Scene 1 — Archemedas
"Tiffany, thank you again for guiding me here. I know this puts a target on your back—even as a Guide. I've already passed word to Yuri to retrieve you."
I bow my head slightly. Not deep. Just enough to acknowledge risk.
She doesn't flinch.
"Never say thanks to me again, Lord V. It's my pleasure to aid you. If that is your plan for me, I'll step forward. May your hunt go well."
The air bends around her first. The shadows swallow her second. She doesn't disappear.
She withdraws.
Silence settles over the warehouse district of Archemedas like a held breath.
Metal plating under my boots hums faintly from the engines that keep this floating monstrosity airborne. The air smells like oil, processed wood, and old Shinsoo residue.
Deep into the flying Workshop.
FUG's occasional safehouse.
"The sooner I get her back, the sooner Baam fixes his own mess."
I step inside.
No guards.
Too clean.
Crates stacked in uniform rows. Machinery parts. Civilian trade goods. Dust unmoved.
"That would work… if I wasn't used to pillaging marine warehouses."
I stomp.
Shinsoo spreads outward in a thin compressed wave. Not explosive. Surgical. A sonar ripple that slides under floor panels and around structural beams.
Five.
No—six.
Below.
And something else.
I coat my leg in haki. The familiar weight settles around my bones. Not loud. Not blazing. Just density. Like stepping into gravity on purpose.
Heat bleeds off my skin. The air warps faintly around me. Wooden crates dry out instantly.
I stomp again.
The floor implodes.
Metal beams snap downward as an eruption of Shinsoo blasts back up, carrying debris like shrapnel.
A laser threads through the dust.
I tilt my head.
It slices past my throat, cutting a glowing line into the wall behind me.
"Oh. They sent real fighters this time."
The debris clears.
An upright tiger beastman stands below, blade drawn. Shinsoo coils around it like a living current.
Behind him—
Hwa Ryu.
Tied to a chair.
Hair covering her face.
But her life force…
It's steady.
Alive.
My haki pulses outward.
The warehouse trembles.
"Come up here," I say calmly. "So I don't have to worry about my guide. Since all of you are rankers… this is the only place you'll catch me inside the Tower and fight me openly."
I raise a single finger.
Shinsoo cleaves the air toward me.
I jump back as the slash carves through steel flooring.
They rise.
Good.
I exit through the shattered roof, forcing them onto open ground.
Wind hits my face. The sky of Archemedas stretches wide, false but convincing.
Ships begin adjusting their trajectory.
They're watching.
"This is going to be fun. I see why Xebec left me to fight three at a time while he handled the heavy hitters. He embodied my path."
Their Shinsoo pressure descends like a tidal force.
It tries to push me down.
Make me kneel.
Like a Regular.
I smile.
"So this is the rumored V."
"More insane than I thought."
"He's just the leading Regular of FUG."
"He's a martial artist. Handle him like the Ha family."
My eyes open fully.
The disrespect lands.
Regular.
Adjacent.
Ha family.
Before the last word finishes—
I vanish.
Crimson flame erupts where I stood.
I reappear in front of the speaker.
My hand grips his face.
Heat floods his skin.
"Treating me like an honor-bound warrior will be the end of you."
His teammates react.
Too late.
"I am the Bird of Calamity that signaled the coming Terror of the Sabre of Xebec."
His face begins to carbonize under my palm.
"To see my flames was only the prelude to a fire I have surpassed."
I release.
He disintegrates into ash midair.
Their attacks phase through my flame body as I step through them.
I draw my sword.
The grin spreads.
"Crimson Sun. You're demanding today."
Haki coats the blade. Shinsoo wraps around it in tight spirals.
The grotto heart hums beneath my ribs.
The tiger beastman lunges.
Steel meets steel.
I parry, shift my weight, and drive an uppercut into his jaw.
His head snaps back.
My sword slides down his blade into a horizontal slash.
The fisherman tries to hook my leg—
He instead blocks his own neck.
I open my mouth.
A pillar of fire detonates forward, colliding with a wave of incoming Shinsoo water.
Steam explodes outward.
Fog blankets the rooftop.
"You see… my world taught me something interesting about the soul."
A hand reaches blindly in the fog.
I step inside his guard.
Palm to sternum.
Emission.
His armor dents inward with a concussive pulse.
"Haki doesn't search for energy."
I pivot.
Fisherman charges.
I catch his weapon mid-swing.
"It senses what everything possesses."
I knee him in the ribs, then launch him backward with a haki-infused shove.
"Spirit."
Two ranged fighters attempt a coordinated strike through the fog.
I don't look.
I feel.
My fist cracks the first into a wall.
The second eats a backhand that shatters concrete behind him.
"We all possess one."
Smoke thins.
Now it's three.
Eastman locks blades with me.
His remaining teammate flanks.
"Dutch, don't let his attack land!"
My grin widens.
"Sometimes… it's not about landing the hit."
I stomp.
The ground fractures under the fisherman mid-sprint.
He slips.
I punch downward.
He blocks with his hook, redirecting me just enough that my fist strikes ground.
Three concentric shock rings ripple outward like cannon fire.
The tiger beastman attacks from behind.
I duck.
Palm strike to his chest.
Emission again.
A perfect handprint burns into his armor as he's thrown backward.
"Taz, this might be ov—"
I move.
He barely catches my sword in time as the fisherman kicks me off-balance.
I rotate midair.
Blade halts.
Cold steel touches my throat.
A white-haired woman stands inches from me.
Rapier against my neck.
My sword pressed at hers.
Our blades bite skin.
Red lines form.
Neither of us yields.
Haki thickens over my throat.
Her eyes narrow.
She felt it.
She knew I sensed her last second—and didn't phase.
That tells her enough.
"Yup. Time to go, Taz. Not getting involved in Zahard's nonsense."
Dutch grabs the fisherman.
They retreat.
I don't move.
My eyes scan rooftops.
High Rankers.
Multiple.
"The irregular V is to appear before the King's representative. Also known as Crow and Ras."
Her smile widens.
Mine disappears.
"Who gave your king authority to command me?"
I push my blade forward slightly.
Her rapier presses harder.
Stops.
Haki blocks penetration.
"I enjoy teaching unruly brats their place."
She kicks.
I slash downward—
A bullet strikes ground beside me, rupturing into liquid restraint compound.
I blast fire forward.
The sniper barely dodges.
She reengages.
"You better decide now if Zahard's orders are worth me destroying this ship."
I unseal the first layer of my grotto heart.
Pressure spikes.
A phantom beast manifests behind me—distorted wings, burning silhouette.
The air vibrates.
Her smile fades.
She gestures.
They withdraw.
"This isn't the last time we see each other, boy."
Silence returns.
I rub the thin cut on my neck.
She's strong.
Strong enough I didn't phase.
Good.
I drop back into the warehouse.
Hwa Ryu's breathing is shallow but steady.
I kneel.
Shinsoo flows gently into her.
Astral energy threads through memory pathways.
I don't erase.
I trim.
The worst of this period fades.
"Selena."
She materializes.
"Make sure she believes she was training under you since we left Toyin's village."
Selena nods.
Lifts her.
Disappears.
I stand alone in the wrecked warehouse.
Archemedas hums above.
Workshop politics just escalated.
Good.
Scene 2 — Baam
"Hwa is safe. Thanks for the tip, little night. Give them hell."
The message flickers across my stolen pocket.
I close it before the lighthouse operator notices.
The room smells like rusted metal and stale Shinsoo.
Everyone's watching me.
Waiting.
I raise my head.
And give them back a glare sharp enough to cut.
Good.
Let's begin.