The rain kept falling.
It soaked the broken streets, washing blood into the cracks of the ruined city. It beat against Reo's face, cold and merciless, but he didn't move. He sat there, head tilted back against the jagged remains of a wall, breathing shallowly.
The Collapse Beacon still hummed weakly on his belt — its job finished.
The battle was over.
Kael was buried.
But the victory felt... hollow.
Reo closed his eyes, feeling the weight of exhaustion pull at him.
"He was still my brother," he thought bitterly.
Kael had once been a brilliant mind too. Ruthless, yes, but guided by a vision, by ambition. Somewhere along the way, that ambition had rotted into madness. Power had consumed him, twisted him until there was nothing left but rage.
Reo clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug into his palms.
He had sworn after reincarnating into Nobita's body that he would live differently this time — calmly, wisely, peacefully.
Not like before.
Not with blood and war.
Yet here he was.
Kneeling in the ruins of a battlefield he had created with his own hands.
"Is this the price of ambition? Of daring to change fate?"
"Will I always end up here... no matter what body I inhabit?"
The quiet crackle of static interrupted his thoughts.
Reo's head snapped up. His instincts flared — danger.
He wasn't alone.
In the distance, at the edge of the crumbling street, a figure stood under a shattered lamppost.
A woman.
Tall, slender, cloaked in a long, dark coat that shimmered unnaturally under the rain. Her face was hidden by the shadow of a wide-brimmed hat, but Reo felt her gaze, sharp and unyielding, cutting through the gloom like a blade.
For a heartbeat, they simply stared at each other.
Then she spoke — her voice low, almost mocking.
"You've made quite a mess, Nobita-kun."
The way she said his name sent a chill down his spine. It wasn't said with mockery about his old self — it was spoken with knowledge, like she understood exactly what he was, who he was now.
Reo forced himself to stand, his body protesting every movement.
"Who are you?" he called hoarsely.
The woman tilted her head slightly, as if amused.
"A fan," she said lightly. "Or maybe a creditor. Depends on how you look at it."
Without warning, she raised her hand.
Reality itself rippled around her fingers, like water disturbed by a stone. The debris between them shifted — no, melted, rearranging into a flat surface, a makeshift path straight toward her.
"Come," she said. "We have much to discuss, you and I."
Reo hesitated.
Every instinct screamed at him to be cautious. She was dangerous — more dangerous than Kael, perhaps. Kael had been brute strength, madness. But this woman?
She was something colder. Sharper.
But he couldn't turn back now.
Gripping the Dimensional Cutter tightly in one hand, Reo limped forward.
Each step echoed hollowly across the wet stone, the storm raging around him like an angry god.
As he approached, he noticed tiny mechanical drones flitting around the woman, almost invisible unless you looked carefully — spheres the size of marbles, scanning everything with a soft whirring noise.
Technology beyond anything Doraemon had ever shown.
"Who the hell is she?"
Reo stopped two meters away, every muscle tense.
The woman smiled faintly, the first real expression he'd seen from her.
"Allow me to introduce myself," she said, voice smooth as silk.
"I am known as Mirage. And I represent an organization... interested in talents like yours."
Reo's eyes narrowed. "Organization?"
Mirage's smile widened, just slightly.
"Surely you didn't think Kael acted alone, did you? That he simply stumbled onto his... enhancements?"
The ground seemed to tilt under Reo's feet.
Kael had help?
He thought back — the unnatural strength, the silver blood, the monstrous transformations. They had seemed wrong even by the standards of advanced future gadgets. As if something else had been layered onto him.
"Kael," Mirage continued lazily, "was just a prototype. An experiment. A failed one, at that."
Reo swallowed hard.
"And what do you want from me?" he asked, voice steady.
Mirage's gaze sharpened.
"A choice," she said simply. "Join us... and ascend to heights you can't even imagine. Or refuse..." — she lifted one hand slightly — "and find yourself buried like your brother, forgotten and broken."
The drones around her buzzed faintly, an ominous undertone to her words.
It wasn't a threat.
It was a promise.
Reo's fingers tightened around his weapon.
Peace.
Wealth.
A life without chaos.
That had been his dream.
But standing here, staring into the abyss behind Mirage's eyes, he realized something brutal:
Peace could not be bought cheaply.
Sometimes, to carve out a place for yourself in the world —
You had to fight.
You had to outwit monsters.
You had to be a monster.
And Reo Nobita — no, just Reo now — was ready.
He smiled, blood staining his teeth.
"I'll hear your offer," he said coldly.
"But make it good."
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