The sky over Yokohama was a suffocating, dull gray, the low-hanging clouds threatening to swallow the port city whole. Deep within a narrow alleyway in the old industrial district, the sickening sound of metal clashing against flesh echoed continuously.
"Too slow!"
The shout was immediately followed by a lightning-fast kick that planted itself squarely in the center of Faiz's back. He was launched forward, crashing hard into a pile of soggy cardboard boxes.
However, his reflexes were far sharper than they had been a week ago. Before his face could meet the wet asphalt, Faiz violently twisted his body mid-air, planted his left hand on the ground, and vaulted himself back onto his feet. His energy Nunchaku were already drawn and humming in his hands.
Standing a few yards away, looking utterly bored, was Ishikawa Hisoka. The Vice-Captain lazily twirled a combat knife around his index finger. He hadn't broken a single drop of sweat.
"You think too much before you move, Faiz," Hisoka criticized. His tone was cold, but the condescending mockery from their first meeting was gone. "The Akuma aren't going to sit around and wait for you to finish calculating the biological variables in your head."
Faiz wiped a thin trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth.
It had been two weeks since the incident in the underground arena. Under Saki's direct orders, Faiz had been partnered with Hisoka to run routine patrol missions. "Pest control," Hisoka called it. Their targets were strictly low-tier Akuma—stragglers that had wandered away from their nests, mutated sewer rats, or wild dogs contaminated by Akuma cells.
"Sorry, old habits," Faiz replied, regulating his breathing. "As a researcher, observation is always the first step."
"In the field, observation and execution have to happen in the exact same millisecond." Hisoka sheathed his knife, signaling the end of their impromptu mid-patrol sparring session. "Come on. The scanner just picked up another signature in Sector 4."
The two Hunters vaulted up the fire escape, running across the concrete rooftops of the city. Hisoka, using his Boot Up technique, had to consciously throttle his speed so Faiz could keep up. But internally, Hisoka had to admit Faiz's progress was terrifying. The rookie's physical conditioning was adapting at an abnormal rate. Even without using his Half-Crazy power, Faiz was already outperforming Olympic-level athletes.
They landed softly on the rusted catwalk of an abandoned warehouse.
Below them, a grotesque Akuma that looked like a giant wolf spider with a melting human face was clinging to the ceiling.
"Your turn," Hisoka said, leaning against a steel girder as if he were settling in to watch a movie.
Faiz let out a long sigh. He flicked his wrists, the plasma cords of his Nunchaku humming to life, creating a localized wind barrier as he spun them.
The spider-Akuma shrieked and leaped, spitting a wide volley of highly corrosive acid webbing. Faiz didn't retreat. He dove straight down, threading the needle between the acid streams by mere millimeters.
CRASH!
The heavy, plasma-infused baton shattered the Akuma's kneecap on impact. The creature hissed in agony, but Faiz didn't give it a second to recover. Using the centrifugal momentum of his weapon, he delivered a rapid, brutal series of strikes directly to the creature's skull, caving it in completely. Viscous purple fluid exploded outward, coating Faiz's tactical raincoat.
The fight was over in less than ten seconds.
Hisoka offered a slow, sarcastic golf clap, though there was genuine appreciation behind it. "Not bad. Your movement efficiency increased by roughly fifteen percent today."
Faiz pulled a rag from his tactical pouch and calmly wiped down his batons. "Thank you for the compliment, Vice-Captain."
"But..." Hisoka pushed off the girder, walking down the stairs to stand over the Akuma's twitching corpse. He glared at Faiz. "Why are you still holding back?"
Faiz stopped wiping his weapon. "What do you mean?"
"Don't play dumb with me," Hisoka hissed, his eyes narrowing. "Over the past two weeks, we've exterminated dozens of Akuma. A few of them were tricky enough that they almost took your head off. But every single time, you adamantly refuse to use anything other than basic martial arts and those batons. You haven't turned on the 'engine' inside your body once."
Hisoka pointed a finger directly at Faiz's chest. "That red eye. That suffocating killing intent. The sheer, overwhelming power you used to completely break Yori's Saxum. Why are you sealing it away? If you actually used that power, we could clear these patrols in half the time."
Faiz fell silent. The ruined warehouse was dead quiet, save for the rhythmic patter of the rain starting to fall outside.
"I'm scared," Faiz answered simply.
"Huh? Scared?" Hisoka raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "You're scared of low-tier trash like this?"
"No." Faiz shook his head slowly, looking down at his own hands. In the darkest corners of his mind, he could hear the raspy, mocking laughter of D.Faiz, constantly waiting for the slightest crack in his mental defenses to seize control.
"I'm scared of myself, Hisoka," Faiz continued, his voice dropping to a somber whisper. "When that Half-Crazy mode activates... the boundary between 'me' and 'him' starts to blur. When I fought Yori, there was a split second where I genuinely wanted to murder her. Not as a tactical necessity, but because it felt good. The sheer pleasure of destroying something."
Faiz clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles turned white. "If I get used to relying on that power for trivial things, I'm terrified that one day, I won't be able to turn it off. 'Faiz Adriansah, the Researcher' will cease to exist, and the only thing left will be a bloodthirsty, insane monster."
Hisoka stood in stunned silence. He remembered the overwhelming pressure in the arena that day. The aura Faiz had radiated wasn't human. It was the aura of an apex predator.
Hisoka let out a heavy sigh, aggressively scratching the back of his neck. "Tch. You stubborn idiot. Do you think you're the only Hunter who deals with fear like that? Every single time I push my Boot Up to its absolute maximum limit, my heart beats so fast it feels like my chest is going to literally explode. But we learn to control it. We make the power our tool; we don't let it become our master."
Hisoka walked past Faiz, lightly clapping him on the shoulder—a rare gesture of camaraderie from the abrasive speedster. "But whatever. As long as you don't die a stupid death because you were holding back, do what you want. Come on, let's head back. Saki said there's a guest waiting for you."
"A guest?" Faiz looked up, confused. "Who?"
"Hell if I know. Kiyoshi picked them up from the airport."
The 5th Division Headquarters was buzzing with more chaotic energy than usual when Faiz and Hisoka returned. Logistics staff were frantically running down the halls carrying crates of medical supplies and reinforced containment restraints.
Hisoka immediately split off to file their patrol report, leaving Faiz to walk alone toward the main briefing room.
When Faiz pushed open the heavy steel doors, a surprisingly familiar scent hit him. It wasn't the usual smell of antiseptic or gun oil that permeated the base, but the soft, distinct aroma of a floral cologne.
"Faiz-kun!"
Faiz's eyes widened in shock. Sitting comfortably on the black leather sofa in the center of the room was a young man with neatly trimmed hair and red-rimmed glasses. Standing at rigid attention beside him was Kiyoshi.
"Tsubasa... Senpai?" Faiz breathed, barely believing his eyes.
The man, Tsubasa Izawa, stood up and flashed a warm, bright smile. He wore a pristine white lab coat that looked far more professional than Faiz's ruined gear. "Long time no see, Junior! Wow, look at you, you've bulked up! Was the food in Palu not nutritious enough, so you had to come to Japan to find some protein?"
Faiz let out a breathy laugh, a wave of genuine nostalgia washing over him. "Senpai, what are you doing here? I thought you went back to Kyoto a year ago after your exchange program finished."
Tsubasa Izawa. He was the senior researcher who had mentored Faiz during his mid-semesters at Tadulako University. Faiz used to help him collect biological samples in the deep jungles of Sulawesi. It was Tsubasa who had taught Faiz the rigorous ethics of field research—and inadvertently taught him a fair bit of Japanese.
"I'm here because of you, obviously," Tsubasa chuckled, walking over to pat Faiz on the arm. "When Saki contacted me and said she had procured a 'unique, anomalous sample' from Palu named Faiz Adriansah, I immediately requested a transfer. I am now the Head of Biological Research for this Special Unit."
"So... you already know about my condition?" Faiz asked cautiously.
Tsubasa's expression turned entirely serious. He tapped Faiz's chest with the end of his pen. "An Akuma genetic mutation that perfectly integrates without fundamentally destroying the human DNA structure. You are the Holy Grail of biology, Faiz. But don't worry, I'm not here to dissect you. I'm here to help you understand exactly what is living inside you."
The heavy doors hissed open again. Saki strode into the room, her boots clicking sharply against the floor. She held a sleek digital tablet in one hand.
"Ah, what a touching reunion," Saki commented dryly. "Are we done reminiscing? Because we have a very important agenda to cover."
She tossed the tablet onto the central table, projecting a complex, rotating holographic DNA sequence. "Faiz, you've already met Tsubasa. He is the lead architect behind our newest, highly classified project. And the reason I called you here is to officially introduce you to your new partner."
"Partner?" Faiz blinked in confusion. "I thought I was assigned to Hisoka."
"Hisoka is your babysitter," Saki corrected sharply. "The partner I'm talking about is someone—or something—that matches your unique... disposition. Something that can keep up with your particular brand of insanity."
Saki nodded at Tsubasa. The scientist adjusted his glasses, walked over to a control panel on the wall, and flipped a switch.
A massive section of the wall slid away, revealing a thick pane of reinforced observation glass that separated the briefing room from a secure isolation chamber next door.
Faiz turned his head and felt the breath catch in his throat.
Sitting cross-legged on the floor of the stark white cell was a teenage girl. She looked no older than sixteen. She was wearing a simple, oversized white dress that looked disturbingly like a straitjacket. Her long black hair was a tangled, unkempt mess, and her skin was so ghastly pale it was nearly translucent, the blue veins starkly visible beneath the surface.
But it wasn't her corpse-like appearance that made the hair on Faiz's arms stand up. It was her aura.
Even through five inches of blast-proof glass, Faiz could feel a crushing, oppressive atmospheric pressure radiating from her.
The girl was currently busy violently tearing a stuffed teddy bear to shreds with her bare teeth. Her eyes were pitch black—no irises, no pupils—and she stared blankly at the padded wall as she ripped the toy apart.
"Allow me to introduce you," Tsubasa said, his voice a mix of scientific pride and deep, lingering sadness. "Experimental Subject 009. We call her Pela."
"Is she... an Akuma?" Faiz asked, horrified.
"Yes and no," Saki answered, walking up to the glass and looking down at the girl. "She is a Modified Akuma. Her base chassis is the corpse of a human girl we recovered. She was left brain-dead after an Akuma attack two years ago. We completely re-engineered her cellular tissue, implanted a Zone-type Akuma core into her chest, and fused a neural limiter directly to her brainstem."
Faiz felt incredibly sick to his stomach. "You... you weaponized a human corpse?"
"Don't be naive, Faiz," Saki snapped, her voice turning to ice. "We are fighting a war for the survival of our species. We use whatever tools we have. Pela died as a human two years ago. Now, she is the living weapon of the 5th Division. She possesses the predatory instincts of an Akuma, but she can be controlled. Theoretically."
"Theoretically?" Faiz caught the hesitation in the Captain's voice.
"She is... slightly hyperactive," Tsubasa added nervously, adjusting his glasses again. "Pela has an abnormally high aggression threshold. She constantly craves violence. Until today, every single Hunter who has attempted to partner with her has been severely injured—or nearly killed—because when she enters a frenzy, she completely loses the ability to distinguish between friend and foe."
Saki turned to face Faiz, a dark smirk playing on her lips. "And that is exactly why you are here. You carry the aura of a high-tier Akuma inside you. Our hypothesis is that Pela will react to you differently than a baseline human. She might recognize you as a fellow 'monster' rather than just weak, edible prey."
"So your job," Saki concluded, tapping the glass, "is to be the leash holder for this mad dog."
The Next Day
The sun hadn't even fully crested the horizon when Faiz found himself standing outside the massive steel gates of the Headquarters.
He was wearing a brand-new tactical combat suit, custom-designed by Tsubasa. It was made of a lightweight, flexible carbon-fiber mesh that was highly resistant to slashing attacks.
Standing right next to him, clutching a brand-new teddy bear with one eye already ripped out, was Pela.
The girl was dressed in oversized black cargo pants and a baggy black hoodie that swallowed her small frame. Locked tightly around her pale neck was a thick metal choker with a blinking green indicator light—the neural limiter controlled directly by command.
"Listen to me," Faiz said, trying to project an air of absolute authority. He crouched down so he was eye-level with Pela. "My name is Faiz. We are going to go for a short walk. The rules are very simple: You do not attack anything unless I explicitly tell you to. Do you understand?"
Pela tilted her head mechanically. She leaned forward, sniffing the air right next to Faiz's neck. Then, she smiled, revealing a terrifying row of razor-sharp, shark-like teeth.
"Smells... yummy," Pela muttered. Her voice was incredibly raspy and broken, like a malfunctioning radio broadcasting through static. "Smells like... rotten... blood..."
Faiz swallowed hard. "Okay. I'll take that as a compliment. Let's go."
Their first official mission was incredibly mundane: a routine survey of an abandoned subway tunnel on the outskirts of Yokohama. Local residents had reported hearing strange, echoing screeches from the vents.
As they descended into the damp, pitch-black tunnels, Faiz felt like he was casually carrying a live grenade with the pin pulled. Pela simply could not stand still. She bounded erratically from the floor to the walls, her nails carving deep gouges into the concrete as she occasionally tried to bite through the hanging electrical cables.
"Pela, get down from there!" Faiz ordered as the girl dangled upside down from a rusted water pipe.
Pela hissed at him, but she complied, dropping to the ground next to him with a heavy thud. "Bored... So bored... Wanna play... Wanna rip..."
"Be patient," Faiz sighed, flicking on his tactical flashlight to sweep the darkness. "We have to find the target first. If there's no target, we can't 'play.'"
"Faiz is boring," Pela complained, kicking a stray rock with enough kinetic force to embed it three inches deep into the concrete wall.
Faiz pinched the bridge of his nose. Babysitting a weaponized undead Akuma was proving to be vastly more exhausting than dealing with his strictest university professors.
They reached a massive underground intersection. The atmosphere was dead silent. Too silent.
Faiz's survival instincts screamed. The hair on his arms stood straight up.
"Pela, stay alert," Faiz whispered, dropping into a low stance.
But Pela completely ignored him. She skipped happily into the center of the wide-open platform, twirling around in the darkness like a child dancing in the rain. "Someone's... coming..."
Suddenly, the shadows on the ceiling detached.
A massive, incredibly fast blur plummeted toward them. It was a Stalker-type Akuma—a sleek, jet-black nightmare composed entirely of hardened, bladed limbs. It had been perfectly camouflaged in the darkness, and it launched a lethal ambush aiming directly for Faiz's exposed back.
"Behind—!" Faiz yelled, spinning around and reaching for his batons.
But he was too late. Not too late to dodge, but too late to act. Pela had moved first.
In the blink of an eye, Pela vanished from the center of the platform. She reappeared instantly directly behind Faiz, placing herself between him and the descending monster.
She didn't throw a punch. She didn't draw a weapon. She simply raised her small, pale hand toward the Akuma.
"Zone Suppression," Pela whispered.
BOOM!
The sound wasn't an explosion of fire; it was the deafening crack of atmospheric pressure being violently compressed in a millisecond.
Faiz immediately dropped to his knees as an invisible, crushing weight slammed into the area. The reinforced concrete floor within a five-meter radius of Pela instantly cratered, sinking ten inches deep into the earth.
But the Akuma suffered a much, much worse fate.
The creature, frozen mid-lunge, looked as if it had slammed into a solid wall of gravity. And then, it began to fold.
Its limbs snapped simultaneously with a sickening, wet crunch. Its torso was violently compressed inward, crushed by a localized gravitational pressure so intense it defied physics. The monster let out a garbled shriek before its body was compacted into a dense sphere of flesh, which promptly exploded into a fine red mist of vaporized blood and gore.
Black blood rained down, painting the walls, the floor, and Faiz's back.
Pela stood perfectly still in the center of the carnage. Then, she started giggling. She reached up, happily licking the black blood off her cheek.
"Playing... is done... Hahahaha!"
Faiz was utterly paralyzed. His heart hammered against his ribs like a jackhammer. He stared at the mangled, unrecognizable lump of flesh on the floor. What the hell was that? That wasn't physical strength. She had literally manipulated gravity and space.
"Pela..." Faiz called out, his voice trembling slightly.
Pela slowly turned her head. Her face was soaked in blood, and her pitch-black eyes burned with an unhinged, psychotic glee. She took a slow step toward him. "More... Faiz... More... Where are the other toys?"
"That's enough!" Faiz yelled, forcing himself to stand despite his legs feeling like lead from the lingering gravity effects. "Target destroyed! Shut off that aura right now!"
"NO!" Pela shrieked, her voice echoing violently through the tunnels. "NOT SATISFIED! PELA WANTS TO EAT!"
A dense, suffocating black aura erupted from her body. The choker on her neck began to flash a rapid, warning red. She had completely lost control of her frenzy. She stared at Faiz—no longer looking at her partner, but at her next meal.
"Damn it," Faiz cursed, tossing his flashlight aside and dropping into a combat stance. "D.Faiz... looks like we have to get serious."
(D.Faiz: "Finally!") the voice roared in his head.
Faiz closed his eyes, preparing to force the Half-Crazy activation.
But before his left eye could snap open, a shadow dropped silently from a ventilation grate directly above them.
WHACK!
A massive, folded steel fan slammed squarely onto the top of Pela's head with a comical, ringing thud.
"Owie..." Pela whimpered, her terrifying aura vanishing instantly. She dropped to her knees, clutching the fresh bump on her head and tearing up.
Standing behind her, looking significant more terrifying than the Akuma they had just killed, was Captain Fuse Saki. She held her signature steel war fan in her hand, tapping it threateningly against her palm.
"You two..." Saki growled. Her voice was low, but the sheer killing intent behind it made both Faiz and Pela flinch.
"Saki..." Faiz exhaled, dropping his stance. "Why are you here?"
"Command telemetry showed Pela's energy output spiking to critical levels. I rushed out here thinking she had gone rogue and you were fighting for your life, and instead, I find you two bickering like toddlers on a playground!" Saki yelled, glaring at them both.
She pointed the tip of her fan directly at Pela's nose. "And YOU! I explicitly ordered you that Zone Suppression is strictly reserved for B-Class targets and above! You used an anti-tank cannon to kill a mosquito! Were you trying to collapse the entire subway line and bury us all?!"
Pela looked down at the floor, nervously twiddling her thumbs. "Pela... was surprised. Bad guy came... Pela protected Faiz."
Saki paused, her anger momentarily derailed by the childish excuse. She let out a long, exhausted sigh, rubbing her temples to stave off an incoming migraine.
"Protected, huh..." Saki muttered, glancing at Faiz, who was still dripping with Akuma blood. "Well, your reaction speed was excellent. But your control is an absolute zero."
Saki turned her furious gaze onto Faiz. "And you, Mr. Researcher. You let her dictate the pace of the engagement. You are the partner. You are supposed to be the brakes, not the audience! If you can't de-escalate her frenzy without resorting to violence, you have failed your assignment."
Faiz nodded stiffly, accepting the reprimand. "Understood, Captain. Her activation speed... it completely caught me off guard."
"Learn faster," Saki ordered coldly. "Let's go back. The smell of this tunnel makes me want to throw up."
The walk back to the surface was incredibly tense. They climbed out of the subway station and headed toward the black extraction van waiting in the alley. Kiyoshi was sitting in the driver's seat, casually reading an automotive magazine.
Pela, who had been vibrating with chaotic energy just an hour ago, was now dragging her feet. The physical toll of using Zone Suppression had completely drained her stamina. She practically limped behind Faiz, dragging her ruined teddy bear along the asphalt.
"Hungry..." Pela mumbled, her eyes drooping. "Energy... all gone..."
As they walked past a row of dumpsters near the parking lot, a scrawny orange stray cat jumped down from the trash. It meowed softly, staring warily at the approaching humans.
Pela stopped. Her eyes shot wide open. The dull emptiness in her gaze was instantly replaced by hyper-focused, predatory hunger. Thick drool began to leak from the corner of her mouth.
"Protein..." Pela hissed.
Before Faiz could even register the shift in her posture, Pela launched herself. She didn't run like a human; she dropped to all fours and scrambled across the pavement like a rabid animal, her jaw unhinging as she lunged for the cat.
"PELA, NO!" Faiz screamed.
He dropped his gear bag and sprinted after her. The cat hissed in terror and bolted, but Pela was terrifyingly fast. Her pale, clawed hand reached out, mere inches from snatching the cat's tail.
Faiz didn't try to grab her arm. He dove completely horizontally, tackling Pela around the waist and slamming her hard into the rough asphalt.
CRASH!
They rolled violently across the ground. Pela thrashed wildly, her unnatural strength flinging Faiz around.
"LET GO! WANNA EAT! HUNGRY!" Pela shrieked, her nails digging deep into Faiz's arms. The reinforced carbon-fiber of his suit held, but she managed to rake his exposed wrists, drawing blood.
"That is not food!" Faiz roared, using all his leverage to pin both of her wrists above her head while throwing his weight across her legs.