Nick Fury stirred awake, his one good eye slowly adjusting to the haze around him. His head throbbed faintly, but to his surprise, he wasn't gravely injured. Neither were the agents scattered nearby.
That realization sank in quickly—it wasn't luck. During the brutal clash earlier, Arakawa Zenkichi had deliberately shielded them. Otherwise, the sheer destructive force unleashed by both sides would have left nothing but ash and silence.
Fury's relief lasted only a moment before confusion crept in. His brow furrowed as he rose unsteadily to his feet, and then he froze.
S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters—his S.H.I.E.L.D.—was unrecognizable.
A gaping crack tore through the heart of the facility, its jagged edges groaning under pressure. Worse, Fury could see with his own eye that the fissure was spreading, widening inch by inch, swallowing steel and stone alike.
He stood dumbfounded, unable to look away.
What the hell is happening?
"What's going on?" Fury rasped, his voice still raw from unconsciousness.
One of the shaken agents near him shook his head in disbelief. "Sir… I don't know. I just woke up too."
"It's being irreversibly damaged," Zenkichi's calm but heavy voice cut through the air.
Fury turned sharply toward him. The swordsman stood firm amid the chaos, as if he already understood the devastation unraveling around them.
"Irreversible?" Fury repeated, stunned. He rubbed his temples, then tugged at his own face, as though testing whether this was all some grotesque dream. "You mean… there's no way to fix it?"
Zenkichi didn't hesitate. "It's beyond repair."
The words fell like a hammer.
Fury looked up toward the cracked ceiling, his vision blurring as tears welled unbidden in his eye. He clenched his jaw, but the truth weighed too heavily.
S.H.I.E.L.D.—the foundation he had poured years into—was crumbling before him.
Even if they emptied their accounts, even if they sold everything, he knew the truth deep in his bones: they could never rebuild this. Not the same way. Not the heart of it.
"What am I supposed to do…?" His voice broke, grief choking the edges. The legendary spymaster who never flinched at war or gods or monsters… was weeping.
"Don't panic," Zenkichi said firmly, his tone softer than before. "I'll build you a new one. But first, I need to finish the fight in front of me."
Fury's head snapped up, meeting Zenkichi's gaze. The man's words carried no arrogance, only sincerity. Still, Fury could hardly grasp them. Replace S.H.I.E.L.D.? As if such a thing were possible.
But Zenkichi's focus was already shifting. The battle wasn't over—this destruction was only the prologue. His true opponent still stood before him.
The monstrous being's amber eyes burned with malice, its aura suffocating as it stepped forward, each movement rumbling like thunder across the ruined base.
"You dare take your eyes off me?" the Wolf God snarled, his voice carrying an icy rage. "Dieee!!!."
He opened his maw wide, rows of gleaming fangs reflecting the dim light. Then, with speed unnatural for his size, the beast lunged. In less than a heartbeat, his jaws snapped toward Zenkichi, intent on rending flesh and bone into shreds.
The air cracked with the force of his movement. Fresh chapters posted on 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭⚑𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮⚑𝕟𝕖𝕥
Zenkichi's expression hardened. He braced himself, katana already lifting as a sharp gleam cut across his eyes.
The Wolf God's power was primal, ancient, and relentless.
And now, with S.H.I.E.L.D. collapsing around them, Zenkichi knew there could be no hesitation.
The true battle had just begun.
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