Are the Returners of Luna Nordics—driven to the brink of death—still capable of turning the tide?

  An arrow embedded in Ethan’s shoulder exploded, engulfing both him and Victoria in a fireball.

  The blast was more than enough to incinerate them both—

  But then, the flames were rapidly sucked away into something unseen.

  What emerged from the blaze wasn’t a human figure, but a silver sea serpent with massive, shield-like scales, coiled protectively around Ethan and Victoria.

  (Duality Martial Arts Ultimate Technique: [Aegis Serpent] — Advanced practitioners of fifth rank or higher can summon the power of the Four Guardian Beasts through ether.)

  Coughing from the smoke, Ethan thought:

  (That was close. If Sis hadn’t summoned [Aegis Serpent], I’d be dead right now.)

  (A master is always a master. I sensed the enemy’s emotions, which let me act first.

  And having you channel ether into the summoning helped a lot too. I couldn’t have done it alone in my current condition.)

  Victoria wasn’t reading Ethan’s thoughts, but rather the relief in his emotions—then transmitted her message through her Exceed, [Echoveil].

  (You sensed the enemy’s emotions? That means...!)

  (I broke through their jamming and pinpointed their location. Sending coordinates now.)

  With her expression unwavering, Victoria sent the data via [Echoveil].

  Ethan saw it too—the precise location of the enemy.

  Exceed [Pulse Veil: Depth Zone]

  Activation Condition & Cost: Sacrifice one of Victoria’s five senses to greatly enhance her detection ability.

  Effect: Enables the user to read the flow of ether to sense even the faintest emotions and desires, beyond the range of standard [Pulse Veil].

  Ethan’s Duality Martial Arts technique, [Sonic Bullet]—a rapid-fire finger projectile—launched ten shots that tore through the air at sonic speed, striking the coordinates Victoria provided.

  “GUGGHHHH!!!”

  Cracks spread across the mirror-like surface, and from them, blood erupted.

  Then the mirror shattered, revealing the wounded form of the Headmaster.

  (Why…? Even with their senses and memories manipulated, this shouldn’t be happening...)

  Panting heavily, the Headmaster struggled to regain a fighting stance.

  (Normally I’d use a gun here, but that would make noise. Choosing a silent bow and arrow proves your illusions and sensory manipulation aren’t perfect. Losing your hearing hurts, but it’s enough to finish this.)

  The Headmaster braced for a counterattack—

  But before he could act, Ethan used Shadow Step to close the distance and unleashed a crushing low blow:

  [Duality Martial Arts: Abyss Strike]—a precision strike to the groin.

  As the Headmaster writhed in agony, Ethan launched a flurry of kicks, climbing up the man’s body like a dance of destruction. He finished the sequence with a devastating [Crater Drop], triggering his ultimate move:

  [Duality Martial Arts: Reaper’s Chain]

  Standing behind the Headmaster, Victoria formed her own ultimate move—

  [Duality Martial Arts: Silent Verdict], an invisible blade of ether extending one meter from her hand like a guillotine.

  It sliced through the Headmaster’s tendons one after another.

  “AGHHHH! STOP IT! What is wrong with you?! Aren’t you supposed to be the good guys?! Where’s your mercy?! Can’t we at least talk this out?!”

  Reduced to a pitiful state, the Headmaster could only beg.

  Ethan grabbed his tie and, with a precise hand strike, slit open the man’s eyelids—

  forcing him to stare directly into Ethan’s glowing gray eyes.

  “Sure, it’s time to talk. But this conversation goes one way.

  You’re going to sing us the secrets of Lumen Dei—nicely and in tune.”

  Ethan’s Exceed—[Veritas Chain]—activated.

  While Ethan and Victoria were shielding themselves from the explosion using the [Aegis Serpent],

  Kirill’s demonic sword, Gram, slashed through Beatrice—

  —or so it should have.

  For a moment, Kirill thought he saw something—like a Chinese dragon—flash across his vision.

  Then suddenly, he realized he hadn’t sliced Beatrice at all—but empty air.

  Sensing a presence behind him, Kirill turned.

  Ten meters away, Beatrice stood clutching her right arm with her left hand.

  Her face was pale, her breathing labored. Kirill could tell she was in no shape to fight.

  (She used a movement-type Exceed, huh? But with [Reenactment] in effect, she shouldn’t be able to use it repeatedly.

  I wonder how she’ll beg for her life—)

  A cruel grin spread across Kirill’s face as he charged toward her.

  With the full might of Gram and his swordsmanship, he imagined Beatrice being torn limb from limb—

  But just as he lunged, Beatrice snapped her right elbow sharply backward, as if delivering a back elbow strike.

  At that very instant, Kirill’s upper body detached from his lower half and crashed to the floor.

  His arms, too, were severed cleanly at the elbows and rolled away across the ground.

  Beatrice calmly kicked the fallen demonic sword, Gram, sending it skidding across the floor.

  Kirill couldn’t process what had just happened.

  Soaking in a growing pool of his own blood—gushing like a fountain—

  he felt no pain.

  That very absence of pain only served to magnify his terror.

  Beatrice took a deep ether-filled breath and looked down on him from above.

  “You understand, don’t you? You’re not going to make it out of this alive.

  Tell me where you’ve imprisoned the women you’ve tortured and violated.

  And how to safely enter those locations.

  If you lie or refuse to answer, I’ll increase your pain fivefold.

  You have ten seconds to decide.”

  Her voice was tired but unwavering—cold and unrelenting, as always.

  At that moment, Kirill guessed the nature of Beatrice’s Exceed—

  It must be some kind of ability to control pain.

  And if she could apply that same control to herself—not only physical, but emotional pain as well—

  Then it made sense how she was still standing here, still fighting.

  “…Fine. It’s my apartment in Astris.

  The keycard’s in my wallet.

  I won’t lie—not at this point.

  But Beatrice… I can’t tell you about Myrkrsvalinn.

  If I try, an Exceed will kill me.

  Even if you multiply the pain ten times.”

  His expression resigned, Kirill confessed.

  Soaked in blood, he felt an overwhelming sense of futility.

  Nothing he did could save him now.

  “…I see. Understood.”

  Beatrice didn’t lower her guard, but she appeared to believe his words.

  Even without feeling pain, Kirill could sense his breathing growing shallow.

  Realizing his time was nearly up, he opened his mouth once more.

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  “You figured it out from the movie poster, didn’t you?

  The slashed-up actress on the poster… she was my mother.”

  “She was beautiful—but lacked any real acting talent.

  You know how she got her roles?”

  Beatrice listened in silence.

  “She slept with directors.

  Same thing happens today, doesn’t it?

  I was dragged into the industry as a kid—

  You know why?

  Because my mom offered me up as a bargaining chip to get roles.”

  Kirill laughed bitterly, the sound echoing in the air.

  “I killed my mother.

  And ever since then, I’ve been punishing women.

  I don’t feel bad about it.

  Any woman, peel back the surface, and they’re all the same.”

  He stopped speaking.

  His breathing was growing even more shallow.

  “I see… Kirill, I understand your past.

  That your mother sold you out—that, I can sympathize with.

  But the ones who created the rules of that industry—weren’t they men?

  Your mother and you were both caught in that web.

  Taking revenge on women? That’s completely misguided.”

  Beatrice was calm, but her tone wasn’t cold.

  “Kirill—

  You pointed your blade at the wrong people.”

  She said it softly, with a look of pity.

  “…Don’t want to be lectured… by a woman…”

  Kirill’s voice faded as he sank into a deep darkness.

  Beatrice’s Exceed: [Pain Shift]

  Ability: Manipulates the pain and suffering of herself and others.

  Number of targets and effective range: Unknown.

  At the very moment Kirill Valga fell—

  Ezekiel had just wrapped his arm around Maya’s waist.

  But something felt off.

  Her body temperature was abnormally high.

  And there was something else—like static electricity crackling around her.

  Ezekiel looked into her face again.

  Their eyes met.

  Her nose was broken, her teeth chipped—

  but her expression was unmistakably conscious.

  This was no longer the paralyzed girl from before.

  Her ice-blue eyes burned with will.

  In that instant, the anaconda that had been suspending Maya had its head severed—

  It dropped to the floor.

  Maya fell with it, and as she landed, she struck Ezekiel with twin knife-hand strikes—

  slicing from his shoulder down to his side.

  Blood gushed in torrents as Ezekiel screamed in agony.

  (Why?! Why isn't the paralysis toxin working?!)

  Still unable to comprehend what was happening, Ezekiel noticed something else—

  He wasn’t alone in the cage.

  “There’s no way…! I killed you! All of you!

  I killed you all! This is nonsense! You should all be dead!

  Get out of my sight, you damn wraiths!!”

  Half-crazed from pain and the hallucination in front of him, Ezekiel shrieked.

  Maya felt it too.

  The presence of figures behind her.

  The choir girls of Lumen Dei Academy—

  Those who had been toyed with and murdered by Ezekiel.

  Before she knew it, her back was surrounded by their shadows.

  One by one, they touched her body—

  and with every touch, a blue spark of electricity ran through her.

  It empowered her.

  When one of them touched her, Maya felt a wave of nostalgic warmth.

  “They’re all saying it—

  ‘Make him pay. Return the karma.

  Tenfold.’”

  Wind swirled around Maya, her hair standing on end.

  Blue-white lightning crackled across her body.

  The sadness and rage she had received from them

  —far beyond anything she had felt even during Beatrice’s training—

  was now being channeled into her.

  “P-please, Maya!

  Help me, I beg you!

  My feelings for you—they were real! My love was real!”

  Ezekiel wept and pleaded, his voice cracking.

  “Don’t you dare tarnish the word ‘love’ any further.

  Now eat your sins, bastard.”

  Maya surged forward and unleashed a high-speed straight punch into Ezekiel’s face.

  (That punch wasn’t so bad… I can regenerate from this.

  Yeah—if I regenerate quickly enough and catch her off guard, I still have a chance!)

  Or so Ezekiel thought.

  But in the very next moment, the flesh of his thigh began to boil—then burst open.

  “GYAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!”

  He screamed, unable to comprehend what was happening.

  His screams didn’t stop what came next:

  His stomach, back, chest, and limbs all began to boil and rupture—

  his body literally bursting apart.

  “I’ve returned your karma to your body.

  Now go roam hell forever—

  begging forgiveness from the ones you tormented!”

  Maya’s barrage of punches rained down.

  With each strike, lightning roared.

  Thunder cracked.

  Ezekiel’s body burned away,

  his flesh reduced to charred, crumbling ash.

  Maya let out a deep breath.

  She turned around to thank them—

  and saw their shadows ascending into the sky.

  (The choir girls…

  The Lumen Dei believers…

  Everyone… truly…)

  (…Thank you.)

  Without realizing, Maya had started to cry.

  She had won—

  but only thanks to them.

  And now, she hoped their sorrow could finally be eased.

  (I’m sorry, Maya.

  I was trapped inside that monster’s body for so long… I started to lose myself.

  But now… you’ve freed me.

  Thank you… truly.)

  “Sophia!”

  What Maya saw rising into the sky wasn’t an anaconda—

  but Sophia, in her original human form.

  (Living might be harder than dying.

  But Maya… I want you to live.

  Be well.)

  Sophia said this as she disappeared into the sky.

  (In the end, I could only free you by killing you…

  Sophia… it hurts so much…)

  Looking up at the sky, Maya felt a single tear fall down her cheek.

  (You did so well, Maya.

  We’ll always be watching over you—)

  That voice pierced her chest.

  It was a voice she hadn’t heard in so long.

  (…Mom…)

  Maya saw her mother smiling, waving gently as she too rose into the sky.

  A gust of wind blew across the room as if the gate to the heavens had closed.

  The back of Maya’s hoodie flipped up—

  revealing a taped handprint pressed against her back.

  “Thanks for fighting alongside me, Emma.”

  Feeling the lingering warmth and energy from Emma’s palm,

  Maya couldn’t hold back her tears again.

  The animal enclosure—once distorted and surreal—began to dissolve like a broken mosaic.

  Someone had successfully dispelled the space’s abnormality.

  As her vision rapidly returned to normal,

  Maya found herself in a vast, empty room—much like the eleventh floor.

  Around her stood Beatrice, Ethan, Victoria—

  and Emma, leaning against Victoria for support.

  All of them looked utterly exhausted.

  But they had waited for her.

  “Maya made it back within two minutes. That means I win the bet, right, Emma?”

  Ethan grinned smugly.

  “Ugh, fine! I lost, okay?

  But more importantly—Maya! Welcome back!”

  Emma pulled away from Victoria and hugged Maya tightly.

  “Hugs are nice and all,” Victoria said with a gentle smile,

  “but shouldn’t we also treat your hand, Emma?”

  “Right. We still need to reattach Emma’s palm,”

  Beatrice said, grinning like a fierce hawk.

  “Let’s get what we came for—and then go home.”

  Maya’s Exceed: [Fate Strike]

  Activation Condition: Must stem from genuine, heartfelt rage.

  (Not usable against just anyone—details remain unknown.)

  Effect: Converts damage received into power (offense, healing, speed, etc).

  When activated, it gathers the emotions of the dead tied to the target’s karma and channels them into Maya’s strength.

  A developing Exceed.

  The final battle of Season 1 was a story of unveiled truths, atonement, and resolution.

  Ethan and Victoria, despite being overwhelmed, turned the tide with their minds and Exceeds.

  Some of you may have come to understand Beatrice's past—and the strength born from surviving it.

  Maya ended one chapter of her fate, but she must go on living with her scars.

  Though powerful, she is still far from her full potential.

  It was because they refused to lose what mattered to them ever again.

  From survivors to avengers.

  They have truly become the HELL’S RETURNERS.

  Lemongirl — I borrowed your powerful words for one of the characters. If you'd like, please tell me your favorite scene from this final battle.

  Assa131 — After reading this far, if you could choose one Exceed to wield, which one would it be?

  HELL’S RETURNERS will conclude its first season in the next chapter,

  Chapter 20, scheduled for release on August 12th at 22:00 JST.

  so Season 2 will begin in January 2026.

  Please look forward to it.

  Your support helps this tale reach new readers—those who resonate with its light and darkness alike.

  check out my Substack article here:

  https://open.substack.com/pub/knishi2050/p/why-i-wrote-hells-returners?r=5wfkgu&utm_medium=ios)

  All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction, translation, or AI training use is prohibited.