Night, Touno Academy.
Yoru Mikasa stood in front of the academy's laboratory building, the glass doors reflecting his faint silhouette. In his hand, he held the vial sent by the Seiyu Foundation - the Critical Awakening Factor.
It was the key to unlocking a "second phase" of supernatural power.
The price? Unknown. Perhaps even irreversible.
"If I inject this... I could surpass Onimaru.
Maybe even stop Kurojin."
He muttered softly.
Just as he was about to step over the threshold - "Do you want your 'ego' to be torn apart?"
A deep but clear voice sounded behind him.
Yoru spun around.
A tall, hooded man stood in the shadow of the streetlamp, his hands in his coat pockets. His face was covered by a black scarf, revealing only a pair of eyes that seemed to glow with both amusement and warning.
"Who are you?"
"Me?"
The man stepped out of the shadows, his footsteps light.
"I am one who knows the truth."
He slowly held out a hand, pointing to the vial in Yoru's hand.
"This is not an awakening serum. It's a transformation agent.
What you think is 'evolution'... is actually the erasure of your true self and the reassembly into the weapon the Foundation wants."
Yoru frowned deeply.
"What truth are you talking about?"
"The truth is - supernatural users are born from bloodline mutations.
But 'Otherworld Walkers'... are those who have entered the Otherworld Space and had their existence rewritten."
"You know Kurojin?" the man scoffed. "He didn't awaken.
He was overwritten."
Yoru's heart shook.
"Every one of you who was 'chosen'... You are all potential future Kurojins."
For the first time, the man's eyes burned with a mixture of anger and sorrow.
"Why should I believe you?" Yoru asked, his eyes fixed on him.
"You don't have to. Not now."
The man turned and flicked a black card in his direction.
"But when you see the record of the destruction of the first academy, you'll understand - the real collapse of this world began with a door.
A door they call the Otherworld."
With these last words, the man disappeared into the night.
Yoru stood frozen.
He looked back to the entrance of the lab.
The door now seemed like the gaping mouth of a dark abyss.
He turned and walked away.
The next night, in the campus infirmary, Sayo Oudo sat quietly by Yoru's bedside, gently changing his bandages.
Her hands were soft and precise as always - but tonight, they trembled slightly with caution.
"You went to the laboratory building last night, didn't you?"
She asked quietly.
Yoru nodded... then shook his head.
"I didn't go in."
"I know."
She lowered her eyes, her voice barely above a breath.
"I followed you... to the door."
Yoru froze.
Just as he opened his mouth to speak, Sayo interrupted:
"...It hurts, doesn't it?"
Suddenly, she looked up. Her clear eyes flickered with uneasiness.
"You always make decisions on your own. You always carry everything on your own.
Isn't it...exhausting?"
Yoru fell silent.
He wanted to say "I'm fine" - but the words wouldn't come out.
Sayo clenched the medicine bottle in her hand.
"If one day, you can no longer decide on your own... Will you let me... help you decide?"
Her voice trembled - but carried a gentle defiance.
Yoru's expression softened.
"...All right."
He replied quietly.
It was perhaps the first time he truly shared the right to choose - with someone else.
Scene change.
[Seiyu Foundation Underground Containment Facility] Inside the augmentation chamber, Kurojin roared in fury.
His body, bound by energy restraints, shattered and rebuilt again and again in a cycle of extreme enhancement.
On the holodisplay:
"Phase Two activated."
-The Otherworld Blade has descended.
Kyōichi Tendō's Monologue Kyōichi Tendō stood on the roof of the Academy, looking down over the entire campus.
He disliked being trapped inside the school - but he also understood that if he wanted to protect this place, he had to bear the weight of it all.
This world is... absurd."
He murmured, his gaze piercing the clouds and landing on the tower of the lab building in the distance.
Yoru Mikasa.
That name had echoed endlessly in his mind.
He was the supernatural user from the Magic Club.
His first opponent, his first riddle, his first challenge.
"He's dangerous," Kyōichi closed his eyes, his eyebrows slightly furrowed.
"A talent that defies rules, that will not be bound - he will never be controllable."
But that didn't mean that he would lose.
Kyōichi knew that all too well:
Yoru's decisions weren't just about right and wrong.
Standing at the eye of the storm - between the Foundation and every force of power - Yoru would soon face more than battles. He would face collapse.
"This choice... is it his life? Or our future?"
Kyōichi let out a cynical laugh.
"Why do I even care what he chooses...?"
"But he can never surpass me."
Just then, a voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Kyōichi, what are you brooding about again?"
It was Hakuran - determined and alert, his eyes sharp as blades.
"You're still as arrogant as ever," Hakuran said, standing next to him as they looked down at the campus.
"Yoru Mikasa... he won't be easy."
Kyōichi was silent for a moment. His eyes wandered beyond Hakuran to the distant stars.
"I know," he said. "But the moment he chose this path, he also chose its consequences."
Hakuran hesitated, then asked:
"Do you really think our world... can bear the price?"
Kyōichi smiled weakly.
"I am not a savior. I never wanted to change anything."
His voice was firm.
"I only want to protect my sword and my beliefs.
The rest... I leave to Yoru Mikasa."
Hakuran said nothing more.
He just watched as Kyōichi's figure disappeared into the night.
Yoru Mikasa's decision - it wasn't just about him.
It would affect the future of everyone.
Kyouichi didn't know what Yoru would choose.
But he knew that Yoru would choose the path that hurt the most.