Gisurd, previously known as Gislen Urdale, had set foot inside The Hideout's capital.
More precisely, he stood in the courtyard of the school, his face tired, as if he hadn't slept in days.
To begin an entire invasion, just to go after Kazuhiko, was not all there was to this story. His objective was to capture Kazuhiko and make the world fear him, especially the next generation, the students of Kazuhiko.
And thus, his right hand started glowing bluish green as if it were a star. He punched the ground, and it shook vigorously.
The same bluish green turned into a wide and tall see-through barrier that surrounded the school, along with the area surrounding it, in an instant.
The barrier was essentially unbreakable; only by killing Gisurd would the barrier break.
Gisurd was previously a Graceless, but despite that, a god approached him and offered him power.
While his right hand was on the ground, Gisurd stretched his left arm on his side, his fingers spread apart.
"I will be acknowledged." He said to himself.
This time, his left hand glowed greenish blue.
A shadowy portal, the same color as his left hand, appeared with a sound of what could be described as desperate, hollow screams calling for help.
"Come, my soldiers."
Out of the portal walked two rows of Hunters, government soldiers from the other world, under Lucian's command.
There were three ranks to the Hunters: green, yellow, and red. However, Gisurd's Hunters were unique.
He took the concept of Lucian's Hunters and twisted them, sharing the same power he was given by the god.
Hundreds of the Hunters in grey colors marched in, each one having a bluish green glow to their hands.
Before the courtyard could be filled with too many of them, Gisurd stood up, spreading both of his arms at head's length.
"Go! Kill every last one of the students in that school!"
Meanwhile, somewhere under the streets of The Hideout's capital.
Yure Hoshigara, the Head of Intelligence, with his black bucket hat and his dark eyebags, stood in an elevator going underground. The elevator was made out of steel, just like all the walls, floors, and ceilings in here.
Bing!
The elevator reached the lowest floor.
Yure stepped out, and before him was a long corridor that would lead into a wide facility. It was lit up by lamps built into the ceiling.
Yure, being the Head of Intelligence, ranked 7th, in a system where rank 9 is the highest and 0 is the lowest, could access almost every faction.
He came down here to visit Darnell, the Head of Defence, ranked 6th.
Reaching the cross, between the huge facility and two corridors going in both directions, he took a left turn.
The Head of Defence's office was right before him.
The reason why he came down here was to check on Darnell. Too many people have gotten past the defence mechanisms, causing disturbances in the capital.
He wasn't aware of the current invasion, however.
'Darnell. You better be in here to answer my questions.' He thought to himself before opening the door.
The door was pushed open.
And-
The image that Yure saw before him haunted him until the rest of his days.
Near his feet lay a pistol, and Darnell's body dropped to the console as he was sitting in his chair.
Yure immediately turned away from the door, trying to hold in a puke.
"How.... Eugh! How could this have happened?!"
He rested himself against the wall.
"There's no way Darnell would've..."
A realization hit Yure, his eyes slowly widened, and the hair on his body stood up.
"Unless someone killed him."
Yure pushed himself away from the wall, stepping into the huge facility.
He could feel the presence of Caelum somewhere around here.
Caelum stood near a wall, his white hair slightly flowing due to the air conditioning, commanding some of the workers of government.
Yure didn't hear what he was saying, nor did he care to hear it.
His steps hurried as he got closer to Caelum.
With a loud bang, Yure with his forearm held Caelum against the steel wall by his chest.
"You did this, didn't you?!" Yure's words echoed across the entire facility.
Caelum raised an eyebrow, seemingly unbothered by Yure trying to pin him against the wall.
"Did what?" He calmly asked.
"The Head of Defence, Darnell, is dead!"
Everything went quiet.
The news of Darnell's death hit like a whiplash. He was one of the hardest-working people within The Hideout.
Caelum's heart sank to his stomach.
"Darnell is... Dead? Are you serious?"
Yure clenched his left fist, almost as if he were to punch Caelum.
"Too many suspicions have fallen on you! You... Traitor."
Caelum tried to push Yure away from him, but it was futile.
"Being rank 0, I don't have access to any of the Elites' sections. I couldn't at any point reach him if he were actually dead."
Yure's grip weakened.
Caelum was right. There was no way for him to reach Darnell.
Yure let go of Caelum without saying a word, his mind wandered to different thoughts, calculating every possibility.
But there seemed to be an empty spot in his mind.
"If you really think I'm the impostor, going around killing people, then go ahead..." Caelum spoke softly.
He threw his hands in the air.
"...Kill me."
Yure took a step back, his body slightly quivering.
He wasn't sure what to believe anymore.
"Go on. Kill me if you can. Surely the impostor will be gone once you kill me." Caelum continued.
Seeing Yure hesitate, Caelum lowered his hands and straightened his back.
"I want to find the impostor as much as you do. If we work together, surely we'll find something."
"All the elites have gone away on a mission anyway, leaving us two here," Caelum added, waiting for Yure's response.
Yure looked around, seeing the distraught faces of all the workers.
His eyes met with Caelum's for just a moment before turning the other way and walking out without saying a word.
Back at the school, the sun shone brightly through the cloudless sky.
Kids of all ages ran outside, enjoying the weather.
Yamikuro walked through the hallways of the school building. It was relatively empty, no huge crowds, apart from a few students either sitting on the ground, eyes glued to their phones, or talking with each other.
Things had gotten rather peaceful; maybe it was time to stop seeking revenge.
Lucian Daichi was an awful person, the ruler of the other world, and the person who supposedly killed Yamikuro's parents. But given enough time, Yamikuro and his friends could surely take him down.
Pursuing revenge in the place of love would only slow him down.
But as Yamikuro thought about all of this, the ground suddenly trembled.
The school building seemed to sway slightly from right to left.
All the students in the hallway immediately panicked, and some even rushed to the windows.
Yamikuro was one of the ones looking out the windows.
He immediately noticed the bluish-green barrier. His eyes then met with Gisurd, with a portal behind him.
"Are those... Hunters?!"
Yamikuro didn't know what to do; should he have jumped down there to fight the Hunters?
As he tried to think, a girl screamed in the hallways.
"They're inside the building!"
Yamkuro's eyes went away from the windows in a blink.
The Hero for the weak ones.
That was the title he was known by.
His decision was made for him; he had to protect the students who couldn't protect themselves.
Along with...
A smile appeared on Gisurd's face.
Before him stood his old rival.
Kazuhiko Ryoti.
Kazuhiko didn't smile this time; his eyes were covered by the casting shadow of the barrier and clouds that had appeared in the sky.
"So you've come." He said with a tone mixed with anger and dullness.
The battle between old rivals was about to begin.