The storm-broken sky crackled faintly as four S-Rank Essence Warriors stood on a fractured overpass just outside a decaying stretch of Kanagawa's western outskirts. The wind whispered of something unnatural as Reika Muro and Kaito Sorimachi, coming from the west, met up with Hajime Kenta and Hina Morikawa, who had dashed in from the north.
Reika's calm voice broke the silence."Any leads?"
Hajime, with faint sparks crackling at his fingertips, shook his head. "Nothing yet. Just wreckage. Whatever did this wasn't human."
Kaito's golden eyes shimmered beneath his hood, scanning the broken skyline. "Wait. Movement. Nine o'clock."
They all turned—just in time to see a lone figure walking toward them down the center of the cracked road.
He looked… human—pale skin, deep blue hair, and glowing eyes set in a face marked with strange, curling black patterns like ink embedded under the skin. He walked without urgency. No fear. Just presence.
Reika narrowed her eyes. "Who are you?"
The figure stopped about twenty meters away. Then—he smiled.
"Veynos."
None of them recognized the name.
"Veynos…?" Hina echoed, shadows beginning to leak from her feet. "Never heard of you."
Veynos tilted his head. "That's all right. You will."
And just like that—his body rippled, his mouth opening unnaturally wide.
A wet gurgling sound followed as a thick worm-like essence creature crawled out, landed with a splurt, then morphed into an exact replica of Veynos. The original vanished instantly, melting into shadow and escaping just like he had in the earlier encounter with Toru and Daigo.
"Did he just—?" Hajime stepped forward in disbelief.
But they had no time to process it.
From behind the clone—dozens of flickering purple lights began to manifest. One by one, beasts with human-like silhouettes stepped from the shadows—200 purple essence warriors, just like the ones Toru had faced.
Kaito let out a low whistle. "Okay. We've got a problem."
The Veynos clone smirked, then raised a hand, and the 200 creatures rushed them like a tidal wave.
"Scatter and suppress!" Reika called, raising both hands as a wave of frozen spikes erupted from the ground, skewering the first line of beasts. "Kaito, illusions—cut them off from coordination!"
Kaito's eyes flared as the world shimmered—half the battlefield warped into a maze of distorted reality, confusing the attackers and breaking their formation.
Hajime cracked his knuckles. "I'll thin the herd!"
With a flash, he vanished, reappearing in a blur of electricity as chain lightning leapt from his body to five, then ten, then fifteen of the beasts, dropping them in rapid succession.
Meanwhile, Hina stepped into the fight, her body melting into darkness, and with a whisper, the area around them plunged into shadowy black—a field of confusion. Dozens of purple beasts suddenly lost their vision, turning against one another or flailing wildly in disarray.
"We need to take out that clone!" Reika shouted, freezing the air around her palms before launching twin icicles like spears toward Veynos's duplicate.
But the clone smiled and caught both—then shattered them in his hands.
"Not bad," it said, charging toward her.
Hajime intercepted, his body glowing with lightning as he tackled the clone into a nearby building, the impact sending tremors through the street.
Kaito continued weaving through the chaos, turning beasts on each other with illusions. "These things are aggressive but not smart. Focus on the clone—he's directing them!"
Hina stood at the center of her veil of shadow, controlling the battlefield.
Reika, breathing evenly, began conjuring a wide-spread frost, preparing to freeze the remaining beast army in one massive blast.
"We hold here," she said, calm and unwavering. "This is our line."
And the battle thundered on—Veynos's forces against four of the strongest Essence warriors, none of whom had heard of him before this moment… but none who would forget his name after.