SURGE UNIVERSE

The gates of hell will not prevail... or will they? I'm fine either way. Five men stood before a colossal frame. To call it a gate would be an act of pure ignorance, yet it was called that regardless. The structure possessed no walls; if one were to step behind it, there was nothing but empty desert. But in front lay a stark warning: a jagged tear in reality itself. Standing before it, an inexplicable, primal recognition gripped them—a silent understanding of the horror it contained. At the center of the group stood Hitogoroshi. Unbothered as his mask presumed , a sharp cross, cutting through the heavy tension of the atmosphere. He walked forward. Slowly. Deliberately. TAK... TAK... His boots crunched against the arid desert floor, halting just inches before the threshold. Extending a hand, his fingers revealed themselves to be crystalline in form. A length of gold cloth adorned with archaic black symbols hung loosely from his wrist. Suddenly, the hand exuded an unbearable, shimmering heat. A thin sheen of smoke drifted off his knuckles, followed by a violent shower of small sparks. Behind him, the other four men ground their teeth, already drenched in sweat, desperately fighting to hold their composure. "Close your eyes for a breath," Hitogoroshi said, his voice cutting through the heat. "First look's always the worst." The men shielded their faces. Inoue merely closed his eyes. Not looking away. "Duuuude..." Koby’s voice came out hoarse and scratched raw, sounding as if he’d been screaming for days. He let out a nervous, high-pitched laugh. "Well, that's... different." The colossal frame began to jitter. To Hitogoroshi's left stood Darion, his arms crossed tightly over his chest, his expression unreadable as his feet dug firmly into the shifting sand. Though he didn't speak, his impatience practically radiated off him. On his right, Inoue crouched down low, resting his forearms on his thighs. He stared up at the sky with an almost lazy sigh. The wind grew brutal, whipping sand fiercely across their vision. CLANK. Hitogoroshi's crystalline hand connected with the gate. "Open," he commanded. He didn't raise his voice, but the world answered him anyway. His hand stopped steaming—it burst into violent, dark flames of blinding light. Hitogoroshi didn't flinch. The gold cloth warped restlessly around his burning wrist. A deep, low groan vibrated through the earth, sounding less like the gate opening and more like the agony of continents moving far and wide. Shrill, screeching noises echoed from everywhere and nowhere at once. Beneath their boots, the desert floor split into a massive, spiderwebbing fracture. Koby collapsed to one knee, slamming his hands over his ears. "What— what is that?!" Above them, the blue sky tore open like brittle paper. A deep crimson bled through the cracks, swallowing the sun whole until there was no distinct light source left—only an oppressive, red glow. Darion's arms uncrossed on instinct. He took a half-step back, his teeth bared in a desperate attempt to look angry instead of terrified. His boots dug deep trenches into the earth as he fought to stay rooted. Inoue remained crouched, staring directly into the bleeding sky while his legs vibrated from the seismic shockwave. A faint smirk flickered across his lips, then died. Gazté slammed both hands onto the shaking ground and broke into a manic laugh, exposing his sharp, predator-like teeth—but the sound cracked painfully halfway through. "It's— it's an earthquake! Haha—!" It wasn't. Everyone present knew it wasn't. Hitogoroshi stood perfectly straight, his mask facing forward, his arms resting easily at his sides. The dark flames reflected perfectly in the horizontal slit of his mask. He didn't sway an inch while the frame screeched and buckled before him. At last, the cataclysmic roaring subsided into a tense calm. "So... what now?" Inoue asked, his voice entirely flat. No panic. Hitogoroshi's head snapped toward him with a mechanical, precise motion that was deeply unnerving. He took two steps back, wrapping his burning hand loosely in the gold cloth, leaving only his crystalline fingertips exposed. "Now, Inoue?" Hitogoroshi turned his attention back to the gates, which now hung slightly ajar, revealing a hazy abyss. "Well. There's enough room in there for all of us, don't you think?" Beyond the shimmering haze, the silhouettes of ruined, towers loomed, swallowed by the thick red atmosphere. Koby shifted uncomfortably, his gaze darting between Hitogoroshi's back and the dark rift. Slowly, he peered in from behind the leader's shoulder. Without turning around, Hitogoroshi spoke. "You're either very brave or very stupid to stand so close, dude." The way he inflected the slang word made Inoue's lips twitch with amusement, and Gazté let out a low chuckle that was quickly carried away by the howling wind. Koby froze mid-step, his raspy voice dropping to a quiet whisper. "I just thought... if anything happened, you'll probably be fine. This is the smartest place to be, right dude?" Watching the display, Darion scoffed loudly. "What a baby. You should be able to look after yourself." Yet, despite his words, his eyes remained entirely fixed on Hitogoroshi's back. No reaction. Good. He let out a satisfied exhale. Koby's eyes drifted down to the leader's glowing, crystalline fingers. "How'd you get one of those?" Hitogoroshi flexed his hand once, the purple facets of his fingers throwing the eerie gate-light back in fractured, jagged slivers across his mask. "Traded for it," he said steadily, tilting his head at an angle. "The price isn't worth the story, so don't ask for the story." He stepped through the threshold first, his boots grinding harsh grit into the dead, blackened earth. With two wrapped fingers, he gestured for the rest to follow. Darion shoved brutally past Koby with a heavy grunt. Inoue pushed himself off the ground and fell into step next to Gazté, his half-lidded gaze flicking briefly to Koby as they walked. Gazté simply grinned, his eyes wide with anticipation. Past the threshold, the air instantly turned thin, tasting heavily of cold metal. The ruined towers loomed far closer now, their shattered windows resembling empty, dark eye sockets. Hitogoroshi paused briefly beside a fallen signpost half-buried in ash, its letters long burned away into unreadable ridges. "We walk fast," Hitogoroshi commanded, not looking back. "Don't touch anything before me. And if I say duck—obey. Question me later." A distant screeching rolled through the environment again, noticeably closer this time. Somewhere deep within the labyrinth of towers, a massive slab of concrete crashed down with a long, echoing clatter. Hitogoroshi didn't even look up. "Just keep moving."