In one of the private lounges of Club Hierophant, Hideki lied back on the couch with Sanbey on his lap as they watched TV. Tateyama was testing the synchronizations of the earpieces on the other side of the couch, typing on his keyboard to work out all the nasty bugs in them and making sure they were durable enough to last in fights. They would be useless if they broke during the fighting, "They've been gone for a while now, haven't they?" Hideki pointed out, clicking away on the remote for anything decent he could find, "Takuya sure is taking his time."

"Mirai's been clinging to him a lot lately," Tateyama stated, putting the tech aside for a bit to pick up a plate of half-eaten steak from the table and a put mouthful of meat into his mouth. There were two more empty plates sitting on the table and a few empty bottles of Cola. Wiping his mouth with his sleeve, he picked up the earpieces again for a bit more tweaking, "She got more worried ever since our accident. She's been keeping an eye on him and making sure he's safe."

Hideki stiffened at the mention of that night again. Memories of his fight with the Warlock flashed before his eyes and he had to shake his head to push them away. Turning off the television, he tossed the remote aside on the sofa and lied on the couch to let out a tired sigh. Looking up at the ceiling, Sanbey eyed him curiously and lied on Hideki's chest as the blue-haired boy materialized his Soul Key into hand. Studying the small, ornate knife, the thought of activating one's powers by plunging a blade into one's chest made him ponder as his face reflected off the blade's surface.

"Sanbey, what would happen if we use these when we don't have the will to fight?" Hideki twirled the Key in his hand, rubbing the Soul Gem under his neck, "Would nothing just happen?"

"Your Soul Gem will grant you your powers if you have at least a single hint of positive emotion flowing in you," Sanbey cryptically explained, "Recicio is created from positive emotional energy and Obscurum from negative. Even a small will to protect just one person will activate grant you access to your Soul Gem and bestow you with powers to kill a Warlock. Do not worry. Only a great amount of despair can shut off this access."

The Soul Key faded out of his hands and Hideki sat back up, holding onto the Familiar with one arm as he thought about Sanbey's ambiguous answer. Chugging down another can of soda, Hideki threw the can at a nearby trashcan and stared out of the window behind him. The view of the sunset was remarkable from where they were, as he could see the sun clearly setting into the horizon. A beautiful sight that managed to brighten his mood up a bit and bring a smile to his face.

Suddenly, Sanbey's perked up as if he had sensed something and the Familiar's black stripes glowed golden like a muscle reflex. The Familiar leap off Hideki's arms and onto the floor as his three tails flickered in the air. Hideki was about to ask if anything was wrong when a cold feeling gripped his shoulder without warning - It was as if it was the hand of death held onto him. He felt his skin crawl and Tateyama had the same reaction as they immediately knew what was the meaning of this feeling: "A Warlock," Tateyama muttered, "This is the same feeling as just now..."

Shocked, Hideki jumped off the couch and ran to the doors, "I'll go get Mamoru and Takuya! Tateyama, stay here with Sanbey!" bursting out of the room and out into the hallway, Hideki ducked and shuffled pass servants making their way around the club. He ignored all the people staring at him as he felt the cold grip on his shoulder grow. This presence felt dangerously close. At the end of the corridor, he saw Mamoru standing near the entrance to the club and Hideki opened his mouth to call him before the sudden sound of an explosion rumbled through the building and the ensuing quake made him fall to the ground. He hit his head on the floor and the fire alarm started ring as Hideki could feel the Warlock's presence closing in quickly to where Takuya was.

As the smoke from the explosion billowed into the sky, shrouded the balcony and filled Takuya's lungs, the brunette grimaced while he hung onto what was left of the balcony with one hand barely grabbing the dented steel railings. On the other hand, he held an unconscious Mirai with his grappling hook line wrapped around her waist. The explosion had knocked her out, but she only suffered mild burns as she dangled in the air. Luckily, Takuya had summoned his grappling hook, magnetic boots and jumped out of the grenade's explosion radius before it had detonated. He couldn't see through the smoke, but the presence of the Warlock was still close as he could still feel it nearby.

Takuya panted as he pulled himself up the cracking railing with one hand and got his leg over it. The railing felt like it would break apart and detach from the balcony, even more with Takuya and Mirai weighing down on it. Hoping his grapple wire and the railing would hold on for just a few more minutes, Takuya got both of his feet back on the balcony and used his magnetic boots to stick himself to the floor. His footing now secured, he tried pulling Mirai back up. He closed his mouth to block out the smoke and clicked his grappling hook's switch to retracted the wire, "Come on. Hurry!"

With the smoke everywhere and Takuya busy trying to get Mirai back to safety, the brunette did not notice the retractable sunshade unfolding quietly above his head. The steel shades meant for sunlight and rain unfolded above all the balconies on this floor as Takuya could hear his A.I voice module announcing an alarm in his ears, "Warning: Warlock presence detected. Preparing and activating final defensive-measures."

Retracting the wire until he felt the tug of Mirai being pulled up against the railing of the balcony, the clearing of the smoke allowed him to see Mirai just meters away from him. He extended his arm to grab and pull her to safety, before he froze from the cold touch of a steel blade being held at his neck. Each hard breath he took made the blade sink slightly into his skin. When the smoke finally cleared, he could see the long nodachi blade being held under his chin and the large shadow looming over him. Mirai was still on the other side of the railing with the wire holding her completely open to be severed as Takuya's grappling arm was still outstretched. The increasing sounds of the railing cracking made Takuya break into a cold sweat.

"You chose the wrong move, Puerum Magi," the Warlock behind Takuya mocked him with a voice that had a sort of a mechanical filter, his guttural words echoing into his ears, "You could have simply let the girl die and I would have had a more satisfying way to kill you. With this, you have sealed your fate earlier than your friends and I will have the pleasure of killing them once I am through with you. But before that-" a hard knee slammed into Takuya's spine and brought the boy to his knees, gasping for air. His outstretched right arm which held onto Mirai still held up, Takuya gritted his teeth as he tried to slowly materialize his Soul Key into his left hand. The blade then moved from his neck and traveled to the grappling hook's wire, Takuya's eyes widening, "Let's have the girl die before I have you join her..."

"Mirai!"

The moment the blade severed the wire, Mirai's body fell to the city below as Takuya's left hand plunged his Soul Key into his Gem. The boy formed his bow of raw energy and lashed out at the Warlock behind him with its burning Recicio edges, forcing the Warlock to reel back into the shadows. Now free, Takuya put his foot on the dented railings and jumped off the balcony in pursuit of Mirai.

"Final locks released."

As he plummeted down the building side, Takuya felt time slow from the adrenaline pumping in his veins as a small force-field surrounded Takuya mid-flight. His body enveloped in a bright light of Recicio energy, the Soul Gem on his neck glimmered intensely. He felt the warmth of this light bathe him and in a flash, Takuya's armor began to form: instead of the black training body glove, a set of leather armor formed around him with thick cuffs locking into his bow glove and grappling hook. On his head formed a pair of aviator goggles wrapped over a large high-peaked cap as coat-tails growing under his waist line fluttered in the wind with his long hair. His magnetic boots locked themselves into a pair of tactical pants that bore numerous pockets and the orb of light transforming Takuya broke apart to reveal him in his full gear.

Restoring his grappling hook with his magic and firing at Mirai, he wrapped it around her waist and pulled her towards him. Takuya grabbed her with one arm and retracted his grappling hook to aim the tip at the side of the building. Shooting it out in hopes of catching onto something, it wrapped around a flag pole and secured a tight grip on it, "Gotcha!" he clicked his hook's switch and slowed the rate at which the wire flowed out of his gauntlet as Takuya aimed his magnetic boots at the building.

Their magnetic attraction pulled him towards the building and latched him onto it. His soles burned from the resulting friction and created smoke as he skidded on the building to help slow his descent. His grappling hook also came to a speed that it was enough to slow their descent and just right as so Takuya's arm wouldn't be ripped from its socket. Holding onto her tight, Takuya's leg muscles burned from the strain and he grunted when he felt the sudden stop nearly dislocate his arm.

Takuya panted, taking deep breaths and making sure he had a good grip on Mirai before breaking the window in front of him with a swift kick and jumping back into the building.

The Warlock above having watched all of this, it merely chuckled to itself as it went back into the darkness of the building.

The fire alarms blared throughout the club corridors as the workers everywhere evacuated the people inside to the base of the building where firetrucks and police cars started to gather around from the explosion that had echoed through the city. The people of the club calmly went to the emergency staircase, all murmuring to each other about a gas explosion while Tateyama and Sanbey stayed in their lounge, waiting for the others to come back. The boy's fast fingers tapped away on his laptop as he finished up linking the ear-pieces together while Sanbey kept an eye on the crowding hallway for Mamoru, Takuya and Hideki.

"They're back!"

The Familiar saw Mamoru and Hideki rush through the crowd, got into the room and shut the doors locked behind them. Both of them were sweating hard as Mamoru tugged on his uniform's collar and asked in a worried tone, "Sanbey, can you find Takuya through the Recicio energy emitting from his Soul Gem? Hideki and I went down to the source of the explosion, but we found nothing of the Warlock, Takuya or Mirai. And Tateyama, I need those earpieces linked immediately!"

"I'll try!" Sanbey's nodded and shut his eyes closed. His stripes turned bright golden again as he attempted to focus on finding Takuya. Meanwhile, Tateyama completed the linking process of the earpieces and tossed Hideki and Mamoru three of them as he put on his own. Hideki pocketed the one meant for Takuya and then put one his one along with Mamoru before all three earpieces turned on with a click of a button on Tateyama's computer, "I found him!" Sanbey announced, "He's on the lower levels, but my telepathy range cannot reach him. He is still alive, but I fear he could be in danger."

Mamoru sighed momentarily in relief at hearing about his friend's welfare, "Alright. It's time to move," Mamoru's voice became stern as he gave out his orders with a wave of his hand, "Hideki, I need you to regroup with Takuya, give him his earpiece and combat the Warlock. If he is in a state to fight, fight the Warlock together and make sure no civilians are caught in the crossfire. Tateyama, Sanbey and I will be monitoring you from here. Tateyama, I want all the security bugs activated and deployed. I also need you to hack into the building's security cameras and give us a visual on Takuya and the Warlock. And Sanbey, contact Takuya as soon as he is in your range. We need to make sure he is safe."

The doorknob shook and there was the sound of the door unlocking before they were opened by two of the club's workers that were evacuating all the people, "Hey, what are you kids doing here?! Hurry up and get out befo-!"

"Silence!" Mamoru summoned his puppeteer gloves and wrapped his strings around their necks from both of his hands, instantly subduing them with his Control magic, "Leave us! Guard the main doors and make sure all civilians are evacuated!" he barked his order and retracted his strings to let the two bow before leaving, "Hideki, go and use the elevator to reach Takuya. As the emergency staircase should be crowded right now with the elevators shut down, you can cut a hole in the elevator and use your flight pack to travel down the elevator shaft."

"You got it!" Hideki gave a two-finger salute before running out of the room and into the crowded corridor. Sprinting out of the empty club's doors, Hideki saw the main elevators's doors wide open and got in. Materializing his gadgets, Hideki plunged his wrist-blades into the floorboards and cut open a hole that he could fit through. His flight pack materialized on his back and legs as he clicked open his headsets, "I'm heading down now. Wish me luck," he stated before slipping through the hole and falling through the elevator shaft. His erupting verniers slowed down his descent while he traveled down the long, dark shaft. As the longer his descent went on, the more he could feel the presence of the Warlock intensify.

"Be careful," Sanbey advised through his telepathy before Hideki would get out of his range, "We do not know anything this Warlock's powers, so exercise caution when fighting him."

Then, Sanbey's voice was cut off as Hideki continued with his descent. His earpiece was now the only thing he could use to contact the others. As Hideki floated down the elevator shaft, he felt the cold pressure becoming stronger to the point that his Soul Gem was glimmering non-stop like an beeping alarm, "Where are you, Takuya...?" he thought. A loud metallic groan interrupted his thoughts and Hideki looked above to find the source of the noise, "Wha-?!" He gasped as the elevator that he had cut a hole through was suddenly unhinged from the floor it was on and was now plummeting towards him at a frightening speed, "Shit!"

Dashing foward and grabbing onto the elevator door in front of him, Hideki busted open a hole in the doors and tried to pry them open with his bare hands. The elevator doors slowly slid open. The metallic screeching rang in his ears and a second before the elevator could crush him, Hideki kicked his thrusters into full power and slipped between the gap in the elevator doors. He landed on the floor with a thud, hand on his head as his breathing was hoarse. A second sooner and he would have been a bloodstain on the wall, "That was close..." Getting up, Hideki looked around and saw that the floor he was on had large windows which let the sunlight stream freely through. Breeze coming from the outside blew on wind chimes hanging on the ceiling as all that were on this floor was a closed pet store and a small cafe. It was in the pet-store where Hideki could feel a large amount of Obscurum energy from.

Hideki materialized his Soul Key into his hand and clicked on his earpiece, "No signs of Takuya, but I think I found the Warlock. I'll try and take care of him first," he reported before releasing his grip on the button. Cautiously opening the doors to the pet shop, Hideki made no sound when he entered the dark and silent place. Inside, dogs and cats sat in cages while smaller animals scurried around in the container-like cages on the shelves. There was a thick smell of wet dog in the air and Hideki noticed that most of the animals inside were completely docile and silent as he passed by them. It was too peaceful here in contrast to the large amounts of Obscurum floating around, making Hideki extend his Recicio arm-blades out of his gauntlets as he paced through the store aisle gingerly.

"Do you have a visual on the Warlock?" Mamoru said through the comm.

"Not yet," Hideki clicked his earpiece, "Can't see anything but animals in here at all. I can still sen-"

Suddenly, there was the sound of a door opening and Hideki snapped back to the entrance to see it was now left open. The dogs and cats began to go wild as they rattled in their cages like rabies-induced animals. Whatever had gone through the door, the animals were reacting to its presence. Hideki knelt down on the ground and whispered into his earpiece, "Hold up. I think found him," focusing on his senses, Hideki closed his eyes and he could hear faint footsteps from just a few meters ahead. It was on the other side of the tall shelf next to him, slow, steady, and Hideki knew he had the element of surprise on his side right now. His first strike could finish off this Warlock quickly. He waited until the footsteps could be heard right beside him, and when the chance came, he sprung his wrist-blades.

"Now!" Hideki stabbed his long wrist-blade into the shelf and felt his weapon stab deep into flesh with an accompanying inhuman screech of pain coming from the other side echoing through the store. Retracting his bloodied blade, Hideki delivered a roundhouse kick to the shelf and toppled it over his target. The shelf came crashing down, Hideki watching with a cocky smile as he stepped back and saw the puddle of blood flowing at his feet, "Heh. That was easy," he retracted his blades into his vambraces and waved away all the dust that was kicked up by the tumble. He was going to leave, when the dust settled and revealed nothing but a dead security guard lying underneath the toppled shelf. His skin was pale - almost too pale - as if he had all of his life essence absorbed, and his eyes that were wide open had dark purple irises, "What the Hell...?" Hideki murmured, noticing the animal's sudden silence. This guard was the source of the Obscurum energy, but he could still feel it all around him, "Where-?"

A hand grabbed Hideki by the throat from behind and nearly crushed his windpipe. Hideki extended his blades in retaliation, but his attacker lifted him up and threw him across the store like a rag-doll. He crashed through the store windows and hit the floor with a loud crack as he landed outside. Grimacing as glass shards pierced his skin, blood trailed down the corner of his mouth as Hideki lied wincing on his back, "W-What?" the windows at his side started to shut, steel covers meant for dangerous weather conditions covering up the glass and blocking out the streaming sunlight as the lights above him switched on. Footsteps neared and Hideki looked aside to see a large, humanoid draped in a cloak, wearing a demonic hannya mask and a Chinese straw hat, standing at the store doorway with a long nodachi blade sheathed on its back.

Hideki coughed up blood, struggling to take out his Soul Key as he rolled onto his chest.

"Is this really the best you can do?" the Warlock chuckled underneath horned mask, grabbing the handle of the blade on its back and slowly unsheathing the long blade with an audible ring. The blade phased through its sheathe and them solidified once again in its hands, "I expected more from the one that nearly killed Master Clyde. You disappoint me."

Hideki heard the voice of his Soul Gem's A.I module ring in his head, stating information while he was still chocking on his own blood from being strangled, "Scanning enemy Warlock. Recognized: Warlock 146, Zed. Threat level: High. Proceed with caution," Hideki spat out some blood and reached for his Soul Key, the nodachi blade looming over his head.

"Begone, filth," the Warlock raised his blade to strike him down.

"N-Not yet...!"

The blade fell, the Soul Key plunged into Hideki's chest and the great force of the subsequent transformation force-field repelled the weapon's blow. The Warlock leap back, growling in frustration as dark blue armor materialized over Hideki's upper torso, lower legs, waist and forearms, locking in with the arm-blade vambraces and the verniers on his back and legs. His training body glove still visible underneath the light armor, a protective glass visor ran from the back of Hideki's head to his chin as the minor cuts from the glass shards healed up in an instant. Wielding a large, stubby sword in both hands, Hideki narrowed his eyes as he struck a battle stance and glared at the Warlock.

"Hideki," Tateyama's voice came from his earpiece, "Sanbey says that you must aim for the Warlock's mask to kill them instantly. It is their weak point and their source of power. Any other damage can be regenerated, so destroy the Warlock's head as fast as you can," the comm shut off and Hideki raised his blade, stomping on the floor in defiance against the Warlock.

"I've been waiting for this for a long time, Warlock," Hideki snarled.

"Hmph," it scoffed, "You really believe that you can defeat I, Zed the Oracle? You really believe that your over-sized blade can match my Zankantou?" he swiped his blade through the air and ran a hand down its shaft. Holding it to his chest, dark Obscurum energy glowed from the hilt as Zed's voice echoed through his mask's mechanical filter, "I am the Black Oracle... I am the Cold Steel... I am the Slayer of the Damned," each of his verse bore an excess amount of pride, his cloak burning away to reveal semi-heavy ebony armor mixed with a muscular body suit that altogether looked similar to a traditional Japanese Hakama. The volume of his words grew, as did the energy gathering around his blade, "I am the Reaper of Sins! The Blade of God! Unmatched and Unbreakable, I am Zed! The end has come!"

Hideki took the initiative and dashed at the Warlock. He swung his blade through the air, the power of the swing aided by the thrusters on the blade's back, "Try it if you can, you masked freak!"

Blades clashed and sparks flew with each parry of hard steel. Zed's graceful swings moved as if they carried no weight in contrast to the clumsy, giant blade that Hideki lashed without any grace or form. Zed moved around its predictable swinging arcs and deflected any strike Hideki managed to get in. As they fought, the boy put all of his strength, hatred and energy into each and every swing as his blows missed and cut apart the floors and walls. Zed's simple movements got him pass blows that would have killed him in an instant and Zed was almost mocking him during their duel by letting the boy vent out all of his energy in an attempt to tire him out.

"Your swordsmanship disappoints me," Zed clicked his tongue as he smacked away a blow from Hideki with a one-handed sword strike and sent him reeling from its strength. Raising his other hand, he clutched it into a fist and exclaimed, "Show me your full power! This is almost child's play!"

Breathing heavily, Hideki held the heavy blade to his chest and his Soul Gem placed on top of his chest armor glowed immensely with Recicio energy. The black body glove under his armor lit with golden Recicio as fiery energy gathered around his arms and covered them in a transparent set of burning gauntlets. Hideki could feel his power grow on his arms as the A.I module announced in his ears, "Strength Amplification powers activated. Diverting all energy into arms. Time limit is 5 minutes," Hideki roared as he then raised his heavy blade above his head with one hand, the weapon feeling light as a feather as the blade too channeled with his Strength magic.

Zed chuckled as the eyes of his mask started to glow an eerie red.

Hideki's verniers erupted at full power as he boosted forward with both hands holding the hilt of his blade. The sharp edge dragging on the floor and kicking up sparks, Hideki swung the giant blade at Zed like a weightless dagger as Zed's eyes flashed red, "How's this for swordsmanship?!"

Zed effortlessly ducked underneath the slash and Hideki gasped as the blade went over his head. Blade still in mid-swing, Zed sent a forward palm strike into Hideki's unarmored abdomen and the sheer force made him drop his blade and sent him flying back at high speeds. Hideki hit the elevator doors and dented the metal. His flight back crumpled and fizzled from the impact. On the floor, Hideki coughed up blood and panted as he felt his internal organs having been ripped apart and bleeding out on the inside. The blade at Zed's feet faded away, but Hideki's powers were still active.

"I-I can keep going!" Hideki rose and pumped his fiery arms, his stinger blades springing from their vambraces as the burning Recicio covering his arms extended to his blades to amplify their power.

Zed held his blade high and widened his feet into a defensive stance. The glowing red eyes of his mask grew as his Zankantou was ready to spill blood, "Your end will not be clean."

Roaring a battle-cry, Hideki launched a flurry of splitting stabs and slashes at the speed of sound with his wrist-blades as Zed'd blade swiftly flowed through the air and deflected every single attack. Hideki danced around him with his superior mobility to strike from multiple angles, but Zed's blade always seemed to be ready before he even launched or connected his blows. His stinger blades couldn't find a single opening in the Warlock's defense. Frustrated, Hideki retracted one of his stinger blades and threw a left hook straight at Zed's face.

Zed titled his head sideways and the punch harmlessly went by before he grabbed Hideki's wrist and drove his rising knee into Hideki's elbow. Hideki screamed as he felt his arm snap by the joint.

"Weak. Weak!" Zed kicked him away and Hideki's flight pack broke apart when he hit the elevator doors again. The elevator doors dented from the constant damage, Hideki gripped his broken arm in pain as he could see the timer on his visor telling him that he had only 2 minutes left until his powers needed to cool-down, "Your attacks lack heart, Magi. But even with skill, the eyes of Zed see everything," Zed boasted as his glowing eyes shimmered, "You cannot defeat me."

Zed could see his attacks before he even threw them. In that short moment just now, Hideki saw that the Warlock's head had tilted a split second before he even threw his punch. The flight pack on his back was on the verge of breaking and falling to the ground, but the ones on his legs were fine, "I gotta find a way to land a punch on him," Hideki thought, clutching his abdomen, the coppery taste of blood present in his mouth as he was short of breath, "I'm in pretty bad shape, but I just need to land one punch on him and tear off his head!"

The Warlock then leap into the air and descended on the boy with his Zankantou quick as lightning. The nodachi blade subsequently met the protective steel of Hideki's giant blade that the Puerum Magi materialized in front of him like a shield and the harsh contact between Recicio and Obscurum blades created a shock-wave and glowing sparks that flew everywhere. The sparks landing on the floor burned holes into it and the glass windows nearby began to crack from the powerful wave. Hideki gritted his teeth as he held the blade upright with his right arm, but even with his Strength magic, Zed's power was more than anything Hideki could muster. He could feel Zed's blade slowly pushing back and his arm turning numb, "2 minutes remaining," his A.I module reported.

Leaping back, Zed then unleashed a barrage of devastating sword strikes on Hideki's blade in an attempt to destroy both Hideki and the giant weapon together. Each blow pounded on the blade, straining Hideki's arm and draining his strength as Zed called out all of his attacks with each blow, "Hotaru! Guren! Tsubaki! Zentetsu!" Hideki had a minute remaining until his Strength timer ran out, the fire surrounding his arms withering away. Then, Zed held his blade above his head and pointed at the ceiling. Zed's Zankantou sparked with Obscurum energy and shone like a beacon of dark energy as Zed channeled it with all of his power. The blade's dark light even blackening out the room and making the ceiling lights above instantaneously burst apart, Zed whispered, "Kokujin: Shippu..."

Hideki's leg thrusters coughed as he tried to activate them.

"Perish!"

The moment the dark blade struck Hideki's blade, there was an ear-piercing ring followed by a blinding light as the blow created an electrical explosion that vaporized all within a specific radius of Zankantou's attack. Everything in front of Zed vaporized and burned away in a cone arc as the immense explosion could be seen from the outside of the building. Sparks and lightning danced as smoke shrouded the entire floor, triggering the fire sprinklers on the ceiling. Zed wiped the water off his mask as he sheathed his blade and chuckled to himself. The water raining down on him washing away all of Hideki's blood that had spilled onto his armor, Zed folded his arms and pinched the tip of his straw hat, "You never stood a chance against me, Puerum Magi."

The smoke began to clear and in front of him, Zed saw the giant blade before him crumble into ashes and vanish into flickering light. No magic held the blade together anymore. Everything in front of Zed burned away in the wind as ash.

But it was too soon to celebrate as the smoke withered and revealed that despite the destruction Zed had created, there were no signs of a corpse or Hideki's remains. He could still feel the presence of Recicio energy and Zed bellowed in anger and rage as his voice echoed through the elevator shaft.

Running through the hallways with Mirai on his back, Takuya's coat-tails fluttered as he ran. Goggles on so the smoke everywhere wouldn't sting his eyes, he hoped he would get in range of Sanbey's telepathy soon as he navigated his way up the building. The elevators were shut and the fire alarms were blaring all around the building. He couldn't find a single person in the stores he passed by for help. The place was completely deserted. But as long as he felt Obscurum energy nearby, Takuya kept his guard up. His carelessness nearly got both himself and Mirai killed, a mistake that he did not need to make again.

Stopping at a small clothing store to catch his breath, he laid the unconscious girl down on a couch and knelt beside her to breathe. He pulled away his aviator goggles, remorsefully thinking about his mistake and holding his palms to his face, "No," he shook his head and took in deep, slow breaths, "Stay calm, Takuya. Mirai is alive and needs to get out of here. Just think of that. I need to get her to safety," he repeated this twice to himself, legs trembling from his encounter with the Warlock. He grabbed them with his hands to stop their shaking and kept trying to calm himself down.

All the windows closed from the weather shutters, they sat in the dark as Takuya ran a hand through his outfit, the lights not even turned on. His armor locked in securely with his grappling hook and magnetic boots, and the leather, dark and brown, was light but tougher than it looked. It was easy to move in it, as if the suit was part of his body. Did his will to protect Mirai trigger its activation?

"T-Takuya?" a tired voice could be heard in his head. It was Hideki's.

"Hideki, where are you? Are you hurt?" Takuya felt that if he could contact him without Sanbey, he should be nearby, "What happened?"

"I g-got into a fight with the Warlock. Not in a really good shape here," Hideki moaned in pain, "I need your help patching me up and taking him down. B-Bastard is a tough one."

Takuya looked back at Mirai's body and frowned. He couldn't leave her here alone, but would he be putting her at risk just by being with her when the Warlock is this close? He could end up repeating his earlier mistake. Takuya grabbed the sides of his head and then took anoher deep breath to try and focus. With the silence around him, Takuya could hear the faint noises of police sirens and ambulances at the base of the building. The explosions must have alerted them. Knowing Mirai would be safer with them instead of him, he decided his final answer as he ran his hand through her hair. Sighing, Takuya put his aviator goggles back on and answered, "Alright. I'll be there in a sec."

Running out of the store in hopes that the police would find Mirai and bring her to safety soon, Takuya climbed and headed up the emergency staircase as he sprinted up the building as fast as his legs could carry him. He breathed hard, following Hideki's Recicio energy signal to try and find him. But the sounds of a door breaking a floor above him made him pause in his steps and stay quiet for a moment. His body stiffened from the presence of Obscurum energy and the fingers of his left hand twitched, ready to summon his bow into hand.

Footsteps could be heard above. Slow, uniform, and it sounded like... Two people.

Takuya's bow glove on his left hand poured out the Recicio energy from his palms and made it into the shape of his bow before turning into a solid, glowing object in his hands. Aiming it the top of the staircase and pulling back the string to create a Recicio arrow, Takuya held his breath and kept his aim ready, "Two Warlocks?"

Then, at the top of the staircase, Takuya saw two Mall security guards staring down on him with dull, lifeless eyes. The brunette did not drop his guard, but he felt his skin shiver as the skin color of the two was pale as white. He could hear no breathing noises no matter how hard he focused his hearing, they spoke no words to him, and worst, he felt Obscurum energy nearby radiating from them. Their movements twitchy and erratic, they were like living, standing corpses.

The brunette took a step back down the stairs, then jumped for cover as the two pulled out their guns and fired on him repeatedly.

Bullets flew through the air and ricotchet off the hard brick staircase as Takuya hid behind it. He had never harmed a person in his entire life, but knowing that these two were now just possessed bodies serving a monster that needed to die, he knew it was fight or flight. Do or die. Killing them meant ending their misery. And so in one smooth motion, Takuya slid out of cover and fired two quick shots at their hands to sever their gun-wielding hands. They had no reaction to their bleeding stumps before Takuya shot two more arrows at their heads and spilled bits of their skull onto the wall behind them. They collapsed on the ground, and Takuya felt his face turn pale for a moment when he saw their wide, blank eyes staring at him. Their soulless eyes started into his, making him freeze up.

"Takuya, w-where are you?" Hideki's voice snapped him out of it.

Takuya felt a bit a bile in his throat and held a hand to his mouth, "I'm almost there. I... ran into some trouble."

"B-Be careful. The Warlock could be anywhere. H-He can see our attacks coming before we even throw them, so we need to form a plan."

Takuya heard the doors below and above him break open. They were accompanied by the sounds of the same slow, uniform footsteps and he could feel Obscurum energy coming from all directions as Takuya wiped away the gathering sweat on his face and readied his bow. He could see the shadows of the many possessed guards on the walls as he pulled back another arrow and closed his eyes, "Hideki, sorry. I might not be able to make it."

"Takuya? Takuya!"

His friend's voice did not reply as cold silence answered his pleading calls. Closing his eyes, Hideki gulped and smacked his fist on the floor in anger. Hiding out in an abandoned, closed market, Hideki kept a hand pressed on his bleeding left shoulder as he could not hear the brunette's voice answer him. His armor was cracked, his flight pack was broken, and his wounds too severe for his healing factor to regenerate fast enough in time for another fight with Zed. Hideki knew for sure he would have died if he didn't try and escape into the elevator shaft before Zed's attack had connected. His leg thrusters were weak, but the force of the explosion had given him enough to escape and pushed him out into the elevator shaft.

Learning on a crate, Hideki busted it open with his elbow and took off his glass visor to chug on any sports drink there was inside to wash away the taste of copper in his mouth; The drink gave him some energy, at least. Putting the can aside, Hideki could feel Zed's presence and vice-versa. He could try and wait for Takuya to heal him up, but going up close and direct like before would just leave him open for that blade technique again or even worse. He had to find a way, or at least figure out a weakness that Zed's powers carries. Even if Zed could predict all his moves, Hideki knew there was still a way to win.

"Th-This is Hideki," he clicked on his earpiece, "Mamoru, Tateyama, can you hear me?"

"This is Mamoru, where are you?! We can't see you on the cameras and we haven't heard from you for 20 minutes now!"

Hideki chugged down another sports drink before he continued, "I-I'm pretty beat up right now. I'm waiting for Takuya to patch me up, but I d-don't think he can make it," Hideki groaned from the pain burning in his broken left elbow, "My power is on cool-down right now and Zed is close. I can already feel him," crumpling the can in his palm, he threw it away and put his visor back on his head. It clamped tightly onto the sides of his head and displayed the cool-down timer of his powers once again as it turned on.

"'Zed'? The Warlock?" Mamoru inquired.

"Yeah. He calls himself 'Zed, the Oracle'. B-Bastard could see every punch I threw at him before I even attacked," he leaned back on the crate, gasping for air, "Although I can probably kill him if I can bash his head in, I-I can't even touch him."

"There must be a weakness," Sanbey's voice spoke into the earpiece, "Though the Warlocks possess great power and abilities, all of them carry a logical weakness, or at least a flaw in their abilities. You must use your cunning if you want to defeat him." Remember your training, Hideki."

"We'll be coming down to help once we deploy the surveillance bugs," Mamoru interjected, "Tateyama needs more time prepare them, so stay safe."

"Right. Thanks, Sanbey, Mamoru. I- Wait, I hear something," Hideki turned off the earpiece and sprung his wrist-blade from his right arm. Groaning as he got to his feet, Hideki kept his back to the tall rows of shelves as footsteps echoed loudly through the place. He could hear Zed dragging his blade on the ground, scraping the floor as Zed's voice let out an eerie laugh through his mask's mechanical filter. Hideki fastened his pace to the exit, feeling like the Warlock was right behind him but chose to toy with him instead of killing him outright. 10 meters away, Hideki could see the market exit, but he stopped in his pace when suddenly, he could no longer hear Zed's slow, loud footsteps behind him.

Hideki wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and narrowed his eyes as he looked behind him and stared into the dark abyss behind him, "Where is he...?" He looked left and right, leaning on the shelf behind him.

"Kokujin Ogi: Akumetsu...!"

An explosion erupted from behind Hideki and destroyed his backpack as shrapnel cut into the unarmored parts of his body and pieces of his flight pack scattered onto the ground. He fell to the floor and cracked his visor, the explosion having burned away what was left of his backpack and nearly destroying parts of his armor, too. But he could still use both of his leg verniers and at least one of his arm-blades. Desperate, Hideki tried to crawl away and ignite his leg verniers as Zed approached him from behind, sheathing his blade.

"You've taken far too long to die, child! Far more than those that Zankantou has eliminated in the past. I must remedy this," Zed rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles.

"Sorry, but I'm persistent!" Hideki's leg verniers kick-started, but Zed grabbed him by the foot before he could escape and threw him at the tall shelves. They toppled over one by one as they all came crashing down like dominoes. Hideki's screams of pain were like music to Zed's ears while he unsheathed his blade and channeled his energy into it to finish the job once and for all. Obscurum energy covered it in the form of purple flames.

Hideki couldn't move as he was trapped underneath the toppled shelves' heavy weight. He had no energy to push them off, his left arm was broken and stuck underneath a collapsed pile of crates, leaving him trapped as he heard Zed's feet crushing glass and metal on his stride towards him. He could see the fizzling cool-down timer on his cracked visor reporting that his powers needed 20 more seconds to recharge, but did he really have the time? Vomiting out blood and staining his visor, Hideki looked at his broken arm pinned underneath the heavy weight of the crates and came to one solution as he extended the blades out of his free arm.

Looking around for his body, Zed spotted the Puerum Magi's arm sticking out from underneath the toppled shelves. Zed smirked under his mask, walked up to it and stomped on the shelf. He could feel something underneath it as he increased the pressure of his foot. Holding his blade over where the Puerum Magi was most likely underneath, chuckled to himself and whispered, "Farewell, Puerum Magi."

"Hold it right there!"

Zed heard a voice from afar. Slowly glancing aside, Zed saw Takuya standing at the market entrance with his bow aimed straight at him. The archer's coat-tails were decorated with bullet holes, his aviator goggles had a cracked lens and his face and armor bore scratches as his Puerum Magi healing factor slowly generated all of his minor wounds. Taking in deep breaths, Takuya's bow arm was shaking from exhaustion as he barely held onto the Recicio arrow in his hand.

"Impressive. You've defeated most of my servants," Zed applauded him, "I assumed you would have been easy to kill."

"Don't move! Touch him and I'll shoot!" Takuya's threat was sound as he pulled back the fiery arrow of Recicio energy in his hand, ready to shoot it at Zed even when he was already exhausted and needed to catch his breath.

"Hmph. Your threat is hollow, archer," Zed laughed, pressing his foot down on the shelves beneath his feet, "I would catch your arrows with my mere fingers before they would scratch me. Your friend here couldn't even stand against me! Once I kill him, it would be your turn," Zed raised his blade to stab the Puerum Magi under his feet, "This is for Master Clyde..."

"Hideki!"

Then, Takuya gasped as from behind Zed, from out of nowhere, Hideki jumped into the air with his flaming leg verniers as he extended a bloodied wrist-blade and completely covered his right arm in the fiery glow of his Strength magic. His left arm bled from being severed off by the joint as Hideki descended upon the Warlock below him, who was completely unaware of this behind him. Fiery Recicio doused his fist as Hideki channeled all his Strength magic into his remaining arm and blade, "Go to Hell, Zed!"

"What?!" the Warlock turned around and severed Hideki's wrist-blade with his Zankantou. But Hideki's fist quickly dug into Zed's face as the Puerum Magi punched him across the face and cracked the Warlock's mask. The left's side of Zed's face burned away from the flaming Recicio as the Warlock wailed in pain, "Don't touch me, filth!" In a fit of rage, Zed drove his foot into Hideki's abdomen and kicked him away into a pile of crates before he fled at an inhuman speed. Takuya's arrows followed him while he retreated, but Zed deflected them with his blade as he clutched the side of his mask in pain. The Warlock finally having run away, Takuya ran up to the busted crates where Hideki lied in a pool of gathering blood.

Hideki groaned, coughing up some more blood as Takuya cradled his head. Quickly, Takuya sparked his hand with Restoration magic and held it to Hideki's chest. The warmth of his magic dulled and eased the pain as soon enough, Hideki's injuries, armor and gadgets slowly began to restore themselves. His flight pack pieced back together from the pieces that were on the floor, cracks on his armor sealed up and the cuts and bruises on his body regenerated quickly. His wrist-blades came back together from shards and Hideki's severed arm that lied underneath the shelves floated towards Hideki before joining up with his arm again. Takuya would have done the same for his own wounds if his powers weren't only limited to everything but himself. Hideki's breathing finally stabilized and a cocky smile grew on his face as his eyes opened, "Heh... I knew you would come... Did we get him?"

"No. It got away," Takuya sighed and continued to cradle Hideki's head, "But, I'm glad you're alright."

"Heh. Nice outfit you got there," Hideki joked as he sat up, rolling his shoulders and wincing slightly from the ache in his ribs. He could still feel some pain coming from his abdomen and left arm, but it was all minor and trivial, "Here. It's for you," Hideki tossed Takuya his earpiece and the brunette caught it in both hands. Clicking on his own, he spoke into it, "Mamoru, I've found Takuya. We're both fine. Where's that son-of-a-bitch now? I've wounded him, but he's still standing."

"Thank God you both are alright," he heard Mamoru sigh in relief over the earpiece, "The Warlock's escaping to the floors above you. Hurry. He might be trying to regenerate his wounds."

"Got it," Hideki shut off the comm and eagerly sprung his wrist-blades as he got up to his feet without any sort of wound or injury on his body. Takuya standing upright beside him, Hideki put his glass visor back on and smirked to his friend, "Let's go finish him off."

Warlock Stats Sheet.

Name and Code: Zed, 146.

Destructive Power: A

Speed: B

Range: D

Durability: B

Precision: A

Development Potential: D

Abilities:

Combat clairvoyance; when Zed activates this power, his eyes glow a fiery red and he gains the ability to predict enemy attacks and suitably either react to them with his own, brush it off or evade the attack from a specific angle.

Weapons: A long nodachi blade named 'Zankantou'. It is sharp enough to cut most objects and light in the hands of its wielder, Zed.