"The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time."

― Mark Twain

Daikaku Kokujoji stared out into the city as he witness Mikoto Suoh's Sword of Damocles vanish into the air. He closed his eyes as he knew exactly what this meant. "It begins."

"Clear the scene! I repeat clear the scene." Members of Scepter 4 pushed the crowd of curious eyes away from the apparent crime scene as much as they could.

Fushimi approached several local officers as they saluted him immediately. "Who made the call?"

"An young man who happened to be taking an evening stroll with his girlfriend." One of the officer reported.

"And what happened?"

"They were attacked by some delusional, indisposed young woman with heavy tattoos. Nearly every part of her body is covered in ink. We were able to detain her after several more complaints." The other officer responded. He continued, "We have a video taken by a bystander. It's pretty disturbing but we rather you be the judge of that." He handed Fushimi a small flash drive. "It's already surfacing the network. The person we took it linked before we could confiscate his phone."

Fushimi nodded, looking down at the flash drive in his palm. He walked away, strolling towards one of Scepter 4's parked vans. He stepped inside where Awashima and Reisi awaited further explanation for their assistance. "Lieutenant, Captain," he addressed them, "We got ourselves a disorderly conduct."

"I that some sort of joke?" Seri questioned him.

"Wish it was." He inserted the flash drive in his computer and pulled up the video taken earlier. "Local authorities pulled this from some kid. Turns out it's already surfacing the web."

"The king is dead! The Red King Mikoto Suoh is dead!" Shouted the naked and heavily tattooed young woman. She clawed at her arms, drawing blood and flesh that drop to the pavement. "It hurts. I can't take the pain. Someone help me please. It hurts!" Mikoto's red aura glowed around her, shooting out in several directions.

Bystanders screeched and dispersed for several more seconds before the video ended.

Reisi hummed, adjusting his glasses. "Where is she now?"

"Detained. They locked her up before she could frighten anyone else." Fushimi said.

"A Strain maybe?" Awashima asked curiously.

"Very doubtful. I've had my fair share of the powers of a Strain. This...this is something extraordinarily different." Munakata turned his attention back to Fushimi. "Have her taken into Scepter 4's supervision and see to it that she's treated for any medical injuries."

"Captain." Saruhiko bowed and dismissed himself from Reisi's presence.

Seri examined the video, more concentrated on the markings on the young woman's back from a certain angle. "What do you suppose these are?"

Reisi leaned over her for a better indication. "Ancient artifacts presumably. My concern is rather what it is this woman knows then she's putting off. I'd be making an assumption to say this has something corresponding with the Colorless King's murder on Tatara Totsuka. Making it viral was unintentional but he was more than willing to make himself perceptible to the cause."

"I hope I'm not out of line to disagree with you." She uttered.

"I have never condemned you for it. Please, I insist you elaborate further."

She nodded slowly, enlarging her focus on the markings. "If I'm able to get a more transparent image of this," she enhanced the image, surrounding it with several photos of the Sword of Damocles representing all seven kings, "this reads a 94% match to the originals. Now the Colorless King intentions were more vigorous than becoming a public enemy which is rather a latent adolescent act to be notice. HOMRA is yet again a prime target in another incident occurring on separate months, days and hours apart. Had this been the Colorless Kings scheme against the kingless clan, I'm sure it would of been to catch Mikoto Suoh's attention, not the members."

Awashima clicked on the young woman's marking of Mikoto Suoh's Sword of Damocles in the video. "As you can see, it has been darkened, almost silhouette-like. Only thing is the outline of the original condition." She zoomed out of the image and onto the Colorless King's Sword of Damocles. "The same for his. Darkened, silhouette-like. If I can make a bold conclusion, these are active markings of all the seven kings."

Munakata stared at the marking, stricken by how much Seri's conclusion is accurate.

~!~

Kimiko awoken to a dark room with only a small light hanging above a steel table. There was a mirror on the far right of the room reflecting what was only within the premises. She tried to stand but was restrained by handcuffs on both her wrist attached to a chair underneath her.

"Hello?" She called out. Kimiko was answered by her own echo. "Anyone there?"

The only door to the room opened and in walk Reisi Munakata. He turned to take a manila folder from Awashima as he closed the door. He took a seat in front of the steel table and folded his hands in front of him. "Do you know where you are?" Kimiko stared at him, silent. "My patience is low on tolerance this evening. I will ask you-"

"Scepter 4 interrogation chambers under the authority of Fourth and Blue King Reisi Munakata." Her voice was less enthusiastic and monotonic.

"That would be correct. How did you know-"

Yet again she cut him off and answered, "Scepter 4 is a police-based organization in partnership to Japan's local authorities in other terms whatever cannot be dealt with accordingly is further transferred to you."

Munakata chuckled, adjusting his glasses. "I meant about my position as the Blue King."

Kimiko turned her body as much as she could, lifting the shirt she was provided. One of the Swords of Damocles markings was glowing a bright blue. "I felt it before you could set foot in this room." She rolled the ball of her tongue piercing around her mouth nervously. "I shouldn't be here."

"Well it seems you made yourself a huge asset to the public eye in the last 6 hours. In my opposition, this is exactly where you should be."

She shook her head, fighting against her restraints. "You don't understand. The pain of Red King Mikoto Suoh is thriving through my body."

"As you said in your video."

"Video?" Kimi responded confused.

"Yes." He pulled up a holograph off his cell phone of the audio that went based off Kimiko's video rant a few hours earlier. "This was taken by a apprehensive bystander."

"The Red King Mikoto Suoh is dead!"

"It hurts!"

"Shit!"

"This occurrence is less than 24 hours after the death of Red King Mikoto Suoh." He declared.

"You don't understand."

"Then enlighten me because I'm just as oblivious to the situation as the rest of us."

Kimiko sat back in her chair, looking away from him. "I can't...explain it. There's too much to say with little time." She averted her eyes to him. "Release me from your custody."

Reisi snickered as he attempt to keep his proper composure. "I'm afraid I cannot grant this request."

"Millions of innocents will perish if you do not. At this point, you're standing in my way."

"Hmph. Then I intend to continue to do so. You possessed Suoh's power for a fraction of seconds. That is a big deal considering you are not in his clansman nor in line to be his successor. So therefore I'm inclined to wonder what exactly it is you are."

"Would you believe me if I told you once before, Adolf K. Weismann experimented with creating a supreme King?" She inquired.

He watched her with an intense glare. "A supreme King?" He pushed his glasses to his face once more. "Clarify."

"A king of all kings. Someone who would be able to balance out all of the seven kings to prevent everlong chaos if one was to abuse his power." Kimiko rubbed her wrist gently. "I was that experiment gone wrong."