(Recap): Shadow (Kageyama Shiro), the calculated genius with the Void Aura, has been partnered with Colonel (Kōruneru Rikaido), the immensely powerful and charismatic Weaver driven by intense Crimson/Viridian Aura. Their first mission together is already underway: tracking a rogue Entropy Collective agent.
The transition from the sterile walls of the Chrysalis to the chaos of a real-world Rift incident was jarring. Shadow and Colonel were transported via a specialized, high-speed rail cart that bypassed the upper city infrastructure, rocketing them toward the industrial waterfront district.
"Our target is a mid-level Weaver named Yui," Colonel explained, adjusting the specialized combat glove on his right hand. His Crimson/Viridian Aura was tightly controlled, radiating impatience. "She stole a powerful fragment—an Echo of Collective Despair—from a private museum collection. She's using it to destabilize the old cargo port."
Shadow, strapped into the cart, looked at the real-time projections flickering across the window display. The image showed a dense, toxic cloud of Sepia Aura (Fear/Anxiety) covering several city blocks. It wasn't just fear; it was the crystallized memory of ten thousand people's worst moments.
"The Echo of Collective Despair is a highly potent resonance source," Shadow stated, his voice clinical. "Its formula is likely based on sensory overload and the rapid dissolution of the subject's Cerulean Aura—the logic center. The victims won't just panic; they'll suffer induced memory collapse."
Colonel nodded grimly. "Exactly. And we don't have time for your multi-step calculations, Shiro. That Echo is getting stronger. I need you to find the core frequency of the Despair. Where is Yui hiding it?"
The cart slammed to a halt inside a warehouse several blocks from the affected zone. The moment they stepped out, Shadow was hit by the crushing, psychic weight of the Sepia cloud. Normal people were already catatonic with fear blocks away. But for Shadow, the feeling was a tidal wave of incomprehensible data.
Self-Doubt. Failed Investments. Lost Loved Ones. Unpaid Debt. The Echo was broadcasting pure emotional static.
Colonel clapped him on the shoulder, his powerful Viridian Aura acting as a small, localized shield against the psychic pressure. "Stay focused, genius! Your Void is the only thing that won't break. You see the cloud—I'll handle the ground."
They moved into the dense fog of Sepia. Colonel's Crimson Aura flared. He drew a quick, sharp Echo of Protective Rage, and his skin seemed to harden, deflecting the raw psychic energy.
"Show yourself, Yui!" Colonel bellowed, his voice echoing in the haze.
A voice, thin and mocking, drifted from the gloom ahead. "The great Colonel! Still relying on brute emotion? This isn't a duel, Warden. It's a surrender."
Suddenly, the ground beneath Shadow fractured. Yui, hidden in the Sepia fog, had Woven the Echo of Collective Despair into a physical trap—crystallized fear used to generate intense, localized pressure.
CRACK.
Shadow dropped through the floor into a small, dark maintenance room, the Sepia cloud instantly thickening around him.
"You're separated from your bodyguard now, smart boy," Yui cackled from above. "Let's see your little math tricks solve the formula for terminal hopelessness!"
The room began to press in. Shadow's Void Aura instinctively flared, pushing against the Sepia. But the Echo of Collective Despair wasn't trying to damage him physically; it was attacking his mind, bombarding his consciousness with projected memories of failure.
The memory of the Spectre in the classroom—you only succeeded by accident.
The memory of Ryuji striking you—you are too slow, too weak.
Shadow gasped, clutching his head. His perfect, ordered mind was being flooded with noise, the logical equations turning into chaotic, nonsensical scribbles.
"Focus!" he hissed to himself. He couldn't rely on the Void to nullify everything; it was too broad an effect. He needed a calculated strike.
The Echo of Despair must have a focal point. Yui's Aura must be tethered to it. Where does the power flow?
He forced his vision past the psychic noise, past the crushing Sepia. He saw the shimmering, faint thread of Yui's Blue/Sepia Aura connecting her to a small, pulsing point of light hidden high in the ceiling ductwork—the physical location of the Echo.
He had the location. Now, the Weave.
He didn't have time for a complex, 18-step nullification. He needed a distraction.
Shadow remembered the Echo of Pure Momentum from Ryuji's attack. He remembered the pain, and how his mind had instantly analyzed its frequency.
With a desperate surge of will, Shadow connected his Cerulean (Logic) focus to the data point of the physical agony he'd endured. He didn't feel rage; he felt the perfect, clean formula for Force.
He slammed his fist against the steel pipe next to him, channeling his meager, pain-calibrated energy. It wasn't a sword or a blast. It was a single, tiny, perfectly calculated Echo of Focused Momentum.
K-TANG!
The small, forceful shockwave—less a blow, more a focused sonic ping—struck the steel ceiling duct directly above him.
The Echo of Despair, momentarily disrupted by the external physical interference hitting its focal point, sputtered.
"What was that?!" Yui shrieked, the psychic attack faltering.
This was Shadow's chance. He focused his Void Aura, not against Yui, but against the exposed link of Sepia Aura running from her to the duct.
Coefficient of Fear = Zero.
The link snapped. The terrifying pressure instantly vanished. The heavy cloud of Sepia Aura around him collapsed into inert, neutral energy.
From above, he heard a furious yell and the sound of heavy Crimson energy impacting steel.
Colonel had found Yui.
Shadow scrambled out of the maintenance hole. Colonel stood over Yui, who was already beaten and restrained, her Sepia Aura depleted and weak. The stolen Echo of Collective Despair had dropped from the ceiling, now pulsing inertly on the concrete floor.
Colonel looked at Shadow, his face smeared with soot, his Viridian Aura glowing with protective relief.
"A simple bang on a pipe to disrupt a city-wide panic," Colonel said, shaking his head. "You didn't fight her power, you attacked her tether. Insane. Brilliant."
Shadow ignored the praise, his heart still racing from the intellectual effort. "Your method of engagement was reckless. You should have analyzed the terrain first."
Colonel just laughed, clapped him on the shoulder again, and picked up the inert Echo. "That's why you're here, Shiro. I do the reckless. You do the analysis. Now let's get this thing back to the Chrysalis. And try to get some sleep. You look like you just solved quantum physics."
Their first test was complete, forging a partnership based on explosive power and pinpoint precision.