Beyond the Gods - The Strongest Hinokami

With Outer Shadow Aaron "Dainsleif" Hope choosing to take Auxiliary Shadow Sarah Ultear in an attempt to recover both Inner Shadow Jun Gasket and Auxiliary Shadow Sigurd, Auxiliary Shadows Yeling "Tidalflame" Mah and Bryce "Hellsing" Jones have been assigned the task of checking up on Outer Shadow Shosuke Shiki, The Devil Monk, who developed a new technique in response to the growing threat of Demon Lord Loyce Hal.

However, when one fateful move causes Yeling and Bryce to end up in a home away from home, Yeling faces his past once more. Old demons along with new begin to haunt the newly minted Auxiliary Shadow, and Yeling begins to question whether his crusade to end Vala and bring true fairness is truly justified.

The Thirteenth Hinokami

I watched the last offering go up in flames in the shrine at Arii.

"Rest in peace, all of you," I muttered, as I turned my back at the keepsakes that I had given to Squad Four.

My second family, that I had lost.

I made my way across the town, gazing at the distance.

"Hey! Old Man Yeling! Hello? Are you listening?" A girl's voice called out to me.

My gaze darted around passively, as my subconsciousness created an image of a young high schooler with unique purple hair who was waving, trying to get my attention.

"What are you spacing out for?" Shia pouted, crossing her arms.

"We're supposed to be picking out groceries for tonight, you wanted to eat curry, right? I can't make curry with only rice you know!"

I slowly raised my hand to the hallucination of Shia Megumi, one of my closest friends, only for her to disappear in the blink of an eye.

The image of my friend was replaced by another girl who was calling out to her boyfriend, as he rushed to her location.

The girl began scolding him for taking too long at a nearby shop and that they would be late for the coach.

I ignored the stabbing sensation that was welling up in my chest.

Forget her, Yeling. Forget them all.

They're all gone.

You need to forget about them.

This is your life. You're not someone who belongs anywhere anymore.

This is what it means to be liberated.

I continued walking down the trail until I reached a spot in the corner, the Shadows were huddled around, concealing a Mercedes-AMG sports car.

I was about to open the door but hesitated.

Last Son? Are you not returning to Lady Harriet's residence? The Shadows whispered in my head.

"No... there's something I need to do. Give me a few minutes."

Very well.

I turned around, following a wispy blue trail up a hill.

As I continued walking, the more my body was telling me to stay away, as if the Hinokami inside me was instinctively telling me to run away.

But there's no outrunning her. She wanted to talk. If she wanted to, she could slaughter me instantly as I was now.

I needed to play it safe.

I continued walking up the hill, the sounds of the village echoing like a drone in the background.

Until I reached the top, to see a ghostly blue apparition of a woman sitting on a bench.

She looked exactly like Anna, but I knew it couldn't possibly be her.

She manifested in the form I would expect: someone who would fill me with hope.

"First it was Loyce, now it's you. I don't understand what the point is for two of the Black Legion's biggest enemies to try and do a one-on-one when we're going to end up slaughtering each other in the end," I said to the apparition.

Vala smiled, turning around and resting her chin on her hand.

"Do not misunderstand my intentions, Hinokami. I wish to destroy you as much as I say. However, you are vital in Demon Lord Loyce's personal agenda. And with me being incomplete, I must rely on his intervention as my Vessels have yet to acquire the reasonable strength in bringing about my revival."

This was bad.

Vala had now manifested to the point where she could take physical form.

"Why are you here, then?" I asked, cautiously.

Vala tilted her head.

"You have gotten far stronger. Mahyako's blood runs prominently in your veins, much more than your sister's."

A surge of rage flooded my chest.

"Are you gonna attack me like you did with Hakah?"

"No. That fight against your sister and Outer Shadow Dainsleif was simply to gauge the strength of the enemy. As it stands, Loyce alone will be enough to crush you all. My intervention was never needed."

Vala spread her hands.

"After all, my purest nature is not to harm. I am Hope. To hurt others would go against what I stand for."

What you stood for?

The "hope" you stood for caused the divide between people who were blessed by things they didn't deserve and true, kind people to be punished to the point where they gave up, and became the scum that society despised.

I kept this to myself, but there was no hiding what I felt in front of someone like Vala.

"You believe you stand for something complex, but in reality, what you stand for is very simple. Your psychology is very simple, Yeling. In the end, you want to be accepted. Am I wrong?" Vala asked.

I made a fist.

Don't tell me...

Don't you dare tell me what I want and what I...

Vala's smile dripped with vile sympathy.

"My dearest Yeling. I want to see you destroyed. But that's the thing... as a Spirit of Hope, I don't need to worry,"

Level 1 Hinokami

Don't let your emotions overwhelm you... Yeling!

This isn't like any enemy you've faced before!

"There's no need to try and fight someone..."

Inverse

Don't do it!

"...who's already destroying himself..."

I lifted my hand at the ghostly figure of Anna.

Tsunami Rele-

"After all," Vala whispered in my ear, as my eye went wide in shock.

Vala had suddenly disappeared from my line of sight, appearing behind me.

"You were always correct, Yeling. My greatest enemy has always been one who stands opposite to Hope. Opposite to kindness. Opposite to warmth. But what can you do? When you yourself are burdened with insurmountable levels of depression, loneliness, trauma, and jealousy? Twenty-six years old and counting, you've never been loved by a woman. Every group of friends you've ever made abandoned you. And as you fall deeper and deeper into that hole of yours, the more society and everybody condemns your pain. You cannot do ANYTHING."

"VALA!!!" I roared, spinning around in a feral rage, my hand inches away from incinerating a young African American teenager.

"DUDE!" Auxiliary Shadow Hellsing yelped, stumbling back.

I breathed heavily, my eye still wide in rage.

My ragged breaths were akin to a cornered animal, my stance and body language.

This world...

Everybody will die.

Everybody will die... they will all die! I'll kill them all! I'll-

PAT.

I felt a hand against my shoulder.

"Bro, you good man?"

I blinked, my rage suddenly subsiding. The horns on my head retracted back into my skull, and the rage that was overwhelming me, slowly transformed me into my Anarchy Form faded away.

"B- Bryce... what are you... where's Vala?" I clutched my head.

Bryce looked at me, confused.

"Vala? Dude, did that fight against Grond knock out a few brain cells or something? You were talking to yourself the entire time."

"What..."

I took another deep breath, ignoring the pain in my chest.

Twenty-six years old and counting, huh...

Ever since Loyce had transplanted Shenlong's Celestial Dragon physiology in my body, I felt myself being able to do things I never thought I could do. My strength and physical prowess increased substantially.

But if only being a god could have made me lose my hormones.

Because I really... truly... can't stand what I was feeling.

"Bryce, why are you here?" I asked.

"Well... see here, Sarah and Aaron went to go look for Siggie in Master Jun's world. So ion got nothin' to do other than to check up on Shiki. Figured since you're waitin' on Vicki to recover you could help me out."

"Hmm..."

I couldn't say I was really looking forward to dealing with this idiot's shenanigans.

I already had to deal with Aaron's goofball personality, and the number of times the moron had forced me into a non-consensual hug was more times than I wanted.

I heard Bryce Jackson Jones was even more of a loose cannon than his dolt of a boss.

"Hey. Why do you look like you're staring at a piece of trash right now," Bryce grumbled.

"I'm not."

"Yo eyes could have fooled me."

"Eye," I corrected him, lifting up the hair on my right side and showing him my empty socket.

Bryce flinched.

"JEEZU- I mean, I knew that. Yeah. I ain't scared. We don't get scared in the hood. Nah."

"Yeah, sure," I smirked.

Maybe hanging out with Bryce and dealing with the whole Shiki situation was a nice change of pace.

Anything had to be better than wallowing.

"Come. Just show me the way," I beckoned Bryce to the car, as Bryce made a squeaking sound.

"AYO... this yo ride?! That a MERCEDES?!"

"Yeah, why?"

"That shit is hella expensive, dude!"

"You drive an SRT Hellcat, you moron!"

"Yeah, but a Mercedes?! Bruh you stacked. What do you do for a livin' outside Auxiliary Shadow business? You a doctor or sum shit?"

I sighed, sitting in the driver's seat.

"Yeah, just because I'm Asian means I'm a doctor. And what? You stole your Hellcat?"

Bryce choked.

"The hell you just say?! That's rac-"

"So it's okay for you to mock me for being Asian but it's not okay for me to mock you for being Black."

Bryce turned to the side, pouting. I resisted the urge to smile.

Maybe being with Bryce wasn't such a bad idea.

We continued driving down the distance, as the Shadows began to warp us to another version of Earth. Shosuke Shiki's Earth. The sides of the car windows began to turn dark, and the interior lighting of the car illuminated our faces.

We were silent for a few minutes until Bryce piped up.

"By the way, isn't your name a girl's name?" Bryce asked.

I choked.

"Wha- What are you talking about?"

"Yeling. Ain't that a chick's name?"

"And how in the hell do you know that?"

Bryce puffed up his chest proudly.

"I'm into Asians."

"I'm not interested in guys."

"Not you, jackass! I meant I'm into Asian women. Or you know, women who look Asian. Like Sigur-"

Bryce suddenly paused, putting his hands to his mouth.

As if the cat wasn't already out of the bag.

I leaned back in my seat, looking out into the distance of the horizon. There was really nothing to do as the Shadows transported us. From what Aaron had told me, ever since Vala was regaining her essence, the Shadows were becoming weaker and weaker.

Which made moments like these that much more awkward.

I glanced at Bryce, who looked like he was about to explode from embarrassment.

"My name is a unisex name. Guys and girls can be named that way, but the name has been used for more girls than guys in Canaan. My parents thought I would be a girl before I was born," I said, breaking the silence.

Bryce glanced at me.

"Oh, I see."

More silence.

Great.

I was never really the social type anyway.

And Bryce always seemed to be the more vocal of Aaron's gang. It was only natural for things to be awkward between us.

"You know, Bryce is a Scottish name?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"Really?"

"Ye. My ma's Scottish. My pop is African American. So I'm a mix. I just take after my pop a lot in appearances. 'Cept for the eyes."

Bryce winked at me, causing me to recoil in disgust.

But focusing in detail at his eyes...

They were...

"Green eyes?" I asked.

"Yeah. I got bullied a lot for it. Back in school, my classmates would always call me 'Sweet-ass Scotty'. Because I was technically half white and, at least in my version of America, we as minorities are kinda jaded."

I looked at Bryce.

I never expected... him to experience something like that. Bryce also struck me as someone who was very talkative and liked by everyone.

I guess... everyone had their own demons.

We finally arrived at the spot, only the place... wasn't exactly...

"This isn't a village," I remarked.

The entire place looked heavily modernized, just like my version of Japan. Cities and buildings that reached the skies.

And above all else...

"MAIDS! MAIDS EVERYWHERE! YELING!" Bryce screamed, jumping up and down.

Of course.

"Bryce, we need to locate Shiki's village. We don't have time for-"

"What would you like to have on the menu, Master?" A high-pitched woman's voice said from the corner of my vision.

"I'd like you, miss," Bryce replied.

"Oh jeez! You!"

What the hell was this idiot doing?!

I dragged the next heir to Count Dracula by the collar after he had finished paying the bill for the maid cafe.

"Stop! Hey! I'm not done enjoying this!"

"You've enjoyed plenty!"

"Let me at least try going to a love hotel next!"

"With who?!"

"I'll find someone."

"Like hell, you will. I heard you've been single your whole life," I grumbled.

Bryce stared at me, his face betrayed.

"Who told you that? Did Aaron tell you that?! That little SNITCH!"

I let go of Bryce, as he got to his feet.

"I'll find a girl, just you wait. I'mma lose my V-card I swear on MA LIFE."

My hand clenched into a fist.

"Do you really believe that?" I whispered, turning around and walking in the other direction.

"If you're looking for a girl, I can fill in the role," A girl's voice said behind us.

Bryce spun around like an animal.

"For real?!"

I smacked the Auxiliary Shadow over the head.

"You can't be serious!" I snapped.

Bryce clasped his hands together like a prayer.

"Come onnnnn, gimme a chance to lose my v-card man! I'm touch starved!"

That shouldn't even be something to say out loud.

Bryce turned back to the girl, who was wearing a kimono and had her hair braided back. She looked like she was in her early twenties.

"So, missy, what's yo name?" Bryce asked.

I resisted the urge to incinerate this vampiric idiot on the spot.

The girl blinked, causing me to narrow my eyes.

Well.

My eye.

"My... name...?" The girl whispered under her breath.

"Yeah, what's yo name shorty?" Bryce asked.

Something felt off.

"Hey, do you happen to know Bryce by any chance?" I asked.

The girl quickly shook her head.

"N- No! No... S- Sorry. I must have mistaken you for someone else. I'm sorry."

"Say what?!" Bryce squeaked, stepping forward until his face was inches from the girl's.

"You was gonna go to the love hotel with me now you wimpin' out? You're not scared of black guys are you?"

...

What the hell did race have to do with this?

"Bryce, that's enough. She doesn't want to do it with you, respect her boundaries," I yanked Bryce away from the girl, who looked like she was about to cry.

The girl began running off into the distance, and I caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a patterned bow that tied her hair back.

It sort of reminded me of Hakah's earpieces. Maybe I should buy her something while I was still here.

I shook my head vigorously.

Focus, Yeling.

We need to find Shiki.

I put my hands into my pockets, walking in the direction of a village with a depressed Auxiliary Shadow Hellsing behind me.

"Stop wallowing you idiot. The mission was to check up on the Devil Monk not get laid," I scolded him.

"My once-in-a-lifetime opportunity... in shambles bruh!!!!"

"Besides," I glanced at Bryce.

"Aren't you gonna save your first time with Sigurd?"

Bryce blinked.

"Wha-"

I smirked.

"So all that talk about getting it on with girls, but the moment I mention your crush you start stumbling all over your words. How adorable."

"AYO! DON'T CALL ME ADORABLE! I'm a hard baller, ya hear?"

"Yeah yeah. I hear I hear."

We finally reached the doors of a dojo and knocked on the door.

"Hello? Anyone home? It's Auxiliary Shadows Tidalflame and Hellsing!" I shouted.

"Intention?" A voice answered back.

"We're here to check up on Outer Shadow Devil Monk."

I heard the ruffling of sounds.

"Huh. You would have thought they would be more welcoming to us colleagues at work," Bryce muttered.

That ruffling...

No.

"Bryce! Get dow-"

SWISH SWING.

Bryce yelped, as I shoved him out of the way and deflected a katana strike with Tatsu, blue sparks from my Hinokami enhanced blade illuminating the garden of the dojo.

"What the hell?!" Bryce complained as I coursed the Fire God through my veins.

Level 2 Intangibility - Hellfire Embrace

I spun mid-air, unleashing a wave of blue flames which caused the attacker to retreat.

"Yeah. It's him." The hooded figure whispered into his coms unit.

"That's Loyce's Auxiliary Shadow. Calling for backup."

Backup?

Did these guys not know that I had defected from Loyce along with Vicki?

"You came here to attack us, didn't you? We're not afraid!" A man wearing a visor shouted, powering up.

A beam shot from his mask, but I had already anticipated it, appearing behind him.

"What the, he predicted my attack!" The Visor yelped.

"Of course, I've worked with someone who had powers similar to yours," I replied, raising Tatsu, but before I could do anything, a large hand appeared from a dark puddle on the ground.

"Wha-" I exclaimed when suddenly, Bryce appeared behind me, stopping the strike with his bat. Red electricity arced across his body as his fangs began to elongate. His red aura and my flames turned the dojo purple.

"Yo! Visor! Oni Emperor, it's me! Bryce Jones! He's on our side homies!" Bryce seethed.

You came to transpire with a Shadow of Inner Shadow Empire. Your transgressions shall be answered through death! A demonic voice rumbled all around us.

"Stop the cap, you old man! You just here cuz you think we comin' after Tokiko! Well, we ain't!" Bryce growled, swinging his bat and disintegrating the arm, causing the voice to growl in agony.

The two of us landed on the ground, narrowly dodging a katana swipe from the hooded figure.

"Bryce, you know these guys?" I asked.

Bryce positioned his bat, and his green eyes turned red.

"These three are Auxiliary Shadows to Outer Shadow Dagrun. Aux Shadows Visor, Oni Emperor, and Iaian. We gotta clear up this misunderstanding," Bryce replied.

Visor glared at us, his mask glowing with energy again, but I deflected the strike with Tatsu and raised my hand.

Level 1 Hinokami - 2% Inverse Tsunami Release

"YELING! DIDN'T YOU JUST HEAR A SINGLE WORD I JUS' SAID?!" Bryce screamed.

"Yeah. But sometimes, we just gotta use force to make em' listen."

"What kinda advice is that?! Bossman was right! You a straight-up arsonist!"

I fired the blast, which was sliced in half by Iaian but with great difficulty.

Iaian's katana melted into a puddle of goo.

We were in control of this fight.

A SS Rank and a S+ Rank, we were about as powerful as it was. I alone should be more than enough to take-

SWOOSH.

"What the-" I gasped, clutching my side. I took a step back, suddenly feeling extremely cold.

Bryce turned around to see a man in a dark blue yukata stand between us, his foot cocked back, which launched Hellsing away.

The man then spun back to me and tried the same thing, but I raised Tatsu.

Rain Style Kenjutsu - Form 1: Surface Slash

Green rainwater swirled around the blade, slashing at the man point blank, but to my disbelief, the attacker leaned back, dodging the slash with incredible dexterity, and aimed his fist right at my face.

I instinctively went Intangible, a blast of wind completely decimating my head.

I materialized through the opponent and took a step back.

That technique... those movements...

Everything was calculated.

Almost like everything was set up for another-

SWIFF

The man appeared in my vicinity again, this time in my blind spot.

Shit!

I didn't even have time to exit my Intangibility!

Another punch ripped my wispy form again, smashing and leveling an entire field of trees.

All the kinetic energy was directed at my fire avatar... but to have the residual shockwaves do this much damage...

This had to be-

I took another step back.

One Strike Kill.

"SHIKI YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Bryce growled, red electricity booming from his body.

"Perfect matchup, bitch! I'm all fired up!"

Bryce shot forward, as Shiki materialized away with that same blinding speed.

I watched as The Devil Monk's fist connected with Bryce's face right away, causing his eyes to roll into the back of his head, but Bryce hung on, clutching against Shosuke's wrist and shedding blood.

The blood began entering his mouth, making his red aura glow more violently.

Shiki seethed, twisting and turning out of Bryce's hold with unparalleled fluidity, then launched another punch that caught Bryce square in the head, smashing him into the ground and leveling it.

Shiki raised his fist again, as I shot forward, but Shiki didn't flinch at all.

As if he knew I wasn't gonna make it.

KABOOM.

I yelled in pain, my eye enlarged as I stared at my side.

A red patch had formed.

"What-" I smashed into the ground, clutching my side in agony.

No way...

That hit he had landed earlier... that chill...

It was a delayed response!

Shiki swung his fist again against Bryce's face, but suddenly, the Devil Monk recoiled, his body wracked in pain.

"Ya like that, don't cha'. Eh. Shiki?!" Bryce snarled, getting to his feet. Blood poured from his head, but a violent grin plastered his face.

"I call it the Blood Link. Hit me all ya want. The damage gets split in two. I take half, you take half. You can't take hits can ya? Yo little frail ass body!"

Shiki limped back, bracing himself again for another punch.

"Ya got better fighting skills than anyone in The Black Legion. But yo durability is weak as shit!" Bryce chuckled, putting his bat against his shoulder.

"Aight. Fun's over. We gotta talk, homie. Yeling ain't on Loyce's side no more so-"

"No. You traitor. You die. Shi-ne!"

"The hell you on about?! Just listen to me, dude!"

No. Oni Emperor grumbled, towering over the dojo and glowering at the two of us.

We cannot take that risk. My daughter... I cannot risk anything else.

"That's right. Loyce's Shadows have destroyed the Black Legion beyond repair! We're all on our own now! We can't take any risks, Bryce. You just being with the Tidalflame is already bad enough news!" Visor shouted, appearing by the Emperor's shoulder.

"As long as Tidalflame is here, we can't let anyone near our Lady!" Iaian said.

Shiki raised his fist at me.

My blood began to boil.

"I'm not with Loyce... did Aaron not tell you idiots nothing?"

The Shadows maintained their hostility. Vala's words began resonating even stronger.

Every group of friends you've ever made abandoned you. And as you fall deeper and deeper into that hole of yours, the more society and everybody condemns your pain.

No...

"You can't be serious... I can't believe it..."

I've been shunned again.

Rage began coursing through my body, my aura growing more violent.

"Wa- Wait, Yeling! Lemme talk to them! Don't do anything drastic man!" Bryce pleaded, but we were far beyond bargaining.

"SHUT UP!" I roared, the flames causing everybody to recoil.

Level 1 Hinokami Stage Two - COBALT ASSIMILATION

A horn sprouted from my head.

"I will show you just how powerful I am. You didn't listen to Bryce. Maybe you shouldn't need to listen again."

Visor blasted a beam right at me, but the beam instantly disintegrated from my flames.

"Did he just... incinerate light???"

Oni Emperor growled, launching a punch at me, but his fist melted on contact, causing him to roar in agony.

I turned to Shiki, who appeared in front of me, but his stance became weaker, and his breathing suffocated from the intense heat my Stage Two was emitting.

I raised my hand in front of The Devil Monk.

Level 1 Hinokami: Demon's Prison

Shiki became trapped in a blue and purple fireball, suffocating and retching for air.

"I'll kill... I'll kill..."

"Yeling, stop!" Bryce shouted at me, but the voices began to fade away.

I'm never allowed anything.

Never.

And as you fall deeper and deeper into that hole of yours, the more society and everybody condemns your pain. You cannot do ANYTHING.

If I'm not allowed anything.

If even living is considered a sin...

Then no one is allowed to live anymore.

The Attack

"I made some tea," I brought the cup to Hakah, who was resting on a bed.

Hakah took the tea and sniffed it, frowning.

"These aren't the tea leaves Mama used to use."

"I missed the part where I'm supposed to give a shit!" I snapped, putting the tray to the side.

Hakah glared at me.

"You're the only person in this entire organization who can speak to me like that and you're milking it way too much!"

"Says the brat with Princess Syndrome complaining about the tea I spent so long steeping!"

"You literally just put a tea bag in and played on your phone!"

"How in the hell would you know that?"

"The Shadows? My Hachi? Are you stupid?"

I brought my face close to Hakah's as we continued seething at each other.

Ever since I reunited with my little sister, we had become used to each other's company. And from then on, we had returned to being normal siblings. I suppose I had Aaron to thank for bringing her back, but part of me missed the time when Hakah was actually docile.

Now we were bickering like siblings just like so many years ago.

"Stop stop stop! Come on, guys. Really?" Twilight Bolt said, exasperated at the two of us.

"You're brother and sister, It hasn't even been a month and you two are already going at each other's throats!"

I turned away.

"Whatever."

Hakah relaxed in the bed.

"I am still in disbelief that my fight against Vala has rendered me in this state. I would have thought I would still be able to fight."

I glanced at my bedridden little sister.

"What were you honestly expecting? That you would be able to fight for hours on end when you spent pretty much your lifetime never exerting yourself? SSS Rank or not unless you train those muscles you're not going to have god-like endurance out of the blue like that."

Hakah clenched her fist.

"I know that... but... part of me wants to fight again. So I can help Aaron."

A vein popped on my forehead.

Carlton sighed, sitting by Hakah's side.

"Lady Hakah, I understand your desire to help Dainsleif, but you can't overexert yourself like this. That fight against Vala has caused immense muscle degradation in your body. You need at least several months to recover that strength, and even then, when you battled the Spirit of Hope at full power you were barely able to get a hit in. Let's assess things again once everybody has regrouped."

Hakah pouted.

"Hang in there Aaron, I promise you I will be by your side-"

I spun around.

"You can't be goddamn serious, sis. Really? That guy?!"

Hakah glared at me with piercing purple eyes.

"Huh? Do you have a problem with that? He's hot. He's sweet. And he's over six feet! Everything he has that you don't have."

"NO! I won't accept it! I already moved past the fact that you had a bunch of dudes who've made moves on you, this I cannot accept! The guy's married for Chrissake!!!"

"Well, I can't help it! Didn't you have similar feelings to that Berserker girl?!"

The auras of Susanoo and Hinokami began to clash violently in Hakah's Barracks, causing Vicki to convulse in her comatose state.

"Guys! Harriet's gonna go into cardiac arrest if you keep this up! We're already down a bunch of people as it is!" Carlton pleaded as we calmed down.

I glanced at Vicki.

"Our chances to beat Loyce are about as good as they are to beat Vala. Aaron went to rescue his Auxiliary Shadow from Aran, he's seriously underestimating the power of that Supreme Primordial Demon."

Hakah pursed her lips.

"And you will go after him?"

"No. My help is needed elsewhere."

I kept the rage from overtaking me.

"Besides, he has his wife. He'll be fine."

Carlton tended to Vicki, wiping her down. He looked like he was intentionally concealing the space between his legs.

Hormonal idiot.

I sat next to Hakah, swiping through my phone.

"Goh goh, how are you feeling?"

I sighed.

"It's gotten worse. In layman's terms. But whatever."

Hakah brushed her hand over my hair.

"The way the gods of The Great Akuma operate is through exchange. It limits our power so as to not keep it from going out of control. But your Hinokami is unbound. The flames are tearing your neurons apart. Fits of psychological rage and paranoia are just the start."

"Thanks, Miss Sunshine."

"I'm serious, Yeling. I know the path you and I have taken... it'll end in our destruction. But... I still don't want to see the only family I have left work himself to death."

I closed my phone.

"I know that..."

I know that.

I knew it all along.

While I was saved from the fate of being consumed in reviving the Great Akuma...

I knew all this time.

Hakah was never once spared. Her role, as The Devil's Fury.

Even if I got what I wanted, that is, the revival of The Great Akuma to create a fair and just world by destroying Vala's twisted concept of Hope, I still lost.

Hakah would be consumed, along with the rest of the Akuma Grade Dogma holders.

I had tried my best to ignore this and to move forward.

But each time it came back it came back like a massive iron rod poking my heart.

I looked at Hakah again, who had fallen asleep.

If Hakah dies...

I have no one left to live for.

Aaron had Sarah.

Sigurd had Bryce.

Vicki had Carlton.

Kon had Rya.

In the end... I would be left alone, to watch everybody be happy, and to indulge in things I could never have.

Hakah placed an object in my hand.

"What is this?" I asked.

"I figure you're too stubborn to do anything about your situation. If you ever feel like you're losing control, take this talisman and squeeze it. I injected a bit of my Susanoo into it. The shock should send you back to your senses."

I bit back my lip.

"You act like I still have something to live for."

Hakah shook her head.

"There's always a reason to live, Goh goh. Always. And even if you can't find that reason, then think of it this way. There are still many people out there like us, oppressed by Vala's ideal. Are you going to die before you can stop Vala for good?"

* * *

To die before I could stop Vala...

Was something I could not accept.

I fought back my bloodlust and reached into my pocket, pulling out my talisman and squeezing it. A purple jolt of electricity ripped into me as I roared, throwing my head into the sky.

I stumbled backward, the grip I had on Shiki loosening and releasing the Outer Shadow. Bryce broke free of the holds and ran up to me, grabbing me before I could collapse.

Steam rolled off my sleeves while my Stage Two transformation dissipated.

"Get out of there, Bryce! You just saw what that monster could do!" Visor shouted.

"SHUT UP, ANDY," Bryce growled, shielding me from the Shadows.

"You're right. I did see. So did you. The guy's SS Ranked and could have slaughtered us if he wanted to. Y'all serve no purpose in this fight against Loyce so if he wanted to he coulda just killed y'all for shits and giggles and he didn't! He's on our side!"

Andy hesitated, glancing at Oni Emperor, who began to shrink into the size of a tall muscular man with a large bushy beard.

"Wh- What should we do? Absalom?" Andy muttered.

Absalom/Oni Emperor regarded me.

"We don't have a choice. If we choose to battle Tidalflame we will lose, even with the assistance of The Devil Monk. There's also the matter of him being a relative to Inner Shadow Apocalypse."

I tried to bite back the resentment that was growing inside me. These guys...

These guys wanted to ostracize me from the get-go.

Bryce sighed with relief.

"Can't believe you jokers got me to be so goddamn involved! Bein the diplomat is an Aaron job, not a Bryce job!"

Shiki and the others disarmed themselves, as Bryce and I stepped into the dojo.

"Ayo, my man Shiki. So how's training comin along? That was kinda the reason we showed up, was to check up on you," Bryce said.

Shiki inspected his hands.

"Technique incomplete."

"Technique? Oh ya, you did mention you were working on your technique," Bryce commented.

"You saw. Earlier in fight."

Bryce raised an eyebrow.

"I did?"

I put a hand to my chin.

"You hit me with a blow that had a delayed response. Was it that technique?"

Shiki nodded.

"Strikes that hit before sending a strike. Zero Strike Kill."

Zero Strike Kill...

As if One Strike Kill wasn't already overboard enough.

"And this Zero Strike Kill thingy is gonna help us how?" Bryce asked.

I raised an eyebrow. As stupid as Bryce always made himself out to be, had a point.

Loyce wasn't the type of enemy that could be beaten through brute force alone.

Martial artists like The Devil Monk relied on brute physical strikes to fight.

Even if he somehow increased the speed of his punches, there was no point in using them against an enemy that could completely bypass physical damage.

Shiki sighed.

"I no speak English too good. I speak my tongue."

"What?! We won't be able to understand you bro," Bryce protested.

"I can though. As a Celestial Dragon all tongues of communication come together. I'll translate it for you later," I suggested, causing Bryce to cross his arms.

"And what the hell am I supposed to do here?"

"Maybe catch up with those Shadows who tried to kill me? And their whack boss?"

Shiki suddenly shifted, his face looked solemn.

Did I say something wrong?

Bryce shrugged.

"Whatever. Imma catch up then. You better listen well man. I don't need Aaron up my ass once he comes back for havin' a shitty report."

I watched Bryce leave the room until it was just me and Shosuke Shiki.

Shiki cleared his throat and began speaking in Japanese, which my mind instinctively began to translate.

"We were attacked," Shiki said, causing me to look at him in surprise.

"Attacked?"

"Yes, a few days ago. Vessels of Vala struck my dojo while Outer Shadow Dagrun trained with me."

The Vessels of Vala...?

As in... like Metron and Guardian?

But those guys were long dead, and even if they were alive there was no way they could have been strong enough to impart this much damage.

"Are you sure? The Vessels of Vala shouldn't be strong enough to leave Black Legion members this critical in condition."

Shiki eyed me.

"I do not kid you, Mah-san. It is as I say it is; several marked people attacked us with strength that rivaled my One Strike Kill style. And though the Auxiliary Shadows of Marin-chan had come to aid their Outer Shadow... she..."

Shiki's voice cracked, and I could feel the surroundings turn dark.

"Where is Dagrun?" I asked quietly.

Shiki closed his eyes.

"She is comatose. She has been comatose ever since the attack."

Vala...

So it was true. Shadows of the Black Legion were being hunted down, and not just that, but the Vessels of Vala that were initially fodder had now grown strong enough to contend against the same threats who made Danny look like a cakewalk.

"I apologize for attacking you, Mah-san. However, you must understand. Our circumstances."

"Because I am technically an Auxiliary Shadow of Loyce?"

"You are half correct."

Shiki got up and walked to a nearby cupboard, taking out a piece of fragmented metal.

My heart began beating faster and faster, but I had no idea why.

Looking at that metal...

"When you were in the Contingency Initiative... you fought alongside them. Yes?"

"Them?"

Shiki approached me with the piece, which caused images to flash in my mind.

Of a man...

With one eye.

And one arm.

He can defeat his enemies from both power and wits. He is the most complete operative in this organization. Learn from him, Tidalflame, and you will see yourself grow in ways unimaginable.

Taras's voice boomed in my mind. I clutched my head, stumbling back.

"Wha- What the... you're... you're kidding..."

Shiki continued regarding me with empty eyes.

"The Leader of the now deceased Squad Four. Your Squad Leader. Matthew Vistara was the one who sent Tokiko Marin into a coma."

"No... that doesn't make sense," I grabbed the mask fragment. Memories of my time in Squad Four flooded my mind.

"Loyce had said that everybody had their minds erased. He used Alogigenesis on them. He created... he created..."

Shiki sat back down, peering out of the window of his dojo.

"Dogma Holders... are immune to reality warping and destroying abilities. This is common knowledge. And Matthew Vistara is no exception."

Meaning this whole time...

Loyce had been using Squad Leader Matt as a puppet.

As Vala's puppet.

"When you entered our premises, Marin-chan's Auxiliary Shadows were not familiar with you, aside from three things: you were the older brother of Inner Shadow Hakah Mah, you were the Auxiliary Shadow of Loyce's faction, and lastly, you were the subordinate of Matthew Vistara, an artificial vessel of Vala. Given the circumstances of their Outer Shadow, do you now understand why we did what we felt compelled to do?"

Squad Leader Matt...

What did Loyce and Vala do to you?

"Using One Strike Kill, I could not defeat him. Vala has enhanced his body far beyond what was imaginable. This prompted me even further to develop the Zero Strike Technique. It may ultimately prove useless against Loyce's Infinite Regeneration, but perhaps it will be enough to serve as a distraction. But among those reasons..."

Shiki clenched his teeth.

"I don't want to see what happened to Marin-chan happen ever again. When The Mirage brutalized her, rage overtook my body, and I became increasingly reckless."

I sat in silence.

"Leave Squad Leader Matt to me. I'll deal with him."

Shiki blinked.

"The power you displayed earlier was strong, but it won't be enough to defeat Mirage-"

"Trust me," I smiled sinisterly.

"I can manage far more than just Stage Two Hinokami."

I left Shiki's room, but not before being stopped by the Outer Shadow.

"Mah-san."

I glanced at the Devil Monk.

"What's up?"

Shiki regarded me.

"If I leave The Mirage to you, do you promise to eliminate him?"

My heart stopped.

Kill Matt?

Did I have it in me to do something like that?

Images of my time in Squad Four flashed in my mind.

Matt was like an older brother to me. The only family I thought I had.

The thought of even trying to kill him...

How could I even look myself in the mirror after doing something like that?

"I-" My voice caught against my tongue.

Shiki got up and approached me until we were face to face.

His lizard-like green eyes contrasted with my glowing blue iris.

"Family is a bond pivotal in one's judgment. I know, because I lost mine. It was through the death of my older brother and father was I forced into pursuing martial arts. I never asked to be a martial arts practitioner. My dream was to be a carpenter like my Uncle. But even so... there are things that we cannot control. Even if every fiber of our being objects to our decision, we as members of The Black Legion must recognize this urge to be the will of Vala."

I clasped the edge of my shirt, glancing at my missing ring finger, from when I had it amputated in my fight against Danny.

A lost finger and a lost eye. Both of them were nothing in comparison to losing Lewis that day.

"I sense that you are still in disarray, Tidalflame."

"No," I cut Shiki off, recollecting myself.

"I know what needs to be done. You can count on me."

I made my way to the entrance and found Bryce standing outside of an infirmary.

Absalom was sitting beside a young bedridden little girl, who was covered in blood-stained bandages. Her Auxiliary Shadows surrounded her, worry lines marked their faces.

"To think Tokiko ended up like that... the fastest damn Outer Shadow in the whole Black Legion! Dammit... dammit!" Bryce whispered.

I watched as Bryce kicked a rock across the garden of the dojo in frustration.

"Bossman and Sarah are in Master Jun's world, God knows what they're going through. Your lil sis is out of commission, Vicki's comatose, and Shiki's loli crush is comatose as well! This is fucked! What are we supposed to do??? And... Robbie..."

Robbie Fernandez...

Auxiliary Shadow Assault, who was under Aaron's command, had tried to sacrifice himself in a last-ditch effort to weaken, if not kill Vala, to no success. I knew his death had shattered Aaron, but it never occurred to me just how much turmoil it must have caused the other Auxiliaries.

And it was clear as day, that it had affected Bryce just as much as it had affected Aaron.

I was used to hopeless situations.

And I could tell a hopeless situation when I saw one.

"Get up, Bryce," I said, standing before the Auxiliary.

Bryce mashed his teeth together.

"For what? This whole mission is messed up! We should never have agreed to accept Vicki's request! We're so boned it's not even funny! Goddammit Aaron. This has got to be the craziest mission you've given us!"

A wave of anxiety crashed into me, as Lewis' voice echoed what Bryce had said.

God dammit, Matt. This has got to be the craziest mission Taras has given us.

I clenched my fist.

"You call yourself a Hero of Philadelphia?" I whispered, causing Bryce's eyes to widen.

I stepped forward, passing him.

"From the very start, I've always made it clear to Aaron and all of you. None of you were equipped to fight Vala in the first place. You all have your place in this world."

I glared at my reflection from the waters of the koi pond.

The bangs of my hair parted away, revealing a missing eye, my reflection momentarily flickering to Matt's.

One eye.

But enough to emit the animosity needed to destroy our enemies.

"I will take her down."

My voice mixed with Matt's in my head.

"Alone if I have to."

Bryce scraped the ground with his fingers, getting up.

"Can't believe I had to get a pep talk from someone like you of all people."

I turned to Hellsing, in surprise.

"That... was fast."

Bryce smiled, baring his fangs.

"You're right. You're the only one qualified to fight Vala, but that doesn't mean I get an excuse to watch you handle everything yo-self. I worked my ass off to reach S+ Rank. I ain't gonna just sit on the sidelines. Once Bossman rescues Siggie, I gotta impress my girl."

A smirk appeared on my face.

"Since when was she your girl? As far as what Aaron had told me, she still sees you as a shut-in nerd."

"Just wait, she'll see just how much of a badass I am!"

Our little exchange didn't last long, as Andy suddenly appeared before us.

"You don't have to wait any longer, Bryce. The chance is up for grabs. I used my evo and pinpointed Mirage's location."

I narrowed my eye.

"Where is he headed?"

Andy's face turned grim.

"He intends to slay the Akuma Grade Dogma holders. He's going after the Warp Collider at Harmon Industries."

Bryce scratched his head.

"Huh? Ion get it."

Andy gave Bryce an irritated expression. I guess Bryce's reputation as an idiot extended far beyond Aaron's cohort.

"It means, he's going after the Fujin. The one that Inner Shadow Empire had created a world for. We know James Harmon had been experimenting with alternate worlds before, that's how he accessed Multifaria."

"But why Fujin? We have a Susanoo, Suijin, and Hachi right here," I asked.

Andy adjusted his sleeves.

"Only one Akuma Grade Dogma holder needs to die for the ritual to be broken. Though assembled, Jay Hellion's Suijin hasn't developed enough for the ritual to happen. But every single one of the Akuma Dogma Holders has unlocked at least Stage Three... except for Katsuya and Marcela Greene, the latter having already been replaced. Meaning..."

I gritted my teeth.

"Urca is the weakest Akuma Grade Dogma holder now. If he dies, it's over. The Dogma will need to search for another Fujin amidst the awakening of Vala."

I turned to Bryce.

"My sister's Shadows have weakened a lot, I don't know if they can even port us all the way to the Champions Universe. How are Jun's Shadows?"

"Master Jun's state is critical cuz of Ar-"

Bryce stopped himself, shooting Andy a glance.

"I already know about the situation of Loyce's broken Outer Shadow. The Apocalyptic, right? Lady Dagrun's mother, Toyotama blessed us with divine resistance already."

"Oh. Great. Wait not so great. Wait, not so-"

"Basically, because Jun's been affected by Aran's power, his Shadows, by extension, have been weakened too," I answered Bryce for him.

The three of us stood in silence until Shiki broke it.

"Shadows you need. Shadows I have. I come to avenge Dagrun, alongside Tidalflame and Hellsing."

Andy blinked.

"But Shiki, if another attack happens... Absalom, Iaian and I won't be able to-"

"You must protect my dojo, Roy-san. For Dagrun's sake."

Absalom appeared by Shiki's side.

"We will do whatever is necessary to protect my daughter and this dojo. And for you, Shiki, I entrust that she is avenged. The Mirage is to be disposed of."

Shiki nodded, glancing at me and summoning the Shadows. Headed straight to Millennium City.

"The Mirage will die."

Darkness surrounded us, as Shiki's last sentence resonated in my head.

The Mirage will die.

Squad Leader Matt will die.

I will be the one to destroy Squad Leader Matt.

The Mirage

The skies of the destroyed universe that housed the Champions cast a dark shadow across Millennium City.

It may have been a few seconds, but just that was more than enough for the Supreme Primordial to doom the reality to destruction.

When I had my narrative reset by Loyce, the Hinokami flames that came out of my body had neutralized the effect of Aran's power, but the damage had already been done.

The very fabric of its reality was already weakened. And the universe was dying.

"It's gotten worse, huh," Bryce muttered.

"But the people have evacuated though, right?" I asked.

"Not all. Outer Shadow Frigg could only convince so many with her Charmspeak. Many who stay, refuse to abandon their home," Shiki replied in Japanese.

"And Defender?"

Bryce made a fist.

"Defender was among those guys who evacuated against his will to Master Jun's world. But judging from how Aran had chosen to invade it, I don't know which world is safer. I'm prayin' that Aaron and Ultear are keepin' em safe."

I glanced at the building of Harmon Industries.

Amidst the dying world, there were still people patrolling it.

People who remained loyal to Defender even after knowing that their hero had left this reality.

But these machine golems could only do so much, and against a Vala Enhanced Matthew Lam... I couldn't imagine just how brutal this would be.

"What's the plan, Temporary Bossman?" Bryce asked me.

"Don't call me that again."

"HAHA! You said the same thing Aaron said when I called him that!"

I scratched my head.

"Simple. We find Matt..."

Bryce and Shiki leaned closer. Their faces were focused and determined.

"...and we kick his ass."

Shiki blinked.

"Ch- Chotto..."

Bryce grabbed me by the collar.

"The hell??? No tactical takedown? No scopin' him down? Nada? What happened to think before-"

I pried his hands away from me.

"What plan is there? If I come up with anything, Matt is gonna figure us out right away. Even when I still worked under Squad Four, Matt was always the one who had the plans and strategy, and after that was Lewis. I was probably the dumbest one in the entire squad, minus maybe Whitney."

I smashed my fist against my palm, producing blue sparks.

"We find him and defeat him. It doesn't matter how we do it. The moment he gets to Urca, it's game over for us, right? So the priority is to stop him. Nothing else."

Shiki wrapped his hand bandages, glaring at the building entrance.

"Files of Contingency Initiative Mirage show that he was single-handedly the most tactical fighter of them all. In terms of combat intelligence, he ranks among the likes of Outer Shadow Onyx. How certain are you that a full-frontal assault will be sufficient, Mah-san?"

Flames surrounded me, as my enhanced Dragon senses picked up the smell.

A familiar scent.

"I knew Matt for many years. And among all things... Outer Shadow Onyx is my mentor, just as she was his. I know his tactics like the back of my hand."

Bryce's fangs elongated.

"I smell his blood."

My heart began to beat faster, as a dark comet shot from the clouds of the sky, like a fallen angel.

Squad Leader Matt.

"Bryce."

Bryce perked up.

"Wazzup?"

"Shoot the black comet with your Uzi. The moment you fire, we use Shiki's Shadows to warp to the other side of the building."

"Huh? Uhhh okay."

Bryce knelt down and picked up a stray twig, the stick glowing red and transforming into a submachine gun.

Bryce took aim, red energy swirling across his body, and fired a red bolt.

"Now, Shiki,"

Shiki released the Shadows, porting us to the other side of the building.

I closed my eyes.

Aspect of the Rain God - Divine Amplification

Green electricity sparked across my body.

Just as I predicted, that comet was a decoy. And another figure was headed straight for the back entrance.

"Let's get hi-"

A shadow loomed over us.

A large one.

"Wha-"

SHOOM.

I dove out of the way, as did Shiki and Bryce, and we were met with a tall, muscular man with a buzz cut. Blue energy swirled around him, and a familiar-looking helmet shone in the moonlight.

And next to him, was a woman with purple hair tied back, demonic horns protruding from her forehead, and golden glowing eyes.

Bryce blinked.

"What the-"

The girl smiled evilly, drawing her sword and clashing against Bryce's bat.

"So you're the one my elder sister spoke of. The vampire,"

Bryce clenched his teeth.

"Sarina Ultear! How the hell... what happened to Sarah you bitch!"

Sarina chuckled.

"Elder sister also mentioned you had the most explosive temper out of all of them. So let's see just how explosive it really is. The fate of the Hero of Kalidas..."

Sarina pushed Bryce back as Shiki closed in, but was stopped by the man, who appeared before him, his spear inches away from piercing the Devil Monk's throat.

"I will be your opponent."

Shiki leaped back, winding his fist back, and launched a punch from an unorthodox angle, catching the Hero in the jaw, but to everyone's disbelief, the Greek Legend didn't buckle.

Bryce stared at Achilles in shock.

"What the fuck?! One Strike Kill didn't work???"

Achilles glared at Shiki, who was also in disbelief.

"I have fully awakened. As Vala's Shield."

Shiki disappeared, materializing on top of Achilles and launching another blinding punch at the top of his head, but to no effect. Achilles grabbed The Devil Monk's wrist and launched him back.

"A fighter who specializes in wielding unstoppable strikes is useless against someone who is invulnerable. Lady Vala's influence grows further. And as her essence grows, so shall her Vessels. I am the first, and will not be the last."

Vala's essence had now grown to the point where one of her Vessels had fully awakened!

Bryce and Sarina continued exchanging strikes.

"You ain't so tough, shorty. Ultear was way tougher than you!"

"My name is Ultear too, dipshit!"

"Oh."

Sarina breached Bryce's defenses, slashing at his chest, but Bryce simply smirked, brushing his hand over the wound which rapidly began to close.

"Come on, you wannabe Ultear. This the best you can do?"

Sarina gritted her teeth.

"You act like you have an advantage, but I haven't told you yet... what I did to elder sister."

All the color suddenly left Bryce's face.

"Wha-"

SMASH.

Sarina kicked Bryce, sending him into a nearby building and leveling it.

All the while, Shiki continued dematerializing and appearing all around Achilles at hypersonic speed, launching strike after strike, the aftershocks widening the crater around the Vessel of Vala with each punch landed.

But Achilles continued standing, unfazed.

Achilles launched a jab at Shiki, who narrowly dodged it, but as I watched the strike go through, Achilles shifted his weight, moving forward and managing to graze the Monk by the side, causing the Outer Shadow to slip and fall.

Achilles towered over him.

"Every force has an echo. Devil Monk, you boasted your striking strength, said to be so unrivaled that you became undisputed among those of The Black Legion. The God Eater has The God of Warfare, and The Unbound Hinokami has The Current Hinokami. Each enemy we have has a contingency, and I am yours."

Shiki got to his feet.

"Do not mock me, fool. We are not on the same level. One who chooses defense is a coward!"

Achilles raised his spear.

"The defense you mock was enough to viciously wound Dagrun."

The air suddenly turned tense.

"You wha-" Shiki said, before being cut off by Achilles, who thrusted his spear into his abdomen.

The Devil Monk coughed out blood, stumbling back.

"Shiki!" I growled, bringing up Tatsu and slashing as hard as I could, but the blade deflected off Achilles' neck, blue sparks spraying everywhere as Achilles launched a punch at my stomach, throwing me back.

Shiki clutched his abdomen, staring at Achilles.

"Those cold... dead eyes. Apathy that you shall wield no longer,"

Shiki clenched his fists.

"Tokiko... this entire time... I let you get hurt... and I blamed it on the wrong person?!"

Something seemed off.

The Devil Monk no longer had the same poise as he had when I encountered him earlier.

Shiki roared, bringing his foot back.

"ACHILLES!"

SHOOM.

Shiki blasted forward, launching a punch at Achilles, who also charged forward, the fist slamming against his face but to no effect.

Achilles followed through, jabbing his spear right into Shiki's leg.

Shiki coughed out blood, trying to fight back, but his movements had become sluggish.

"Tokiko... how could I..."

Achilles grabbed Shiki by the face.

"You failed to save the girl you love. Just as you failed to learn the Exalted Taijutsu of the Shiki Clan from your brother in time. A father. A brother. And now a lover. And you will fail once more,"

Shiki's eyes glowed with hatred.

"No! I will stop you-"

SLICE.

Shiki's eyes went wide, as his body was lifted into the air, an arc of blood exploding from his chest and staining his yutaka.

I watched as Shiki fell to the ground, staring at the sky.

Achilles planted his spear on the ground with one hand, and the blood-stained sword in his other.

"Hatred... vengeance... gaining strength from such things never work, especially for fighters like us. And especially for a martial artist like you. Your hatred for me, and ultimately, the hatred you harbor deep in yourself will be your downfall."

SMASH.

A whirlwind shook the corner of my vision, as Bryce continued clashing with Sarina.

"What the HELL did you do to my friend?!" Bryce snarled.

Sarina continued cackling.

"Do you really wish to know?"

Bryce growled, trying to get a hit in, but his already reckless fighting style was enhanced by Sarina's mind games.

For some reason, this entire time, I wasn't able to move.

And I had a pretty good idea why.

Level 3 Senkaku - Umbral Prison

A man approached me from behind.

"Your comrades are no match for us. Vala's awakening has reached critical levels."

I gritted my teeth.

"I never expected someone like you of all people to support Vala. What, so you finally got what you wanted with Rui and now you wanna support the person who ruined the lives of all the people who worked under you?!"

I forced myself to face my old Squad Leader.

Nothing had changed, except that the red markings that had lined his artificial arm were now blue. The color of Hope.

"The Great Akuma is not the answer to this world's transgressions, Yeling."

I spat in Matt's face, the years of kind memories that once occupied my mind had suddenly turned sour just from hearing him say that sentence alone.

"Who the hell are you anymore?!" I snapped.

Matt regarded me.

"I am what I need to be."

KABOOM.

Bryce smashed into the ground before me, face first.

Sarina appeared behind him, her sword outstretched.

Bryce wasn't making an effort to move anymore.

His pupils were dilated.

"Sarah..."

I narrowed my eye.

"Bryce, what happened?"

Bryce stared at me with an expression I never knew he had.

Pure disbelief, shock, horror, and grief, all combined together.

"Sarah's dead... Yeling. Sarina killed my friend."

Sarina appeared above Bryce and smashed his face into the ground.

"That's right... and your precious Aaron is now so broken... all alone in a world ravaged by Aran Sol. There's no hope for someone like him. Isn't that a treat? So where did all that bravado go, Mister Scarlet Uzi? You wannabe gangster?"

Bryce made no effort to fight back, his eyes void of life.

"Bryce... Bryce! Get a hold of yourself!" I shouted, but Matt appeared before me, kicking me in the chest as I flew back and smashed into a column.

I tried to summon Hinokami, but Senkaku was absorbing it all.

I could hear the booming sounds of Shiki's fight against Achilles.

There was nothing he could do.

And while Shiki would keep chopping at Achilles, all Achilles needed to do was keep wounding him.

As for me...

Matt knelt in front of me.

"Yeling... after all these years, you don't mean to tell me you're still trying to form friendships?"

My heart stopped.

The Devil's Flames burns alone.

Only I can stop Vala.

If I gave in now...

That would go against everything I stood for.

I glared at Matt.

"Squad Leader Matt," I muttered.

Matt returned my glare with a look of pure condemnation.

"Your Hinokami isn't going to work, and with how your Intangibility is linked to your flames you-"

Level 1 Hinokami

FWOOSH.

Blue flames surrounded me, the flames instantly getting sucked up.

Matt's look began transitioning to rage.

"Stupid kid! After all these years and you still brute force everything? Has your time with me really been that worthless to you?!"

I stomped on the ground.

STAGE FOUR

"GRAAAAAAH!" The flames began ripping and tearing the dark threads around me, pushing Matt back.

You taught me plenty.

Like how I shouldn't bullshit things.

I reached out and grabbed for Matt, who switch teleported with a stone. My hand brushed against the rock, melting it into blue lava.

The binds became undone, and I could make out my demonic form from Matt's one red eye.

"I'll come after you with what I do best, through brute force," I seethed, horns ripping out of my head.

Matt's arm began expanding, turning into a large black blade.

"You ran from Transplant, and let your own Squad members die. You then let Loyce kill Marcela, the last member of your Squad. And as I watched you, I watched as you made friend after friend, as if our deaths had no impact on you,"

I growled, unleashing a shockwave of flame in Matt's direction. As I suspected, Matt switch teleported with a pebble at my feet, completely bypassing the flaming radius and clashing his black blade against Tatsu, the force of my Hinokami counteracted by the absorbent nature of his Senkaku.

"And that was enough for you to serve Vala? To serve the enemy? You're a goddamn hypocrite, Squad Leader Matt!"

"And what have you done? Pandering to our deaths, by visiting that shrine. Sending Flint, Maika, Whitney, Lewis, and Marcela those stupid GIFTS? Moving on... You don't get to move on when you were responsible for what happened to them!"

Matt pushed me back, creating mirages from either side.

I held out my hand and fired a blast of flame that disintegrated all three Matts, but my Dragon senses spiked.

I instantly went Intangible, unaware of what was going on.

The blade of Matt's Senkaku passed right through me from behind.

I spun around, growling like an animal.

Grand Ultimate DEVIL'S MONSOON

Matt teleported again, this time appearing in the distance.

His red eye had now turned blue, glowing in the darkness.

"There's no Contingency Initiative. The whole organization was destroyed by Transplant. Aelienne had burnt me to a crisp. Did you think you could fool me when you cut off her head? Those flames in your Stage Four... they're part HERS."

Matt closed in with blinding speed, as I dropped Tatsu, the blade dissipating into red flames.

I held out my hands.

Arsenal of the Rain God - Chain Sword

Two large chains appeared in my palms, and at the end a sharp blade glowing blue with Hinokami flame.

I swung, wide elegant blue arcs which soared to Matt's location, but Matt's eye flashed.

Level 1 Prophecy - Gladiator's Foresight

"Wha-" I shouted, startled, as Matt suddenly appeared in front of me, having dodged every single attack at blinding speed.

Matt grabbed my face and smashed me into the ground, the two of us leveling buildings left and right due to the shockwaves of our attacks.

"GRAAAAH!" I roared, blasting flame outwards in a frenzy.

But Matt was far too calculating.

Matt landed on the ground at a distance, as I stumbled out of the crater, my blue flames melting everything in its vicinity.

My one eye, glaring at his.

"How... Level 1 Prophecy... your Dogma... it could only sense prophecies through cryptic messages... how..."

Matt's face was irked with intense disgust and rage.

"So even my fight against Urca has escaped your memory?"

I paused, recalling my memories back to that day.

How Matt had defeated Urca...

How he had dodged all of Urca's attacks.

I hesitated, and Matt took full advantage of it, disarming me instantly and jabbing a black projectile right through my right arm, causing me to howl in pain.

"How can you even put yourself in a state of mourning when you can't even remember something like that? Huh? Your own Squad Leader, Yeling."

I tried to grab at Matt, but my hand passed right through his body.

My eye widened in shock, as a blast of Senkaku hit me from under the ground, Matt emerging from the earth and raising me up high.

Higher and higher.

Then he let go, watching me free fall from the atmosphere.

"GRRRARRRR," I tried to regain my bearings, but I watched my surroundings distort.

Alternating over and over again from the ground to the sky.

Over and over again.

As I built up momentum, the ground of the Millennium City was approaching me at hypersonic speed.

My brain and cerebellum were no longer functional from the sheer velocity my body was experiencing.

Senkaku and Amplification - Slingshot Backbreaker

I clenched my teeth.

Too disoriented to go Intangible...

Too packed to unleash Hinokami without hurting Bryce and Shiki...

Matt and his clones were closing in faster and faster.

There was only one way.

"RAIN DRAGON SUMMON!"

My body began glowing green, blinding the entire city as the construct of a massive rainwater silhouette emerged from my aura, a torrent of water smashing into Matt and his clones and cushioning my fall as much as it could.

Matt leaped back, as I towered over him on top of a projection of Shenlong, which roared at my opponent.

Thunderstorms and green lightning crackled around me.

No words left our mouths.

As we charged each other again.

Matt summoned clones left and right, slashing and hacking away and decimating the dragon to bits, and from the chaos of the rainwater, I emerged, my fists held up.

Fight an enemy with long-range up close. If your enemy fights up close with a long-ranged weapon, he is at a disadvantage. Vicki's words rang in my head.

Matt glared at me, his eye dilated in response to the adrenaline of our fight.

Shuiquan - Six Harmonies Rain Boxing

I launched a volley of strikes at Matt, who began to evade using his signature fluid technique, but his strikes were no longer able to breach my stance.

"Another stolen technique? That shit isn't going to work, Yeling!" Matt roared in malice, throwing a punch at me.

My body instinctively rolled with the strike, but suddenly, it hesitated. Confused.

The punch that it was supposed to slip... my body had gone through it.

Matt had feinted with a Senkaku mirage!

The real punch slipped out of nowhere, catching me in the jaw as my head snapped back.

Matt then proceeded with more and more punches, followed by a flying kick which sent me flying. I flew across more buildings and landed at the docks of Westside, where civilians and Maniacs were sent in a panic left and right.

I slowly got to my feet, but from the reflection of the water, I realized my Stage Four had become undone.

Matt landed on the ground behind me, his body glowing blue from Vala's blessing.

I turned around.

Level 1 Hinokami: Inverse Tsuna-

Matt suddenly appeared in front of me, the blade of his Senkaku aimed right at my face.

I froze, my hand still trailing blue flames.

"S- Squad Leader Matt... are you really gonna... kill the last member of Squad Four?" I seethed.

Matt regarded me with an empty expression.

"There is no Squad Four. And I am not your Squad Leader. Everything that once was, is all in the past. The future is Vala. For what it's worth, kid. I regret teaching you all about The Great Akuma. She was never the solution to any of this."

I clenched my teeth and grabbed the blade with my hand, setting it ablaze and shattering it.

"For Chrissake- SNAP OUT OF IT. Matt, this isn't you. Loyce has changed your whole ass character! Vala has messed your psyche up! There's no way The Mirage would-"

"And?"

I stared at my former superior.

"Wh- What do you mean 'and'?"

Matt tilted his head.

"And that's a problem, why? No more pain. No more suffering. My entire existence in Stormwatch was suffering. My entire existence in CI was suffering. Fighting for an ideal that never came to fruition. Missions after missions for Taras with no end in sight. Under Vala, at least I can feel her warmth, even if it is just her power."

I took a step back.

"What are you-"

Matt regarded his clothes. The combat darkwear of Squad Four. From within the folds, he pulled out his Mirage mask and put it on.

"Join Vala, Yeling. There's no reason to fight anymore. In the end, it was humans who wanted Vala. We were the ones who asked for her. I never understood it before, but even if Vala's sense of justice is twisted, as long as you are chosen by her, then you will live in sanctuary. It's that easy. Just join her, and she will promise you salvation. What are you even fighting for, Yeling? Fairness? None of that really exists. Bringing back the Akuma would be the last thing you would want right?"

I tried to summon flames, but my feelings were keeping me from manifesting anything.

"Bringing back the Akuma will kill your sister, would it not? How is that fair?"

Suddenly, everything I had been doing up until now made no sense.

Was this Vala's power?

Or Loyce's?

Or was everything I was doing fundamentally wrong?

I had no idea anymore.

I didn't...

"Outer Shadow Devil Monk and Auxiliary Shadow Hellsing have been defeated," Achilles' voice said, as four figures emerged in a flash of blue light.

Shiki's unconscious body spilled before me, as did Bryce, whose face was bloodied.

Sarina laughed from behind Achilles, appearing in full view.

"Oh my god, how quickly the 'Hero of Philadelphia' became the 'Bitch of Philadelphia' after I had revealed what happened to my elder sister! He completely crumbled! I thought you were Aaron's strongest Auxiliary Shadow. What happened to all that, Tyyyyyrell?"

Bryce stared at the sky, his head listless.

Achilles glanced at me.

"The Devil's Flames has also lost the will to fight. Let us finish what we came here for, Mirage."

Matt gave me one last look.

"Yeling."

I glanced up.

"One last chance," Matt said.

"Excuse me?"

Matt held up his hand, and the tattoos of his Dogma Bargain... the symbols on it... were completely modified.

As if Vala had somehow overridden the nature of his Dogma powers.

How was that even possible?

"One last chance to join us. Those two are full-fledged soldiers of The Black Legion, but you were forced to join against your will, right? Loyce commanded it. Under Vala's protection, Loyce can pardon you for good. The reason she despises you is because of what you can do against her, but if you are on her side? There's no reason to resist anymore."

I glared at Matt.

"So what you mean to say, is after everything that has happened to Whitney, Lewis, Flint, Marcela, and Maika, you're just gonna shit on that to join Vala? I may have gotten them killed, but at least I didn't give the enemy a goddamn blowjob!"

Matt's eye twitched in irritation.

"I take that as a no?"

I swatted Matt's hand away.

"Hell no. You're not the Matthew Lam I knew. You're a husk. You're a goddamn disgrace to everything he has worked for. For everything that Squad Four stood for. I'm no better. But at least I wouldn't fall this low."

Matt clenched his fist. Something seemed to try to claw its way through him. His blue eye momentarily flashed red.

"Do not say their names. You don't get to say their names."

"Or what? What are you gonna do, Vistara? I'll say their names all I want! You don't care, right? It's all in the goddamn past for you, right? So what's the harm?! WHAT'S THE HARM IF I SAY THEIR NAMES?!"

Achilles and Sarina stared at Matt, who lowered his head.

"Do you know what I can do to you, Yeling? When you were still in CI, I could kick your ass a thousand times over. Stage Four or not, I've become enhanced by Vala. To the point where I have reached a 75% awakening."

I stomped forward, smashing my forehead against his.

The two of us scowled at each other.

If our empty eye sockets still had eyes, they would be glaring at each other as well.

"Whitney, Lewis..." I whispered.

"Stop. Yeling, I-"

"Flint, Marcela..."

"I swear to god, Yeling, if you don't stop, I will-"

"MAIKA NAGUMO."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Matt roared, unleashing a blast of darkness at me, but I went Intangible, flying into the sky, the shock jolted Shiki back to consciousness, who stumbled back.

Shiki...

You didn't have the tools to defeat Achilles, but you had to have something against Matt or Sarina.

Use that power...

On the biggest threat right now.

I drew Tatsu.

Rain Style Kenjutsu - Form 4: RAINBOW MIRAGE

Shiki roared in hatred, his eyes darting toward Achilles.

"I WILL AVENGE DAGRUN. I WILL AVENGE EVERYONE," Shiki yelled in Japanese, bracing his foot back, assuming the same stance he had used when he first struck me.

That delayed response.

"I will complete the technique... in battle if necessary!"

Matt suddenly turned to Shiki, who's body started vibrating violently, distorting the space all around us.

VORPAL BREATHING TECHNIQUE

Matt gnashed his teeth.

"What the hell is this guy doing? His sight was on you, Achilles!"

Achilles reached forward, but I stopped him.

Level 1 Hinokami - Demon Prison

Achilles became suspended in mid-air, as Sarina leaped in front of me, her sword reeled back to strike.

But I went Intangible.

All the while Matt continued glaring at me.

"Yeling... I swear to god, I will tear you apart. For everything you've done. To everyone around you. To the people of Squad Four, you would even disgrace their names to use as an edge in battle."

I returned his glare.

"You were my mentor, and you taught me that there was no such thing as honor. I'll do whatever it takes to win. That was what made you different than Urca, and now... THAT'S WHAT MAKES ME DIFFERENT THAN YOU."

Matt rushed toward Shiki, but the energy his body was emitting was slowing him down.

"Vorpal Style... you mean to tell me-" Matt muttered, as he shot me a glance, his eye flashing red.

Level 3 Senkaku...

Shiki's eyes widened into a feral state.

ZERO STRIKE KILL

Switch Teleport

"Wha-?!" I shouted, as Matt and I traded places, my body still Intangible, but now in the full sights of a blood-lusted Shosuke Shiki.

"DIEEEEE!" Shiki screamed, The punch had landed on me, but I couldn't even register anything.

Time had completely warped around me, and everything had become distorted.

And as everything began to rip and tear apart, I watched the fabric of reality around me change.

Faster and faster, just like when I had the Shadows transport me.

To another world, but for some reason...

Everything...

Everything was moving and transitioning in reverse.

Birds from the distance, flying backward.

And from the distance, I could make out a sign that said:

Welcome to New Ulysses!

"Where- what's-"

A force pulled me in a spiral, my Intangible wispy body undergoing spaghettification. I would have been killed instantly if my Level 2 Dogma had run out, but it persisted.

Suddenly, everything went dark.

Unforgiveable Pawn

Hinokami, Suijin, Fujin, Hachi, Susanoo, Shakujin.

Six gods that embodied the essence of The Great Akuma, an ancient spectral entity that was created by those who suffered long ago. Who prayed for fairness in the world. For a time, The Great Akuma brought humanity to its knees. Hierarchy and social class were shattered, and man was equal. No man was greater than another. Humanity saw one another as comrades.

But when the Great Akuma was killed by the Spirit of Hope, Vala, humanity returned to its original, corrupt state.

My eyes fluttered awake, the blaring lights of something in the distance.

A dark misty haze.

Flashes of my past flickered in my vision.

My mother and my father were consumed by a mass of blue flames.

Then the voice of a young man, screaming hysterically.

"You never said my family would be killed like this! You never said that! You liar! Liar! Give them back! Please give them back!"

Give them...

Back...

Your family for the Hinokami. That was the exchange. That was the pact. An eye for an eye. A leg for a leg. For your family, the price to pay, I have granted you, with the power of Hinokami. The flames of the Great Akuma.

An eye for an eye.

A leg for a leg.

For my family, the price to pay...

"ROAAAAAAAR," A massive beast appeared above me, as my Celestial Dragon Physiology dialed my instincts up to eleven.

Green electricity sparked from my body, jolting out of the way and narrowly missing the talon of the beast. I slid back, Tatsu already in my hand.

My body burst into blue flames.

The powers of the Fire God.

And on that night...

I brought the blade up.

DEVIL'S SURFACE SLASH

I swung, releasing a vicious blue line that cut the towering monster in half.

... I had become the thirteenth holder of Hinokami.

I stood before the ashes, struggling to the edge of a large cliff, overlooking the city of New Ulysses.

A city...

That was not in ruins.

How did I know this?

Because this was the state of New Ulysses before I joined the Contingency Initiative. I recognized it from the very bottom of my heart, from my memories.

This was New Ulysses.

Eight years in the past.

I looked around frantically.

Should I summon the Shadows? It wouldn't make sense, since I wouldn't have existed back then.

I would be on high alert.

I strapped Tatsu to my back, activating a safeguard spell that shrouded the sword into a tennis racket case.

I slid down the slope, entering the city, and putting on a magical disguise that shrouded my left side.

"Where the hell am I..." I muttered.

"Ayo facts," A familiar voice said.

I turned around and stared at Bryce, whose face was full of confusion.

The two of us stood there motionless for a good two minutes.

"Um... whuzz good, Yeling?"

I grabbed Bryce by the collar and shook him like a ragdoll.

"What's good?! We're in the past, you dumbass!"

"Well shit! I guess Shiki's Zero Strike Kill was useful after all! Mudafugga can rewind time!"

I let go of Bryce.

Goddammit.

So the two of us got hurled back in time.

There was so much to worry about.

The state of Shiki...

Hell, the state of Katsuya too...

But we needed to focus on the now.

"Bryce... how are you feeling?" I asked.

Bryce put a hand in front of me.

"Don't. I... I gotta... I gotta keep movin' forward. Sarah... I can't."

I sighed.

"Bryce, if you need to take a breather, we can-"

"Shut up, Yeling. I don't need to hear it from some emotionless husk who doesn't even care if his own comrades die!" Bryce snarled.

I took a step back.

"What the hell are you on abou-"

"You were the reason your Squad Four buddies were dead? Really dude? I knew something was off about you when you introduced yo-self that day. But someone who would kill his own brothers and sisters? The fuck? And you'd use their names to gain an edge over Mirage? I don't even know who I should have been rootin' for!"

I glared at Bryce.

The guy was definitely mourning for his comrade... but...

"You don't get shit. My circumstances were blown way out of proportion by that wannabe Mirage. What happened to my old friends was much more complicated than that!"

Bryce gnashed his teeth.

"Sarah was killed by her own little sis. And all you did was keep fightin' with no regard for what happened. You didn't give a single shit the entire time. And the same with Dagrun! What happened to Tokiko... I understand you ain't close with us, but were we all just tools to you? Aaron was a tool?"

A bead of sweat ran down the back of my neck.

"This was supposed to be my conquest at the end of the day. I did what I had to do to aggravate Matt."

Bryce closed his eyes, breathing hard.

"I... I need space. I..."

"Wait, you're not stable, dude. Stay close to me-"

"Get away from me!"

Bryce shoved my hand away.

"Look at you... still being... all objective n' shit. After everything that's happened. First, it was June... then it was Robbie. Now it's Sarah... I... I'm so goddamn useless... I'm so useless!" Bryce's voice broke, as he slammed his fist against the side of a tree.

Over and over again.

But his eyes were green.

And his canines were still human.

The rage he had...

I watched his knuckles begin bleeding.

But they were not regenerating.

"Why... why am I so fuckin' useless... when shit doesn't go my way... when shit don't go my way... How are you so used to death, Yeling... You're way older than me and Bossman... please tell me... please tell me it gets better man... please..."

"I can't just lie to you, Bryce. You know that."

"DAMMIT!" Bryce screamed into the sky, bashing his fist over and over against the side of the tree, the blood began pouring down his sleeves, staining the eagle on his varsity jacket.

"Sarah... SARAH... SARAH!" The Auxiliary Shadow began to sob, bashing his forehead against the tree.

Tears leaked down his face.

"What was the point... what was the point of growing stronger... if this entire time I've been losing all my friends. June... Robbie... I... I couldn't protect any of my friends... My family..."

I gritted my teeth.

"That day."

Bryce stopped crying, turning silent and listening to me. I continued.

"When I fought Danny... The Transplant, I had flown all the way to Fa Shan. I left my entire Squad because I thought I could kill him alone with just Stage Two Hinokami. I unlocked the Stage and thought it would be enough. I lost and had my hand cut off... my connection to the Hinokami dissipated... and the shock hit me so hard that I ran away."

I ran my hand over my wrist.

"I wanted to gain my power back. I walked across the lands of Yon, trying my best to physically grow stronger. By fighting the wildlife with the katana my Squad member gave me. But as I continued fighting... I realized there was no way I could get back to even a fraction of my power when I was still Stage One."

Memories of my time spent in those woods... hunting... filled my head.

"And that realization was what made me do it. I had failed. I lost my powers. A cursed world where the only thing I had left to compensate for all the misfortune dealt to me, was to be The Devil's Flames. One who would burn the world to the ground. I lost it all. And so, I gave up. There was nothing I had left to offer to the world. I wandered until I met her. A girl named Shia Megumi took me in. For four years, I lived with her and was her guardian."

A breeze ran across the two of us, shaking the leaves. The lights of New Ulysses illuminated the two of us under the starry sky. The past... Even amidst the situation we were now in, somehow felt more comforting than the present.

"Though the criminals who harassed the kid were nothing short of mere fodder, I fought them off easily. For the first time, I felt like I was needed. My four years with Shia... I felt like I didn't need to worry about how unfair the world was. I could at least share what little happiness I had with someone. I no longer felt... lonely."

Realizations began hitting me as I continued speaking.

Even if I tried to reject it.

Come up with as many excuses as I could.

Claim that the world was as unfair as it was.

Ultimately...

Ultimately.

The bottom line was just that.

I was... I am really lonely.

"All of a sudden, it felt like... my place in Squad Four was no longer needed. They didn't need a loser like me. I had more value with Shia. But I failed to realize what I had. And when Squad Four came to try to rescue me by fighting Transplant, that was when it happened. Over half of the family I never knew I had was slaughtered."

I looked into the distance.

"Let me take you somewhere."

Bryce and I walked along the side of an old pier, and nostalgia flooded my body.

My precious son, Mah Yeling. If you ever feel like you need a break from this world. Come here.

My mother's words... words that I always lived by, years past her death.

"This place... is pretty peaceful," Bryce muttered.

I leaned against the rail, gazing into the distance. My Dragonoid eyes allowed me to see far into the distance, as I made out the shapes of several seals.

"What the hell, are those seals?" A younger Yeling's voice said in my mind.

"Yes! Oh my god, they're so cute!" A girl's voice answered.

"Whoa! Check out its tail!" I responded.

I put my hand against the rail.

"As unjust as... the world is. There are still things about it that are worth preserving. That was what I believed. And I guess... maybe that in itself hadn't changed. If anything, it expanded. To not just scenic views... but..."

I turned to Bryce, who stared into the distance, tears running down his cheeks.

"To people too," I finished my sentence.

Bryce made a fist.

"I'm sorry."

I raised my eyebrows.

"Wha-"

"I'm sorry. Ion give a shit if you don't get it. I'm sayin' it now. I'm sorry for everything. For blamin' you. For accusin' you. For slanderin' you. For... for being a racist fuck about your Chinese heritage. For... for not puttin' an effort into knowing you. I... I judged you from the beginning without... without giving you a chance."

Bryce turned to me, forcing the tears off his face.

"And... thanks. Thanks so much for doin' this for me. I... I still feel like shit, don't get me wrong. But Imma heed your advice. I'll move forward. For Sarah. For everybody. No more feelin' sorry for myself. I gotta be better. We gotta do right by all the people we've lost. So let's start over."

Bryce held out a fist.

"The name's Tyrell 'Bryce' Jackson Jones. It'd be an honor to fight alongside you, Yeling Mah."

A smirk appeared on my face, as I gently fist-bumped the Hero of Philadelphia.

Changing our disguises was relatively easy, especially for me.

The Yeling Mah of this time was very different from the Yeling Mah now.

"Man... I wanna know what a seventeen-year-old Yeling is like!" Bryce said, excitedly.

My eye twitched.

"We're not here to mess around. We gotta find a way back. I don't know how drastic our presence in the past is, I don't wanna find out."

Bryce groaned.

"Come onnnnn, you party pooper. We got shunted back in time. If we return to the present, we might just return to the point where Shosuke threw that Zero Strike Kill attack. We got all the time in the world, technically."

I turned to the Auxiliary Shadow.

"Absolutely not. One misstep and this whole timeline could be toast."

Bryce pouted.

"My one chance to see a different version of you and you COCKBLOCK me, bruh."

I grabbed Bryce.

"No messing around. If I so much as see you try any of your antics in New Ulysses I will burn up your Gamestation 5."

Bryce's eyes widened.

"HUH?! You did not just threaten a man's console! Bitch Imma eat you!"

Bryce swiped his arm, causing me to dodge and leap on the railway.

"Dammit Bryce! I'm serious! The last thing we need is for someone to see-"

"DON'T DO IT!" A girl's voice shouted from a distance.

My jaw dropped.

"Heh?"

Bryce and I spun in the direction of the voice, and my heart nearly fell to the floor.

Black flowing medium-long hair. Desperate eyes.

The same exact scene...

From when I had my day off.

The day off right before that one mission...

Anna grabbed me by the arm.

"Life can get bad, but you can't end it! No matter what!"

I slowly got off the railing.

"I... uh... no. I wasn't trying to off myself..." My voice trailed away.

No.

This was bad.

This was very very bad.

This... this interaction wasn't supposed to happen.

It wasn't supposed to happen with this version of me!

I had to do something. I could use Bryce as a cover to try and-

"Ay shorty, the name's Tyrell Jackson Jones, but you, gorgeous can call me Bryce," Bryce leaned against the rail, clicking his tongue.

Anna stared at Bryce.

"What?"

...

"Bryce you vampiric idiot! I'm going to torch your whole damn NBA collection!" I snarled, but not before Anna yelped.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to cause anything! I... I just came here to enjoy the view!"

Bryce and I stood awkwardly in silence.

"Well, um. Would you look at the time, I guess it's time for us to go!" I said, with an awkward sense of enthusiasm.

Bryce gave me a blank expression.

"Go where?"

"Uh... the..." I glanced at the seals in the distance. A sunrise was starting to break, marking a new dawn.

"The zoo! Yeah, the zoo. To look at... seal... no. Penguins. And toads."

"Toads?"

"Yeah. Let's go," I grabbed Bryce and yanked him away, while the idiot continued making phone number gestures.

"Next time give me your number!" Bryce called out, as I dragged him away.

We fled to a nearby alley, catching our breaths.

Dammit...

We messed up already! No.

I messed up already! After everything I had just told Bryce!

Anna... this was something I should have seen coming a mile away. She always came here. And I did too. I had brought Bryce here to cheer him up, but I should have left immediately.

I had no idea what impact that had on the timeline, I could only pray it didn't destroy it too much.

"Alright, we hide here for the night," I said.

"AYOOOO PAUSE!" Bryce yelped in response, causing me to give him an irritated expression.

"What is it now, Cleopatra?"

Bryce gripped his bat.

"I ain't sleepin' in a goddamn alley! What if we get robbed n shit!"

"I've done it before."

"What?!"

"Come on, it's not the end of the world. As long as you keep warm and take a few sleep aids you should be able to-"

"Hell no! We bookin' an AirBNB STAT!"

Bryce pulled out his phone, but before he could even unlock it, I used the hilt of Tatsu and disarmed him instantly, wafting bits of the Rainwater clouds to propel the device into my other hand.

"Enough. We are not gonna stay in an AirBNB. We need to avoid making any more changes to the timeline. What happened with Anna-"

My chest suddenly started to hurt, invasive thoughts began to strike my mind.

If I save Anna in this timeline...

Would she still be alive in the present?

Would I...

"Yeling?"

"Nothing. Er... Right. No changes. What happens to Anna has to happen."

Bryce raised an eyebrow.

"I get it. Anna was yo shorty, wasn't she?"

I turned away, without answering.

What happened to Anna... has to happen.

It must.

"Just collect some garbage and toss it in the bin, jackass. We need a fire."

Bryce did as instructed until we had a nice assortment of sticks, garbage, newspapers, and pornography magazines...?

"Bryce."

"Yo."

"Where did you find those?"

"What? The New Ulyssian Daily?"

"Not that you idiot! Why are there porn mags in here?!"

Bryce cracked his fingers.

"I jacked them from this homeless guy across the block. He was givin' them away for free."

"Okay. Throw them into the fire pile."

Bryce snatched the magazines away.

"Hell no! You got me fucked up! These things are priceless!"

"You can't be serious."

"No! I ain't cappin'. Look, this one has Chiyo Tachibana from the Ero-Manga Series Chiyo-Chan Diaries!"

Bryce shoved the Japanese comic in my face, causing me to choke on my own spit.

"Get that thing out of my face! We need everything we can to form a fire!"

Bryce shoved the Japanese comic into his varsity jacket.

"I'll throw the other mags in, but not my waifu."

For a few hours, we continued to camp out. All the way to the following night.

"Yeling, you never mentioned you had a shorty. I knew you weren't a virgin!"

I remained silent.

"Come on... this is probably the only time I get to know more bout you, man."

"Anna isn't my love interest. Far from it," I finally answered.

"Really? What... what happened?"

"You'll see. Or maybe not. Not like it matt-"

KRA-KOOM.

Bryce and I jumped from under a stack of newspapers.

"What the-" Bryce exclaimed.

I got to my feet, my Dragon senses picking up the faint voice of a man's call.

"Come back here!"

My eye widened.

No...

We messed it up. This wasn't supposed to happen yet.

It happened too soon!

"Yeling, what do we do?" Bryce asked.

Divine Amplification

Green electricity surged in my body as I shot into the air, running across the side of a building. Holy Rainwater swirling and leaving behind trails of green wispy energy from my body as I rushed to the location of the chase.

Bryce followed from behind.

"That was Anna, wasn't it!"

I ignored Bryce, scaling the sides of the building with superhuman agility until I got a bird's eye view of the situation.

A group of operatives in black and green suits were chasing a girl who was clutching a suitcase full of something.

And I knew exactly what it was. And who she was.

Anna...

And the money she had stolen to try and pay for her mother's surgery.

"You're under arrest for robbery," The operative said.

Anna shook her head frantically.

"Please, sir. No one would give me a loan. I need the money. I need it-"

"That's what they all say."

"I need it! My mother is dying! I... I can't afford the operation. I'm already in debt with my college. She needs this. It's not for myself, I swear!"

Bryce appeared next to me, the two of us crouched on the top of a building overlooking the encounter like a pair of shadows in the night.

"Yeling... that's... that's Anna! That's Anna, dude!"

"I know."

THWAK.

The sound of the operative hitting Anna on the side shook the entire scene, as operatives swarmed her left and right, beating her viciously.

The cries of pain coming from Anna's mouth tore my heart apart.

Again.

Just like all those years ago.

"Yeling! They're gonna kill her! You didn't say she was poor and needed money! We gotta save her! We gotta-"

"We will do no such thing."

Bryce stared at me.

"The hell are you sayin'? Don't you love this girl?! You tellin' me you just gonna watch her get beaten to death?!"

"Yes," I replied with a stoic expression, ignoring the immense pain that was welling up in my chest.

The beating momentarily stopped. The Leader of the Groundwatch Brigade approached Anna, who was half dead from the beating.

"How much can she take? How about this? I'll consider this money as payment for entertainment."

Anna clutched her side, as she gritted her teeth.

"What will it be, girlie?" The Leader asked.

"What do you need me to do..." Anna answered.

I made a fist.

As much as I wanted to keep the timeline intact...

There was now too much of a deviation.

If things had gone the way they were supposed to...

The Leader would claim that I had torched an entire building holding Matt's diary when he was still Vision. But that never happened yet.

Tidalflame never existed yet.

What was the Leader going to say?

"Today has been a shitty day for us. Just earlier, some Chinese terrorist destroyed a building that housed an artifact for Stormwatch. My allies were in that building. My brothers and sisters."

The Chinese Terrorist?

How was that possible? Wouldn't that mean I had become Tidalflame already? But we were still a year early!

The Leader glared at Anna.

"You stupid girl. Ever since New Ulysses opened their borders to you aliens, it's just been an endless shitshow. If they hadn't opened the borders, this stupid Mirage would never have joined CI. He wouldn't have caused so much destruction to my people."

My heart skipped a beat.

No.

The timeline really did change! Matt had now been the one to destroy the building during the op!

Anna began to sob, but she kept a straight face, as she tried to reach out to the briefcase of money.

The leader glanced at it.

"Don't worry. You won't need it. Do it, Steph."

No. Yeling.

Stay out of it.

Steph took aim with her finger, right at Anna's forehead.

"Yeling... Yeling! Anna is gonna die!" Bryce growled at me.

For the betterment of this timeline, we can't meddle with it anymore! This needs to be done... It needs to! Ignore that pain in your heart, Yeling. Ignore it. Destroy your feelings. Let it burn up in ash!

Thunder began to boom, lightning crackled and rain began to descend from the heavens.

Hints of raindrops glowed green.

Steph smiled crazily, as Anna stared at the money, shellshocked.

Stop...

This world...

This world wasn't meant...

Hey. It's okay, Yeling. It's just how it is, you know? That's just how it is. Anna's voice spoke in my mind.

And suddenly, nothing mattered anymore.

Eight years from now.

Eight years in the past.

I won't let you bastards get away with this.

Hinokami and Shenlong - Devil's Beneficient Severence

Steph froze, slowly moving her finger to her face.

Her mouth opened, but no sound came out, as her body was split in half.

I landed on the ground in front of Anna, cyan flames surrounding my body. The bangs of my hair covered my face, but the glow of my murderous blue eye shone through the darkness, giving me a sinister appearance.

The entire Groundwatch Brigade stumbled back.

"Sh- Shit! What the hell is that?!" One of the operatives yelped.

"Doesn't matter! He looks Chinese... so another Chinese devil's come to protect a fellow devil! Kill them both!"

Two Groundwatch members charged me, but I glared at them, emitting a fierce, blue flaming wall of heat that slammed into them, blood squirting from their nostrils due to the sudden change in air pressure and lack of oxygen.

I then approached the Leader, standing before him.

The Leader clenched his teeth, panic filled his eyes.

"Who- Who are you..."

I slowly lifted my hand, hatred filled my face.

"My name is Mah Ye Ling. From the city of Canaan, China. The Thirteenth Hinokami of the Great Akuma. But to someone like you, a filthy, racist, piece of trash. You can call me..."

INVERSE TSUNAMI RELEASE

The man screamed as Anna stared at me with empty, dying eyes.

The silhouette of my body cast a dark, evil shadow in contrast to the blinding blue flames coming from my hand.

"...The Devil's Flames."

The flames died out, along with the man's shrieks.

Bryce landed on the ground next to me.

"Well. I guess we ain't gonna be doin' no more of that timeline preservation."

I slowly approached Anna, who approached me, limping on her last legs.

"The Devil's... Flames..." She muttered.

Bryce poked out from behind me.

"Yo. Anna, right? Let's get you to a hospital real qui-"

Anna instinctively turned guarded, picking up a broken piece of glass and aiming it at us. Blood trickled from her hands, and down the side of her head. Her glare trembling from rage, grief, guilt, and pain.

The same glare she had given me all those years ago.

In a way... the pain was comforting. At least... her hatred for me never changed.

From when I was eighteen.

To now, at twenty-six.

Anna resented what I did all the same.

"Killing... killing killing killing. Do you really think killing people will solve the discrimination we face?!"

Bryce held up his hand.

"Ayo. What did you think he was gonna do? Let you die? He didn't get no goddamn choice, lady!"

Anna gnashed her teeth, tears streaming down her face.

"Mah Ye Ling... Yeling. Was it? You're the reason why my mom had to die. You're... the reason why my kind is discriminated. You. You-"

Anna burst into a fit of coughing, her side was patchy with blood.

She was dying. And there was no saving her.

These were her last moments.

Bryce turned to me.

"Yeling, we gotta take her to a hospital! She gotta... gotta..."

I regarded Anna with an empty expression.

"No. You are wrong, Anna."

Anna stared at me with a look of disbelief.

"Wh- What...?"

My heart throbbed with pain, but it wasn't the heartbreak that I felt eight years ago.

This time, it was throbbing with a different pain.

"I didn't do it for you. I didn't do it for the Chinese people. I did it for myself. And you have every right to resent me."

I stepped forward and took the glass from her hands, melting it in my palm, then proceeded to hold out my other hand, aiming it right at her face.

"Yeling! What the hell are you doing?! What are you..."

The wind blew against my bangs.

My right side momentarily seeing Anna's face for the first time.

"Whether it is me. Or The Mirage. The outcome is the same for Chinese people like us. If it wasn't me, it would be someone else. This cycle of hatred will always have a Devil to make our kind be hated. That is the very nature of discrimination, Anna. And it is something that we have to live with. No matter how much we try to deceive ourselves."

Anna's lip quivered, but I continued.

"No matter what you say to me... I will continue killing. I will kill as many people as I need to... to get what I want. Hate me. Resent me. If it gives you peace in these final moments, then direct all that rage you have on me as much as you want. I will be the Symbol of Darkness that you so want. The villain of your story."

A sob escaped her breath.

"My mom... Mama won't live to see the next day. The money that I desperately tried to steal isn't even close to paying for her operation. My little sister will live knowing her big sister and mother died. So, please. You may be someone I hate... but make sure my sister doesn't go down my path. I beg you... both of you."

Anna... had a sister.

Bryce stepped forward, taking Anna's hand.

"Don't you worry, Anna. Your sis won't live a hellish life. As someone who is a person of color myself... I understand discrimination all too well. You got my word."

Anna sighed, as she smiled at us.

A bittersweet smile.

"Goodbye. Yeling."

I said nothing, as I released a torrent of flame which put Anna out of her misery, burning her into ash. With no traces behind.

Bryce lowered his head solemnly.

"Yeling... so this was why you refused to answer my questions about Anna... it was always gonna end this way, wasn't it?"

I dropped my hand and turned around.

"Let's go. Auxiliary Shadow Hellsing. We move forward. Always."

Bryce and I made our way into the distance, but as Bryce passed me, I glanced at a faint light from the corner, right next to the burnt suitcase and the remains of what used to be a mound of cash.

I knelt down and picked the phone up, noticing it was still unlocked.

And what I saw made my chest tighten up.

A text conversation between Anna and someone else.

Hey Abi! Just texting you in case you forget about me! Just wanted to let you know that while I visited that pier, I took a bunch of pictures. Just wanted to share them with you, so whenever you feel overwhelmed, and you can't make it to the pier, you have these.

I scrolled down to see the pictures.

But I already knew what she had sent.

Pictures of the seals at the pier and other wildlife, followed by another text.

Sometimes, I come here too, when life gets tough. When I look at the distance with the binoculars, you can sometimes catch the marine wildlife there.

I took a deep breath, scrolling down until I reached the last picture she had sent before I killed her.

A picture of Anna standing at the pier, making a peace sign.

The angle of the phone, as I predicted, was positioned such that it was very obvious that she had taken the photo herself.

Because no one would take it for her.

"Anna..." I muttered, getting to my feet, and holding the phone out before me.

I closed my fist, shattering the device into hundreds of pieces, set ablaze in the blue inferno in the night sky.

Not a single tear ran down my face.

I already shed enough that day.

We move forward, always.

Always.

The Battle for Okan

Bryce and I managed to camp out on the roof of a tall building, away from society and people.

The frigid winds from the heightened atmosphere blew against us, but we were used to the-

"NOOOOO! I can't take this no more! It's too damn cold!"

I slumped on the side of an electrical room, watching Bryce complain over and over again.

We needed to find a way back into the present, but we had no leads.

Our best bet may be to just find someone with time-altering abilities.

I gazed into the distance.

Time altering...

My eye widened.

Shin.

Shin of Squad One had the ability to locally manipulate time, accelerating himself and shunting himself forward to deliver strikes from his sword at blinding speed.

Maybe Shin would know.

But I couldn't just tell him I was from the future. Even so...

I knew what I had to do.

I had to somehow affiliate myself with the Contingency Initiative's strongest squad.

If I could do that, there was a chance Bryce and I could go back to our timeline and stop Matt from killing Urca.

"Bryce."

Bryce stopped whining and turned to me.

"What?"

"How's your interview skills?"

For the next few days, Bryce and I scoped out members of the Contingency Initiative. But that proved a lot harder than we thought, since the way CI did things was through mainly stealth. Yes, we had Elimination Ops and Elimination Squads, Squad Four being an example, but these were typically well-calculated to some extent.

There was a reason why CI was nearly impossible to be stopped by government officials.

We were that recluse.

"Where the hell are we?" Bryce asked.

"Zip it."

I pointed at the distance.

The building was a massive complex, an architectural masterpiece of fourteen sub-buildings merged together. Each building had a distinct shape, and one stood out from the others.

A massive lightning bolt.

"Okan, One of Realmwatch Collective's facilities. An organization that was created to fight against Taras Pax. Their sworn enemy is Taras' organization, the Contingency Initiative."

Bryce raised an eyebrow.

"Taras huh..."

"You know him?"

"Yeah. Taras was an Outer Shadow... Inner Shadow John Crassman's Outer Shadow to be precise."

I looked back at the building.

Taras... the man who was shrouded with mystery. The only human being to have unlocked every single Akuma Grade Dogma, and was said to have had so many Dogma Bargains that underneath his hat and trenchcoat was a body that was so grotesque and unrecognizable.

I guess it made sense for someone of his caliber to be in the Black Legion. But ever since Danny had attacked, no one knew what had happened to him.

"So why we stalkin' out here? Is something gonna go down?"

"Yes. The Contingency Initiative will invade the Realmwatch Collective, This sub-base here contains the officials who would be delivering their speech and recruiting all the victims of the Pax Incident to join their side. From what Squad Leader Matt had written in his report, Squad One would be responsible for getting their attention. As they fight, we will pose as members of Realmwatch and try to gauge the strength of Squad One's Kronos."

Bryce cracked his knuckles.

"Gotcha. We gonna throw some hands."

"No, we're gonna hold back, obviously. Everybody here is less than C Rank. You'll slaughter them."

We watched the first explosion happen, along with members of Squad One descending from the skies amidst the chaos in an orderly fashion.

"I'll attack Shin. You try and get some damage in on random members. Don't make it obvious we're only aiming for him."

"Fosho."

The two of us made a break for it, Bryce running at top speed with his vampiric strength while I soared in the sky on a stream of Rainwater.

I landed on the ground, several feet away from the building, making out several soldiers of Realmwatch being torn apart by several members of Squad One.

Shin was nowhere to be seen, but the Squad One lackeys had locked down my position.

"Status, Breakdown." A voice buzzed in one of the operative's ear.

Breakdown glared daggers at me.

"One survivor remains, Deputy Leader Kronos. Dispatching soon."

Breakdown proceeded to spread his hands, emitting a green glow that disintegrated our surroundings.

So Shin wasn't here.

SHOOM.

I stumbled back, narrowly getting disintegrated by Breakdown's attack. His eyes, though murderous, were extremely calculating.

This was no ordinary terrorist.

This guy was methodical. Just like every member of Squad One.

Breakdown reached in again, but divine energy surged through me, and I instantly reappeared on the other side of the building perimeter.

Breakdown slowly regained his posture, whispering under his breath.

"Super speed. Martial arts background. Different from the rest."

I clenched my teeth.

He could gauge out that my fighting style wasn't like the other members of Realmwatch just from that.

I had no choice. If Breakdown ratted this info out to Shin, the timeline would be even more screwed.

But if I killed him...

I would mess it up anyway.

I had to hit him in a way that he would forget this encounter.

I drew Tatsu, swinging it around.

Breakdown irked.

"You're not part of Realmwatch. Why are you fighting us? We are not the enemies of those who deserve the new world."

I hesitated but did my best to regain my momentum. He wasn't wrong. But my mission was different from his. And the weight of it was much heavier than a simple joint Elimination Op.

Rain Style Kenjutsu - Form 5: Flashrain

I shot in, expecting to catch Breakdown on the side of the head, but my blade was stopped.

Shin.

I spun around violently.

Rain Style Kenjutsu - Form 7: Four Seasons

The attacker dodged the first swipe. Then the second. Then the third.

This was it.

Let's see just how strong your time dilation ability is-

SWOOSH.

I stumbled in disbelief, as Tatsu slashed at thin air.

This... This was impossible.

No one could dodge Four Seasons like that, certainly not someone in the Contingency Initiative! That move was designed to put someone in a position where dodging the third and fourth strikes was near impossible. It was enough to nick a Demon Lord of all things.

And to make matters worse...

"Huh. Didn't think RWC would hire samurai wannabes now."

A man with a black mask landed on the ground in front of me, his red eye glowing.

"Get the hell out of my way, Squad One scum. He's mine," Matthew "The Mirage" Lam snarled.

Breakdown took a step back.

"Understand your boundaries, Squad Four. Indulge in your ego as much as you want, but keep Squad One and the Contingency Initiative's endeavors out of it."

You've got to be shitting me.

Matt was the last person I needed to fight.

Where the hell was Bryce?!

I positioned Tatsu, circling Matt, whose glowing eye left behind a red trail.

I couldn't use Hinokami. He would probably recognize it right away.

I had to stay with using my Celestial Dragon powers.

Five percent...

That was as far as I could push my output.

But my technique was still at full power.

It had to be.

Matt closed in, slamming his fist against my forearm, completely bypassing Tatsu and my defenses, startling me.

Against this guy, if I didn't give it my A-game, he was gonna kill me. He was that type of person.

Matt began unloading punches after punches at me, fighting up close.

Just like how Vicki had taught us.

"Come on, samurai! Quit being a bitch just because your sword is useless!"

This guy was seriously pissing me off!

I dropped Tatsu and went low.

Shuiquan - Six Harmonies Rain Boxing

I slipped Matt's strike in a fluid manner, redirecting his attacks, and launched an uppercut which slammed into his chin, sending him flying back in surprise.

But before I could relish in that strike, Matt created a Senkaku clone, twisting in mid-air, and slammed his foot against my nape, nearly knocking me unconscious.

I instinctively leaped back, taking a defensive stance.

Matt growled.

Level 2 Amplification - Ultra Battle Senses

I rushed in, throwing another set of punches, but Matt had completely evaded them all, catching me in every blind spot imaginable. I coughed out blood, stumbling back.

Well.

Shit.

"You think a little Tai Chi was going to beat me?" Matt taunted.

"Grrrrr..."

I jumped up, summoning my Butterfly Knives, and retaliated, slicing at Matt and catching him in the legs and arms.

Eight years... Matt may have seemed unstoppable when I was younger, but now, I was twenty-six years old and more experienced. I started to see his flaws in his earlier years of fighting.

Matt created clones left and right, but I dropped my knives and summoned my Guandao, spinning it at lightning speed and generating a storm of Rainwater, pushing the clones back.

Matt shot in, a wild expression on his face. Just as I expected.

A green blast of lightning caught him in the chest, sending him into the roof and smashing into the ground.

"You... cheap... fuck..." Matt muttered, struggling to his feet. Blood was pooling on the ground around him.

Of course, ordinarily, I wouldn't be able to fight him like this.

But I had the advantage.

After all, now I knew that Matt's mentor was Vicki Harriet.

And Vicki happened to be my Outer Shadow.

I know all about her style.

Matt took a step forward but coughed, blood squirted from his mask as he stumbled.

Holy Rain Renewal

A swirl of Rainwater surrounded me, mending my wounds instantly.

Matt stared at me.

"Healing...? You've got to be shittin' me..."

Matt collapsed, but forced himself up, much to my surprise.

I tried to gain distance, but my body suddenly refused to move.

My feet were trapped in a pool of darkness.

Senkaku.

"What... you thought... I was gonna... fuckin fall over and die in front of you? Huh?" Matt snarled, glaring at me.

I summoned Tatsu, but a clone appeared by my side and yanked the sword away from me.

All the while, Matt struggled forward, hatred in his eye.

"I didn't... I didn't... go through all that hell... to lose... to some nobody like you. You don't deserve to win."

Deserve, huh?

"What do you know about who deserves what?" I said coldly.

Matt looked up, as a blast of power hit him point blank, smashing him into a column and causing him to vomit blood violently.

Divine Amplification

I ripped myself out of Senkaku and approached Matt, who generated a Shadow tendril, leveling the roof in front of me.

But I took my stance, swatting the debris to the side and decimating it.

"Forget holding back. I gotta be somewhere, and you're wasting my time."

I summoned Tatsu again, this time, the swirl of Rainwater and storm clouds blew Matt's clones apart.

Rain Style Kenjutsu - Form 1: SURFACE SLASH

Matt growled, refusing to back down, when suddenly a man appeared out of nowhere.

A man in a hat.

"Come now. Let's not fight. You are not with them, are you not?"

I stared at the man's hand, who stopped my full-power Surface Slash with his fingers.

An A Ranked Surface Slash... stopped just like that.

Only one person had power that potent.

Taras smiled at me.

"My... that is quite the resume you have there, young man. And that fight with The Mirage was no joke either. You are probably one of the only people who are still in business who has injured him to this extent. Look at you, Mirage."

"I WAS NOT LOSING!" Matt snapped.

"Ah... but you sure look quite upset!"

"I'M NOT UPSET!"

Taras laughed, as he let go of Tatsu's blade, but not before raising an eyebrow at it.

"What an interesting weapon."

I quickly concealed the sword.

"I..."

What do I do? I needed to get close to Shin. I guess... if I joined CI... I could get into Squad One.

But if I joined CI, I would make things even weirder. The timeline would get even more-

"By the way, your friend has also requested to join."

"Huh?"

A familiar kid's obnoxious voice suddenly broke the tension.

"YO! I just found the cutest woman EVER in Realmwatch dude! Please, let me join CI bro. I wanna fight her some more!" Bryce said.

I instantly covered my face with my hand.

"Would that woman happen to be Japanese and have a lightning bolt on her uniform..." I muttered.

"How did you know? You're one smart guy! You know that?"

Matt's eye flared in rage.

"Hey. You two aren't talking about Rui Iwatani are you?"

Bryce grinned.

"So that's her name er I mean I have no idea. Please let me join the Contingency Initiative."

"Why you little-"

Taras smiled, as a wave of force slammed into the two of them. The cheerfulness in his expression was unsettling. I still had no idea how powerful this guy was in Black Legion standards.

But to be an Outer Shadow...

It meant that Taras had power that far surpassed Danny's.

But... where was Taras when Danny had completely destroyed CI? Where was he?

If he had the power to easily destroy the Transplant, why didn't he do anything? And what had happened to him ever since then?

"Now now. Let's not get too agitated now. Two new recruits, with promising potential with that."

Taras approached Bryce.

Bryce's face paled.

I knew that he had become far stronger than before, but even so... Taras had seniority. If he was an Outer Shadow, Bryce was still an Auxiliary Shadow. There was no way to tell who had been in the Black Legion for longer, but an Outer Shadow would likely have meant that Taras had far more experience, and it showed.

"Ah... you are... very powerful. Perhaps one can say, your power is almost... foreign."

A chill ran down my back. There should have been no way Taras would know... right?

But this was Taras Pax we were talking about.

Bryce's eyes widened.

"Uh... um..."

Suddenly, the tension was broken by Taras putting a hand on his shoulder.

"You may join the Contingency Initiative. Mirage could use the competition to win The Patcher of Stormwatch over."

Matt looked like he was going to say something, but stopped himself.

"What... what Squad would he be in?" Matt asked.

Taras tilted his head, his eyes kept changing color from the shadows of his hat.

"I saw you in action. And Hachi confirmed it for me. A strength that could very easily fight Squad One off. Your reasons are as simple as the enemies you choose. If it is... truly your intention to see that young lady again, then may you fight alongside Squad One."

Matt choked.

"What?! Squad One?! Him?"

Even I was surprised.

Squad One right off the bat.

The strongest Elimination Squad in the Contingency Initiative.

"Miss Dismantler," Taras said, as Kyokou suddenly appeared by his side, the hand of Shin on her shoulder.

"Lord Taras," Kyokou said with an empty expression.

"From now on, this one shall serve under you as a probationary member of Elimination Squad One. May you guide him in his path to becoming use to our... legion."

Another bead of sweat ran down both Bryce and my neck.

This guy... this guy knew something. He had to.

Kyokou nodded, turning to Bryce.

"Come."

Bryce did as she said, glancing at me.

"She's a loli! Awesome!" He mouthed.

Goddammit, Bryce!

Just remember what we were here for.

This wasn't so bad... as long as we returned to the present as fast as we could, the less damage we would inflict.

At this point, we had to do whatever it took to return.

"As for you..."

Taras eyed me.

I hesitated, glancing at Matt.

"I want to be in Squad One as well," I replied, quickly.

"The hell you trying to say?" Matt growled, but Taras held up a hand.

"Mirage of Squad Four. Dismissed."

Matt backed off, turning around, but not before glaring at me.

"This isn't over. I will beat you the next time we meet. Mark my words."

It kind of felt good to hear that from Squad Leader Matt. For once, I wasn't on the opposite end of the ass-beating.

But at the same time...

I kind of wished he didn't leave, because all of a sudden, it was just Taras and I, standing at the ruins of Okan.

"Wh- What's the status... of Okan?" I stammered, causing Taras to raise an eyebrow.

"Destroyed. The recruiters have been killed by The Mirage."

"Oh. I see." My voice was small.

Taras readjusted his hat. And what he said next, cemented everything. My blood turned to ice.

"Of course. Just as you predicted, right, Yeling?"

New Recruit

"Wh- What are you talking about? I don't-"

Taras' eyes flashed orange.

"Do you think you can lie... to The Devil's Eyes?"

I clenched my fist, turning to the leader of the Contingency Initiative.

My leader.

"How much. How much do you know?" I asked.

Taras regarded me with those multi-colored eyes.

"The Great Akuma is an entity that surpasses reason and narratives. The eternal enemy of Vala. There is nothing she cannot see past. It was through her Hachi that she was able to rule mankind, by spotting those who tried to rebel. The Great Akuma... is not bound by time. And as someone who has manifested every single Akuma Grade Dogma, I encapsulate that aspect of her."

I looked out into the distance, as Taras joined me.

"You came back in time. I cannot see past the method of such... but it seems the future did not bode well for you."

"Why do you say that?"

Taras pointed at my tattoos.

"The words of Hinokami, the words for its bargain have changed. The words are smudged and altered."

I looked at my forearm, squinting a bit and focusing on the demonic letters. And to my surprise, he was correct. The words... they weren't as crisp and defined as they used to be. They had become somewhat faded. Some even disappear entirely.

"I've become unbound."

"I know."

I gripped the edge of the ruins.

"Lord Taras, I need to find a way back into the present. Please. I need to speak with Kronos. I'll damage this timeline. The future..."

Taras leaned against the rocks, his hat low and covering most of his upper face.

"The future will not change, regardless of what you do."

"How?"

Taras pointed at my tattoos again.

"The Hinokami is a part of the Great Akuma. You've already witnessed its nature. The ability to completely nullify narrative and reality-warping abilities. The Great Akuma is universal, like Vala. Regardless of the narrative. Regardless of the reality, and above all else, regardless of the timeline. You can choose to leave as soon as you can, but don't you want to spend some time with the family that you have lost?"

I gazed at a distant Mercedes that was peeling away. My Dragon eyes picked up the driver, glaring daggers at us. Matt drove off into the distance, probably still pissed at how he couldn't beat me despite everything he had done.

Of course, he couldn't.

At this point, I had unlocked four Stages of my Dogma, and a fifth Stage out of a whim. And I was no longer technically a human. I was now a Celestial Dragon. He might as well have fought Shenlong himself.

But to see everybody again...

To see them again. After years of regret...

Who would pass up such an opportunity?

Taras walked past me.

"Though you walk amongst past shadows, I have to warn you, Auxiliary Shadow Tidalflame."

I turned to him.

"Of what?"

"Every action you have has an echo. Though the influence you, and your comrade, Auxiliary Shadow Hellsing make in this past will not affect your future, they know. He will come for you."

"Who?"

Taras pursed his lips.

"I cannot speak of this further. I am loyal to Master Crassman. However, if I involve myself with this matter, not even my Inner Shadow can do anything against him."

"Are you talking about Loyce?"

Taras shook his head.

"No. Yeling, the best I can offer you is a second chance to see your old family again. That is all I can give you. What happens next... I cannot do anything to assist you. I have my own organization to worry about."

A lump formed in my throat.

A threat... that wasn't Loyce?

A threat that even an Inner Shadow couldn't handle?

"If it is any consolation, know this," Taras looked up into the sky, the stars had broken through the clouds, accompanied by the moonlight.

"An Unbound Hinokami has no purpose for the ritual to revive the Great Akuma. The Black Legion always knew this. You cannot burn your way out this time. So take my gift and cherish it while you still can."

With that, Taras had used his Suijin Dogma to transport me to a familiar-looking apartment complex. Looking at it brought upon waves of nostalgia which battered me with a sense of longing.

Bryce had been accepted as a probationary recruit to Squad One, meaning he had to undergo rigorous training at Anassis Island. The nature of the organization was such that many who joined CI would start off as foot soldiers. Those who displayed noticeable potential would be scouted by Squads depending on their meta powers, "evos". However, even if one were to be scouted, they still needed to undergo the training required to operate on the level of the Squads.

When I was accepted into Squad Four as Tidalflame, I also had to undergo rigorous training at Anassis Island. I was scouted by Taras himself, due to being a Dogma Holder of Hinokami.

For many months, I trained in the harsh regime of the Contingency Initiative. I learned to harness my hatred and wield it, at least that was what was presented to me on paper. In reality, what the regime had done for me, was show me what it meant to be a member of the Contingency Initiative, and to awaken my own philosophy, aligning it with the organization's. All the while, I continued hearing rumor after rumor of Squad Leader Matt. It was during that time on Anassis Island did I developed an admiration for my Squad Leader.

Matt was someone who was independent, but rather than succumbing to loneliness, he turned this into a weapon, honed sharp into a tool of vengeance. He was known by names such as the "Miracle Operative", and the legendary "Loki of the Contingency Initiative". There was no one who displayed the same aptitude Matt had displayed.

Even to this day, I still hold a strong admiration for my former Squad Leader. The way he turned his hardships into strength, and had become one of the most feared Squads in the entirety of the Contingency Initiative. Despite his cold hard exterior, Matt had done many things to help his own subordinates. Myself included. It was Matt who helped me move on from my parents' deaths. And it was Matt who had given me that pep talk the day Anna had died.

When I had been shunted into the past, a surge of panic had welled up inside me. And the urgency of returning back to the present influenced my decisions. However, I would be lying if I said there wasn't a part of me that wanted to experience what it was like. To do everything over again. And above all else... to maybe appreciate what it felt like to be part of a group of friends who genuinely cared for me.

Squad Four... after all this time... I could finally see them again. I wasn't even there when Whitney, Flint, and Maika had died. I had been too busy playing house with Shia.

You can choose to leave as soon as you can, but don't you want to spend some time with the family that you have lost?

Standing before the entrance of my old Squad Four complex... even if this was eight years in the past. Who could pass up an opportunity like this?

Maybe just a little bit.

Just for a bit... I can take this as a second chance. To really cherish these people.

My hand hovered over the handle of the lobby door.

Bryce... I really hope you get as much intel as you can from Shin.

I'll join you soon, but let me just take a short break.

A break from everything for a bit-

HINOKAMI. I SMELL IT.

My blood froze, along with the rest of my body. The most ominous chill ran through my body, as it responded to the sound that was emanating in my voice.

I frantically looked around, but there was no one there.

But why was my body feeling hunted? As if...

LITTLE YELING. LITTLE YELING. SHOW ME YOUR FLAMES.

Sweat poured down my scalp, drenching my back.

An Unbound Hinokami has no purpose for the ritual to revive the Great Akuma. The Black Legion always knew this.

That monstrous voice, felt like a knife was scraping against rock.

This was nothing like Loyce's.

Nor was it anything like Vala's.

This voice was like a bogeyman's. And for some reason, it was trying to hunt me down by my flames.

An immense pressure filled my lungs. It became hard to breathe.

I was suffocating from a fear that I didn't know where it originated from.

I opened my mouth to breathe, but no air was entering my lungs. I was... I was...

"H- Hey... are you okay?" A woman's voice said.

Suddenly, the pressure dissipated, as if time flowed back normally.

The terrifying, ominous presence had disappeared, leaving me alone and standing in front of a tall woman with long blonde hair that reached her shoulders.

I narrowed my eye at her.

She was beautiful. Stunning even. Round purple eyes and an incredibly athletic body like a model.

I didn't recall meeting someone like her when I lived in Squad Four. The closest model we had living close to us was a male superstar who had tried to flirt with Lewis and me. He had thought that the two of us were gay since Lewis frequently went on his incel rants about how he hated women and forced me to listen.

"I'm uh... looking for Suite 468."

The woman took a step back, her expression guarded.

"Why?"

I clenched my teeth.

"Whatever, I'll find it myself."

I walked past the lady and made my way to the elevator. I already had enough women in my life who intentionally avoided me.

I went up to the buttons and jabbed my finger against one of them, but to my surprise, my finger hit solid cement.

CRACK.

"GAH! FUCK!" I growled, stumbling back and clutching my hand.

What?

What kind of a button was this?

I focused on the elevator buttons again. They looked exactly like buttons to me. I turned to the door that led to the stairs.

If I couldn't use the elevator, then I'd just take the damn stairs.

I made my way to the door and grabbed the handle, but my hand passed right through it.

"You've got to be shitting me."

I slammed my fist against the wall, my hand passing right through the illusion.

Wait.

I wiggled my fingers against the illusion, then walked up to the elevator buttons, brushing my hand over the wall that the illusion was concealing.

Illusions.

Illusions...?

I slowly looked up to see the woman standing before me, a knife in her hand aimed at my face.

"I don't know why you're here, but this is my home now. I won't let any more men hurt me ever again," The woman snarled.

I was taken aback.

Seriously...?

This woman...

There was no way.

There was no way this was who I thought it was.

(Eight years ago)

"This is where you will be staying," Matt said, introducing me to Squad Four.

An eighteen-year-old me fidgeted nervously.

"H- Hi. I'm Yeling, and it's a pleasure to-"

"MATTY!!! WELCOME HOME! I MISSED YOU!" A girl's voice broke my introduction as the figure of a young woman appeared out of nowhere like an animal, almost tackling my new Squad Leader to the ground.

But Matt dodged at the last second, causing the girl to slam face-first into a wall and slide to the ground.

Everybody seemed to act like this was completely the norm. No one ran to her aid.

I stood awkwardly in the center of the living room, glancing at Matt, who gave me an irritated expression.

"Don't expect me to introduce you to these people. It is your job to make that effort. If you can't manage that, then there is no reason for you to even call these your Squad members."

"B- But-"

I watched Matt enter his room.

"I have paperwork to do. I will also need to see you this afternoon to fill out your information. Now leave me alone, otherwise, I'll cut your head off."

For some reason, I didn't doubt that he would actually do that.

"No way, an asian recruit? Finally!"

"Huh?"

A beautiful blonde woman approached me. She had choppy neck-length hair which seemed to be dyed multiple colors. I was attracted to her right away. She looked flirtatious but mature at the same time. An athletic figure complimented by her height, a good two inches over me.

"Hey, you're pretty adorable. How old are you, boya?"

Boya?

Was she speaking Japanese slang?

"I... I speak Canaan, I'm Chinese..."

The woman raised an eyebrow.

"Awww, that's no fun. Well."

A finger slowly traced the side of my face, stopping at the bottom of my chin. Her touch felt like it was sending currents across my body. No woman had ever touched me like this before. Not even my own mother did that.

The woman leaned in closer, giving me a fun smile.

"Boya means little boy."

My heart felt like it was going to explode. She was too intimidating! I'd never encountered a woman like this before!

"What's wrong, kiddo? You haven't answered my question yet."

"E- Eighteen. I'm eighteen. My name is Yeling. Yeling Mah."

"Yeling... huh?"

The lady smiled, lighting a cigarette and breathing out a line of smoke.

Immediately, Matt's voice resonated from his room.

"Maika! Did you just light a damn cigarette?! No smoking in the apartment how many times do I have to remi-"

"Oh shut it! You buzzkill! You're acting like a cranky husband and we haven't even started dating yet!"

The girl who was slumped over suddenly perked up.

"The hell did you just say?! You Japanese bitch!"

Maika flicked her hand, as the girl's teeth turned into fangs, viciously clawing and biting and snarling at some imaginary object in the hallway.

Maika smiled at me.

"Mah Ye Ling, then?"

I stared at her. No one had ever said my name like that before. It was true. In China and Canaan, my surname was always pronounced first. How did she know?

"How did... You get my name right? No one ever gets it right."

"I'm Japanese... an Asian New Ulyssian like you too, you know. Maika is my first name, in Japan, only people very close to me would call me that. Usually, they would call me... Nagumo Maika."

Maika reached out and pushed me into a chair as she pulled up another one and sat on it. The back of the chair pressed up against her chest and wrapped by her legs.

A grin plastered her face, cigarette smoke leaving her perfectly white teeth.

"Eighteen... huh. So you're legal then!"

Legal for what?!

Maika leaned in, pressing her chin against my neck, her voice a whisper.

"Legal for... this."

A cold object pressed against my chest. I looked down to see a bottle of cold beer.

"Heh?!?!"

"Drink up, kid! You're now part of Elimination Squad Four! Be as bonkers as you want! Destroy as much as you want!"

Maika pushed back in her chair, laughing crazily and throwing confetti everywhere.

"The world is a cruel place. It laughs at us while we suffer. Why should we have to cry in response? Why should we give the world what it wants?! If it laughs at us, we laugh right back! We party as much as we want! Hey, wanna see me shotgun this thing?"

"Shotgun...?"

Maika pulled out a beer can in one hand and held out a katana in the other. Before I knew it, Maika pierced the side of the can with her blade and shoved the hole right at her mouth, drinking aggressively and finishing the entire can in three seconds flat.

"Hell yes! HAHA!"

Maika pointed the beer can at me.

"I know about your story, kid. You lost your family from your powers right?"

A shudder ran through my body, as a panic attack felt like it was gonna set in.

"I don't wanna talk about it. Not with someone like you. I barely know-"

SWIFF.

My eyes widened, as Maika's scent filled my nose. Her hair brushed against my skin as she wrapped me in a hug.

"Don't say that. Don't say something like that anymore. I'll know you as much as I can, and you know me as much as you want. You're not alone anymore. We're here for you."

A tear ran down my face that day, and when Maika pulled away, her grin never disappeared.

A devious and unhinged smile in response to a cruel and unfair world.

Maika Nagumo, the Refractor, was the first person in Squad Four who made me truly smile in years.

* * *

That grin.

That carefree grin showed Maika's defiance toward the world's deceit and corruption.

Each person in Squad Four held a special place in my heart.

And Maika had been the first.

I blinked, to see the grin had been replaced by the feral, hostile glare of a younger Maika Nagumo. She couldn't have been any older than 23 at this time.

The blade of her knife aimed right at my forehead. She had taken a swordswoman stance, similar to an old style Vicki had once used when wielding Masamune, a weapon from her Celestial Scabbard.

The stark contrast between the carefree woman I had always believed I knew, to the one who was threatening to kill me made me feel uneasy.

As if a part of me had turned rotten.

And I guess that heartache was a lot worse than I thought because I found myself unable to respond.

Maika's bottom lip quivered, and her eyes had turned shiny.

"Maika? You alright there lass?" A voice said, as its owner appeared from the other side of the building. He was tall and well-built, with dog tags around his neck. But he looked old as if the muscles he had spent years developing had been reduced to performing mere house chores.

The man suddenly ran up to Maika from behind, taking her knife.

"Maika! Don't attack, he's not an enemy!"

Maika began to struggle against the man's grip.

"Ito... Ito! Ito is here to take me back! Don't let him take me back!" She screamed, causing some people at the reception to get up and look at us in concern.

The one called Rafel made a gesture to them as if reassuring them that everything was okay.

As if one could even call this okay.

"No... No!!! Please!!!" Maika pleaded, kicking her legs as Rafel hoisted her up.

"Maika, this man isn't your husband! Calm down!"

I took a step back in response to Maika's wailing.

Several illusions suddenly appeared all around me, likely as a result of her nervous breakdown.

I looked around, in surprise.

A cell...

Two cells, facing one another. On one side, was what appeared to be Maika, huddled with her knees to her chin, shivering. She was wearing a torn white mini-skirt stained with blood. She was sobbing hysterically at something, and when I repositioned my gaze to what she was crying at, my heart almost skipped a beat.

A young woman, clearly younger but not by much, who looked very similar to her in appearance. Her throat had been slashed, and her eyes, still open, were wide and dilated. As if her last moments were panic. Her eyes were looking directly at Maika.

What was I looking at?

Were these... memories?

I blinked again, and the illusions were gone. Rafel had injected something against the side of Maika's neck.

"Sorry. Maika is... still suffering some really severe trauma. What you saw..."

"Were these Maika's memories?"

"I can't be certain, but from what Matt had told me, yes. And I presume you're the latest addition to Squad Four?"

I hesitated, still unable to make sense of what I had just witnessed.

I never knew Maika's past. She had told me she had lost her sister and had suffered racism for being Japanese, but I didn't think she had went through something like this.

What else... what else did I not know about Maika?

And...

How could I have not considered what she must have been through before joining Squad Four? Why was it that I knew so little about someone who I had lived with for so many years?

I had spent so long playing the victim, complaining about my problems. Maika listened to it all.

Yet, she never told me about this.

Because I very likely never gave her the chance to.

All because everything had to be about me.

And I couldn't even have the decency to be there when she had died for my sake.

I made a fist.

A second chance, huh?

It felt more like a reality check, a slap in the face, really. Of how selfish of a person I really was, and still am.

Rafel opened the door to the old apartment, and memories flooded into my mind.

"So, your name is..."

"Cobalt."

The name Taras had given me. While I could have gone with Yeling... this timeline's Yeling was still out there. It would have made things a lot more complicated. Taras didn't go any further into the intricacies. However, the name Cobalt was the safest bet for a memorable alias, as it was what I went with when I used to sidekick as Vicki's Champion in the Champions Universe.

"Cobalt, huh? Well, you can choose whatever room you wish. I usually handle all the chores."

I stepped inside, but stayed in the living room, eyeing Rafel up and down.

Rafel...

I never knew we had someone named Rafel who stayed here. Meaning... something must have happened to him before I was recruited as Tidalflame.

If it was already knowledge that Rafel wouldn't be around, forming any kind of relationship with him would only spell disaster.

Only a fool would try to form bonds with someone knowing they would die very soon.

Yet...

I watched Rafel place Maika into her bed, tucking her in. She was sweating profusely.

What would I be doing, trying to spend time with these ghosts of my past? Was this any different?

"Lucky Vistara. Who would have guessed someone like him would end up with any Squad members of his own? Given all the rants he has gone on about wanting to be alone."

I expected as much from Squad Leader Matt.

From the very beginning, and even eight years into the future, Matt was always someone who despised being a Squad Leader.

"Where is Matt?" I asked.

"He's at one of the offices filing in his report. The Battle for Okan I hear was a pretty major operation. The amount of paperwork would have been extensive."

"Huh."

I glanced at Maika again.

Somehow, being threatened with death by the younger version of the Squad Four Party Girl made me feel a little hurt.

"Don't take what she said to heart. Her husband... her ex husband had done some really fucked up stuff to her. It's understandable for her to have that impression, especially when someone like you appeared at the front step out of the blue."

I slowly ran a hand through my hair.

Urca had taught me how to tie my hair up. The hairstyle that he had in his younger days must have reminded Maika of her husband, who I presumed to also be Japanese.

I adjusted the tie on the back of my hair until the ponytail sat across my neck, resting against the left side of my chest.

"Does this help?"

"A little," Rafel got up and took two glasses.

"Age?"

"Twenty-six."

"You? Twenty-six? You darn Asians. You always look so damn immortal and youthful. When I was twenty-six people had already thought I was a pop with a kid of my own. I wonder if Maika would ever look the same when she's older."

I took the glass.

She definitely didn't act the same.

"Maika is a good girl. That night she had been rescued by Vistara, she immediately wanted to start learning how to control her powers. Training in secret. Her onboarding camp at Anassis Island isn't due in a month. The fact that she would go through such great lengths for someone as scummy as Vistara, says a lot about her character."

"I see."

Rafel took a sip out of the whiskey.

"Mind doing me a favor? Cobalt?"

"What favor?"

"When I die... look after her. Look after Maika and Vistara. Be with them for me."

I raised an eyebrow.

"You'd ask this of someone you just met?"

"Crazy, right? For some reason... I feel like I can ask you to do something like this. I got a feeling you're gonna be with these guys for a long time. And for some reason, I just feel like I can talk to you, without anything to hide."

Rafel chuckled, swirling the ice cubes in his glass.

"I'm gonna go do some grocery shopping. I trust Maika in your care."

This man had way too much trust in strangers.

But before I could make a remark, Rafel had already left the door, leaving me with even more questions than answers.

The following evening, I took a walk around the apartment that I used to live in.

I sat down on the couch, overlooking the distance of New Ulysses.

Where was the me of this time? I wonder what he was up to now that the timeline had been altered.

Then again, I had a pretty good idea.

Nothing would have gotten any better for me. I would have continued going to Uni, letting the stress of school torment me along with my mental illnesses.

I leaned back and stared at the ceiling.

I was half expecting Maika to come out in the middle of the night.

Like a cliched interaction scene from one of the videogames Lewis used to play.

I was a little disappointed when Maika never left her room. A little selfish of me to want to speak to her in private like this given what she had been through. It was very obvious she hadn't recovered something of this magnitude. Who would?

She had a panic attack looking at my appearance since it apparently reminded her of her ex.

The thought of my timeline's version of Maika having overcome something like this, and had the emotional fortitude to look after Marcela given her past experience with losing a sister...

"Nice digs."

I nearly jumped out of my seat, reaching for Tatsu to slice of the head of the man who was crouching on the railings of the balcony.

His red eyes glowed in the dark.

"Bryce! What are you doing here?!" I whispered fiercely.

"What do you mean?"

"There's no way Kyokou would have let you sneak out at this hour!"

"Of course, that's why I snuck out, homie."

That wasn't the point you dolt! But I tried to hide my annoyance.

"Did you get any information from Shin?"

"Nah. He's... way more recluse than I thought. Why didn't you tell me how fuckin military like Squad One is? A set deadline for lunch?! For real? Bossman never did somethin' like that! I spend at least 2 hours for lunch!"

"2 hours?! Doing what?"

"I watch Boku-no Chiyo Chan on my phone while eating, obviously."

How the hell could he say these things with a straight face?

"But I came around to tell you something."

"What is it?"

Bryce leaped off the railing and entered the house.

"I found her. While I was scouting this timeline to look for other alternatives to return."

"Who's her?"

Bryce looked at me with a serious expression, contrasted with his usual goofiness.

"Aelienne. The First Hinokami. She's in New Ulysses."

A breeze blew between us.

Aelienne...

What was she doing here? I thought she was in Mar. And Mar was a long way away from New Ulysses.

"What are you proposing we do?" I asked.

Bryce put a hand to his chin.

"It's a bit of a gamble. But you know how Akuma Graded Dogmas ain't affected by narratives and reality and timelines and all that? Would it be possible for a clash between you and Aelienne to create a rip in reality like Shiki had done? It might propel us back to the future."

"That's a little far-fetched don't you think?"

"Well, I'd rather do that than get Shin to propel us into the future. Apparently, his powers work by shunting your consciousness forward in time. Ain't that how you had your injuries repaired? You lost a year of yo life, right?"

That was true.

In my second battle against Danny, he smashed my finger on the ground and cut out my eye. Shin had used Time Displacement to heal me, but while I felt like I had advanced into the future, my body had aged accordingly.

"I for one don't wanna waste my teenage years. I'd be what, 25? The fuck? 25 and still a virgin?"

"I'm gonna cut your head off now."

"Wait! You get what I'm sayin' right? Taras said yo Hinokami won't cause crazy ripples in the timeline. We can shunt ourselves forward like Shiki did. We got nothin' to lose!"

I clenched my teeth.

"Fine. Where did you see her? We can probably use our powers to track her down."

I turned around and glanced at the entrance to Maika's room.

It was still closed.

Dammit. I hoped...

Forget it.

Focus on this first, Yeling.

Be realistic.

The two of us leaped out of the balcony, making our way to Aelienne's location.

Purposeless

We found her all right.

"The hell is she doing?" Bryce asked.

"Reading. I guess it isn't something kids like you do these days."

"Homie I read. Shut up."

Bryce reached for his bat, the winds causing his varsity jacket to flutter.

"I don't know much bout Aelienne. A lot of the info I've had was from old pieces of history knowledge Bossman would tell me here n there. She's like the First Hinokami right? Supposedly the strongest until you showed up."

"Yeah."

Strongest was an understatement.

She was unrivaled.

When she had chosen to defect from the Dogma of Equivalent Exchange, the Dogma had sent many successors to come after her. Twelve to be exact.

Each one met a similar fate.

Even if we were talking about having them be a part of The Black Legion, no one could stand up against her.

The only reason I had taken her out at the start was because Lewis had used her own family against her.

Now I didn't have the luxury of Lewis' dirty tricks.

If a confrontation happened, I needed to fight with my own strength.

Fortunately, if it was true that our actions had no influence on the future, that meant I could fight her at full power.

Bryce sniffed the air, scanning around.

"Yeah, she ain't alone."

"Who's around?"

"Dunno. But she's got her own homies. If the goal is for you to clash against her, you gotta focus all yo firepower on her alone."

"Then I'll leave whoever assists her to you then."

"Sounds like a plan."

The two of us huddled in the distance, waiting to strike.

I definitely had what it took to take her down. This wasn't like last time when I was limited to Stage Three.

I now had Stage Four and unlocked the full potential of it.

There was no reason for me to have any difficulty in beating her.

"Ready?" I whispered to Bryce, turning around.

To nothing.

"B- Bryce?" I asked.

No answer.

"Bryce, you idiot. This isn't the time to mess around! We need to attack so we can get back to our time-"

"Is that so?"

My eye widened as I spun around, to see the silhouette of a womanly figure, glowing blue in the distance.

Her aura...

Was a familiar aura.

One that filled me with inciting hatred, ironically contrasting what it stood for.

I looked around, to see the blades of grass had stopped moving.

In fact, everything had stopped moving, as if...

"I am sure Taras had told you this, but Ancient beings such as myself are not bound by the limits of time. Did you think escaping here and finding utopia in your past would provide you with a safe haven from me?" Vala said.

Fear seized my body.

No way.

How did I not realize it, when Taras had mentioned it?

The Great Akuma and Vala were immune to the limitations of time.

Meaning Vala had been watching us...

This entire time!

Vala smiled.

"Oh dear, look how terrified you are. And here you said you would be the most qualified to kill me. Don't you think you're being a little too optimistic? The more I reform, the more my consciousness takes hold, and the stronger my Vessels become. Achilles was the first. Then it shall be Sarina Ultear."

Vala spread her hands.

"As I am now... I am only... 8 percent whole. But that 8 percent is already enough to destroy you. Would you like a preview? I'll even give you a headstart."

I clenched my fists. This was a really really bad idea.

But every time Vala was here, or the mention of her name was brought up, all sense of logic and rationale left my body. My very mindset was to kill her. No matter what.

Don't you dare mock me... Vala.

"I'll make you regret giving me that chance," I snarled, channeling my full power.

Level 1 Hinokami

Violent blue flames surrounded me.

"Hoh?" Vala said, amused.

Be as amused as you want. I'll wipe that grin off your face.

Full Power Stage Four - TRUE PHOENIX ASCENDENT

"GRAAAAAH!" I roared into the sky, wings tearing from my back as I ascended into the air, my flames melting everything within my vicinity.

I reached out and summoned Tatsu, demonic plating cladding my shoulders and knees.

DIVINE AMPLIFICATION

Green electricity coursed through me. I shot forward, aiming right at Vala's head, but Vala leaned to one side, dodging my slash, and kneed me in the midsection.

I coughed out blood but positioned my hand right at her exposed parts.

Grand Ultimate ITR Ascendent

A gargantuan blast of flames engulfed Vala, sending her into the air as I skidded backward, powering up even further. My flames took form into a massive towering golem.

My blade grew, as I took a step forward, producing massive glowing blue cracks and chasms on the ground.

Vala brought her hands back, as I roared, throwing a punch at her, but the punch was stopped.

By one finger.

Vala regarded me with morbid curiosity.

"Hm... Your sister still did much better. Unfortunate. Though... in her defense..."

SPLORT.

An eye blink.

That was all it took.

For me to completely miss her movements. I slowly looked down to see Vala's glowing blue hand sprouting from my chest. My Anarchy Form had completely become undone.

Vala brought her face close to mine.

"...when I defeated her, I was only at 6 percent."

More blood left me, as Vala removed her arm. I free fell, hundreds of feet until I crashed into the ground, melting everything in my vicinity and leaving behind glowing blue lava around my body.

Vala wiped her hand free from my blood. I continued choking and coughing out blood which sprayed into the sky.

"How easy it would be if I slaughtered all of you. But my awakening hasn't been complete. And for that, his contributions are needed. My motives exceed your understanding, Yeling. Yet knowing this, you would still embark on your foolish little philosophical spat in trying to stop me."

Vala kneeled in front of me, running a finger across my forehead. My tattoos began to burn as if the words of the Great Akuma were rejecting Vala's presence.

"Don't worry. I won't be the one to kill you. After all, I can't. Look. Just me being here is causing the wounds I inflicted on you to heal."

I stared at my chest, the hole had already closed up. A wound that should have killed me...

"You... You can't kill me..." I whispered.

"Indeed. I am a Spirit of Hope. It is against my nature to do so. But what good is this knowledge to you? You definitely can't kill me. Even with this Anarchy Form you wield."

Vala got up, slowly running her hand across the burnt and liquified grass that had been obliterated by my Hinokami. Where her hand had trailed, my flames were doused instantly. The unquenchable flames of The Great Akuma, instantly nullified. And the victims of its heat, the singed blades of grass had been completely restored.

If it was true that Vala couldn't do anything to me... then I had a chance.

All I had to do was get stronger.

Surely...

"I don't think you seem to understand the situation you are in, Little Hinokami."

I glared at Vala.

"What?"

Vala chuckled.

"Stage Four. Stage Five. Whatever Stage you think you can access... it ultimately means nothing. This scuffle is enough proof for me. I had my doubts when Loyce suggested this. But there is no reason for either of us to fight you. Whether it is through my Vessels or his Outer Shadows. The one that is currently trying to pursue you is more than enough."

The one pursuing me?

I knew there was something that was hunting me, but...

A chill ran down my spine.

That feeling when I visited the Squad Four complex.

That voice.

Vala ran a hand through her white hair, which was no longer a blue silhouette. She had taken enough of a form to manifest humanoid features.

"Yeling will not fall to my hand, nor shall he fall to Loyce's. His story ends. By being torn apart by his replacement."

My body suddenly became seized with a terror I never knew was capable.

"You enjoy the despair, don't you? You relish in loneliness, in rejection. In ostracization. You will never play the role of a hero in this story. Whether triumphant like Aaron Hope's, or tragic. You will die... in the most anti-climactic way possible. You will die from neither me nor Loyce."

Suddenly, my heart felt like it weighed a million pounds.

The heart is capable of many things. Many things I could understand. Many more that I could never for the life of me get.

One of these...

...was its ability to seemingly hurt so much, yet make my body lose all of its strength in the process.

"I see right through you, Yeling Mah. You want to play the role of the tragic hero, am I correct? The fallen hero! One who is but a lone wolf, walking his own way. To die a tragic death and look cool to his peers. But alas, this simply isn't your story. We have no place for you. No one does."

Vala began to dissipate, her body disintegrating into blue particles.

"A mediocre and disappointing death. To be killed brutally, yet a death that can hardly be registered as something significant to this story. Go ahead and disappear from this narrative, Yeling. We already have a place for the Hero. And a place for the Villain. We have no place for someone like you. A Hinokami who has no purpose. No Bargain. No home. No reason... to keep living."

I blinked, and Vala had disappeared, replaced with Bryce.

"Yo... yo. Yeling. Yeling! What the hell are you spacing out for?"

My mouth was still hanging open.

Was things really going to end this way?

Is the end really just gonna be this mediocre?

I slowly got up, trudging to Aelienne.

"Yeling?"

Even if I fought Aelienne...

And was transported back to the present.

What good was that going to do?

Was I really that unimportant?

I fought Vala with everything I had, she was only using eight percent of her power.

I fought with the strength of Stage Four and Anarchy. I was completely overwhelmed.

Sure I had Stage Five, but what the hell good did that make?

In the end, she concluded that I was so weak that I would just end up killed by some proxy.

And above all else, she had called me out on something that I had been in denial for the longest time.

I wanted to be the main character in my story.

I had been through so much, so surely, I deserved at least a tragic hero's treatment, right?

But looking back...

Aaron had suffered something far worse. He was an orphan and had his own foster siblings killed.

Hakah lost everything in one night because of my actions.

Vicki lived her life as a reincarnation of a Hero, scorned for being who she was.

Everybody had something just as tragic in their lives.

Even in that department, I wasn't anything special.

If everybody was special, that meant no one was.

I was... just one in a sea of suffering people.

Yet I yearned for a hero's life, believing I deserved one given my transgressions.

A mediocre and disappointing death. To be killed brutally, yet a death that can hardly be registered as something significant to this story.

Mediocre and disappointing.

Surely... surely I could change that.

Surely...

But...

I looked at Bryce.

Yeah. I got bullied a lot for it. Back in school, my classmates would always call me 'Sweet-ass Scotty'. Because I was technically half white and, at least in my version of America, we as minorities are kinda jaded.

Even someone like Bryce, who carried on with his goofball routine, had been through the controversies of his biraciality.

Everybody had a reason to act like I was acting.

Yet they chose not to.

They chose to continue their lives.

Yet... I made the choice to base my entire conquest based on what I believed was an unfair world.

Based on what I had experienced.

Someone... someone I claimed to be.

You're struggling, aren't you. Do you see what true Despair looks like? Do you see? This is what it takes to defeat Vala. If you really want to join me in this battle, then forsake love altogether.

My fingers wrapped around the hilt of Tatsu. The wind blowing against me and parting my hair, my face gleamed in the sunrise.

"Yeling..." Bryce's voice trailed away.

Yeling! I care about you. I DO. But there's nothing we can do to help you if you keep pushing us away! Aaron had once shouted at me.

When I had my narrative reset.

No.

No...

My narrative was reset... that was... that wasn't it, was it?

I stared into the distance, Aelienne was returning back to her house on the front porch. Her husband kissed her and her kids swarmed her legs.

"Dude! She's going back in! When are we gon' pounce, bruh?"

I suddenly remembered when Loyce had taken me in, after my fight against Lucifer. He had me sit in a fabricated copy of my old house when I used to live with my parents and my sister.

Loyce put his hand on my shoulder that day.

"This is your house. You would wake up, trudge to the bathroom, and brush your teeth. You would shower and go down the stairs and drink a cup of coffee your mother made for you. Not even a bite of breakfast before you headed to school. Tell me. What part of this warranted the desire to incinerate your family alive?"

I remembered falling off my bed, sprawled on the ground in disbelief.

The more Loyce had talked about my past, the more everything seemed so heavily unjustified.

"If you were mentally ill, why didn't you see a therapist?"

"Why did you continue..."

"Did you like playing the victim so much that you let your mental illness spiral out of control?"

"You wanted an excuse to be a victim."

"You put the blame on everyone else."

I clutched my face that day, screaming into a void. Something had snapped.

And when I had returned to Vicki's residence, I had a renewed vigor. But I couldn't remember a single damn thing that Loyce had done to me.

I had thought I had my narrative reset.

But now...

The memories had come back. It must have been Vala... oh hell. Did it matter anymore?

Did anything matter anymore?

What was the point anymore...

"Yeling! Dude, this ain't the time to space out! We been here for four hours! I'm gettin' hungry man. And Kyokou gonna kick my as-"

"No more," I muttered, my eye wide and staring at the distance.

"Huh?!"

I turned to Bryce.

"I... I don't wanna do this anymore. I need some time to think."

"What? Think about what? Dude, we was gonna carry out the plan, right? What are we-"

"G- Go... go back. On your own if you want. I think I'm gonna stay here for a bit longer..." I trudged the other way.

"Wait, what the hell you sayin'? Are you not gonna fight Aelienne! We need your-"

"No. I... I wanna go back to the place. Sorry. Just gimme some more time."

I flew away, leaving Bryce on his own. Speechless.

I climbed through the window of the living room, to see Matt patting himself down with a towel.

"And where the hell were you?" Matt asked.

I ignored him.

"Hey. I'm asking you a quest-"

SHOOM.

I appeared in front of him, causing Rafel and Maika, who was on the other side of the room to freeze.

My eye malicious.

"I was out. And you are not my chaperone. Taras assigned me to this Squad, but he never said you were my leader."

Matt glared at me and said nothing, as he turned around.

I opened the door to my old room, which was completely empty. I sat on the mattress and stared at the window, overlooking the city of New Ulysses.

I didn't feel like doing anything.

I didn't even feel like existing at all.

They say once every hobby and interest you have loses its appeal, you're left in an empty, huskless state. Perhaps this was what I was feeling. My great conquest was to destroy the world and create a new one with The Great Akuma.

It seemed like a total pipe dream now... one that was fabricated by some angsty teenager who couldn't get their parents to buy them their first car.

I didn't know what Vala had done to me...

But what she had said definitely opened something inside me. Maybe it was awareness.

Awareness that I refused to look at because no one ever said it to my face. Either because they couldn't unravel my character enough to know, or maybe they always knew but never felt like telling me to my face.

But Vala would.

Of course, she would.

She wasn't scared of me, and she knew I couldn't do jack shit to her if she pissed me off.

I summoned Tatsu and inspected it.

I got this sword when I killed Aelienne, the original user.

And the basis behind killing Aelienne?

It was because of the exact same thing. I thought that she didn't deserve her family.

I didn't even know of her own tribulations and trials.

I just assumed right away that I had been through worse.

And because of my black-pilled feelings... I killed a mother and widowed her husband. Her kids would never be able to see their mother again.

What the hell did I even stand for anymore...

I chucked the sword across the room, as it clattered onto the ground.

My blue eye glowed in the dark, leaving behind a faint blue tint to what little furniture was inside.

"I don't need a pep talk. Whoever it is standing by my door," I grumbled.

"No... I just didn't know you were also a swordsman."

I slowly turned around to see Maika step into my room.

"I apologize for attacking you earlier... I wasn't in the right state of mind-"

"And my appearance doesn't traumatize you?"

"No."

Maika walked past me and approached Tatsu, running her hand over the hilt.

"This sword isn't yours, is it?"

"How..."

Maika showed me the hilt.

"The indents on it are from many many many years of use. But the grip is different from yours."

"Huh."

I figured Maika had some background in fighting given her build and stature, but I didn't think she was this smart.

"So... what? You came here to look at Tatsu? Feel free to keep it. I don't have any use for it anymore."

Maika put the sword back on the ground, sitting cross-legged in front of me.

"Do you want silence?"

"I don't know."

"Okay. I will keep silent for now then. Right now, I also feel like I want some peace and quiet. Matt is very loud when he deals with Rafel, you see."

I had no intention of responding. I wanted to stare into the distance and disappear.

We sat in silence for hours.

The occasional sounds of footsteps broke the silence but didn't interrupt it.

I suppose Matt and Rafel decided it was best to leave us alone.

Contrary to the way the presented themselves... especially Matt... they had an EQ which always astonished me.

A lot better than mine.

The sun began to set, casting shadows across my room. The sunset brought out a beautiful glow from Maika's hair. Her empty purple eyes gazed into the sunset.

"I have a sword too," Maika finally muttered.

I know.

I lost it.

"Where is it?" I asked.

"Matt has it locked in a safe. It was his suggestion."

"Why? Is it dangerous or something?"

"No... I just... don't want to use it."

I raised an eyebrow, as Maika slowly put a hand on her belly.

"Like you, my sword doesn't belong to me."

"Really?"

That was a surprise. I always thought that the katana Maika used was always hers. She wielded it so fluently and fought with it so well that I would have thought she had been using it for many many years.

I didn't know that the sword she had belonged to someone else.

"It was my husband's. Ito Kintaro."

"The man who betrayed you?"

Maika brought her knees to her chin, in the same pose as she was in when she had projected that illusion. Her blonde hair brushed against her jeans, contrasting the blonde with the dark blue denim.

"I loved him for so many years... for so many years we were together. I've known him since high school. And when I was 22, we decided to try for a baby. Someone like that... someone who you would love so far as to consider getting pregnant for... this wasn't someone who'd slit your own sister's throat in front of you and killed the baby you helped create."

My body shuddered.

No wonder Maika had been through all that.

No wonder she had a nervous breakdown upon seeing me.

Anybody would have had severe psychological problems after an ordeal like that.

Maika stared back at the horizon.

"I know... Matt saved me from him. He even did me a favor and killed him for me. Taras gave me a place to live here after I begged to join him. I got what I wanted, didn't I? An opportunity to start over. But right now... I don't see a point in trying anymore. My best efforts aren't enough. I can't possibly help Matt. The things he has accomplished are unbelievable, a prodigy that puts a kunoichi like me to shame."

Maika ran her hand against the carpet.

"Every night, I go to the safe and open the compartment holding Kintaro's katana, but the moment I touch the hilt, I vomit. I remember my sister, and I remember the stillborn that came out of me. And I remember holding him in my hands. I didn't even have the time to check if it was a boy or a girl when he was born.

"I don't know what to do anymore. These people are very kind to me for letting me stay, but they know it too. Mirror tricks and deception were supposed to be my specialty, but Matt does that even better than I do. I can't even hold a sword without vomiting. I have no one to live for anymore. My parents, my sister, my son, and my husband are dead. I can't do anything anymore, and sometimes I can't even get out of my bed in the morning. Because it would just be another meaningless day of doing nothing."

No reason... to live... huh?

No reason to do anything.

I slowly got up, leaving Maika alone, and headed to the door.

What did it mean to live?

Did living mean you would do things for the sake of someone else?

But how would that be possible, for people who had no one else to live for?

I had Hakah. But I would soon lose her too to the ritual.

And with Hakah, she had Aaron and everyone to be with her. Who stood by her.

Me?

I had gone on a huge crusade for an ultimately meaningless endeavor.

My whole basis was essentially an overblown tantrum.

I put my hand on the handle of the fridge and reached inside.

The metal felt cold.

So cold that the air around the can was condensing, leaving behind steam that rolled off the edges.

I walked back to my room and sat next to my future senior, handing her the drink.

"Beer?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"What for?"

"I dunno. I just... felt like drinking beer."

I cracked open my can and shotgunned the whole thing in four seconds flat.

Maika raised her eyebrows.

"That's fast!"

You shotgunned a beer in three seconds. I didn't need to hear that from you!

"You know... usually, if I told someone something like that, they would tell me to keep my chin up and hope life gets better. But rarely does it ever. Not for some people."

Living for the sake of someone else.

Living for the sake of oneself.

Maika had lived for the sake of her husband, and he had betrayed her.

I had lived for the sake of myself, and now, I realized I had been betraying myself the entire time.

How stupid of a life that I had shaped from my actions.

Didn't matter what circumstances they were in. Everybody would end up with their demons.

I blew my mine out of proportion, and because of that, I had chosen to strike up a deal with the Dogma to gain access to Hinokami.

And it had become a snowball effect ever since.

Maika took the drink and drank, but began coughing.

"I... I can't really drink beer that much. My sister on the other hand..."

"Your sister drinks? Er. Sorry. Drank."

Maika smirked.

"You have no idea. She was a real Party Girl."

My eye widened, as a familiar grin formed on her face.

The same one... eight years from now.

One that had filled me with warmth, the first thing that greeted me when I joined Squad Four.

"You're really pretty," I blurted out, before putting a hand on my mouth.

Wha- What the hell was I saying at a time like this?

Maika stared at me, as I quickly scooted away from her.

Shit... shit!

"Sorry. I didn't mean to blurt that out."

"Do you really mean it?" Maika said, quietly.

What the hell was I saying? Maika obviously had a crush on Matt. She always did.

Always.

It was Squad Leader Matt who was the popular one in the group. Whitney and Maika were always fighting over him.

There was...

No reason for us to end up together.

No reason at all.

Maika began crawling to me on all fours. The sound of her jeans brushing against the carpet, and her blonde hair falling in between the crevices of her chest which had now been exposed due to her baggy tank top.

"What about me do you think is pretty?"

I looked away, my ears feeling extremely hot. For a Hinokami user, it was a little ironic to be complaining about heat.

But it was what it felt.

A familiar heat that always appeared...

Whenever I felt romantically attracted to someone.

"Everything... you probably get that a lot. But it's the type of pretty that doesn't go away with age. I know... you'll be just as beautiful eight years from now. You'll always be beautiful to me."

Maika's lips brushed against mine.

"What is your name?" She whispered.

"Yeling. Yeling Mah," I responded without hesitation. Completely ignoring the point of keeping the confusion of the real Yeling...

No.

Forget that.

Forget everything.

I don't care anymore.

"Huh... so Mah Ye Ling then?" Maika asked.

"Yeah," I smiled between kisses.

"You're absolutely correct."

* * *

Matt paced around, with his hands behind his back.

"Okay. Today's Elim Op involves me bringing my subordinates. Doesn't matter if neither of you actually did the required training. I can't sign onto the op alone since they needed a minimum of three people. I also need money, bad."

Maika and I stood awkwardly next to each other, causing Matt to give us an irritated (more than usual) expression.

"Okay. I'm not going to comment on whatever the hell you two were up to last night. I'm also going to go ahead and ignore the banging and moaning from Maika-"

Maika made a squeaking sound that was between a choke and a yelp.

"But I'm assuming that little team-building exercise has given you the motivation to help me pay for this month's rent."

Matt began showing us a presentation, going on about the briefing and who we were to eliminate.

"We're gonna be running into obstacles along the way."

"Is there going to be a strategy?" I asked.

Matt glanced at the PowerPoint slide.

"No. You two will barge in and serve as a distraction. I'll kill the moron and get Squad Four's recognition."

And with that, Matt drove the two of us in a Mercedes.

"Who's riding shotgu-"

"Me," Maika said quickly, to my surprise.

On our way to the car, I tried to strike up a conversation with her.

"H- Hey, Maik-"

Maika ignored me and sat in the shotgun seat, forcing me in the back.

All the while, Maika continued avoiding eye contact with me.

Matt continued driving.

"You two... if you're going to be this awkward with one another, then maybe I should nab a few members from Wyatt's Squad to come with me and pretend they're Squad Four. Your roles may be a distraction, but you won't distract shit if you can't even coordinate."

"We're fine," Maika said, dismissively.

"What? No, we're not!" I protested, but I was met with silence.

What the hell was all that last night?

What...

Just like that, I was ghosted by another woman.

And to make things worse, it was Maika Nagumo of all people. From my own Squad Four.

God of Rain vs. God of Archery

Maika and I fought a large horde of monsters affected by the Pax Incident.

I wielded Tatsu while Maika used the same knife that she used when we had first met.

I ran forward at a group of monsters.

Rain Style Kenjutsu: Form 3 - Laminar Downpour

I unleashed a corkscrew of slashes, cutting them down instantly.

Maika weaved between monsters, hidden under a guise of mirrors and illusions of herself and controlling the flow of the monsters, all the while flanking them left and right, slashing and cutting.

Even back then, Maika was proficient with the blade.

Now I knew it was because of her experience as a kunoichi.

"GRAARRRR!" A monster roared at me, but I casually slashed at it with Tatsu, cutting it in half.

I turned around to see Maika a few inches away from me.

The two of us backed away.

"Sorry," The two of us muttered at the same time.

We continued killing monsters until the last of the horde was cleared.

"Any more?" Maika asked.

I concentrated.

"I smell one more."

I walked up to a room, following the scent of my Dragon smell.

"Is anything else enhanced?" Maika asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Like... your hearing? Your smell?"

"Everything is enhanced," I answered, approaching the source of the final target.

We were led right to the entrance of a door.

On the door was a sign, etched out in crayon reading:

"JOHNNY'S ROOM. NO ENTERING! TOP SECRET!"

Johnny's room...?

That name sounded familiar.

"The last target... would it happen to be Johnny?" Maika asked.

"Seems so."

Maika hesitated, lowering her knife.

I ignored her and positioned my hand.

"On three, I'll destroy the door and we kill the last target."

"Wait."

Maika grabbed my wrist.

"He's just a kid."

"So what?"

"What do you mean, so what? Don't you care that a kid is in there? Don't you care that we're trying to kill a child?"

"If the Elimination Op calls for the death of Johnny, then I'll kill Johnny."

"No! This is wrong!"

Maika shoved me back.

"I don't mind killing monsters, but children? I can't do it!"

"Then move. I'll do it."

Maika clenched her teeth.

"I don't know what kind of history you've had before joining Squad Four, Yeling. But don't you have any morals? Can't you see-"

"This is an Elimination Squad. You are part of the Contingency Initiative. If you can't even do one measly job assigned by Squad Leader Matt then leave. There's no place for half-assing things."

Maika looked away.

"Look who's talking. We're both half-assing things right now."

I slowly lowered Tatsu.

She had a point.

The only reason we even joined Matt on his mission was because... There just wasn't anything left to do. Our dreams and visions were shattered collectively.

We were merely just puppets riding the wave at this point.

Even so.

"I'd rather not screw this up for everybody else. We came here to do a job. Might as well see it through."

"No."

Maika ran in front of me, shielding the door with her body.

"I won't let you kill a child. Either in front of me or with my knowledge."

This persistent bitch!

I always knew Maika had been a little bit more of a moral person even when I was still CI's Tidalflame.

But I should have guessed her sense of morality was a lot stronger when she was younger.

"If you don't get out of the way, I'm gonna force my way through."

Maika gritted her teeth, preparing for the worst.

"I'd also suggest you duck."

"Why?" Maika asked, but before she could follow through with her question, a force split the door from within. Maika narrowly dodged it, as she stared in horror at what looked like a multi-colored arm, shooting toward me.

"Yeling!" Maika called out, but I already figured this would happen.

The son of Aelienne would never just give up like that, that sadistic brat.

I reached out and grabbed the arm, stopping its momentum and emitting a large shockwave.

5% power limits were off.

There was no point holding back now.

Maika stared at me.

"Everything... everything was enhanced..."

I smiled sinisterly.

"Come on, John. Come on out. You don't wanna look like a coward in front of your mom, right?"

I yanked the arm, revealing a massive creature. The creature crashed through the walls, causing Maika to leap back acrobatically, from one piece of debris to another.

"What the... what kind of Pax Monster is that?!"

It wasn't a Pax Monster.

It was something far worse.

The monster growled at me, as I instantly rushed forward, clamping its jaws shut.

"I don't even NEED Hinokami to take care of you," I whispered, stomping my foot on the top of its head and caving the skull in, causing the monster to explode into black mist.

I landed on the ground, walking up to Johnny.

"Wh- Where's mommy," Johnny said.

"You scared, brat?" I asked.

"No."

I held out Tatsu, bracing myself to strike.

"Wrong answer."

I swung the sword, only for the blade to pass right through him.

Maika approached me from behind.

"What? An illusion?"

I spun around.

"The hell is this, Maika? Was this you?"

"What? No! Why would that be me?"

"Beats me, Miss Refractor, considering you went on a huge speel about saving kids!"

Maika's jaw hung open.

"You can't be serious! That wasn't me! How could you even say that!"

The two of us faced each other, snarling and seething like rabid animals.

"For what it's worth," A man's voice broke the silence.

Maika and I dodged, narrowly evading a blast of orange energy that would have killed Maika and maimed me for sure.

The man cocked another arrow in his bow.

"It wasn't her. Now why don't you try and swing that sword at me, and not my son?"

Yfil!

Maika and I faced the husband of Aelienne.

Maika gripped her knife, but against this guy, there was nothing she could do.

"This guy is bad news. Yeling, we need to retrea-"

SHOOM.

An arrow came flying at my face at hypersonic speed, but I caught it, the orange lightning tried to arc off at my body, but the green lightning of my Divine Amplification deflected all of its attempts.

Maika stared at me.

"Yeling...?"

I walked forward, catching arrow after arrow from Yfil.

"Do you think this is enough to beat me?" The man snarled.

Level 1 Hachi - Everlasting Storm

Hundreds of copies of Yfil appeared before him, almost like a raytrace. Yfil let loose more arrows, a storm of them headed straight for me, but I rushed forward, deflecting the real one and grabbing Yfil by the face, slamming him against a wall.

"Hey. Tell me, where Aelienne is," I said, menacingly.

Yfil coughed.

"That strength... you're not human... I won't tell you where my wife is!"

"Shame. Guess she's gonna have to end up a widow all because of your stubbornness."

SNAP.

Yfil growled in agony as I broke his arm, and then lifted him into the air.

Maika watched in horror.

"Yeling... stop... stop, you're going to kill him!"

"That's the point. I'm going to-"

Yfil glared at me, his eyes turning orange.

"You. Will. Not. Hurt. My WIFE."

Level 1 Hachi Stage Two: Avatar of Tsukuyomi

I stumbled back, as a rain of golden arrows bombarded me from above.

Divine Amplification

I darted left and right, trying to dodge the arrows, but one caught me in the leg as I stumbled.

Yfil appeared in front of me, holding out his hand. I dodged, but the strike grazed against a part of my neck that suddenly felt like someone had poured hot lava all over it.

My body momentarily lost balance, but I had enough momentum to force myself back, avoiding another strike.

Yfil approached me, lightning arcing off his eyes.

Stage Two, huh?

I held out Tatsu.

I rarely ever fought with Shenlong's power alone. It was always in conjunction with Hinokami.

This could be a good test.

I brought my foot back when suddenly, Yfil focused his attention on Maika, who was still astonished.

"Cover! Get out of there, Maika!" I snarled, rushing forward and grabbing her by the waist before she could be decimated by an arrow storm by the Archery God.

The two of us hid behind cover while Yfil continued bombarding the area with arrows.

"As long as you two remain in hiding, you will never get to my family."

I glared at Maika, who was staring at the ground in disbelief.

"Maika, snap out of it. We need to kill this man."

"I- I know. But... I..."

"Dammit, Maika, did you not work as a kunoichi? Kunoichis kill their targets don't they?"

"Yes! I know, but... I can't! I can't anymore!"

Maika gripped her knife.

"I hate myself for being so useless... I know that more than anyone! I thought I could come back and overcome my trauma but... but... I can't. I just can't. This knife... Matt gave me this knife and told me to use it if I wasn't ready to use Ito's katana, but I still... still..."

I got up.

"Then stay here. And be useless forever."

Maika looked up at me.

"You-"

"What did you expect I was gonna say? That everything is going to be alright? In the end, this is the life we've been thrown into. It doesn't matter if we want it or not. We're alive and that's what matters. I'm gonna kill that old fart. One way or another. With or without your help. You can be useless all you want, but no one is gonna come and save you."

I leaped out of cover and faced Yfil.

"Hey."

Yfil glared at me, as a storm of arrows came flying my way.

Arsenal of the Rain God - Twin Butterflies

Two butterfly knives appeared in my hands, as I rushed forward, cutting the projections down, but Yfil sped out of the way, aiming at my weak spots. Several arrows became embedded against my side, as I fell to one knee.

Damn...

I was so used to fighting with my Level 2 Intangibility that I had lost my ability to be sensitive to dangers...

My body felt like it was gonna explode in pain.

Yfil approached me and then kicked me in the face with astonishing force.

I flew back, crashing through the walls of the house.

Yfil closed in again with blinding speed, smashing my head against the tiles of the floor.

"We've been attacked by Dogma Holders and agents of the Dogma for years. Did you really think we would be caught by surprise by Contingency Initiative operatives?"

Yfil grabbed my face and dragged me across the walls of the house. All the while, I growled like a dog, trying to escape his monstrous grip.

I was flung out of the window, crashing through and landing on the cement cracking it.

Yfil regarded me from above.

Was this seriously the extent of Shenlong's power?

No.

No, it wasn't.

"You are finished. I'm going to deal with that woman now."

I watched as Yfil turned to Maika, who gripped her knife. Yfil flicked his hand, and an arrow sprouted from her leg, causing Maika to wince in pain.

Another flick and an arrow sprouted from her shoulder. Then her arm, and then her side.

Maika fell to her knees, breathing laboriously. The knife dropped to the ground.

Yfil knelt in front of her.

"Hmm. You are unusual."

Level 1 Hachi - Oversight

Yfil tilted his head, inspecting my colleague like a rare specimen. Maika continued breathing, trying her hardest not to pass out from the pain. Blood was pooling through her leather uniform that was supplied by Matt for CI footsoldiers.

"Someone who hasn't been deeply affiliated with the Contingency Initiative. I take it that you had no idea what your target was?"

Maika remained silent, but Yfil had already guessed.

After all, there was no lying and no secrets in the face of The Devil's Eyes.

"Hm. I guess you are clean, unlike your comrade there. He has seen more blood than you ever will."

Maika stared at me.

"What?"

The regenerative properties of Rainwater healed my wounds, as I got to my feet, but suddenly, I felt woozy.

Level 1 Hachi - Vertigo Inducement

I fell back to my knees, and Yfil suddenly put his hand around Maika's neck.

"How close are you to this woman, usurper?"

SMASH.

A wave of force suddenly caught me square in the face, sending me into the concrete of the house driveway.

I tried to get to my feet, but another wave of force slammed into me. I crashed through more walls as the ceiling caved in on me, burying me in debris.

"Yeling... Yeling! Stop! Please, don't kill him!" Maika pleaded, but Yfil continued battering me with an invisible force.

Maika...

SLAM. SMASH.

The assault ended, as I lay motionless and staring at the sky.

Yfil hovered above me with Maika in a chokehold.

Seeing Maika this helpless...

For some reason made me mad.

After all, the Maika Nagumo I knew rarely ever showed her delicate side. She was always headstrong, and wild. The nickname "Squad Four Party Girl" wasn't given to her just out of courtesy.

Maybe that was why.

Seeing her so helpless, so delicate and so frail...

It seriously pissed me off.

"What's the matter, usurper? Don't you care if I kill this woman?"

Maika clenched her teeth.

"Please... Yfil... let him go. Just let him go... I'm begging you."

Please.

Beg.

No.

Maika continued pleading until I snapped.

"OH GOD! JUST SHUT UP ALREADY." I snarled, getting to my feet, and stomping on the ground so hard the entire house shook violently.

I took a deep breath.

"Yfil... I'm going to kill you. That is all I'm going to say. And these words will be the last words that I will use to address you."

Yfil glared at me.

"Then do your worst."

With pleasure.

I brought my fists together in a cross shape.

Way of the Rain God

Rainwater began surrounding me, generating a violently swirling mass of thunderclouds and green lightning.

RAIN DRAGON SUMMON

Yfil's eyes went wide as a massive hulking projection of a dragon emerged from the storms, chasing him down.

"What is... what is this?!"

The dragon roared, snapping at Yfil and sending him higher and higher into the sky.

Yfil shouted, unleashing a wave of arrows that passed right through the dragon. All the while, the violent winds of my aura loosened his grip on Maika. I blasted to her location, catching her, and landed on the ground a distance away.

I then turned back to Yfil in a rage, who began fighting off the dragon in a frenzy.

"No... You are no human. No human possesses this power! I will dispose of you... with everything I have."

Level 1 Hachi: Stage Four - Eternal Tsukuyomi

A wave of power smashed into me as I flew backward.

I repositioned myself, summoning a tornado of rainstorms, until I was facing a large, towering humanoid figure with eight arms. Golden armor. In each arm was either a bow or an arrow.

Stage Four, huh?

"There is nothing you can do in the face of a Stage Four Akuma Grade. And soon... The Mirage will meet a similar fate."

A similar... fate...

Matt!

It hadn't even occurred to me.

Matt... Matt wasn't equipped to deal with Aelienne!

I had been so observed with this fight in front of me...

In my timeline, when Matt attempted to fight Aelienne, he was incinerated to the point of being comatose.

The one chance to keep that from happening, and here I was, fooling around.

The golem smashed into me before I could continue my internal monologue.

I flew backward, slamming across the ground and creating a valley of destruction. Crushed rock flew everywhere, and Maika watched from afar as I slammed into the side of a nearby mountain face.

My body peeled off the rock, but not before the projection of a massive arrowhead slammed into my body, forcing me through the mountain.

"For many years... for many years Aelienne and I have had to protect ourselves. All because we chose to defect from The Dogma. From them. A peaceful life... that was all we wanted! We never had ANY intention to expose any secrets! None of it! So why... why do they continue sending these pests after our family?!"

SLAM. SLAM. SLAM.

Arrowhead after arrowhead smashed into me, as my body listlessly flopped from the shockwaves.

Why...

Well.

It was very obvious why.

When you had sacrificed so much to a being who represented equivalent exchange...

There was no such thing as a simple "I quit".

This was not what the Dogma of Equivalent Exchange stood for.

No matter how powerful you were, and no matter how ancient you were.

No matter if you were the First Hinokami or the Thirteenth.

As long as those tattoos remained on your body, untouched and unharmed.

You represented The Great Akuma.

A contract for life, a bargain with the devil for power.

"SO LEAVE. LEAVE. US. ALONE!"

KRA-KOOM.

Yfil's golem suddenly froze in mid-air.

"What... what is this," Yfil muttered turning around.

What appeared to be snakes had begun crawling over his body, entering his armor, and chewing the golem up from the inside.

Yfil stumbled back.

"What- What is happening to me?! Is this your doing?!"

I remained buried in the debris, blood leaking from the side of my unresponsive cranium.

Of course, it wasn't.

Rainbow Mirage could only do so much in terms of illusions.

This... was the work of...

"That's enough." Maika's voice said from within the snakes.

"Ever since that day, I've been hesitant to take a life. But what I won't accept, is you killing the only people I have left. Whether it's you, or your spouse. That I cannot accept."

Yfil clawed at his own golem, tearing and ripping it apart trying to remove the snakes. But in his mind, the snakes continued ripping and tearing at his essence.

And Yfil's screeches were indicative of his panic. Succumbing to the illusions of Maika Nagumo.

"You... how dare you."

Yfil turned to Maika.

Level 1 Hachi Stage Four - Psionic Breakdown

The illusion of the snakes suddenly dissipated, causing Maika to stumble back.

"Young lady, did you really think you could beat me in a battle of illusions? I am the Dogma Holder of Hachi, the God of War, Archery, and Visions. YOUR little party trick that top hat fool pales in comparison to the power of a god!"

Thousands of arrows rained down on Maika, who ran in the other direction, but not before branches off into dozens of copies.

"Your tricks are NOTHING."

Maika's clones leaped into the air alongside her, running up the golem with incredible agility until she was face to face with the Devil's Eyes.

Maika yelled, creating an illusion of a greater monster, an Asura, which towered over Yfil's golem.

Yfil swatted the Asura aside, but the monster remained.

"Father... father! Why are you attacking me, father?!" The Asura cried out.

Father...?

I looked closely, to realize that the three faces on the golem was the face of Johnny himself.

"Son...? No! This is an illusion... it's... It's an illusion!"

Maika slipped past another strike, reaching into her thigh straps and pulling out several kunai. They were laced with a green chemical which I could only presume were strong psychedelic drugs.

Maika chucked the kunai, which was embedded against Yfil's chest.

"No... NO!" Yfil growled, launching an invisible blast of power that caught Maika square in the face.

"Maika!" I yelled, getting to my feet. I wasn't healing fast enough, I couldn't move as fast as I needed to!

I watched Maika slam into the roof of the house, crumpling to the ground.

"GRRAARRR!" I shot forward, managing to catch her head before it slammed into the pavement.

Yfil ripped the kunai out of his chest.

"No... I will not lose to a mere Pax victim!"

I ignored Yfil and cradled Maika in my arms.

"Hey... Hey. Wake up, Maika, stay with me, dammit!"

Holy Rain Renewal

Rainwater surrounded us, healing her wounds.

Maika slowly opened her eyes.

"You caught me... after... everything I did to you..."

"Shut up, you aho."

"Aho... huh? Was my Kansai... really that obvious?"

Maika smiled, reaching out and touching my right side.

"Was this a Dogma Bargain?"

A lump formed in my throat.

"Umm... I..."

Maika regarded me.

"I won't be weak anymore. I promise you. So promise me, that we get out of this and save Matt."

I gently propped her against the walls of Aelienne's home.

I should have recognized this place the moment we got there, but I guess my mental state had made me oblivious.

I turned to the golem who was preparing its arrows.

I was surprised this was the extent Yfil was using his illusionary powers.

When I faced him in my timeline, Yfil had created a massive illusion.

Could it be...

Yfil growled in frustration.

"You damn illusion girl. I knew it. You were blocking my illusions this entire time!"

Maika managed a smirk.

"Yeah... elementary illusionary fighting technique... I've prepared for everything I could think of. That includes people like me."

I stared at my Squad member.

No...

This entire time, you weren't useless, were you? You conniving girl.

This entire time, you were helping me.

Maika rested her head against the wall, smiling at me through the bangs of her hair.

"Show me... just how amazing you are, Yeling."

I turned to Yfil.

Full Power.

I tightened my grip on Tatsu, as the windstorms swirled around the blade, turning into a deadly, violent vortex of rainwater.

"This doesn't faze me. You are but an ant. One who cannot possibly fathom the extent of the Dogma!"

Oh, trust me.

I know full well the extent of an Akuma Grade Dogma User.

After all, my little sister is the strongest Dogma User in history.

In comparison to that...

Rain Style Kenjutsu

I blasted all around the golem, dodging and running across the perimeter of the giant, swinging and creating elegant patterns with the blade. Glowing green lines formed all around the monster.

...You are nothing.

Form 9 - Clear Sunny Skies

I leaped into the sky, thousands of sword slashes ripping apart the arrows that Yfil had sent to me.

My eye glowed a deadly green in response to the sheer magnitude of thunderstorms surrounding me.

"You devil! You will not have Aelienne!" Yfil growled.

I eyed the fellow Dogma Holder.

But no hints of my Dogma came out.

I didn't need it to deal with people like you.

Rain Style Kenjutsu - Form 10: Peace after the Flood

KABOOM.

Yfil screamed in response to a massive sphere of rainwater, which engulfed him, unleashing a gargantuan explosion that shook the entire city.

The entire golem dissipated, along with the house. I landed on the ground, several feet away from Maika.

The rain of Form 10 left behind a large rainbow, separating the two of us. And all this time, I had kept my promise.

Not a single word was said to Yfil right up to his death.

"Come on," I said, reaching out my hand. Maika took it.

"We gotta find Matt."

Cobalt of Squad Four

By the time we made it to Matt's location, the sounds of fighting had ended.

And panic filled my mind.

"Matt! Squad Leader Matt!" I shouted, holding onto Maika as the two of us soared to his location.

Then all of a sudden, the most horrific thing left the two of us absolutely disturbed.

Matt looked fine. A little bit battered.

But it wasn't Matt that made us freeze up in absolute terror.

"Wh- What the hell is that thing?"

I landed on the ground next to Matt and Maika.

"Fancy of you two to join me. I take it you killed all of the target's comrades?"

"Y- Yeah... but... what is that thing?" Maika asked.

Matt gritted his teeth, but before he could answer, I yanked the two of them and hid behind a nearby boulder, away from the monster's sight.

The thing had to be 20 feet tall.

Grotesque, black flesh, with green flames that were suffocating and tearing apart from within its core.

I've never seen something so terrifying in my life.

But as if the appearance was scary enough...

Was the menacing... unhinged... smile on its face.

Rows of teeth, with cracks all around its black eyes. It looked like it was munching on something, and to my horror, I knew exactly what it was.

Blood dripped all over the ground, as the monster continued chewing with a twisted fascination.

"M- Matt... what happened?" I asked in a shaky voice.

"The target was overwhelming me, but all of sudden, this, thing appeared and gobbled her up."

I peeked over the rock, against my better judgment.

The monster continued chomping on the torso and to my horror, its voice sounded disturbingly familiar.

HINOKAMI. FEMALE HINOKAMI. SO SCRUMPTIOUS. BUT NOT YELING.

My eye widened in horror, causing me to hide back behind the rock, hyperventilating.

"Dude... I get the monster looks nightmarish but why are you breathing like that?" Matt said, unimpressed.

But Maika had a completely different reaction.

She grabbed me and held me close.

"That thing just said your name! Why... why is it saying your name?"

All the blood had left my face as I continued panting.

That monster...

An Unbound Hinokami has no purpose for the ritual to revive the Great Akuma. The Black Legion always knew this.

Though the influence you, and your comrade, Auxiliary Shadow Hellsing make in this past will not affect your future, they know. He will come for you.

What the hell WAS that thing?

Even just hearing its voice filled me with immense fear, seeing it in person...

I tried to move my body, but it was like every muscle was paralyzed in fear.

"Hey. Cobalt. Enough pissing yourself. I thought you were the tough guy in the group. Let's go, the Elimination Op is complete. Even if I didn't manage to-"

I bent over and threw up all over the ground, causing Matt and Maika to stumble back.

"Jesus, dude!"

Maika stared at me in concern.

"He needs to get back to Room 468! Matt!"

"I know! Just give me a minute. I'll load him into the back of the car."

I felt the tendrils of Senkaku latch onto me, but by the time I had reached the car, I was starting to black out from the sheer amount of adrenaline coursing through my body.

"Yeling... Yeling! Get ahold of yourself!" Maika whispered to me, but it was too late.

Everything turned black.

* * *

A dreamscape.

I was walking along a rocky trail. Flanking me on both sides were the walls of nearby buildings. What appeared to be a village surrounded me. The villagers themselves were wearing clothes that seemed behind the times.

Even I myself... was wearing what appeared to be a gi underneath my black jacket,

I didn't know where I was going, but my body seemed to feel compelled to walk in the direction of a familiar-looking run-down church.

I stepped inside, to see Hana Alzeron playing the piano.

"Oh! It's you again! Welcome back, I didn't get your name. May I ask what it is?"

"Yeling."

"Welcome back, Yeling. I trust that it was Loyce who brought you here?"

I bit back my lip.

Of course, it was.

Loyce... what was your endgame? You've been known amongst those in the Black Legion for your intellect, so it should be obvious how hypocritical you are. Putting everyone's lives into jeopardy while simultaneously attending this "church".

"Where is Loyce?" I asked.

"Ah, he's busy cleaning the dishes in the basement. We have guests coming over, you see. I'm responsible for playing the piano for them!"

Hana smiled at me with a face that was so pure and innocent.

Everything about her was as stereotypical as a church girl would be.

Loving, innocent, kind.

The type you would never want to expose to the atrocities of the real world.

The type you would want to keep sheltered.

"I see. I'll wait for him at the entrance then."

"No no. You don't need to do that, come in! Please!"

Hana got up from her piano and approached me. I followed her, my boots crunching against the broken floorboards. The dust of the church was airborne, causing the rays of colored light from the church tiles to become visible. Blue, orange, and yellow-tinted rays shone and illuminated the inside of the church. Even if it was extremely run down, it felt welcoming.

I sat down on a bench in front of Hana, listening to her continue playing.

As she played, my memories of Squad Four returned to my mind. The shenanigans I had spent with Lewis, Flint, Whitney, Maika, and Matt.

"I have a question," I said.

Hana stopped playing and turned to me.

"What is it?"

I slowly looked up.

"If the church were to fall, what would you do?"

A shock seemed to course through Hana's body, as she was paralyzed for a few seconds.

"I..."

I retained my gaze.

Just how much did this church mean to these people?

"Well, it won't happen, now will it, Yeling?" A man said from behind me.

I spun around to see Loyce, who had his hands behind his back.

"The dishes are done. It's your turn now, Hana."

Hana quickly got up, scurrying to the door.

"Okay! Thanks for helping as always, Loyce!"

Loyce smiled, as Hana hurried down the stairs.

Loyce slowly turned to me.

"I trust your little trip to the past has yielded some much-needed loose ends?"

"Why did you bring me here?" I asked.

Loyce paced across the floorboards.

"I brought you here to tell you that I changed my mind."

"Huh?"

Loyce traced his finger over the piano.

"The answer to your first question is that I would be devastated, should the church fall. The reason I brought you here the first time was because I believed you of all people, one who had nothing left, would come here to take my place."

The nerve of this guy...

"But that didn't pan out so well, did it? After all, since coming to the past, parts of your own narrative have already changed. The drive you have to stop Vala has stunted. You have become uncertain."

Of course, it would be Loyce to point that out.

"And on top of that..."

Loyce turned back to me with those cold, white eyes.

"You slept with Maika Nagumo."

My blood suddenly felt cold, ice pumping to every part of my body.

"I..."

"I certainly saw this coming, but I still felt disappointed all the same. The narrative of Yeling Mah being alone forever. But you know, this is for the best. All of this is ultimately so I can get what I want."

"Your desire to get what you want prompted an alliance with The Black Legion's greatest army. Loyce, your selfishness is the complete foil to this church you cherish!"

Loyce smiled.

"Didn't it seem strange to you... that Aelienne was in New Ulysses?"

I kept silent, but my expression was enough for Loyce to see right away.

It was weird. There was no way CI had the tools to deal with The Firebird like this.

"Well. That was my doing. After all, Aelienne was my Outer Shadow."

Loyce put a hand on my shoulder.

"I am a firm believer in second chances. Outer Shadow Legion, or perhaps you would know him as Taras Pax, has provided you with a second chance to tie up loose ends. There is a reason for everything that is happening to you, Yeling."

"I don't like being manipulated, Loyce."

"Oh but on the contrary..."

Loyce rested his chin on the palm of his hand.

"You have a whole past in front of you. The family you mourned for. The chance to rebuild it once more and to cherish your time with them. And a hero's ending. Is that not what you wanted?"

"What?"

Loyce got up, staring at the windows.

"You are being pursued. By your replacement. He had already devoured my former Outer Shadow, Aelienne Regalia, who betrayed me many centuries ago. When its hunger returns, he will come for you. And you will fight him, valiantly, to protect those precious to you. And you will die. Is this not the ending you wanted?"

I clenched my fist.

"What are you trying to say?"

"Was it not you, who said that your conquest has no meaning anymore? This crusade of yours to bring fairness in the multiverse was always doomed to fail because of the shaky foundation you had set for yourself. Realizing the flaw of your choices, you fell into a deep depression, to the point where your very character collapsed in on itself and you ended up having sex with Maika. It is true, what Vala said to you. There is no room for two heroes, and you certainly are not as qualified as that disgrace of an Outer Shadow, Dainsleif."

Loyce pressed his finger against my forehead.

"So all of this... is in a way. A gift from me to you. An opportunity to live your hero's life. Away from the front. In this timeline. From the hero's beginning to a hero's end."

* * *

"COBALT," A voice shouted from the living room. My eye snapped awake.

A gift...?

Some gift this was.

I slowly opened the door to see Matt approaching me with an infuriated expression.

"Whoa there, Vistara. What did Cobalt do this time?" Rafel asked.

Matt jabbed a finger against my chest. He was clutching his head with a shadowy prosthetic of an arm.

"My pull-up bar. Did you use it?"

"Yeah, why?"

Matt's eye widened in rage.

"You mother fuc- There are fingerprints all over it!"

"So what? Go to your average commercial gym and there's fingerprints all over everything."

"That isn't the point here. This equipment is mine to use and mine alone!"

"Well sorry for touching your luxury gym equipment then."

Matt looked like he was gonna explode, but he took a deep breath, turning around and grumbling under his breath.

"Damn squad members... I swear to god this Squad won't get any bigger."

A gift from me to you. An opportunity to live your hero's life. Away from the front. In this timeline. From the hero's beginning to a hero's end.

I still had no answer to something like that.

But Loyce had given me a break. To stay here as long as I needed.

Maybe I didn't need to go back to the front. I could stay here forever.

But one thing was certain.

I didn't need to come up with an answer right away.

I walked by Maika's door, and to my surprise, it was open. Maika was inside and was gazing at something on the other side of the room.

I gently knocked on the side.

"Hey."

"Hey," Maika answered, beckoning me inside.

I stepped in and noticed the object she had been gazing at.

It was a katana.

Ito's katana.

"So. You figured it would be time to use it in battle?" I asked.

Maika managed a small smile.

"Not yet. But that fight against Yfil was definitely... inspiring."

"How so?"

Maika waved her hand, showing an illusion of me battling the big Hachi golem. Shen's Rainwater storms surrounded me, and I looked like a complete maniac. Roaring with an animalistic rage, but lifting Tatsu in the air. I was too fierce to be a composed samurai but too refined to be a mere beast.

"I want to get to that stage too. So I can fight alongside Matt... and you."

"I don't know about that... your powers are more on illusion. I think what you're doing is more than enough."

Maika shut off the illusion, leaving just me standing at the entrance like an awkward boy who was called in by the teacher for getting into trouble.

"Sit next to me."

I did as she told me.

All of a sudden, a blush developed in my ears and cheeks.

Maika was always gorgeous. Even when she was 31 years old in my time, she was always really attractive.

Maika's smile suddenly melted.

"I'd been avoiding this conversation."

"I know."

"You did?"

"Of course. You trying to avoid me was as clear as day."

Maika's face flushed red.

"I..."

I smirked, leaning against her bedpost.

"I know you love Matt, Maika. I knew from the very beginning."

Maika made a choking sound.

"Wha- No. No! I don't..."

I glanced out the window to see the horizon of New Ulysses.

"That night we spent together was out of guilt. We both were in a bad place and I guess we just so happened to have each other."

Maika crossed her legs.

"Why do I feel like I've just been dumped."

"Can't dump someone when it never started, Maika. You avoided talking to me because you were scared of telling me that you didn't want to advance things. I'm here to tell you that it's fine. Starting now, we can pretend that night never happened."

I got up and was about to leave, but Maika grabbed my wrist.

"Wait."

I obliged, standing before Maika, who got up in front of me.

It never occurred to me, but for once, I was taller than her. Maybe it was because I had become a Celestial Dragon, but I never experienced what it was like to be taller than the Squad Four Party Girl, who for the longest time, always made fun of my height and called me a "boya".

Maika opened her mouth to say something but averted her gaze.

"I can't just ignore something like that."

Was Maika always this big of a pain in the ass?

I sighed, running my hand across the side of her face.

"Fine. But know this. I'll walk alongside you. Till the day you can pick up that katana over there," I nodded at Ito's sword, which leaned against the wall.

"And become the greatest swordswoman in the Contingency Initiative."

Maika returned a smile, as she turned around.

"Thank you, Yeling."

I left her room, made my way to mine, and opened the window for a familiar friend.

"Yeling!!! You backstabbin' shit!" Bryce snarled.

"Wait, I can explain-"

"Explain what?! The whole point of teamin' up is so we could return to our time and check on Shiki! I been getting my ass beat by Kyokou this entire time! The whole loli appeal ain't gonna last long with that psycho!"

"Listen... I've made a decision."

"What's that?"

"I'm going to stay alongside Matt and Maika. At least until Maika gains the confidence to wield her sword and fight alongside Matt."

"Umm... why?"

"I... I just... I just have to, okay?"

Bryce made a growling noise under his breath.

"Yeling, could it be that you miss them?"

"No."

"Cap."

"No, I don't! I don't-"

"If I was in your shoes, I would have done it without a second thought. In I go."

Bryce slipped through the window, landing on the ground.

"Hey!" I protested, but Bryce ignored me.

"If I could go back in time n' see Sarah again, I'd do it without a second thought. Sarah coulda been my best friend. But now she's gone. In fact, if I could go back in time and know my own Ma a bit better... or..."

Bryce sighed.

"If I had just thought things a bit clearer when I was still in Philly, I wouldn't have murdered all those cops and made things so much worse for my people."

"Bryce..."

Bryce smirked.

"There's always gonna be a Devil to make our kind be hated. Guess you're right to some extent. That Devil was me back then. I thought just cuz the cops had falsely accused our brothers meant they were all bad. But... wasn't I doing the same thing the entire time? I thought all white people were bad. I even tried my hardest to say I was fully black, and that I wasn't biracial in school. Hell... I regret it even to this day."

I felt a hand grab my shoulder.

It felt a little weird being consoled by someone nine years younger than me, but I guess it was better than nothing.

"A few days, a few weeks. Hell, make it a few months. If that's enough for you to find closure then Imma do my best. I'll be waiting. BUT."

Bryce glared at me.

"You will help me find a way to get back to the present. I heard Aelienne got eaten by this... thing. So the whole Hinokami clash angle's gone now. We still gotta find a way. I'm gonna see if I can talk to Kronos again. So... good luck. Yeling. Take all the time you need. I'll hang on until you're ready to go at it again."

Eight Years Before

Matt brought Maika and I to the living room.

"Starting today, I am your Squad Leader. You can call me Squad Leader Lam. Since you guys are still on probation, you will only go outside and partake in missions under my supervision. Is that clear?"

Maika and I nodded intently.

Matt crossed his arms.

"In the meantime, since you two are basically liabilities, the majority decision says you two will be locked up in here for every mission that does not require the involvement of all Squad members."

"What majority decision?!" I snapped.

"You're locking us up?!" Maika protested.

"Shut up! You two are the last people I would want to work with!" Matt growled, pointing at the two of us.

"One of you gets a panic attack the moment a katana is involved and the other goes on a huge killing spree! If I didn't have my suspicions I would have assumed you two share a single brain cell!"

"That's not true!" Maika said, putting a hand to her chest.

"I've been slowly getting over my fear of swords."

Matt raised an eyebrow.

"How so?"

Maika held up a hand.

"One sec. It came to me one afternoon while I was in the shower. My path to enlightenment, as the Nagumo household once said."

The two of us watched as Maika took out a purse and rummaged through it, taking out a bottle that read:

Smokestacks Distillery - The Red Leviathan

Alc. By Volume: 80%

Matt's eye twitched as a shudder ran through my body.

It's begun.

Maika's awakening.

"The hell kind of an enlightenment is this?" Matt snapped.

"No no no. It works. My little sister once tried to get me to do this but I was always doubtful. But one day, Cobalt here gave me words of encouragement. For the sake of Squad Four, I promise. I will be useful!"

Don't dump this on me, you drunk!

Maika popped open the lid and began chugging, as Matt stumbled.

"Wait! Maika, stop! You're gonna-"

Matt and I stared as Maika dropped the bottle, leaning back and letting loose the loudest belch imaginable. Rafel peeked from behind the kitchen.

"What am I watching." He said.

They say being drunk was not a reflection of a different personality. Alcohol unlocks every aspect of one's true self.

That meant...

"Ahhhhh... It's so hot in here!" Maika whined, slowly taking off her top,

My mind flashed back to the night when Maika had mounted me.

No...

"S- Squad Leader Matt..." I muttered.

"It's Squad Leader Lam, dumbass!"

"Who cares when you're called! We need to restrain Maika. She's going to do something she's going to regret!"

"Like... what? Taking off her top?"

"No, she's gonna-"

SNAP.

I froze, as the silhouette of Maika's top barely missed my face.

"Hoy. You two. Why don't you show some respect here," Maika said in a threatening voice.

Matt and I stared at Maika, who approached us with her shirt in her hand, lashing at the air and causing the sounds of cracks to echo in the apartment.

How in the hell was she able to turn her top into a whip?!

"I'm the only woman in this Squad and you're telling me to lock myself up? It's 2014, don't you think a lady can think for herself what she wants? HUH?!"

Matt took a step back as Maika stepped close to him.

I had never seen Matt look so intimidated before.

Maika glared at Matt, her shirt tightening in her hands.

"Call me Nagumo-sama."

"What? Why the hell do I have to do that?" Matt snarled.

SNAP.

Matt flinched, as Maika ran her finger over his chest.

"I was a former kunoichi. I used to pleasure men for a living and then kill them. I heard your Level 1 Dogma's exchange was to never be intimate again. As long as you treat me like livestock, so will I treat your Bargain... boya."

A red spark appeared on Matt's hand, as his elbow brushed against a stack of papers. One of which landed on the stove where Rafel was cooking, catching on fire, and triggered the water sprinkler from above.

Water poured all over our Squad Leader's head.

Maika began laughing, giggling, and falling on her back, her legs raised and kicking uncontrollably at the air.

"HAHAHAHA!"

"You little bitch!!!" Matt growled, but Maika quickly got in a seductive pose, putting a finger to her lips.

"Matt... you're scaring me..."

Matt choked on his own spit, another red spark appearing on his arm. This time he stepped on a spool of thread and fell on his ass, hitting his head against the countertop.

"BAHAHAHAHA!" Maika laughed hysterically, as Rafel calmly picked the spool up and turned off the water sprinkler.

My stomach growled.

"I'm gonna go eat something," I said, as I approached the fridge.

"Hey! Where the hell are you going?!" Matt snapped, as I pulled out everything I could find to sustain my hunger.

I pulled out a pumpkin pie, followed by an angel food cake, leftovers from dinner, an entire head of lettuce, a whole block of cheese, a party platter of sushi, and five packs of ham.

"What are you- are you seriously going to eat all of that? That's almost five thousand calories on the table!"

Within five minutes, I ate everything, leaving behind a huge pile of trash.

I guess I should have mentioned that my body was extremely high maintenance. It was basically merged with Aelienne's in my timeline. And since becoming a Celestial Dragon, my diet has increased even more to fuel my heightened physical abilities.

I took out a toothpick and began cleaning out my teeth.

"Is that gonna be all? Squad Leader Matt? I kind of want to go out today. If we have no missions then it's technically a day off."

Matt still looked completely in shock at the mess on the table.

"M- My... my beautiful one-person apartment life... has been ruined..."

Rafel chuckled, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Good job. I've never seen Matt like this before!"

"In what way?"

Rafel smiled.

"Happy."

I smirked. I guess he had a point. The Matthew Lam I knew... never once smiled. He was always so stoic...

Seeing him lose his composure like this...

It felt like a breath of fresh air.

"Hey! Where are you going, you jackass?" Matt called after me, as I stepped over Maika, who was still laughing.

"Jackass! That's such a funny word! HAHAHA! JACKASS! JACKASS JACKASS JACKASS! HEHEHE!"

"Out," I pointed my finger at the trash, aiming it like a finger gun, and shot a blast of Rainwater which tossed the garbage into the bin.

For the next few months, I spent my days with Maika and Matt.

I learned a bit about both of my old seniors in Squad Four.

Maika learned to open up a bit more and tackle her problems upfront. Though she still refused to wield her husband's katana, she had become more courageous in battle. Matt became more openly caring about Maika, occasionally talking to her in one-on-ones.

I sparred with Matt, learning a bit more about my fighting style, and he learned a bit more about himself.

The two of us finished a session, sweating heavily.

"Hah... not bad... you... almost got me a little bit worried..." Matt panted.

"You're... literally... gasping for air... you damn liar..." I responded.

Eventually, Maika and I were sent to Anassis Island for initiation to properly join the Squad.

There, I reunited with Bryce.

I made my way to the meeting spot, to see Bryce at the top of a hill.

"Yo," Bryce said.

"Hey."

Bryce skidded to a stop before me, his dreadlocks bouncing across his green jacket.

"How's life with Squad Four?"

"Getting there. Did you speak to Shin?"

"It ain't so easy. Apparently, Squad One works on a merit system. Gotta earn my RESPECT, ya know what I mean?"

I remembered when Kyokou had slammed me against the ground the first time I did a joint op with Squad One.

"Yeah, I know. All too well, actually."

Bryce chuckled.

"It would be so much easier if I let loose, for real. But I gotta keep myself lowkey."

I looked out into the distance, to see Maika smiling at me.

Bryce pursed his lips.

"Yeling..."

"What?"

"Nothing."

Maika, Bryce, and I, along with a bunch of other probationary members, stood en masse before a large auditorium.

And at the center, was Taras Pax.

"Thank you all for coming today. I trust your past few months in probation have provided you with an idea of how the Squads of the Contingency Initiative operate?"

My mind flashed back to an absolutely hammered Maika, crawling on the top of the counter and spraying champagne all over the place while an irritated Matt tried to use Senkaku to redirect the liquor into a bucket.

I turned to Bryce, to see him mumbling something under his breath.

"Hibiki is yandere. But Yandere's ain't so bad. They ain't so bad. She's just into me is all... yeah."

What the hell did they do to him?!

"To better prepare you all for what is to come, I would like to introduce the leaders of the Squads."

Leaders from all the Squads came in to introduce themselves. Given that everybody around here was technically a murderer of some sort, a lot of the introductions were almost like a verbal resume.

We finally got to Squad Four.

Matt got up and made his way to the podium.

A ripple of chatter spread through the mass.

"It's him."

"The one-man Squad... what kind of power would a man possess to be able to do Elimination Ops all on his own?"

"He's only got one arm and one eye? The rumors are true!"

"The Miracle Operative..."

Matt looked down at us from the podium.

Taras beckoned him to speak.

"Go on," He seemed to mouth.

Matt scanned the crowd with one eye. The other eye was hidden behind an eyepatch, which was partially covered by the bangs of his neck-length black hair.

"My name is Matthew Lam, and I represent Squad Four. I am part of the Elimination Operations. My specialty is in taking out select targets quickly and efficiently."

Silence.

That was it? No backstory or anything?

Taras smiled.

"Would you like to share with these recruits a little about yourself? Why did you choose to join? Any loved ones back home you do this for?"

Some of the recruits began to whisper among themselves.

"Does someone like him even have someone to fight for?"

"You think he has a wife like we do?"

"Maybe he has a family to take care of."

With each remark, Matt's cold, apathetic expression seemed to get colder and colder, until the whole room turned subzero.

"Wha-" A recruit yelped, as he stumbled.

The whole floor had turned dark.

And the walls became caked with frost.

I breathed out, to realize my breath was leaving behind a mist.

"Two hundred and forty-six. Two hundred forty-six recruits who mentioned their loved ones. Their family back home."

Did he count them all in that timespan? Seriously?

Matt lowered his face, his stare turned into a scowl.

"Two hundred forty-six recruits who will never join any Squad. Because becoming meat shields will be as far as you go."

A wave of unease rippled across the assembly as Maika blinked, her face pale.

Matt continued.

"Do you think this is some kind of 9-5 job? Some silly corporation that you would work, then separate your personal life from? If this is what you are thinking, then none of you deserve the new world. None of you deserve to be in this room."

More silence.

Matt tilted his head.

"In our quest to destroy Vala and bring back The Great Akuma... this is something we as members of the Contingency Initiative fully dedicate our lives to. Even if was not for the sake of the Contingency Initiative, we all came here with the collective rage for Vala's twisted sense of hope. If you came here with hopes that you can just... escape from your lives, without any intention to change it, then why are you even here? Go home."

Matt made a fist with his hand.

"We have no interest in trash like you. Stay footsoldiers for all I care."

And with that, Squad Leader Matt turned his back against us, and walked off, leading to a mass of stunned expressions.

Taras clapped happily, causing an awkward wave of applause among the rest of the Squad Leaders.

But I knew from the bottom of my heart that Matt didn't acknowledge it.

And I also knew something else.

If you came here with hopes that you can just... escape from your lives, without any intention to change it, then why are you even here?

I had come here to escape from reality.

To escape from my responsibilities of the present.

And with that, our training had begun.

Though Bryce and I clearly got through the physicals, it was obvious this was one of the many purposes of this training.

Because by the time it had ended, more than 95% of the recruits had either left the Contingency Initiative or were kept as footsoldiers.

As a fighter-based operative, I found myself frequently grouped with Bryce. Throughout the weeks we had spent on Anassis Island, I found myself seeing Maika less and less.

And while I felt that there wasn't a need to feel that way, I felt it all the same.

A sense of longing for a woman that I chronologically should not even have been affiliated with.

Even if I do return to the present, the fact remains unchanged that Maika Nagumo would not be alive. I knew it in my heart. It was bright as day how tragic such a longing would end up, but I guess that really puts in perspective the difference between thinking with one's head and thinking with one's heart.

People who think with their hearts are always the ones who chase after disappointment.

People who think with their heads would see it coming a mile away.

"Got any news on your shorty, Yeling?" Bryce asked.

"She isn't my 'shorty', Bryce. And no. I actually haven't even seen her in a while now."

Bryce glanced out at the remaining five percent of the recruits who weren't weeded out.

"Even though most of these guys would be C Rank at best in the Black Legion, I gotta admire the effort they put in to get to where they are."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. I never knew much about Outer Shadow Legion. Or I guess you call 'em Taras. But we always knew some of the Shadows in the Organization had their own subordinates or leaders. Bossman has a little squad of his own, and Vicki is mostly a solo act with her Auxiliary Shadow, but I never really imagined Taras would have built something up like this. Puts into perspective just how big the Black Legion really is."

"Aaron always emphasized the whole idea of secrecy in the Org, right?"

Bryce nodded, leaning against his bunk bed.

"Yeah. Standard procedure. To this day I don't think I even met all the Inner Shadows yet, and I've been around for a couple of years already."

"Huh."

The conversation was cut short as I rested my head against the pillow of our bunk. A temporary lodgings.

I wonder how Maika was doing. She was still hesitant to use Ito's sword. It made sense. But how would she have been able to pass her physicals with just illusions alone?

I slowly ran my hand against the edges of the railing.

"If there's a chance... that Maika got over her fear of using her ex's katana..." I muttered, causing Bryce to shift in his covers.

"Yeling, I ain't gonna rush you. Do what you gotta do."

"I know. But if she does... I guess it sort of means it's over."

"Doesn't have to be."

"But I made that oath. And I gotta honor it."

"Yeling, why did you even make those terms in the first place? I gotta ask you, man."

I looked at Bryce, whose dreadlocks fell to one side of his face.

"What do you mean?"

"To stick around until Maika learns to pick up her sword. Why couldn't you just said you'll stick around for a few months or something? Why that specific deal?"

I pursed my lips.

"I guess... I just wanted a confirmation."

"Confirmation?"

"That Maika doesn't need me around to continue with her life. That she can have the strength to keep moving forward and help Matt recruit the rest of Squad Four, and eventually, their version of me."

"You really gonna let this opportunity slip from yo hands? Maika-"

"Is dead. Bryce. Maika is dead. It's... already taboo enough as it is that I even got the chance to see her again. The reason we're even here at all is to find a way back. And my time spent with Squad Four right now... it's just to get the closure that I needed. Nothing more."

Nothing more.

Taras had given me a place to stay. He knew all about the fact that Bryce and I were time-displaced.

"If you're worrying so much about Maika using her katana, that tells me you like her, dude. You can't keep destroying yo-self like that. Love is love. Ain't nothing wrong with it."

Mah Ye Ling, then?

I closed my eye, slowly examining my hand.

Why couldn't I have a normal love life?

I brushed over a stump of what used to be my ring finger before I had it amputated after my fight with Danny.

That night Maika and I made love...

She didn't even notice the fact that one of my fingers was missing.

She didn't even have the slightest reaction.

That alone was enough for me to tell that the spark wasn't really there. She loved Matt.

She always loved Matt, and by the way of the timeline and I guess the narrative, that was how it was supposed to go.

Moments of passion did not constitute love.

This was yet another one-sided unreciprocated love that I was feeling.

Bryce and I continued through the training. A lot of it felt like deja vu.

And during that time, I had become closer to Bryce.

"Didn't know holding my gun sideways was a bad thing," Bryce noted.

"How long have you been using that gun?" I asked.

"Couple years. I stole an uzi from one of the guys in a gang. I was able to keep it cuz I used it to shoot at a bunch of cops during a riot."

"You must have been in a lot of riots," I observed.

Bryce laughed, leaning against a wall.

"Yeah, but... these days I don't feel as proud of it no more."

"How so?"

Bryce inspected the barrel.

"I guess you could say there's nothing to brag about falling as low as racist people. Me attacking every officer I saw is no different than an officer attacking every colored person they saw just because a coupla people from the demographic was doing something bad."

By the time training ended, Bryce waved me off.

"Aight. Catch you later."

"See you."

I turned around to see Maika standing in the distance, her blonde hair was dancing in the wind.

"Hey," She said.

"I take it you passed?"

"Yep."

That was as far as our interaction went, and before I could say anything else, Matt broke us up.

"Get in the car. Now."

We got in, while Matt floored the gas pedal.

"Why are we going so fast?!" Maika yelped.

"New recruit."

"New recruit? Who?" I asked.

Matt gripped the steering wheel.

"You don't need to know. All you need to know is we're gonna scout him out before Realmwatch does."

"I feel like we should know. We passed the training on Anassis Island," Maika protested.

Matt gnashed his teeth, as he swerved out of the way.

"I said you don't need to know. I don't care what kind of training you two idiots did but I am still your Squad Leader. Now buckle up and shut up or you're hitchhiking!"

I was going to say something snarky, but as we continued driving down the road, something caught my attention.

I glanced at a piece of paper from the glove compartment. It was barely sticking out.

But on it was a name.

It was barely visible, but I could make out just the first few letters.

Monroe.

Flint Monroe.

Our new Squad Member was Flint.

The Conjunction.

"So. Did you two knuckleheads learn anything on Anassis?" Matt asked.

...

"We learned more of the ideals of the Contingency Initiative. I understand the importance of our war against Vala," I replied.

"Hm. What about you, Party Girl?"

Maika choked.

"Party girl?! What the hell are you trying to say?!"

"Do you seriously not remember everything that happened that one morning?"

"Ummm.... no?"

"Cobalt, your first order from your Squad Leader. Give Rafel a ping and ask him for that morning's recording."

"..."

I gave Maika a nervous look.

The "Party Girl" didn't look like she was in the mood to party at all.

"I... lost my phone."

"What?" Matt asked.

"I dropped it. In Anassis I-"

Level 1 Senkaku - Shadow Zone

A black portal appeared by my thigh, causing Maika to yelp. With one hand still on the wheel, a dark Senkaku copy of an arm emerged from the portal pulled my phone out of my pocket, and began tapping.

"Don't press play!" Maika pleaded.

"I'm the Squad Leader, I do what I want."

"Please! Matt! Oh my god! I promise I'll do anything you want."

Matt hesitated when suddenly a red spark arced up his arm.

A surge of misfortune!

The three of us paused, bracing ourselves. But nothing was happening.

"Nothing...?" My voice trailed away.

Matt clenched his teeth, as he pulled into the curb of a run-down house.

"Whatever. We're here."

A woman opened the door and walked up to Matt's car, brushing her hair behind her ear and leaning forward.

"Um... hi."

"Hello, you must be Elaine," Matt answered.

"We're here for your boyfriend, Flint Monroe?"

"Who are you? This... looks kind of shady."

"We're completely trustworthy! I'm Maika, by the way! You must be Flint's girlfriend!" Maika waved happily.

Flint's girlfriend glanced over at Maika, her expression turning less guarded, when suddenly, Matt hesitated.

"Shit..." He muttered.

"What is it?" I asked.

A woman's voice started laughing.

"Hey! Where are you going, you jackass?" Matt's voice shouted.

"Jackass! That's such a funny word! HAHAHA! JACKASS! JACKASS JACKASS JACKASS! HEHEHE!" The woman replied.

...

I slowly looked down at my lap. Matt's Senkaku arm... his thumb, was pressed against the play button.

"Ah..." I muttered, opening the car door.

"Please excuse me. I have absolutely nothing to do with this pair of weirdos," I said nervously as Matt grabbed me with his Senkaku and forced me back into the car.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Getting away from this shitshow of a first impression is what I'm doing!" I replied, struggling, while Maika had her hands on her mouth the entire time, listening to her drunk self blabbering nonsensically from the recording.

"Guys... sorry... but I don't feel too good..." Flint's girlfriend muttered as she buckled over.

Matt and I rushed forward to catch her, but Maika slipped past the both of us with incredible agility and caught her before either of us could blame each other.

"Hey! What's wrong?" Maika exclaimed.

Elaine began to pant.

"S-Sorry... I haven't eaten for an entire week. I'm feeling a little lightheaded is all."

"Elaine, this is a big problem. Do you want us to buy you something to eat?" Maika asked.

Elaine shook her head.

"No. I do not want to be any more of a burden than I am. Please, come inside. Sorry, but I can't treat you guys..."

The three of us entered the building.

"This house. Is it yours?" Matt asked.

"No. It is part of our University dormitory. I'm renting one of the rooms."

I glanced at the surroundings. My sense of smell was keen, and I was usually able to make out the smell of food coming from a person's lodgings. But...

Elaine was right.

There was no food in sight.

"How long has it been since you have eaten?" I asked.

"You'll be grossed out."

"Tell me."

Elaine leaned against the counter and threw up in the sink, to everyone's surprise.

"A week... I can't afford food."

My hand slowly formed a fist.

Flint...

Flint, what the hell are you doing?

The Flint Monroe I knew was always a loving boyfriend.

Hell, the whole Lightwatch incident was what made you harbor so much hatred for the Realmwatch Collective in the first place! Your girlfriend... your girlfriend is going through something like this and you're letting it happen?

I had no experience with relationships, but even I knew that at times like this being there for your girlfriend was the most important thing.

"Where's Flint?" I asked.

Elaine stared at us.

"Ummm... if this is some kind of joke to make fun of my financial situation it isn't funny."

Matt grabbed me by the arm and pulled me out of the way.

"You idiot. This is why I said to not question anything. Let me do the talking! Flint isn't here."

"What do you mean he isn't here?" I asked, angrily.

Maika blinked.

"Wait, Elaine, are you in an LDR with Flint?"

"The hell is an LDR?" Matt and I asked, simultaneously, causing Maika to roll her eyes.

Elaine managed a weak smile.

"An LDR stands for Long Distance Relationship. Flint is on the other side of the world right now. He wouldn't be able to help me if he tried. I also don't wanna burden him by asking him for money..."

I narrowed my eyes at the numerous marks on her arms and neck.

Signs of a struggle.

"Elaine... are you working right now?"

"Mmhmm. But I barely make enough."

Matt glared at me, shutting me up. But from what she was telling me, and from her living conditions and her physical condition...

Her job wasn't the only source of income she was getting.

She was doing things she didn't want to do to survive.

"Elaine, I know this might sound sudden, but we came to question about the whereabouts of Flint Monroe."

"Is he in trouble?"

"No. But we have been trying to find him and haven't been able to locate him at all. You mentioned he is on the other side of the world, do you know where exactly?"

Elaine's expression turned guarded.

"I... I don't feel comfortable disclosing."

A vein bulged out of the side of Matt's forehead.

"Damn guy... getting his girl to keep shit confidential..."

I had the same thought.

Everything about what I believed Flint to be...

I never expected him to be like this.

I glanced at Maika, who rubbed her arm and gazed at Elaine with concern.

And come to think of it... I never expected Maika to be like this either. What I believed to be a wild, party girl, and crazy older sister figure... was, in reality, a traumatized girl.

"Guys... please believe me, but Flint is a kind person. He's... the only guy I knew who treated me like a person."

"That's a pretty low bar," I muttered, but Maika cut me off with a look of irritation.

"Elaine, hun. I don't know about Flint's circumstances, but we really need his help. He could be helping us change lives. But right now, we have no leads. You're our only hope."

Maika put her hand on Elaine's, but suddenly, Elaine suddenly screamed, scrambling back with her eyes wide.

"Elaine...?" Maika said, her voice shaky.

Flint's girlfriend began freaking out, putting her arms to her head in a fetal position.

"No... no... please... please stop. Please don't... I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Let me go... I'm begging you please let me go... let me go..."

Matt and I stared at Elaine, shock and surprise on our faces.

"What the fuck..." I muttered.

Matt gritted his teeth.

"PTSD. We need to give her space. Cobalt. Refractor. Outside, now."

The three of us turned our backs, but Maika was reluctant.

"Elaine needs someone."

"Right now, the last thing she needs is someone touching her, Maika," Matt said.

We exited the house, and the sounds of Elaine's frantic sobs still burned into my mind.

"Alright, Matt. Spill it. What the fuck was that earlier?" I snapped, stepping toward my Squad Leader, but Matt sighed, closing his eyes.

"This is EXACTLY why I told you two morons to NOT question anything and let me do all the talking. Look what just happened! You triggered the one lead we have to locate Monroe. Good job. I ask to be a solo act and instead, I'm assigned a Japanese Drunk and a Chinese Klutz!"

"Hey!" Maika and I protested at the same time.

Matt glanced at the dormitory.

"Elaine Venna. Twenty-one years old. Suffers from schizophrenia, insomnia, PTSD from the murder of her parents, and was raped. Three times. Then recently, a fourth. All the while, struggling to make ends meet and being forced to do sexual favors for men to survive, I presume, due to the restrictions of her disability keeping her from working normal hours. Do I need to go on? Do you now understand why I wanted the two of you dinguses to keep your mouth shut?"

"Why didn't you tell us this before?" I asked.

"And would that change how you would approach it? You're already freaking out."

I made a fist.

"If we're here to track down Monroe, why couldn't we have gotten the other Squads to do it?"

Matt sighed.

"Flint Monroe was assigned to me, by Lord Taras himself. But his instructions were to find him ourselves. It's a test for us. And after reading Elaine's file, I can see what the test is."

"Compassion?" Maika asked.

"No. To use whoever to get what we need, even if they're going through hell. We'll use her as bait to force Monroe out of hiding."

"You can't be fucking serious," Maika growled, stepping in front of Matt.

"You READ Elaine's file, and you STILL don't have any sympathy?"

"Her life will be better once the Great Akuma-"

"Great Akuma this Great Akuma that. She got raped for Chrissake! And you're just going to work her to death? Even when she's going through something like that? Seriously?"

Matt glared at Maika.

"There is no space for sympathy in this war. I promise you that Elaine will live a happy life. She's sacrificed enough. But right now, we need to also make a sacrifice. She's strong enough to bear it."

I glanced at the window, to see Elaine sobbing on the ground.

Flint...

You never told me your girlfriend had gone through something like this.

All the while, Matt and Maika continued to argue.

"And this is why you're still a virgin!"

"Oh! What a low blow, coming from the Jappy who got herself railed before graduating college!"

"At least I know how to consider the feelings of people of the opposite sex!"

"Yeah, because you're a real expert on men!"

"HUH?!"

Elaine...

You lost family too, huh?

I slowly made my way back to the dorm, when suddenly, Matt stopped arguing.

"What the hell are you doing?! Did you not hear a thing I said?"

"I did."

"Then why are you-"

"I'll talk to Elaine."

"Yeah. Real funny. Next, you'll tell me you got yourself a girlfriend. Get back in the car before I drag your Asian ass here."

I shrugged.

"Either you let me do this or I'm gonna level the whole place. Who knows, maybe I might go rogue!"

Matt glared at me.

"Why you..."

"Please. Squad Leader Matt. I want to give it a shot. I owe it that much to her, after... what we did."

Matt took a deep breath.

"Fine. But if I hear Elaine scream again I'm gonna Senkaku your head back to China."

I slowly opened the door to see Elaine still sitting on the floor, her face buried in her knees.

"Hey."

Elaine looked up, her eyes puffy.

"Please don't look at me. I... I don't look okay right now."

"That's fine. I don't look okay all the time."

I sat down on the floor across from her.

"Do I make you uncomfortable?"

"A little bit."

"How so?"

"Your voice..."

I scratched my head.

"Is it because... my English has a slight accent?"

"No. I'm... scared of all masculine voices now..."

My heart twinged in pain.

"Elaine... I know whatever I say probably holds no weight because I can never understand what you went through. But... even if it doesn't seem that way, you've got people who love you. Flint... whatever he's up to, he deeply cares about you."

"It's okay. I appreciate your words."

We sat in silence for a bit.

"Why do you want my boyfriend?" Elaine asked.

"We want him to join us in our... crusade."

"Crusade?"

"Yeah. We... we're going to take down a really bad guy. By bringing back someone who can do it. This bad guy is responsible for all the bad things that have happened in your life."

A small smirk appeared on Elaine's face.

"Wouldn't that be a dream?"

"Our job is to make that dream a reality. A reality for people who've... gone through hell like you. And... me."

"Like you? What happened?"

I leaned backward, staring at the tiles on the ceiling.

"Those marks on your neck. They're from trying to rest your head against a telephone booth, right?"

Elaine gasped.

"How... did you know?!"

"I used to do that too. Back when I was homeless," I replied, recalling my time trudging the streets of New Ulysses after I had accidentally incinerated my family with the Hinokami. I had been homeless... wandering the streets trying to get by, while also trying to go to Uni and pretending everything was fine.

"Spent my Christmas in a telephone booth."

"...Me too."

"Wasn't fun for you either, was it?"

"No. It was not."

A tear trickled down Elaine's cheek.

"It is what it is."

"You're a really strong girl, you know that?"

"Thanks."

"I mean it. And I'm sure Flint would say the same thing. It takes a very rare strength in someone to be able to go through something like this and not blame the world like I did."

I crossed my hands together, and Elaine noticed my missing finger.

"If... if I help you find Flint... will you promise me no one will go through what we went through?"

"I'll promise you I'll do... everything in my power..." I answered, recalling my conversation with Loyce and with Vala.

Was everything I was doing justified?

No.

It wasn't.

If it was for my sake.

But I was once again reminded...

That I wasn't the only one suffering in this world. Or other worlds.

I got to my feet and bowed before Elaine, pressing my forehead against the floorboards.

"I know I don't deserve to ask you of this. But please. If you have any information on Flint's whereabouts, I beg you. Please tell us."

Elaine pursed her lips.

"Please raise your head. I haven't even gotten your name yet."

I slowly raised my head, to see Elaine's gentle smile. Her hand ruffled my hair.

"I don't know a lot of people who've gone through what I did. But it seems you had quite a rough time too. I'm so sorry."

You stupid girl.

Worrying about others...

Flint... was this why you fell in love with this girl?

"Yeling. My name is Yeling."

"Flint... the truth is, I don't know where he is."

"What?" I asked.

Elaine shrugged.

"He always sends me money through my FundMe page... yet sometimes when I check the transaction details it's always from another country, as if he is bouncing around. He claims it's from a VPN... but he's a really bad liar. Can I be honest with you?"

"Sure."

"I sometimes feel like Flint isn't real. Like... he's just too good to be true. No guy I've been with has done these things for me out of the goodness of his heart. Everybody has asked me to do something, either disgusting or illegal in return. But Flint isn't like them. I think... I keep thinking I'm being pranked and lied to. And one day... one day the truth will be revealed in a horrible horrible..."

Elaine's voice broke as she quickly tried to get to her feet, but fell back down.

"My medication... please... I can't reach them..."

I quickly snagged a couple of bottles and went to the sink to fill up a glass of water. I returned to Elaine, handing the items over.

I watched the kid struggle to put the pills in her mouth.

All the while, Matt's words continued to ring in my head.

If you came here with hopes that you can just... escape from your lives, without any intention to change it, then why are you even here?

This...

This was not an escape.

I thought I had come here to escape from my life.

From the life out there as a quick break.

Yet as I looked at these people, something inside me felt like it was trying to claw its way out.

Deep down, I wanted to help her.

I just didn't know what I could do.

I wasn't the richest man.

I couldn't be the kindest man.

And I couldn't be the most compassionate.

I examined the tattoos of the Hinokami and the tattoos of Shenlong on my forearms.

"But I could be the most powerful."

"What was that?"

I hesitated, lowering my arms.

"Nothing. Thanks so much for everything. I hope things go better for you."

"I wouldn't count on it... but I'm doing my very best."

"I know."

I stepped outside, to be greeted by the rest of Squad Four who were waiting for me.

"You got an idea of Flint's whereabouts?" Matt asked.

"Not really."

"So all that heart to heart and you come back with jack shit?"

SMACK.

"Ow!" Matt exclaimed to Maika.

"Be more considerate! Cobalt was being kind, unlike you. If anything, he's the closest to having a girlfriend then you ever will."

Oh, Maika...

How wrong you are.

"Flint... he's a lot more secure than I thought. Elaine believes that he may be using a VPN."

Maika raised an eyebrow.

"A VPN? What's that?"

Matt clenched his fist.

"Virtual private network. It helps to mask your identity online. But that doesn't explain how some of his donations are in foreign currency."

"How the hell did you know that?" I asked.

"I had Rafel go through Elaine's transaction history as well. If anything, this is further confirmation that Monroe is hiding something. There's also one more thing."

The three of us got into the car and we drove away from the dormitory.

"One of the donations was in New Ulyssian Dollars."

Maika's eyes widened.

"What...? But I thought they were in an LDR!"

My thoughts exactly.

That meant...

Flint was New Ulyssian. But why was he keeping his location a secret from his girlfriend?

Matt clenched his teeth.

"I had my suspicions. This visit has proved it. I got all the intel I needed to assume that Monroe is also a Pax Victim. The Pax Incident has given him the Evo to displace himself in different locations."

"Isn't that a bit of a stretch?" I asked. Of course, I figured he had such an Evo. But to jump to a conclusion like that...

"Think about it, Cobalt. The guy is able to make donations all across the world. Flying from one place to another would require a ton of money, but if he had that much he would have used it to help Elaine financially. But he didn't. If he used his Evo to make that money, he would be found out. So, for argument's sake, what would he do if his Evo also gave him the avenue to escape to another geographical location and start crime anew?"

"Hm. That is indeed some very good intel."

"GAH!" I yelped, nearly crashing into Maika.

"What the- what happened? What is it?!" Maika exclaimed.

Matt spun to the source of the voice.

"Who-"

SMACK.

Matt's head snapped back, slamming into the side window and cracking it. The car began to veer off course.

I extended my arm and tried to correct it, but from the distance, I could make out the figure of a vehicle that was approaching us at a rapid pace.

"SHIT!" I yelled, holding out my other arm, but from the shadows, a pair of eyes manifested, blasting me in the face with a wave of blue force.

I smashed out of the side window of the passenger seat and tumbled to the ground, watching the other vehicle crash into Matt's Mercedes.

"What the... I didn't know Mirage had a gang of buddies. I thought he was a solo act!"

"Ground Zero, this isn't the time for jokes. This guy looks like he's bad news."

"Come on... he can't be that bad. Look, he's missing a finger!"

Another kid's voice appeared.

"Gross! You're right!"

"Curse Mark! Ground Zero! Take this seriously. Metron and Guardian trusted you two to deal with this."

I struggled to my feet.

Why did I suddenly feel so weak? I normally would have shrugged something like this off.

No...

Normally I would have been able to react to that concussive force.

It was almost as if...

I examined my forearms again, and my heart nearly dropped to the ground.

"What the... you've got to be kidding me...!"

My tattoos...

They had faded even more.

The tattoos of the Hinokami...

Had completely disappeared.

"PAY ATTENTION TO THE FIGHT, CAVEMAN!"

Level 1 Amplification: Full Frontal Tackle

I slid back, narrowly dodging the figure of a young teenager who had red tattoos all over his arms.

Lucas Lam, Curse Mark.

"HAHA! You're easy. I'm a little offended that Old Man Woodley dispatched us to deal with you! We should be taking down Mirage and his new wife!"

My eyes widened as a surge of light flooded my vision.

KABOOM.

"GRAAAH!" I roared, flying back. My face felt like it got bombarded by acid spray, but I knew full well what it was.

It was the power of The Great Beast, an enemy of the First Great War, one of the monsters who fought alongside Vala to take down The Great Akuma.

Tony "Ground Zero" Patel.

I slid backward, summoning Tatsu and clashing with the third attacker.

A familiar-looking Japanese woman.

On her uniform was a cross alongside a lightning bolt.

The mark of Rui "Patcher" Iwatani.

It was a three on one.

Facing these three...

Was such a familiar sight.

"What's he looking at?" Lucas asked.

"Oh my god. Miss Iwatani I think he has the hots for you. He's staring at your boobies." Tony laughed.

"No way!" Lucas replied.

Iwatani aimed her bat at my face, trying to ignore the two kids.

"I don't know who you are, but I can tell if a person is a killer or not. You're no different from the rest of the Contingency Initiative. Anyone who aids the Mirage is on their side."

I lowered Tatsu, Rainwater swirling around me.

Lucas and Tony continued with their shenanigans.

"The hell is that?"

"Is that... water?"

"Does water glow green like that?"

Eight years before.

Eight years then.

This in itself will never change.

Images of Elaine crying and struggling to take her pills flashed in my mind.

Vala.

You are my enemy.

Whether or not this was intentional by you, Loyce. This isn't some kind of break.

This is a reminder.

Patcher, Ground Zero, and Curse Mark took battle positions, as the Rainwater began to swirl around Tatsu at a greater intensity.

Vala is my enemy. And all those who side with her.

Eight years before.

Eight years then.

"Stormwatch Brigade..." I snarled.

Rain Style Kenjutsu - Form 1: SURFACE SLASH

I jolted forward, Shen's Rainwater enhancing my physical abilities as I slammed my blade against Rui's bat, shock spread on her face.

DIVINE AMPLIFICATION

Rui flew backward, creating a chasm in the direction of my attack.

Tony and Lucas stared at their senior in surprise as I took advantage of this moment of hesitation, appearing before Tony with my hand outstretched.

I grabbed the kid by the face and slammed him into the ground, knocking him unconscious and leaving Lucas the remaining Stormwatch member standing.

"What are you..."

"The consequences of the world your Organization stands for."

Rain Style Kenjutsu - Form 7: Sharp Winds

I unleashed a thrust that nearly caught Lucas square in the chest, but Rui deflected it off her bat, having recovered instantly.

"Do not dare hurt my members!"

Rui closed in and tried to swing her bat, but I dodged, dropping Tatsu and summoning my butterfly knives.

Way of the Rain God - CHINESE SLASH DANCE

I unleashed a series of slashes, catching Rui in dozens of places and materializing on the other side of the battlefield, green electricity sparking off my body.

Patcher collapsed, blood exploding from her body, but just as quickly as the wounds were dealt, Rui had healed.

This was an annoying opponent to fight without Hinokami.

Hinokami...

I examined my forearm again. The tattoos... they had disappeared.

What did this mean?

I knew I was unbound from the Dogma, but did this have something to do with the fact that I was in the past?

But if I didn't have my Hinokami...

Would that imply that I now had an effect on the present-

"SPACING OUT!"

"Shit!" I growled as Lucas slammed his fist into my side. I coughed out blood and smashed into a tree, my eyes wide in disbelief.

How did...

How did I get hit?!

I may have been limited to the powers of my Celestial Dragon body, but even that alone shouldn't have weakened me this much!

I got to my feet, glaring at Tony, who powered up an explosive blast, but I activated Divine Amplification and zipped away.

I materialized in the air, trying to catch Tony in his blind spot, but Lucas appeared above me, red electricity sparking from his body, and another blow caught me in the back of the head.

SMACK.

The sound of Iwatani's bat reverberated through my ribcage. I skidded back and clutched my side.

I was...

I was losing.

I was losing to these guys.

After everything I had done to get this far, I was losing...

To mere fodder.

Why was I losing?

SMASH.

Another hit from Rui's bat sent my world upside down. I brought my arms together to try to defend myself from Lucas' onslaught.

Why was this so...

Goddamn...

"UNFAIR?!" I growled, summoning a massive storm that blew my three opponents back.

This didn't make sense.

I wasn't this weak when I fought Yfil.

Something was happening to my body.

A cry erupted from the distance as I made out the figure of Maika Nagumo flying toward me.

I reached out and caught my Squad Member before she could conk her head on the pavement.

"Maika!"

"Ye- Yeling... oh god, thank goodness you're okay."

I put Maika down and narrowed my eye at the location where Maika came from.

Someone was walking out of the darkness. His eyes were glowing a blue which shone through.

"That guy... his moves are even more complicated than Matt's," Maika gasped.

The old man cracked his neck.

"I hate hitting women, but you don't get a free pass, Miss. You helped Mirage with his investigation on Flint Monroe. The man is an international criminal."

Maika held up her knife.

"If he is a criminal then let the police deal with him! Why do you feel the need to be involved?"

"Do you really think the police can handle Monroe if they couldn't even do a single thing about the Pax Beasts that we're trying to clean up?"

Patcher, Ground Zero, and Curse Mark regrouped with Metron.

It was now a Four on Two.

Normally I wouldn't be fazed by this, but whatever had happened to me, it had weakened me severely.

I had no idea if I could even keep myself safe, much less myself and Maika.

"Yeling... do you know any of these guys?"

I clenched my teeth.

If I told her, then she would suspect me, but if I didn't... we were going to miss out on a tactical advantage.

And given that I was like this, I could use all the advantages I needed.

"The one who attacked you is Metron. He is a Vessel for Vala's Eyes. As far as I know, he can predict and see the movements of his enemies. The woman is Patcher, she can heal herself and her allies. The Chinese boy is Curse Mark, he can increase his physical abilities. The Indian kid is Ground Zero. He is a Vessel for the Great Beast, and can unleash explosions."

Maika was silent for a few seconds.

"As long as Patcher is around she'll just keep healing everybody. She needs to go first."

"You have a plan?"

The Refractor gripped her knife.

"I am a kunoichi. If it is a one-on-one against someone who doesn't have my location figured out like Metron can, I should be able to pull it off. But... we're outnumbered."

"I'll take on Metron and the others. You focus on Patcher."

Maika stared at me.

"But... you were struggling earlier."

"I know. But if you take down Patcher, it should shake them up a bit and let me land something. I just need to hold out till then. Just make it look like you killed her, just don't actually do it."

That's right.

They may bruise, but they don't kill.

These people feared death. They feared killing.

This was the other advantage I had over them. I didn't hesitate to take a life.

Rui positioned her bat.

"We won't let you get-"

"Damare! Looking at a busu like you is seriously pissing me off," Maika growled.

"Excuse me?!" Rui yelped.

Lucas blinked.

"Huh? Did that lady just speak Japanese? She's Japanese just like you, Rui! What did she say?"

Rui's face flashed with anger.

"Of course, it would be a Kansai Japanese woman who fights with the Contingency Initiative."

"Oh, making fun of me being from the Kansai region is okay, sure," Maika taunted, rushing toward Rui, who also blasted forward in an annoyed frenzy.

Leave it to Maika to piss off the levelheaded member of Stormwatch.

Metron rushed forward to intercept Maika, but hesitated, his eyes glowing.

"An illusion... the real one is over there-"

"You got more pressing matters to attend to, old man," I said, appearing before the seasoned Stormwatch member and slashing with my butterfly knife, causing Woodley to leap backward.

Lucas and Tony tried to assist Rui, but I yelled, unleashing another storm of Rainwater outward like a shockwave.

RAIN DRAGON SUMMON

"What in the world?! Did he just summon a fricking DRAGON?!"

"Forget it, just kill it, Lucas!"

"I'm trying, but it looks so cool!"

"What the hell?!"

I walked forward, returning my butterfly knives and summoning a Nine Section Chain Whip.

I may have lost a great deal of my striking power, but Shen's memories were still a part of me.

My battle memories and experiences were still there.

Logan assumed his stance.

"Kid. I won't hesitate to hurt you."

"My life shouldn't be your concern, Metron."

"I can already see it. Your combat prowess. Your experience. You won't win against-"

Metron suddenly hesitated, his eyes widening.

"What the..."

I tensed.

What was this?

Why did Metron look like he had just seen a ghost?

Woodley's eyes continued to flicker as he looked me up and down.

No...

Vala's Eyes...

How could I be so stupid?

Metron stared at me in horror.

"You... Transplant... Everybody... Joseph... Vis... Oh god... what... what am I looking at... you... you're..."

I reached out my hand.

"Wait. Logan, I... I can explain-"

"Vala's Eyes... my eyes... MY EYES!"

SHOOM.

A wave of energy shunted against me, sending me flying back as Metron clutched his head, stumbling around.

All the while, I was at a complete loss for what to say.

Vala's Eyes were causing Logan to see into the future.

My future.

"Vessels... the Vessels... The... The..."

Logan suddenly stopped struggling, his arms going slack and his expression turning deadpan.

"L- Logan...?" I whispered.

Logan stepped forward, leaning back, an eerie sense of tranquility had taken over him like a ghost.

And the voice that left his mouth...

Was no longer his.

Auxiliary Shadow. Lady Vala's will deems you a threat. I shall see to your destruction.

"Wha-"

SMASH.

I stumbled back, raising my whip only to have it shatter into dozens of pieces.

Logan had gotten even faster!

Whatever happened to him, this wasn't the same Metron that I knew.

I tried to distance myself, but everything that I had against him, from my Celestial Dragon physiology to my youth was completely offset by this new power-up he had.

Metron grabbed me by the face and slammed me against the side of a building.

"MMF!" I tried to pry his hand off my face, but his grip wasn't loosening.

Logan glared at me, his eyes now leaving behind trails of blue flames.

"You took their lives. You took all our lives. And you decided to come back in time and do it all over again? What kind of a monster are you?! Leave. Us. ALONE!"

I turned my head, narrowly dodging Metron's punches which grazed the side of my scalp.

"How... how are you seeing all this? You know who I am?"

Logan kicked me away. I dropped my weapons and assumed a stance.

Shuiquan - Six Harmonies Rain Boxing

The two of us circled each other, our fists clenched.

Logan continued glaring at me.

"I know who you are. I can't explain it, but it's as if... everything your timeline's version of me had experienced, has now combined with my memories. The Logan Woodley of your time is now the Logan Woodley you see before you."

Metron stomped on the ground, sending shockwaves of power in my direction.

This fight...

With me at this level...

Was not going to be easy.

"No one in Stormwatch could kill you, but now Lady Vala has allowed me to take you out while you're weakened. I'll make you pay back EVERYTHING you owe.

"TIDALFLAME OF SQUAD FOUR."

Metron

Before the Contingency Initiative, two beings were known amongst the world as the pillars of the feared Second Great War.

These two men were at the forefront of the entities they represented.

While Lord Taras had been the first person in history to have unlocked every Akuma Grade Dogma, every man had a foil.

And Logan Woodley was Taras' foil.

A man who manifested Vala's Eyes, possessing the ability to see briefly into the future.

SHOOM.

"GAH!" I growled, feeling the incredible force of Stormwatch's oldest member against my forearm.

"Tidalflame..."

I retaliated with another summoned copy of my chain whip, managing to catch Logan in the side, but Metron grabbed the tail of the weapon and pulled me into a kick which knocked the wind out of me.

I breathed heavily, making distance by propelling myself up a building, but Metron scaled it with incredible speed, grabbing me by the collar and flinging me back onto the ground.

I landed, but a shadow loomed over me.

SURFACE SLASH

I delivered a cut at Logan, but the seasoned warrior dodged mid-air, kicking me in the jaw and pinning me to the ground.

Even if I was weakened, my technique had never left me.

This alone spoke volumes about the type of enemy I was facing.

"I don't believe it... everybody... everybody dies because of you. How could you do this, Yeling? All we wanted was for Vala to continue-"

"Vala's influence has corrupted the very conception of fairness, Woodley. I wouldn't expect something out of the younger members of Stormwatch, but I always thought you were different. But now I see even you are just as ignorant despite your age."

Logan grabbed me by the collar and lifted me until we were face to face.

"Reasoning with a killer never amounted to anything. You are no different than Taras."

"Taras had a goal. He founded and led the Contingency Initiative until his final moments. Yet what the hell did you do, Logan? Stay on the sidelines and play the victim as your rival's own subordinate picked your team apart? I will NEVER listen to a lecture on ethics from an old man who cannot even get over himself."

I headbutted Logan and swung my fist. Metron went low, striking me in the throat.

HOLY WATER RENEWAL.

I returned with several punches.

Shuiquan: Spirit and Movement

Logan dodged the first few attacks, but several managed to penetrate through. The old man stumbled back.

A man who can temporarily see into the future.

But just because you knew what I was going to do, did not necessarily mean you had the means to defend against it.

Matt and Vicki taught me that.

I stomped on the ground.

DIVINE AMPLIFICATION

I rushed forward, but Logan's eyes flashed, sending me back with a concussive force.

"Do not dare try to reason with me. You have NO idea what Taras and I had been through."

"They all say that. What makes you any different from the typical Realmwatch grunt?"

I advanced again, clashing with the Stormwatch veteran on equal grounds.

"A man who values his family. Yet you would try to take mine away. In your eyes I am scum, but are you any better yourself, Yeling?!" Logan seethed as the two of us growled at each other like feral animals.

"YOU let Vision turn into Mirage, and I'm the one who's the villain?"

"I did EVERYTHING I could for Vis, it was his choice to defect!"

The two of us skidded backward, a shockwave of power separating us.

Logan continued glaring at me.

"I wanted so badly to save Vis from himself. Do you seriously think I would just turn my back on someone that easily? This is not what I stand for."

"Yet here you are, serving as a Vessel of Vala."

"Against my will."

What?

I hesitated, as Logan suddenly disappeared, materializing behind me.

I spun around and summoned Tatsu, but the older fighter knocked my weapon out of my hands and slammed me against the wall of an alleyway, far from Maika and the others.

The Vessel's eyes glowed in the darkness sinisterly.

"Vessels of Vala rarely get a choice. Guess you didn't know that, did you, Yeling?"

I grabbed Logan's hand and pried it away, unleashing a combination of punches at the older fighter, but Logan dodged them all and kicked me through the wall.

I crumpled to the ground, hitting my head against the side of a cashier kiosk.

CRUNCH. CRUNCH. CRUNCH.

"I never asked to be Vala's Eyes. And I never asked to be this way. It was because of the power I was born with did your Lord Taras decided to accept the Dogma Bargain. In a way, Vis followed the same path as Taras. Inferiority for something that I never wanted."

I got to my feet, facing the Vessel.

"You think I'm going to take the words you say at face valu-"

"And I know that he is an Outer Shadow."

My blood suddenly turned to ice.

"What... did you just say?"

Logan reached into his pocket and pulled out a trinket.

On it was the Black Legion Organization emblem.

What...

What the hell...

What did this mean?

"Taras and I... we were both Outer Shadows to a man named John Crassman."

I clenched my teeth.

You're lying...

You're lying.

"You're lying! There's no way. You KNEW about the implications of everything that is happening yet you would still side with Vala?"

"Yes."

...

You... you ungrateful...

Little.

I stomped on the ground.

"BASTARD-"

CLAMP.

"MMF!" My eye widened as Logan grabbed me by the face.

"Death. Destruction. Famine. Some people indeed have it worse than others. But nothing justifies inflicting that suffering on another person. NOTHING."

"And people would live their lives... watching the people have it all flaunt it in front of them?!"

"What good does bringing back the Akuma do? What good? Just so she could slaughter everyone?"

"To start anew. That's what we are doing this for."

I grabbed Logan and roared, hurling him and myself out of another window and crashing into a street that was surrounded by Pax Beasts.

We were now in the heart of the Pax Incident blast zone.

But no beast dared approach us.

"You don't know the first thing about Taras, kid. Nor the Black Legion."

I gritted my teeth, the image of Elaine crying flashing in my mind, then of Anna trying to choke me in her last moments.

"And you don't know the first thing of what I stand for, old man. This conversation from the very start was completely unnecessary. You're just some washed-up operative who decided to sit in the bleachers and talk shit to every person you see who's making something out of their situation. Whether it was Lord Taras, Squad Leader Matt, or me."

Metron's eyes flashed again as the two of us charged each other when suddenly, my body tensed up.

HINO.... KAMI....

I froze.

SLAM.

Metron landed a kick against my face, then delivered another combination which sent me flying into a brick wall.

I slid to the ground.

Shit...

Shit!

This was not a good time. This was seriously not a good time.

How...

How did he find me?

My Hinokami, had faded, did it not? How did he find me?

Metron noticed the fear on my face and stopped, unease filling his movements.

"...What is it."

I clenched my teeth, trying to keep my cool, but terror had completely seized my movements.

"Shut up. It's... nothing..."

LITTLE THIRTEEN. LITTLE THIRTEEN. THERE IS NOWHERE TO RUN FROM ME, LITTLE THIRTEEN.

I breathed heavily, trying to keep my heart from bursting out of my chest, but my breath had started to become ragged.

I wasn't getting enough air...

No.

I wasn't able to breathe at all.

The temperature around me suddenly felt extremely hot.

The type of heat that wasn't from conventional flame.

Logan's eyes flashed as he looked around.

"What do you see, what is it, kid?"

My hands began trembling.

"It's nothing... it's-"

"TELL ME," Woodley shouted.

"I'm being hunted!" I replied angrily, trying to steady myself. Nausea was filling me to the bone.

"What? By who?"

AN UNBOUND HINOKAMI. AND A VESSEL OF VALA.

A green orb of energy began to manifest from the shadows.

"Get down, kid!" Logan shouted at me, but his voice started to drown away.

My body was completely frozen in fear.

The image of the monster chomping down on Aelienne's corpse was stuck on replay in my mind.

As well as the realization that a similar fate was going to happen to me.

"KID!"

No...

No...

My story was going to end here. In the most terrifying... disturbing...

MY HUNT... BEGINS NOW.

No way.

I was... I'm dead-

SMASH.

Logan tackled me to the ground and the two of us narrowly missed a scorching green beam of flame.

"You... you saved me..." I stammered as Logan forced me to my feet.

"Shut up and run!"

"But-"

"Whatever that thing is, if we don't run, we're toast. You've already proven just now you're too much of a pansy to confront that thing. So fighting it is out of the question."

YELING!

Metron grabbed me by the arm and dragged me along as the two of us bolted in the opposite direction, running as fast as we could.

I shot into the air, but Metron grabbed my arm and yanked me back down.

"No. Don't go high. That thing will spot us. We stay low."

"If we stay low that thing will use his Hinokami to attack us!"

"Did you just say Hinokami?!"

I gritted my teeth, smashing a window with my bare fist and barging through a building before the monster could melt us in it.

"Tell me what's going on, Yeling. Are you being hunted by an Akuma Grade Dogma User? That thing isn't-"

"I KNOW. It looks nothing like the previous Dogma Holders. I'll... I'll tell you. When we make it out of this alive."

Metron glared at me.

"I know of a means to escape this monster, but it will expose us to a Contingency Initiative Opera-"

"Logan. In my time, CI is destroyed. None of this matters anymore. You know this."

The Stormwatch Member closed his eyes and reached behind his ear, tapping on a coms unit.

"This is Metron. I'm ordering a full retreat. Drop everything you're doing. We also have a guest."

A... guest...?

Metron turned around, as did I, and for the first time, I was greeted by the horrific sight of the beast that was hunting me.

A sinister, mass of spiky black flesh. With two orbs for eyes, covered in numerous glowing white cracks.

And the most disturbing, unnaturally wide smile I had ever seen, rows of teeth dripping with saliva that was vaporizing from the sheer heat of the blinding green flames of the Hinokami.

Whatever this thing was...

Whatever it was...

It wasn't a human.

It wasn't a human anymore.

A monstrosity like this...

I couldn't even begin to imagine just how much this atrocity had sacrificed to the Dogma.