The sun crests over the sky in the seemingly uneventful Yamaguchi Prefecture. People board trains, people get in their cars, people kiss their families goodbye as they leave for work. Nothing seems truly out of the ordinary.
However, over the sky quickly flies a speeding helicopter, an intense jet black in its color. Maybe that would have sufficed for subtlety in the dead of night, but they're still flying in the daylight.
People can see the craft from the sky for brief moments as it comes overhead roads and communities, and they wonder where it came from – Kitakyushu? Nagato? It doesn't seem to matter, as the helicopter quickly veers off away from any real urban center, off to seemingly nowhere…
A small flat of land on an unnamed hill is where the helicopter touches down. The sliding door on either side quickly slides open, and armed guards step out. Armed to the teeth, dawning full body armor, masks, helmets, and high-caliber weapons.
The last to step out is a man the exact opposite to these others – a rather large man, middle-aged and balding, looks around idly before settling on a small cave off the side of the hill. Slowly raising an arm, he points to the cave. "There's the target, go extract him."
One of the guards quickly turns his head to the cave, then back to the man.
"Kang, sir, the targets in… there? A cave? And…"
He starts to stumble over his words, a sense of confusion and a slight edge of disbelief taking over both his thoughts and tone.
"Him, you said? We're getting a person? You said this was just a recovery mission."
Kang simply nodded, and began to walk towards the cave.
"Precisely. We're recovering a man here. It is very important to our progress. And for progress' sake, I'm willing to get my hands dirty,"
He would say as he adjusts his gloves, stretching the latex taut against his hand.
"Well, figuratively, anyways."
Kang pointed at the cave and directed his men.
"There's a blockade of sorts at the cave entrance. It's made of energy, so we know it was made with The Barrier. You…"
He looks at his men once over and points at three of them individually.
"You three. Break the field so we can extract our target."
The men look at each other, still rather caught off guard from the situation before nodding. They approach the cave entrance and put a hand out to it, feeling that Kang was right.
The cave had a mostly transparent physical barrier at the entrance, seemingly made out of raw energy colored a pale red. The men understood that their weapons wouldn't break it.
So instead, they close their eyes and focus, all three men placing a hand on the barrier. After a few seconds, a deep, powerful pulse rocked the area immediately surrounding the cave entrance, like a reverberating bass. This pulse, almost like a shockwave, provided a force strong enough to shatter the barrier.
As the barrier breaks, a rush of wind flows out of the cave, carrying white-ish green particles. Seeing this air, seemingly contaminated with something, causes the men to panic slightly and check the filters on their masks.
Kang, however, seems rather pleased, his eyes widened slightly with a smile on his face as he walks into the cave.
"This might be easier than I thought."
He says, seemingly almost excited.
"Fret not, men, I know what this was. The Pulse. Don't you men know? Surely you've manually healed a scratch sometime."
Kang reaches a hand out to feel the air, having gone from a sharp gust to a gentle breeze.
"It seems to be a long-duration modification of Rejuvenation. Much weaker, yes, couldn't bring our target back for sure."
Kang turns his head, then signals for his men to come in.
"It, however, did one job well."
As the men pour in, they find the target in question. A man's corpse, partially decayed and partially preserved, in tattered clothing of times past, leans against the wall of the cave.
"It seems someone used this to attempt to preserve the man's body after the fact, after he was found. Using Rejuvenation to preserve the body and using The Barrier to keep it contained long-term. Lucky us."
Kang says with a pleased tone, turning to his men.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Get the stretcher and start the helicopter again. This is the target. This is who we're extracting."
The men again nod. Some exclaim a mandatory "Yes, sir!" before turning around and moving back to the helicopter.
Across the Sea of Japan, there are more important matters.
In South Korea, a long-distance rail towards Busan is being ridden. The train on it is entirely empty except for the cart the closest to the driver's cabin.
The center of focus, on the seat closest to the driver, is a woman. Youthful and athletic, sporting full red lips and curly black hair that stops just at her shoulders. A small scar runs from her left cheekbone to the bridge of her nose.
The train and the few passengers in it exude an area of formality and professionalism, like something important is about to happen. All except for her.
She is dressed overly casually, skinny jeans and a white tank top with a Japanese brand name on it, along with a crop-top jacket.
"Se-Young…"
A snap of fingers, then a shove.
"SE-YOUNG!"
The man flinches, and shakes his head as if he has just been startled out of deep thought or a daydream.
"Eyes off the prize, my Lord."
The man next to him would remind with a chuckle, nudging with his elbow.
"I get it, though."
Se-Young would turn his head over to the man, not before stealing another look at the woman.
"Who is she anyway, Mr. Park?"
"Drop the formalities, kid. You're the Lord."
Park would reply before not-so-subtly pointing at the woman.
"We hardly know her name, she tries to hide it, but I know her nickname. 'Devon', from what I've heard. Valuable asset for sure, they say she's the eighth strongest the world has right now."
"Devon?"
"She's ex-military, and ran drills with the Americans. She thought it was 'Devon' instead of 'Delta'. She also thought it was 'Beta' instead of 'Bravo', but calling her Beta would just be too cruel… She's terrible with names, watch."
Park would then speak up, loud enough to get the woman's attention.
"Hey, Dev! What's the name of our oh-so-gracious Lord?"
The woman's eyes would widen slightly, eyeing Se-Young once over before looking up and away. She had nothing.
"I just call him Lord."
She would say quietly, trying to hide her embarrassment.
"What are we doing here anyways? I was doing work."
Se-Young would interject to change topics, lightly patting his computer case.
"Oh, poor Cho,"
Park would tease, leaning in to whisper in Se-Young's ear.
"Intel has it, this train's gonna be intercepted. Robbed, destroyed, who knows. All they know is that there's something valuable here. What they don't know, however… The 'valuable' is the Lord Above All."
Suddenly, explosions were heard in the distance, drowning out the voices that were coming closer and closer. The footsteps grew louder and more numerous, as if they knew exactly where to go and what to look for.
"What the hell?" shouted Se-Young, having just been warned of a possible threat.
"Impeccable timing, am I right?"
Park said jokingly, not really taking the situation seriously just yet.
"Who are these people?" No one knew the answer to that question, which put Park into slight panic. But Devon didn't flinch, silently preparing for a possible fight.
"Wait… I see them! God damn it!"
Park exclaimed, reaching for his waist and beginning to draw a pistol which he had concealed at that point, standing up and turning around.
He was late to the draw.
Park falls down with the unmistakable sound of a gunshot and Se-Young quickly springs up, staring down at him.
"What the-? God damn it, Park! Get up! We're under attack! Use Rejuvenation and heal!"
Se-Young kept demanding that he get back up, but quickly realized that he wouldn't.
"Hell… Park…"
Se-Young shook his head, wiping his eye.
The attack was yet to come, because the majority of the attackers were stunned and frozen.
"Se-Young?! Why is he here! This isn't what I signed up for-"
Cries were cut short as Devon sprung into action, making sure those who still had the will to attack wouldn't make it far. Se-Young watched in equal parts stunned silence at Devon's efficiency and his own pain at the quick, sudden loss of Park.
It's hard to say whether the battle was difficult or long—after all, Devon was Number 8, and it was hard for anyone to stand against her. Taking out almost everyone, she left only one—the one who had pulled the trigger—alive, for questioning and revenge for Park's death.
"Who are you, and how the hell do you know what was on this train?" Devon asked, squeezing his neck to the point of nearly breaking it.
Gasping and squirming, the unknown man who had fired the shot said, "Like I'd tell you, worthless bitch…" Devon heard those final two words and lost a bit of temper, clenching her fists in rage, snapping the criminal's neck in the process.
Returning to the cabin, Devon saw Park's body, still on the floor with his own jacket covering his body loosely, and Se-Young, whose expression clearly said he shouldn't be approached right now. The emergency brake of the train was pulled, and moments later, armed, heavily armored guards swarmed the train. These guards look very similar to the guards Kang has. The main differentiating feature: a patch on their shoulder, labeled with the words "Regional ATS, Busan."
Only corpses were left on the train. Devon and Se-Young were gone.
Now walking down the length of the train, Se-Young was slung over the shoulder of Devon, being carried away.
"What are you doing?! Let me down!"
Se-Young shouted, trying to squirm out of her hold.
"Who knows what the Anti-Terror Squad would've done. Not like they get punished for much. Hell, they're probably just shooting anything that moves in that train right now. Consider it a move for my Lord's safety."
Devon replied, looking around to see no one's following them before simply dropping Se-Young.
"They wouldn't attack me! I'm the Lord!"
"You're not a public figure like a celebrity. People know your name, they know you're Lord, that's it. The Anti-Terror Squad doesn't know your face unless they're a part of the mission. Those guys were Emergency Response. You'd probably screw something up and get shot."
Devon would look around them, confirming their successful escape before leaning in slightly, inches from Se-Young's face, before whispering.
"They've been on edge lately, especially the ones I'm used to in Tokyo and Fukuoka. Something's happening over there, Mr. Kang's been real quiet as of late…"
Sighs of frustration, the unmistakable sound of pencils and pens on paper and clipboards. Armored guards bang on the front door, hidden away. The only sign is right next to the door: "FUKUOKA. GOVERNMENT PROPERTY." The door is slowly opened, and the men walk in.
Down a lengthy, almost purposefully convoluted set of hallways, another door opens, now made of clear sliding glass instead of reinforced steel. A man walks through, dressed like half-guard, half-doctor. Dressed in your regular doctor garb, but his typical facemask is replaced with a respirator, and he has a submachine gun slinged on his shoulder.
However, the man is not the outlier here. A few more men are dressed exactly like him, surrounding a table. The true outlier here is the man with no armor, no weapon, dressed in his normal medical garb. The doctor, balding and large-statured, Dr. Kang.
The men surround the table, while another group of men surround another. The two tables both have the same thing: a body. The table to the left is the corpse that they recovered, simply labeled "Jué Chen, 1574-1618". This body is connected by various tubes to the other body, labeled "Host", and is a man with short black hair, looking almost painfully average and wearing only some briefs.
One of the doctors questions Kang.
"Kang, sir, what are we hoping to achieve this time?"
"Simple. Jué's records state a unique attribute."
Kang would reply, tossing the man his clipboard.
"It's called 'spirit totality'. As much as people like to deny it, at least in Jué's case, he has a 'soul'. It recognizes its shape and will still hold no matter what. His current body is no longer in a state to hold his 'spirit', as you could probably tell."
Kang would start to flash a small smile, clearly enjoying the thought before continuing.
"Our hope is to use multiple instances of Rejuvenation to effectively heal both his corpse and this host. Of course, Rejuvenation can't bring people back from the dead, so our hope is that using Rejuvenation through these tubes will trick Jué's corpse into believing this host is the proper place for his spirit to reside in, and because of Spirit Totality, this host body will effectively turn into Jué Chen."
One of the other men would shake his head and sigh again.
"Truly a pipe dream indeed."
"It's our best shot yet. Call it dark magic since we're playing with his soul, but, hey, anything to bring the man back. Anyways, start the operation! Project Edo is fully underway!"
As he demands it, the operation commences. Three of these doctors place their hands upon the body, and begin using Rejuvenation. The tubes alight with the familiar colors of this power, the white-ish green the doctors are used to. It seems nothing has happened, until the host body begins to twitch.
Jué's head turns as the host body continues to move, but Kang brushes it off.
"Likely just exciting dead muscles. Good for studies, though."
Kang would exclaim, hastily writing away on a clipboard.
After a few minutes, the use of Rejuvenation would end, and all but one of the doctors would step away. Nothing has really happened, and most of the men turned to Kang, waiting for him to call the operation a bust.
Then the host body sat up.
All of the men, even Kang to an extent, startled at his awakening. Before the straggling doctor could step back like the rest, or draw his slung weapon, the host, without looking or really thinking, delivers a backhand to the man.
The men's eyes widened, not believing the sights or sounds before them. The cracking of glasses, respirators, and bone. The splatter of blood. The doctor's body hits the wall with a thud, and falls. The host's eyes are closed, and he isn't reacting at all to the demands or yells of the other doctors as weapons begin to rise.
The doctors quickly realize how literal Kang's words were. The transfer from this host to being Chen is truly a "transformation". This host is effectively a walking corpse – it cannot see or hear, it is yet to recover its senses. After all, the body still looks like the host, nothing like what they got from Chen's records. This man is going to turn into Chen, he isn't truly the mighty Jué Chen quite yet.
Before anyone could put any more thought into it, he acted again.
Diving from his table, Kang steps aside, and another doctor is hit, smashed against a wall. Kang takes off his glasses and pinches the bridge of his nose, looking at most inconvenienced compared to the looks of terror on the other doctors.
Kang simply points to the door, and simply tells them, "Get out."
The doctors quickly oblige, sprinting out of the room while the host idly steps around, trying to feel for another target. As the doctors run out, they quickly hit a red "emergency" button right by the door. The lights quickly go out and are slowly replaced with dim, red lights. Metal barricades drop on the majority of doors, vents, and exits, sealing them off.
Men sit around a table, talking and drinking as the emergency lockdown takes place. They shake their heads and stand up, walking to the armory. They're all in uniform, with the patch on their shirt reading "Regional ATS, Fukuoka."
As the barricades close around the door and the front glass wall, locking him and Chen in, Kang simply scratches the back of his head.
"I told those men they'd come back alive. Can you not make me look like a terrible liar?"
With that, Kang pulls off his overcoat and the top of his scrubs. Many who didn't know Kang saw him as unimposing, your average doctor, even if he did look heavy. But, under the shirt and coat, he looks significantly more imposing, built like a strongman; large and broad, big arms and visibly strong.
"Jué Chen of Edo, welcome to the modern era. Sadly, I'll have to cut your visit short."
Kang would say, with of course no reaction to the currently unaware and sensorially numb Chen.
"You signed your death warrant the second you threw your first strike. You, Jué Chen, are dealing with a global asset, the man represented twenty-fourth in the Organization, Kang Yu-Jun."
Kang would clench his fist and dash forward, hitting Chen solidly in the chest. Chen would fly back and hit the same wall where the first doctor was hit, but, unlike that man, Chen would get back up.
"Your legacy is truly an honorable one, Chen. You are known as one of the strongest to have been born. However, we have evolved in 400 years. In this state, you are weak, fragile. Even in your prime, you're outgunned, the world has gone on without you. My abilities, fundamental or unique, are nothing like what you saw in your time."
Kang dashes forward again, going for a straight punch to Chen's face. However, Kang's fist is met with the wall as Chen turns his head to avoid the punch.
Kang smiles upon seeing his punch get dodged, shaking his hand that hit the wall.
"My, my, you can still react! Maybe this won't be so one-sided after all."
The guards run out of the armory, now fully equipped in their proper ATS gear. They rush down the hall to where the button was pressed, but stop dead in their tracks.
With a loud crash, one of the metal roll-down barriers blocking off the door bursts open, breaking as none other than Kang is thrown through it.
Chen quickly follows, standing over Kang as he lays there, smiling up at him, rather most amused by being able to fight Chen.
The guards quickly raise their weapons at Chen, who, instead of attacking Kang again or switching to attacking the guards, makes a mad dash right past the guards and starts running away.
"Isn't this your job? Shoot him!"
Kang would shout, sitting up and pointing to the fleeing Chen. One of the guards simply puts his hand out, pulling Kang back up.
"Don't worry, Mr. Kang. He doesn't know where he is. You seem like you want the fight, just watch."
With that, the guard pulls a revolver from his holster. With a squeeze of trigger and a kick of recoil, the fleeing Chen is shot in the foot, getting his Achilles tendon. He trips and falls because of it, rolling across the ground before skidding to a stop.
"He's all yours, Mr. Kang." The guard would say, handing Kang his revolver.
"Please," Kang replies, shoving the revolver back into the guard's holster.
"I don't need a firearm. That's what you good men do."
As Chen recovers and begins to move again, Kang leaps forward into the air, landing on his feet, planting himself right on Chen's back. The impact is strong enough to break the floor beneath them, sending them down another level. A label on the stairwell now next to them reads "Artificial Technique Metamorphosis."
Chen manages to shrug Kang off his back and roll back onto his feet, albeit with a limp. Kang swings his arm for a punch, but Chen slips it and lands his own uppercut into Kang's gut.
Kang stumbles back a bit from the hit, but smiles back at Chen once more.
"I see!" He exclaims, pointing at Chen directly. "You're a quick adapter, aren't you? Your body, your Spirit Totality, is already beginning to restore your true self. You can hear again already! That's how you countered me!"
Kang puts a foot back and his hands forward, assuming a rather broad combat stance. Chen, now starting to bleed, leans low and puts his guard high in a more compact stance. This time, Chen is the first to make a move, charging forward.
Kang throws a wide overhand punch, but Chen steps to the side, bobbing out of the way and catching Kang's wrist. Chen uses his other hand to throw a palm heel strike at Kang's elbow joint, attempting to break or dislocate the arm. Kang, however, counters, turning his body and grabbing onto Chen by his head with his other arm.
Kang would lift him up and slam Chen down, putting him on the ground again. Chen slowly starts to get up again, blood now leaking from his head. Kang attempts to hit him again, swinging a soccer kick to his head. Chen, however, quickly rolls out of the way and sticks his palm out.
"Blaze: Afterburn!" Chen would cry out, finally gaining his voice. However, nothing would happen.
Kang smiles at it, and turns his body to continue the kick, hitting Chen clean in the temple and sending him skidding across the floor again.
"I would've been in real trouble if you were able to use your Fundamentals right now. You're basically a walking corpse, Chen. You don't have the energy within you to use your abilities just yet, not even heal."
As this unfolds, guards watch from the hole in the ground, others watch peeking around the stairwell. They all stay close but out of the fight, weapons still ready. It's clear they're letting Kang have his glory.
"I'll show you a Blaze, Mr. Chen."
Kand would declare, sticking both his hands out and calling out the phrase, "Blaze: Flare!"
A sudden, short burst of intense flame would shoot out, going right towards Chen. Chen knows the attack is too wide to dodge, and standing still would leave him incapacitated. He reaches over and rips off one of the metal barriers on a nearby door, holding it up like a shield as the fire hits just in time for it to be blocked. However, the impact still sends Chen back, and the metal is red-hot, forcing Chen to ditch it.
Chen dashes forward on his good leg, feigning a kick. Kang calls out the feint and swings his arm for a hook. Chen decides to follow through regardless, throwing a cross in a hop-in punch. Chen's punch lands first, but Kang's punch is far more devastating, landing a hook to Chen's jaw. Chen goes down again, while Kang bleeds a little from his nose, which he wipes off.
Chen doesn't get back up. Kang looks down at him, almost concerned about how much damage was caused by the hit. "Did I go too far?" Kang questions as he looks down at Chen.
The punch was destructive, Chen's jaw was almost entirely destroyed, teeth missing, bone shattered, skin and muscle torn or missing. The guards quickly close in, aiming their weapons down towards Chen.
Before any of the guards could speak, Kang sticks out a hand to pre-emptively signal for silence. "Don't any of you dare say I have defeated Jué Chen. This is not Chen. This is a man who could not see, not use his energy, without a technique who lacked most of his senses and strength. This was effectively a man without the discovery of ancient times; a caveman, in a sense, and he made me bleed."
Kang watches intently, silently hoping there's at least a little more. His wish, after a few moments, is granted, as Chen's body begins twitching and convulsing, the sound of bones cracking and reshaping filling his ears as the host body begins to change.
A pointer stick is tapped against a presentation on a screen. "Look here," a doctor says. Windows let sunshine in. No harsh alarm or red lights. "The facility in Fukuoka gave us the autopsy for what they could get from Chen's corpse. You can see from the exposed skeleton, here," the doctor would tap his ruler against the exposed shoulder, elbow, and hand of Chen's original body, "His bone structure is altered. It's unusual… same with his muscle composition. His bones and muscles are unusually dense, even compared to those enhanced with Life Energy, and you can see the bone structure itself is slightly altered. Look at the tips of his fingers, the bones by the knuckle, by the elbow."
The doctor would tap the stick against the hand bone on-screen.
"They're… pointed. Sharp. We were given tissue and bone samples too. It's like his body was adapted on a level of cellular structure to be made for combat. His bone structure would allow for his body to work more effectively as a cutting weapon than what you can get with traditional martial arts. If Mr. Kang's idea of the Edo Project is true, Chen's transformation from his host to his real self would be pretty hard to look at."
Back at the facility, Kang's grin has dropped, and he looks almost embarrassed. He stands back, and the guards stand back even further, pressed back against the wall.
"Kang, we should've shot the bastard!"
In response, Kang shakes his head vehemently, rejecting that prospect entirely. "Nonsense! Utter and complete nonsense! He's still weak! Look!"
Kang would point to Chen directly, specifically gesturing to his face. "His eyes are still closed! He still can't see! He's mine!"
Chen's appearance has shifted. He no longer takes the appearance of the host. His hair has grown longer, reaching his shoulders. He has grown in size, now being roughly the same height as Kang and growing somewhat more muscular compared to the host. He has grown stubble. Scars have appeared on his body, a large burn scar on his right eye tapering down to his top lip, along with various scars on his body.
"But, for the records… It's beautiful! Is anyone getting this down? Are security cameras still on? We've unlocked the capability of resurrection!"
Before Kang could continue his rant, Chen moved forward, throwing a quick jab with the back of his hand. Kang notices and moves out of the way, but, in reality, the punch was a setup. Chen turns his body and throws another punch with his rear hand, catching Kang off-guard and hitting him.
Kang stumbles back, but it's immediately followed with an open-palm strike to his chest.
"Blaze: Afterburn," Chen would repeat, this time coming into reality. Chen moves out of the way, a circular mark forming on Kang's chest before detonating in a blaze of fire. It's clear Kang is starting to get overwhelmed. He attempts to respond by turning around and throwing a wild haymaker at Chen. Again, Chen slips it, countering with a spear-hand to Kang's solar plexus. The strike was more effective than Kang thought, as Chen's hands worked like a knife, stabbing into him.
The pain was almost unlike anything Kang has ever experienced. Almost. Before Kang himself can even think about it, he throws a punch and hits Chen right on the nose, sending him back. The arm he used to punch Chen has sparks, almost small currents, radiating off of it, and Chen's body has small shocks running through it.
"Jolt: Flashburn." Kang says after the fact, as if reminding himself he has to, before shaking his head. "Oh, please, I need to spare myself the theatrics. When was the last time people really needed to call out the technique to make it stronger? Satsuma? Who cares!"
Kang would laugh as Chen, once again, gets back on his feet, staggering. But he quickly recovers, and his injuries begin to heal. Kang smirks in response, but is replaced quickly with a look of equal parts surprise and concern.
A formation begins to shape itself on Chen's arm, and his eyes open. His right eye is heterochromatic, his left eye a dark brown, almost black, and his right eye a pale blue with a cross-shaped pupil. Unlike the pale, diluted blue or red of a formation using The Barrier, Chen's formation on his arm was pure black. The shape begins to form into a dark, wide blade, like that of a Jian straight sword. Chen brandishes the formation on his arm like an elegant weapon before pointing it to Kang.
"Dead Man's Series: Burial Sword Technique."
Kang sighs deeply, thinking to himself: "Impossible. He's recovering too fast… I don't have the proper setup to utilize my own ability either. I'll send an emergency signal to the others in Japa-"
Kang's thoughts are cut off. His eyes widen and he looks down. Chen got faster. Kang's been stabbed in the stomach with the blade now on Chen's arm. Kang slams his arm down towards Chen, but Chen pulls his blade out of Kang and spins, cutting Kang's arm. His arm goes limp, and he stumbles back.
The guards finally make a move, pulling out clubs, batons, or their bare hands to Chen. After all, their guns aren't enhanced or enchanted, so if Chen can damage Kang, they're useless. They have to fight with their bodies.
Chen gets shoved, but hardly moved. But it does serve as a good enough distraction, as when he turns his head to attack the guard, Kang catches Chen off guard and lands another solid hit. Reeling from that, Chen is hit with a baton to the head from another guard, sending him stumbling the other way, back to another hit from Kang.
The cycle would continue briefly, where Chen would be unable to counter and would be attacked from all sides, but eventually he would break out, catching one of the guard's arms and throwing him at Kang. Kang, in response, simply steps aside, letting the guard hit the wall.
Chen breaks the blade on his arm, and the pieces of it slowly fade, much like how The Barrier would. Chen assumes the same combat stance as last time, resorting back to hand-to-hand. Kang, however, doesn't bother putting his guard up.
An audible pulse of energy rings out, and a small hole is punched through Kang's chest. Kang looks up slowly back at Chen, who also dropped his guard and is pointing a finger-gun at him. "Dead Man's Series: Dead Man's Shot."
Chen would put his hand down, using his other to scratch the back of his neck. "Put your guard up. If you won't, I'll just shoot you again. Where is the fun in that?"
Chen would say, his voice low and rough, words broken and pieced together, both from not having spoken in hundreds of years, in a language that's evolved since then.
Kang, despite the nearly life-threatening injury, beams at Chen speaking real words. "It's… beautiful! Someone write that down!"
Kang would sprint at Chen, his steps heavy and thundering. He would wind his arm back in a telegraphed punch, but would be unable to throw it. Two slashes would ring true on Kang's body, one running down the length of his torso and the other dismembering his wound-up arm.
Kang would stumble past Chen, who catches the severed arm before it hits the ground. Despite being bested, Kang's smile wouldn't drop, but would widen. "You didn't even need the blade on your arm, those hands of yours themselves just cut me." Kang would say, looking back at Chen. "Anyways, you seemed to like that Blaze technique…"
Kang would take a deep breath before continuing. "I'll show it to you, 400 years of progress. Blaze: Afterburn."
As he says the phrase, the severed arm becomes scattered with the same circular marks earlier, and the discarded limb effectively explodes like a bomb in Chen's face. Before Chen would recover, Kang would turn around and deliver a front kick to Chen's back.
Before Chen tumbles to the ground, he points another finger-gun over his shoulder, firing another Dead Man's Shot, this time hitting Kang in the throat. With the will to continue after the attack, Chen plants his feet firmly on the ground, spins around and throws a hook to Kang's jaw, just as Kang has done to him earlier. Kang, however, tanks the hit, and uses Rejuvenation to regrow his arm and heal his other, injured arm that was cut with the Burial Sword.
Shoving Chen off, he would move in himself, and begin an attack. After a brief yet intense exchange of blows, both sides getting their respective hits, counters, slips and parries, Chen lands the most significant blow, using a two-finger spearhead to stab his fingers into the wound he made into Kang's neck, deepening the wound before withdrawing his fingers and finishing the encounter with a heel-palm strike to Kang's chin.
After that, Kang stumbles over onto his knees, before dropping to his side on the floor, defeated.
Despite burns and tears on the front of his body and arm, Chen still stands, ready to fight. The last few guards, seeing the defeat of Kang, raise their hands in surrender. Chen uses Rejuvenation to heal his injuries, and simply walks over to them, hitting them each once to render them unconscious.
He walks up the stairway, and begins wandering through the top floor. Eventually, the door to the facility opens. It's evening now, the sky starting to darken and clouds hanging overhead. Outside walks Chen, wearing a uniform he stole from the lockers in the facility. Chen simply begins to walk and wander, finding himself now in the grand (and luckily nearby) city of Fukuoka.
People walk around and avoid Chen, the blood, scars, and overall imposing and disheveled appearance leaving the people he walks by uncomfortable. Chen looks almost awestruck – the flashing lights, the buildings many times taller than what he's ever seen, and the modernization of these buildings. Gone are the oriental buildings and shrines, into the age of concrete and towers. He's amazed by what he sees, the new technology and the potential of the world.
However, his thoughts and wonderment are stopped short when he bumps into a woman, the only person so far to not avoid him. He looks down, and she plants a hand on his chest, pushing him back.
"Kang gave me an emergency signal. He thought I was in Japan, didn't he? I mean, close enough."
The woman would say, putting a hand on her hip and looking up at Chen. "I got here as fast as I could. Thank god they built that long-distance metro. From Busan to Tsushima to Fukuoka. A feat of technology, am I right?"
She would say, snickering to herself, as if she knew Chen would be unaware. With that, she would bow down slightly, almost dramatically, before identifying herself. "Anyways… My name is Chinatsu Hisamoto. But for you? Do you even deserve to call my real name? For you, just call me Devon. I am here under the order of Kang Yu-Jun and the Organization to put you into custody, mister."
Leaning back up from her bow, Devon's demeanor suddenly shifts. A bead of sweat runs down the side of her face, and she's wearing a sheepish smile as she scolds herself.
"The hell was that? Why did I act like that? That isn't stoicism at all! Can he even understand modern Japanese? Why am I teasing this… this brute?"
She shakes her head and points at Chen, trying to look more determined. "Alright now, Mister…" Devon would trail off, extending a hand and sticking out a finger to signal 'one moment'. She uses her other hand to pull out her phone, re-reading the distress signal. "Mr. Chen! Yeah, that's it. Come at me! I mean, or let me come at you. You wouldn't dare start a fight with a woman, would you?"
Before Chen could muster an answer, Devon was already in his face.
"You're lucky I don't have my staff, big guy." Devon would proclaim before kicking Chen in the leg, dropping him to one knee. Devon reaches for and grabs his hair, and winds up her leg to knee him in the face. Luckily, before she could get the hit off, Chen grabbed her leg and pushed her off of him.
Devon smirks, and begins bouncing up and down a little, light on her feet like a boxer. "Well well well, looks like you aren't a man-shaped punching bag after all. Maybe next time I won't give a window of opportunity, or maybe I should just stop joking with a soon-to-be prisoner."
Devon says, taking a step closer. Chen stands up and swings his arm. Devon goes up to block, but a blow never lands. She drops her guard a little to see Chen's hand inches before her face, palm stuck out at her. "Combination Technique: Flashwave."
With the phrase, both a loud boom and a bright flash of flaming light is emitted, acting like a primitive form of a stun grenade. Devon covers her ears and closes her eyes, turning her body away.
"Son of a-!" She exclaims before cutting herself off, waiting for the effects to wear off before opening her eyes again.
And Chen was gone. She looks around desperately, then looks down. A manhole cover on the sidewalk is open. "Cheeky bastard," Devon proclaims with a shrug of her shoulders, turning around. Suddenly, her demeanor shifts again, going back to the straight-faced, emotionless Devon seen in Busan. "You're gonna hate seeing me again."
That night, with no home in sight, Chen sought respite in the dark, decrepit site of an alleyway. He tries to ignore the lights that still flash bright, hurting his sensitive, newly regained sight. The next day, the Anti-Terror Squad and a tall, muscular man, clearly their superior, would re-enter the facility.
Kang would still reside in the same spot he was when defeated by Chen, but he's well alive and kicking. After being nudged awake, he smiles up at them.
"You're late. As usual. Chen is alive, and more powerful than anticipated. He defeated me, rather handily, too, and escaped. We can't let this go public."
The tall man would grab Kang by the hand, pulling him back up to his feet.
"So you brought a Lord back to life, and he's just… out there. Uninhibited. With no idea how to act in a modern society, and you think you can keep it under wraps? For a doctor, you lack common sense. He's being spotted almost immediately, he probably already has."
The man would say, rubbing his eyes. "Don't be surprised if this country goes to hell because of you, Mr. Kang."
"Caught on video last night, a man and Chinatsu Hisamoto of Hokkaido had a confrontation in Fukuoka. The man used a combination technique, something only the widely recognized strongest in the world are known to be capable of. After investigation, with reports and evidence, it has been proven without a doubt that the man who engaged Ms. Hisamoto was…"
The reporter would trail off, her eyes squinting as if she's checking if her script is real.
"Jué Chen of Edo…? How? That was hundreds of years ago. But, it matches perfectly with records we have of his original body, which were since leaked. I don't know how to say this, but… it appears as if the Lord of the 17th century is alive again."
The news is known across the world. In a mess of snow, a man smirks. Long, straight slicked back hair that goes past his shoulders, small stubble on his jaw, and an eye covered. He reads the news through the now-outdated newspaper, and smirks.
"So, finally. A new conflict brewing? In Japan? I guess I'll go to the capital first thing. Sounds like a load of money to me."
As the day breaks, another report would come in, the news anchor looking more distraught and disheveled than before.
"Explosions are heard and seen in Tokyo. Reports and eyewitness accounts show this to be an acclaimed 'war hero', Sergei Vasiliev. It appears he came here shortly after Chen was announced alive. Due to this, the known ranked number one, , has sworn to enter Japan to defeat him."
The anchor's eyes widen as more stories come in, and she simply looks away and signals for a cut to commercial.
Eventually, the rest of the stories would come out.
A woman is dressed in all white, blonde hair disheveled. Dry lips, eye bags that never disappear, yet, she can't get rid of her smile.
A doctor pokes another doctor on the shoulder curiously. "How did she get news of Chen's revival?" he asked, looking at her.
"Doesn't matter. Just tighten security."
Cutting back to the news, a different anchor is here to announce the story.
"British psych ward patient Victoria Roberts has… escaped. Originally the 'empress' of the 'Order of the Lordship' cult, she swears to be arriving in Japan to see the new Lord and possibly current Lord Se-Young. Like that of Sergei, the ranked number six, Samuel Wells, has sworn to meet her in Japan."
Later, another story.
"It appears that the man behind the attacks in Bucharest during Se-Young's tour in Europe two years ago and the recent attack in Busan were connected. Andrei Bogdan, a known terrorist, claims responsibility for the attacks. Him and an accomplice from mainland China, Jia Zhou, are also arriving in Japan. A global response from the multinational group, 'Organization Twenty-Five' is expected soon. Speculation indicates that they're calling all of the top twenty-five from the Organization into Japan to deal with the growing series of threats."
In a dimly lit apartment, Se-Young walks out of the bathroom, yawning right before he feels vibrating in his pocket. Reaching down, he takes his phone out of his pocket and opens it up. His eyes widen at what he sees, and he looks around before heading to his dress room.
"I've been… called to Japan?"
PART ONE: END