Kuoh Town.
The entire city pulsed like an overtightened string, every beat taut with tension. The atmosphere was unsettled, unease painting faces in alleys, cafés, and streets alike. With the Four Factions — Devils, Angels, Fallen Angels, and the Shinigami — all stationed at the heart of the city in preparation for the upcoming peace conference, the entire place had beco a simring battlefield where a single spark could ignite an unquenchable war. Every step and glance in the streets carried suspicion.
After his last conversation with "Yuma," Ren wandered through the unusually quiet backstreets of the city on his way to his apartnt. Night had begun to spill across the sky like black ink, and the dim glow of street lamps reflected on sidewalks still damp from an earlier rain. His steps were steady and confident, yet carried a certain weight; there was a eting waiting for him. He was to rendezvous with his subordinates from the Onmitsukidō — shadows who awaited his orders in silent readiness, moving only when beckoned.
As Vice-Captain of the Second Division, Ren wielded broad authority over the Onmitsukidō. That authority wasn't just a paper title — it was a blade in the dark, enabling him to mobilize them freely without waiting for higher orders. And despite his playful deanor and a clear fondness for laziness and dodging seriousness whenever possible, everyone knew that when the ti ca, Ren beca sharp and efficient — a blade that never missed its mark.
For though he appeared nonchalant, he had never once neglected his duty. His presence here was no whim; it was a precise military compass. He had been tasked with reconnaissance and maintaining stability in Kuoh Town until the impending eting with the three factions. His eyes were hidden under the Blindfold, but his senses were alert, registering every shift in the air and every suspicious motion behind walls.
"This sll…" he muttered under his breath, his features tightening slightly. Strands of his silver hair fluttered as a cold breeze carried sothing unfamiliar.
Though the scent of rain and earth still lingered everywhere, his keen nose caught sothing else… sothing that unsettled his senses and stirred his combat instincts. Its source was the apartnt complex where his flat was located.
Blood.
The heavy tallic scent was clear now, seeping through concrete walls into his nose. But it wasn't ordinary blood — there was a sharp holy power mixed into it, like the gleam of a drawn blade in the dark.
A Sacred Sword.
Ren stopped mid-stride and slowly turned his head toward the building. The darkness around him seed to thicken, even the air heavier than usual. His body remained loose and calm, but his fingers drifted slowly toward the concealed weapon beneath his coat.
"Soone bringing a Sacred Sword in here…" he murmured softly, a cold smile curving his lips. "Looks like tonight will be more entertaining than I expected."
Silent as a shadow, he headed toward the entrance, every sense taut. The walls pulsed with strange energy, the air threaded with invisible vibrations, like waves screaming danger in his ears.
At the threshold he paused. Tilting his head up slightly, he closed his eyes beneath the Blindfold. Among the faint souls of the sleeping residents in the building, he felt a different presence… a burning holy light, fractured, like a blade thrust into the heart of darkness.
He opened his eyes slowly, a low sound escaping his throat:
"To think… soone managed to slip into an apartnt complex under heavy Onmitsukidō surveillance and commit murder… this Sacred Sword user seems interesting."
Ren had been using Limitless continuously, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. His presence was so muted there was little need to conceal it intentionally. He wasn't worried about the other party detecting him. In the next instant, he shifted into his Shinigami form. With a soft, effortless leap, he landed on the balcony of the apartnt from which the heavy scent of blood emanated.
The apartnts in the complex were nearly identical; the balcony opened directly into the living room, which connected to an open kitchen, plus a side bedroom, a small bathroom, and a storage room. Although interiors varied slightly depending on the occupants' tastes, Ren had no difficulty sensing everything happening inside this particular flat.
It was simple enough, but from a glance one could tell a woman or girl lived here; the neatness and order in every corner, and the small stuffed toys scattered here and there were further proof — the sort of thing n rarely cared about.
Inside, behind the sofa, a strange magic circle was drawn ticulously in chalk. It wasn't active at all; on the contrary, it looked as though the person who had drawn it had died while attempting to activate it. Bloodstains splattered across the room while a limp body lay on the circle itself.
Above the magic circle was a beautiful body. Her straight, well-grood flaxen blond hair was silky-smooth and lustrous. Her large caral-colored eyes were frad by long lashes above and below. Her pale, milky-white skin was soft and flawless, and her nose elegantly shaped.
Blood dripped from the corners of her mouth, and a sword wound pierced through the center of her lung. It seed the assailant had deliberately made her death slow and painful so she would linger in suffering for as long as possible.
Ren needed no ti to guess who the culprit was, for he was crouched right beside the girl's body, his expression a mix of madness and fascination, as if savoring the sight of life fading from her bit by bit as she struggled to breathe.
"Interesting…" Ren murmured. Even while using his spiritual senses to their utmost, he could not feel the man's presence at all. It was as though he were terrifyingly skilled at concealing himself, able to mask fluctuations of his soul so that even a Shinigami's senses could not detect him — or he was using so kind of technique or artifact to cloak his existence entirely.
But…
Rikugan didn't seem affected by this technique. The mont Ren focused his eyes, he could see and sense the other man clearly. Without hesitation, he removed his Blindfold, revealing crystalline blue eyes as he fixed them on the figure before him.
The person standing beside the girl's corpse was a young man with short white hair and red eyes.
As a priest, he was dressed in clerical garb, and a disturbing smile often played upon his face.
"Freed Sellzen…"
Ren recognized him at once; he'd received information about him not long ago from the Angel Faction. Freed was a Stray Exorcist from the Church, one whom anyone who encountered could capture — or kill — if capture proved too difficult.
"So, are you regretting trying to make a pact with those filthy Devils?" Freed's grin was vile and sickening as he spoke to the dying girl, though there was genuine curiosity mingled with the crazed rapture in his expression.
"Not really…" Despite the pain of speaking, the girl's voice was strangely calm as she answered, even as she died slowly and in agony. "I intended to summon a Devil to free from this aningless life… but it seems you've freed instead, though in a different way than I'd imagined."
...
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