**Volume 2: Upper World**

  **Chapter 104: I'm Sorry, Leo**

  **(Arc: Beginning of the End)**

  July 4th, 12:44 a.m. – Shinjuku (Collapsed Plaza Ruins)

  Jason ran back — boots kicking through broken glass and blood-slick concrete — dark blue-pink aura flickering like a dying bulb. The cuts from Jane’s Dismantle were still open across his chest, arms, thighs — blood dripping steady — but he didn’t heal them right away. He didn’t want to risk the kids getting hit by stray slashes if he pushed his regen too hard. Sky and Max were out there somewhere — hurt, bleeding, barely breathing after Ray’s realm collapsed. Jason kept his speed controlled — no 600 fps bursts — just fast enough to close the distance without sending shockwaves that could clip them.

  He passed burning cars, shattered storefronts, bodies half-buried under rubble. Fireworks still popped overhead — mocking red, blue, green sparks raining down. The air smelled like smoke, copper, and wet asphalt.

  He stopped when he saw her.

  Leo — or whatever was wearing her body — stood near a cracked fountain — yellow eyes glowing faint, no wings, just scars. She tilted her head — same way the real Leo used to when she was confused.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Jason walked slow — sword still in his hand, blade dripping from earlier kills.

  “I’m sorry, Leo,” he said — voice low, cracked.

  She blinked — confused.

  “What?”

  He didn’t answer with words.

  He grabbed a sword from a dead academy kid nearby — long, thin, still warm from the owner’s hand — and moved.

  Quick.

  One clean swing — blade flashing in the firework light — Leo’s head came off clean. No scream. No struggle. Body dropped — blood pooling fast around the neck stump — head rolling once — eyes still open, yellow fading to dull.

  Jason stared at it for half a second — chest tight — then looked up.

  Jane stood thirty feet away — core scar pulsing brighter — green eyes narrowing.

  Jane clapped once — sharp.

  **Laughing Void – Open** collapsed — black-red haze snapping back into nothing — laughter dying in the air.

  Jane didn’t wait — raised his hand — crimson-white fireball forming fast — bigger than the last one — swirling hot enough to melt nearby metal benches.

  He threw it.

  The fireball hit Jason square in the chest — explosion lighting up the plaza like a second sun — shockwave flattening cars, shattering more windows, sending debris flying in a perfect circle.

  Jason flew back — body tumbling through air — hit the ground hard — rolled — skidded to a stop against a cracked wall.

  No burn marks.

  Just cuts — deep, ugly gashes across his chest, arms, face — like the fireball had turned into a thousand invisible blades on impact. Blood poured — infinite, thick — but the pain was real. Sharp. Burning. Worse than anything he’d felt in years.

  Jason pushed up slow — one hand on the wall — breathing ragged — dark blue-pink aura flickering weaker now.

  He looked at Jane — eyes hard, tired.

  Jane smiled — small, cruel — core scar pulsing steady.

  The chapter ended.

  To be continued…