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Chapter 33 — Kurozan, the Contract Devil
Hirauka and Sayaka moved slowly through the dark passage leading deeper into the prison.
Cells lined both sides of the corridor—left and right—each swallowed by silence. Iron bars stood crooked and rusted, their insides empty… or worse. Skeletons lay slumped against walls, some chained, some collapsed in corners, as if even death had abandoned them long ago.
The air felt dead.
It wasn’t just a prison.
It was a graveyard that had forgotten how to breathe.
Sayaka broke the silence, forcing a weak smile.
“At this point, the only thing missing is a ghost. This place looks straight out of a horror movie.”
“Don’t get distracted,” Hirauka replied coldly. “We know why we’re here.”
They continued forward.
With every step, the air grew heavier—thicker—pressing against their chests like an invisible weight. By the time they reached the end of the passage, breathing itself felt unnatural.
The final cell stood before them.
Empty.
No chains. No movement. No presence.
Then—
A voice echoed from the darkness.
“Finally… a visitor has arrived. Hahaha…”
Hirauka’s eyes narrowed.
“Show yourself. Don’t hide in the dark.”
The voice chuckled.
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“…Your presence feels familiar. Are you the one who came searching for answers?”
“Yes,” Hirauka said firmly. “I am.”
Silence followed.
Suddenly, two dim lights flickered on from the left side of the cell.
A man stood there.
He wore an orange prison uniform. His face was horrifying—half flesh, half skull—as if death itself had failed to fully claim him.
“Well, well,” the man said calmly. “I had no doubt you’d come. My long wait has finally ended.”
“I want answers,” Hirauka said. “Tell me—what was your connection with my father?”
The man smiled faintly.
“A contract.”
Sayaka stepped closer to Hirauka, whispering urgently,
“Stay alert. He’s the devil imprisoned here.”
“I know,” Hirauka replied without looking away. “Now answer me. What contract?”
The lights abruptly went out.
For a brief moment—total darkness.
Then the lights inside the final cell ignited.
The man was no longer standing near the bars. He now sat casually inside the cell, as if distance meant nothing to him.
“Your father,” he began, his voice calm and cruel, “was a desperate man. Poverty devoured him. Hunger humiliated him. When no human offered help… he came to me.”
Hirauka clenched his fists.
“He begged for wealth. Happiness. A way out.”
The devil’s grin widened.
“I agreed—at a cost. He would do everything I commanded.”
Sayaka’s breathing grew shallow.
“I gave him control of a multimillion-dollar corporation—Drug Corp. From chemical processing to illegal exports, he obeyed every order without question.”
Hirauka’s rage simmered.
“When he married your mother,” the devil continued, “I ordered him to treat her cruelly. He complied. When you and your little sister were born… I demanded you.”
Hirauka froze.
“But he refused,” the devil said, his tone darkening. “For the first time, he defied me. He didn’t want his son to become my next puppet.”
Sayaka covered her mouth.
“So I punished him.”
The devil’s eyes glowed faintly.
“One night, I made his car’s brakes fail. Fate did the rest. The car stopped… but at the cost of your sister’s life.”
Hirauka’s vision trembled.
“You were there,” the devil whispered. “A small child… who killed his own father that night. With that, the contract ended.”
Silence swallowed the corridor.
Sayaka stood frozen, tears welling in her eyes.
Hirauka stood unmoving—yet inside him, something burned violently.
“You waited all this time,” Hirauka said slowly, his voice shaking, “just to tell me this?”
“Yes,” the devil replied. “I was waiting for you.”
That was it.
Hirauka snapped.
“YOU BASTARD!” he roared. “You piece of filth! You ruined everything! You’ll pay for this—right now!”
The devil laughed.
“Hahaha… You wish to know who I am?”
His shadow expanded, stretching unnaturally across the walls.
“I am Kurozan,” he declared.
“Devil Lord Kurozan.”
Purple light erupted across the corridor.
The pressure alone shattered walls, bent iron bars, and cracked stone. Flesh tore from his body—only to regenerate into a massive, terrifying devil form.
Sayaka collapsed to her knees.
“If I wished,” Kurozan said calmly, “I could kill you right now. But I want you to grow stronger. I want you to end a Demon Lord.”
His aura surged outward.
“Collapse.”
The prison screamed.
The entire structure began shaking violently—walls splitting, floors breaking, ceilings falling apart.
“We have to get out!” Hirauka shouted. “This place will collapse any second!”
Sayaka couldn’t move.
“I—I can’t—!”
Suddenly, a black, swirling hole tore open through the wall.
A man stepped out of it.
“Move,” he said sharply.
He grabbed both Hirauka and Sayaka and leapt into the darkness.
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They landed hard on a high cliff.
Behind them, the prison collapsed completely, crumbling into dust before their eyes.
Hirauka struggled to stand.
“Thanks… but who are you?”
The man smirked.
“You seriously don’t remember me?”
“…It’s me. Soren.”
Sayaka lay unconscious.
Hirauka’s vision blurred.
And as darkness closed in—
One truth remained clear.
This was only the beginning.
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