The sky had turned a color it was never meant to be.
Neither night nor day, it bled a dull violet — the air around it humming with unnatural resonance. A rift had opened, just past the forest edge behind the Ayase house. It pulsed like a heartbeat in reverse.
And from within it… something stepped out.
Not a monster. Not a ghost.
But precision.
---
The Harbinger
Its form was humanoid only in the way a statue is shaped like a man. Perfectly smooth, metal-gray, with cracks along its surface that pulsed with blue energy. Where its face should have been was only a single, rotating eye — always watching, always processing.
> "Subject Kaito. Unauthorized divergence from standard progression."
> "Commencing Adaptation Protocol."
Kaito stepped forward as the others watched from the porch.
Momo tightened her grip on the seal blade. Rin had already activated her psychic field. Seiko's pipe burned with spiritual incense, drawing yokai eyes from miles around to witness the moment.
But Kaito raised a hand.
> "This is my fight."
---
First Contact
The Harbinger moved faster than thought. One moment it was fifty feet away. The next, it was in front of Kaito, fist driving toward his chest.
Kaito blocked.
The impact shattered the ground beneath him, but he didn't break. His bones cracked—but healed instantly. His skin tore—but sealed tighter.
Pain ignited his evolution.
> Adaptation Surge Detected. Enhancing Skeletal Density. Increasing Neural Resilience.
He gritted his teeth and pushed back.
"I've been broken before," he growled, "and I only get stronger each time."
The Harbinger tilted its head.
> "Accepted. Escalating force."
---
Rin and Momo Intervene
From the house, Momo couldn't hold herself back.
"Kaito can't do this alone!"
She darted in, blade glowing with protective talismans, striking the Harbinger across its chest. The impact did nothing — until the talismans exploded in white light.
The Harbinger staggered.
Rin appeared beside her, eyes glowing violet.
> "Kaito, if you ever want to do the lone-wolf hero thing again, I will actually kill you."
She raised her hands and unleashed a pulse of compressed psychic memory — a mental scream of everything she'd seen in her visions.
It tore into the Harbinger's mind, if it had one.
---
The Protocol Adjusts
The Harbinger froze for a moment.
Then its cracks glowed a deeper red.
> "Unknown variable interference. Adapting countermeasures."
It reached into its own body — and ripped out a shard of its core, creating two more constructs from its own mass. Smaller, faster, each with its own protocols.
Kaito cursed. "It's learning from us now."
Seiko stepped out from the house, chanting softly.
"Then teach it something it can't copy."
---
Kaito Evolves Again
The second construct dove for Kaito. He didn't dodge.
He let it strike.
The fist connected with his ribcage — and that pain sang through his body like lightning.
> Adaptation Triggered: Kinetic Memory
Incoming force pattern absorbed. Defensive muscle tissue restructured.
Counterstyle unlocked: Mirror Break.
Kaito twisted — grabbing the construct's arm and slamming it back with the exact same force it had just struck him with.
Bones cracked. Circuits hissed.
He felt something snap inside — then realign, better than before.
---
The Pendant Awakens
As he fought, the silver pendant Seiko gave him began to glow on its own.
Words whispered into his ears — but not from the present.
From the past.
> "This isn't the first time you faced something like this."
> "Remember what you became the last time you let pain be your guide."
Images flashed.
A battlefield of broken stars.
Kaito — or who he once was — facing thousands of these same constructs alone, drenched in firelight.
> New Trait Awakened: Legacy Echo
Fragments of past-life combat intelligence unlocked.
Combat instincts enhanced. Foresight-level threat prediction activated.
His movements sharpened. His eyes burned gold.
"I've fought you before," he whispered. "And this time, I'm not alone."
---
Turning the Tide
Kaito and the girls moved in sync.
Momo lured one construct with spirit-drenched decoys while Rin trapped the other in a mental lock. Kaito dashed between both, punching through armor, absorbing pain, adapting with every blow.
He no longer feared injury.
He welcomed it.
Pain was his fuel. Weakness his teacher.
The Harbinger began to slow — its calculations falling behind the chaos of three hearts that refused to break.
Seiko shouted from behind:
> "Now! While it's recalibrating!"
Kaito roared, gathering all the pain in his body into one final strike — a punch that burned white with adaptive power.
He struck the Harbinger's core—
And it shattered.
---
Aftermath – Silence Again
The constructs disintegrated into sparks.
The sky cleared.
The rift closed.
Kaito collapsed to his knees, chest heaving. The others rushed to him.
"You okay?" Momo asked, grabbing his hand.
Rin knelt beside him. "Is it over?"
Kaito looked up at the stars, sweat and blood running down his face.
"No."
> "That was just the first attempt."