Kage's Mansion - Hillside Estates

  Kage stepped through the front door of his mansion and immediately felt his blood run cold. The pristine marble floors were cracked and stained with blood, expensive furniture overturned and scattered throughout the foyer. Crystal chandeliers lay shattered across the ground like diamonds from a broken crown.

  Against the far wall, Sebastian slumped motionless, blood streaming from multiple wounds across his face and chest. His usually immaculate suit was torn and disheveled, a stark contrast to the composed butler Kage had known for years.

  Sebastian, Kage thought, his usual cold composure cracking for just a moment. The man had served him with unwavering loyalty, managing his affairs with quiet efficiency and never asking questions about the darker aspects of his work. Seeing him like this ignited something primal in Kage's chest—not quite the fury he felt in battle, but something deeper and more personal.

  Kage began walking through the mansion's hallways, his footsteps echoing against the hardwood floors as he assessed the damage. But as he moved deeper into the house, something felt wrong. He passed the same ornate vase on its pedestal, the same portrait of his grandfather hanging on the wall.

  Then he passed them again.

  Why is Sebastian keeping me in a frame? Kage wondered, his analytical mind immediately recognizing the telltale signs of his butler's concept at work. But Sebastian was unconscious—possibly dead—in the foyer.

  As he continued walking, Kage noticed something that made him stop completely. A destroyed antique cabinet that had been shattered moments ago was suddenly whole again, its intricate woodwork pristine as if nothing had happened.

  The inconsistency shattered his understanding of the situation.

  This isn't Sebastian's work, he realized, his eyes narrowing as the pieces fell into place. Someone hurt Sebastian, and that someone has some sort of copy technique. They're using a version of his concept against me.

  The mental shift from confusion to anger was immediate and devastating. Someone had invaded his sanctuary, injured the one person he trusted completely, and was now using a bastardized version of Sebastian's abilities to trap him. The shadows around Kage began to writhe and coil, responding to his emotional state.

  A female voice suddenly echoed through the hallways, filled with cruel amusement.

  "Aww, poor little assassin figured it out!" Sister Envy's laughter bounced off the walls. "Walking in circles like a lost puppy! How adorable!"

  Kage elected to say nothing, his face remaining impassive as he continued walking past the same ornate vase for what felt like the tenth time. His silence was deliberate—he wouldn't give this intruder the satisfaction of a reaction.

  Suddenly, Valen dropped from the ceiling directly in front of him, the transformation from female to male form happening mid-fall. The sight of the body reshaping itself was deeply unsettling.

  "Gross," Kage muttered, his distaste evident.

  The male Valen immediately rushed toward Kage with inhuman speed. Kage summoned his shadow to intercept the attack, dark tendrils lashing out with killing intent. But Valen pushed through the assault, showcasing immense durability as the shadow strikes that should have been fatal barely slowed him down.

  As Valen closed the distance, his demeanor suddenly shifted to his characteristic pathetic pleading.

  "I don't want to hurt you!" he said desperately, his voice carrying the familiar whine of someone who had spent his life begging. "I just want you to not interfere with Akuma! Please, just stay out of our way!"

  Kage laughed—a cold, genuinely amused sound that echoed through the hallway.

  "You don't want to hurt me?" he scoffed, his voice dripping with condescension. "A bold claim, as if YOU could hurt me."

  Valen grabbed Kage's expensive suit and pressed him against the wall with surprising strength, his grip tightening as his true nature began to show through the facade.

  "But believe me," Kage continued, his voice growing deadly quiet, "I don't want to hurt you either... rather, I want to kill you."

  Streets of Osaka - Approaching the Academy

  Rei's feet pounded against the pavement as he ran through Osaka's streets, his phone buzzing constantly with emergency alerts and social media notifications. Each notification painted a grimmer picture of the situation at the Academy—videos of explosions, panicked civilians fleeing the area, emergency services struggling to contain the chaos.

  BREAKING: Academy of Arcane Under Massive Attack LIVE: Mechanical Attackers Destroy Academy Facilities EVACUATION: All Civilians Urged to Avoid Academy District

  His friends were in there. Josuke, Bernard, Sama—everyone he cared about was fighting for their lives while he had been ordered to stay away. But no order, no matter who gave it, was worth more than the bonds he had forged through shared struggle and genuine friendship.

  The Academy was still about fifteen minutes of running away when a car suddenly flew through the air toward him. Rei caught it at the last second, his enhanced strength allowing him to absorb the impact, but what he saw inside made his blood run cold—a family huddled together in terror, children crying as their world literally spun around them.

  "Get out and leave immediately!" Rei said, gently setting the car down and helping the family escape. "It's not safe here!"

  As the family ran toward safety, Rei felt a familiar presence stirring in his mind. His mental landscape materialized around him—he and Leonis standing side by side, the lion-warrior's scarred form radiating battle-readiness.

  "Young Master," Leonis said, his arms crossed as he surveyed the destruction around them. "It appears the fight has found you."

  "Round two," Rei replied, his physical body beginning to transform. Fangs elongated in his mouth while claws extended from his fingertips, his human appearance taking on predatory characteristics.

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  A familiar laugh echoed through the streets, deep and resonant with barely contained violence. A tall, burly figure emerged from the smoke and debris—muscles bulging with unnatural size, veins visible beneath his skin like a roadmap of rage.

  "FINALLY!" Varkas's voice boomed across the empty street. "I get a rematch with the brat who gained the reputation of hurting THE Varkas!"

  Each step he took sent vibrations through the ground that would normally send chills through anyone nearby. But Rei, who had trained under Ryuu's brutal regimen, recognized this as his opportunity to end things appropriately.

  "Reputations are nothing if I can't back them up," Rei said, his voice taking on the controlled intensity he had learned from his training.

  "Were you not part of the invasion of the Academy?" Rei questioned, genuinely curious. He had assumed someone causing this much destruction would have been Varkas, whose fighting style was notoriously destructive. If Varkas wasn't responsible, it raised bigger concerns about who the rest of the Seven Deadly were and what they were capable of.

  Varkas's expression darkened with rage. "You're in no position to ask questions, Vessel! Akuma gave me orders to bring you back no matter what."

  His body began to swell as his concept activated, veins becoming more pronounced across his expanding frame.

  "He says alive, but I'd rather kill you."

  Varkas suddenly rushed toward Rei with a punch that carried the force of a wrecking ball. Rei met it with his own attack, the collision so devastating that car windows shattered throughout a three-block radius from the impact alone.

  Inside Rei's mind, Leonis began speaking with the calm authority of a master instructing his student.

  "I hope you keep your emotions intact this time, Young Master, or I'll kill you myself," he said with characteristic bluntness.

  Rei began to smirk—not from pride or overconfidence, but from genuine realization.

  "The first time we met Varkas, you told me to run," Rei said. "Now you're telling me to keep my emotions in check. That must mean you see the same thing I see, Leonis."

  Leonis looked back at Rei with a smile spreading across his scarred features.

  "Victory," Rei continued.

  Back in the physical realm, Varkas used his other hand to deliver a devastating downward strike. Rei dodged by using the momentum from their initial punch clash to move sideways, causing Varkas's fist to crater the asphalt where he had been standing. The impact shook the ground and gave Varkas enough time to grab at Rei's face.

  Rei bit down hard on Varkas's hand, his elongated fangs piercing skin and drawing blood.

  "Ahhh! Same old tricks, you dirty clown!" Varkas snarled, his body growing slightly larger as his concept fed off the pain and rage. "I need to protect my friends. I can't be captured here," Rei said, landing a direct kick to Varkas's kidney with enough force to crack ribs.

  But Varkas's berserk concept continued to manifest—the damage only made him stronger. With his newly enlarged body, he ignored the pain completely and punched Rei in the torso, sending him flying backward through the air.

  Rei managed to stop his tumble just before crashing into a residential building. Varkas rushed forward, his fury-driven attack missing Rei but destroying an entire section of the building's facade.

  Crap, we're in a residential area, Rei thought, his tactical mind working even as he dodged falling debris. I need to take this fight somewhere else to prevent everyone's homes from being destroyed.

  Rei began running toward the middle of the street, remembering that the Academy was close to a lake and waterfall area that should be relatively free of civilian presence.

  "I'd like to avoid unnecessary damage to civilians," Rei called out as he continued running, his enhanced speed carrying him through the empty streets.

  "A game of cat and mouse again, huh?" Varkas called out, his voice carrying dark amusement as he gave chase. "Well, I'm game for whatever you're planning, Vessel!"

  Varkas laughed, a sound like grinding stone. "I don't mind where my victims choose their funeral to be."

  Upon reaching the waterfall area, Rei suddenly vanished after increasing his speed as he passed through a cluster of trees. The acceleration was so dramatic that he seemed to simply disappear from view.

  Varkas skidded to a halt, his eyes scanning the treeline. "That sudden speed increase... he's gotten much better with his mana reinforcement."

  Suddenly, Rei appeared from above, delivering a brutal kick to Varkas's face with enough force to snap the giant's head backward. Before Rei could continue his combination attack, Varkas grabbed the leg that had kicked him and slammed Rei onto the rocky ground with devastating force, causing him to cough up blood.

  Varkas continued his onslaught, grabbing Rei by the torso and hurling him into the lake with tremendous force. Before Rei could begin swimming, Varkas jumped high into the air and slammed both feet into the water where Rei had landed. The impact was so tremendous that the water dissipated around both fighters, creating a temporary void in the lake.

  Rei managed to block the stomp with both arms, but the force still drove him deeper into the lakebed. Inside his mind, Leonis was already guiding him through the healing process.

  "Weave the mana through your bones," Leonis instructed calmly. "A crack within the bone is easily repaired by the body itself. Slowly, Young Master."

  Rei began healing the fractures in his bones that had resulted from Varkas's devastating stomp as the water flowed back to normal around them.

  "What I don't understand, however," Leonis said, standing up and rubbing his chin as he looked at Rei's mental projection, "is that you only use my concept but never your brother's. Are you scared of that power?"

  Rei's mindscape version pondered the question, the weight of it settling heavily on his consciousness. In all of his fights and training, he had only drawn upon Leonis's abilities—the enhanced speed, the healing, the physical prowess. He had never once tapped into Hikito's powers, despite knowing they were there.

  "My brother wants to use me for Lucifer's return," Rei said with absolute conviction. "But I will never allow myself to use him for my goals. I can achieve what I need to without him."

  Leonis chuckled, but it wasn't a pleasant sound. "This sounds like your pride talking again, Young Master. I should kill you for not learning your lesson the first time!"

  The lion-warrior walked toward Rei and stood over him with his imposing frame, his scarred features hard with disappointment.

  "This isn't about pride this time," Rei snapped back. "You're a dangerous man in your own right, but that man is a blue-eyed devil. He will not receive any gratification from me using his powers. What if he takes over again and hurts someone I care about? That's not pride—it's being responsible!"

  Leonis removed his hands from his hips and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Responsible is utilizing the gifts you were given. You can draw from my power, but neglect these other doors. You were born into a strong lineage with a tale of being the final vessel for said Lucifer... That old man... what was his name? Takao! Takao said it best—if you can't handle your measly brother, what are you to do when faced with Lucifer himself? Don't be pathetic."

  The sentence hung in the air like a challenge, and Rei knew Leonis was right. The warrior's words cut deep because they carried truth he didn't want to acknowledge.

  In the physical realm, Rei healed his broken bones and pushed Varkas off of him with renewed strength. The two immediately engaged in brutal hand-to-hand combat, trading devastating blows as Varkas enjoyed every minute of it.

  "Show me more, clown!" Varkas taunted, his body continuing to grow with each exchange. "Get my blood boiling the same way you did our first time!"

  Varkas grabbed Rei's head and began running across the tree line, smashing Rei's face into each trunk as they broke under the impact. Rei flailed his arms desperately to limit the damage, but it was no use against Varkas's overwhelming strength.

  Dammit, each blow only fuels him and makes him stronger, Rei thought desperately as his face was pounded against tree after tree.

  Suddenly, a flash of lightning appeared and delivered a decisive blow to Varkas, the electrical energy stunning him and causing him to drop Rei. An onslaught of lightning-weaved combinations followed in rapid succession, each strike precise and calculated to maximize the electrical damage.

  With a final lightning-enhanced kick, Varkas was pushed back several yards as a hand reached out to help Rei up.

  "You two were causing quite the ruckus, disturbing my mental training," came a familiar voice.

  Rei reached out and grasped the offered hand, rising to his feet with a smile spreading across his bloodied face.

  "Raiden, thanks."

  "Catch me up to speed," Raiden said, his blind eyes scanning the area through his electrical senses.

  "That guy is part of the Seven Deadly," Rei explained quickly. "The Academy is under attack. No matter what, we have to defeat him and help our friends."

  Raiden's expression grew serious. Part of the Seven Deadly, huh? My first mission to prove myself—not just to my family, but to myself that I am a true warrior. Someone to be recognized.