"So... let's begin."
These two words, dripping from the lips of the man in the suit, echoed like a war bell amidst the metallic din of TechnoTokyo. Narrowly escaping thanks to Berwick's warning, the Lumine Team suddenly found themselves plunged into the heart of a chaotic battle. The massive metal piece had gouged a small crater where it struck the ground, scattering sparks and debris everywhere. Robots descending from above and a trio of cyberpunk figures took up threatening positions before them.
"Wouldn't it be better if we stopped talking and focused on defending ourselves?" Ren's cold, calm voice cut through Alchio's startled reaction. He slowly drew his long sword, which held a strange shimmer within its blade.
"Alchio! This isn't the time for fooling around! Everyone, battle stations!" Berwick's voice was sharp. In his red uniform, steel sword in hand, he stood before the group, his eyes locked directly onto the man in the suit below.
"Scatter immediately!" shouted Hyogaki, analyzing the situation rapidly behind his glasses. Unlike Berwick, he had taken tactical command this time. "Alchio, ice wall against the rocket robots on the left flank! Akemi, prioritize the laser users from high ground! Ren, the invisible cyberpunk is yours! Kiko, Hana, stay in a defensive position, intervene if anyone gets injured! Berwick, you come with me, we'll take the ones with the hammer and whip!"
Hyogaki's directives were clear and swift. Despite being rookies, the Lumine Team moved with surprising coordination. Alchio roared, "FRIDGIA'S WALL!" creating a colossal ice barricade against the incoming rockets. Akemi leaped onto a building's roof, sending deadly arrows towards the laser snipers. Ren vanished into the shadows with his black sword, pursuing the invisible cyberpunk. Kiko and Hana remained at the center of the team, forming protective shields.
Berwick and Hyogaki, meanwhile, charged directly at the two cyberpunks. Hyogaki, with incredible agility, dodged the hammer cyberpunk's blows, analyzing and reporting his weak points to Berwick. "Knee joints are weak! He loses balance after the hammer's momentum!"
Berwick, acting on Hyogaki's analysis, focused on the cyberpunk using the electric whip. As the whips whizzed through the air towards him, Berwick evaded the attacks with speed gained in training, attempting to close the distance with his opponent.
However, the eyes of the man in the suit on the building's roof were solely fixed on Berwick. The struggle of the others seemed to hold little interest for him. As he watched calmly, his fingers twitched slightly.
Berwick had cornered the electric whip cyberpunk and was about to land the final blow when the Man in the Suit suddenly stepped between them. His movements were so fast that before Berwick could understand what was happening, he found himself thrown backward. In the man's hand appeared a lightsaber, previously unnoticed, glowing with an ominous red light.
"Your opponent is me, rookie. They call me Kage," Kage said, his voice carrying a metallic resonance. The energy radiating from Kage's lightsaber sent shivers down Berwick's spine.
Hyogaki shouted, "Berwick, watch out! His energy level is very high!"
Berwick quickly righted himself. He knew his steel sword stood little chance against this energy blade. His eyes darted rapidly around. Just then, Ren had taken down the invisible cyberpunk and spotted a blue-glowing energy sword dropped from their hand. Simultaneously, the electric whip cyberpunk Berwick had been fighting, momentarily stunned by Kage's intervention, also had a similar energy weapon hanging from their belt.
"I have an idea!" Berwick shouted. Concentrating his Ether in his feet, he leaped with incredible speed first to Ren's side, snatched the blue lightsaber from the ground, then darted towards the stunned cyberpunk to grab their weapon as well. Now, he held a glowing lightsaber in each hand, one blue and one green.
Kage seemed slightly surprised by this turn of events, but his expression quickly twisted into a mocking smile. "Come to play with your toys? Cute."
Berwick didn't reply. He activated both lightsabers. The blue and green energy blades hummed and flared. "Let's see whose toys are better! You fake Darth Vader!"
Just as Berwick was about to charge at Kage, Kage suddenly extended his hand and the space around Berwick warped. With a moment of dizziness and nausea, Berwick found himself in a completely different location: the roof of a massive skyscraper. The wind blew fiercely, the chaotic lights of TechnoTokyo stretching out below him. Kage waited calmly at the other end of the roof.
"We won't be disturbed here," Kage said. At that exact moment, as if emanating from invisible speakers, fast-paced, electronic DJ music began to play. Berwick couldn't understand it. The rhythm pulsed, synchronizing with the lights of the antennae at the roof's edge.
"Guys!" Berwick yelled. His teammates were in danger below. His eyes were fixed on his comrades fighting the robots below.
"A little change of scenery," Kage said, slowly turning his red lightsaber towards himself. "Now, let's pick up where we left off."
Kage lunged towards Berwick. The two lightsabers clashed on the skyscraper roof with a tremendous roar. Red, blue, and green lights danced in the night's darkness, sending sparks flying from the metallic rooftop. Their speed was incredible. They moved at a pace normal human eyes couldn't follow, blocking, parrying, and attacking. Rooftop antennae and ventilation units were sliced apart by the sword blows. The rhythm of the DJ music merged with the tempo of the fight, creating a surreal atmosphere.
Berwick, using the advantage of the two swords, pushed Kage, but Kage's experience and power were evident. Every one of Kage's blows was heavy, and Berwick struggled to block them, only narrowly escaping the attacks with his speed. Capitalizing on a momentary opening, Kage's powerful strike breached Berwick's defense, sending him staggering towards the edge of the roof. Berwick regained his balance at the last second to avoid falling, but Kage was pressing his attack.
"Is that all?!" Kage shouted.
Berwick gritted his teeth. He gathered his Ether in his legs and launched himself at Kage with a sudden explosion of speed. He crossed his two swords, locking them against Kage's red blade. As the two fighters pushed against each other, Berwick made a sudden move, using his feet to land a hard heel kick to Kage's shoulder. And they plunged downwards from the top of the skyscraper, crashing through 2-3 floors and entering the building's interior.
In a second opportunity, Berwick landed a second kick on Kage, who reeled backward and lost his balance. Berwick seized the chance and threw himself at Kage with all his might. Kage, caught off guard by Berwick's unexpected maneuver, was sent hurtling towards the skyscraper's massive glass window. The glass shattered with a loud crash, and Kage began to plummet hundreds of meters towards the ground.
Just as Berwick was about to catch his breath in triumph, he noticed Kage smiling even as he fell. Something was wrong. Looking down, he saw Kage using some kind of energy field to slow his descent.
"The game isn't over!" Berwick thought. Without hesitation, he increased his speed and began descending rapidly down the skyscraper's lower floors. He focused on Kage below. Igniting his Ether in his feet, he took a few steps on the building's wall to accelerate and burst out of a glass window on one of the middle floors. His body streamlined through the air like an arrow, rapidly closing the distance with the falling Kage.
Kage was surprised to see Berwick coming at him. He tried to convert his energy field into an attack, but Berwick was faster. He caught up to Kage in the air and delivered a powerful strike with both lightsabers combined. The impact sent both of them spiraling uncontrollably, and they flew towards a large nearby car park.
Their landing in the car park was like a meteor strike. Cars were overturned, the ground cracked, and they plummeted through several floors, shattering the concrete. A deep crater formed in the ground. A cloud of dust and debris spread out.
Berwick quickly got to his feet. The lightsabers were still in his hands. Kage was also slowly rising from the wreckage. His suit was torn, and he had a few scratches on his face, but he didn't seem seriously injured.
"Stubborn brat," Kage hissed.
Berwick attacked again without reply. Their struggle continued in the middle of the car park. Berwick's attacks were wilder and stronger. Kage remained on the defensive, seemingly waiting for Berwick to exhaust his energy. But Berwick didn't stop; each blow was harder than the last.
Taking advantage of a momentary lapse in concentration, Kage parried Berwick's attack and unleashed a concentrated blast of dark energy from his palm. The blast hit Berwick in the chest, sending him flying meters backward towards the wall of the skyscraper they had just fallen from.
Berwick slammed into the glass-covered wall of the skyscraper with a loud scrape against his back. The wall cracked from the impact, and glass rained down. Berwick groaned in pain but didn't lose consciousness. As Kage advanced on him, Berwick turned the pain into power. He pushed off the wall with his feet, coiling his body like a spring, and launched himself back at Kage. The force of the launch shattered all the remaining glass on that floor, sending it plummeting down.
They met again in the air. Amidst the falling debris and glass shards, the lightsabers clashed repeatedly. For onlookers, it was a deadly visual spectacle. They were so close they could feel each other's breath. They fought, bouncing from one piece of wreckage to another in the air. Upon reaching the ground, Berwick locked Kage's red saber again with his double blades. As Kage pushed for dominance, Berwick made a sudden move, deactivating both lightsabers and, seizing the opportunity while Kage's guard was down, delivered a powerful reverse kick. The kick struck Kage's sword-holding hand, sending the red lightsaber flying into the wreckage. Berwick's own lightsabers were also flung from his hands during this violent, unbalanced maneuver, scattering into different corners of the debris.
Both were disarmed. Kage was startled. Berwick seized the opportunity and closed for hand-to-hand combat. There were no weapons now, just raw power and will. Berwick attacked with a series of fast, powerful punches, just as he had learned from Master Kane in training. Kage managed to deflect a few punches but couldn't keep up with Berwick's speed and fury. Berwick gathered his Ether in his right fist, and his fist glowed with crimson energy.
"Too slow!" he roared, and drove his fist into Kage's stomach.
The blow was far more powerful than expected. Blood gushed from Kage's mouth, and his body was sent flying backward like a cannonball. After soaring approximately 150 meters, he slammed into the wall of another skyscraper. The impact created a massive dent in the wall, shaking the building's structure and shattering the windows of smaller surrounding buildings.
Kage struggled to rise from the dent. He was severely injured but still on his feet. He looked at Berwick with fury. He raised his hand and sent a signal. From below and the roofs of nearby buildings, six cyberpunks rapidly headed towards Berwick. Three new cyberpunks had arrived in addition to the initial three he had fought.
"So, reinforcements, huh?" Berwick said, breathless, but smiling from the excitement and adrenaline pumping through him. "Good, I was just warming up! Come on then!"
Berwick suddenly found himself in the middle of a 1-on-6 battle. As the cyberpunks attacked in a coordinated manner, Berwick evaded them with incredible acrobatic movements. He slid under one's electric whip, flipped to avoid another's hammer, instinctively dodged the invisible one's attack at the last second, and ran up walls to escape the laser blasts of the newcomers. He disabled each cyberpunk with single, decisive blows (punches, kicks, elbows) enhanced with Ether, advancing towards Kage. All six cyberpunks were quickly on the ground.
Just as he was about to deliver the final blow to Kage, Kage suddenly grabbed Berwick by the collar with surprising speed. He lifted Berwick from the ground and began dragging him across the asphalt road below. The asphalt tore apart as Berwick's back scraped against it, creating small craters. Kage threw Berwick with all his might.
As Berwick tumbled through the air, he didn't give up. He quickly pulled out the infinite rope technology Master Takeshi had given him from his pouch. He hurled the grappling hook at the end of the rope towards the top of a nearby skyscraper. Once the hook held firm, Berwick used the rope to swing around the skyscraper, using it like a sling, and launched himself back towards Kage with powerful and incredible speed. With the momentum gained from spinning in the air, he brought his right kick down onto Kage's face.
Kage was sent staggering backward again by the blow. His face was covered in blood. "You..." he hissed. "You really are... a pain in the neck!" He took a few steps back. "But the game isn't over yet. This was just the beginning." Kage's body became enveloped in dark energy. "Our business is unfinished, rookie!" he said, and just as he was about to vanish, he created a large energy blast.
The blast sent Berwick, and Akemi, who had been watching the events anxiously from the roof of a nearby building trying to provide cover fire, flying meters into the air.
"Akemi!" Berwick shouted. He quickly glided through the air and caught Akemi, who was on the verge of losing consciousness. They were falling together. Berwick instinctively drew the steel sword from the sheath on his back. It might not have been as powerful as the lightsabers he had lost, but it was his only chance now. He slammed the sword into the wall of the skyscraper next to them with all his might. The sword pierced the metal, grinding as it stopped their fall just three floors from the ground.
However, the steel sword couldn't withstand such a sudden load. With metal fatigue, the sword snapped in half with a terrible sound.
"No!"
Berwick and Akemi began falling again. In a final effort, Berwick pulled Akemi close and tried to absorb the entire impact with his own body as they hit the ground. Their landing was hard, but thanks to Berwick, Akemi escaped unharmed. Berwick lay on the ground in pain, pieces of his broken sword beside him. When the dust cloud cleared, there was no trace of Kage.
Just then, the sound of fast running footsteps was heard. Alchio, Hyogaki, Ren, Kiko, and Hana ran through the wreckage to their side. They had already dealt with the robots. It had been a tough battle for them too. Their faces were anxious.
"Berwick! Akemi! Are you okay?!" Alchio shouted, immediately kneeling beside Berwick. Kiko and Hana were checking on Akemi's condition.
Akemi had come to. "I'm okay, but Berwick..."
Berwick groaned in pain, trying to sit up. His eyes fell on the hilt of his broken steel sword lying beside him. He sighed deeply. "Cough! Ah... Seriously, dude?! I just got this... Master Takeshi is gonna freak out..." There was a look of comical weariness mixed with pain on his face.
Hyogaki scanned the surroundings. "Kage has escaped. The energy trace around here is diminishing. What should we do?"
Ren added, "And the robots have stopped too. Their main controller must be gone."
Berwick was still sitting on the ground, looking at his broken sword. He sighed deeply. "I don't know, but..."
Just then, a bright, blue portal opened beside them. Stella Hasegawa stepped out of the portal. There was a serious expression on her face, but a look of relief was also visible in her eyes.
"Lumine team. You did a good job," Stella said.
Berwick looked at Stella. "Good job? They got away..."
"You let him get away, yes, but you stopped the main threat in TechnoTokyo for now. The energy level seems to have returned to normal. The mission is complete for now. We're returning to base. We need to tend to the wounded."
Berwick got up with Alchio's help. He took one last look at his broken sword before turning to his team. Their first mission had been far more challenging than expected, but they were alive. Together, they walked towards the portal Stella had opened and stepped from the chaotic atmosphere of TechnoTokyo into the safe environment of the Guardian base.
Meanwhile, in a completely different universe...
Kage, injured, entered a gloomy castle that resembled a vast imperial fortress. Upon reaching the castle's meeting area, a being with a sharp and powerful aura waiting within sent shivers down his spine.
"Kage... did you handle the task?"
Kage, injured, stumbled through a salute and stood back up. "Master... The child was very strong... just as you said he would be." He stumbled over and sat on a chair leaning against the wall.
The figure hidden in the shadows slowly approached Kage. He was smirking through his mask. "Good... So our timid one is slowly becoming a man..." After letting out a malicious laugh towards Kage, he killed Kage with a single move. He returned to his table, and as he approached, the candlelight beside it began to glint off the golden hues of his owl mask. "Let's see you grow a little stronger... Son of Fate..."