I didn't hear footsteps.Didn't need to.We moved like the air wasn't ours to disturb.
Yui led.Kaito on her right, Emi just behind.Rin was above us somewhere—silent, watching. Riku at my back. I kept my eyes forward, fingers steady near the hilt.
This was supposed to be simple.No speeches. No dramatic orders. Just in, locate, contain, and get out.
Capture Vance Krait alive.That was it.
One Gray fell ahead of us. Silent chokehold from Kaito.Two more near the eastern wall—Rin's arrows barely made a sound. They collapsed. Silent.
We didn't stop. We didn't check.Too clean.
Yui signaled a turn. I followed.No one hesitated. We were sharp. Trained.
But something in me itched.Not fear. Not instinct.Static.
The kind that crawled under your nails and told you were walking toward something you weren't built to understand.
My Spectra flickered once—barely a glow. The band on my wrist pulsed, off-tempo.I pressed it down. Not now. Not here.
"Two up," Kaito whispered through comms. "Guarding the stairwell. I'll take—"
By the time he said "right," Yui had already moved.
A blur.Two precise strikes.Both down. No sound.
She didn't even glance back. Just raised two fingers and pointed—forward.
We reached the door.
No resistance.
That was the part that got me.Not the enemies. Not the silence.The ease.
Yui tapped her earpiece. "Main chamber ahead. We move together. Formation stays tight."
Five nods. No voices.
I should've felt ready.But my hand shook once—barely noticeable.I told myself it was adrenaline.I told myself a lot of things.
Yui opened the door.
And Vance Krait was already waiting
The room felt wrong the second we stepped in.Not a trap. Not an ambush.Worse.It felt prepared.
Vance Krait stood near the center, back to us, mid-sentence. He was speaking to someone—another man, older, slick suit, nervous posture.They were finalizing a deal.
I saw a handshake.Then a subtle flick of Vance's wrist.
The man vanished into the back hall.Doors shut behind him.
Vance didn't turn.
The room was wide—no columns, no cover. Clean walls. Stone floor. Light fixtures buzzing overhead like lazy flies. Nothing messy. Nothing out of place.He was giving us every angle.Like he wanted us to see him.
Yui stepped forward. Blades still sheathed. Voice low.
"Vance Krait. You're coming with us. Alive, if you don't resist."
He didn't flinch.Didn't speak.
Instead, he brought two fingers to his lapel… and tapped.
Five shadows moved.
Out of the side doors, stairwells, and overhead scaffolds—They dropped in perfect sync.
Five.Elite Greens. No mistaking it. Not the junk soldiers we passed. These were sharp.Posture perfect. Movements lean. Expressions flat.
I didn't recognize them.That scared me more.
Vance finally turned.
He looked… unimpressed.Black jacket buttoned tight. Slicked hair, unmoving.Eyes half-lidded. Bored.Like we'd walked in late to our own funeral.
No words. Just a glance.
Then Rin moved.Fast. Controlled. Arrow nocked and fired in one motion—center mass.
One of them caught it.
Caught it.Mid-air. Without Spectra. Without blinking.
That's when I felt it—The shift.
It wasn't that we were in danger.It was that they weren't.
Riku muttered, "You see that?"
Kaito didn't answer.Neither did Yui.
She stepped forward—
—and then, finally, Vance spoke.
Voice smooth. Dry. No sharpness to it.
"Test them. Don't kill. Yet."
Like he was asking someone to taste soup.Like we weren't people. Just pieces.
Yui moved.
Not fast—unreachable.
She didn't run.She rose.Lifted from the ground like gravity was a suggestion.
She called it Aether Step.
Blades gleaming, tucked in close. Her body leaned forward, head level.And then she was gone—a silent streak of violet slicing the air, feet not touching the floor.
I'd never seen her fight before.Now I knew why.
It was clean at first.
We broke formation the way we trained—each of us locking onto one of Vance's elites.Rin climbed fast. Kaito surged forward. Riku charged. Emi split left.I stayed with her.
It almost looked like we had a chance.
Then the cracks started showing.
Kaito struck first.The moment Vance gave the order, he was gone.No hesitation. No wasted motion. Just forward—fast.
He found his target mid-step. A tall man, built like a tower, short blade drawn.Didn't matter.
Kaito dipped low, inside the guard, and slammed a fist into his ribs.The grunt he got told him everything—this wasn't some untouchable god. This was bone. Muscle. Soft in the right places.
The elite recovered fast. Too fast.A counter-kick sliced the air. Kaito ducked under it, grabbed the ankle, twisted hard, and flipped him clean onto his back.
Then Kaito was on him.Three strikes to the sternum. A knee to the jaw. One elbow across the throat.The man choked, lost rhythm—then collapsed.
One down.
Kaito didn't smile. Didn't exhale.He turned his head. Locked onto Vance.
The man hadn't moved.
Just stood there—still, untouched, unreadable.Like he hadn't even noticed someone lost.
Rin moved next.
She was already climbing the scaffolding again—smaller bow in hand. Compact. Designed for tight range.
From above, she spotted her mark—lean, fast, posted near the edge of the chamber.
She drew fast. Fired.
First arrow deflected.
Second struck shoulder—not deep, but enough to stagger him.
He looked up.
Their eyes met.
Then he launched.
He didn't jump—he ascended, body flickering through the air, closing two stories in a single motion.
Rin reached for a blade—too late. He hit her with a spinning back-kick mid-descent.
She slammed shoulder-first into the floor. Her bow cracked beneath her.
She didn't scream. She just stayed down.
"Rin!"
Riku's voice broke the air.
His Spectra flared hot—raw green, pulsing.
He didn't look to anyone. Didn't ask.
Just ran.
His first punch landed like a cannon. Straight to the attacker's ribs.
The man stumbled, actually stumbled. Riku pressed in.
No rhythm. No control.
Just brute momentum.
He got inside his guard, drove a knee into his gut, then shoved him backward with a shoulder slam that cracked the wall behind.
Then the second one arrived.
Sharper. Cleaner.
Caught Riku mid-pivot. Kick to the thigh. Elbow to the temple.
Riku didn't fall.
He turned into it. Hooked the man's wrist, spun him sideways, and threw him.
For a moment—it looked like he might win.
Then the first attacker got back up.
Two-on-one.
They converged.
One sweep to the knees. A hard blow to his back. Fist to the ribs.
He dropped beside Rin.
Out cold.
Still breathing.
Then the chaos closed in around me.
I moved to Emi's side—my fists clenched, breath short.
No weapon. Just me.
An elite rushed in.
I ducked the first strike, lunged into a jab to his gut. It connected.He grunted.
Then swung a forearm across my head.
I staggered.Emi pulled me back—then shoved me aside as the man slashed a thin blade across her thigh. She dropped with a sharp gasp and rolled for cover.
I turned—blocked a punch, countered with a hit to the ribs.
He barely felt it.
He hit back harder.
I didn't retreat.Didn't flinch.I threw myself into him—shoulder-first.He grunted—stumbled—but didn't fall.
I followed up, fists flying.One to the jaw. Another to the ribs.He reeled—just a step—then recovered faster than I could react.
His elbow slammed into my back. Another hand shoved my chest.I staggered, but caught myself.
My legs didn't give out.
I made them hold.
Even as the second one closed in from my flank.Even as the air thinned.
I struck again—one clean hit to the side of his neck.
Then came the counter.
A boot to my side.A punch to my face.A third blow I couldn't even track.
This time I dropped.
Hard.
Still awake.
Still burning.
But too many directions, too many angles.
I wasn't outmatched.
I was outnumbered.
I looked up.
Three figures moved like shadows caught in a storm.
Yui. Kaito. Vance.
No openings. No breaks. Just steel on steel.
Yui's dual blades flashed in tight arcs—controlled, but tighter than before.Her stance wasn't broken, but it was pressured.She wasn't gliding anymore. She was holding on.
Kaito flanked with broad swings—less refined, more raw.Blood down his lip, shirt torn across the ribs.But he kept moving. Kept jabbing. Kept pressing.
"His Spectra's illusions!" Kaito called out mid-step, ducking under a slash. "He's not where he looks!"
That didn't help.
Vance didn't fight like a man using tricks.
He fought like a man playing through a memory.
No strain. No panic. Just surgical control.
Then—
Vance stepped through a version of himself.
Like walking out of a suit.
The illusion peeled. The lie died.
Color bled into the air—deep, cruel violet.
My breath caught.
Even from here, it was undeniable.
He's not a Green.
Kaito hesitated.Yui didn't.
She pivoted—perfect form—closed the gap with two short dashes.
But something was off.
She struck high, then low—blades aimed true—
And then paused.
Just for a blink.
Her eyes locked. Her angle shifted.
Something was missing.
Like she saw something she couldn't trust anymore.
I didn't know what it was.
But she did.
Vance slipped past her guard.
One clean step.
One clean cut.
She dropped.
Fast. Hard.
Didn't scream. Didn't move.
Kaito didn't freeze.He turned—slow, steady—and stepped between them.His sword came up, two hands on the hilt.Posture crooked. Breathing sharp. Blood running down his arm.
He didn't speak.
Vance did."You trained to survive," he murmured.
Then struck.
Kaito met the first blow head-on—steel grinding steel, muscles screaming.He held.
The second came faster.Kaito parried—barely—but stumbled.
The third—Vance feinted high, then turned the blade and stripped the sword from Kaito's grip.One fluid motion.Steel clattered against the stone.
Kaito went for it—reached—Too slow.A kick to the gut.An elbow to the back.Then a heel to the shoulder.
He collapsed forward—one knee, then both.Still upright. Still defiant.But unarmed.
Vance stood over him.Calm. Precise. Sword now his alone.
Kaito looked up—eyes still locked, lips parted, breath broken.Then—He surged forward. No weapon. Just will.Grabbed Vance's sleeve with one blood-slick hand.
It didn't last.Vance twisted, stepped back, and drove the hilt of the blade into Kaito's sternum.
A breath left him.Then the strength.Kaito slumped—head down, arms loose at his sides.
Vance raised the sword."I trained to end things."
I tried to move.Tried to scream his name.
But my voice stayed buried.My body wouldn't answer.
I just watched.
Kaito, kneeling.Vance, above.And the blade—rising like a verdict.