Kingdom of Radiance. One day ago. The city was quiet beneath the night sky. From high above the glowing streets, the Kingdom of Radiance almost looked peaceful again. Lanterns burned softly throughout the districts below while moonlight reflected against the white stone towers capped in gold. The distant sounds of nightlife still drifted faintly through the warm air, merchants closing shops late, laughter echoing somewhere farther down in the city, guards changing shifts along the outer walls.

But peace felt fragile lately.

Kaito Ishiro sat alone on the balcony outside his office, one arm resting against the chair while a glass of whiskey sat loosely in his hand. The cracked katana mounted inside the office reflected faintly through the open doorway behind him alongside the familiar painting hanging on the wall: the sun and moon split evenly down the center. Balance.

At least that was what it was supposed to represent.

Lately, balance felt like a joke.

Kaito slowly swirled the whiskey in his glass while staring out over the city below. He looked exhausted tonight, though not physically. The kind of exhaustion that settled deeper than sleep could fix.

Reports had piled endlessly over the past few weeks.

Corrupted monsters appearing left and right.

Villages going silent overnight.

Entire caravans disappearing.

Slave trade activity increasing near the coastlines.

Rumors of SSS-ranked threats resurfacing again after years of silence.

And Renjiro.

Every trail somehow led back to him lately.

Kaito took another quiet sip from the glass.

Then a knock came from the office door behind him.

He glanced back toward it briefly before standing up slowly.

“At this hour?” he muttered to himself.

The knock came again.

Kaito stepped back inside the office and opened the door.

Akira Namiki stood there quietly.

Her appearance immediately caught him slightly off guard. Normally Akira carried herself in polished armor with her hair tied neatly back, composed and sharp like the vice-captain everyone in the kingdom respected.

Tonight she looked… tired.

Her long black hair fell freely past her shoulders and down her back while a soft pink nightgown replaced the golden armor she usually wore. Without the armor and formal posture, she looked younger somehow.

More human.

Akira looked up at him calmly. “Am I interrupting something?”

Kaito stepped aside immediately. “No. Come in.”

She entered quietly.

Kaito closed the door behind her before glancing toward the clock briefly. “You coming over this late usually means something’s bothering you.”

Akira looked toward the balcony outside where the whiskey still sat on the table.

“…Are you having a drink?”

Kaito followed her gaze. “Yeah.”

Akira hesitated for only a second before asking quietly, “Can I join you?”

Kaito gave a small nod. “Of course.”

A few moments later, the two sat together outside on the balcony overlooking the sleeping kingdom below. Kaito poured another glass while Akira rested both hands around it without drinking immediately.

The night breeze moved softly through her loose hair.

For a while neither of them spoke.

The silence between them wasn’t uncomfortable. They had known each other too long for that.

Kaito finally leaned back slightly in his chair before looking toward her.

“What’s on your mind?”

Akira stared quietly into the amber liquid in her glass for several seconds before answering.

“…I went out with Yuuna earlier today.”

Kaito raised an eyebrow slightly. “How’d it go?”

Akira let out a quiet breath through her nose. “…Not well.”

Kaito didn’t interrupt.

Akira slowly took a sip from the whiskey before continuing. “She got angry at me.”

That caught his attention slightly.

“Yuuna?” he asked. “Angry enough to start a fight?”

Akira nodded faintly.

“We were talking in the market district at first. Normal things.” A small smile crossed her face briefly before fading again. “Food. Shops. She kept making fun of how serious I looked.”

“That sounds like her.”

“It did,” Akira admitted quietly. “At first.”

The wind shifted softly across the balcony again.

Then her expression darkened.

“I tried talking to her about staying in the Light Continent for a while.”

Kaito’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Akira continued staring out over the city.

“I told her things were changing. That more corrupted monsters are appearing every month. That slave traders are becoming bolder. That stronger figures are moving around again.” Her fingers tightened slightly around the glass. “I just wanted her to stay safe.”

“And she didn’t take it well.”

Akira laughed softly.

Not because anything was funny.

“She snapped at me immediately.”

Kaito stayed quiet while she continued.

“She told me she isn’t a child anymore.” Akira lowered her eyes slightly. “Said I needed to stop trying to protect her from everything.”

Kaito slowly leaned back in his chair again. “She called you overprotective?”

Akira shook her head once. “Worse.”

Her voice softened.

“She told me I wasn’t her mother.”

Silence settled between them again after that.

Kaito watched her carefully now.

That line had hurt.

More than Akira wanted to admit.

“She regretted saying it afterward,” Kaito said quietly.

“Probably.”

“But it still stuck.”

Akira nodded slowly.

The whiskey in her glass barely moved now.

“I know she didn’t mean it the way it sounded,” she admitted quietly. “But lately… she hasn’t been herself.”

Kaito’s gaze shifted toward the city below again.

“How so?”

Akira hesitated.

“She looks exhausted all the time lately. Distracted. Like she’s carrying something heavy alone.” Her expression tightened slightly. “I tried asking her what was wrong and she completely shut me out.”

Kaito remained silent.

“She used to tell me everything,” Akira whispered. “Even stupid things. If she scraped her knee she’d complain to me for an hour about it.”

A faint smile almost appeared again.

Then disappeared.

“Now I can barely get her to talk at all.”

The balcony fell quiet once more.

Far below them, the lights of Radiance continued glowing peacefully against the night.

But neither of them felt at peace anymore.

Akira finally looked toward Kaito directly.

“…Do you feel it too?”

Kaito already knew what she meant.

“The world changing?” he asked quietly.

She nodded.

Akira looked genuinely afraid now, though she tried hiding it beneath her usual composed demeanor.

“I don’t know how to explain it,” she admitted softly. “It feels like things are getting worse too quickly. Every report that comes in is worse than the last one.” Her fingers tightened around the glass again. “Corrupted creatures. Human trafficking. Entire villages disappearing. Stronger enemies appearing after years of silence…”

Her voice lowered further.

“It feels like something terrible is coming.”

Kaito stared quietly into the city lights below.

Then slowly he nodded.

“…Yeah,” he said softly.

“I think so too.”

Akira sat quietly for a while after Kaito’s answer, her eyes drifting back toward the glowing streets below. The whiskey in her glass barely moved as she held it carefully between both hands, letting the warmth settle into her fingers while the cold night air moved softly across the balcony.

The kingdom looked peaceful from up here.

Too peaceful.

After several moments, Akira finally spoke again. “Do you think we should try reaching out to some of the EX ranks?”

Kaito let out a slow breath through his nose before leaning back slightly in his chair. “That’s difficult.”

Akira looked toward him quietly while he swirled the whiskey around in his glass. “All eight of the EX ranks are missing somewhere around the world right now,” he continued. “Half of them haven’t even checked in with the major kingdoms in years.” A faint tired smile crossed his face. “That’s the problem with people strong enough to ignore authority. Eventually they stop answering to anyone.”

Akira gave a small hum of agreement. “The EX of Light still hasn’t resurfaced?”

Kaito shook his head. “Three years and nothing.”

Akira hesitated slightly before asking, “And what about Takeshi?”

The moment the name left her mouth, Kaito’s expression changed.

The faint amusement that had remained in his face disappeared almost instantly, replaced instead with something much heavier. He slowly lowered the glass from his lips and stared quietly out across the kingdom below for several long seconds before answering.

“…The EX ranks aren’t heroes, Akira.”

The wind moved softly through the balcony as his voice lowered.

“Some of them are good people. Some aren’t.” He looked down into the whiskey in his hand for a moment before continuing. “When people become that strong, eventually the world stops telling them no. And once that happens…” His expression darkened slightly. “A lot of them start making decisions like they’re above everyone else.”

Akira stayed quiet while he spoke.

“They justify things because they’re the strongest. They convince themselves that if their goal is right, then the damage they cause along the way doesn’t matter.” Kaito slowly swirled the whiskey around in his glass again. “Some of the worst tragedies in history happened because someone powerful believed only they knew what was best for the world.”

Kaito slowly leaned back in his chair again. “That’s why the major kingdoms stopped relying on the EX ranks years ago. You can’t build peace around people who can level nations whenever they feel like it.”

Akira eventually looked back down toward the city lights again. “Not exactly reliable allies.”

“No,” Kaito admitted quietly. “And relying on the EX ranks has always been dangerous anyway. They appear when they want to appear, not when people need them.”

The wind shifted softly through the balcony again while distant laughter echoed faintly from somewhere deeper in the kingdom below.

Kaito’s expression slowly darkened afterward. “At the end of the day, we just have to stay strong ourselves.”

Akira nodded faintly before falling quiet once more. Eventually, she asked the question both of them had clearly been circling around all night. “Do you really think Renjiro is acting alone?”

Kaito answered immediately. “No.”

There wasn’t hesitation in his voice. Not even for a second.

Akira slowly looked toward him while he rested one arm against the balcony railing. “Everything about this feels too coordinated,” he said quietly. “The corruption spreading. The trafficking routes expanding. Entire villages disappearing.” His eyes narrowed slightly. “And Renjiro himself.”

Akira lowered her gaze slightly. “The reports from the Cosmic Continent still bother me.”

“They bother everyone.”

Before all of this, Renjiro had simply been a serial killer. Horrifying, yes, but still human. The reports back then described isolated murders across the Cosmic Continent, bodies left in horrific conditions near remote towns and roads. Brutal. Violent. Twisted. But nothing close to what he had become now.

Kaito slowly took another sip from his whiskey. “Then someone gave him that scythe.”

The atmosphere shifted immediately after he said it.

Akira’s fingers tightened slightly around her glass.

That cursed weapon appeared in every recent report involving Renjiro. Entire groups slaughtered. Corrupted creatures emerging shortly afterward. Villages collapsing into madness. It was as if the weapon itself carried something unnatural inside it.

“That’s the part I hate,” Kaito admitted quietly. “We know what Renjiro became. We still don’t know why.”

Akira stared silently at the city below.

Someone gave him that power.

Someone powerful enough to destabilize entire continents from the shadows.

Her thoughts almost drifted toward her knights then. Toward the battlefield. Toward the moment she had been forced to cut them down herself after the corruption spread through them. She still remembered the confusion in their eyes. Some of them had still tried calling her captain while attacking her.

Her grip tightened harder around the glass.

Kaito noticed immediately.

But he didn’t bring it up.

And Akira silently appreciated that more than she could explain.

Instead, Kaito slowly leaned back in his chair again before speaking in a lighter tone. “You know, for someone trying to relax, you’ve done a terrible job choosing conversation topics tonight.”

Akira blinked before quietly laughing under her breath. “Sorry.”

“No you’re not.”

“…Maybe a little.”

Kaito smirked faintly.

The tension eased after that. Not gone, but lighter.

Akira finally took another proper sip from the whiskey before immediately making a face. “…This tastes awful.”

Kaito looked genuinely offended. “That bottle was expensive.”

“That doesn’t make it good.”

“It absolutely makes it good.”

Akira shook her head lightly. “No. It just means you paid too much for bad alcohol.”

“That’s painful coming from someone who barely drinks.”

“I drink enough to know this tastes like wood.”

Kaito stared at her for a moment before sighing dramatically. “That’s because it’s aged in wood.”

Akira remained completely unimpressed. “That explains why it tastes like a chair.”

Kaito actually laughed quietly at that. A real laugh this time.

Small.

But genuine.

The mood softened further afterward while the two continued speaking quietly beneath the night sky.

Akira rested her chin lightly against one hand while looking out toward the glowing kingdom below again. “Do you remember when Yuuna was younger?”

Kaito groaned immediately. “Which incident are we talking about?”

“The rooftop one.”

Kaito covered part of his face with one hand instantly. “Absolutely not.”

Akira smiled faintly for the first time that night. “She jumped off the guild hall because she thought spiritual energy would let her fly.”

“She was seven.”

“And you screamed louder than she did.”

“She jumped off a building.”

“She landed in the fountain completely fine.” Akira quietly laughed again. “She called it a tactical landing.”

Kaito rubbed his forehead tiredly. “That child took years off my life.”

Down the hallways of Radiance Headquarters, Mariah walked quickly through the dim torchlit corridors.

The kingdom had long since fallen asleep. Most of the guild halls throughout Radiance were quiet at this hour, the streets outside reduced to scattered patrol guards and late-night merchants preparing for morning markets. But inside headquarters, the atmosphere had changed completely within the last several minutes.

Another report had arrived.

Another city gone.

Mariah’s expression remained calm as she moved, though her thoughts were far less steady beneath the surface. Her long red hair swayed behind her while the heels of her boots echoed softly through the empty hallways.

The Blood Witch had struck again.

The destruction reports were incomplete, but they always were with attacks like this. Survivors were rare. Communication crystals often stopped functioning midway through the massacres. By the time information reached Radiance, entire regions had usually already been reduced to ash and blood.

Mariah reached the emergency communication chamber and immediately activated the crystal resting at the center pedestal. Crimson light flickered across the dark room before stabilizing into a projection linked directly to Kaito Ishiro’s office.

For a few seconds, nothing happened.

Then the crystal brightened.

Kaito appeared within the projection sitting out on his balcony with Akira beside him. The moment he saw Mariah’s expression, the relaxed atmosphere around him disappeared instantly.

“…Mariah?”

Akira straightened in her seat immediately.

Mariah didn’t waste time. “The Blood Witch struck again.”

Kaito’s entire demeanor shifted.

The whiskey in his hand lowered slowly while the exhaustion in his eyes vanished beneath sharp focus.

“Where?”

Mariah looked down briefly toward the report crystal in her hand before answering. “A coastal city near the Aureline Bridge.”

Kaito froze.

Akira noticed immediately.

The Aureline Bridge was one of the major routes leading deeper into the western peninsula toward the Coastal Kingdom.

Kaito stood up so fast his chair scraped harshly against the balcony stone behind him.

“…How long ago?”

“Less than an hour.”

Akira’s expression darkened. “That close to the peninsula…”

Mariah nodded once. “The city is gone. Witness reports say the Blood Witch headed farther west afterward.”

Kaito’s mind immediately connected the dots.

The Coastal Kingdom.

The peninsula only had so many exits. If Suzu entered deeper into that region, there would be nowhere else for her to go except farther toward the coast.

And right now two rookie guilds were vacationing there.

Illumina.

Mars.

Kaito’s chest tightened instantly.

They were all still kids.

Kaito looked directly toward Mariah again. “Was there any confirmation she crossed deeper into the peninsula?”

Mariah answered immediately. “Yes. The last sightings place her moving west after the city burned.”

That was enough.

Kaito moved instantly.

Akira watched him cross the office quickly toward the armor stand near the wall while he unbuttoned his shirt sleeves at the same time. The calm conversation from moments ago had completely disappeared now.

Urgency flooded the room.

Real urgency.

Kaito grabbed pieces of his armor quickly, fastening straps with practiced efficiency while his thoughts visibly raced behind his eyes.

Akira stood up immediately. “Kaito.”

“She’ll hit the Coastal Kingdom,” he said sharply.

Akira’s stomach sank because she realized immediately he was right.

The western peninsula funneled directly toward the coast. If the Blood Witch kept moving westward, the Coastal Kingdom would become a dead end.

A trap.

And the young guilds were already there.

Kaito grabbed the blue cloak resting beside his desk and threw it around his shoulders. “If she attacks while those kids are there…”

He didn’t finish the sentence.

He didn’t need to.

They all already knew.

Akira stepped closer. “Preparing the Gilded Blades and mobilizing knights will take time.”

Kaito stopped moving for the first time since the report came through.

For several seconds he simply stood there thinking.

Then he made his decision.

“You’re in charge until I return.”

Akira blinked once. “…What?” 

Kaito tightened the straps around his gloves before looking directly at her. “Gather the rest of the Gilded Blades. Every available member. I want a full knight squadron prepared to move toward the Coastal Kingdom immediately.”

Akira’s eyes widened slightly. “Kaito-”

“I’m leaving now.”

The urgency in his voice immediately silenced the room.

Akira had known Kaito for years. Long enough to understand exactly how serious a situation needed to become before he sounded like this.

He trusted very few things emotionally.

But those younger guilds?

He cared about them deeply.

Especially Illumina.

Akira stepped forward again. “What are you planning to do alone?”

Kaito didn’t stop moving. “I’ll ride ahead and reach the kingdom as fast as possible.”

“That’s a full day of travel without stopping.”

“I know.”

“You’ll kill the horse.”

“I know.”

Akira’s expression tightened. “And if the Blood Witch is already there when you arrive?”

Kaito finally looked directly at her again.

For a second, something grim crossed his face.

“…Then I need to get there before she decides to kill them.”

Silence settled briefly after that.

Mariah remained quietly connected through the communication crystal while watching the scene unfold from the other side.

Outwardly, she remained calm.

But deep inside her thoughts, another emotion lingered beneath the surface.

Expectation.

Itsuki and Suzu meeting again had always been inevitable.

Mariah knew that long before anyone else.

Even Itsuki herself.

A faint smile almost crossed Mariah’s lips before disappearing just as quickly.

Itsuki’s power had always fascinated her.

A power like that never awakened fully through peace.

They awakened through emotional collapse.

Through trauma.

Through confrontation.

Through pain.

Suzu’s existence was deeply connected to that evolution.

Mariah understood that much already.

What she planned for Itsuki beyond that only she knew.

Kaito’s voice pulled her attention back immediately.

“Thank you for the warning, Mariah.”

Mariah gave a small nod. “Be careful.”

Kaito almost laughed quietly at that.

“Against an SSS-ranked threat?”

“…Fair point.”

The communication crystal dimmed shortly afterward.

The room fell quiet again.

Akira watched Kaito secure the last pieces of his gear before stepping directly in front of him.

“Kaito.”

He looked toward her.

Akira’s voice softened slightly now. “You sound scared.”

Kaito was quiet for several seconds.

Then finally “I am.”

That answer hit harder than she expected.

Because Kaito Ishiro rarely admitted fear.

But this wasn’t fear for himself.

It was fear of arriving too late.

Kaito moved past her afterward toward the office doors before stopping briefly beside her shoulder.

“I trust you, Akira.”

She looked toward him quietly.

“Get everyone moving toward the coast as fast as possible. I don’t care how much it costs the kingdom in resources.”

Akira nodded once. “Understood.”

Kaito finally left the office.

The sound of his boots echoed quickly through the quiet headquarters hallways before fading into the distance.

Not long afterward, the stable gates beneath headquarters burst open.

A massive black horse charged out into the sleeping streets of Radiance while moonlight reflected against Kaito’s armor and blue cloak flowing behind him. Guards barely had time to recognize who passed them before he was already gone, racing through the kingdom toward the western roads leading out of Radiance.

The city lights slowly faded behind him.

The night air grew colder the farther he rode.

And for the first time in years, Kaito Ishiro felt genuinely helpless.

Because no matter how fast he moved…

He already feared he was too late.