The stone block continued its ominous message:
"Mio, Hideo. I want you to inherit this shrine. But first of all, I want you to get a general knowledge about..."
"...the destruction of Veridia."
Tetsu's heart pounded.
The destruction of Veridia? I heard that the cause was—
"You might have heard that in public, it was confirmed that the cause is an implosion that shatters the plant itself."
"But that is not true."
Tetsu's mind raced. Huh? Not true?
"The true cause is..."
A bead of sweat trickled down Tetsu's face. He swallowed hard, his eyes glued to the stone block, waiting for the final, terrifying reveal.
Suddenly, an immensely powerful aura washed through the underground tunnel, a life-threatening chill that made the hairs on his arms stand up. In the far distance, at the very spot where Tetsu had fallen before walked through the path, stood a man in a black suit and a top hat.
He was facing the glowing path, his face obscured by the darkness of the passage.
The man pulled a glimmering dagger from his cloak.
"Don't dig too deep on what you're not supposed to know," the man said, his voice a low, chilling whisper that somehow carried through the cavernous space.
As the man swung his dagger horizontally, Tetsu's instincts screamed at him.
He instinctively ducked, a split second before a horizontal slash, a shimmering line of pure energy, sliced through the entire area just above his head.
The air rippled, and the stone walls and even the waterfalls were cleanly bisected as if they were made of butter.
Tetsu's heart hammered in his chest.
What the hell was that? he thought, his body trembling.
Without a moment's pause, the man raised his dagger again, its silvery sheen catching the faint light.
He swung it downward, and in his view, clean, vertical slashes followed each other in a deadly sequence from left to right.
In Tetsu's view, a series of vertical slashes erupted from outside, bisecting the stone block and the entire area.
The message was destroyed, but a large fragment of the stone flew toward him, revealing a single, disrupted phrase:
"The battle of..."
The battle of?
Tetsu thought, his mind racing to complete the thought.
Suddenly, a hand from behind grabbed his shoulder, startling him. It was the mysterious man, his grip firm.
The fragment of the stone block, with that message, flew over Tetsu and the man, splitting in two as it passed, and harmlessly collided with the falling walls. The entire area began to collapse, debris raining down on them.
"Long time no see, Ishizawa Tetsu," the man said calmly.
Tetsu froze. The aura of the man was overwhelming, but strangely non-hostile.
He forced himself to turn around and launched a powerful kick at his assailant, but his foot met only empty air.
The man was gone.
A large piece of debris fell toward Tetsu from above. The man reappeared behind him, grabbing his shoulder once more.
"Let's have a talk at another time," he said.
"Eh?" Tetsu started to say, but before he could finish, his vision spun.
He was no longer in the collapsing underground cavern, but airborne, falling toward the sky.
He instinctively looked down and saw the roof of the honden.
"What the—" he yelled, before crashing through the roof.
Pain seared through him as he hit the floor, his body shaking uncontrollably.
Outside, Detective Nakano and the black-haired officer were talking on their walkie-talkies.
"We need support from the rescue team—"
Nakano stopped mid-sentence as he saw something crash through the honden's roof.
"Wait. Let's talk later," he said, and he and the officer ran toward the shrine.
Inside, a shrine maiden was already there.
"What happened here?" Nakano asked.
"Someone fell from the roof," she replied, her voice trembling. Nakano's eyes widened in shock as he saw Tetsu lying on the ground.
"Mr. Ishizawa!" Nakano yelled.
Outside, the same mysterious man walked calmly toward the honden. He shoved his hand into his vest, a silvery flicker of his dagger visible beneath the fabric.
But before he could do anything, Saya, hidden in a nearby bush, spotted Tetsu with her specialized binoculars.
She immediately put her phone to her ear, which was already on a group call, and said:
"I've found him. Proceed as planned."
From another bush, a man's voice replied, "Understood."
He pressed a button on the memory-altering machine, activating it. The air rippled, and everyone at the shrine, including Nakano and the officer, fell unconscious.
Seizing the opportunity, Saya and several other Darkside Destroyer personnel sprinted toward the honden. The mysterious man, seeing them, smiled to himself.
As Saya passed him, she felt an immense aura and instinctively turned her head.
But the man was gone. Confused, she paused until a voice from her team asked.
"Ms. Destroyer, is there a problem?"
"Uh, no... nothing," she replied, shaking her head.
I just felt a powerful presence, or am I just imagining things?
She quickly ran to the honden. Inside, Nakano and the officer were lying unconscious, but Tetsu was still awake, confused.
"Hey, why are you lying there?" he called out to the unconscious Nakano.
Saya ran to Tetsu, kneeling beside him.
"Tetsu, what happened?"
"Saya? Is this your doing?" he asked.
"Let's talk about that later; you need medical intervention first," she said, lifting him by his shoulder.
Later, in the Darkside Destroyer's medical room, Tetsu lay on a medical bed. Yasu, holding a clipboard, examined his chart.
"It's fine. He only has some bruises and no major internal injury were found. His bones were also intact."
Saya sighed with relief. "Then please take care of him," she requested before leaving the room.
"Sorry for bothering you again," Tetsu said.
"No problem. Patients come to me regularly, and your case is just one of them," Yasu replied, a hint of weariness in his voice.
"By the way, you said you were falling from the sky toward the honden, right?"
"How did you only get minor injuries when you fell from that height?"
"When I fell on that roof, it felt like the roof was already loose, like it was sliced into many smaller cubes before I fell on it," Tetsu explained, remembering the sensation.
Yasu's mind raced. Sliced... into many cubes? he thought.
Could this be the same person who took down that crocodile monster?
No, that still needs further investigation before a conclusion can be made.
He looked at Tetsu.
"Alright. You should stay here and rest for today. I'll send you off tomorrow."
Time passed, and it was now nighttime. Yasu worked on his computer, while Tetsu, having finished his meal, leaned back against the headboard.
He couldn't stop thinking about the mysterious man and his terrifying power.
I met him again after a long time, Tetsu thought.
That power was absurd. Was he a Kinesis user also?
He remembered the man's invitation at the school staircase.
But...
... is he not... my ally?
He thought, his eyes growing heavy.
With that final thought, Tetsu's eyelids drooped, and he fell asleep.
Yasu, seeing him asleep, walked over to the bed. He pulled the curtain shut, covered Tetsu with a blanket, and then pressed a button to turn off the light above the bed.
He then returned to his desk and continued his work, the silence of the room punctuated only by the soft hum of his computer.