Outside of Mr. Kenta's house…
Mr. Kenta walked down the street to his house, his arms full of grocery bags. As he hummed, he noticed strange movement outside his house.
"Ehh?" he thought. "Is that Mykhail?"
As he got closer, he noticed that it wasn't Mykhaii, but instead masked goons with trench coats on. They had red "X" markings on their shoulders. "The Syndicate?"
One man broke down the door, and they all searched through the house, looking from room to room. Mr. Kenta stayed hidden, ducking low beneath a bush. "What are they doing here?"
He saw a man enter without a mask on, electricity crackling off his body. "That's the lightning crook from the store! It seems they did recruit him into their organization!"
Keisuke motioned to the men. "Spread out! There's traces of the sword coming from this lodge!"
"They want the sword?" Mr. Kenta realized. "Are they looking to increase their strength? What a reckless move!"
They tossed couch cushions, threw open dressers, and turned boxes upside down as they searched. A big man burst through the door, shaking the entire house and causing Keisuke to jump.
"Could you maybe not sneak up on people, you big oaf?" Keisuke yelped.
"Sorry."
He looked around. "Nurse said she expects results in the next hour. Any luck?"
Keisuke shook his head. "I hope her intel was wrong, because there's nothing in this place!"
Fujii punched open a cabinet, but there was nothing of note inside. Keisuke shook his head. "See? There's no basements or attics inside this place, either!"
"Well, if neither the hero nor the sword is here, we need to look elsewhere," Fuji suggested.
"Fine," Keisuke agreed. "I'll tell The Nurse."
"I'm glad Mykhail is long gone," Mr. Kenta sighed. "Knowing him, that boy won't give up his weapon so easily."
Meanwhile…
"What's this? Another hero pest, come to stand in my way?"
Kazuma eyed Xenova with a dismissive gaze before recognition sparked in his eyes. "I know you…you're that monster he fought! How poetic."
"Who are you calling a monster?" Xenova demanded. "That's rude!"
"You know what else is rude?" Kazuma replied. "Jumping into other people's fights."
With a wave of his hand, a large impact shot out and tore all of Xenova's limbs right off, and severed her torso in half.
"Xenova! What the hell, man?" Justice called out.
"Now," Kazuma stated. "Back to you—-"
To his surprise, her body immediately regrew itself, and she stood up, her eyes glowing. "Rude."
In the blink of an eye, she lunged at him, attempting to punch his head off. He barely had time to throw up his hands and use an impact to soften the blow, which still grazed his face and caused a gash.
"You've sullied me," he noted, touching the cut. "That will not be forgiven."
Her hand formed sharp claws, and she attempted to slash him, but he jumped back in the nick of time. As he tried to form another impact, he had to use it to block her next strike as a fist came flying towards his face.
"My goodness," Justice thought. "She's giving that guy PROBLEMS!"
From the lobby, Yasuda and Yuuma watched the entire scene while other competitors rushed to escape.
"Two heroes are here," Yuuma said. "Maybe we're safe! But Yasuda, we gotta find Mykhail! Yasuda?"
He looked around for his little brother, but he was nowhere to be seen. "Yasuda!"
Inside the arena, Kazuma fired a large-scale impact by swiping his hands down, blowing both Justice and Xenova back into a wall. Kazuma cracked his neck.
"Fighting in such an enclosed space limits me," he remarked. "Let's take this outside, heroes."
With one stomp of his foot, he formed a large impact that blasted him outside of the arena and all the way to ground level. Justice used his sword to break free of the rubble while Xenova punched her way out.
"Come on, we can't let him get away!" he shouted.
She got on his back, and while he prepared to jump, Kita came rolling from out of nowhere. "I'm here! Let's go! Yay!"
"Yasuda—-I mean, Kita?" Justice questioned. "When the heck did you—-?"
"Just now!" Kita laughed. "I always keep my outfit close!"
Xenova groaned. "Smarty."
"Alright, well jump on!" Justice ordered. "I think this is the part where we chase the bad guy!"
Kita jumped onto Xenova's back and Justice took off into the air. "Fly, sword, FLY!"
He boosted into the air, and they went after Kazuma, who was using his impacts to stabilize himself in mid-air. As soon as he saw them, he snorted.
"All three of you, now? Must be my lucky day."
He fired a large attack at them, knocking them all off each other. Kita got up, eagerly jumping up and down. "What's the plan, boss?"
"Uh…" Justice thought. "Well the obvious move is to not get hit, get him out the air, and take him down, but…any ideas on how to do that?"
Kita studied him for a moment. "Use an aerial attack! Two at the same time! He can't block from multiple directions at once!"
"Huh, good plan!" Justice agreed. "Alright, Xenova! Let's hit him hard!"
But before Justice could make his move, Xenova was already on top of Kazuma, viciously slashing at him with her tendrils and claws. She wrapped a tendril around him and pulled him to the ground.
BOOM.
"Or...that works too," Justice shrugged.
Kazuma raised his hand, creating an impact that blew her head clean off. As he fired another impact, her body split in two, dodging it before reforming her head.
"What a freak," he commented. "You're just like me. No wonder they said to be wary of you."
He touched the ground, sending a ripple through it that all three dodged. Justice quickly swooped in and swung his sword at Kazuma, which immediately turned red.
"No, no, no!" he protested.
Kazuma, recognizing the severity, immediately ducked under the attack, using an impact to create space from Justice. "That sword had quite the intimidating aura coming off of it. How does it work, would you say?"
"I don't know," Justice replied. "But the darker the color, the more dangerous it gets. And seeing as how you annihilated all those people down there, it wants your head."
Kazuma laughed. "I would expect nothing less. That weapon interests me. I think I'll take it from you."
"You can try," Justice scoffed. "But it won't go nicely."
Kazuma did a spinning kick and knocked the sword out of Justice's hands. Using an impact, he launched the sword towards him, but Xenova grabbed it out of the air.
"Hey, don't touch his stuff!" she yelled. "What's wrong with you?"
"A lot," he admitted. "A lot."
By now, people had already cleared the scene, and a helicopter was above them, with a cameraman filming. From below, Justice could see Miku in the back.
"Does that woman ever miss a fight?" Justice wondered. "It's like she wants to die!"
"An audience," Kazuma stated. "I don't want it."
With a dismissive wave, he fired an attack that cleaved the rotor right off, causing the helicopter to spiral to the ground. Almost immediately, Justice rushed to catch it, settling it down as gently as he could.
The cameraman and pilot stepped out, thanking him profusely. Miku basically jumped out, a smile on her face. "Saved by the one and only Justice? I've got to document this!"
She pointed a mic into his face, forcing the cameraman up. "Excuse me, do you have time to answer a few questions?"
He looked back at Kazuma, who was busy clashing with Xenova while attempting to hit Kita. "I don't really think so!"
"Pretty please? I must know! How did you get your powers? What makes your sword so special? Where did the inspiration to become a hero come from? And your teammates, how did you recruit them? You can answer them all at once, if you want—-!"
Kazuma fired an impact at them, but Justice managed to keep it at bay with his sword, redirecting the attack.
"Sorry, guys! Gotta go!"
"Wait!"
Before Miku could protest, Justice had already jumped back into the fight. Miku shook her cameraman. "Get a closer look! We need this scoop for our page!"
"Are you CRAZY?" he argued. "We won't survive a minute in that bloodbath!"
Kazuma punched Xenova in the gut, and the impact blew her right into pieces, shocking her teammates.
"What did you do to her?" Justice demanded.
"The same I will do to the rest of you," he answered. "Now die."
Both Justice and Kita got blasted into the ground with one stare by Kazuma. A little girl skipped over to him, curious. "Hi! Are you playing a game?"
Kazuma knelt to face her. "Yes, a really fun game! It's where I pretend to kill people to rack up points!"
"Really?" the girl questioned. "I've never heard of a game like that!"
Kazuma stood up. "Yeah, it's new. Now about you pick which one of these two I should kill first."
He pointed to Justice. "The boy with the sword…"
Then Kita. "…or the other one."
The girl pointed to Justice. "Kill him! Kill him!"
"Ha. We think just alike."
Justice coughed before getting up. "Come on, man. Not the kids."
???…
Kumiko opened her eyes, swimming in a mix of black and green water. As she realized where she was, she began panicking, nearly drowning.
"Hey! Let me out of here! What is this?"
There was nothing but darkness all around. Not even a trace of light. A voice rang out through the darkness, cold and feminine.
"Kumiko…"
"Who's there?"
"Kumiko…"
Slime began to creep up onto her body as she struggled. "What the hell? This isn't nice! I have to go save my best friend! Oh, and I guess Yasuda too."
"Is…that…so?"
"Yeah! I'm not going to just lose and let them die! Plus I need to rip that jerk to pieces for blowing me apart!"
"Kumiko…" the voice hissed through the air. "Do…you…want…more…power…?"
"Well, duh," she replied. "The stronger I am, the more I can make jerks pay!"
"Give me…your body…"
"My body?"
"Yes…lend it to me…and you shall see…true strength…"
Kumiko tapped her chin, considering. "Hmm. Okay. But what are you?"
"A being…that predates time itself…"
The slime quickly crawled up and engulfed her, dragging her into the water.
"As a thanks for freeing me…I shall grant you a portion of my strength. Make those who would dare to stand against you suffer…rip…tear…kill…"
"Kill…" Kumiko repeated. "Kill."
Meanwhile…
Kazuma raised his hand, firing impact after impact that Justice managed to block. After changing tactics, he fired one at the downed Kita, forcing Justice to step in front and block the attack.
"Predictable."
He fired another, breaking Justice's leg.
"Ow, not cool, man!"
Kazuma held his hand high, preparing to launch another attack. "Both of you, be torn to shreds."
He brought his hand down, but an outside force charged him before he could aim it, causing it to spiral into the sky.
"You!" Kazuma recognized. "I destroyed you!"
"Thank goodness," Justice said, relieved. "Would have been bad if he murdered my friend in cold blood. Wait, something's off…"
Kazuma barely had time to react before her claws scratched his face, causing deep gashes. He kicked her off with an impact, maneuvering onto a rooftop.
"What madness is this?" he questioned. "That's no girl!"
He analyzed Xenova's appearance, which now seemed more intimidating and feral. Her mask now had a mouth, which was growling.
"RAHHHH!"
With one swipe of her claws, she slashed the building Kazuma was on to pieces, forcing him to move to a new one.
"This, this is a feral beast!" he realized.
Xenova used her claws to scale up the building Kazuma was on, but he pushed her back with the palm of his hand. "That's quite alright. Do you know what happens to the beast?"
His eyes narrowed. "It gets tamed."
Justice stepped forward. "Xenova! Hey, be careful! Uh, we're coming to back you up!"
She turned and growled violently at him, seemingly not recognizing him. "Hey, don't growl at me!"
Before she could make a move, Kazuma fired an impact that tore her in half, but she simply put herself back together in real-time and kicked him far away, jumping after him without sparing a glance back.
"And now she's gone," Justice groaned. "Come on, Kita, we have to go after her!"
"Okay!" Kita cheered.
Justice grabbed Kita and vaulted after the two. In the near distance, they could see them both causing mass destruction in the city, with people fleeing and screaming below.
"They're gonna kill the entire city if we don't stop them!" Justice realized. "Kita! Any plans?"
Kita focused, analyzing the scene in slow motion. "We need to take care of Kazuma first! He's the one causing the most damage!"
Justice landed on the ground. "Alright, we need to isolate him—-!"
BOOM.
The ground began to shake as Xenova got flung out of a building. Kazuma used his abilities to descend to the ground, his face bloodied.
"It was a reckless move bringing the fight to all these civilians," he laughed. "You still don't get it, do you?"
He looked at Justice, who stared back, confused. "What are you talking about?"
Kazuma whipped the blood from his face. "I'm an independent man, yes. But I do see the benefits of having certain…allies in this new world."
Xenova got up, her mouth foaming.
"I was hired to capture all three of you. I knew you'd attend the Syndicate's tournament," he laughed. "Isn't that right, Mykhail?"
Justice immediately stared at him, surprised, while he laughed. "Don't worry, I won't tell."
"What do you want?" Justice asked.
"All of you," he replied. "Right in position."
The ground beneath them began to crack, and it shifted into ice, breaking as they all fell.
"Crap! Guys, grab on!"
Justice grabbed Kita and reached out to grab Xenova, but she clawed at his hand, breaking his grip. "Kumiko, no!"
She fell down, clinging to the side of the underground wall with her claws. Kazuma hovered over the three, his hand raised. "Fall."
The entire area destabilized and fell into ruin, and as Justice tried to catch up to Xenova, she fell into the abyss below, and everything went dark as Kita and Justice collided with the ground.
"Kumiko…"
The last thing Justice saw before he blacked out was Kazuma hovering over them.
—-