Entire factory complexes had vanished beneath Light Mode ×500, while the surviving structures leaned precariously upon fractured foundations, threatening to collapse beneath their own impossible weight. Every muscle inside Kanji's body protested the transformation he had forced upon himself, and although the golden lightning had already faded from his skin, faint tremors continued running through his arms each time he attempted to close his hand completely. Even so, his gaze never drifted toward his own injuries. It remained fixed upon the immense crater lying hundreds of meters ahead.
Kashigi lay half-buried beneath twisted beams, shattered concrete and enormous fragments of machinery that had once formed the heart of the abandoned industrial complex.
His spear had disappeared entirely. The silver radiance covering his body flickered weakly beneath skin fractured almost beyond recognition, while each labored breath seemed to demand greater effort than the last.
Blood slowly escaped between cracked lips before disappearing into the dust coating the ruined earth beneath him. Looking upon the man now, Kanji found neither satisfaction nor triumph. There remained only a strange stillness born from understanding that some battles ended not because one warrior hated another, but because one had to lose.
Without another word, Kanji turned away.
His shoulders lowered.
Every vulnerable point along his back lay completely exposed as he began walking toward the edge of the ruined district with slow, exhausted steps. Even the wind sweeping through the broken factories seemed to carry that same conclusion, whispering softly through collapsed steel like the final prayer offered after a funeral had already finished.
Then the silence shattered.
Kashigi – ''POWER MODE... TWO THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED TIMES!!''
The scream tore through the devastated district with such desperate force that even the fractured earth seemed to recoil beneath it. Kanji stopped instantly, every instinct awakened once again as an eruption of silver Yin exploded from the crater behind him.
The remaining pieces of Kashigi's body convulsed violently as black fissures spread across his skin, replacing flesh with something that looked less human and more like obsidian breaking beneath unbearable pressure.
Every crack glowed from within with blinding silver light, while his hair surged downward in an endless torrent until it reached the shattered ground around his feet, moving like living strands of dark metal. His eyes lost every trace of color, becoming pure white, empty of pupils, empty of emotion, as though even his humanity had been consumed by the transformation.
Kanji did not move.
It was annihilation willingly embraced. Kashigi had abandoned every logical tought, every carefully measured decision and every disciplined principle that had defined him since the beginning of the fight.
His body crossed the place faster than collapsing thunder, black cracks spreading wider with every fraction of a second as the overwhelming force devoured him from within. Entire sections of his arms dissolved into silver particles before reforming again only to fracture once more beneath the strain. His fist surged toward Kanji's face carrying enough condensed Yin to split a entire country, yet several meters before impact, something changed. His acceleration faltered. The silver radiance surrounding him flickered violently before entire portions of his body began disappearing into countless fragments of light.
Momentum alone carried Kashigi the remaining distance.
His fist stopped only centimeters from Kanji's face.
The arm connected to it no longer existed completely.
Large portions of his shoulders had already dissolved into drifting particles, while the endless black hair scattered into the wind like ashes leaving a dying fire. The white emptiness filling his eyes slowly faded until fragments of the man beneath the transformation finally returned.
his expression belonged to an exhausted human being.
Kashigi, his voice barely louder than a whisper – ''...Even after all that... I still failed.''
A bitter smile, almost invisible beneath the blood staining his face, slowly appeared.
Kashigi – ''My reason to exist... was never victory. It was never glory. It was never proving that i stood above every other path. Enazumi entrusted me with one responsibility... to become another wall before the summit... another obstacle forcing you to climb higher.''
More fragments disappeared from his chest.
Kashigi lowered his fading eyes.
Kashigi – ''But you had already climbed beyond me before we ever met. My existence... was dull... painful... every year spent believing there would come a day when my purpose finally mattered.''
His voice trembled.
Kashigi – ''For what...?''
Another piece of his body dissolved.
Kashigi – ''...Why...?''
Kanji slowly stepped forward until only a single pace separated them. The golden armor surrounding his body had almost completely vanished, leaving behind only faint traces of light drifting from exhausted Yin pathways that had endured more than they were ever meant to endure. Looking upon Kashigi now, he no longer saw one of Enazumi's guardians.
He saw another man who had spent years allowing a single destination to define every step of his life, only to discover that the destination itself had never belonged to him.
Without speaking immediately, Kanji gently raised one hand.
His fingers rested softly against Kashigi's forehead.
The same hand that, only moments earlier, had carried enough strength to decide the battle.
Now it carried only compassion.
Kanji closed his eyes.
Kanji – ''May God be with you.''
No grand light descended.
Only the wind continued passing gently through the broken factories while a single tear escaped the corner of Kashigi's eye, tracing a quiet path through the dust covering his face. He did not struggle against it. He did not hide it.
A faint smile touched his lips.
Then...
His body scattered into innumerable silver particles.
The wind accepted them without resistance.
Within moments...
Nothing remained.
--
Akashi rested comfortably against the steel railing overlooking the complex while Omoshiro stood several meters away, his attention drifting somewhere far beyond the visible landscape, Between them existed the peculiar kind of friendship that required remarkably little conversation, neither finding discomfort in allowing long stretches of quiet to pass uninterrupted.
Akashi finally broke that silence, his voice carrying the familiar excitement that always emerged whenever another unknown path appeared before him.
Akashi – ''So... who do we go bother next?''
Omoshiro did not answer immediately.
Before either could continue, a soft electronic tone echoed through the communication device resting against Akashi's ear. Almost immediately Tenka's voice replaced the quiet wind sweeping across the rooftop, though even through the radio her exhaustion remained unmistakable. Several keyboards clicked rapidly in the background while dozens of distant voices exchanged information inside Federation X's command center.
Tenka – ''I've finished reviewing every remaining high-priority Yin user still operating independently.''
Several holographic windows suddenly projected outward from the communication device, organizing themselves into two detailed personnel files suspended before Akashi and Omoshiro.
The first profile expanded automatically.
Kagi Moshiro (Χ).
Age: Twenty-three.
Status: Active.
Threat Assessment: Catastrophic under instability.
Psychological Evaluation: Severe emotional dysregulation. Yin output directly proportional to psychological state. Threat level impossible to measure consistently.
Below the evaluation, countless photographs displayed collapsed buildings, fractured highways and enormous exclusion zones surrounding locations where Kagi had previously lost control. Every report ended with nearly identical conclusions.
Containment unsuccessful.
Extreme caution advised.
Akashi quietly studied the information before scratching the back of his head.
Akashi – ''Seems interesting.''
Tenka answered almost immediately.
Tenka – ''Wait.''
The first profile disappeared.
Another replaced it.
Only one photograph appeared.
A man with long black hair.
INEI KIYONAKA (Ξ).
Age: Thirty-nine.
Affiliation: Unknown.
Occupation: Unknown.
Birthplace: Unknown.
Family: Unknown.
Education: Unknown.
Almost every line simply displayed the same message.
CLASSIFIED.
More files opened.
Entire pages had been deliberately erased.
Access revoked by executive governmental order.
Tenka sighed.
Tenka – ''Every government that knows Yin exists agreed to remove almost every record involving him.''
Akashi raised an eyebrow.
Akashi – ''Why?''
Silence lingered for several seconds before Tenka answered.
Tenka – ''Because he asked them to.''
One remained visible.
INCIDENT REPORT — "NORTHERN STRAIT ANOMALY."
Several years earlier, during a period of escalating military tension between two neighboring nuclear powers, reconnaissance satellites observed unprecedented military mobilization across both borders. Missile systems entered launch readiness. Naval fleets converged upon the disputed waters. Intelligence analysts later concluded that the probability of open war had exceeded ninety percent. Then, at precisely 02:17 local time, every gravitational instrument, navigation system and orbital tracking array monitoring the region simultaneously recorded an impossible distortion lasting four minutes and twelve seconds. Aircraft lost orientation. Missile guidance became unusable. Radar images folded into meaningless patterns. By the time every system recovered, both governments had independently ordered their forces to withdraw, later attributing the anomaly to an unexplained systems failure.
Tenka looked down at the final uncensored sentence.
Her voice became almost a whisper.
Tenka – ''Federation Z's oldest surviving records contain one handwritten note regarding the incident.''.
Tenka – ''...'Inei passed through the area on foot.'...'"
Akashi stared at the photograph of the long-haired man for several moments.
Then...
He smiled wider than he had all day.
Akashi – ''...Forget Kagi.''
He turned toward Omoshiro.
eyes practically gleamed with excitement.
Akashi – ''Let's go meet the guy that governments erase because he politely asked them to.''
He continued now looking to omoshiro.
Akashi – ''So... which one sounds more interesting to you?''
His gaze never left the distant silhouette of Yggdrasil while Theta continued weaving itself through thousands of overlapping sounds drifting across the headquarters.
Somewhere several floors below, two engineers argued over structural erros. Hundreds of recruits finished another evening training session while instructors quietly corrected their breathing techniques. Birds settled among nearby pine trees.
Omoshiro – ''One loses control because of emotion. The other appears to have abandoned emotion altogether. I don't know which one is stronger. I only know the second one is harder to understand.''
Before Akashi could respond, a soft electronic tone interrupted the conversation as the communication device resting against his ear activated once again. Unlike the relaxed exchanges they normally shared after training, Tenka's breathing sounded noticeably quicker this time, accompanied by the constant rhythm of keyboards, overlapping conversations and computer systems processing enormous quantities of information somewhere inside Federation X's command center.
Tenka – ''Don't leave the rooftop yet. I've received another update.''
The photograph showed an ordinary man.
Long black hair.
Calm eyes.
A neatly tailored suit partially concealed beneath a light-colored trench coat.
No visible weapon.
If someone had shown the photograph without context, Akashi would have assumed it belonged to a university professor finishing another day of lectures rather than one of the most classified Yin users alive.
Nearly thirty minutes later, a transport aircraft carrying Akashi and Omoshiro crossed above the outskirts of a quiet suburban district lying several prefectures away from Federation X. Through the reinforced side windows, the city appeared almost painfully ordinary beneath the orange light of the setting sun.
Residential neighborhoods stretched alongside narrow commercial streets lined with convenience stores, pharmacies and modest restaurants preparing for the evening rush. Children returned home carrying schoolbags while elderly couples wandered peacefully between local markets, entirely unaware that intelligence agencies from half the world currently observed the same district through satellites orbiting hundreds of kilometers overhead. The contrast fascinated Akashi. Somewhere below lived a man capable of convincing governments to erase their own history, yet the neighborhood itself looked no different from countless others scattered throughout Japan.
As the aircraft descended toward a concealed landing point several kilometers away, another holographic display unfolded before them, this time transmitting a live reconnaissance feed captured by one of Federation X's high-altitude drones. The image initially revealed nothing unusual. Cars obeyed traffic lights. Cyclists crossed intersections. Shopkeepers arranged fresh produce outside family-owned stores preparing for another ordinary evening.
Only after the camera gradually zoomed toward a single pedestrian did the atmosphere inside the aircraft quietly change.
He walked exactly as the photograph suggested.
Hands resting inside his coat pockets.
Long black hair moving gently with the evening breeze.
His pace neither hurried nor slow.
Pedestrians naturally separated around him without consciously acknowledging his presence, each continuing toward work, home or nearby shops as though the man passing among them carried absolutely nothing worthy of memory. Watching him produced a strangely uncomfortable feeling. Every powerful Yin user Akashi had ever encountered seemed to bend the surrounding world simply by existing. Crowds stared. Animals became restless. The atmosphere itself felt heavier.
Inei achieved the opposite. Looking away from him required less effort than continuing to watch, almost as though reality quietly encouraged observers to dismiss him.
Akashi unconsciously leaned closer toward the projection.
Akashi – ''...That's him?''
Tenka – ''Yes.''
The drone continued following Inei from hundreds of meters above as he calmly approached a small neighborhood convenience store standing beside a quiet intersection. Nothing in his movements suggested awareness of the surveillance surrounding him, despite the fact that Federation X certainly wasn't the only organization observing his routine.
Additional indicators suddenly appeared across the tactical display, each marking another reconnaissance platform belonging to entirely different governments. American. Russian. Chinese. European. At least nine independent intelligence services maintained uninterrupted visual confirmation of the same man while simultaneously obeying the identical standing order.
Observe. Never engage.
Then...
The feed disappeared.
Every monitor inside the aircraft flashed brilliant white before erupting into violent static accompanied by a deafening burst of electronic interference. Emergency systems automatically compensated while technicians inside Federation X shouted over one another through the communication channel, desperately attempting to recover the connection. By the time the image returned several seconds later, the drone no longer existed.
And below...
Inei quietly entered through the automatic glass doors, carrying himself with the same calm rhythm as before, as though nothing unusual had occurred at all.
Neither Akashi nor Omoshiro spoke immediately.
Theta had already extended itself far beyond the aircraft, silently reaching toward the neighborhood awaiting them. Thousands of voices, footsteps and mechanical vibrations entered Omoshiro's perception simultaneously before one particular presence quietly emerged from among them. It did not overwhelm the others. It did not dominate the landscape through pressure. Instead, it resembled an absence so complete that Theta itself struggled to describe it.
Omoshiro slowly closed his eyes.
Akashi – ''Something wrong?''
Omoshiro remained silent for several seconds before finally answering.
Omoshiro – ''...His eyes.''
Omoshiro searched for words unusual enough that even he hesitated.
Omoshiro – ''I haven't seen them yet.''
Another pause followed.
Omoshiro – ''But I think... they're similar to mine.''
His expression remained perfectly calm.
Only his voice changed almost imperceptibly.
Omoshiro – ''If I had spent another twenty years believing nothing would ever become better.''
Akashi looked through the aircraft window toward the quiet district now growing larger beneath them. For reasons he could not explain, his heartbeat remained perfectly steady. Every instinct that normally awakened before meeting another powerful Yin user remained strangely silent.
His body neither anticipated combat nor evaluated distance, openings or danger. Standing somewhere below existed a man whose existence had frightened governments into rewriting history itself, yet the sensation surrounding him resembled neither fear nor excitement.
It felt like standing before a question.
One so old...
that even the desire to fight seemed insignificant beside it.