Maria had already established a vast psychic zone around the entire neighborhood. If Kenzo Miyazaki were to show up anywhere within its extensive perimeter, she would immediately detect his presence and pinpoint his exact location.
Akari, already settled in her bed, looked up. "Maria, you can sleep with me if you want," she offered, patting the space beside her.
Maria smiled softly, sitting down cross-legged near a pile of plush stuffed animals and soft cushions on the floor. "Thank you for the offer, Akari, but I'll be meditating to maintain my surveillance. Rest assured, I will wake you up immediately if I detect anything."
"Alright then," Akari replied with disappointment in her voice, but she understood. The room fell into a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Akari spoke again.
"Say, Maria, what is it like to have supernatural powers and work for the Supernatural Task Force?
Lost in thoughts, Maria remained silent for a moment.
"I'm not sure," she finally replied. "Unlike the recent awakeners in Japan and the United States, I've always possessed my psychic power since childhood. I never questioned it, as it's simply a part of my identity as a unique being in this world."
She recalled fragmented memories of her past, of abilities that had always been there, as natural as breathing.
"As for the Task Force?" Maria continued. "I've always excelled at working in groups, so it's always felt like another job for me."
Akari shifted slightly in her bed. "I see. Say, Maria... Back at the cultural festival, when the hostage crisis happened..." Akari paused, carefully choosing her words. "Ren mentioned going to you and Kaito for help. Could it be that you were the one who saved me then?"
"It wasn't me who saved you."
"I see," Akari murmured with a touch of disappointment in her voice. "It seems my suspicion was off. You don't seem like a person who would tell a lie, Maria." She then added. "Whoever it was, if I find them, I should thank them properly."
Maria remained silent at those words.
...
Eventually, Akari drifted into a peaceful sleep. Maria was also in a sleep-like state as she maintained vigilant.
Suddenly, her eyes snapped open. She had detected something and jolted Akari and Mr. Sato awake with her psychic power.
"What's going on, Maria?" Akari mumbled, still groggy.
"It's Kenzo Miyazaki," Maria stated with urgency. "He's approaching rapidly."
Outside, the night was torn apart by the staccato bursts of gunfire. Yet, the high-pitched shriek of speeding tires wasn't impeded; instead, it grew louder. It culminates in a deafening crash that rocked the house to its foundations. A truck, its front end crumpled, was halfway embedded in the living room wall. Behind the shattered windshield, Kenzo Miyazaki slumped over the steering wheel, seemingly unconscious.
But it wasn't over. Maria's psychic scan revealed a terrifying anomaly. She instantly threw up a psychic barrier around herself, Akari, and Mr. Sato. Just as the circular shield materialized, a colossal explosion ripped from the truck. The blast utterly obliterated the house, sending bricks, metal, and wood scraps flying in every direction like shrapnel. Yet, within Maria's barrier, Mr. Sato and Akari remained completely safe, untouched by the devastating force.
Mr. Sato stared, aghast at the sudden destruction. "Is he dead?" he stammered.
Maria knew he wasn't. An ominous pulse began to beat, emanating from the truck's wreckage. Kenzo's charred body, miraculously not blown to pieces, began to stir. In his deathly grip, he clutched a katana. Its silver blade gleamed eerily, adorned with a black, wavy pattern that seemed to shift like smoke. It looked like a normal, if well-crafted, katana, but Maria could feel its profoundly ominous aura.
Kenzo's body began to stand up. He was naked, but his charred flesh healed almost instantly, his skin knitting itself back together until he appeared perfectly normal.
"I found you, my dear Akari," Kenzo purred in a chilling voice that echo in the ruined silence. "I'm going to enjoy you after I make you witness me torture your father to death."
Akari was utterly terrified, clutching her father, who struggled to maintain an appearance of calm strength for his daughter's sake.
Then, a volley of gunfire erupted. Kenzo's body was riddled with holes, but he didn't fall. He remained standing as bullets simply ejected themselves from his flesh, some even popping out of what should have been fatal head shots.
Kenzo spread his arms wide, one hand still gripping the katana. "I'm immortal!" he declared with manic glee. "This is a gift from God for the sake of my revenge!" With a sudden, sweeping motion, he swung the katana. A devastating slice of dark energy, laced with red cherry blossom patterns, erupted from the blade, cutting through the concealed bodyguards. Each unfortunate individual was horizontally sliced in two. As their bodies hit the ground, they rapidly decomposed into ashes as a stream of dark light feeding back into the katana blade.
"Now those pests have been dealt with," Kenzo gloated, turning his terrifying gaze back to them. "I won't keep you waiting any longer, my dear Akari." He charged, but Maria reacted instantly, unleashing her psychic power to hold him in place. Kenzo was utterly unable to move, frozen in mid-stride.
Noticing the kata as the source of his power. Maria tried to pry it from his grasp with psychic force, but her power wouldn't budge it. With a surge of raw telekinetic strength, Maria then twisted Kenzo's arm, attempting to sever it from his body along with the blade. The limb twisted grotesquely, almost tearing free, but then, with a sickening snap, it sprang back into place.
Testing her hypothesis further, Maria snapped Kenzo's neck, but he soon returned to life. It seemed to be unkillable and incapable of feeling pain; the initial reports hadn't mentioned anything about this.
Maria decided her immediate priority was containment. She held Kenzo firmly in place and dialed the Agency's number.
"This is Maria, requesting an immediate containment method for Kenzo Miyazaki. Subject possesses some type of immortality linked to the katana. Over."
Now, it was only a matter of time until they could seal Kenzo away. Yet, Maria's previously unbreakable psychic hold felt subtly looser as Kenzo began to struggle. Maria's eyes widened. It wasn't that Kenzo was getting stronger. Rather, he was somehow adapting to her power.
As Maria's psychic hold began to waver further, she ejected him away. Underred, he rushed back, his blade clashing futilely against the psychic barrier.
Maria exerted her will over the surrounding debris, controlling the rebar from the ruined building. She used the sharp metal rods to impale him to the ground, pinning down each of his limbs. To further restrict his movement, Maria then twisted the rebar, binding him ever tighter.
Noticing what Maria is attempting, Kenzo yelled in rage, "You bitch! Do you think this is going to stop me!"
To ensure his immobility, Maria piled layer upon layer of the ruined building's debris on top of him, then shifted the earth itself to swallow him whole, burying him alive. Yet, after a tense moment, a hand erupted from the ground, struggling to claw its way out. Maria frowned in annoyance. Concentrating intensely, she split a large fissure in the earth, sending Kenzo plummeting further down before sealing the chasm shut above him.
Then, Maria dialed a number. "Eh? What is it, human? Is there a reason you are calling me so late?" Tamamo's sleepy voice, laced with playful annoyance, answered from the other side.
Maria swiftly explained the situation in a whisher. "I'm dealing with a cursed katana that grants its user immortality. It possesses the ability to adapt to my psychic power and extracts life from those it kills. Tamamo, do you have any information that could resolve this?"
"Hmm. How immortal?" Tamamo mused. "Based on your information, it seems to be on the vengeful side." She paused, then continued, "Just let the one who wields it kill the target of its vengeance, and the immortality effect will weaken enough for you to be able to kill them. However, it seems to be a powerful curse weapon. It likely possesses the capability to select multiple vengeful targets, and you're likely on that list, human."
"The best way to solve this," Tamamo concluded, "is to purify the wielder or to overwhelm it completely in terms of power and forcefully sever the connection to the curse."
"Wah! Tamamo?" Kaito's voice suddenly chimed in from the phone, sounding muffled and surprised.
"Wake up, human," Tamamo instructed Kaito, "that other human needs your assistance."
"Huh? Can you stop stepping on my face first?" Kaito grumbled, then his voice cleared, filled with concern. "Maria? Where are you right now? I will come immediately."
_________________
Eventually, Kenzo's hands erupted from the ground again. Mr. Sato and Akari had already found a safer hiding place far from here, leaving Maria alone to face the unhinged man as he dug himself out.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!" Kenzo constantly mumbled. His eyes now pitch black and his skin a disturbing hue of purple. Maria could feel that whatever little humanity he once possessed had completely vanished.
Maria ascended into the sky then opened her specialized suitcase. From it, a stream of ferrofluid-like metal surged forth, solidifying into numerous sharp spears. They flew toward Kenzo, impaling him from every direction. Maria knew this wouldn't hold him. She then reverted the ferrofluid back to its liquid state, seeping it into his body. Once inside, it constantly erupted into spikes, impaling him from within and churning his insides to mush. Even as his core was hollowed out by Maria's relentless assault, Kenzo remained unimpeded, unleashing countless waves of dark energy. Red cherry blossoms, ominous and beautiful, erupted around Maria as she expertly dodged each attack.
Maria then attempted to solidify Kenzo's very bones, intending to replace his blood with ferro-iron. Yet, he merely overpowered her attempt, the chanting of "Kill!" intensifying. More sword waves erupted, forcing Maria beyond simple dodging. She began deflecting the attacks with her psychic powers, but even her formidable abilities were being overwhelmed.
Just then, a dim light streaked across the night sky. It circled once, then plunged downward. Kaito, now adorned with a pair of feathery wings made of pure light, impaled Kenzo squarely in the chest. Durandal, coursed with a holy light that visibly scorched Kenzo's mutated body. Amidst roars of pain and guttural curses of "Kill!", Kenzo thrashed violently. The katana in his hand swung wildly, attempting to strike Kaito, whose own hand was enveloped in holy light as he struggled to pry the cursed blade from Kenzo's grasp.
After a desperate, back-and-forth struggle, aided by Maria's timely psychic interventions that helped control Kenzo, Kaito finally managed to overwhelm the cursed katana's hold. With a final, powerful wrench, he pulled it free from Kenzo's hand. Kaito then rapidly ascended into the sky and secured the ominous blade within his inventory.
Without the katana's power, Kenzo abruptly ceased to be alive. His mutated remains collapsing lifelessly onto the ruined street. Kaito and Maria landed on the ground, looking down at Kenzo's corpse.
"I think it's best that I keep this katana in my inventory," Kaito stated, "It might not be safe for anyone else to handle it."
Maria nodded in agreement. "I will make up an excuse for the Agency. I'll report that the katana somehow broke, Kenzo absorbed its power, and I eventually killed him."
"Alright," Kaito replied, already turning. "Let's meet back home once you're done here. I should probably leave now; in case anyone is approaching this place."
He flapped his light wings, preparing for takeoff.
Maria waved. "Thank you, and see you soon." Kaito waved back, then ascended into the night sky, disappearing into the distant glow of the city lights.