Night had not yet fallen, but the city of Arclight was already drowning in the quiet aftershock of catastrophe. Torches flickered weakly along broken walls. Healing stations overflowed. The Adventurer Association remained locked down, guarded by trembling soldiers who pretended not to watch Hayate's every movement.
Flare hovered close, her tiny arms wrapped around her chest.
"Hayate… I don't like this silence."
He understood why.
It wasn't the normal silence of a city recovering.
It was the silence of a city waiting.
Waiting for orders.
Waiting for decisions.
Waiting for the kingdom's next move.
And that move came sooner than expected.
A shadow fell across the sky—sharp, long, stretching like a blade.
Flare squeaked.
"Oh no. That pressure… that's not Seraphine. Someone else is here."
Hayate looked up.
A massive griffin descended from the clouds, royal blue armor glinting across its wings. Upon its back rode a knight wrapped not in silver, but in dark violet armor engraved with symbols of judgment.
The crest of the Royal Inquisition.
Flare's glow flickered dangerously.
"T-The Inquisitors? Already!?"
They were the king's secret police—the blade sent when diplomacy failed, when the crown wanted silence rather than dialogue.
Their leader dismounted, boots cracking stone.
The man's voice was low, sharp, and cold enough to freeze embers.
"Rengoku Hayate. By decree of His Majesty King Aldric, you are to be evaluated for threat classification."
Flare clung to Hayate's hair like a terrified leaf.
"T-THREAT CLASSIFICATION!? That's kingdom-speak for 'Is he too dangerous to live?'"
Hayate did not move.
"State your name."
The knight struck his breastplate with a fist.
"Commander Vaelux, Seventh Inquisition Blade."
Hayate's eyes narrowed slightly.
Inquisition Blades weren't just strong.
They were kingdom-level executioners.
And Vaelux's armor hummed with something more sinister—divine enforcement magic. A spell designed to bind monsters and aberrant beings.
Flare whispered frantically:
"They think you're a walking calamity! This is bad. This is super bad."
Vaelux's gaze remained dead calm.
"Lady Seraphine's report states you refused a direct summons. Is this true?"
Hayate didn't hesitate.
"Yes."
A murmur spread across the streets.
Vaelux's visor glowed faintly.
"And you negotiated terms with the kingdom rather than submit?"
"Yes."
Vaelux's gauntlet twitched.
"That is not how subjects of the Crown behave."
Hayate tilted his head slightly.
"I am not a subject."
Those words struck the plaza like lightning.
Flare made a dying-cat noise behind him.
"Hayate we talked about this—don't SAY THINGS that make kingdoms nervous!!"
But it was too late.
Vaelux drew his blade—not fully, but an inch.
Enough for divine light to spill out like molten gold.
"You are hereby classified as High-Risk Unknown Entity until proven otherwise."
Hayate's aura began to pulse.
"Then test me."
The Inquisitor's First Strike
Vaelux moved.
Not fast.
Not loud.
He moved like the air itself was assisting him.
One moment he stood a dozen meters away.
The next—
SLASH—
A divine blade carved straight toward Hayate's throat.
Flare screamed.
"HE'S GOING FOR THE INSTANT-KILL!"
Hayate didn't dodge.
Didn't flinch.
A swirl of black flame erupted from his palm, catching the blade between two fingers.
The clash sent ripples through the air, distorting reality for half a heartbeat.
Vaelux's visor glowed brighter.
"Hm. Seraphine did not exaggerate."
Hayate released the blade.
"I told her already. I am not the kingdom's enemy."
"That," Vaelux replied, "is for His Majesty to decide."
He spun the sword, and divine chains uncoiled from the blade like living serpents.
Flare gasped.
"Oh no—OH NO! That's a suppression art! They use it on calamity-class monsters!"
The chains shot forward.
WHOOM—
Like spears of light seeking blood.
Hayate raised his hand.
The Devouring Star's shadow unfurled behind him.
CRACK—
The divine chains disintegrated the moment they touched the darkness.
Vaelux froze.
"…Impossible. Nullification? Against divine binding?"
Hayate stepped forward.
"You're wasting your time."
But Vaelux wasn't finished.
He slammed his sword into the ground.
A magic circle erupted beneath Hayate's feet—gold, ancient, sharp enough to cut souls.
Flare shrieked,
"HAYATE MOVE— THAT'S A HOLY ABSOLUTE SEAL!"
The spell detonated.
The Devouring Star Answers
Golden light swallowed Hayate whole.
People in the plaza screamed and fled. Knights dove behind broken walls. Even other adventurers felt their skin peel from the pressure of divine suppression.
Flare hammered on the golden barrier with her tiny fists.
"RELEASE HIM YOU METAL-SHOE-WEARING PALACE DOG—!"
Vaelux crossed his arms.
"This seal suppresses aberrant forces. If the spirit is correct… it should bind the monster inside you."
Inside the barrier—inside the blinding golden sphere—
Hayate opened his eyes.
The Devouring Star pulsed.
Not in fear.
Not in anger.
But in hunger.
The golden magic cracked.
One line.
Two lines.
Three.
Vaelux's visor dimmed.
"…No."
Flare backed away, her glow trembling.
"Hayate…?"
The seal shattered with a sound like a dying sun.
Golden fragments evaporated into black flame.
Hayate stepped out, unscathed.
No—more than that.
Stronger.
The Devouring Star had absorbed the divine energy.
Vaelux took a single step back.
"What manner of existence… are you?"
Hayate answered simply.
"One that will not kneel."
The Unintended Audience
A massive crowd had formed.
Citizens.
Adventurers.
Wounded soldiers.
Even guild officials and priests from the cathedral ruins.
Every pair of eyes stared at Hayate with a single overwhelming reaction:
Awe.
He had just withstood divine suppression magic—magic reserved for world-ending threats.
Someone whispered:
"…He… he resisted the Inquisition…"
Another voice trembled:
"He's… stronger than the kingdom's executioners."
"This is insane…"
"Is he… human?"
Vaelux raised his sword again.
But hesitation cracked through his movements.
"Your power is anomalous. And dangerous. I must continue the evaluation—"
"Enough."
Hayate didn't shout.
He didn't need to.
His presence alone halted Vaelux mid-swing.
Flare floated up beside him, puffing her cheeks angrily.
"You already attacked him first! Twice! Isn't it obvious he's not the one causing trouble!?"
Vaelux did not reply.
But he slowly lowered his blade.
"Lady Seraphine… she informed me you reject conquest."
"Correct."
"And that you may… be reasoned with."
"Also correct."
Silence.
Then Vaelux exhaled softly—something like frustration mixed with reluctant respect.
"In that case… I will suspend the evaluation."
Flare let out a squeal of relief, clinging to Hayate's shoulder like a limp scarf.
Hayate nodded slightly.
"Good."
But Vaelux raised a finger.
"However."
Hayate paused.
"The kingdom will send another representative. A higher one."
Flare's wings stiffened.
"H-Higher than an Inquisition Blade…? But that means—"
Vaelux finished the sentence for her.
"The royal family themselves will take interest."
Shadows Gather, Winds Shift
The griffin rider mounted his beast again.
He turned toward Hayate one last time.
"For what it is worth, Hayate… I do not believe you wish harm to the kingdom."
Hayate didn't respond.
"But others… will not be so rational."
He pulled his visor down.
"The king especially."
With a powerful beat of wings, the griffin ascended into the sky and vanished behind clouds.
The plaza fell silent.
But it was no longer a fearful silence.
It was reverence.
Recognition.
Hayate's name whispered through the streets like a rising tide.
"Savior…"
"Monster…"
"Protector…"
"Calamity…"
Flare touched Hayate's arm gently.
"Hayate… what will you do?"
He looked toward the broken skyline.
Toward the distant castle beyond the horizon.
Toward the kingdom that now saw him as a possible threat.
What would he do?
The answer was simple.
"Prepare."
Flare blinked.
"For what?"
Hayate turned away.
"For the king."
The Capital Reacts (Interlude)
Inside the throne room of Kingsveil Castle…
A messenger kneeled, sweating.
"Y-Your Majesty… the Inquisition failed to suppress him."
The king—a towering man with obsidian hair and golden eyes—rested his chin on one hand.
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
"…Interesting."
Another advisor gulped.
"Your Majesty… Rengoku Hayate grows stronger with each passing hour. If not handled properly, he may—"
The king stood.
Silence swallowed the room.
"Send a royal carriage," he said.
"And assemble the First Knight Battalion."
His eyes gleamed with dangerous curiosity.
"I will meet this anomaly myself."
The Royal Hunt Begins
Back in Arclight, Hayate and Flare walked through the ruined plaza.
Behind them, civilians bowed.
Not out of worship.
Not out of fear.
But in the uncertain reverence reserved for disasters that saved them.
Flare floated beside him, silent for once.
"Hayate… the king is coming, isn't he?"
"Yes."
"And he won't come to talk peacefully, will he?"
"No."
Flare swallowed hard.
"But we'll face him, right?"
"We will."
She breathed out in shaky relief.
"…I'm glad."
Hayate looked at the burning horizon.
The king was coming.
And when royalty hunts, they do not aim to injure.
They aim to destroy.
But Hayate's eyes shone with unyielding light.
"I do not fear kings," he said.
"Kings fear the strong."
Flare nodded, determination flickering in her flame-like aura.
"Then let's show them."
Hayate stepped forward.
Each step echoed like a threat.
Like a promise.
Like the beginning of war.
The Kingdom Arc had begun.
And the royal hunt was already in motion.