Lila and Hikari moved steadily toward the school nestled within the heart of Lirael's domain. As their feet touched the soil of the Hollow Dirge, a violent shift in the atmosphere gripped them. Without warning, seventy-five skeletal, wolf-like creatures materialized from the murky fog, their bodies forged from swirling smoke and brittle bones. Eyes, burning with a malevolent silver light, gleamed with malice as their gaping maws dripped dark, viscous energy. The creatures' howl filled the air, an eerie, discordant note that made the very ground tremble.
The Dirge Hounds' movement was like a wave of darkness. They surged toward Hikari and Lila with terrifying speed, their claws tearing through the crumbling earth as they closed in on their prey.
Without hesitation, Hikari's eyes snapped shut, her expression shifting to one of intense focus. Her right hand raised to the air, and in a moment's breath, a bubble of cyan energy flickered into existence, surrounding her hand like a protective shield. With a swift, practiced motion, she swung her arm through the air. A burst of psychic energy shot forth, arcing across the battlefield with deadly precision.
The energy cut through the approaching creatures like a blade through water. Each Dirge Hound was obliterated in an instant, their skeletal forms disintegrating into wisps of smoke and bone fragments. The force of the attack caused the very ground beneath them to fracture, sending massive chunks of debris hurtling into the air—each one the size of a small car, swirling around them in a chaotic storm.
As the debris rained down, Hikari's telekinetic powers surged. Her mind reached out, manipulating the falling wreckage with effortless control. The massive chunks of earth and stone shot towards the Serpent—a towering figure coiling in the distance, a shadowy mass of pulsating darkness. The serpent's body writhed and twisted, its form composed of thick, undulating shadows. Silver runes glowed faintly along its scales, flashing ominously in the half-light.
Its head, a monstrous and ever-shifting visage, fluctuated between countless forms—each one more grotesque than the last. A dragon-like maw with teeth that could rend the world apart, a gaping void that swallowed all light, a horrific contortion of nightmares—each iteration of the serpent's head was more terrifying than the last.
The Serpent hissed, a sound that seemed to crawl under their skin. It coiled in on itself before unleashing a massive, forceful blast of compressed air, a shockwave of devastating power that rippled through the air, heading directly toward Hikari and Lila. The blast was like a tidal wave of pressure, threatening to crush them beneath its weight.
The serpent's roar split the air, a chorus of cracking bones and twisting metal. Its blast of compressed air barreled forward, a wall of force that swallowed the world in its path. Dust and debris spiraled like specters, drawn into the tempest's hungry maw.
Hikari's eyes narrowed, the cyan glow within them intensifying. She thrust both hands forward, and a shimmering barrier sprang to life—a crystalline shield of psychic energy, its surface undulating like ripples on a lake. The blast collided with it, the force so immense that the air around them fractured, strands of reality bending under the pressure. But the shield held.
Lila's breath caught in her throat. She stared at Hikari, her mind reeling with the impossibility of it all. It's like every second, she gets stronger. The thought slipped through her mind, unbidden and heavy. No esper should have this much control after just a week. No one.
A shadow fell over them. Lila's gaze snapped upward, past the ruins of the cathedral to where ten skeletal figures loomed against the bloodshot sky. They were remnants of a time long erased—bones twisted and charred, fragments of rusted armor fused to their frames. Tattered cloaks of living shadow clung to their forms, the fabric slithering like serpents. Their hollow eyes glowed with a hellish red light, and their mouths were sealed shut by strands of dark energy, threads of silence bound to Lirael's will.
With a movement as fluid as death itself, the archers raised their bows. These were not weapons of wood and string but twisted constructs of obsidian, carved from the darkness between worlds. The bowstrings hummed with dark matter, a low, mournful resonance that shivered through the bones.
They loosed their arrows. Dark matter sliced through the air, leaving trails of distorted reality in their wake. Where the arrows struck, space itself crumpled—tiny black holes swallowing chunks of the earth, pulling light and sound into their void.
Lila moved, her body a blur. She deflected the arrows with psychic pulses, each strike a clash of energy and entropy. The black holes gnawed at the edges of existence, but her power snuffed them out before they could consume more.
And then, she felt it—a presence. Cold and sharp, like a blade pressed to the skin. She turned, her instincts screaming, and her eyes widened.
A figure floated in the sky above them, suspended like a marionette on invisible strings. Lean and muscular, his silhouette rippled with an aura of barely-contained violence. Dark brown hair, unkempt and wild, framed a face of predatory calm. His eyes—empty, searching—pierced through her.
And then he was gone.
Lila's pulse thundered in her ears. He had been in the sky, a safe distance away, and now—
The earth shuddered beneath her feet. He was on the ground.
Before her mind could catch up, his fist drove forward. Air warped and compressed, merging with a shockwave that screamed toward them, a spiraling death rushing to erase them. The attack tore through the domain, a force so raw it flayed the world itself.
Hikari moved.
A single thought, and the world obeyed. She twisted mid-air, her hands wrapping around Lila with a strength that belied her size. Telekinetic energy coiled around them, and she wrenched them both from the blast's path. The air split open where they had stood, and the serpent—once a hulking mass of scales and hatred—exploded into nothingness, its remains scattered to the wind.
Lila's breath came in ragged pulls. She felt the ground beneath her, the cool press of Hikari's psychic barrier still lingering around them like a fading echo. Her mind raced, piecing together fragments of reality and the impossible.
She's getting stronger, the thought whispered again, this time with a chill. Stronger with every breath.
Hikari stood, her cyan aura pulsing in rhythm with her heartbeat. The air around her seemed to ripple, reality itself bending to her will. She didn't speak—her gaze fixed on the figure in the distance, on the war yet to be fought.
The figure stood amidst the ruins, shadows coiling around him like serpents. His voice, low and calm, rippled through the air with a weight that seemed to drag the world down with it.
"I thought that would be enough," he mused, a smirk twisting his lips. His eyes, dark and ancient, settled on Hikari with a strange glint. "Lirael warned me, but still… You apostles are quite resilient. Especially you." His gaze lingered, an unspoken understanding threading through the silence. "There's something about you—so new, yet so potent. It's almost poetic, watching the rise of Kairyū… The stories never did her justice."
The words slipped past Hikari and Lila, their meaning gnawing at the edges of their minds but offering no clarity. There was no time to dissect them. He moved, a blur against the fractured skyline, and the air seemed to peel away from him as he surged forward. His fist drove through the space between them, a bullet tearing through silk.
Hikari's instincts ignited. Psychic energy unfurled from her like a blooming flower, a shield of translucent force snapping into place. The impact was cataclysmic. Lila was hurled back, a streak of silver against the charred ground. Her body hit and skated, the friction curling smoke from the earth, but she righted herself, balance perfect, movements practiced.
Just as she gathered her Aura, a ripple in reality pulled taut behind her. It manifested—her shadow made flesh—a towering silhouette of death given life.
The Grimshade Reaper stood before her, a monument to dread. Darkness bled from its form, an ever-flowing cloak of shadows that devoured light. Its skeletal frame was not mere bone but a lattice of blackened matter, etched with runes that whispered in a language older than memory. The emptiness of its face was a void that seemed to draw everything into it, two dim flames guttering where eyes should be, as if eternity itself peered through them.
It moved with a grace that defied the laws of the world, gliding rather than stepping, reality bending around it as if to accommodate its existence. And in its grasp, the Eclipse Sever pulsed. The scythe was a weapon and a wound, forged from obsidian and threaded with strands of necrotic energy that breathed decay. The blade drank the light, its edge blurred as if it cut through the fabric of existence itself.
The handle seemed alive, sinew and bone woven together, throbbing with dark matter. When the blade struck the ground, the runes ignited, leaving behind a shadow that pulsed with hunger. The earth beneath it shriveled, and the very air seemed to wither, sapping life from all it touched.
Lila's breath misted in the air, the temperature around her plummeting as the Reaper's aura gnawed at the world. Her fingers tightened around her weapon, and a silence fell, deep and absolute, as if the battlefield itself held its breath.
Hikari's gaze locked with his, an unspoken tension hanging thick between them, but before she could even draw a breath, the world exploded in motion. A brutal force slammed into her chin, her head snapping back as her body was yanked upward, her feet no longer touching the ground. She had barely a moment to register the sky opening up before her, 75 feet between her and the earth below. Her mind was still grappling with the vertigo when the figure loomed above her, a shadow that bent reality itself.
With a motion too swift to follow, he raised both arms, hands locked in a powerful clasp, his intent a certainty she couldn't escape. Then, like the fall of a mountain, his hammer fist descended. The impact shattered the air with an earsplitting crack, and Hikari was sent rocketing downward, weightless for an instant, her body spiraling toward the earth with a force that threatened to tear her apart.
But before the ground could claim her, the figure surged forward, his movement defying the laws of physics. He was upon her in the blink of an eye, his arm extending like a whip, fist clenched in a deadly promise. The air around him rippled, warping with the pressure of his motion. And then it came.
The punch, a brutal collision of raw power, tore through the sky. The force was so intense it shattered the sound barrier with a deafening roar, leaving a shockwave in its wake, an invisible explosion that vibrated through Hikari's very bones. Her body was flung forward with such speed that the world itself bent, the sky a blur around her, as she shot through the atmosphere, a comet streaking toward the earth with no mercy, only the crushing weight of the impending impact.
A sharp whistle of wind filled the air as Hikari plummeted, the world around her a blur of smudged grays and distorted cityscape. Her hair whipped violently against her face, strands catching in the howling draft. The ground rushed up to meet her with a cold, unyielding inevitability. But then—
Fwsh!
A cyan aura flared to life around her, a vivid, electric outline that danced along her silhouette like living fire. The weight of gravity buckled under her will as she clenched her fists, telekinetic power rippling through the air. Her descent slowed to a gentle hover, the energy humming with a low, resonant frequency.
Her body stabilized, and she floated in place, defying the laws of nature. The blue light outlined every curve, every muscle, casting sharp shadows on the cracked pavement below. Her breath was ragged, but her expression had hardened—a sharp, cold mask of determination.
She looked up, her gaze locking onto him. Qua.
The young man stood on the building's edge, a silhouette against the pale sky. His amber eyes glowed with an unsettling hue, the faint light bleeding outwards like molten gold. His dark, messy hair danced in the wind, partially obscuring his face. A faint aura of intimidation hung around him, almost unnoticeable but impossible to ignore, a primal whisper at the edge of perception.
Hikari's lips curled into a defiant smirk. "You think that's enough to stop me?"
Without a word, Qua leapt from the building. His figure cut through the air, a black streak trailing shadow and power. He shot downwards like a missile, fist cocked back and wrapped in a shroud of red and black energy. The air around his arm distorted, heatwaves warping reality itself.
Hikari met his charge head-on. She propelled herself forward with a telekinetic burst, the cyan aura blazing brighter. The two collided mid-air.
BOOM!
A shockwave erupted from the clash, a wall of force that shattered nearby windows and sent debris skittering across the street. The ground below splintered, spiderweb cracks racing outward from the impact zone. Hikari's body hurtled back down, smashing into the asphalt with a thunderous crash.
The ground caved beneath her, concrete buckling into a jagged crater. Dust billowed into the air, a thick cloud that swallowed the street in a choking haze. Metal twisted and groaned as nearby street signs bent under the force.
Thud.
Qua landed at the edge of the crater, his movements deceptively gentle despite the power he wielded. His boots crunched against the debris, slow, deliberate steps echoing in the sudden silence. He stood at 5'11", his lean but muscular frame silhouetted against the pale sky. His dark, form-fitting clothing seemed to absorb the light, a shroud of shadows that enhanced his menacing presence.
"My name is Qua," he said, his voice smooth and devoid of emotion. "I was hired by Lirael to kill you specifically, Hikari Sato."
Hikari coughed, a thin line of blood trailing from the corner of her mouth. She propped herself up on one elbow, the cyan aura flickering but refusing to fade. "Oh yeah? Is she that afraid of me that she needs to hire someone else to fight me? What, she couldn't do it herself or even use one of her undead soldiers~?"
Qua's expression remained neutral, though a flicker of something unreadable passed through his glowing eyes. "That's none of my business," he replied. "All she said was to kill you."
His hand drifted to his leg, fingers brushing against his thigh. The air around him seemed to thrum, a low vibration that resonated in Hikari's bones. With a single touch, his aura surged, black and red energy coiling around his limbs like serpents.
Vwoom!
He vanished.
The ground where he had stood cracked under the sudden release of force. Hikari barely had time to react before he was upon her, a crimson streak in the dust-choked air. His fist swung in a wide arc, the raw kinetic energy of his Stockpiling ability twisting the atmosphere around it.
Whoosh!
Hikari ducked, her instincts flaring as the compressed air exploded past her. The force of the near miss sent a parked car tumbling end over end, metal screeching as it crumpled into a twisted heap.
Qua skidded to a stop, his boots carving deep grooves into the asphalt. His chest rose and fell, the only sign of exertion in his otherwise stoic demeanor. His amber eyes narrowed, their glow intensifying. "You're… adapting?"
Hikari rose to her feet, dust and grit cascading off her shoulders. She rolled her neck, a series of sharp cracks breaking the silence. "You'd better believe it."
She raised her hand, the cyan aura thickening, pooling around her fingers. She clenched her fist, and the energy spiked, the air itself vibrating with raw psychic power. The tension crackled, invisible threads pulled taut between them.
Qua's lips pressed into a thin line. His aura darkened, the shadows around him deepening as his powers intensified. Red and black energy licked at his skin, his muscles coiling like a panther preparing to pounce.
For a moment, everything was still.
Then, the world exploded.
They shot towards each other, two streaks of light—one cyan, one crimson. Their clash filled the air with the cacophony of raw power: thunderous booms, the sharp crack of splitting pavement, the metallic ring of rebounding shockwaves. Fists met with bone-rattling force, each blow creating ripples of distortion that tore through the environment.
Hikari weaved through Qua's strikes, her movements a blur of cyan light. Her telekinetic aura shielded her, creating a thin barrier that deflected the worst of his punches. She darted in close, her fist colliding with Qua's ribs—
Thud!
Qua barely flinched. His aura absorbed the impact, his Stockpiling ability bleeding off the kinetic energy. His eyes flashed, and he retaliated with a knee strike to her gut.
Wham!
The blow knocked the wind out of her, and she stumbled back, her aura faltering. Qua pressed the advantage, his body a whirlwind of motion. His hands became blurs, each punch accompanied by a sharp snap of displaced air.
Hikari deflected as best she could, but Qua's speed was relentless. His aura pulsed with every strike, the red and black energy feeding into his strength, amplifying his movements. He was a force of nature, an avalanche of controlled destruction.
But Hikari wasn't done.
She twisted, her aura flaring with renewed vigor. Her body lifted off the ground, telekinetic power propelling her upwards. She hovered just above his reach, cyan light spiraling around her. She thrust out her hands, and a wave of telekinetic force crashed down on Qua.
BOOM!
The ground beneath him cratered, concrete and metal buckling under the assault. Dust swallowed him, a thick veil that obscured his form.
Silence.
Then, a soft crackle. Red and black energy seeped through the dust, twisting and writhing like living tendrils. Qua stepped forward, his silhouette emerging from the cloud. His expression was unchanged, his amber eyes steady and unyielding.
"Not bad," he murmured, his voice a quiet rumble. "But I'm just getting started."
Hikari's aura brightened, her cyan energy pulsing with anticipation. "Good. I was hoping you'd say that."
The battle wasn't over. It had only just begun.
To be continued…