Ryuji, Ren, and Yuumo finally stepped out of the abandoned building after spending what felt like an eternity trapped inside its dark and suffocating corridors, and as they slowly made their way along the cracked pavement outside, the bright afternoon sunlight immediately washed over them, creating such a sharp contrast against the darkness they had just escaped from that Ryuji instinctively raised one hand toward his face while stretching his other arm above his head.
"Ahhh, we're finally out of that room," Ryuji groaned while stretching his shoulders and rolling his neck, his exhausted expression gradually relaxing as he stared toward the brilliant blue sky above them. "Well, we should probably head over to Shoto's house, because if we move quickly enough, maybe we can still catch up to him before he disappears somewhere else."
Ren rubbed the back of his head while looking down the deserted street, his expression becoming slightly more serious as he remembered exactly how quickly Shoto had left earlier and how unusual his behavior had seemed at the time.
"You saw how he left, though, so I doubt he's actually going to be sitting at home waiting for us," Ren replied while slowly looking toward the distant buildings, his eyes narrowing as he tried to determine where Shoto might have gone. "Let's find Hikaru first, because if anyone knows where Shoto went, it's probably him, and after that we can all head over to Shoto's house together."
Ryuji let out a reluctant sigh before placing both hands behind his head, clearly wishing there were an easier way to find their friend, but he eventually nodded because Ren's reasoning made sense.
"Yeah, you're probably right, so let's go look for him," Ryuji said as he turned toward Yuumo, only to realize that she had not followed them and was still standing several feet behind them while staring silently toward the sky. "You can come with us, Yuu—Yuumo?"
Yuumo did not answer.
She remained completely still while staring upward at the clouds, and for several moments she appeared so disconnected from everything around her that the abandoned neighborhood seemed to become even quieter around her, with the only movement being the faint breeze passing through her hair and the distant rustling of leaves along the empty road.
Ryuji frowned as he glanced toward Ren, then turned back toward Yuumo and raised his voice when she continued to ignore them.
"YUUMO!" Ryuji shouted, his voice echoing throughout the empty neighborhood as Yuumo suddenly jolted and turned toward him with an irritated expression.
Yuumo stared at the two boys for several seconds before quietly scoffing and turning away from them, after which she began walking past them without offering any explanation for her strange behavior, causing Ren to watch her carefully while Ryuji simply shrugged and decided not to question her any further.
"L-Let's just wait at Shoto's house," Yuumo muttered while continuing down the road, although there was something strangely emotionless about her voice that neither boy immediately recognized. "I'm sure he'll show up eventually, and when he does, I'm sure he'll probably be with Hikaru anyway."
Ryuji shrugged before following behind her, and after watching the two of them begin walking away, Ren quietly followed as well, although his attention remained fixed on Yuumo because something about the way she was behaving felt different from the girl he knew.
The three continued down the deserted trail toward Shoto's home while the afternoon sun slowly moved across the sky, and despite the fact that they had entered what should have been a familiar neighborhood, there was something deeply unsettling about the complete absence of people, because normally there would have been cars passing along the streets, children playing outside, or residents moving between their homes, yet now there was nothing except abandoned houses and an unnatural silence.
Ryuji eventually moved his hands behind his head while casually looking from one house to another, his expression slowly becoming more confused as he realized just how empty the entire area had become.
"Where is everyone?" Ryuji asked while lowering his arms and staring down the empty road, his voice carrying through the silence. "It's awfully quiet around here, because there isn't even a single person outside, and considering how busy this neighborhood normally is, something about this feels really strange."
Yuumo continued walking several steps ahead of them without responding, her gaze remaining fixed on the ground while her expression became increasingly difficult to read, until she suddenly stopped in the middle of the road without warning.
Ryuji and Ren continued walking for several moments before realizing that Yuumo had stopped, causing both of them to turn around and stare at her with confused expressions.
Yuumo stood completely motionless beneath the afternoon sunlight while keeping her head lowered, and when she finally spoke, her voice carried an unnatural emptiness that immediately caused Ren to become more alert.
"Justice…"
Ryuji slowly rubbed the back of his head while staring at her in confusion, clearly having no idea what she was talking about.
"Uh, what about justice?" Ryuji asked while cautiously taking a step toward her, his expression becoming more uncertain when Yuumo failed to answer him immediately.
Yuumo slowly raised her head, revealing eyes that no longer possessed the familiar spark of the tomboyish gamer they had known for so long, because instead of her usual energetic expression, there was only a cold and empty stare that made Ren instinctively tense his body.
"Justice will be served against you humans," Yuumo said quietly, her voice carrying a strange mechanical quality as she slowly extended one hand toward the boys.
The Proto Sword suddenly manifested within her grasp, but instead of remaining in its usual sword form, the weapon began violently vibrating as its entire structure shifted and transformed, with its blade folding inward while mechanical components rearranged themselves around her arm until the weapon eventually became an enormous barrel-like handgun connected directly to a mechanical gauntlet.
The Proto Sword began glowing with an intense energy that illuminated Yuumo's emotionless face, and before Ryuji or Ren could understand what was happening, the weapon suddenly discharged a massive blast that tore through the street with enough force to send debris flying in every direction.
The resulting explosion ripped through the neighborhood as several nearby structures shook violently, windows shattered from their frames, walls cracked apart, and an enormous cloud of dust swallowed the street while Ryuji was thrown backward across the pavement.
Ren managed to slide backward while electricity immediately began surging around his body, with bright sparks crawling across his legs as his Electric Sword transformed into its specialized footwear and concentrated energy gathered beneath his feet.
"There's something seriously wrong with Yuumo," Ren shouted while staring at her from across the destroyed street, his expression becoming increasingly serious as he realized that the girl standing before them was not acting on her own will. "Someone is controlling her!"
Without waiting for Ryuji to respond, Ren immediately launched himself forward, using the electricity surrounding his shoes to accelerate his movement until his body became little more than a blur racing toward Yuumo.
Yuumo reacted almost instantly by flipping backward through the air, gracefully avoiding Ren's incoming kick before landing on the roof of a nearby house, and when Ren followed her upward, his eyes suddenly widened as he noticed something strange surrounding her body.
Thin strings had appeared around Yuumo.
They had been almost completely invisible before, but now that Ren knew what to look for, he could clearly see dozens of translucent threads attached to Yuumo's arms, legs, shoulders, and back, with each one extending away into the surrounding air as though an unseen puppeteer were controlling her body from somewhere beyond their sight.
Ren's expression immediately hardened as he understood what had happened.
"So that's how you're controlling her," Ren muttered while electricity intensified around his legs, his eyes narrowing as he prepared to attack the strings instead of Yuumo herself.
Ren launched himself across the rooftop with incredible speed before swinging his electrified leg through the space surrounding Yuumo, and the moment his attack passed through the invisible strings, several of them snapped apart under the electrical force.
Yuumo's body immediately went limp.
Ren caught her before she could fall from the roof, quickly securing her against his shoulder before jumping from the building and landing safely on the street beside Ryuji.
Ryuji stared at Yuumo with disbelief while Ren carefully adjusted her unconscious body in his arms.
"She was being controlled," Ren explained while scanning the surrounding buildings, his expression remaining tense as he searched for whoever had been manipulating her. "Which means whoever was controlling her already knew where we were, and if they knew where we were, then there's a good chance someone has been watching us this entire time."
Ryuji slowly nodded while looking around the abandoned neighborhood, his expression becoming more serious as he realized that they might not have been alone for quite some time.
"Right, so we should probably—"
Ryuji suddenly stopped speaking.
Something was standing behind him.
He slowly turned around, and his expression immediately changed when he saw a massive man standing several feet away, with an enormous muscular body covered in strange markings, gigantic wings extending from his back, and a glowing golden halo floating above his head.
The creature's face was stretched into an enormous grin that looked almost unnatural against his otherwise angelic appearance, and his eyes remained fixed upon Ryuji with such disturbing amusement that Ryuji instinctively stepped backward.
Ren immediately turned around after noticing Ryuji's reaction, and his own eyes widened when he saw the mysterious figure standing behind them.
"What the hell are—"
The mysterious being chuckled softly while looking down at the three humans, his smile widening as he slowly raised one hand.
"You humans really don't have a clue about who the bigger enemy is, do you?"
Before either Ryuji or Ren could respond, the angel suddenly drove his fist into the ground with enough force to create a devastating shockwave that ripped through the entire neighborhood.
The pavement beneath them fractured instantly as cracks spread outward in every direction, buildings began collapsing one after another, walls exploded into fragments, and enormous clouds of dust swallowed the surrounding streets while Ryuji, Ren, and the unconscious Yuumo suddenly lost their footing.
The ground beneath them gave way.
Ryuji desperately reached for something to grab while Ren tightened his grip around Yuumo, but there was nothing available as the three of them fell directly into the enormous crater created by the angel's attack.
Above them, the mysterious figure slowly spread his wings before lifting himself into the air, hovering effortlessly above the destruction while looking down at the devastation below with an expression of complete satisfaction.
"Perfect," the angel said while slowly looking across the destroyed neighborhood, his enormous smile becoming even wider as the ruined buildings continued collapsing around the crater. "The angels are going to be very pleased with what I've done here."
Far away from the ruined neighborhood, high above the streets of Shibuya, two figures sat upon the rooftop of one of the city's tallest buildings while watching the distant destruction unfold.
The first was a woman with ash-white hair braided tightly behind her head, her pale fingers constantly moving through the air as though she were manipulating invisible strings connected to something far beyond the rooftop, while beside her sat a strange man whose body appeared to have been forged from volcanic stone, with glowing red cracks spreading across his skin as pieces of his hardened exterior occasionally broke away and crumbled onto the concrete beneath him.
The woman suddenly flinched.
Her fingers stopped moving in the middle of the motion, and her eyes narrowed as she stared toward the distant neighborhood where the battle had taken place.
"Damn it," she muttered while slowly curling her fingers into her palm, clearly irritated by what had happened. "That runner caught on far too quickly, because I barely had enough time to react before he realized that I was controlling her."
The volcanic-skinned man remained unusually calm as he stared toward the distant skyline, seemingly far more concerned with another objective than the battle taking place below.
"Did you find Shoto yet?" he asked while keeping his eyes fixed on the city, his voice calm despite the destruction occurring several blocks away. "That's the only thing that matters right now, because once we locate him, we can finally get his father out of our way."
The woman slowly closed her eyes while her fingers began moving again, although her movements were more hesitant than before as she attempted to regain control.
"No, I still haven't found him," she replied with an irritated sigh while opening her eyes again. "I'll try again, but if Shoto has already moved somewhere outside my range, finding him is going to be much more difficult than I expected."
Before she could continue, however, a powerful presence suddenly appeared behind the two of them.
The woman immediately stopped moving her fingers.
The volcanic-skinned man slowly turned his head.
Shaniran stood several feet behind them.
His clothes were slightly damaged from his previous battle, and his expression remained calm despite the fact that he had just returned from fighting the armored warrior, whose battered body was currently being carried over Shaniran's shoulder as though the armored man weighed nothing at all.
Without saying anything, Shaniran casually dropped the injured warrior onto the rooftop. Azul hops off Shaniran's shoulder afterwards, staring at the armored man softly, "Hmph." She muttered as the white cat sat beside him.
The armored man struck the concrete with a heavy metallic crash before rolling onto his side, his armor still smoking from the punishment he had received.
The woman stared at Shaniran for several seconds before finally speaking.
"You found him?"
Shaniran slowly walked past the unconscious armored warrior while looking toward the city below, his expression remaining completely relaxed.
"I found Shoto, so you can stop trying to control the others."
The woman's eyes narrowed immediately as she turned toward him.
"Then why haven't you brought him back here?"
Shaniran stopped walking.
For several moments, he remained silent while staring toward the distant city, and then a faint smile slowly appeared across his face as though he had already decided what he intended to do next.
"Because the plan has changed," Shaniran replied while turning his head slightly toward her. "Besides, Kyoya can bring Shoto to Ayato when the time comes, so there's no reason for us to waste our time chasing him around the city."
Shaniran glanced toward the ruined neighborhood in the distance before looking back at the two figures.
"For now, we can have a little fun with them, just like what Teziel is doing.."