Ayanami's hands gripped the ship-cleaving blade that looked absurdly oversized for her petite frame. Her eyes burned like twin flames, locking firmly onto Kenji.
"Commander Kenji, I am Ayanami. Please come with me. Do not worry, we will not harm you."
At her words, Kenji first glanced toward the distant sea, where the gigantic fox-shaped beast wreathed in ominous blue fire was raging across the waves. Only then did he slowly bring his gaze back to Ayanami, his tone faintly teasing.
"Oh? So this is what you call a 'friendly' invitation? Kidnap the Commander first and leave the port without a leader?"
"These are my orders. I must fulfill them."
Ayanami's reply was short and cold, as if she were stating a fact that had nothing to do with her personally.
"Commander Kenji, please cooperate."
"Cooperate?"
Kenji chuckled and spread his hands.
"You have been pointing that sword at me since the moment you showed up, and I am pretty sure it could cleave a battleship in half. Now you want me to cooperate? Miss Ayanami, your definition of 'friendly' is quite unique."
On Ayanami's almost perpetually expressionless face, her brows seemed to twitch the slightest bit, but the change disappeared almost instantly.
She took a step forward, and an invisible pressure rippled outward with that single motion.
"This is the most efficient way. Commander Kenji, please do not waste any more time."
"Wasting time?"
Kenji shook his head. The smile on his face slowly faded.
"No. I am just confirming a few things. I am a little curious why your Sakura Empire's plan moved ahead of schedule, but one thing is obvious. Your intel... is a little behind."
His voice stayed calm, but with every word that fell, the aura around him quietly climbed a notch.
The unique skill Challenger, facing the combined pressure of Sirens and Sakura forces, had already activated in silence. Now it was running at an unprecedented speed.
Ayanami's red eyes contracted sharply.
As a "demon" tempered by countless battles, her sensitivity to energy was razor sharp.
At this moment, from the body of this "ordinary human" in front of her, she could clearly feel a storm of power awakening, surging upward like madness.
"Just what... are you?"
Her voice finally carried a trace of shock. She tightened her grip on the ship-cleaving blade, watching Kenji with heightened wariness.
The sudden pressure pressed down on the air itself, making even her compact body feel an unfamiliar heaviness, as if her movements were beginning to drag.
Time ticked by, second by second. The invisible pressure radiating from Kenji did not fade in the slightest. Instead it grew at a geometric rate, heavier with every passing breath.
Ayanami could hear her own heart pounding louder and faster in her chest, a primal alarm that only sounded when facing extremely high-level threats.
"I cannot wait any longer... Forgive me, Commander Kenji!"
Her eyes hardened with resolve. She could no longer afford hesitation.
Her small figure blurred, leaving only an afterimage in place. The enormous ship-cleaving blade tore through the air with a shriek, the strike aimed straight at Kenji with the force to slice through steel.
Yet, in the instant before that icy blade tip could brush the hem of his coat...
vmm...
A radiance beyond description erupted from deep within Kenji's body.
This was no ordinary light. It carried a supreme majesty, a power that seemed born to rule over all things, as if a miniature sun had just been forced into existence.
The brilliance was dazzling yet strangely not harsh. Gentle and absolute, it swept away the gloom and suffocating pressure brought by the Sirens, bathing the entire harbor in a glow like the descent of a divine realm.
[Warning. Ultra high-intensity hostile signatures and large-scale destructive energy reaction detected.]
[Highest Authority Protocol forcibly activated. Light Emperor System initializing.]
[Scanning environmental energy spectrum... matching elemental foundations... connecting stellar energy conduit...]
[Verification complete. Highest authority confirmed: Kenji Hayashi.]
[Adapting to current battlefield threat level. Auto selection complete: Heavenly Path - Sovereign Form.]
[Enemy forces include special unit "Blue Flame Giant Fox" and active Siren fleet. Searching for a worthy counterpart...]
[Match found.]
[Attention, Commander. Light Emperor War Dragon... authorization to deploy granted.]
"Light Emperor War Dragon?"
Kenji was utterly stunned. The sudden system notification was completely beyond anything he had expected.
The name rang a faint bell in his memory. It sounded like the mount of some Emperor Knight he vaguely remembered from an animation.
He had no time to think. In the very next heartbeat, the boundless light blooming inside him flared even more intensely.
It was like a star had genuinely been crammed into his body. Power surged through his veins with such overwhelming force that it felt like his muscles and bones were being torn apart from the inside. He could barely remain standing.
"...?"
The sheer brilliance forced Ayanami to fall back half a step, blade raised horizontally in front of her chest as she glared ahead through narrowed eyes.
After a moment, she realized that Kenji was merely standing there, brows deeply knotted, clearly enduring immense pain, yet making no move to attack.
Her heart steadied a little. She forcibly suppressed the unease born of the unknown and let her tone slide back into its earlier chill.
"Empty bluff... I thought you actually had some hidden trump card. It seems I was overthinking it."
She stepped forward again, ready to carry out her original orders and take this strange Commander into custody.
But in the very next instant...
A sharper, purer gold radiance burst from Kenji's body with a sound like a dam giving way, surging out of every pore.
In a heartbeat, it wrapped around him completely, forming a blazing cocoon of golden light.