THE EXECUTIONER
2151 Words
Enma didn’t sleep. He sat on the floor with the gray stone and watched the ceiling.
*CRIMSON SYNC: 8%*
Quiet. Too quiet.
A knock. Aoi.
She looked worse than him. No armor. Just a black shirt. Hair down.
“Floor 10,” she said. No greeting.
“I know.”
“Kuroda moved the time up,” Aoi said. “30 minutes.”
Enma stood. “Why?”
“Because you chose the 100,” Aoi said. “He’s scared of you now.”
They walked in silence. No guards saluted. No one met their eyes.
The elevator to Floor 10 was different. No screen. No music. Just a countdown.
*10:00. 9:59. 9:58.*
Aoi broke the silence. “The Executioner isn’t about fighting.”
“I know.”
“It’s about what you’re willing to become,” she said. “If you kill him, you pass. If you don’t, you fail. And if you hit 60%...”
“The deal’s void,” Enma finished. “You become Kuroda’s.”
Aoi nodded. “So don’t.”
The doors opened.
*FLOOR 10: THE EXECUTIONER.*
It wasn’t an arena. It was a courtroom.
White walls. One table. Two chairs.
And in the middle: *A MAN ON HIS KNEES. HANDS BOUND. HEAD DOWN.*
He was crying.
A voice: Kuroda. “Welcome, Null. Simple rules. The man in front of you is D-Class. Name: Varn. He killed 3 people in F-Block last year. He’s begging for mercy.”
Varn looked up. 40s. Scars. Tears. “Please,” he choked. “I have a daughter. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
“Shut up,” Kuroda cut him off. “Enma. You have 5 minutes. Kill him, you pass to the upper floors. Spare him, you fail. And remember: 60% and I take everything.”
The timer started. *5:00*
Enma didn’t move.
Varn crawled forward. “Please. I’ll do anything. I’ll work. I’ll—”
“Stop,” Enma said.
Varn froze.
Enma knelt in front of him. Not to strike. To look him in the eyes.
“Did you do it?” Enma asked.
Varn nodded, sobbing. “Yes. I was drunk. I was—”
“Then you deserve to pay,” Enma said. Flat.
Varn broke down.
*CRIMSON SYNC: 20%*
_“Kill him,”_ the King whispered. _“That’s justice.”_
Enma stood. He walked to the table. There was a knife on it. One knife.
He picked it up.
Varn was shaking. “Please no please—”
Enma looked at the camera. At Kuroda watching.
Then he dropped the knife.
It clattered on the floor.
“I’m not your executioner,” Enma said.
Silence.
Then Kuroda laughed. “Time: 1 minute 12 seconds. You failed, Null.”
The lights turned red.
*FAILED. INITIATING PENALTY.*
The floor opened.
Chains shot out of the ground and wrapped around Enma’s wrists.
Pain. 30%.
Varn was screaming now. “No no no—”
Two guards walked in. They grabbed Varn and dragged him out.
“Wait,” Enma said. “What are you doing to him?”
Kuroda’s voice: “Same thing we do to all failures. Floor 90.”
The doors closed.
Enma was left alone. Chained.
*CRIMSON SYNC: 42%*
Aoi’s voice in his ear: “Enma. Don’t. Breathe.”
“They took him to 90,” Enma said. Low. “They’re going to experiment on him.”
“I know,” Aoi said. “And if you hit 60%, they’ll take Jin too.”
Enma closed his eyes. 45%. 48%.
He thought of the stone. Of Hana. Of the 100 people.
48% to 40%.
The chains loosened.
A door opened. Not the main one. A side door.
Aoi slipped in. She cut the chains with her sword.
“You’re an i***t,” she whispered. “We’re supposed to be separated now. Failure means isolation.”
“We’re going to 90,” Enma said.
Aoi stared. “That’s suicide. The upper floors are locked to failures.”
“Then we unlock them,” Enma said. “Jin’s under 90. Varn’s on his way to 90. We go now.”
Aoi looked at him for 3 seconds. Then she nodded. “Okay. Third option.”
They ran.
---
*CENTRAL SPIRE. SERVICE ELEVATOR.*
No cameras. No guards. Aoi had codes.
Floor 44. Jin’s cell. Empty.
Floor 50. Labs. Screaming.
Floor 60. Armory.
Floor 80. Kuroda’s office.
Floor 90.
The doors opened to white.
Not like the Spire. This white was sterile. Cold.
Hallway after hallway. Doors with numbers.
And behind the glass: *KIDS.*
Some asleep. Some strapped to tables. Some with red lines like Enma’s. But wrong. Crawling under their skin.
Aoi covered her mouth. “Oh god.”
A guard saw them. “Intruders!”
Aoi moved. Fast. She took him down before he could call.
They ran deeper.
Room 901. *VARN.*
He was on a table. Tubes in him. Machines beeping.
An S-Class doctor looked up. “You can’t—”
Aoi knocked him out.
Enma ran to Varn. “Hey. Hey, stay with me.”
Varn’s eyes opened. Red. Not fully. 30%. “The... the King...”
“I know,” Enma said. “We’re getting you out.”
He pulled the tubes out. Varn screamed.
Alarms.
“Go,” Aoi said. “I’ll hold them.”
Enma picked up Varn. He was light. Too light.
They ran.
More guards. More alarms.
Enma hit 50%. Then forced it down.
Aoi was fighting 3 at once. “Go! Elevator!”
Enma ran. Down 10 floors. 20.
He burst into Jin’s cell.
Jin was there. “Enma? What—”
“We’re leaving,” Enma said. “Now.”
He set Varn down. “Jin, help me.”
They carried Varn between them to the elevator.
Aoi jumped in last, bleeding from her arm. “Go go go!”
The elevator dropped.
All the way to F-Block.
The doors opened to chaos.
Hana was there. With the 100. With weapons.
“You came,” Hana said. “Kuroda’s coming.”
“How long?”
“5 minutes,” Aoi said. She was wrapping her arm. “We need to move. Now.”
Enma looked at them. 100 people. Varn. Jin. Hana.
And above them, the entire Wall.
“F-Block is not safe,” Enma said. “Not anymore.”
“So where?” Hana asked.
Enma looked up. At the 90 floors above.
“Out,” he said. “We get out of the Wall.”
---
*KURODA’S OFFICE. 5 MINUTES LATER.*
Kuroda watched the cameras. F-Block. Empty.
His aide: “They’re gone, sir. All of them. The 100. The Null. The Kazehara.”
Kuroda smiled. “Good.”
“Sir?”
“They think they’re free,” Kuroda said. “Let them run. Let them think they won.”
He pressed a button.
A screen lit up. A map. The Wall. And outside: *THE WASTES.*
Nothing but desert for 200 miles.
“And then,” Kuroda said, “we hunt.”
---
*THE WASTES. NIGHT.*
Cold. Stars. No lights.
200 people. Walking.
Enma was at the front. Carrying Varn. Jin next to him. Aoi behind, watching the rear.
No one spoke for an hour.
Finally, Hana broke it. “Where are we going?”
“East,” Aoi said. “There’s a city. 3 days away. If we make it.”
“If,” Enma repeated.
Varn coughed. Awake. “The King... he talks to me now,” he whispered. “Like you.”
Enma stopped. “What does he say?”
“Kill,” Varn said. “Always kill.”
Enma nodded. “Don’t listen.”
“How do you not?”
“Because I have something to lose,” Enma said. He looked at Jin. At Hana. “You do too.”
Varn nodded and closed his eyes.
They kept walking.
At dawn, Aoi stopped. “We have company.”
On the horizon: drones. Small. Fast.
Kuroda’s hunters.
“Scatter,” Aoi ordered. “Into the rocks!”
They ran.
Enma grabbed Jin’s hand. “Stay with me.”
The drones opened fire.
Lasers cut the sand.
One hit near Hana. She went down.
“NO!” Enma ran to her.
Hana was bleeding from her leg. “I’m fine,” she lied. “Go.”
Enma picked her up. 25%.
Aoi was laying traps. Blowing up 2 drones.
“Enma!” Aoi yelled. “Canyon! 200 meters!”
They ran.
Into the canyon. Narrow. Walls 30 meters high.
The drones couldn’t follow.
They stopped to breathe.
Hana was pale. “I’m sorry. I slowed you—”
“Shut up,” Enma said. He tore his shirt and tied it around her leg. “You didn’t.”
Jin was holding Hana’s hand. “You’re okay. You’re okay.”
Aoi was scanning the sky. “They’ll send ground teams next. We have maybe an hour.”
Enma looked at everyone. Tired. Hurt. Scared.
And still here.
“Okay,” he said. “New plan.”
“What?” Aoi asked.
“We don’t run to the city,” Enma said. “We run to the one place Kuroda won’t look.”
“Where?”
Enma stood. “Up.”
Everyone stared.
“The Wall,” Enma said. “We go back in. But not through the front. Through Floor 90.”
Aoi blinked. “That’s insane.”
“Kuroda expects us to run away,” Enma said. “He won’t expect us to climb back in.”
Jin grinned. “That’s my brother.”
Hana managed a weak smile. “Third option.”
Aoi sighed. “Fine. But we need supplies. And a way in.”
Enma looked at the canyon walls. At the red lines on his arms. Faint.
“I have an idea,” he said.
---
*6 HOURS LATER.*
They were at the base of the Wall.
Not the front gate. The back. Where the waste pipes came out.
A maintenance tunnel. Half collapsed.
Aoi picked the lock. “This is where they dump the bodies from 90,” she said quietly.
No one answered.
Inside: dark. Smell of metal and blood.
They moved.
Floor 89. Empty.
Floor 88. Where Aoi’s grandfather died.
Floor 87. Silent.
Floor 86.
A sound.
Footsteps.
Enma pushed everyone behind him. 15%.
A guard turned the corner. Saw them. Reached for his radio.
Enma was on him before he could speak.
He knocked him out. 20%.
“Clear,” Enma said.
They kept moving.
Floor 80. Kuroda’s office. Empty.
Floor 70. Training rooms.
Floor 60. Armory. They took weapons.
Floor 50. Labs. More kids. They freed them.
Floor 44. Jin’s old cell.
Floor 40.
A voice over the intercom.
Kuroda. “Well, well. You came back.”
The lights turned red.
“Floor 40 is sealed,” Kuroda said. “And I’m in it. With 50 of my best.”
Doors locked in front and behind.
*TRAPPED.*
Aoi checked her sword. “We fight.”
Enma looked at the group. 20 kids now. Hana limping. Varn shaking. Jin with a pipe.
He rolled up his sleeve. Red lines to his elbow.
*CRIMSON SYNC: 35%*
_“Now,”_ the King said. _“Now you use me.”_
Enma closed his eyes.
Thought of all of them. Behind him.
He opened his eyes.
The red stopped at 40%.
“I’m not fighting for me,” Enma said. “I’m fighting for them.”
The doors opened.
50 S-Class guards.
Enma stepped forward.
“Come on,” he said.
---
*THE FIGHT.*
It was chaos.
Aoi was a blur. Taking 3 at once.
The freed kids were fighting with pipes and chairs.
Jin was throwing rocks.
Enma was in the middle.
He didn’t try to kill. He disarmed. Broke bones. Threw people.
40%. 45%. 48%.
One guard got a knife to Hana.
Enma moved. He took the hit in his shoulder.
*CRIMSON SYNC: 52%*
The guard smiled. “There it is.”
Enma grabbed the guard’s wrist. Snapped it.
52% to 50%.
He was bleeding. From the shoulder. From cuts.
But he was standing.
One by one, the guards fell.
Until it was just Kuroda.
Standing on a platform above. Clapping.
“Bravo,” Kuroda said. “50%. And you still have control.”
He stepped down. No guards. Just him.
“I’m impressed, Null,” Kuroda said. “Truly.”
He pulled out a gun. Pointed it at Jin.
“Drop your Sync, or the boy dies.”
Silence.
Enma looked at Jin. Jin nodded. Small.
Enma let the red fade. 50% to 20% to 10%.
Kuroda smiled. “Good boy.”
He walked to Enma. “You know what the problem is? You think you’re the hero.”
He pressed the gun to Enma’s forehead.
“But heroes die, Null.”
His finger squeezed.
*BANG.*
---
- Writer
