Prologue
The night was young, the air was clear, and the moon shone brightly upon Fukuoka city. It was a quiet evening in the middle of summer, a slight chill in the air. There were surprisingly many people walking the streets that night, some making their way home from late night shifts, to work for overnight shifts, exhausted workers making their way to bars for drinks, or drunkards wandering the streets looking for a good time. All was normal for a Friday evening, but then, as the peace seemed as though it would go undisturbed…
BOOM
A bar called Kuraidori's Watering Hole erupted in flames in the night, the fire busting through multiple windows of the establishment. The people walking the streets fled the scene in a mad panic, not wanting to be caught in the inferno. In the back of the establishment, a burning man was thrown screaming from one of the bar's second story windows, hitting the pavement hard on one of his legs. A violent crunch could be heard upon impact. He screamed as he attempted to roll in the pavement to put out his burning clothes. The fire finally died out as he rolled into a shallow puddle. The flesh of his face was still sizzling and searing from the heat, some of his hair was burned as well. The man attempted to stand up and run for his life, but a sharp piercing pain in his right leg forced him to stumble to the ground once again. He was left with little choice but to crawl for his life.
However, before he could gain much distance from the burning premise, the metal security door to the back entrance of the building flew off its hinges. A tall muscular man with a crew cut and a 5 O'clock shadow emerged from the flames practically unscathed. He was followed by four other individuals, one of which resembled a tall hulking monster who towered over his accomplices by at least three feet. The man with the 5 O'clock shadow looked down at the crawling man with eyes that burned red with rage. The man returned the gaze with a look of fear and desperation. Once again, he scrambled and crawled away over broken glass with whatever strength he could muster. However, before he could gain much distance, the muscular man walked over to him, pressing his foot down against the burnt man's foot to halt his scrambling. The burn victim started screaming in pain as more and more weight was put on it. The muscular man looked down upon him with a look of burning hatred and malice, towering over him like a titan, and was once again met with a look of disparity and fear from his victim.
"Guardian to Alpha 0-1, confirm status, over," a monotone female voice came in over the muscular man's earpiece, snapping him out his focussed glare. The man put a finger to his ear to respond.
"Alpha 0-1 to Guardian, target destroyed, one hostile in the open heavily wounded, please advise, over," the muscular man said. There was a slight pause before the next communication.
"Copy Alpha 0-1, mission parameters are unchanged. Complete the current objective and stand by for further orders, over," the female voice came back.
"Copy that, Guardian," the man said, coldly turning back to the burnt man.
The burnt man, in response to this, began to shudder and shake as he knew quite well what was about to happen to him. He then immediately tried to claw his way out from under the muscular man's boot, but to no avail. Then, at the apex of his struggle, the muscular man knelt forward, grabbing the man by the throat and lifting him up high by it. The burnt man struggled for breath in the muscular man's grasp, his feet wriggling in the air. He attempted one last look of disparity into his attacker's eyes as he could not verbally beg for his life. And yet his plea was only met with more unbridled malice from the muscular man's burning red eyes. As he looked into the pleading eyes of his victim, he couldn't help but recall the decision that got him in this scenario today, the singular act that started it all…