The battlefield was a warzone of smoke, fire, and destruction, with Hinata's home reduced to a skeletal wreck and the night sky fully visible. The full moon loomed above like an unblinking eye, its light washing over the chaos. Rei's team fought for their lives, but the assassins weren't relenting.

  Tether sneered at the two girls locked in place by his invisible chains. "Women always say they want a man with a six-pack and a six-foot frame. I'm 5'11! Am I not worthy? This is absolute bullshit! I've searched for years for a woman, and every single one refuses me." Spittle flew from his mouth as he ranted, his face contorted with bitterness.

  Fumiko clenched her teeth, struggling to move, but the invisible restraints wouldn't budge, cutting into her skin like wire. Think! There has to be a way out of this! Her mind raced through possibilities as Tether continued his tirade.

  "You two aren't even 18 yet, and you already look at me in disgust. I can't do anything for a woman!" His voice cracked with mounting frustration.

  Hinata, also struggling against the restraints, tried to keep her voice calm despite the fear coursing through her. "Maybe... have you ever considered not holding a woman against her will? That's a good start." She met his gaze defiantly.

  Tether scoffed, his nostrils flaring. "Tying women up is the only way I can get a girl." The casual admission sent a chill down their spines.

  He stepped closer, licking his lips, eyes hungry. Just as his fingers reached toward Hinata's face, she suddenly focused her telekinesis—not on his body, but on his mind.

  Images flooded into Tether's brain, vivid and unavoidable—him kissing a man passionately.

  Tether's face twisted in horror, his entire body seizing up as if electrocuted. "NOOO! NOT A MAN! I LOVE WOMEN! WHAT ARE THESE THOUGHTS?!" His scream tore through the air, hands clutching at his head.

  As his mental anguish overtook him, the invisible chains loosened, their pressure wavering.

  "Now!" Fumiko shouted, summoning a ghoul wielding a massive sword and shield. The ghoul immediately materialized in a burst of putrid air, swinging its blade at Tether, forcing him to dodge backward, regaining his senses.

  He scowled as he reformed the chains, this time with an axe attached to one, the metal gleaming in the moonlight. "That was a dirty trick. Now I have to kill you both." His voice had lost its leering quality, replaced by cold hatred.

  Meanwhile, Raiden and Sama faced Sylvester, but the battlefield had become a toxic wasteland. Buildings crumbled around them, the very ground beneath their feet unstable.

  Sylvester dodged another one of Raiden's lightning-charged lunges with ease, his grin widening as he released another purple toxic mist around himself. "Did you forget that I secrete toxins, Fujiwara?" His voice carried through the poisonous cloud.

  Raiden coughed violently, blood splattering onto the broken ground. The toxins had already begun wearing him down, eating through his defenses with each labored breath.

  Sama, seeing Raiden falter, summoned an entire hive of his human-headed locusts. The air filled with the buzz of wings and the grotesque sight of insects with miniature human faces.

  They swarmed Sylvester, dozens of them dying on impact, dissolving in his toxic aura, but some successfully latched onto his skin, their jaws tearing at his mana reserves. Sylvester's vision blurred, a moment of genuine panic crossing his face.

  "What... the hell?" He looked down, seeing the locusts draining him, their tiny teeth burrowing deeper.

  Panic flickered in his eyes before he released a massive wave of toxins, melting the creatures off of him. The cloud of poison spread wildly across the battlefield, a rolling wave of death.

  Bone suddenly growled, realizing the danger. "Sylvester! You're going to kill us too, idiot!" His voice carried genuine alarm.

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  "Shut up and kill the brat so we can leave!" Sylvester snapped back, panting, a sheen of sweat glistening on his face.

  Bone remained eerily calm as he continued his onslaught against Rei, moving with mechanical precision.

  Rei had stopped defending, attacking relentlessly instead. If Bone could keep regenerating bones, Rei would just break them faster than they could recover. Each strike landed with increasing force, driven by desperation and the strange voices still whispering in his mind.

  Bone's armor began to crack under Rei's furious punches, spider-web fissures appearing across the calcified surface.

  Bone, realizing this, intensified his calcification, reinforcing his body even further. The sound of bone growing and hardening filled the air between them, a grotesque crackling. But Rei didn't stop.

  The blows became faster. Stronger. Bone shards flew everywhere with each impact. Blood sprayed from both fighters, painting the rubble around them.

  Rei's breath came heavy, his fists aching, knuckles split and bleeding—but he kept punching, driven by something beyond conscious thought.

  The moonlight streaming through the shattered roof seemed to intensify, its silvery beams almost liquid as they pooled around Rei. The light pulsed, its glow becoming more pronounced with each heartbeat.

  The melodic voice returned, washing over him like gentle waves. Submit to me, and I will protect you. I will protect all of them. Let me in, and I will destroy these assassins.

  The serenity of the voice was hypnotic, promising peace through destruction. Not a request but a statement of absolute truth—as inevitable as the tide.

  The second voice joined in, resonating from within Rei himself. Brother, the moon calls to us. Submit to it. This is our destiny. Let it take control.

  This internal voice was more urgent, more familiar—like a part of Rei that had always existed, separated only by the thinnest of veils.

  Rei shook his head, trying to focus. He threw another devastating punch at Bone's ribs, momentarily staggering him. But Bone adapted faster.

  Before Rei could react, Bone hardened his entire body, becoming a living statue of jagged protrusions.

  Rei's next punch recoiled violently, pain jolting through his fist. Bone smirked, satisfaction gleaming in his eyes.

  Then, the fatal blow.

  Bone's knee extended outward, forming a spear-like structure, the bone elongating with a sickening sound.

  Rei lunged in for another attack. Too late.

  The bone spear pierced straight through Rei's chest. His breath hitched, his lungs failing to expand. A deep, searing pain swallowed his entire body. Everything stopped.

  Everything stopped.

  Hinata's scream tore through the battlefield, raw and agonized. "REI!"

  Blood dripped from Rei's mouth, metallic and warm. His vision darkened at the edges. His body trembled as he gasped for air that wouldn't come.

  Hiro rushed forward immediately, ignoring the danger, his tongue reaching the wound with impossible speed.

  As Hiro's healing began, his expression twisted in horror. His gills flared wildly—his heart pounded in his chest as he assessed the damage with his specialized senses.

  "The penetrating trauma has created a cavitation channel approximately 3.2 centimeters in diameter, transecting the right ventricle and perforating the posterior pericardial sac!" Hiro's scientific terminology spilled out as panic set in. "The bone fragments have disseminated throughout the thoracic cavity, causing vascular disruption and progressive hemorrhaging of the pulmonary vessels!"

  His tongue worked frantically, secreting regenerative enzymes into the wound. "This is bad!" The words escaped him as he poured his healing energy into Rei, fighting against the inevitable. "So, so bad!"

  Across the city, Kage moved with terrifying speed, his form blurring as he pushed his abilities to their absolute limit. The distance between the massage parlor and Hinata's home would take a normal person thirty minutes by car—Kage covered it in under three minutes.

  The world blurred around him as he manipulated shadows to propel himself forward, each leap covering impossible distances. The wind tore at his clothing, his expensive suit becoming tattered at the edges, but he didn't slow.

  His mind was locked on a single question: Who put out the contract on Rei?

  The Guild operated on strict protocols—contracts, payments, approvals. No assassin would dare violate those rules. This wasn't personal; this was business. Someone with significant resources had placed a contract on Rei's life. Someone powerful enough that the Guild had authorized multiple top-tier assassins for the job.

  Bone. Sylvester. Tether. All high-ranking Guild members. This isn't a random hit—it's a priority execution. The thought chilled him even as he raced through the night.

  People on the streets barely registered his passing—just a dark streak against the night sky, there and gone in an instant. Traffic lights changed, cars honked, pedestrians walked—all in slow motion from Kage's perspective as his adrenaline pushed his perception to superhuman levels.

  As he approached the battlefield, the devastation became apparent even from blocks away. Smoke billowed into the night sky, buildings sagged at unnatural angles, and the acrid smell of acid hung in the air.

  Kage didn't charge in. He didn't shout. He simply stood on a nearby rooftop, surveying the chaos with cold calculation.

  His eyes flicked from Bone to Sylvester, then to Rei, who was barely clinging to life, blood pooling beneath him.

  Kage's fingers curled into a fist. The battlefield had already changed. Now it was his turn.