CHAPTER 4: THE FIRST MISSION – DESCENT INTO THE VEIL
[Scene 1 – Briefing Hall, Veil Academy]
Rows of students filled the amphitheatre, their auras flickering like candles. Holographic maps shimmered above the floor—Tokyo split in two layers: the visible city and its darker reflection beneath.
Instructor Rei stood at the podium, coat half-buttoned, coffee in hand.
"Congratulations, rookies. You've survived your entry tests. Now you're officially Veil Agents—barely."
Nervous laughter.
"Your first assignment isn't glamour. You'll be entering Sector G-13, one of the thinnest veil-zones in Shinjuku. Locals call it the Mirror District. Something's feeding on people's memories there."
Kaen leaned forward. "So… we're supposed to punch a ghost?"
Rei smirked. "If it bleeds aura, yes."
A name flashed on the screen beside him: Operation Dawnfall.
[Scene 2 – Armory Wing]
Inside the chrome corridors, Kaen strapped on his new regulator band—black metal engraved with gold lines.
"This thing's supposed to control my aura output, right?"
A girl beside him—short silver hair, icy eyes—adjusted her gloves.Sera Minato, top of their class.
"If it doesn't explode first," she said flatly.
Kaen grinned. "Cool. We'll match."
Sera sighed. "You're impossible."
Before they stepped into the teleport chamber, Rei stopped them.
"Arata—remember the rule: if the flame starts whispering, shut it down. The Veil feeds on emotion."
Kaen nodded, though inside his chest the voice was already stirring:
"Open the gate… let me breathe…"
[Scene 3 – The Veil Realm: Mirror District]
Light bent wrong here. Streets hung in mid-air, upside down.Buildings rippled like reflections on water.
The team landed on a floating crosswalk surrounded by drifting glass shards—each one showing fragments of the real world.
Sera scanned the area.
"Residual aura density… off the charts."
Kaen walked forward, eyes wide.
"So this is what's under Tokyo…"
A shadow slid across the mirrored surface. The reflections twisted.
Suddenly—hands burst from the glass, dragging a screaming cadet inside.
"AMBUSH!"
Kaen's instincts kicked in. Aura flared golden. He swung—shattering the glass, pulling the cadet free.But the broken pieces started to melt together, forming a humanoid shape—faceless, featureless, pure darkness.
Aural Construct: Mimic Type.
"It copies our energy," Sera warned. "Don't let it read your aura!"
Kaen grinned. "Then I'll give it too much to handle."
He thrust his palm forward—flame burst out, wrapping his arm in gold and black light.
"AURA DRIVE – PHASE TWO! Solar Ignition!"
The blast ripped through the street, bending the world's reflection. The construct screeched, cracking apart——but from the shards, three more forms crawled out.
[Scene 4 – Elsewhere in the Veil]
Far above, Ryo watched through a hovering black mirror.A cloaked figure stepped beside him—the masked leader again.
"You see? The flame remembers its nature."
Ryo's voice was cold. "He's still fighting it."
"And when he stops?"
Ryo's eyes narrowed. "Then I'll end him myself."
[Scene 5 – Battle Continues]
Kaen ducked under a swipe, countered with a burst of aura that melted the enemy's arm.Sera covered him, blades of ice-blue aura slicing through another mimic.
"Focus, Arata!"
"I am focused!"
The ground shattered. For a moment everything went white—and Kaen saw a vision: the same woman of light from before, standing over an ocean of fire.
"To master the flame, you must face the mirror."
When he blinked, one of the mimics had taken his own form—gold-black aura blazing.
"So you're me, huh?" Kaen said, smirking. "Let's see who burns brighter."
They clashed—two Kaens, two suns colliding in the dark.
[Scene 6 – Aftermath]
Hours later, smoke drifted over the ruined district. The mimics dissolved into ash.Kaen fell to one knee, exhausted, aura fading.
Sera knelt beside him. "You overextended again."
"Yeah," he breathed. "But… we won."
From above, Rei's voice came through the comm.
"Mission complete. But Arata—your regulator is destroyed. Report for diagnostics. Now."
Kaen looked at his wrist—the band was split open, glowing faintly from inside.In the cracked surface, he saw a sigil forming: a sun wrapped in shadow.
[Scene 7 – Narration]
The Veil had been silent for years.Now it stirs again—because one boy's flame refuses to die.
End of Chapter 4 – "The First Mission – Descent into the Veil."