When the World Tightens Its Grip
Shaun awoke to the silence—a kind that was very wrong. There were no city sounds. No wailing sirens. No rumble of traffic.
Just. quiet.
He opened his eyes slowly.
The ceiling was not his room's.
The white panels. Dim lighting. Thinning lines of mana insulation patterned across the wall like blue-green veins.
His heart skipped.
He sat up too quickly, and his chest erupted in pain, but something else drew his notice.
"Mom?"
"What's wrong, honey?"
"Where's
The aura meter on his shoulder was not there.
Shaun froze.
"…Reina?" he whispered
There is no answer
He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, standing up unsteadily on his feet. The floor felt like cold metal. There was a shimmering, translucent barrier where the door ought to have been.
Containment
In a hospital bed.
A holding cell.
His breath hitched.
They moved me.
Memory returned in snatches—collapsing, Reina holding on to him, Daichi shouting, darkness—
"And then nothing."
"A calm voice spoke from above," indicates that the sound
"Good morning, Shaun Verma."
Shaun looked up.
A camera lens adjusted to show on him.
Hiroshi Tanabe's face appeared on a floating screen.
Completely well-groomed. Completely at
Shaun's stomach sank.
"What. is this?" Shaun exclaimed. "Where are Reina and Daichi?"
Hiroshi smiled slightly.
"You're safe. They're safe. No need to worry."
"Then let me see them."
"Not yet."
Shaun's hands tightened.
'You said this was about monitoring,' he said, his voice trembling. 'You said you wouldn't cage me.'
Hiroshi let out a sigh – the trained sound of disappointment.
"Shaun… following last night's events, your aether passed beyond levels of containment. The Authority rated you a Class-Red Instability Risk."
Shaun felt the cold spreading through his chest.
"…So you locked me up."
"We secured you."
The word cemented Shaun's jaw shut.
"You lost control," Hiroshi continued in his smooth voice. "Your power could have injured two S-rank Hunters. It could have killed Reina."
Shaun's head jerked up.
"That's a lie!"
"Is it?" Hiroshi asked nonchalantly. "The records indicate that your aura peak reached peak lethal levels."
Shaun remembered Reina holding him.
The memories of refusing to let go.
"You're twisting it," he said in a rough voice
Hiroshi's smile faltered. Just a little.
"Shaun, listen carefully. The world is watching you right now. The Authority is afraid. The guilds are afraid. If we don't show them that we control you…"
He came closer to the camera.
"They will take you from us."
Shaun's blood ran cold.
"From us?" he repeated.
Hiroshi nodded.
"You belong to Shin'en no Kishi. And Shin'en no Kishi protects its assets."
Asset.
The word cuts deeper than any knife.
Outside the Cell
Reina stood in the hallway, her fists clenched tightly enough that she had dug her nails into the flesh of her palms.
"That is wrong," she growled between gritted teeth. "You had no right to put him in that position."
Daichi paced back and forth like a caged animal.
"He just saved Tokyo! And this is how you treat him?!",
Hiroshi stood before them calmly.
"You're allowing emotion to cloud your judgment."
Reina moved forward, the moonlight flashing precariously around her.
"You're using him. Pushing him until he breaks."
"Hiroshi! Wait
"I'm preparing him."
Daichi snorted
"For what? To be your personal nuke?"
Hiroshi did not deny this.
"He's changing at a speed that's beyond the human scale," he said. "If we don't guide him in that change, he'll destroy himself and very possibly the city."
Reina's voice became a whisper.
"You're afraid of losing control."
Hiroshi smiled wanly.
"Yes
"The honesty was chilling," because the
Back Inside the Cell
Shaun was sitting on the edge of his bed, fixated on his hands.
"They weren't glowing."
They weren't shaking.
They were. normal.
Yet he was sure it was there – that presence in him, still and alert. Watching.
"They're afraid of you," seemed to whisper.
"Okay," said Shaun, taking a deep breath as he pressed his
"No. They are frightened by what they cannot possess."
He looked up at the camera.
"Hiroshi," he whispered. "If you truly wanted to help me. you would have asked."
Silence.
Then Hiroshi spoke again, his voice softer now.
"You don't understand the scale of what you're becoming."
"Then teach me," Shaun retorted quickly. "Don't cage me."
Hiroshi studied him for a long moment.
Finally, he added:
"The Authority has planned a complete assessment in three days. Psychological. Biological. Mana-deep scan."
Shaun's heart sank.
"If you pass, you'll be cleared. If you don't…", Hiroshi continued.
This sentence was not completed.
Shaun knew what that meant.
Dissection
Containment
Removal.
"A weapon locked away forever."
|
-THE PRESENCE STIRS
"The warmth inside Shaun changed."
*Not violently.*
Not aggressively.
Just… aware.
They will never let you go, it whispered.
Shaun swallowed hard.
"I don't want to hurt anyone," he whispered back. He could barely speak.
Then quit letting them determine who you are.
Shaun closed his eyes.
For the first time, he did not push the presence away.
He listened.
And something changed.
Not an explosion.
Not a flare.
A link.
The warmth settled – calmer, deeper, like a sun underneath the ocean.
"Shaun woke up," Shaun said
There was a faint shimmering in the air surrounding him.
The containment barrier flickered.
Only once.
Shaun froze.
"…I didn't even try,"
A chill ran down his spine.
Outside the cell, a sensor beeped.
Reina snapped her head up.
Daichi stopped pacing.
"What was that?" Daichi asked.
Hiroshi stared at the monitor — the containment field stabilizing again.
"…Nothing," he said slowly.
But his eyes betrayed him.
For the first time—
Hiroshi Tanabe looked uncertain.
The Truth Beneath the Aura
With each passing second, the room appeared smaller.
Shaun held perfectly still, his eyes fixed on the glowing shield. His breathing was calm, his thoughts far from it. The warmth that was inside him, that thing, was not pushing at his chest anymore. Instead, it was waiting. Waiting for something. For what, he couldn't quite tell.
They will come again, whispered the darkness.
"They always do."
Shaun tightened his jaw.
"I won't run," he muttered. "Not yet."
The air changed.
Shaun felt it before he saw it â€" a distortion, a slight but definite one. The barrier rippled like the surface of a puddle beneath a falling leaf.
Then a figure emerged out of it.
Crushed is better.
Not forced.
"Simply. walked through."
Shaun sprang to his feet.
"—
Ryuji Hayate stood inside the containment cell with his hands stuffed inside his coat pockets and a calm expression on his face. The barrier closed quietly behind him.
"Relax," Ryuji said softly. "If they sensed my presence, there would already be members of the guild here."
Shaun stared.
"You walked through an SSS-grade containment field."
Ryuji shrugged.
"Technicality," it continued. "It's attuned to mana. I was not
Shaun's stomach turned.
"That's impossible
Ryuji's eyes hardened.
"That's what they said about you too."
A Conversation the World Doesn't Want
Ryuji leaned on the wall, his arms crossed.
"You know why they're afraid of you, Shaun?"
Shaun hesitated.
'Because I'm unstable.'
Ryuji shook his head.
"No. Because you don't fit."
Shaun frowned.
"The whole hunter system, from ranks and mana limitations to evolution routes, it's founded on one premise," Ryuji went on. "That the source of that power is just mana."
"He tapped his chest lightly," Glory remembered.
"But yours doesn't."
Shaun felt a chill run through him.
"What do you mean?"
Ryuji locked his eyes with his.
"The thing inside you isn't a mutation of healing mana. It's something older. Something deeper."
"Swallow,
"…What for
Ryuji breathed slowly.
"Have you ever wondered why Hell Ore works?"
"Oh!" Shaun
"It accelerates evolution. Forever."
"This is the reason they give recruits," Ryuji answered. "But it's not like that."
"He stepped closer."
"Hells Ores don't make power. They release latent anchors – shards of something that got left behind during the first crossing of this world with the world of mana."
Shaun's heart rate increased.
"And you, though, already had one of those anchors." Ryuji whispered.
Shaun took a step backwards.
"No… I was normal. I awakened late. Weak."
Ryuji shook his head once more.
"You were incomplete."
"The words struck harder than any blow."
"The Hell Ore didn't improve you," Ryuji said.
"It completed you."
The Origin No One Teaches
Shaun's hands were shaking.
"If that's true…then what am I?"
Ryuji didn't reply at once.
Instead, he asked, "Do you know why monsters, ghouls, and yokai have ranks?"
"Mana density," Shaun echoed automatically.
Ryuji nodded.
"And do you know what happens when the mana density exceeds the natural ceiling of this world?"
Shaun frowned.
"…
Ryuji faintly smiled.
"No. Collapse
He raised a finger.
"Every SSS entity you've ever heard of is a failure. A being forced to stop growing simply because the world can't handle them."
Shaun's breath caught in his
"Except one category."
Ryuji's eyes clouded
"Anchored beings."
"The word echoed in Shaun's mind."
"Things that do not draw their power from the world, but regulate their power within it," Ryūji said quietly, "do not explode. They do not collapse. They persist."
Shaun felt his presence awakening within him, not fiercely but knowingly.
He is listening, it whispered.
Ryuji drew even closer.
"Shaun… you're not turning into a monster."
"Then what—
"You are becoming a keystone."
The Weight of Meaning
Inhabiting
"The room was too quiet."
"A keystone… for what?" Shaun asked.
"Listen," Ryuji said, his tone reduced to almost a whisper
"For balance."
Shaun felt his chest constricted painfully.
"That doesn't make sense."
"It will," Ryuji said. "Later. When the world starts breaking faster."
"My hands," Shaun said, staring at them
"I don't want this," he whispered. "I just wanted to save people."
Ryuji looked at him for a long moment.
"Then you're the right one," he said finally. "That's why it chose you."
"What's this I hear about you
"Chose me
Ryuji nodded.
"Anchors aren't random. They resonate with purpose. With intent. With will
Shaun's voice shook.
"So the voice… the warmth… it's not trying to take over?"
"No," Ryuji answered firmly. "It's trying to sync."
Shaun exhaled a trembling breath.
"Then why does it hurt?"
Ryuji's face relaxed.
"Because you are fighting something that can't be erased. You don't control it yet…but it doesn't control you, either."
He turned to face the barrier.
"The Authority will never agree to this. Hiroshi will never let this happen."
Shaun swallowed hard.
"Then what happens to me?"
Ryuji looked back over his shoulder.
"That depends on one thing."
"What
Ryuji's eyes fixed on Shaun's.
"When the evaluation begins…
will you keep pretending you're only a hunter?"
Barrier rippled once more.
Ryuji passed through it, disappearing as silently as he appeared.
In the outside world – Alarms Stir
In a control room above, a technician frowned.
"Commander… There was a momentary fluctuation in the containment field,"
Hiroshi stiffened.
"How long?"
"Less than two seconds. No breach detected."
Hiroshi's eyes narrowed.
"…Increase monitoring. I want full-spectrum observation."
But deep down, unease crawled through him.
Something had changed.
Back in the Cell
Shaun sat slowly on the bed.
A keystone.An anchor.Not mana-born.
The presence inside him felt… calm.
Almost relieved.
Shaun closed his eyes.
"Okay," he whispered. "If you're part of me… then we do this together."
The warmth settled.
The air shimmered faintly.
The containment barrier flickered again — longer this time.
And far above, unnoticed by the sensors, the sky over Tokyo shifted slightly.
As if the world itself had felt something lock into place.
The Evaluation That Was Never Fair
The examination took place at dawn.
Shaun was led out of the containment cell by four members of the Authority, all wearing mana-suppressing suits and mask-like faces that were utterly impassive.
None of them said a word. There was no need.
He walked barefoot down a sterile hallway, his wrists circled by faint rings of suppression that vibrated softly against his skin. It didn't hurt—just pressured, as if hands were pushing his abilities inside.
His inner warmth sparked back into action.
Without force.
Not angrily.
Defensively.
Shaun winced as he felt a dull pain spreading through his chest.
"They are trying to smother us, the presence whispered."
"I know," Shaun muttered quietly. "Don't fight it. Not yet."
The agents barely looked at him before falling silent.
Then at the end of the corridor was a circular cell that was bigger than the containment cell. This was secure beyond any standard of an S-rank. There were runes etched into the sides. There were also sensors suspended inside the cell that looked like eyes.
Reina stood waiting at the entrance.
"The relief that swept through Shaun when he saw her was almost painful."
"Shaun," she whispered, taking a step forward.
An Authority officer held up a hand.
"She may observe. She may not interfere."
Reina's jaw clenched, but she nodded.
Daichi stood behind her, folded his arms, and scowled.
Hiroshi waited inside the chamber.
Smiling
Stage One - Suppression Test
In this stage
"Let us begin," Hiroshi said smoothly.
Shaun was in the middle of the room. The door closed with a thump, sealing Shaun in.
"Activate suppression field."
The air suddenly changed.
Pressure came crashing down on Shaun like a sudden storm. His knees weakened momentarily as the suppression rings flashed even brighter.
AURA LEVEL: 9% -- FORCED STABILITY
"I am going to call for a
The warmth inside him recoiled sharply.
"This is wrong," it whispered. "This is hurting the structure."
Hiroshi watched the numbers scroll by with interest.
"Interesting," he breathed. "Your aura resists repression much more actively than I anticipated."
Shaun looked up.
The
'Because it's not just mana,' he said quietly.
Hiroshi raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? And what would you call it?"
Shaun didn't respond.
No, not yet
Stage Two: Psychological Deep Scan
When the results of the
A round machine lowered from the ceiling, stopping just inches from Shaun's forehead. The surface of the machine rippled like "liquid glass."
"Neural-mana interface engaged," called the Authority technician.
Reina stood rigid
'This scan interferes with memory circuits,' she snapped. 'You didn't get this approved—'
"It's in accordance with protocol," Hiroshi said matter-of-factly. "For
Entity.
The word burned.
"Shaun," Reina whispered, "if it doesn't feel right, back away
Shaun met her eyes.
He nodded.
The scan started.
Light poured into Shaun's eyes.
Memories came flooding back.
-Ayame smiling as she handed him coffee
"—Her scream in the Yokohama ruins" is
– Blood on his hands
—The Variant roaring
-Reina calling his name
-The eruption of his power
Shaun gasped as the scan intensified.
Pain lanced through his skull.
Stop, the presence warned. They are enforcing access.
"I—can't—" Shaun
Hiroshi leaned forward.
"Continue," he said.
The scan continued to probe deeper.
"And something pushed back."
Golden light poured—not outwards, but inwards. The room trembled ever so slightly.
It was now time
Warning: Foreign Structure Detected
"What is that?" a technician cried out.
"Shaun screamed
The scan device was split down the middle.
ugncayaasangay
"STOP IT!"
Yet it had come too late.
The Truth Spills Out
The scan utterly broke down.
A burst of golden light swept through the room—not destructive, not violent—revealing.
For a split second, everyone in the room saw it.
Not power.
It is not mana
A structure.
A glowing lattice, enormous and bound deep within Shaun's core, older than mana itself. It wasn't draining energy.
It was holding it together.
There was silence.
Hiroshi's smile disappeared.
"What…" he whispered. ".is that
Shaun dropped to one knee, gasping.
"I've been
"That, he rasped, 'is why suppression hurts.'"
Reina stared, breathless
"That's not evolution," she whispered. "That's… foundation
Daichi swallowed hard.
"Holy hell…"
The Authority technicians panicked.
"Commander, that structure doesn't fit any known hunter classification,"
"It's not monster-based
"It's stabilizing surrounding mana density!"
"I won't do it
His eyes were burning with something new.
Not curiosity.
Fear.
The Order
"Enough," said Hiroshi abruptly.
The room was silent.
"He looked at Shaun—not as a weapon, not as a hunter—but as something completely different."
"
—but as something uncontrollable.
"Then Shaun Verma is formally reclassified," Hiroshi announced.
"From active hunter to Containment Priority Alpha."
Reina turned on him.
"You can't do that."
"I can," Hiroshi said fervently. "And I just did," he said
He turned to the Authority.
"Prepare full restraint protocol."
Shaun's heart sank.
Reina stood in front of him.
"You'll have to go through me."
Well, it
Daichi did not hesitate and joined her.
"Same
"Hiroshi
"This loyalty," he said. "How tragic."
The field of suppression grew stronger.
Shaun cried out as the pressure became unbearable.
The warmth inside of him swelled in response—not aggressively, no—but insistently.
"They will break us, it warned."
Shaun looked at Reina.
At Daichi.
For the people who remained during the turn of the world against them.
And something in him snapped.
"No," Shaun said softly.
The suppression rings shattered.
Golden light flooded the chamber.
Not explosive.
Not chaotic.
Controlled.
Shaun stood.
The pressure vanished.
Every sensor in the room flatlined.
Hiroshi staggered back, eyes wide.
"That's impossible—!"
Shaun looked at him calmly.
"I didn't break out," he said."I stopped obeying."
The Day He Walked Away
Darkness enveloped the hall.
Not the calm kind—terrified.
All the runes that adorned the walls were darkened.
Each sensor was suspended in midair, lifeless.
The suppression field lay broken all around Shaun, like shattered glass.
He stood at the center of everything happening to him with his golden light dampened to a soft glow under his skin.
Not raging.
Not wild.
Consistent.
Hiroshi gazed at him as if he were gazing upon a natural disaster that had the power of speech.
"You. you disconnected the suppression without unleashing mana," Hiroshi whispered. "That's not possible,"
Shaun looked back at him.
"I didn't overpower it," he said quietly.
"I rejected it."
Reina felt her own breath catch.
Daichi laughed, just once, in disbelief.
"Damn… that's my boy."
The Choice Made
The agents of authority swooped in, their weaponry buzzing with mana.
"Stand down!" came a shout. "Shaun Verma, you are under—
"No," Shaun said.
Not loud.
Not angry.
Only final.
The operatives were frozen in place
Not because of fear.
Because something in the air told them:
If he moves, we lose.
Reina moved forward to stand next to Shaun.
"You want him?" she said icily. "Then you have to come through me."
Daichi readily joined them.
"Me too."
Hiroshi tightened his fists.
"You are ruining everything," he snapped at Shaun.
Taken as a whole, these
Shaun surveyed the ruined chamber.
"At what cost?" he asked.
He turned back to Hiroshi.
"You never wanted to help me control my power," Shaun went on.
"You wanted to make sure it answered to you."
Hiroshi's voice fell, venom in
"And if I don't control you. someone else will."
Shaun nodded.
Maybe.
"And then he said the words that sealed everything: 'I would rather be
"But it won't be today."
The Walk
Shaun moved forward.
The operatives automatically took a step back.
The door slid open.
There were no blaring alarms
There were no barriers that emerged
Because they all no longer worked.
Shaun didn't blast his way out.
He didn't fly.
He walked.
Reina and Daichi walked with him.
Behind them, Hiroshi shouted:
"If you leave this room, Shaun Verma—
It looks as though I would have been classified as a global anomaly!
"All guilds, all authorities, all hunters will be informed!"
Shaun stopped at the threshold.
He glanced back once.
"Then tell them this," he said.
"I didn't leave to destroy the world."
A pause.
"I left so that it wouldn't destroy me."
Then he came out.
Global Alert
Minutes passed, and all the guilds' monitors turned on.
throughout Japan.
Throughout Asia.
Across the world.
WORLD HUNTER AUTHORITY - EMERGENCY BULLET
SUBJECT: Shaun Verma
STATUS: UNREGISTERED ANOMAL
RANK: UNKNOWN (EXCEEDS SS PARAMETERS
RISK LEVEL: RED
NOTICE:
Shaun Verma has escaped from containment illegally.
Reporting is advised for all guilds.
Engagement without approval is not allowed.
Hunters gazed at the alarm in shock.
"That's the Tokyo Bay hero…."
"They're calling him an anomaly?"
"What did he do?"
"What is he?"
Fear propagated much faster than the truth.
Exile
Night descended upon Shaun, Reina, and Daichi, who were positioned on a hill overlooking a city.
Tokyo shone in the distance, bright and far away, unreachable.
Reina slowly exhaled.
"We're fugitives now
"Daichi cracked his neck."
"Yeah. Kinda figured
Shaun gazed at his hands in amazement.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I dragged you into this."
Reina shook her head.
"No," she said. "You gave us a choice. That's more than they ever did."
Daichi smiled sarcast
'Besides, I was getting tired of being told what to do by suits.'
Shaun smiled softly, but then turned serious.
"They'll come after us," he said."Stronger hunters. Smarter traps."
Reina met his eyes.
"Let them."
The warmth inside Shaun pulsed — calm, aligned.
For the first time, it didn't scare him.
"Where do we go?" Daichi asked.
Shaun looked toward the horizon.
"Somewhere the system can't reach us," he said."Somewhere I can learn what I really am… without being chained."
Reina nodded slowly.
"And when the monsters return?"
Shaun's gaze hardened.
"Then I'll return too."
Not as their weapon.
Not as their property.
But as himself.
Elsewhere
Ryuji Hayate stood on a distant rooftop, watching the city lights.
He smiled faintly.
"So," he murmured,"the keystone has stepped out of the wall."
He turned away.
"The world won't like this."