Rain lashed against the cathedral's stained-glass windows. Inside, the flickering candles barely kept the shadows at bay.
Kaito stood at the center of the cathedral's prayer hall, drenched, hands trembling. His blade was still warm. Not from battle—but from what he had learned.
"They used demons…" he whispered. "The Ministry used them too… in the past."
Across from him, Bishop Verdan sighed. "Not all demons were enemies. Some were… tools."
"Tools?" Kaito growled, stepping forward. "You told us we were humanity's hope. Not inheritors of a cursed legacy."
"You are," Verdan replied. "But even hope must be forged in fire."
The door burst open. Haru stepped in, eyes glowing silver. "We have to go. Now. Daiki and Ren intercepted a Vatican envoy. They were carrying something… something old."
Kaito's eyes narrowed. "The Reliquary?"
"No," Haru said. "A key to it."
Deep beneath the city's ruins…
Daiki and Ren crouched behind crumbling archways of a forgotten metro station. Pipes hissed. Broken sigils flickered across rusted stone.
"What did you see, Ren?" Daiki asked, checking the charge on his pistols.
"Armor," Ren whispered. "But not human. And not demonic either."
The armored soldiers moved in tight formation—six of them—escorting a floating monolith. It was rectangular, pulsing blue veins across its obsidian surface. The air shimmered around it.
Suddenly, one of the soldiers halted.
"They know we're here," Ren said.
A plasma bolt shot out, but Daiki slammed the ground—stone erupted, creating a shield.
"Move!"
Ren rolled left, flinging a flare shot into the air. "Haru, now!"
From the shadows, Haru appeared—calm, eyes blank. His hand glowed as time slowed around him.
In three steps, he was behind one of the soldiers—disabling his reactor core with surgical precision. Sparks flew.
Daiki launched forward, a stone fist erupting beneath his boots, sending him airborne. He slammed down with seismic force. The platform cracked. The monolith slid—revealing something inside.
A mask. Ancient. Metallic. With a singular eye etched at the forehead.
"What is that…?" Ren whispered.
"I saw this in a vision once," Haru said, voice shaking. "That mask doesn't belong to either side."
Meanwhile, in the Vatican Archives…
Cardinal Alaric stood before a wall of forbidden records. Stamped with the sigil of The Thirteenth Inquisition.
Beside him, the skeletal being—once a saint, now a hybrid of machine and dark flesh—observed with interest.
"They're getting close to the truth," Alaric said.
The being let out a mechanical sigh. "Then it's time we give them something new to fear."
He turned. "Release the Bound One."
Back at the Ministry Cathedral…
Kaito, Ren, Haru, and Daiki stared at the mask on the table. It was humming. Whispering. The moment Daiki touched it, images flooded his mind.
A temple of light, filled with crucified demons. Angels made of wire. Children in cages, eyes glowing with elements—Wind. Fire. Earth. Sight.
He dropped it.
"I saw them," he gasped. "Us. But not us. Others. Before us."
"Prototypes," Haru said grimly.
"They've been making us… for centuries?" Ren muttered.
"No," Kaito replied. "They've been failing for centuries. We're the first ones who lived."
Suddenly, the bells rang again. Red light poured through the stained glass. A siren wailed across the cathedral's grounds.
Bishop Verdan stormed in.
"They've summoned something," he shouted. "Something from the Abyssal Chapters."
The Four stepped outside.
Above the city, the clouds parted.
Descending in chains of light and fire was a colossal creature—The Bound One—taller than towers, with broken wings stitched from the bodies of fallen demons. Its mouth was sealed with scripture. Its eyes bled oil.
People screamed and fled.
Kaito stepped forward. "Daiki, take the right. Ren, flank it. Haru—see into its soul."
The demon roared.
And the sky split open.
Fight Sequence: The Four vs. The Bound One
Kaito launched upward, blade sheathed in spiraling wind. He sliced along the monster's exposed veins, each cut creating sonic booms that shattered nearby buildings.
Ren fired inferno bullets into its mouth as scripture flared—some exploded mid-air, others burned through its ethereal armor.
Daiki cracked the ground beneath, causing spikes to erupt—binding its legs in stone, trying to pull it back to earth.
Haru placed two fingers to his temple, eyes turning entirely white.
"Three hearts. None of them beating," he whispered. "It's not alive. It's being puppeted. Cut the chains."
Kaito nodded. "On it."
He soared upward, spinning into a divine arc, slicing one of the glowing chains. Light burst. The creature roared and lashed out, tearing buildings from the earth and hurling them like stones.
Daiki shielded the civilians with a barrier of rock, grunting under the strain. "Ren, cover!"
"Way ahead of you."
A rain of phoenix rounds flew into the debris, exploding mid-air and reducing them to embers.
As Kaito sliced the final chain, Haru looked up—and for the first time, trembled.
"There's someone inside it."
Closing Scene…
The Bound One collapsed, unmoving. From its broken chest spilled not blood—but a child.
A boy.
About their age.
With silver hair, and one eye glowing blue—the exact shade of the monolith's veins.
He opened his eyes slowly.
And whispered:
"Help… me…"