On the way there to the Phoenix Squad's base, Akira was searching for Volts, after which he tried to catch up since Rakyu wanted to have a chat with him.
As Akira walked into the headquarters' hall, he stumbled upon a person who was chatting with Rozori. The man was really dirty and was bruised. His hair was blue and he was wearing some type of heavy armor. He presumed he had recently done a mission.
After Rozori had finished chatting, "Boo!" Kazoru appeared behind Akira and made him jump.
"Where'd you come from!?" Akira said
He didn't sense him since he was in the thought of who he was. Kazoru was all bruised up, dirty from dirt as he recently got back.
Akira asked where he was the whole time.
"What? I just got back from a mission assigned by my uncle to help his first division commander and you didn't give me a warm welcome? How rude."
He pointed at the blue-haired man and said he was the first division commander.
Akira inquired what type of mission he went on. He answered that it was some type of raid. Monsters were everywhere fifteen years ago for an unexpected reason.
Akira asked how, and he explained that there was a war that happened before they were born. Kazoru didn't know the details. From what he heard from his uncle after the war ended, the Mikadzuki was known.
The battle had huge sacrifices, which included his uncle's brother. Akira nodded in understanding, and so he asked how the mission went. He just answered that it was a pain in the neck. Some monsters were stronger and could even possibly match a commander, though not close, it was just his claim.
Though monsters appeared before this era too, this was wild compared to before, and ever since, monsters had been rampaging in every corner of the world. Slimes, orcs, and goblins were common, but they turned more vigorous and feral. Some weren't.
Akira understood, and so he shifted the subject. He wanted to ask if he had seen Haru's powers. Kazoru answered yes. His reactions were astounded by Haru's ability, which was Atom Manipulation. Destructive and yet deadly, he almost felt like an idiot for standing there and letting him do the job. Kazoru stated it was as if he was on the same level as the general.
What he saw was some sort of energy beam. When it hit a person, it would get erased at a subatomic level.
Akira was amazed by his abilities. Kazoru then informed Akira that they were going to have a mission. When Akira inquired about the mission, he replied that it was a dungeon run. He was told that Sazoru had found something when they were investigating the enemy's lair.
Akira couldn't wait, so he asked for more info. Kazoru said there would be two Mikadzukis in the dungeon. They were ranked as an S or an A. He only stated they could be at a commander's level since they were guarding something very valuable.
Akira's face went to a poker face and he asked why must he always try to fight the Mikadzuki, he said with a tired voice.
"Beats me, all I know is that they have hidden something in the dungeon, and think of it as a trending mission since the Mikadzuki is involved in so many problems" Kazoru answered.
Akira then remembered something. When the king was kidnapped, he said that they were about to perform a ritual. He also believed it was probably an execution ritual since they wanted to kill the king. The question that he still hadn't found an answer to was why they didn't kill him off in the first place. What was the use of the ritual then?
As a result, Akira deduced that the ritual was probably intended to turn the king into one of their puppets, similar to the Morians.
Kazoru patted Akira's shoulder suddenly and said, "Survive while you can." He cautioned Akira about what may come. Akira was confused and wanted to ask, but Kazoru left and wanted to take a nice cold bath.
Haru then touched Akira's back, "There you are, I've been looking everywhere for you!" He was pleased to meet him after Rozori talked about him.
He wanted to meet with Volts as well, but he was nowhere to be found. He introduced himself, which Akira had already known.
Haru was feeling curious about Akira since he was told Akira had immortality.
"Say, would you regenerate if I vaporised you into atoms?"
Akira backed away from the sudden question.
"What kind of question is that? Sure, but it'll hurt." Akira felt a sudden shiver, a flashback when he was burned alive into ashes by Savanth.
Haru laughed and tried to make Akira come closer, his face was creepy and his hand glowed blue, "Come here, boy! I promise, just a little experiment." He smiled creepily, making Akira quiver.
Rozori was hurriedly trying to prevent Haru from doing experiments on Akira.
"Ngh, sorry for the trouble; he's the second kind you'd avoid after Kitsune."
"As you can see here, this is my older brother—the first division commander. He's quite the braniac while also a lunatic-freak who's deeply passionate about experiments." Rozori apologized that his brother had a mad habit of which he liked to experiment on something; he was always obsessed with experiments and discoveries even if it meant crossing the line.
"Then again, I'm the one to blame. He couldn't let things go as he continues to push me about our new recruits main-ability while it's essential for teams to recognised their allies, I'm supposed to be the HRD of this squad."
Rozori blamed himself for telling him since Akira had a unique ability different from those who had common abilities, which made Haru impressed.
"Say, if I kill you, would that be a crime since you are immortal? And say, if you were killed and they erased your whole existence and none of your particles were left, would you still be alive? Hands off me, Rozori! This may be my most exhilarating experiment yet!" His eyes were swirling around and he went insane while Rozori was holding him tight.
"First of all, you'll be charged for an intent of murder. Second, stop sharing your freaky ideas to scare the newbies!"
Rozori told Akira to run to Sazoru's office since he would have a mission again, and so he ran to Sazoru's office.
Akira mumbled, "What the hell is wrong with this squad? Everyone here is insane!" It made Akira think that this squad had many weird people he wasn't used to.
Akira finally made it to Sazoru's office by violently opening the door, Volts was there and so was none other than the lady Kitsune. Akira now knew why Kazoru cautioned him to be wary.
Sazoru then began to speak. He said he would commission Kazoru, Volts, Akira, Kitsune, and twenty-five warriors on this mission. He said that the two members that were in the dungeon would be at the commander level because it was heavily guarded. From what he knew when he discovered from the lair, some sort of message similar to what Volts took pictures of, back from the mission to investigate the "Dread of Dawn" hideout, which turned out the message from what he found was connected but couldn't be translated.
Sazoru stated that the Mikadzuki could probably translate what it meant. From what the informant informed Sazoru from the intel core. They said that these were from ancient times, if they couldn't answer it, then the king would be their last hope.
Sazoru sent the location and they headed to the dungeon where the location was in Shimarami forest.