The next job was supposed to be simple.
A routine escort run: accompany a Current courier carrying low-grade essence crystals (non-traceable, stabilized, street value only about eight mid-grades) from a drop in Yokohama's old dock warehouses to a buyer in Kawasaki's underground market. Four hours total. No rifts. No high-profile clients. Just walking, watching, and looking bored.
Rin assigned it personally.
"Ease back into rhythm," she said. "No fireworks. No fused chains. Blend."
Ren and Aoi left at dusk wearing matching dark-gray work jackets, hoods up, earpieces linked to a shared Current channel. The stabilizers on their wrists hummed faintly—comforting background noise now. The Anchor rune stayed warm but quiet.
They met the courier—a thin man in his thirties named Kaito—at Pier 17. He carried a nondescript duffel. No handshake. Just a nod.
"Straight route. No shortcuts. Buyer's waiting at the old steel mill on the riverbank."
They moved.
The first hour passed uneventful—industrial backstreets, flickering sodium lamps, distant ship horns over the bay. Ren walked point, Aoi rear, Kaito between them.
Then the channel crackled.
"Multiple signatures closing. Order strike team. Four Miracles, low-grade suppressors active. They're sweeping the docks. Looks like they're following a residual trail from Chiba."
Ren's stomach tightened.
"The forest."
Aoi's voice—calm but edged.
"They must have picked up drone fragments. Or guardian residue on us."
Kaito cursed under his breath.
"We can't run. They'll sense the panic spike. We keep walking. Act normal."
They did.
Two blocks later the team appeared—four figures in civilian coats, golden runes faint under collars, moving with practiced casualness. Leading them: Tanaka-senpai.
He spotted Aoi first.
Stopped dead.
"Mizuki."
His voice carried—quiet, but loaded.
The other three fanned out instinctively, hands near concealed weapons.
Tanaka's eyes flicked to Ren—then to their joined hands, the matching black bands on their wrists.
"You're with the Current now. And him."
Aoi stepped forward—slowly.
"Senpai. This doesn't have to end in blood."
Tanaka's spear materialized—short, restrained, golden light low but steady.
"You left the Hall. You entered a sealed rift zone. You came back changed. The Saint wants answers. You're coming back with us. Both of you."
Ren felt the Anchor pulse—warning, ready.
Kaito shifted nervously.
"Guys… the crystals—"
Ren cut him off—low.
"Stay behind us."
Tanaka raised the spear a fraction.
"Last chance, Mizuki. Step away from the Pagan. I can still bring you in clean."
Aoi's eyes met Ren's—silent question.
Ren nodded once.
No more hiding.
He let the twilight energy rise—slow, controlled. Black shadows edged with gold coiled around his forearms. Aoi mirrored him—golden threads laced with dark veins rising along hers.
The air between them shimmered—twilight barrier forming without conscious effort.
Tanaka's eyes widened.
"You're… fused."
One of the other Miracles—a younger woman—whispered.
"Polarity merge. It's real."
Tanaka didn't hesitate.
He thrust the spear forward—golden lance streaking toward Ren's chest.
Ren raised his hand.
Twilight Lash snapped out—longer than before, whip cracking through the air.
It met the lance mid-flight.
Gold shattered against twilight.
The shockwave cracked nearby windows.
The other three Miracles moved—two flanking, one circling behind Kaito.
Aoi spun—golden chains lashing out, not to kill, but to bind. They wrapped the flanker's legs; he went down hard but breathing.
Ren Shadow Stepped—short, precise—reappearing beside the second attacker. Void Chain + radiant thread combined into a single black-gold restraint that pinned the man's arms without breaking bone.
The third Miracle—a tall man with a curved blade—lunged at Kaito.
Ren and Aoi moved as one.
Twilight barrier expanded—covering Kaito in a protective dome.
The blade rebounded harmlessly.
Tanaka lowered his spear—breathing hard.
"You could have killed us."
Aoi's voice—steady.
"We didn't."
Tanaka looked at her—really looked.
"You're not corrupted. You're… something else."
Ren stepped forward—twilight fading slowly from his skin.
"We're not your enemy, Tanaka. We're not Mei's either. We're trying to stop the war from swallowing everything. Including you."
Tanaka stared at them both.
Then—slowly—he dismissed his spear.
"Stand down."
His team hesitated—then obeyed.
Tanaka looked at Aoi one last time.
"I'll report this as inconclusive contact. No engagement. But the Saint will know. And when he comes himself… there won't be a second chance to talk."
He turned.
The four Miracles melted back into the shadows of the warehouses.
Silence returned.
Kaito exhaled shakily.
"Holy shit. You just stared down a strike team. And they walked away."
Ren looked at Aoi.
She looked back—breathing steady, eyes bright.
"We showed them we're not monsters," she said quietly.
Ren nodded.
"But we also showed them we're dangerous."
Kaito picked up the duffel—hands still trembling.
"Let's finish this run. Then… I think the Current needs to hear what just happened."
They walked the rest of the way in silence.
The buyer paid double—wordlessly—after Kaito whispered what he'd witnessed.
Back at the hub, Rin was waiting in the intake corridor.
She didn't smile.
"Four Miracles. No casualties. Twilight powers in front of witnesses. Tanaka himself."
Ren nodded.
Rin exhaled.
"You've bought breathing room. But you've also split the room. Half the runners think you're the future—proof balance is possible. The other half thinks you just painted a bigger target on all of us. Mei's already sending feelers. The Order's escalating surveillance. And inside these walls… trust just got a lot more expensive."
She looked between them.
"Sleep if you can. Tomorrow we talk strategy. Real strategy. Because quiet jobs are over."
She walked away.
Ren and Aoi stood alone in the corridor.
Aoi leaned against the wall—exhausted, but steady.
"We didn't kill them."
Ren stepped close—forehead to hers.
"We didn't have to."
She closed her eyes.
"But next time… we might."
Ren kissed her—soft, grounding.
"Then we make sure there isn't a next time like that. Not until we're ready for what comes after."
They walked to their pod—hands linked, stabilizers humming in quiet harmony.
Outside the hub, dawn crept over Tokyo Bay.
Somewhere in the city, Tanaka filed his report—careful words, no exaggeration.
And high in the Purification Hall, Saint Kurosawa opened the file.
His fingers brushed the grainy drone still of twilight chains binding his people without breaking them.
He smiled—small, cold, intrigued.
"So the fracture begins to heal itself."
He closed the file.
"Then let us see how deep the wound can go before it bleeds."
Essence Level: 8.5 → 8.8
Twilight Lash cooldown reduced to 120 seconds
Current status: Full members – Internal division rising – External hunt sharpening
End of Chapter 20