High school student Kaito rewinds time to save his childhood friend IRyS, who was supposed to have died.
Just as the world is consumed by the Void Mist and all seems lost, a black-winged angel named IRyS falls from the sky before Kaito's eyes. Called the 'Savior,' IRyS was betrayed by the people she tried to protect. They branded her a demon's pawn, and they killed her.
In his moment of despair, Kaito screams—and a black clock appears in his hand. Trapped together in a frozen moment, IRyS asks
Hollow Reload: Saving the Dark Angel - Blood Warehouse and the Betrayer's Guard
In his pocket, Le Vainqueur trembled.
Click... click-click-click...
The ticking grew faster.
One in the morning. Kaito woke in his own bed. The black pocket watch on his chest pulsed harder than ever before.
(This is bad.)
Instinct traced a cold hand down his spine.
He opened the drawer. A faint white glow on the jet-black dial.
Silver hands wove words.
*Iris*
*Warehouse*
*Before dawn*
His fingertips shook.
He'd overheard Pendulum's secret talk in Warehouse District Three just yesterday.
Sabotage the ritual. Unleash the Void Fog.
Eliminate the Savior.
(A trap.)
Kaito leaped from bed. Shoes on. Jacket grabbed. Door open.
Tobari at night was hazy with fog.
White, heavy vapor blanketed the town. Streetlights bled dim halos.
He ran.
To Iris's home.
Pharos staff quarters. A two-story house on the hillside. Ten minutes from the port.
He arrived breathless.
No figures outside.
But light leaked from the window.
"Iris!"
He pounded the door.
No answer.
He grabbed the knob. Unlocked.
He opened it.
Down the hall, the living room light was on.
No one there.
A single envelope on the desk. Sealed with the Pharos wing crest.
He tore it open. Pulled out the paper.
Emergency summons.
*"Staff will pick you up at 4 AM for final fog-vein measurements before the ritual."*
(4 AM.)
He looked at the wall clock.
3:45.
Already fifteen minutes ago.
Kaito clenched his fist.
The paper crumpled.
"Damn it."
He bolted.
To the port.
To Warehouse District Three.
---
Rusted containers loomed warped in the fog.
Yellow KEEP OUT tape hung limp in the windless night. Half the streetlights were dead. Light and shadow dappled the ground.
Kaito stopped.
He killed his breath.
Purple light seeped from deep inside the warehouse.
The color of fog.
Pendulum's eerie violet mist.
He pressed his back to the wall. Crept toward the entrance.
The iron door was slightly ajar.
He peered inside.
Five men and women in Pharos uniforms surrounded a white figure.
A long silver braid glowed faintly in the dim warehouse.
Iris.
She was pinned against the wall.
The seventeen-year-old Savior. Her small body swallowed by the men's shadows.
"This is your final warning."
The leader grabbed Iris's hair.
White strands tangled in coarse fingers.
"If you fail the ritual, the Void Fog will manifest. Pendulum's goal is your death."
He sneered.
The other four looked down at Iris with appraising eyes.
"I will make the ritual succeed."
Iris's voice trembled.
But her eyes held the man's gaze steady.
Deep violet eyes, wet with fear, yet still holding light.
"I was chosen to save the world."
"Save the world? Don't make me laugh."
His fist sank into Iris's stomach.
*Thud.*
A dull sound.
Iris's body folded in half.
"...Ngh."
"You're nothing but a sacrifice. Know your place."
Something snapped inside Kaito's head.
He lunged.
He had to save her.
That moment—
An arm reached from behind.
His mouth was covered.
"—Mmph!"
A full nelson.
Arms hard as iron crushed Kaito's throat and chest.
He was forced to the ground.
Cold concrete bit into his cheek.
"Don't interfere."
A familiar, emotionless voice.
Kaito twisted his neck.
Shunya Kurosaki.
182 centimeters tall. Blue-black hair streaked with silver. Gray eyes. A deep scar beneath his left eye stood out starkly in the warehouse's dim light.
Expressionless.
A doll-like, icy face stared down at Kaito.
"You... weren't you supposed to protect Iris?!"
He screamed.
Shouted until his throat felt shredded.
Shunya didn't answer.
Instead, his fog-vein ability activated.
Violet-tinged black mist seeped from Shunya's hands.
It coiled around Kaito's arms like a snake. Bound him tight.
He couldn't move a finger.
His breath choked off.
"...Orders. Just shut up and stay still."
At that voice, Kaito ground his teeth.
(Damn it.)
His body wouldn't move.
Arms, legs, even his voice—all stolen by the fog's restraints.
"Let me show you something."
The leader drew a knife.
A survival knife, blade at least twenty centimeters long. Gleaming dully.
"...Stop."
Iris's voice quivered faintly.
"Once you're gone, the Void Fog will be complete. The world will evolve."
The knife rose.
—Stop.
Kaito screamed.
But no voice came.
The scream died in his throat.
"...Kaito."
Iris looked at him.
Tear-wet violet eyes reflected him.
(*I'm sorry.*)
That's what it looked like.
—Stop.
The knife plunged.
*Shunk.*
A wet sound of flesh tearing.
The silver blade sank deep into Iris's abdomen.
"...Ah..."
A small breath escaped her lips.
A red flower bloomed across her white clothes.
Blood gushed out. Throb after throb.
A dark red puddle spread slowly across the concrete floor.
"Iris!!!"
His voice finally broke free.
A scream.
A beast-like howl that tore his throat apart.
"It's over now. Savior."
The man pulled the knife out.
Iris's body collapsed like a puppet with cut strings.
She fell into the pool of blood.
Silver hair stained red.
Her fingertips twitched faintly.
"Uwaaaaaaaah!!"
He screamed.
Straining every muscle in his body against the fog restraints.
But Shunya's arms didn't budge.
---
Silence filled the warehouse.
The Pendulum members looked down at Iris's fallen form.
No one moved to help.
Shunya grabbed Kaito's hair.
Forced his face up.
Turned him toward Iris.
A white body floating in a sea of blood.
Violet eyes, vacant and wide open.
"...Why?"
Tears wouldn't stop.
His voice shook.
"Why... you...!"
He looked up at Shunya's face.
That moment—
Shunya's expressionless mask cracked for the first time.
*Grind.*
The sound of teeth clenching.
Gray eyes twisted in agony.
The scar beneath his left eye spasmed.
"...There's something I want to protect. I have..."
A voice wrung dry.
His fingers released Kaito's hair.
Those fingertips trembled faintly.
"And for that... for that you let Iris die?!"
He screamed.
Shunya didn't answer.
He just closed his eyes in pain.
In his pocket, Le Vainqueur trembled.
Click...
Click-click...
The ticking grew louder.
The reverse rotation had begun.
Kaito pulled out the watch with shaking hands.
On the jet-black dial, the silver hands slowly but surely turned back time.
(I can still redo this.)
Through tear-blurred vision, Kaito gripped the watch.
(This time, absolutely.)
The floor stained with Iris's blood.
Shunya's face twisted in anguish.
The sneering Pendulum men.
He would never forget this scene.
"...Next time, I'll protect her."
Kaito made that vow, staring at Iris's blood-soaked body.
Le Vainqueur's hands pointed to before dawn.
The second loop was about to begin.
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