The crowd turns to face Sora, but he ignores them, more focused on his stretching.

  “Mr. Yamamoto,” Farah says, maintaining her composure, “You are here to help Ken and his friends, correct?”

  “Yep,” Sora says, their eyes not meeting.

  “If you hand Ken to us, I can guarantee our Navigator will not bother you and your family. In fact, he told us to pass on the message if we saw you.”

  “Uh-huh,” Sora answers, not paying attention.

  “We only ask for the man and privacy.”

  Ken watches from the window as Farah talks at Sora, who isn't interested in her proposition. Ken turns his attention to the resurrected Senzo, still unsure if it is really him.

  He looks to his sides and finds his allies watching closely. Stella is shaking with excitement. Bristol watches quietly. Melanie is recording the whole ordeal on Stella's request.

  Returning his attention to Sora, he is holding out a coin to Farah.

  Sora grins as he tells her, “I swear, if you take the cash, you and your brainwashed friends can leave safely. This coin will change your mind one way or another!”

  Farah looks at the coin unimpressed, stating, “Mr. Yamamoto, please do not insult us or our Navigator with such meager offers! Our Nav-”

  Her head is suddenly obliterated as Sora flicks the coin through her head. Blood and brain matter splatter across the front door as her body helplessly slumps to the floor. Ken turns around and finds the coin sharply embedded in the wall, cutting through the door with ease.

  “Told ya',” Sora smiles.

  In an instant, the Ascenders rush at Sora. His expression remains unchanged.

  As soon as they are in his reach, His right hand grabs one of the Ascenders' legs and smashes them into another's body, obliterating both of them, only the limbs remaining intact as they flop to the floor.

  Letting go, he makes a claw with the same hand and slashes through the crowd in front of him. Streams of blood fly away from him, hitting the front of the house.

  Resetting his posture, his eyes remain focused as he charges at another and cuts the head off with a hand chop. He kicks the decapitated body into a crowd and jumps into the air. While airborne, he shouts something before kicking the head; a large booming sound is heard. The head remains intact as it pierces multiple bodies, only being stopped as it slams into the wall, leaving a blood streak across the street.

  As Sora lands, he celebrates, “HE SCORESSSSS!”

  Ken’s chest tightened as the smell of blood hit the back of his throat, the green lawn slowly turning red as it soaked up blood. The scent of iron became more evident as Sora's clothes became increasingly covered in blood.

  An Ascender, ignoring the fates of his comrades, rushes at him with an antique sword. Sora tauntingly dodges. Before he is surrounded, Sora does a large leg sweep around him, leaving only the sword wielder standing and his control of the battlefield present. The man charges at Sora again. Sora simply slaps the sword out of the man's hand. In an instant, Sora grabs the man by the shoulder and by the upper thigh, tearing him in two with a rain of blood and entrails as his reward.

  Sora pauses and looks at his arms, making a disgusted face and muttering something.

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  Looking behind Sora. Something strange is happening. Something undescribable. The corpses left by Sora are starting to drag towards Farah's body. Merging. The remaining Ascenders drop their weapons as they fall to their knees. They open their arms as if praising the creature.

  Ken feels Bristol's arm push him back, uncomfortable by what he is witnessing. Stella excitedly watches whilst Melanie is filled with horror. The Ascenders are more interested in Sora than in them. Not letting the opportunity slip by, Ken yells, “Come on, we need to get out of here!”

  Stella looks back disappointingly and says, “Aww, but it was just getting good!”

  They follow him to the barricaded back door. He and Bristol grab the television unit and pull it out of the way. It makes a loud scraping noise as it moves across the floor. While they did this, sounds of crashing could be heard from the front of the house. After removing it, Ken slowly opens the door to check if the backyard is clear. He finds no one but a sarcastic-looking Krokin statue awaiting him.

  Bristol and the others follow Ken as he runs out. He circles to the right side of the house, about to peek around the corner, before Sora flies past him. He smashed the fence with enough force to splinter it before ungracefully tumbling into the neighbour's garden with a loud crash.

  Sora stands up, complaining, “As if I wasn't dirty enough!” He straightens himself before walking back in the direction he flew from. Ken looks in the same direction and witnesses the battle.

  The street is unrecognisable from what it was moments ago. Many of the Ascenders' cars are either destroyed or lying on their sides, as if a large object had smashed into them. A large crater had split the road, as if something had crashed through it. Fire hydrants spray the street with water, the blood from the lawn now spreading, small red streams of it flowing onto the road. Strangely, neither the remains of the corpses nor the Ascenders are anywhere to be seen. The morning sun shone brightly on the chaos, mixing with the mist from the hydrants. The thick, humid air made everything feel surreal.

  Ken focuses on Sora approaching something inhuman. It had the shape of a woman, eerily graceful yet something like her shouldn't be possible.

  The figure made no noise; only the drops from the hydrants hitting the ground filled the atmosphere, as if the world held its breath. It was a tall woman with slightly elongated arms and a small waist. Her hair flowed gently, her eyes were closed, and she wore a gentle smile. Across her torso, other arms covered her shape, sharpened bones extending from her arms and back.

  It was…something he had never seen before. Something he would want to look at forever.

  “My favourite part,” Sora complains, “Fighting a horror beyond my own understanding and having to explain the mess to Imino.”

  The transformed Farah speaks, her voice somehow more melodic, “I will allow you to walk away if you just give us the man we seek.”

  Sora grins and says, “Not the first to make that mistake.”

  Her expression doesn't change as she asks, “Of offering you a chance to leave?”

  Sora quickly shakes himself awake as he says, “Nope! To think they have a chance!”

  Enraged by his words, bones shoot from her hands at Sora. Loud cracks are heard as they break upon hitting his skin, leaving a small powdery mist.

  “Great, now I only have three of these jackets left!” He complains that the attack only succeeded in damaging his clothes. He shoots a quizzical look as he goads her, “Is that all?”

  Her expression changes as she becomes further angered; the beauty she once held dissipates in an instant.

  Ken is surprised as Bristol says, “This is nothing for him.” He forgot he wasn't watching the fight alone. Looking down, he notices Stella crouching as she records the fight.

  Farah pulls out sharp bones, and in an instant, she flies back, coughing blood as she falls. Ken was unable to keep up with what transpired in that brief second.

  “Honestly,” Sora crouches down to face her at eye level, “You did that cool transformation with this insane power increase, but that's all you can do?” He stands up, shaking his head, “Movies are such a letdown.”

  Infuriated, she screams as she lunges at him again, “DON'T YOU DARE UNDERE-” she explodes into a pool of blood as Sora delivers a right hook, causing her entrails and blood to splash over him. Her scream echoed for a few seconds before disappearing, leaving the hissing of the hydrants and smell of iron behind.

  Sora stands still for a couple of seconds, not moving. Annoyed, he curses, “Damn it!”

  Looking around, Ken carefully takes a step forward, making sure no stragglers are waiting to ambush him. After a couple of seconds, he relaxes his guard as all of them have been dealt with. He signals to the others to come out of hiding, and they do so hesitantly. Melanie looks at the window and notices the large hole in the lounge. Ken could feel her disappointment with the damage it incurred.

  Ken looks over to Sora, who is busy washing the blood off his face at a nearby fire hydrant.