Akitsu Shouga found himself back inside the mansion, standing beneath the staircase where everything had begun.

  The air felt heavier than before.

  He slowly turned his head, scanning the dim space under the stairs—the walls, the shadows, the place where the hidden rift had swallowed him whole moments ago.

  Before he could gather his thoughts—

  A familiar presence rushed toward him.

  Seraphine Orion floated into view, her expression furious.

  “Oi!! Where did you go?!” she snapped.

  “I’ve been searching for you all around the place?!”

  Akitsu flinched slightly.

  “U-Uuuhhh…?”

  “Well… I don’t really know how to explain this?”

  “Where could you have possibly bee—”

  Seraphine Orion stopped mid-sentence.

  Her eyes widened.

  Her entire body stiffened.

  Behind Akitsu Shouga stood the girl.

  No eyes.

  No mouth.

  White rags clinging loosely to her thin frame.

  Chains faintly rattling around her limbs.

  Seraphine Orion recoiled instinctively, fear rippling through her mana.

  “What the hell is that?!” she shouted.

  “Why do you have a vengeful spirit behind you?!”

  Akitsu spun around, startled.

  “O-Oh—right…!”

  “Don’t worry, she won’t attack… right?”

  The girl nodded silently.

  Seraphine Orion’s voice trembled with disbelief.

  “What have you been doing all this time?!”

  “And why did you bring a spirit here?!”

  “I agreed to help her if she helped me,” Akitsu replied quickly.

  “That’s why she’s here.”

  “…What did she help you with?”

  “I don’t know,” he admitted.

  “I was somehow trapped inside a dark room full of sand, and she helped me escape.”

  He hesitated, then asked cautiously,

  “So… are you okay with her being here?”

  Seraphine Orion folded her arms, glaring at the spirit.

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  “…Fine. I guess.”

  “But if she does any funny business, I’m definitely going to kill her.”

  The girl tilted her head slightly.

  “…Friend?” she asked softly.

  Seraphine Orion yelped and floated backward.

  “That’s creepy!”

  “I think you’re overreacting,” Akitsu said.

  “She’s harmless.”

  “I’m not overreacting!!” Seraphine Orion shouted.

  “Do you have any idea what she’s capable of?! She’s as strong as I am—and I’m a guardian angel!”

  “…Come on,” Akitsu muttered.

  “She’s harmless… for now?”

  Seraphine Orion opened her mouth to argue—

  Then froze.

  Her gaze snapped upward.

  A man stood atop the staircase railing above them.

  He wore a blue hoodie, its hood pulled low. His face was wrapped entirely in blood-soaked bandages, crimson seeping through the cloth.

  “…Who are you?” Seraphine Orion demanded.

  Akitsu Shouga followed her gaze.

  His blood ran cold.

  Before either of them could react, the man leaped down at an inhuman speed.

  Two blue, glowing semicircle blades ignited in his hands.

  Akitsu turned and ran—

  But the man was faster.

  “Stop!” Seraphine Orion shouted.

  The ground erupted.

  Tree roots burst upward, wrapping tightly around the attacker’s limbs and torso.

  Akitsu spun around, fists raised, body instinctively settling into a fighting stance.

  The man snarled.

  “What the hell is this?”

  “This kid has powers?!”

  “Yeah,” Akitsu replied calmly.

  “What about it? You can’t do anything.”

  The man sliced through the roots effortlessly, blue blades flashing.

  “So you’re going to punch me with your hands?”

  “I’ve got blades, you know that, right?”

  “Orion!” Akitsu called.

  “Alright!”

  Wooden spikes shot from the floor like spears.

  The man dodged them with frightening agility and rushed forward.

  Akitsu didn’t retreat.

  Steel met flesh—

  Dodges, deflections, redirections.

  “You’re not bad!” Akitsu said as he grabbed the man’s arm and twisted sharply.

  Crack.

  The shoulder dislocated.

  The man staggered back, grinning as he forced it back into place.

  “I guess you’re tougher than you look.”

  Footsteps echoed.

  Renjiro and Rikuya had come downstairs.

  They froze in horror at the sight before them.

  The man turned, eyes gleaming beneath the bandages.

  “Well, well… looks like the prey has come to me!”

  “OI! Look above you!” Seraphine Orion yelled.

  Vines dropped two wooden swords into Akitsu’s hands.

  He caught them mid-air and charged.

  “Run away!” Akitsu shouted.

  “Go back upstairs!”

  Renjiro and Rikuya didn’t hesitate.

  They ran.

  The man laughed wildly.

  “It’s hopeless! I’ll kill every one of you and cash out on the goods!”

  Poisonous vines snapped and burned as he cut through them, clashing relentlessly with Akitsu.

  “Too bad,” Akitsu growled.

  “I won’t let that happen!”

  The wooden swords cracked.

  Splinters flew.

  In the corner, the girl watched silently.

  “…Need… help?” she asked.

  “Help me!” Akitsu shouted.

  “There’s no one to help you!” the man sneered.

  “It’s hopeless!”

  Akitsu stepped back, staring at his nearly broken blades.

  “Have you decided to give up?!” the man laughed.

  “…Father. Needs. Help.”

  The girl stepped forward.

  The man blinked.

  “…Who is she?”

  “I haven’t seen her before.”

  He laughed again.

  “Oh well! The more the merrier!”

  Her form began to change.

  Rapidly.

  Violently.

  The man’s smile vanished.

  “Shit!”

  He released poisonous gas and leaped away.

  “…It’s a spirit!” he hissed.

  Using the wall, he vaulted up to the second floor.

  Akitsu sprinted up the stairs after him.

  “Where are you going?!” he shouted.

  “Our battle has just started!”

  “I only need to kill my targets!” the man yelled back.

  “You’re useless to me!”

  Seraphine Orion chased closely behind, summoning vines that twisted through the halls.

  Walls of plants erupted ahead of the man.

  He turned—

  And ran straight toward Akitsu.

  “Got you!” Akitsu yelled.

  At the last second, the man veered right—

  And stopped.

  Standing at the end of the hallway—

  Was the girl in white rags.

  Blocking his escape.