Tier 4
The alarm klaxons were deafening, a steady, choking howl echoing through the steel-lined hallways. Sparks rained from shattered conduits overhead as the lockdown gates groaned to seal.
Kai, Rin, and Aria were sprinting toward the final gate when movement flashed ahead, two figures breaking away down a lone access corridor leading straight to the Tier 4 transfer lift.
"Escaping!" Aria barked, already veering to intercept.
Kai's eyes narrowed, the bigger one was a monster of a man, moving fast for his size, shouldering aside debris like it was nothing. His aura hit them even from this distance, a crushing wave that bent the air.
"Damn" Kai staggered a half-step, muscles instinctively bracing.
But Rin… Rin's focus had already locked on the second figure. Lean, composed, even in a dead sprint. Every stride was measured, precise, like his feet already knew every inch of the path.
Rin's chest tightened. His breathing changed.
"…No way."
"Rin?" Kai called, glancing back.
Rin didn't answer, his pace exploded forward. The sound of his steps cracked against the floor, flame aura bleeding from his heels. His eyes were locked on that runner's back, his grip tightening as if on an invisible blade.
The second figure glanced over his shoulder mid-sprint. Just enough for the light to hit his face.
The world in Rin's head went silent.
"…Seizen."
The man's expression didn't change, only the faintest twitch at the corner of his mouth. Then he turned forward again, picking up speed as if inviting Rin to keep up.
Kai's voice rose, urgent. "Who the hell"
"Seizen!" Rin roared, and the entire corridor seemed to ignite from the heat in his voice.
The giant, Vonn glanced back at the shout, a grin splitting his face. His aura spiked, concrete underfoot cracking. "Oh, this is gonna be fun."
The alarms were a distant shriek compared to the prison itself groaning.
Concrete split down the walls like paper. Dust fell in constant rain.
And in the middle of the hall, Vonn, aura boiling off his body in heavy, rolling waves that warped the air.
Every breath he took made the fluorescent lights flicker. Every step sent cracks spiderwebbing underfoot.
Kai's jaw tightened.
"Aria… don't let that touch you."
Vonn grinned. "Touch you? Boy, I don't touch. I erase."
He stomped once, Seismic Aura Burst, a circular shockwave of condensed Muti slammed through the hall, lifting both Kai and Aria off their feet and scattering the guards like leaves. The reinforced railing on the upper tier folded inward with a metallic scream.
Kai landed in a slide, petals from his Lotus Bloom State burning into the cracked floor.
Aria's Tempest Veil spun around her as she redirected mid-air with a Valkyrie Dash, lightning-snap reappearing at Vonn's flank.
She struck, Storm Lattice Combo, three electrified blows in a blur, forming intersecting arcs of lightning that locked his position.
Vonn let them land. The lightning fizzled against his aura shroud like rain on molten rock.
His counter was instant, Aura Maul, a backhand wrapped in crushing, concussive force. The wall behind Kai exploded as the shockwave passed him by inches.
Vonn rolled his neck, aura pressure doubling.
The floor beneath him sank, as if the weight of his presence alone was punching into the foundations.
Kai darted in, Samsara Chain, golden bindings snapped forward, but Vonn flexed his aura in a Pulse Break that shattered the construct mid-flight. Kai's guard barely went up before Vonn was on him, fist descending like an iron meteor.
Kai redirected with a Hanuman Step, twisting out of the direct path, the fist still struck the ground, detonating it into a crater of molten rebar and dust.
"Keep moving!" Kai shouted over the ringing in his ears.
Aria reappeared in a streak, using the wall itself as a springboard.
Typhoon Edge Barrage, her limbs blurred into a wind-plasma flurry, each strike detonating mini shockwaves along Vonn's shoulder and ribs.
Vonn planted one foot, Anchor Crush, the air in a ten-meter radius compressed violently, slamming her down mid-combo. Concrete erupted upward from the pressure alone.
Kai's petals flared brighter, heat thickening in the hall. Vishnu Guard met Aura Maul, the clash sounding like a cannon shot.
Aria broke free of the airlock, hair snapping from static as she and Kai crossed paths, forcing Vonn into a brief defensive pivot. But every time they landed a blow, the environment paid for it, railings torn loose, guard stations caving, the hallway looking more like a war zone than a prison corridor.
Vonn grinned wider, steam rising from his skin.
"Not bad… but you're still fighting me like I'm human."
He exhaled. The next wave of aura cracked the floor down the center line, dust clouds swallowing the light.
The instant their eyes locked again, the ground fractured.
Vonn's aura surged outward like a collapsing star, crushing the air flat.
Aria's lightning roared in response, her halo spinning so fast it blurred into a cyclone crown.
Then
Nothing.
No motion. No image.
Only the sharp pop of air imploding where they once stood.
Baseline: A Seeker can channel aura into muscles to move faster than normal, what rookies call "Aura Sprinting."
Advanced: Veterans layer aura before the muscle contracts, preloading the kinetic chain so every joint fires like a detonator.
Mastery: At peak form, they cycle aura between limbs mid-motion, turning each strike into a launchpad for the next, allowing instantaneous acceleration in any direction.
Side Effect: To onlookers, fighters vanish completely. The human eye can't track them, and the sonic signatures of their movement arrive seconds after the fact.
A dent appeared in the wall to Kai's left, Aria had just been there, kicking.
A heartbeat later, a crater formed in the opposite wall, Vonn had parried, aura-arm first.
A shockwave ripped down the hallway, warping steel bars into molten curves.
Sparks sprayed in the air from lightning that hadn't even touched metal yet, her strikes were moving faster than their own electricity.
Kai turned his head wildly, trying to track them.
(They're… everywhere—no—)
He realized they weren't moving "fast." They were arriving. Each collision was the only proof they'd even been there.
She used every impact as a launch point, rebounding through thin air like she was skipping off invisible platforms.
Lightning streamed behind her, forming the afterimage of wings that were never really there.
Her voice tore through the crackle of her own storms:
"You think you're untouchable?!"
Vonn didn't chase. He expanded.
His crushing aura swelled so wide it warped the space around him, pulling debris into its orbit.
Every time Aria closed in, one of those phantom colossus arms hammered the air with so much force it bent light, the heat and pressure so intense that paint blistered on the walls twenty feet away.
They reappeared mid-swing, so close Kai could see their eyes through the aura haze.
Her storm-wrapped fist. His aura-arm hammer.
The moment they collided, the corridor didn't just shake, it tilted.
Steel beams screamed. Concrete fractured in spiderweb lines, chunks falling into the lower tiers.
Kai's feet slid back against his will, his Lotus Bloom form flaring just to keep him on the ground.
(This… This is aura mastery. This is what real Seekers can do.)
The Forgotten Shrine trembled under their arrival.
Charcoal stone, cracked and lined with old blood sigils, drank in the heat. Broken chains hung from the ceiling like the skeleton of a beast long dead.
Rin skidded to a halt, eyes locking on the figure ahead.
No words.
Just that silhouette. The gait. The stillness.
(It can't be…)
The man turned.
Seizen.
Rin's breath caught in his throat, Viatra flickering in reflex. His grip on his flame aura tightened until sparks hissed across his knuckles.
"…You."
Voice cracking. Half fury, half disbelief.
Seizen's gaze didn't soften.
"Still chasing me, little brother?"
They moved at the same time.
Two blurs, mirror stances, mirror footwork.
Rin lunged with Mutiyora – Flame Rhythm Form, psychic edge hidden under his lead palm.
Seizen's own Flame Rhythm rippled back, every motion deliberate, suffocating in precision.
First clash, open palms met. Heat cracked the floor.
Rin pivoted, Inferno Arc Kick.
Seizen slid inside it, Ember Spiral Sweep.
They both landed back-to-back, neither looking over their shoulder.
Only the sound of the shrine's roof groaning overhead.
Rin finally spoke:
"You burned it all down."
Seizen
"I removed the rot. You just can't see the difference."
Both Viatra eyes ignited, red-black rings blooming with murderous clarity.
Rin: Genmugan Stage III, illusions in layered flame-patterns, chaotic and sharp.
Seizen: Stage IV.5, deeper resonance, every image backed by psychic inevitability.
Rin vanished into Shikai Hōyō – Embrace of Sight, the air rippling like oil.
For a second, Seizen was alone in the shrine.
Then he was burning.
Then stabbed.
Then crushed under falling chains.
It was all fake.
He blinked once, Yume Sabaki, Dream Judgement snapping into place, and Rin found himself dying over and over in recursive loops, each one ending with Seizen standing untouched.
Rin's fire aura erupted outward, shattering the mind-prison.
"I'm not the boy you left behind!"
Seizen's eye deepened to obsidian-red.
"No. You're a man… still running from the truth."
The illusions dropped.
Pure fire took over.
Ash Mantle Cloak, both bodies shrouded in armor-thick flame veils.
Blazing Ring Kata, Muay Thai-like elbow-knee combos infused with fire shockwaves.
Rin, Crimson Burn Spiral, a psychic-laced flame drill punch aimed at Seizen's chest.
Seizen, sidestepped, caught it with an open palm, redirected into the wall, stone melted on impact.
They were silhouettes in firelight, fists and knees ringing out like anvils.
Rin shouted mid-swing:
"Why won't you fight me like I'm worth it?!"
Seizen
"Because I know how this ends."
Rin's breath came heavy, flames licking up his arms, Viatra blazing like molten rings. His aura flared to full True Flow, the shrine walls bending from the heat.
He roared, both hands slicing into a seal pattern.
"Jukai no Yoru, Cursed Realm Night!"
In an instant, the Forgotten Shrine vanished.
They were standing in an endless black forest under a crimson sky, fireflies of memory floating in the air. Each ember whispered voices Rin hadn't heard in years, laughter, cries, promises.
Seizen looked around, expression unreadable.
"So this is the depth you've reached… trapping me here?"
"This isn't just a trap," Rin snarled, stepping forward, "it's where you burn."
Flames erupted along the forest floor, racing toward Seizen. Branches twisted into chains, locking around his arms and neck. Shadows took shape, every life Seizen had taken stepping out of the trees.
He moved like a storm in human form,
Infernal Knee Ascension, leaping strike to the jaw, detonating psychic fire on contact.
Scorched Halo Breaker, spinning elbow wreathed in lightning-fire, cutting through the chains.
Celestial Burnblood Blades, a volley of molten psychic daggers rained down from above, exploding on impact.
The forest shuddered with each strike, sky cracking in molten seams.
Rin's Viatra burned hotter, the strain visible in the blood seeping from his eyes.
"This time you can't hide behind your control, Seizen. I'll rip you out of my nightmares."
Seizen didn't block.
Didn't dodge.
Didn't flinch.
He just looked up, and the entire forest peeled away like paper.
The black trees folded into towering shrine doors.
The red sky collapsed into candlelit corridors.
And Rin realized
He had never pulled Seizen in.
He had been inside Seizen's Ryoiki from the start.
Kokushinden — The Black Shrine.
Law: Each door is a death. Choose your ending.
The "chains" were his own memories, reshaped. The "forest" was one of the shrine's corridors. Every ember-light? His failures, replayed.
Seizen stepped forward, closing the gap without making a sound.
"Your fire has always burned for the wrong reason, Rin. I just let you see it."
Makugan: Reimei, Final Bloom, Seizen's Viatra erupted into a burning lotus of light and shadow, each petal an illusion blade.
The shrine's doors swung open one by one, showing Rin different deaths. In one, Kai burns. In another, Aria turns away. In another, Rin's body lies cold while Seizen walks away again.
Shrine Execution Step, Seizen's footwork erased Rin's stance entirely, collapsing his aura flow in a single pulse.
Rin dropped to a knee, flames guttering.
Seizen knelt down, close enough that Rin could feel the heat from his breath.
"You want to surpass me? Stop burning for revenge. Burn for something worth saving."
He stood, the Ryoiki beginning to fade.
"Find me again… when you've stopped being afraid to wake up."
Rin's eyes dimmed, chest heaving, a single whisper escaping:
"I will…"
The air between Aria and Vonn was nothing but screaming pressure.
Lightning ripped from her arms in jagged arcs, colliding with Vonn's crushing aura, each clash detonating shockwaves that bent the metal framework of Tier 4.
Kai shielded his face with an arm, boots grinding against the floor.
He'd fought monsters before, but this? This was two storms tearing the world in half.
"She's… holding him back?" he thought, awe twisting into worry. "How much longer can she"
Vonn roared, taking a step forward through the lightning field, aura expanding until the walls themselves groaned. His next stomp cracked the floor in a ring, hurling Aria backward several meters.
Kai moved to intercept
and the world went silent.
No thunder.
No groaning metal.
No breathing.
Just… stillness.
Kai and Aria froze mid-step, their instincts screaming.
A shadow fell across the broken walkway — but it wasn't from the lights.
A man stood behind Vonn.
No sound of approach. No ripple in the air. Just there.
Jet-black coat trailing the faint scent of burnt incense. Eyes like smoldering coals beneath a calm, unreadable face.
Kai's chest tightened. Aria's stance shifted. Neither had seen this man before — but the weight he carried felt ancient.
"Vonn," the man said quietly. "We're leaving."
Vonn didn't even glance back. He grinned, blood running from a cut above his brow.
"Took your damn time."
The man's eyes flicked toward Kai and Aria for the briefest heartbeat — and in that glance, they felt something off.
Something… missing.
"Where's Rin?!" Kai demanded, voice sharper than intended.
No answer. Just that same, calm stare.
He lifted one gloved hand, tracing a short, deliberate seal in the air.
Feathers.
Hundreds of them — black as oil, sharp as glass — burst outward in a spiral. Each one shimmered with Muti-infused shadow, slicing through air and steel without resistance.
The feathers didn't fall.
They assembled.
Vonn's hulking frame folded into the cloud, his aura vanishing in an instant. The man stepped back into it without hesitation — and the mass of feathers twisted into a swirling flock of pitch-black birds, wings cutting through the aura collapse like it was mist.
The flock shot upward in a spiraling column, punching through the ceiling in a burst of screeching cries, fragments of stone and metal raining down in their wake.
Kai's fists clenched.
Aria's teeth ground.
They both stared at the vanishing storm of feathers, their minds still echoing with the same question:
Who the hell was that… and what did he do to Rin?