The monster roared.
The sound wasn't just noise—it *hit*. Vibrations slammed through my ribs, rattling everything inside me. The dockhands bolted. The trench coat guy didn't. He just smiled, like this was part of the plan.
Ryu moved first. His blade hummed, blue lightning crawling along the edge. He met the thing head-on, slashing through its side. The blade connected—but not like hitting flesh. It *passed* through, tearing light instead of skin.
"Figures," he gritted out. "Not solid. Energy construct."
The monster's tail lashed. Metal crates exploded in a shower of sparks. Ryu ducked low, spun, and shoved energy into his sword until the hum became a scream.
He swung again—clean, precise. The cut burned across the monster's arm, searing black light. The thing howled, the sound scraping my skull.
"Good," the trench coat boss said, laughing. "Good! Show us why they call you the Kirisaki Blade!"
Ryu didn't respond. He lunged forward, sliding under the beast, blade glowing white-hot. He drove it upward through its core.
The explosion of light was blinding.
Then silence.
The creature imploded—gone like smoke pulled into a vacuum.
Ryu straightened slowly, blood streaking his shoulder. "Tch… one day I'd like a clean mission."
He turned—only to see the remaining crates being loaded onto trucks.
Engines revved.
Ryu's jaw clenched. "Coward."
The trench coat boss pointed at him, grin stretching too wide. "Tonight was just a taste. Akel belongs to us now. And soon… the shadows will, too."
The trucks sped off into the dark.
I stood frozen, watching their taillights fade. The air stank of ozone and burnt shadow. My ears rang.
And for the first time, the weight of what we were up against really sank in.
This wasn't training anymore.
This was war.
And the worst part? I wasn't even sure which side we were winning on.
Gunfire snapped me out of the thought, the sound too close, too sharp. Sparks burst across the dock as bullets ricocheted off the metal containers. Ryu deflected each shot like he'd been born doing it—his blade moving faster than my eyes could follow. Lightning cracked at every swing.
He wasn't calm. Not this time.
His movements were too precise, too angry. Like he was holding something back—rage, maybe, or grief, I couldn't tell. But it burned under his skin, leaking out through every motion.
"Damian!" he barked, deflecting another burst. "Cover left!"
"On it!"
Damian made a gesture with his fist towards the ground. Gravity rippled downward like a shockwave, sending two gunmen flying backward into the water, unable to swim out.
Jade flickered into view beside a nearby truck, her twin blades glinting as she struck down another before vanishing again.
The trucks peeled out of the dockyard, tires screeching, engines roaring into the dark. The rest were gone before any of us could react.
Ryu didn't chase them.
He just stood there, blade still sparking, shoulders tense. The smell of smoke and ozone clung to everything.
He could've gone after them. I knew it. He knew it. But his orders had been clear—observe first, strike only if necessary.
His chest rose and fell, calm on the surface, but I could see it—the small twitch in his jaw, the flicker in his eyes. The rage sitting just under his skin like a caged storm.
"Hahaha!!!"
He let out a deranged laughter with his arms spread like some maniac.
I'm not going to lie, his action had me worried about his mentality for a brief sec.
then finally slid his sword into its sheath. "They're moving faster than we thought."
No one said a word.
He pressed his comm again, knuckles streaked with blood. Static hissed in reply.
"Ken. Damian. Jade." His voice dropped, almost too low to hear. "You'd better be ready. This city's about to eat itself alive."
And just like that, he melted into the dark—gone before the last echo of his voice faded.
For a second, the world stood still. Then the rain started again.
–––––––––––
By the time I got back to base, the adrenaline had worn off and the weight of everything hit like a brick to the ribs.
The debrief room looked like something ripped out of a sci-fi movie. Dark walls pulsed faintly with blue light, veins of energy running through metal like living circuits. The circular table in the center was alive with holographic projections—streets, rooftops, little red dots marking the trucks we'd just seen.
I wasn't sure what hurt worse: my head, my back, or the fact that I had no idea what the hell I was doing here.
Damian stood across from the hologram, leaning forward with his usual calm intensity. Jade twirled one of her knives absentmindedly beside him, every spin so smooth it made me nervous. She didn't even look down while doing it.
The commander's voice sliced through the hum of machinery. "Akel," he said, tapping the table. The projection zoomed in, showing black scorch marks and overturned crates. "Border city, criminal haven, and now—" He paused. "—a breeding ground for dark energy."
My throat tightened. "So… monsters," I said.
"Not just monsters," Damian replied without looking up. "Weapons."
He turned slightly, eyes meeting mine. "Someone's learned how to control shadow energy. That thing Ryu fought wasn't natural—it was built."
I blinked. "Built? As in—what, man-made nightmares?"
"Not exactly man-made," Jade said, voice flat. "You need a conduit. Blood, corrupted tech, something that connects both worlds. They channel it, twist it, feed it until it grows teeth."
"Cute," I muttered.
Her gaze flicked toward me. "You'll stop finding it funny when one bites back."
Fair point.
The commander zoomed the projection again—closer this time, showing the faint pulse of glowing crates under tarps. "If Akel's syndicates are using dark energy like this, we're looking at the largest shadow outbreak since Varis. If we don't cut it off now, the corruption spreads to the border cities. After that…"
He let the silence hang long enough for me to imagine the rest.
Jade spoke first. "Ryu's already inside. What's our role?"
"Support," Damian said before the commander could. "Extraction and confirmation. Quiet."
"Quiet," Jade repeated. "And if we're seen?"
The commander didn't blink. "Then we erase whoever saw."