though his soul was unraveling, like the two of them were dragging each other into an abyss.

"The soul you think you're stealing is the soul you've already lost," Saika said, stepping even closer. "Every life taken, every soul stripped away—it becomes a part of you. We don't kill, Kazuya. We exchange. Slowly, those stolen souls become pieces of us. Every time you kill, you don't just take someone's life—you lose part of yourself. And what remains is... emptiness."

Kazuya stood frozen, Saika's words cutting into him with precision. Was this the reason for the constant void he felt inside? Killing had always filled some primal need within him, but it never brought him peace. There was always a hollowness, a vacuum that nothing—not even murder—could fill.

And in that moment, Kazuya realized the truth. Something within him was broken, something he had lost long ago. The souls of those he had killed weren't just lifeless bodies—they were part of a larger puzzle, one he was entangled in.

"Do you realize... you're not the one who can stop this?" Saika continued. "We started this game together, and we'll keep playing it until we understand just how far we've drifted into the void."

A heavy weight settled in Kazuya's chest, his soul fracturing further with every word. Saika's voice echoed in his mind like a haunting melody. Was he truly a part of this hell? Was he merely a witness to the souls he had consumed?