Kira's eyes fluttered open. He found himself lying inside a spotless square chamber, pure white from floor to ceiling. Walls, ground, roof every surface identical, as though he were sealed in a box without escape.
Voices drifted into his ears
"If you don't stop slandering Fei-Fei, don't blame me for what comes next."
"Gu, all you've got is money and no brains!"
Kira's gaze shifted. A young man with bright orange hair sat cross-legged in the middle of the room, phone in hand, watching a drama intently.
"I can't watch this garbage anymore…" the man muttered irritably. "The protagonist's IQ is lower than Rin's. No way it makes sense for him to be the richest man in the city. If someone this stupid can top the world, Rin should've conquered it already."
Kira tried to speak only to realize his mouth wouldn't move. His entire body was paralyzed, bound as though by invisible chains. Only his eyes could roll in desperation.
The orange-haired man felt his stare. He set the phone aside, rose slowly, and strode over.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Two fingers pressed in sequence against Kira's neck, behind his ear, and across his shoulder.
Hhhhk—!
Kira gasped violently, air flooding his lungs like a soul freed after centuries of bondage. Feeling surged back into his limbs.
"What… what did you just do to me?" Kira stammered.
"Amei Xiao – Jiaxun – Jianjing," the bespectacled man said flatly, as if reciting from a medical textbook. "Remember it. Might come in handy someday."
"I asked what you did to me and where the hell this is. How did I get here?" Kira pressed, voice tight.
The man adjusted his glasses, expression calm and detached."If you're not brain-dead, you should be able to analyze the situation yourself."
The words cut like knives. Kira faltered. Memories surged of the black-clad assassin, the storm of lightning, and the moment before consciousness slipped away.
"You… saved me?" His voice was softer now.
"Not completely stupid," the man replied shortly. "It wasn't me. It was us."
"Us?" Kira frowned.
No answer. The bespectacled man simply turned and walked toward a seamless white wall, indistinguishable from the rest. "Follow me."
His footsteps echoed sharply in the silent room. Kira hesitated, heart pounding as though fate itself was dragging him toward something he couldn't turn back from.
The man laid a hand against the wall. A sweep of infrared light scanned across his face.
"Identity confirmed. Ash Vassago. Elevator opening."
The silver panel slid apart. Ash stepped inside without looking back. Kira swallowed hard, then forced his legs to move and followed.
"…Ash Vassago," Kira muttered under his breath.
Ash glanced sideways. "What was that?""N-nothing," Kira stammered, swallowing the words.
The elevator stopped at the eighth floor.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOOM!
The doors slid open to chaos ruins stretched to the horizon, fire and smoke choking the air. Explosions thundered all around.
Whoosh! CRASH!
From the haze, a figure shot forth—a woman with long, snow-white hair. She twisted midair, landing with feline grace before launching forward again without hesitation.
Pew! Pew!
Blasts of cyan-green light rained in from afar, precise and unrelenting. Rin, the pink-haired girl, wielded her massive sniper rifle like a machine gun, her voice cutting through the battlefield.
"Big sis! You planning to just stand there looking pretty, or are you gonna actually fight!?" Rin shouted, firing in a frenzy as her shots burst across the ruins.
Beep! BOOM!
A buried charge detonated beneath the rubble, forcing the white-haired woman to vault upward, landing on shattered walls like a wildcat stalking prey.
Kira's breath caught. His entire body froze. He had never witnessed a battle like this not in any reality he'd known.
Shhhk!
The white-haired woman drew a longsword from her back. Its angled blade gleamed with a chilling light.
Whoosh!
She soared skyward in an instant.
"Up in the air? That's a free hit for me!" Rin grinned, sighting down her scope. She squeezed the trigger, unleashing a barrage of glowing rounds that tore into the heavens.
But
"Enough. I'm hungry. Let's end this." The woman's voice was calm, almost bored.
Swish. Swish. Swish!
She weaved through every beam with flawless grace. Sparks of lightning danced from her blade, arcs trailing in the air like rivers of light. Too fast for the naked eye. To Kira, it was like watching electricity itself carve across the storm.
BZZT! CRACK!
Shot after shot missed. The white-haired woman closed the distance with terrifying speed.
"Ahhh!!" Rin yelped, frustration spilling into desperation.
CLANG!
A single note rang like a trumpet's blare. The tip of the sword halted at Rin's throat.
"Combat complete. Winner: Bai Feng."
The battlefield shattered. All around, rubble and fire dissolved into fragments, collapsing into glowing polygons before vanishing.
The truth revealed itself everything had been a simulation. A training chamber, a virtual battlefield crafted with frightening realism.
Kira stood slack-jawed. Even knowing it was training, the speed and power he had seen… it was too real. Too far beyond human.
"That movement… it's…" he whispered.
Click.
Bai Feng slid her sword back into its sheath. Her breathing was steady, unbroken. She swept back her damp hair, her sharp eyes locking onto Kira.
Kira froze. That gaze it pierced him, cold and merciless, as though reaching into the deepest recess of his heart.