"The time has come where everything must come to an end. Ragnarok has arrived! Chapter 13 will be the final instalment"
Kaneki and Yasuhisa face each other across the expanse of the Hakka Tower's rooftop, Uta holding Roma close to his chest and Rize standing close behind Hide. In the years that they had both been hidden from sight, the two of them had become very close. And now all of these people looked on at possibly the two most influential people on earth. Kaneki raises an eyebrow and looks back over the edge. "Have you seen the state of things down there? Your little mutation revival trick didn't work for long. They're all gone now…"
Yasuhisa clenches his knuckles, struggling to regain his composure. "It certainly seems that way doesn't it? You've surpassed my original evaluation of your ability, One Eyed King. So is this it then? Are you going to bring me to justice? Kill me?" The One Eye shrugs. "That's up to you. Your forces are crippled, and my forces reign supreme in the world below. Now it's only up here atop everything that you continue to rule. And here I am, yet…. It's not quite my time yet". Yasuhisa frowns. What was he talking about? Was he stalling for time so that Nagachika could get away? He decides on the tactical approach.
"Is that so? Then why are you even here, Ken Kaneki? I have your Kakahou. I have the One Eyed King here inside my own body. You are now merely a fake. You have to reason to fight me anymore. You cannot win so why do you continue to defy me?" Kaneki sighs, closing his own fist around something in his hand. When he opens it again, everyone can see that it's a scrap of paper. "This letter was sealed inside that casket with me when Kanou sealed me away. He said that an anonymous stranger had given it to him and told Kanou to tell me not to open it until now. You see, Hide knew that Kaiko wasn't actually the one who ordered the deaths of Touka and the others. It was you…"
His eyes take on a hard edge as he looks back up at Yasuhisa. "You took everything from me, hoping to manipulate me. You made me think that there was no one left who loved me. Well it's a good thing you were wrong isn't it? There are countless reasons I'm sure I could give you that I need to fight you. But the one I'm rolling with right now is simple. You took away from me. Now it's my turn to take from you…" The Keeper takes a step back and raises his giant Kagune threateningly. "Don't take another step Ken Kaneki or I'll kill your friends!" His Kagune races towards Hide and the others Rize tenses to repel the attack when Kaneki's jet black Kagune expertly slices the larger Kagune into several pieces.
Yasuhisa takes another wary step back as Kaneki advances towards him. "You've spent ten thousand years sitting atop your throne playing with the lives of every living person on this planet for your own entertainment and fulfilment. You've never had any combat experience… I'm afraid I simply outclass you, Yasuhisa". The One Eye lashes out with his Kagune, slipping past the Keepers defences and taking a chunk out of his cheek. He cups the painful wound with his hand and starts to laugh.
"This is definitely not how I thought this would go. You're absolutely right. I can't beat you with the raw power I have in this body. But you seem to have forgotten that the Kakahou of the One Eyed King in inside me now. And so all of the power and ability you once possessed, I now have". He grins as a red glow issues from every pore in his body, his arm morphing into a blade shaped Kagune. Immediately he dashes forward, hacking and slashing at Kaneki and his Kagune, the King only able to dodge efficiently.
Uta whistles in amazement as the Keeper mercilessly assaults Kaneki with renewed vigour as the One Eye ducks under one slash and lands a kick on Yasuhisa's knee, causing the Keeper to double back. Kaneki pushes him, darting in and out with his own Kagune, but the Keeper's reflexes had increased tenfold and was now able to almost predict every move Kaneki was going to make. "I've heard about it but this is the first time I've seen it. The unique state Kaneki achieved during his battle with Kaiko 30 years ago. The Ascended Kakuja. Yasuhisa's Rc Cells have increased to the point where he can control the flow of cells at will through his body".
Hide holds out a hand to stop Rize from striking at the Keeper's back with her own Kagune. "Don't. You'll only get yourself killed. Yasuhisa is now pretty much Kaneki with ten thousand years of experience. He needs to deal with this on his own"…
Kaneki was beginning to pant as he parries another slash, Yasuhisa hitting him in the stomach with such tremendous force that it sends him off the side of Hakka Tower. Using his Kagune to once again fling himself up onto the roof, Yasuhisa's Kagune appears out of nowhere and utterly severs Kaneki's torso from his lower body. As the two halves quickly reattach themselves, Kaneki wraps his Kagune around the Keeper's waist, throwing him high into the air. Using his Kagune to form wings, Kaneki races up to meet him mid-air, Yasuhisa now having spawned his own wings and the two of them clash in the sky.
Kaneki pulls something from his back pocket and suddenly thrusts his hand into Yasuhisa's chest, causing the man to cough up blood. "What the fuck". He's silenced as Kaneki raises his free hand as a finger to his lips. "Shhh. This thing I've just put in your chest is an Rc bomb. It'll take all of the Rc Cell's in your body and convert them to explosive matter that reacts to body heat. Doctor Kanou send his regards…" He pushes the button on the device inside Yasuhisa's chest as a fiery inferno engulfs both of them, lighting up the darkened sky inside Kaneki's birdcage as the people below look up in alarm.
Kaneki's steaming body drops to the rooftop where he lands painfully on his shoulder. Blood was soaking his clothes and third degree burns covered many parts of his body. Hide steps forward to help him but the One Eye shakes his head. "Don't come near me. My current body heat is way beyond the heat even a half ghoul like you could handle Hide. It'll all heal soon just wait". Hide tuts. "Even a half ghoul like me? What does that make you then Kaneki? Heh. I guess you were never normal, no matter what role you were playing…" They're interrupted as the charred and burning form of Yasuhisa crashes to the concrete nearby. His bones were blackening and most of his flesh had already melted away exposing the skeleton.
But then the smouldering corpse laughs. A gravelly, choking laugh. And the voice that followed was like something from the deepest pits of hell itself. "That was a dirty trick Ken Kaneki. Admittedly you got me there. My body can barely move. But never fear. Something of this calibre couldn't kill me. Even an Atomic Bomb couldn't end my life…. You tried, One Eyed King, and you failed. Now it's my turn…"
The flesh peels away to reveal a Kagune inching its way all over his body. Within a few seconds it was as if Yasuhisa's entire skin was flowing Kagune flesh. He grins in a smile without lips and opens his eyes. "I'm immortal, Kaneki. You can't defeat me. You never even had a chance… and so now that I've been kind enough to give you that chance, I'm afraid I have another enemy to attend to. So this will have to be goodbye". He picks Kaneki up by the throat, dangling him in the air. As he begins to squeeze, hoping to pop Kaneki's head open, a fierce pain stabs through his brain. He drops the One Eye and clutches the sides of his head, screaming in pain.
"What the hell did you do to me? I can feel it moving! Eating!" Kaneki, his body now healed to an extent where he could stand rubs his neck unhappily. "While the fire cloud was around us during the explosion, I inserted a Chinese Red Centipede into your ear. What does it sound like? Do you think now you can understand just some of the pain I've had to go through to get here today?"
"I'll... I'll fucking kill you Ken Kaneki. You hear me? You'll be nothing but a puddle of flesh when I'm finished with you!" He continues screaming in pain and lashing out blindly with his giant Kagune when something huge drops out of the sky behind Yasuhisa. Uta yells in shock. "No way. Is that the One Eyed Owl? But she's dead! She was devoured by…. Kuzo Kaneki…." Kuzo impales Yasuhisa on one of his large claws, suspending him in mid-air. The Keeper, now distracted and having purged the Centipede from his ear turns his head. The area that had been penetrated by Kuzo's claw was beginning to corrode. He frowns.
"How can you even pierce my skin? Only the enemy can harm me… Just who the hell are you, Kuzo Alexander?" Kaneki smiles and Yasuhisa glares at him. "Alexander? Is that the name you made for yourself in the human world? Yasuhisa my dear fool. For someone who seemingly sees and controls everything it was awfully easy to have a son while you weren't looking… It's Kuzo Kaneki to you…" The Keeper's eyes widen in alarm and Kuzo rips his torso from his legs, dropping the two halves of his body and staring down at him.
The Keeper grits his teeth. How the hell where these inferiors able to so utterly outclass him? He was the one at the top. It was him who kept this world running. So how dare these fools trick him? His body was taking a long time to regenerate and so he was forced to simply glare at the elder and younger Kaneki as they nodded to each other. As Yasuhisa is about to reveal his trump card, yet another newcomer crests the top of the iron stairwell, followed by the injured Clowns Itori and Nico that the Keeper had sworn he killed. Akhira Kanou smiles cheerfully at Yasuhisa as two middle aged women step out from behind him to face him.
Yasuhisa immediately recognises them and directs his glare to Kanou. "Why did you bring them here? This has nothing to do with them…" Kaneki folds his Kagunefied arms. "Is that any way to speak to your daughters? Kurona, Nashiro. It's been a long time". He smiles gently at them. They had aged normally after Kanou removed the Kakahou from inside their bodies and had been living ordinary lives for over 30 years. Kuro and Shiro approach their "dead" father and stare down at him.
Kuro speaks first. "You never told us. You never even once cared about us did you?" "Are you really our true father?"… Yasuhisa stares at his daughters and spits blood in their faces, shocking them. "I never once considered you my children! I only created you so that Kanou would have a reason to start looking into Ghoulification research! You mean nothing to me!" The twins nod as one, stepping back and also nodding to Kanou. "It's fine father. That man means nothing to us". They look over at Kaneki and both Kuro and Shiro begin to silently weep at the sight of him. "We finally got to meet the King. It's our last chance to say goodbye". Together they embrace him, the white haired man smiling and accepting the embrace.
Kuzo frowns at this. Why are they saying goodbye? What's really going on here? He doesn't get a chance to formulate any idea because Yasuhisa suddenly rises to his feet, a new device in his hand. His throat had healed enough for his voice to return to normal. "Heh. I never thought I'd be forced to use this… The Deadlock Seal… I kept it just in case the King and his followers happened to far exceed my expectations. This device is linked to three anti Rc cells hidden inside your bodies. When I activate it, ghoul or human, you'll die instantly. Farewell, Ken Kaneki…" He presses the button, and in Kuzo's eyes, time slows down.
As one, Kaneki's, Kanou's and Rize's chests explode, leaving nothing behind. Everything that had been there, bone, flesh, organs just disintegrated. Kaneki falls to his knees while Kanou and Rize drop to the ground, dead instantly. Hide cradles Rize in his arms while crying out in anguish while the twin sisters leap onto Kanou, each shaking him as if trying to wake him up. As the son stares at his father's falling form, he tears himself free of his Owlish Kakuja, sprinting over to catch him, but stopping short when Kaneki miraculously staggers to his feet, his own Rc Cells glowing as the great hole in his chest heals over instantaneously.
"Can't let myself get too beat up. I'm just a vessel after all. Might damage the goods…" Yasuhisa folds his arms in annoyance. "What are you talking about? Never mind your suicidal ramblings. You shouldn't even be alive, let alone that wound healing like it did. I just blew out most of your internal organs…" Kaneki simply shrugs. "You're such a materialistic person Yasuhisa. You just stole two very important lives from the people they were loved by. And for that I cannot forgive you… Are you ready to die after so long, Keeper?"
The Keeper growls and lashes out but Kaneki's shoulder spawns a Kagune armouring and deflects the blow. He forms his arm into a blade and slashes Yasuhisa's arm off of his body, the limb falling to the concrete. "You know, I'm not even sure that you're worthy of facing the second enemy if you can't even kill me. You're much less impressive in the flesh…" Yasuhisa screams in rage and forms a long blade from both of his arms, the two opponents constantly hacking parts of each-others bodies until both of them are barely able to stand, bleeding and panting heavily. Kaneki stumbles and the Keeper grins, his bloody teeth unhidden by the presence of lips.
"Looks like you've finally ran out of resolve Ken Kaneki. I shall smite the One Eyed King once and for all!" He raises the blade of his Ascended Kakuja, aiming the tip of the Kagune directly at Kaneki's heart. The One Eye glances over at Kuzo and mouths something to his son silently. As Kuzo understands these words, his eyes widen and he takes a step forward, but too late to prevent Yasuhisa's Kagune form piercing his body. Kaneki's body slowly falls backwards, blood pooling around him…
"Goodbye. I'm sorry…"
As he stares up at the sky, lips struggling to form words the Keeper laughs in triumph, the others looking on in horror at the scene before them. "And so it is done, One Eyed King. You have failed for the last time. This world will no longer be burdened by you…" He frowns and looks down when Kaneki laughs, spitting out blood. "I haven't failed… But… you're right about one thing…. This world doesn't need me anymore…. H…Hai..se…."
As the life drains from the eyes of Ken Kaneki, the Keeper is troubled. This somehow didn't feel like a real victory to him. What didn't he do? What did he miss? As the rain starts to fall, he kneels next to the body of his enemy and sighs. It's at that moment when a soft red glow once again radiates out from him body. All of the wounds on his body heal over, not even leaving scars. His facial structure shifts slightly, and jet black colour sprouts from the crown of his head. The man who opens his eyes a second later is not Ken Kaneki, for Kaneki had given his own life in order to free another soul, trapped deep within his own guilt and memory.
The man stands up and observes the scene around him. He flexes his arms and smiles. "It looks like you really beefed up Kaneki. You can sleep forever, just like you wanted to". His single Kakugan activates and he stares up at Yasuhisa with a grin on his face. "Now it's my turn. Right?" The Keeper backs off a step, shaking slightly but not understanding why. "You aren't Ken Kaneki, yet you inhabit his body… Just who the hell are you?" The man with Kaneki's body sighs, brushing cement dust from his shoulder. "Kaneki did all of that work to get to you, and you can't even read the Kanji of my name correctly… I'm not Hide. I'm Haise".
His Kagune uncoils from his body and he slams it into Yasuhisa with enough force to send the Keeper flying into a water tower. As he struggles to his feet in shocked disbelief, his eyes widen slightly as it dawns on him. "You're the second enemy…. But how come I've never heard of you before?" Haise Sasaki once again brings his Kagune up and shapes it into a blade before lobbing off every single one of Yasuhisa's Kagune with one strike. "That's because I'm not really and ordinary person. I only lived for 4 years before now. Kaneki's looked after me in the meantime though". Before the Keeper can blink, the skin of his Ascended Kakuja is split down the middle, its sickly red shell peeling away to reveal the blackened and charred form of his human body.
"You… bastard…. I can't die. That's absurd. Absolutely impossible… How could you have escaped my attention for so long?" As his legs are severed by Haise's Kagune the One Eyed Ghoul sighs. "Because of Kaneki of course. He's outclassed you in every way, Keeper". He uses his ascended Kakuja to form wings once more, picking up Yasuhisa by the neck and flying high into the air. Together they crash through the ceiling of Kaneki's Birdcage and the sunrise envelopes their bodies. Haise slows to a hovering halt, suspending Yasuhisa in the air. He indicates the vast expanse of land and ocean around them.
"This world is not yours for the taking. It never was, and so now you get to witness these people take it back". As they watch from high above, Kaneki's Birdcage starts to evaporate, bathing Tokyo in the morning sun's glow once more. They can see the bodies of the fallen Americans and Chinese evaporate along with it and the ghoulified humans staring above them in awe. Haise pulls out something from his back pocket. "Good. Kaneki kept this. The device. The Rc Mutator that turned every human on earth into Ghouls. I'm about to utterly reverse the effect. He presses the button and suddenly a cloud of Rc Cells rises into the sky as they too evaporate. Cheers and cries of happiness can be heard from both human and ghoul alike.
Yasuhisa struggles in the iron grip of Haise to no avail. "What the hell have you just done?!" Haise smiles. His triumph was almost complete. "I did say I would completely reverse the effects. You've used this device once before haven't you? It was ten thousand years ago, the day that you split the human race in half by increasing the Rc factor of a certain race of people you despised, You are the creator of ghouls, and now I have returned the Rc factor of every Ghoul on earth to that of a human. Ghoul kind no longer exists…" The Keeper screams in rage and anguish but Haise doesn't flinch. As Yasuhisa stops struggling, all fight leaving him Haise shoves his hand through the Keeper's chest, ripping out the Kakahou and crushing it in his fist.
"I did give the reversal of the device one limitation though. Any One Eyed Ghouls on earth still possess Kakahou and can eat human food. I've secured this worlds future from anybody like you, Yasuhisa. Do you have any last words?" The Keeper had been so thoroughly defeated that he could no longer even think of any retort. This was what failure felt like. Something that he had never even imagined in the end… "I… submit…" Haise nods. "That's good. However, did you really have any inclination that I would let you live? Farewell, Yasuhisa Ori…" He promptly beheads the Keeper, watching as his headless torso falls to the ocean below to be forgotten and never found…
Haise Sasaki slowly lowers himself to the ground. He sighs again. What was he going to do now? Kaneki had sacrificed himself in order for him to awaken, effectively putting himself into an eternal sleep. He sucks in a deep breath of air and smiles serenely. It really did feel good to be alive again…
"As the curtains fall on this battle, time keeps progressing. The sleep has fallen from his eyes at last!"
End Tokyo Ghoul: Crimson 12
Next Time: An Ever Changing World