Fists collided with jawbones in a dull, sickening rhythm.
Blood splattered against the jagged river stones, mixing with the muddy water of the Ishiyama riverbed.
Groaning in agony, the leader of the Croaking Ravens motorcycle gang collapsed into a heap of cheap leather and bruised pride.
Oga Tatsumi didn't even blink as he stepped over the unconscious body, his dark eyes scanning the remaining hoodlums.
"Anyone else?" he asked, his voice flat, devoid of any warmth or excitement.
Silence greeted him, save for the heavy, terrified breathing of five delinquents who had thought they could take the toughest first-year at Ishiyama High.
They had cornered him near the riverbank, thinking their numbers would give them an easy victory.
Instead, they had learned why Oga was called the "Rampaging Ogre" by everyone who feared him.
Terrified, they scrambled backward, dragging their broken limbs through the dirt and leaving their customized motorcycles behind.
"Thought so," Oga muttered, cracking his neck with a sharp, popping sound that made the survivors flinch.
Wiping a drop of someone else's blood from his cheek, he looked down at his own knuckles.
Redness stained his skin, but there was no pain, only a familiar, empty ache that usually followed these pointless skirmishes.
Fighting was the only thing that made him feel alive, yet even that was starting to lose its edge.
Lately, everyone he fought seemed so fragile, breaking under his fists before he could even break a sweat.
Caring for others, worrying about their lives or safety, was a luxury he couldn't afford.
Connection was a weakness that only made a warrior soft in a school like Ishiyama.
"Hey, Oga..." a weak voice groaned from the mud.
Glancing down, Oga saw the gang leader trying to push himself up, his face swollen beyond recognition.
"You're... you're a monster," the guy wheezed, coughing up a glob of dark red spit.
"Maybe," Oga replied, his expression remaining completely blank as he turned his back on them.
"But you're the ones who decided to block my path today."
He didn't care about their opinions, nor did he care about their fear.
Power was the only currency that mattered in this hellhole, and he had plenty of it.
Walking toward the edge of the rushing river, he let out a long, heavy sigh.
Cool wind swept off the water, carrying the sharp scent of damp earth and rotting algae.
He kicked a stray pebble into the water, watching the ripples dissolve into the murky current.
Suddenly, a strange shape caught his eye, bobbing lazily in the turbulent, grayish currents.
Squinting, Oga leaned over the concrete barrier to get a better look at the floating debris.
It wasn't a log, nor was it a discarded tire from one of the nearby junk heaps.
Gigantic and clad in a bizarre, heavy tunic, a massive man was floating down the river face-down.
"What the hell is that?" Oga murmured, his brows furrowing as he watched the colossal figure drift closer.
Normally, he would have ignored it, letting the river carry whatever garbage it wanted downstream.
But there was something unnerving about the sheer size of the floating body.
Curiosity, mixed with a sudden, unexplainable urge, pulled him down the slippery grassy slope toward the water's edge.
Reaching out with a sturdy branch he found on the ground, he managed to hook the giant's thick collar.
Heaving with all his strength, Oga dragged the massive body out of the freezing current and onto the rocky shore.
Heavy gasps escaped Oga's throat as he fell backward, astonished by how ridiculously heavy the man was.
This guy easily weighed over three hundred pounds, and his muscles felt like solid, unyielding iron.
He lay there, face-down on the gravel, completely motionless.
"Wake up, old man," Oga grunted, kicking the giant's side with the toe of his school shoe.
Nothing happened, but a strange, low hum began to vibrate from within the giant's massive chest.
It sounded like a running engine, deep and resonant, shaking the loose stones around them.
Startled, Oga took a step back, his eyes widening as he noticed a faint, shimmering line running down the center of the man's body.
Without warning, the giant's torso cracked open with a loud, wooden snapping sound.
Steam hissed from the widening crevice, smelling of ozone and sulfur.
Oga froze, his instincts screaming at him to run, but his feet felt glued to the muddy bank.
Squatting down, Oga watched in sheer disbelief as the giant's body split completely in half, revealing a hollow interior.
There were no organs, no bones, and no blood inside the massive shell.
Nestled inside the ribcage, wrapped in a strange, glowing warmth, lay a tiny, naked infant.
Green hair, bright as fresh moss, sat atop the baby's head, and a yellow pacifier was clamped firmly in its mouth.
"A kid?" Oga whispered, his voice cracking slightly as his tough-guy facade completely crumbled.
Of all the things he expected to find inside a giant floating man, a baby was definitely not on the list.
Slowly, the baby opened its eyes, revealing large, pitch-black irises that seemed to swallow the light.
They locked eyes, and in that instant, a violent jolt shot directly up Oga's spine.
Dark adrenaline flooded his veins, hot and thick, accompanied by a wave of pure, unfiltered malice.
It felt like a physical weight pressing down on his chest, making it nearly impossible to breathe.
Images of absolute ruin, crumbling cities, and burning skies flashed behind Oga's eyelids in a fraction of a second.
He could hear the distant screams of millions, the roar of unholy flames, and the laughter of a thousand demons.
Gasping for air, Oga stumbled backward, clutching his chest as his heart hammered against his ribs.
"What... what the hell was that?" he gasped, sweat beading on his forehead.
The sensation was intoxicating yet terrifying, a level of power he had never encountered before.
Meanwhile, the green-haired baby sat up inside the hollow corpse, looking directly at Oga with an intense, curious expression.
Instead of crying, the infant let out a soft, guttural coo that sounded chillingly intelligent.
It raised its tiny, chubby arms toward Oga, as if demanding to be picked up.
"Keep away from me," Oga warned, pointing an accusing finger at the child.
Disgust quickly replaced his shock as he realized how absurd the entire situation was.
"I don't do kids, especially weird demon babies that float down rivers inside giant men," Oga muttered, turning around to walk away.
He was a delinquent, a fighter, a lone wolf who didn't even like his own classmates.
Any responsibility was out of the question; keeping himself alive and dominant was his only goal.
Taking three large strides up the embankment, he prepared to leave this bizarre incident behind him.
He didn't make it very far.
Suddenly, a searing, white-hot pain ripped through his lower back, paralyzing his legs.
Falling face-first into the dirt, Oga screamed as blue-green sparks danced across his skin, cooking him from the inside out.
Every muscle in his body seized up as the current coursed through his veins, forcing his eyes to roll back.
Smoke rose from his school uniform jacket as the agonizing current finally subsided, leaving him gasping in the grass.
"What... what did you do?" Oga growled, turning his head back toward the river.
His limbs trembled as he pushed himself up onto his elbows, his breath coming in ragged, painful gasps.
Sitting exactly where he had left him, the baby was giggling, his tiny hands clapping together in delight.
Little monster was actually enjoying his suffering, finding entertainment in his agonizing shocks.
Pushing himself up, Oga noticed a faint, glowing green brand on the back of his own right hand.
It mirrored a similar mark etched onto the baby's chest, pulsing with a faint, rhythmic light.
Design looked like a complex crest, intricate and ancient, burning with a cold, supernatural energy.
Determined to test his theory, Oga stood up and carefully walked away once more, counting his steps.
One, two, three... ten, eleven, twelve...
With every step, the tension in the air seemed to thicken, pressing against his eardrums.
At exactly fifteen feet, another violent surge of electricity blasted through his nervous system, throwing him to the ground.
This shock was even stronger than the first, leaving his skin raw and his vision swimming with black spots.
"Damn it!" Oga roared, his jaw clenched so hard his teeth squeaked.
He thrashed on the ground, trying to crawl away, but the pain only intensified the further he went.
Realizing the terrifying truth, he understood that he was physically bound to this green-haired nightmare.
He couldn't leave, and he couldn't push the baby away without getting fried by lethal currents.
Before he could recover, the baby crawled up his legs with surprising speed, using his trousers like a climbing rope.
Tiny hands gripped his skin with surprising strength, dragging the small, naked body upward.
Scrambling up his chest, the infant finally perched himself comfortably on top of Oga's head, gripping his messy brown hair.
"Get off me, you little leech!" Oga barked, reaching up to grab the baby's tiny arms.
His hands shook with anger as he tried to break the physical connection, his pride screaming at him to reject this forced bond.
But as Oga tries to pry the baby off his head, Beelzebub's eyes glow a violent crimson, and a massive, localized dome of green demonic lightning erupts, threatening to vaporize the entire riverbank.