The world was cold, silent, and crushing.
Kaito felt himself sinking into a bottomless ocean, the light of the surface fading into a tiny, mocking needlepoint. Carrying someone's will is a heavy burden, he thought as the salt water filled his lungs.
He was seven years old again. He hadn't seen his biological father since he was two. He had been a stray, a boy with no name until a woman named Hana Satomi took him in. She was a low-level government clerk, a woman who believed in the "Tree" of Azerion.
But the tree was rotting.
Satomi had discovered a ledger of corruption. When she confronted the ministers, they didn't tremble. They laughed. They threw a bundle of cash at her feet like she was a beggar. One man—Edward D. Williams, then just an ambitious minister—had looked at her with hungry, loathsome eyes and told her to come to his bed that night if she wanted a real "promotion."
Ashamed and furious, Satomi spent a month building a fortress of evidence. But Azerion didn't want the truth. Instead of an investigation, she received a suspension. Her home was sealed. The very ministers she tried to expose sued her for corruption, flipping her evidence to destroy her.
Under the weight of the debt, the slander, and the assaults on her dignity, the light in her eyes went out. Before she ended her life, she knelt before seven-year-old Kaito.
"Son," she whispered, her voice a ghost of its former self. "Greed is a disease that cannot be cured or satisfied. Never become a greedy fish. But remember... some people can still change. Make this society a better place. I have no one else to count on but you. I'm sorry I have to leave."
Kaito reached out for her in the dark, but his hand gripped only cold air.
The King on the Sidelines
Kaito's eyes snapped open. The dream dissolved, replaced by the smell of ozone and gunpowder.
He wasn't in the sea; he was standing in the middle of a ruined street. Yurata Hanto was gone, having crawled away into the shadows while Kaito was momentarily lost in the "pressure" of the presence before him.
Machinora Kanjo was sitting casually on a stone bench just a few feet away, leaning back as if he were watching a boring play.
"Have you ever fought a former Sea King and a Guild Leader at the same time?" Kanjo asked, his voice smooth and terrifyingly relaxed.
Kaito exhaled, his heartbeat slowing into a lethal rhythm. "Nah. But I've killed a tiger with my bare hands. However... it's only you here."
Kanjo let out a short, dry chuckle. "Today? Today, I am not your opponent. I have no interest in fighting a ghost who hasn't proven his weight. First, prove you are worthy of my blade."
Without another word, Kanjo stood up and walked into the crowd, his presence vanishing like mist. Kaito didn't have time to pursue him.
Bang!
A bullet hissed through the air. Kaito's hand was a blur as he drew his own iron revolver.
Clang!
The two lead slugs collided in mid-air, flattening against each other and falling to the cobblestones. Kashishima Hatano stepped out from behind a carriage, his gun still smoking.
"Enough games, Shadow Fang!" Kashishima roared.
From the opposite side, the air growled. Hakimo Hanto charged, his massive, heavy sea-sword raised high. The weight of the blade was enough to crush a stone pillar.
Kaito didn't reach for a new weapon. Instead, he scooped up the half-broken shard of Yurata's katana from the ground. With a flick of his wrist, he caught the massive downward swing of the Sea King. The broken steel screamed under the pressure, but Kaito held it firm with a single hand.
"A broken sword for a broken king," Kaito remarked.
He lunged forward, his boot connecting with Hakimo's chest in a thunderous kick. The Sea King managed to slide his sword down to shield the blow, but the sheer brute force sent him skidding back ten feet, his boots carving ruts into the road.
Kashishima and Hakimo moved together now, flanking the assassin. They were the "Law" and the "Chaos" of the old world, joined together to kill the man who wanted to build a new one.
Kaito looked at them both, his eyes turning into cold, silver voids. He reached into the lining of his black jacket.
"It's time for both of you to rest in peace," Kaito said.
Between his fingers, thin glints of light appeared. Not steel. Not lead. Silver and iron threads, as thin as a spider's silk but strong enough to garrotte a god.