Loser Takes it All

Back inside the dream—

Footsteps echoed.

A shadow stalked the halls.

The Akahebi’s silhouette dragged across the floor.

“You petty insects… you think I won’t find you?” his layered voice hissed. “This is my world. The only ruler is me. You want to leave? Then you’ll crawl to me and beg.”

Suddenly—

“Yo.”

The Akahebi turned. There he was; Mitsuaki in all his glorious unjustified bravado, just standing across from the hideous creature, a leg chair resting across his shoulder.

“So you crawled out to die first? Noble,” the specter hissed, the snake heads snickering behind him. “Too bad I won’t make it quick.”

“Snake-ass freak,” Mitsuaki scoffed. “You think I’m scared?”

“Your trembling form says otherwise!” The snakes cackled.

“Well…” Mitsuaki looked at his knees that shook without even him noticing. He smirked despite it.

“I’m just too excited to kick your ass, I just can’t help myself!”

The snakes stopped cackling, and the Akahebi’s human face turned deadly serious.

“You will pay for your insolence, brat.” The creature lunged.

Mitsuaki stepped back, scrambling away from a slashing claw. With his steel pipe he managed to clip another snake head that lunged for him.

“Tch! Why are you bastard so fast?!” Mitsuaki stepped back as he held the chair leg forward, like a zoo keeper that had fallen in the lion’s cage.

“Ishida-kun, don’t let the specter back you into a corner—his blind spot shifts with every strike. Stay moving.”

“Roger.”

“Oh I will have fun tearing you apart!” The snakeheads attacked once more.

Mitsuaki ducked and rolled, just in time to avoid getting bitten and squashed. But then a moment of misjudgement caused the weapon in his hands to fly off and him to fall flat on his backside.

“Damn it…”

“End of the line for–”

“…Not quite.”

A clang from behind.

“Now, Hatsue-chan—go for the base of the spine. The snakeheads react slower there!”

“Yaaaah!”

Hatsue charged, fire extinguisher in hand, and slammed it into the back of the specter’s skull.

“You filthy ins—“ as the creature turned, Hatsue showered it with foam.

“Take that, you oversized belt!”

However before Hatsue could cheer, snakeheads lunged from within the smoke. They grabbed both Mitsuaki and Hatsue—slamming them into opposite walls.

“Your little games are over,” the Akahebi hissed. “You thought you could surprise me?”

Bloodied and bruised as they were, they still turned back to the specter with a smirk.

“Mizuno! Now!”

The real surprise attack of the plan wasn’t Hatsue. It was Naomi. Surely the specter never believed they’d try the same trick twice.

Naomi stood behind the creature, arms stretched out wide. She was the trump card of the plan so she had to make it work.

She closed her eyes and remembered how using a talisman felt. How she had used it to protect Honoka. The warmth she felt. The power in her palms. Slowly yet steadily she felt that same warmth dance once more against her palm. She didn’t have a talisman on her but she was within a dream… Surely thinking about it hard enough would make it happen…

“You can do it, Naomi-chan!”

Right as the Akahebi prepared to attack her, Naomi channeled that power and let it explode outwards. A flash of brilliant light cut through the darkness of the hallway like a holy flame.

The Akahebi screamed as one of his snake heads disintegrated in holy fire.

Naomi blinked. Her hands were smoking.

“WHOA! I did it! That was amazing! I should totally call it something like ‘Naomi’s Starburst Supernova!’ Or—”

“Naomi-chan, look out!” Honoka cried.

But it was too late.

The specter surged through the light. One head sank its fangs into her shoulder. The tail whipped around her neck, tightening—

Her vision blurred as her feet were lifted off the ground.

“You vermin have played around enough. Now it’s time to die.”

Naomi was losing oxygen fast, as she stared down the inhuman eye of the specter.

“Your exorcist has abandoned you. You’re gonna suffer here alone!”

His words cut deep. Yet still she didn’t lose faith. She knew Eiji would come. He always did.

“S-Senpai… will… come…” Naomi managed to spell out.

The creature clicked his tongue, annoyed.

“Go join him then!” With a flick, the tail launched Naomi towards the window. The impact shattered the pane, the glass raining like red shards. She vanished into the void below.

“Damn it… Mizuno is out for the count too.” Hatsue barely managed to stand.

“That bastard will pay for this…” Mitsuaki followed suit.

⌁◉⌁

Naomi tumbled through the red haze—her body weightless, spiraling down. But before the ground could rise to meet her—

She landed in arms.

“Senpai…” she murmured, coughing through a pained smile.

Eiji stood there, holding her tightly. His gaze was as sharp and unreadable as always, but his voice carried a hint of softness.

“I told you not to be reckless.”

Naomi’s smile softened, and despite her pale face, she managed to speak:

“We’re within a dream… so I figured, if I wish for something hard enough… it might come true.”

She blinked slowly.

“I guess it did…”

Eiji didn’t answer. His expression didn’t change. And yet, in his eyes… a spark lit.

The silence sharpened as a plan formed within his head.

It was a reckless plan. It was absolutely crazy. But it was the best plan he could think of.

“…Hang on,” he said quietly.

Naomi gave a tired nod, already drifting half-unconscious.

He hoisted her into his arms and began walking. Through the courtyard and over the broken glass. Through the foggy silence and the unease.

And right there, at the edge of the hallway, a pair of familiar figures leaned against the walls.

Undeniably bloodied and bruised.

But grinning proudly, as if this were the most normal thing in the world.

“Took you long enough, Kanzaki,” Hatsue exhaled.

“We’re still here, just so you know,” Mitsuaki smirked, pipe back in his hand, face swollen with pride… and not.

Eiji knelt and set Naomi down gently. She stirred, but didn’t have the strength to talk.

Eiji stood and cracked his knuckles.

“Oi.”

The hallway quivered.

From the other side, the Akahebi hissed. One snake-head missing. The other still snarling.

“You dare return, exorcist?” it sneered. “I’ll make sure you vanish for good this time.”

Meh popped up next to Eiji’s shoulder, hovering.

“Eiji-dono, as Takenaka Masaki adviced, you must be extra cautious this time around! The damage inflicted here may have lasting effects in the real world too!”

“You said may have.”

“Eiji-dono…”

“Be careful, Eiji-kun…” Honoka’s voice trembled faintly through the link. “You can’t be too reckless.”

Eiji didn’t reply straight, he simply shook his head and muttered,

“Don’t hate me for this.”

The creature hissed and waited. An attack, a lunge, anything.

Yet Eiji simply slipped his hands into his pockets.

Amidst the silence, he drew a breath…

Then slowly he started walking ahead. Casually, nonchalantly.

“Marching into your death exorcist?!” The Akahebi snarled. The creature screamed and charged. A claw lunged.

SLASH.

A long, jagged claw tore through Eiji’s ribs—skin and fabric ripping clean open. Blood sprayed across the hallway floor.

“Eiji-dono! You must fight back!” Meh materialized next to him once more.

“Eiji-kun! Protect yourself!” Honoka screamed into his head.

Hatsue’s breath caught.

“Kanzaki!!” Mitsuaki roared—but didn’t move, “Dodge, you dumbass!”

Eiji didn’t scream. He didn’t even blink.

The Akahebi stopped momentarily.

“What’s wrong exorcist? Cat got your tongue?”

The creature attacked again, this time with more might.

The Akahebi struck again.

CRACK.

Fangs sank into his thigh. Blood gushed down his leg, pooling with every step, his flesh turning purple from venom.

“Eiji-kun please stop this!” Honoka pleaded But still Kanzaki Eiji walked.

He walked and walked… and simply kept walking.

Not because he was invincible… but because he had realized, this realm didn’t run on physics. It ran on will.

On fear.

The Akahebi’s power came from one truth: that it was the apex predator, and everyone else… prey.

But prey that doesn’t flee? That doesn’t flinch? That keeps moving no matter how many bones you break?

It doesn’t fit the narrative. And when the narrative cracks… so does the dream.

“Is that all you have, ghost?” Eiji spoke calmly, the pain screaming at him but his mind willing it to stay silent.

“Kanzaki! You’re gonna die!” Hatsue cried, trying to snap him out of it.

The Akahebi grew agitated, roaring and hurling debris at him. A large piece hit him square in the torso, making him skid back. His ribs cracked, his abdomen bloody. Eiji didn’t react at all.

“I told you,” he said, tone unwavering, “You can’t hurt me.”

“Kanzaki, that’s enough!!” Hatsue screamed, her voice raw.

“Damn it, you’re gonna get yourself killed!!” Mitsuaki slammed a fist into the wall beside him, shutting his eyes with anger..

“STOP… IT!!” Naomi cried out from where she lay.

“Eiji-kun!”

But Eiji didn’t stop.

“What is he thinking…?” Hatsue muttered.

“Why won’t you fall?!” The Akahebi roared and attacked. Again and again and again. And Eiji walked each and every time. Undeterred. Hands still in his pockets.

Each attack drew blood. And each time, Eiji advanced—body screaming, vision dimming.

But the Akahebi… was hesitating now.

It wasn’t just confused. Its conviction— its certainty was unraveling at the seams

The more Eiji endured, the more the dream bent around his refusal.

The more doubt crept in.

“You can’t make me fall.” Eiji replied, “Those fangs just for show? If you’re not gonna bite, back off.”

His skin was torn. One eye was nearly shut from blood. His lip was bloodied and bruised.

But he still marched on.

“You should be… shaking! Why are you not afraid?!” The specter started to panic, backing off.

“The one shaking is you, snake freak.”

Hatsue grinned. She finally got what he was trying to do.

“This reckless fool…”

The snake attacked once more. But this time Eiji didn’t take it. He grabbed the head and squeezed tightly, lighting coursing across its body before it disintegrated.

“You’re not strong. It’s just that no one ever came at you seriously.”

His plan hadn’t been perfect. It had been insane.

But this wasn’t a world of logic. This was a world of emotion. Of dominance. Of fear.

Eiji had offered it nothing to feed on.

Not a scream. Not a stagger. He made himself a wall. Cold. Unmoving. Unshakable. And in doing so… he turned its greatest weapon against itself.

“You…!” The Akahebi attacked but this time the attacks didn’t touch him. They couldn’t. The snake’s fear was rooted too deeply now.

“You liked playing king of your own little world, huh?” Eiji stood in front of the specter that had shrunk now, staring down at it, “…Well it’s over now.”

Eiji slipped both hands out of his pockets.

“A specter that only feeds on insecurities. A specter that only feeds on fear… How could you possibly think you’re strong enough?”

With a thunderous crack, lightning surged from Eiji’s palm—red and violent.

“Wake up, you damn snake.”

CRACK.

He struck with a fist charged in pure voltage.

The blast of impact sent shockwaves tearing through the corridor. The Akahebi screamed—its snake-heads flying loose, dissolving into sparks. The malformed limbs scattered in all directions.

The creature dropped to its knees.

Its form began to shrink, melting into the floor, until only a small, writhing rattlesnake remained. It hissed weakly at Eiji’s feet.

“He did it…” Mitsuaki whispered half in disbelief and half in awe.

Eiji reached down—lightning pulsing around his fingers.

“No more tricks.”

He seized it.

And burned it alive in his grasp.

The snake screeched as its form unraveled—crumbling into dust, and then into nothing at all.

Gone.

Silence fell.

Honoka sighed, her voice cracking from the stress, “You’re absolutely unbelievable…”

Red faded from the halls. The warping stopped. The dream world roared one last time before it began to dissolve.

“Eiji-dono this was reckless even by your standards…”

Naomi stirred.

Hatsue gasped.

Mitsuaki leaned against the wall and finally let out a breath.

Eiji stood alone. Until, at last…

He exhaled.

“…It’s over.”