For one moment, time held its breath.
Akechi's words hung in the air like a thread drawn tight:
"Ryo won't be interfering anymore."
Yuusuke's fists clenched at his sides. "You—what did you do?"
Kouji's throat tightened, but he didn't speak. His mind raced — Ryo, gone? Just like that? No warning, no sign?
Ketsu stepped slightly forward, expression blank. His voice, low:
"Liar."
Akechi tilted his head — not offended, not amused. Merely calm.
"There's no need for acting," he said, "Everyone's path must be cleared eventually. His just happened to cross too many of mine."
"Speaking of paths," Akechi said as he turned slightly, eyes grazing the three of them.
"Have any of you been taught about them?"
Yuusuke frowned. "We don't learn that until post-licensing."
Kouji narrowed his eyes. "Paths?"
Akechi nodded. "Every person's Kyokai resonates with one of four fundamental Paths — Enhancement, Manifestation, Emmission, or Manipulation. Most only excel at one. A few lucky ones—" he glanced toward Kouji, "—can walk two."
He stepped back. His aura flickered, something darker behind his posture.
"Three… is rare. Even among S-Ranks."
"How much do you think I excel at?"
Kouji didn't answer.
"Three, just like the Blood-Slave."
Ketsu's expression didn't change. But Kouji felt a subtle ripple behind him — a small crack in the silence.
Akechi exhaled slowly.
"That's all I needed to say."
"I have some business."
He turned his back, walking away.
"Hanzo."
Hanzo moved forward like a shadow — slow, confident.
"Kill them. Leave Kouji breathing."
Kouji's breath caught.
Yuusuke's eyes flared. "Like hell—"
The floor cracked.
The three Demi-Humans in the center stepped forward as one — lightning sparking across one's arm, ice condensing on another's fingers, and the third dragging an aura-soaked sword along the concrete, hissing with decay.
Kouji moved first, stepping in front of Yuusuke instinctively.
"Stay close."
Ketsu didn't reply. He moved sideways — quiet, loose, calculating.
The Acid Demon lunged first, swinging a half-rotted blade toward Kouji's neck.
He blocked it — barely. The blade dissolved part of his sword on contact.
The air filled with a sharp hiss — metal melting faster than he could compensate.
Kouji gritted his teeth and pulled the hilt back — aura swirled through his hand — and the sword reconstructed mid-air, whole again, even as the acid tried to eat it.
"What—" the Acid Demi-Human started—
But the words never finished.
A soft crack split the air.
A sound not like lightning — but like something snapping through skin.
A small, precise hole appeared in the Acid Demi-Human's head. No aura flash. No scream.
He collapsed wordlessly, blood pooling at his feet.
Kouji froze. His mind processed the trajectory, but not the source.
Bullet? No flash. No heat signature. No sound—
Behind him, Ketsu lowered his hand just slightly — but Kouji never turned.
The other two Demi-Humans hesitated.
Ketsu's voice came out flat:
"Go."
Kouji looked back once — Ketsu's eyes were unreadable.
"I'll handle them."
Without thinking, Kouji surged forward — aura blasting through his legs, feet coated in miasma, concrete cracking beneath him. His body blurred, kicking off the ground with devil-amplified force.
Ketsu didn't move — just watched.
"He really is both…"
Kouji shot through the warehouse corridor and catching sight of Akechi walking casually.
He didn't hesitate.
He reconstructed the bent pipes lining the wall into a long staff, infused it with his Kyokai, and swung hard.
Akechi didn't even look.
With a subtle shift, the concrete wall beside him folded and rose — a barrier forming between them in an instant.
Kouji's staff struck it — and mid-swing, the wall shifted again, twisting into a different shape, bending the staff with it.
"No—"
Kouji forced a reconstruction pulse — the staff snapped back—
And then shattered completely.
The metal wilted in his hands like wet paper.
"Reconstruction," Akechi said softly.
"Who's is better"
He raised a hand, palm outward.
"Let's see whose reality holds."
Yuusuke ducked under Hanzo's blade — a blunt-edged cleaver that pulsed with strange Kyokai logic.
Every time he dodged, it almost caught him — like the weapon knew where he was going to be.
Meanwhile, Ketsu stood against two opponents — ice crawling across the floor, lightning flashing in tight arcs around his silhouette.
He grinned now.
"Try harder."
He took one step forward, dragging a line of blood behind his foot.
The page turned.