The streets of Sector-12 were quiet in the early morning, but the silence was deceptive. Mana currents, invisible to ordinary eyes, coiled through alleys and along rooftops. Takumi Hanabira moved like a shadow within shadows, his senses attuned to the subtle pulses left by the NullLight Rift. Every vibration in the air, every shift in temperature, every faint echo of energy told him something—he was no longer merely observing. He was interacting.
"You're tense," Shigure murmured in his mind, voice a low hum. "Relax. You can feel it, can't you? The city? The threads of reality quivering like they've been touched by a god?"
Takumi exhaled slowly, trying to steady his racing pulse. He could feel it. The residual flux from the Rift had seeped outward, faintly but measurably, and now it was drawing attention. Not casual curiosity—focused, trained observation. Hunters.
Ahead, in a narrow street barely lit by flickering neon, two figures moved cautiously, scanning the air with handheld devices humming faintly with arcane energy. Takumi recognized them immediately: Hunters. Not random civilians. Not casual scavengers. Professionals.
Shigure's voice was a whisper, teasing but sharp. "And here comes your first real test. Don't screw it up."
Takumi crouched atop a nearby rooftop, observing. The pair were equipped for anomaly detection—arcane amplifiers, mana scanners, and reflex-enhanced combat tools. One was tall, broad-shouldered, a C-rank with lightning reflex augmentations. The other, slender, carried an array of scanning instruments and glyph-imbued daggers. A B-rank support team, likely underestimating the Rift's residual energy and unaware of the Vessel now walking among them.
He flexed his hands subtly. Shigure guided the motion, synchronizing his dual mana currents with a precision that felt alien and intimate. With barely a thought, he tugged at the threads of residual NullLight energy, shaping it like water around a rock.
The C-rank's scanner flickered violently. His eyes widened. "Something… here. Something massive."
The B-rank adjusted his daggers, instinctively sensing the pulse of power. "I… I can feel it. Do you feel it? It's—"
Takumi let the energy pulse outward, a subtle but controlled distortion of space that mirrored Shigure's influence. The hunters staggered slightly, their systems spiking and alarms ringing. Not deadly, but enough to unsettle.
"Good," Shigure purred. "That's the baseline. Now, let's test your limits."
Takumi's eyes glowed faintly red for a fraction of a second, the dual mana signature brushing against the edges of his vision. The city around him reacted subtly: streetlights dimmed, shadows bent toward him, and even the air seemed to hum.
The C-rank raised his amplifier. "We need to isolate the source!"
Takumi leaped from the rooftop, landing silently behind a corner. Shigure's voice urged him on, blending guidance with playful provocation. "Finesse. You're not a predator yet, just a student. Make them see you without really revealing yourself."
A pulse of energy, carefully measured, rippled from the street corner where he crouched. It warped reality subtly—dust motes hung longer, a stray sign tilted unnaturally, the hum of the detectors surged.
The B-rank froze, his daggers twitching. "It's—"
Shigure laughed softly in Takumi's mind. "Yes. That. That's exactly it. But don't let them trace it to you yet."
Takumi's pulse quickened. His body moved on instinct: a step, a tilt, a subtle shift of mana currents to mask his location. The hunters adjusted, retracing energy signals, but each attempt was met with minor disruptions he guided. They were skilled, but he was faster, sharper, almost preternatural.
"You're learning," Shigure commented, tone unusually approving. "Good. Don't get cocky, though. Even minor mistakes here, and they'll know more than they should."
The C-rank activated a containment glyph, creating a small, shimmering dome meant to trap anomalies. Takumi smiled faintly—almost imperceptibly. Shigure's presence fed him insight. He didn't attack. He guided, he tested, he toyed with the boundary. The dome pulsed, then dissolved, a subtle demonstration of his control.
The B-rank growled, frustration evident. "It's… it's like it's alive. Moving without moving."
"Exactly," Shigure whispered. "And soon, they'll learn that it's you."
Takumi took a deep breath. He could feel the energy thrumming inside him, the push and pull of dual consciousness guiding every decision. He let a tendril of shadow extend subtly along the street, a thin filament brushing a wall near the C-rank. Not enough to harm, just enough to make the city itself whisper, to remind the Hunters that the NullLight Rift's echo was still alive.
The C-rank's visor flashed warnings, the B-rank staggered backward. Both were alert, trained, but unprepared for what they now faced.
Shigure chuckled softly. "See? Observation and subtle influence. That's how you start, partner. You're not smashing, you're shaping. Not killing, yet—not unless you decide it. This is your first test. And you're acing it."
Takumi's lips pressed into a thin line. Control. Precision. Power. Every instinct told him to hold back, to refine, to learn. And Shigure's whispers guided him every step of the way.
The hunters finally adjusted, trying to triangulate his position. Takumi felt a thrill of danger—his heartbeat synced with the latent NullLight energy. He was untouchable if he remained deliberate, focused, but one slip could expose him.
A shadow flickered across the rooftops—a stray cat disturbed by the unseen distortions. The hunters flinched, thinking it an anomaly. Takumi allowed himself a small grin. Shigure's voice echoed inside his mind, sardonic and amused:
"Perfect. They're nervous, jittery. That's good. Keep them guessing. Let them sweat before they know you exist."
Hours passed. Takumi moved across the rooftops and streets, testing boundaries, controlling residual flux, observing the hunters' reactions. He felt more in tune with Shigure, more confident, yet aware that each demonstration was a risk.
By the time night fully surrendered to dawn, the Hunters had departed, frustrated but intrigued. They didn't know what—or who—they had felt. Only the faintest whisper of NullLight energy remained, like footprints in the sand.
Takumi paused on a rooftop, looking over the city bathed in early sunlight. His hands still hummed with controlled energy, his body resonated with Shigure's influence. He had passed his first external test without revealing himself, without alerting the world to the Vessel's existence.
Shigure's voice lingered, amused and approving. "You're learning faster than I expected. Not bad. But don't get soft. Tests will get harder, challenges more… personal. And one day soon, you'll have to decide how far you're willing to go."
Takumi exhaled slowly. He could feel the weight of the NullLight Rift, the lingering echoes, and the bond that now defined him. The city slept, unaware of the god-sized shadow walking among it. But Takumi didn't feel like prey. Not anymore.
He felt like a storm waiting to break.
And somewhere inside, Shigure grinned.
"Good. Let's see what lies ahead to meet us next."