"So that's it… the invisibility helmet from the legend of the Greek hero Perseus, huh?"
Ren Kuroda stood in the darkness, casually resting his blade against his shoulder as if they weren't in the middle of a life-or-death hunt.
"I might look like a devastatingly handsome human right now," he went on lightly, "but I'm actually a half-yokai… or in Little Garden terms, probably a half-demon."
He tapped his nose with a grin.
"Human or yokai, I'm still the best-looking guy in the room—that part's non-negotiable. But more importantly, my senses have always been sharper than most. This level of concealment?"
He tilted his head slightly.
"It's not nearly enough to fool me."
The vice-commander of 'Perseus,' still invisible beneath the Helmet of Hades, stiffened when he heard those words.
For a split second, surprise flickered across his face.
Then he immediately leapt backward, widening the distance between himself and Ren.
In his mind, Ren might have exceptional senses—but as long as he maintained sufficient distance, Ren shouldn't be able to pinpoint his exact position.
That was the theory.
He had barely begun to relax—
When Ren vanished.
No footsteps.
No warning.
Just—
Gone.
And when Ren reappeared—
He was already behind him.
"You're lying!" the vice-commander shouted, genuine shock breaking through his composure. "You're not tracking me by smell!"
A violent sense of danger surged from behind.
His battle instincts—honed in the middle tiers—saved him.
He twisted his body at the last second, narrowly avoiding a fatal strike.
But not entirely.
A brutal slash carved diagonally across his chest, from shoulder to abdomen.
Even if left untreated, that wound alone would eventually force him out of the game.
'Perseus' had once been a middle-tier Community. For this man to rise to second-in-command, he was far from ordinary.
And in the moments that followed, he proved it.
Ren didn't press immediately. Instead, he answered calmly:
"I said I could use smell and hearing to find you."
He stepped forward.
"But I never said those were my only methods."
A faint smile curved his lips in the darkness.
"You assumed that on your own. So how exactly am I the one lying?"
In Ren's vision—
The vice-commander wasn't invisible at all.
Every muscle tremor.
Every shift in stance.
Perfectly clear.
Back in the world of yokai, when Ren had battled the hidden Tanuki lord Inugami Gyōbu Danuki, he had awakened a skill—
Mind's Eye.
Since then, through countless battles, that ability had evolved.
It no longer merely detected concealed targets.
It saw them.
On his Gift Card, its name was simple:
Mind's Eye.
Its effect?
To pierce all falsehood.
The vice-commander still believed himself completely hidden—
Unaware that in Ren's perception, he might as well have been standing in broad daylight.
Despite his injury, the vice-commander fought fiercely.
Far more skillfully than the others.
But blood loss slowed him.
And Ren—
Was holding back.
Even so, after less than five minutes of resistance—
The vice-commander was expelled from the game space.
Before being transported out, he gritted his teeth and declared one last thing:
"The Helmet I wore… was only a replica! Flawed from the start! It's no surprise you found me!"
He glared fiercely into the void.
"But Lord Lios is wearing the genuine Helmet of Hades! As long as he doesn't act recklessly, you'll never find him!"
And then—
He vanished.
Ren narrowed his eyes.
"Hmm."
To verify the claim, he activated Mind's Eye and scanned the Oni Realm.
Nothing.
No silhouette.
No distortion.
No concealed figure.
Which meant—
The vice-commander hadn't been bluffing.
The genuine Helmet of Hades was an exceptionally high-ranking Gift.
In Little Garden, Gifts were as numerous as stars. Naturally, conflicting abilities weren't uncommon.
An invulnerability Gift might encounter a "pierce all" Gift.
A perception Gift like Mind's Eye might clash with an invisibility Gift like the Helmet of Hades.
When two Gifts conflicted, priority determined the outcome.
And priority was dictated by spiritual rank.
In simple terms—
The Gift with greater origin and higher spiritual authority would override the lesser one.
If Mind's Eye couldn't locate Lios—
Then the Helmet's rank exceeded his.
Moreover, this was the authentic Helmet.
Not a replica.
Ren tested further.
No scent.
No presence.
No aura.
Nothing.
It was flawless concealment.
No wonder Perseus, as a mere human, had been able to approach the Gorgon undetected.
In terms of presence suppression—
The Helmet of Hades was unquestionably top-tier.
Ordinarily, someone facing such a situation would have run out of options.
But Ren Kuroda—
Was not "ordinary."
He had faced too many troublesome abilities in too many worlds.
Simple invisibility would not defeat him.
If Mind's Eye failed—
If smell and hearing were useless—
Then he would rely on something sharper still.
Something beyond the five senses.
The so-called sixth sense.
For ordinary people, that might be vague intuition.
For Ren—
Who had trained in the discipline of Fūrinkazan—
It was a weapon.
He closed his eyes.
Stilled his breathing.
Slowed his pulse.
His awareness expanded outward.
First—
His own heartbeat.
Then—
The flow of air.
Then—
The entire Oni Realm.
Unlike other Game Hosts, Ren's connection to his territory was intimate.
The Oni Realm was not just a battlefield.
It was an extension of himself.
His senses spread through it like ripples across water.
Searching.
Listening.
Feeling.
And then—
There.
A second heartbeat.
Faint.
Distant.
Not heard by ears—
But perceived through intuition.
Through presence.
Through instinct.
A living pulse inside his domain.
Ren's lips curved.
"Found you."
He turned his head slightly toward the distant location.
"You're farther than I expected."
His eyes opened slowly.
"Let's bring this game to an end."
Meanwhile—
Lios, wearing the genuine Helmet of Hades, wandered aimlessly through the oppressive darkness of the Oni Realm.
Originally, he had intended to find some hidden corner to crouch down and wait out the hour.
But no matter how long he walked—
There was no boundary.
No walls.
No structures.
Nothing but endless black.
It was as if the world had no edges.
His irritation flared.
He wanted to curse aloud—
But didn't dare make noise.
What if that monster heard him?
He continued walking.
Step after step.
Until suddenly—
A figure stood in front of him.
Blocking his path.
Lios froze.
The anger evaporated instantly—
Replaced by sheer disbelief.