The room was a wreck.
Broken glass, cracked walls, and dust hanging heavy in the air. It smelled like ozone and sweat.
Yoru and Sairi stood their ground, facing the Eclipse agents. The air was thick with the threat of more violence.
One of the agents charged. He was fast—a blur of black fabric.
Yoru reacted. It wasn't a thought; it was a reflex.
Block.
He caught the agent's wrist. The impact vibrated through his bones, but he didn't budge. Shock flashed across his face.
"I... I can see it..." he whispered.
A second agent lunged from the side. Yoru shifted his weight, sliding away on pure instinct.
"My body... it's moving on its own..."
Sairi was on the other side of the room. Her movements were cold, precise, and deadly. She didn't look like she was fighting; she looked like she was performing a ritual.
"Don't think!" she shouted, her voice cutting through the chaos. "Feel it!"
Yoru took a deep breath.
His aura flickered to life, dancing around his skin like black flames.
The agent attacked again. Yoru waited. He watched the man's shoulder, the way his feet planted on the floor.
At the very last moment—
Dodge.
Then, immediately—
Counter.
A clean hit to the chest. The agent was launched backward, crashing into the wall with a sickening thud.
Yoru stared at his fist. Stunned.
"Did... I do that?"
"Yes," Sairi said, not even looking back as she froze an agent's feet to the floor. "Now do it again."
A third agent stepped forward. This one was different. He was holding an energy blade that hummed with a dangerous light.
"Target adapting," the man said. His voice was like a machine.
He swung the blade. A trail of light followed the steel. Yoru tried to block, but he was a fraction of a second too slow.
Cut.
A shallow wound opened on his arm. Red blood began to seep through his shirt.
"Damn..." Yoru hissed, clenching his teeth.
The sight of his own blood made something stir deep inside his mind. Something hungry.
'I want more...'
Yoru's expression changed. His eyes went cold.
"Silence..." he muttered to the voice in his head.
His aura started to flare up, becoming jagged and unstable again. The shadows on the floor seemed to stretch toward the agents.
"Yoru—control yourself!" Sairi's voice was sharp.
Yoru closed his eyes for a heartbeat. He forced the air into his lungs. Slowly, the wild aura settled down.
"I'm... I'm in control..."
Movement caught his eye. An agent was sliding behind Sairi, a knife drawn.
"Behind you!" Yoru roared.
Sairi didn't turn. She didn't need to. An ice barrier spiked up from the floor behind her—
CLASH.
The knife snapped against the frozen wall. She glanced at Yoru and gave a small, sharp nod.
"Good."
Yoru moved again. This time, there was no hesitation. No fear.
Punch—
THUD.
Kick—
CRASH.
He grabbed the last agent by the collar and slammed him down.
SMASH.
Silence returned to the room. Every agent was down, unconscious or worse.
Yoru stood in the center of the debris, breathing heavily. His lungs burned.
"This... was real..."
Sairi walked toward him, her boots crunching on the broken glass.
"Welcome," she said, her voice dropping to a low, serious tone. "To your new life."
Then—
Slow clapping came from the doorway.
Clap... Clap... Clap...
The sound was hollow. Mocking. They both spun around.
A man was standing there. He wore a long black coat that seemed to swallow the light. A faint, arrogant smile played on his lips.
Yoru's face hardened. "Who are you?"
The man stepped inside, his movements slow and confident. He didn't look like the other agents. He looked like the one who owned them.
"Me?"
He paused, looking at the destruction Yoru had caused.
"I am your problem."