The fight between Kagami and Idoku has just started.
The sound of the fight echoed through the alley.
At the corner of the alley, someone.
A man carrying a baby in his arms walked past the chaos.
He only sighed and walked by as if he didn't see it.
It didn't even bother him, because he had another objective.
He didn't stop, nor did he intervene—his eyes slid over the fight and away.
He tightened his hold on the sleeping baby in his arms and turned into another alley.
Above it all, high on the clocktower, someone stood with a grin at his lips.
A necromancer's cloak fluttered in the wind, his eyes fixed on the battlefield below.
"Hm… someone down there is carrying a baby," he muttered to himself. "How… curious. I wonder… should I see how well a baby screams?"
"An interesting thought."
The voice was not his own. It was right at his ear.
He froze and his stomach dropped.
A hand rested on his shoulder—steady, unshaking.
He didn't feel it.
Only until the voice came, he could feel the hand resting on his shoulder.
Although it came after the voice, somehow he knew the hand was there, before the voice.
Slowly, his head turned.
The man with the baby stood beside him.
The child had been set gently down on the rooftop a few meters away, wrapped in a small blanket.
The man's eyes were dark, his expression calm almost empty.
"You should be careful what you say around a child," the man said, his voice low and even.
"Kids are easily frightened."
The Necromancer's hand lashed out with his knife in pure instinct.
"May I get your name?" the stranger asked.
A wide horizontal slash lunged at the stranger.
But the stranger was already gone.
He had sidestepped effortlessly.
"So it's Shirei," as he throws Shirei's wallet off the rooftop.
"Who the hell are you?" Shirei shouted.
The stranger simply said, "I don't really have a name, but people call me Akuma."
Shirei bared his teeth.
He swung again, thrusting the knife forward.
Akuma flowed around the strike, moving without any effort.
His voice remained calm, almost curious.
"Tell me. How does this ability work?"
Shirei growled, dodging the question. "Die and I'll show you!"
The knife slashed again and again, Akuma stepping back until his foot brushed the edge of the rooftop—until Akuma realized where Shirei now stood.
Right next to the baby.
Shirei's grin widened.
"You were careless," Shirei said, his knife angled down at the baby.
"Let's see if you'll fight me for your little brat!"
He raised the blade—and swung down at the baby.
A shiver tore down his spine.
His vision fractured, it felt as if he had spaced out.
A fingersnap echoed beside his ear.
It was only an instant that he felt spaced out, still in the place of his knife, a swarm of black insects crawled along his arm.
"What? Where's my knife?"
Shirei screamed and flung the bugs away, stumbling back in fear.
The baby had started to cry.
Shirei threw out a hand at the baby—
Another spine-chilling froze him for only an instant.
His chest tightened as he didn't understand.
The baby was gone, vanished from his side.
When his eyes refocused,
Akuma was holding the child in his arms again.
The baby calmed down softly.
"You scared him," Akuma said simply, his voice dropping colder.
His figure blurred, and then he was behind Shirei.
A hand slammed him to the rooftop, pinning him down like he was nothing.
Shirei's throat went dry.
He stared into Akuma's eyes closely, his whole body screaming of fear.
"Your ability," Akuma said quietly. "Tell me."
Shirei swallowed hard, trembling. "If I tell you… Shinji will kill me."
"And if you don't…" Akuma leaned closer, his expression didn't change. "…I will."
Cornered, Shirei broke.
His words spilled out. "It's reincarnation. I bring people back from the dead—but the ability covers them in hatred. They keep their minds, their personalities, but the hate twists them. They act against themselves. They aren't controlled… but not free either."
Akuma's grip tightened slightly. "Interesting, is this a Blessing or a Curse?"
"It's a Curse," Shirei admitted.
"Then why," Akuma asked softly, "do you carry no devil within you?"
Shirei's face went pale. "Because Shinji can steal abilities… and give them. He took the Curse from someone with the devil and gave me only this Curse."
Akuma was silent for a long moment.
Then he spoke, voice measured, almost clinical.
"So he's an anomaly. I see."
He pressed a hand against Shirei's head, fingers digging into his scalp.
"I'll take it from you."
Shirei panicked, thrashing. "No—wait—I need it! Without it Shinji will kill me!"
Akuma's gaze remained steady. "Don't worry. I'll have an eye on you. I'm always watching."
—And at that exact moment, elsewhere on the battlefield, Keisuke aimed his pistol at Kyouma's head and Ketsu stood in front of Sora's corpse.
Keisuke's finger tightened on the trigger.
Ketsu formed a blade out of their blood at Sora's throat.
But their vision blurred.
The bullet snapped past Kyouma's cheek and the blade turned liquid again.
Keisuke staggered and Ketsu was standing in shock.
And far away, Akuma lifted his hand from Shirei's head, as his shadow turned darker.