Chains of Uncontrol

The iron dome loomed overhead, casting a suffocating shadow over the school grounds.

Mina stood firm, her pink hair matted with sweat, eyes narrowed as she assessed the situation. Beside her, the blue-haired girl—Lira—clutched her Nent blade tightly, its glow pulsating in response to the oppressive energy surrounding them.

"Ron!" Lira called out, her voice echoing through the metallic maze. "This isn't you! Fight it!"

Mina stepped forward, her own Nent flaring to life—a radiant aura enveloping her fists. "We need to break through to him, now!"

They launched into action.

"Ron, remember who you are!" Lira shouted, dodging a sudden lash of chains.

"He's not listening," Mina muttered, pushing herself up. "We need a new plan."

Lira nodded, her eyes scanning the environment. "If we can disrupt the core of his Nent, maybe we can reach him."

They converged, combining their attacks to target the central mass of chains enveloping Ron.

"Ron?" Lira approached cautiously.

But the moment was fleeting.

"We're running out of time," Mina said, coughing. "If we don't stop this, he'll be lost forever."

Lira's eyes in Anger. "Ron come back or we'll have to kill you ."

But Ron remained unresponsive, consumed by his nightmare.

The screech of metal grinding against metal filled the air, echoing off the cracked concrete walls. Lira tightened her grip on her blade, her breath ragged. Across from her, Mina pounded her fists together, her aura flickering like wildfire.

"This thing... it's not human," Mina spat, glaring at the silhouette wrapped in chains. "They said it was a rampaging Nent, but it feels like a monster."

Lira wiped sweat from her brow. "Orders were clear. We're to eliminate it before it breaches the city walls."

From the shadows, the chains slithered again, curling like serpents over the cracked ground. The figure stepped forward—tall, gaunt, with disheveled black hair clinging to his pale face. His sunken eyes glowed faintly beneath dark eye bags, gaze hollow, unreadable.

Neither of them knew his name.

But his presence chilled the air like a nightmare made flesh.

Without warning, the chains lunged.

"Move!" Lira shouted, diving aside as a chain smashed into the ground where she stood. The impact cratered the earth, sending debris flying.

Mina shot forward, fists blazing with Nent energy. "I'm not backing down!"

She met the chains head-on, striking one with a glowing punch. The chain shuddered, sparks flying, but instead of breaking, it coiled around her arm, pulling taut.

"What the hell—?" she gasped as another chain wrapped around her waist.

Lira leapt to her aid, slashing at the chains. Sparks rained from each strike, but the metal regenerated instantly, weaving itself stronger.

"It's adapting!" Lira hissed. "The more we fight, the tighter it binds!"

From within his shifting cocoon of iron, the figure raised a chained hand. The chains lifted him off the ground, hovering like a dark marionette.

The ground trembled. Massive chain-arms erupted from the pavement, towering over the battlefield.

"He's forming constructs!" Mina growled, breaking free with a surge of energy. "Big ones!"

The first chain-arm swung like a wrecking ball. Lira rolled beneath it, slashing upward, cutting deep into the metal—but the chain instantly fused shut.

"Tch… it repairs itself," she snarled.

"We need to break the source!" Mina yelled, charging toward the figure.

Chains surged to intercept her, but Mina ducked and weaved, her fists a blur of light. She punched through smaller links, scattering fragments of steel, her aura burning brighter with each step.

"Almost—!" she gritted.

But the figure lifted both arms.

Above them, an enormous keyhole-shaped sigil materialized, glowing ominously in the twilight sky. Chains spiraled from it, descending like iron rain.

"Shit… he's locking the entire area!" Lira shouted.

The chains slammed down, forming cages around them both. Bars of iron snapped upward, walls of metal sealing them inside like rats in traps.

"LIRA!" Mina punched at her cage, but the bars absorbed her strikes, vibrating with each blow.

"Damn it, no—!" Lira slashed at the lock, sparks flying uselessly.

Outside their prisons, the figure stood motionless, chains swirling around him like a storm. His lips barely moved, but they heard his voice—cold, detached.

"No escape."

Mina roared, her aura igniting violently. "Like hell!" She drove her fist into the bars again, this time with a blinding surge of Nent energy. Cracks spiderwebbed across the iron, then—shattered.

She burst free, sprinting straight at the figure.

"I don't care what nightmare you are!" she shouted. "You're not leaving this zone!"

Chains rose to meet her. Dozens. Hundreds. Writhing like serpents, striking like spears.

She met them with fury, fists colliding against iron, every punch detonating with concussive force. For every chain she broke, two more formed.

Lira joined her, blade glowing white-hot. She danced through the maze of chains, cutting, leaping, slashing—but the chains repaired faster than she could destroy.

"We can't overwhelm it!" Lira shouted. "It's absorbing our attacks!"

The figure lifted his chained hands again.

The ground trembled. A colossal chain-arm rose, twice the size of the others, curling toward the sky.

"Final lock," the figure whispered.

The keyhole sigil above rotated. A thunderous click echoed as the lock engaged.

"He's sealing the battlefield!" Mina screamed. "We'll be trapped inside!"

The giant chain-arm slammed down.

Both girls leapt, narrowly evading the crushing blow. The impact cratered the earth, shockwaves rippling outward.

"No choice!" Lira shouted. "We take him down now!"

Mina clenched her fists, channeling every ounce of her Nent. Her aura burned blinding white. "Together!"

They charged.

Chains surged from all directions, an iron tempest.

The two cleaners moved as one—slashing, punching, tearing through the onslaught. Their screams mingled with the howl of twisting metal. Sweat, blood, sparks flew in every direction.

And yet—the chains kept coming.

The figure watched them impassively, his chains coiling tighter.

They fought harder.

But the cage was already closing.