Svantje scrunched up her eyebrows as she, along with two members of Hikigane Squad, made their way to the Border base.

She had felt conflicted on leaving her captain and the Hikigane Squad Captain to go off and continue the fight in the city while they retreated to the base. It was easy to figure out why they had been ordered to do so, but that did not make the situation any better.

Even so, she did not get down by this. All that she could feel was slight wonder, but otherwise remained the same as usual.

And yet Jinsei moved to run next to her.

"Hey, hey, no need to wonder about things."

"It's weird how you understand things like that but can't get good grades."

"Everyone says that if I start getting smart then value would be lost and there would be issues later on."

"To be completely honest, your age group is something else. But I can see how that would bring some issues up."

"Right? Well I don't know what those issues would be, but I trust those guys to figure things out like that."

It was good that he still relied on those people when he knew he needed to.

But that only brought something else to her mind.

Rather, it brought her mind back to the current situation.

"How do you two feel about being sent back to base?"

Daigo was the first to respond by looking back to them. He said nothing, but it was clear that he wanted to know the same answer from his squad's vice-captain.

"Hm? That's easy. I'll do it because my captain asked me to do it."

"But you usually ignore his orders."

"That's true, but this time is a little different."

"Because there's an invasion going on."

"I guess that too."

What did that mean?

Since an invasion was going on, it meant that things were more crucial when it came to orders and formations. Placement of agents was also something to consider when the wrong person at the wrong place could mean an early loss.

And yet Jinsei thought that was a secondary reason to listen to his captain. There was another reason for him to do so.

"I'm sure he wanted to go back to the base too, but he can't really do that right now. You figured out his situation, haven't you?"

"..."

It was true that she now knew more about the Hikigane Squad Captain than she thought she would, but that had been due to her habit of snooping around getting the better of her.

"See? Well then you know that he needs to remain alive for everyone else. Since this invasion is taking pace in all of Mikado city, that means he needs to do as much as possible while moving all around the city. Losing anyone means he has failed at what his whole reason is about."

"...But there's more to it than that, right?"

"Right."

Jinsei's smile fell, but he did not stop talking.

At some point Daigo had moved back to run alongside the two of them.

"It's also because Denji is at the base."

"That guy..."

"Right. Since Yuki is also out here, and Denji is at the base, Sekai can't just go back to the base so casually. But if he thought that something would happen there then he would want to go back and help whoever he could."

"So he sent us due to that contradiction."

"Exactly," Jinsei said with a snap.

The Hikigane Squad Captain had put himself in a difficult situation from the very start, but he was also fine with using other people to deal with that situation. It would not be against their will, but the current state of affairs meant that no one would go against his word if it meant keeping things safe and ending the invasion.

That had been why Jinsei took to the order readily.

I see. That's good then.

There was no need to worry about this squad if they had a captain like that.

It also means that I don't have to worry about Minoru-nii being with him right now.

The two of them would be fine.

Three people sat in a ship, watching and monitoring everything. One was the red haired Neighbor that had lost, the other two had yet to leave the ship. They took note of the other battles going on, as well as the unplanned attack on the Miden base.

The leader, who had black horns, didn't have any particular expression on his face, but he was a bit annoyed. He focused on the unplanned attack and spoke.

"Enedora. I didn't order an attack on the base itself. Our goal is solely to capture the baby birds. This is unnecessary."

"You're way is too slow! Crush the nest, and the small fry will be free for the taking. Makes sense, doesn't it?"

"..."

The leader - Hairein - leaned his head a bit to the side, putting two fingers and his thumb to his face. He seemed a bit more annoyed now.

Ranbanein didn't seem fazed by this and spoke with a grin.

"Raiding the enemy fort alone? That's bold!"

"Abandoning the mission. Defying orders. Should I force him back?" Mira, also with black horns, asked calmly.

"No... Now I have an excuse to recall him. Let Enedora do as he pleases. The others will manage the rest."

Ranbanein raised an eyebrow as he looked over at his captain.

"You still believe in Misó? That's a bit odd. He seems to be having trouble going against only one of Miden's warriors. I guess being there for as long as he has, even he would get rusty without using his Trigger. Actually, Pyr seems to be in the same predicament."

"You know how those two are already. Pyr seems to be getting more serious now. But you have a point on Misó. Not being able to defeat a single opponent is quite troubling."

"Maybe if you told him that he would get some 'painful reward' if he wins, he'll perform a sweep of the whole area."

"..."

Hairein was visibly displeased by that. He knew just how Misó was concerning his comrades, especially Hairein himself, and he never enjoyed being around the boy. He knew that what his brother was saying was actually true, he just didn't want to actually say that.

Misó was someone who even his own people didn't enjoy being around.

"It does seem like he's being less efficient by taking his emotions away from that body."

Complete freedom to do as he pleased. That was what Enedora felt as he made his way through the Miden base.

Each door he tore down had given him more freedom to move around as he wanted. There was nothing to stop him from rampaging throughout the building.

"Just watch them all writhing around! Come on, Miden monkeys! Do something else!"

There had been some who tried to escape, but they did not manage to get far.

Spikes of mud shot from Enedora, piercing them. Some of them had their arms and legs pierced while others managed to barely react in time to not hit anything vital. All of them had set up defenses, but those had meant nothing. All of them had been destroyed by the mud spikes that extended out.

Trion bullets were fired, but they did nothing either. Each bullet would strike the mud and vanish as if they were not even there. None of the defenses or offenses would work.

This was a free area for him to do as he wanted.

He could destroy whatever he wanted.

Taking out whoever he wanted only became easier and easier as he moved throughout the building.

And yet...

None of them are dead yet!

All of the people he had attacked had sustained injuries, some heavy and some light. But none of them had died yet from his attacks.

There was no reason not to kill them, so it made no sense that his attacks did not end in death. When he got tired and bored of the Miden people running around he had attacked them with the intent to kill them, but those attacks had only resulted in more injuries.

There was no death.

These monkeys aren't fighters, so how can they still be alive!? Those ones from before were one thing, but these ones have no personal way of fighting back! How can they still be alive after all of this!?

It was infuriating to not be able to finish them all off.

He had come to the building in order to attack them and kill whoever he could. The heads of the organization would have been his best ones to attack, but he knew he had the freedom to attack everyone else. Now something was going on that was stopping him from finishing what he came here to do.

Something was restricting his freedom here.

What the hell is going on!?

His body was made of mud and his core was constantly shifting to prevent it from taking a direct hit. None of the people could touch him and none of them could defeat him.

But...

"—!"

Someone tried.

They tried to attack him.

.

Enedora grinned as two large walls sprang from the corners of the walls in the hallway.

The two walls had pushed into his mud body and created an upside-down V in the air with his body in the middle of it.

But they did not hit his core.

The two walls had only hit his mud body, but could not destroy it.

He started to turn his body into a liquid to escape the attack. Someone had tried to attack him and failed.

"—!?"

It did not stop there.

He had tried to move down in order to escape the two walls coming from the walls of the hallway when another two walls sprang out. The first had come form the ground, pushing his mud body upwards. The second came from the ceiling, reaching down to where the upside-down V was located.

The top and bottom walls crashed into the upside-down V with a solid noise.

Yet...

"So there is someone who can fight here!"

Enedora only moved his liquid mud body around those walls to escape.

There was still more than enough room to move around. None of the walls had hit his core; had not been close to reaching it.

But it did not end there.

One after another, green lines traced all along the hallway before wall after wall sprang up from the hallway. Each one slammed into the one before it, creating a solid noise and a reverberating feeling throughout the entire hallway.

Soon the whole space was filled with vibrating noise that shook the hallway violently. Each wall created obstacles with small spaces left open.

"Okay, this shit is starting to annoy...me..."

The liquid body of Enedora began to move slower through the open spaces of the walls. Each time he tried to climb, his body would fall. Each time he tried to solidify an attack, it would slump down. Even turning into a gas became difficult the more the walls appeared.

Once the hallway was filled with the walls, some began to retract back into the hallway walls.

It only lasted for a moment as more walls would come out, recreating the solid noise and vibrating feeling throughout the entire hall.

There was nowhere to escape this attack.

It was not an attack that damaged him physically since the walls did not reach his core, but that was not the point here.

"Damn...you...!"

The vibrating became more and more apparent as it moved through his body, vibrating every part of him. Turning into a solid or a gas was difficult as it was, but the repeated walls appearing turned his focus away from what was around him.

Everything had become distorted and his vision was hard to maintain within the walls being right side up, upsides-down, on the left, and on the right. Everywhere was both up and down while left and right were swapped. His brain tried to maintain everything properly, but the vibrating only became more harsh as the seconds went on.

This physical onslaught had turned into an internally destroying one.

.

Denji saw it from his spot at the end of the hallway.

The Neighbor who had defeated Kazama had been destroying everything in his path since he had made it into the Border base.

At first he had been messing around with the workers there, but that had quickly turned into something else. The injuries he had given them had changed to attacks that would end their lives. Each spike that came from him went for vital areas or covered large areas that they could not dodge.

So he had acted.

Using Shield, he had tripped some of the workers or pushed them forward just a bit.

This method had caused them to get more injuries, but it had also prevented those spikes from reaching them.

There had not been a single death yet due to him moving the workers in different ways.

I guess they got lucky this time. If it only stuck to injuries, I would have had no problem ignoring what was going on and telling others later on. The fact this guy had gone for the kill meant that I had to step in.

That was the worst part.

Denji had not wanted to help those workers since it meant he could get them to hate him later on. Then the Neighbor's true colors had shown when he tried to kill.

It was only after those workers had escaped that Denji found himself relaxing against the wall of the hallway.

With no one else there he had a chance to fight back against this Neighbor who had entered his territory.

That was the first thing.

I wasn't going to fight them since Sekai and #3 went out to fight, but this guy came in here.

I wasn't going to defend those workers if they were only getting injured, but this guy decided to go for the kill.

There were already two strikes on his record against Denji.

Now that it had reached this point he could only focus on what was before him.

And what that was was...

A violent vibration through a liquid.

Using Escudo as the focus of this attack, Denji had crashed many solid objects together in the small space. Doing so had caused vibrations and noise to start filling up the space. Due to the narrow hallways, the sound reverberated throughout it all and had found its way back inwards. The constant physical attacks from Escudo had built up a non-physical attack that continued to assault the Neighbor as he had his body in a liquid state.

But this would not end it.

Just because he was being prevented from transforming into a solid or a gas did not mean he was defeated.

That was why Denji flicked his fingers in no particular director.

Let's start the next step.

"What is...going on?"

Shinoda looked over to Netsuki as they watched the battle happening in the hallway.

No, it was not a battle. A battle meant that both sides were fighting in order to obtain some sort of victory. This was different.

What Denji was doing was not trying to obtain victory.

"He is keeping the Black Trigger contained," he said as he looked elsewhere.

The workers in the area had been attacked and sustained multiple injuries, but none of them had died. Denji had made sure to it that none of those workers had lost their lives when faced with attacks from the Black Trigger.

Looking over everyone's expressions, he could see that only Kido and Sawamura had noticed such things. None of them had said anything yet had reached an agreement to keep quiet about what had been happening during the initial attack on the workers.

"It's not a normal or trion-based attack, but it's still doing something like that? Or is it the Escudos doing that?"

"There are a lot of ways to fight. Even if non-trion attacks can't hurt him, non-trion methods can still affect him. The same applies to everyone who uses a Trigger. Methods like these can still be used regardless of what kind of weapon a person is using. It is a simple fact that the mind remains the same no matter what."

"So Bakuto is using something like that for this..."

"Can't you feel it? I guess you might not be able to since it's so subtle because of our distance, but this place is moving. Those Escudos are meant to shake everything. He has even closed off some of the hallway exits to make sure every part of this attack reaches his target."

"But that means he doesn't plan on defeating him, right!? What are we supposed to do then!? Or when he runs out of trion!?"

"Bakuto has asked to use some trion from the base in order to fight here. Is it fine to allow that, sir?"

Shinoda looked from Netuski to Sawamura. He took their words in and considered the options they had for this.

"...Allow it."

The response was instant.

"What!?"

"Director Shinoda, you can't seriously be allowing him, of all people, to do something like that!"

"Why are you allowing it?"

Kido's response had been the most calm and most curious. There was no judgement in his words, only mild curiosity.

Shinoda took this as his way of looking at how the situation could go.

"What he is doing is shaking the Black Trigger's brain to make sure he can't escape. But that only goes so far. Even if his brain is shaken up, if he just attacks with even more violence than what we have already seen, it will be even worse than before. He is still using a Black Trigger. If Denji is asking for that kind of assistance then it means he knows how long this can be kept up until he needs to change tactics."

"So you want him to already be prepared? But if he starts using trion from the base, we will have less to use for defense."

"The enemy has already entered the building, it doesn't matter at this point if they try to attack the outside if we just get destroyed from the inside."

"But leaving it up to Bakuto..."

"He is not the only one who will be doing something about this."

Shinoda felt a heat start to build up inside as he said those words.

At the moment, Denji was the only one around to fight, but they knew the locations of their members. All that needed to be done was guide them to where they were needed. From there they could continue on after Denji or simply join up with him.

Until then, keep going.

Oh, they actually gave me permission for this. Was it Shinoda or Kido? Maybe Sawamura did it herself and had decided not to even tell the directors.

That was not likely, but he didn't care. What mattered was that he received confirmation that he would be allowed to use the trion from the base for a limited amount of time.

His own trion was being continuously used to create Escudo walls all along the hallways, vibrating the area and creating a clanging noise that would cause anyone who heard it to go mad. This had been done in order to attack the mud-like Black Trigger user attacking the base.

It doesn't matter if you are in a trion body or not, or even if physical attacks mean little to you. If you rattle the brain, there will be an effect. All that matters is determining how that effect can be used.

In this case he was using the noise and vibrations to shake the Neighbor's brain so much that it became hard to focus on the things around him.

By keeping the Neighbor in the air with the walls and creating them from all around he was able to create an area where it would be difficult to keep track of what was the floor and what was the ceiling. A space in the area where there were only footholds and openings that came from all directions instead of just up and down. The effect only increased since the Neighbor had turned his body into a muddy liquid while moving through the air. From that point onward he would not be able to gather himself.

The noise coming from all directions must have also been destroying his concentration since he continued to try and turn his body into a solid, only for the spike to stop short of hitting before turning back into the same muddy liquid as before.

I'll admit that I learned a good amount of this stuff from Sekai. But that guy has some weird skills. I guess that's to be expected from an unneeded guy who did some dirty stuff early on in life.

They were the same age and yet the Hikigane Squad Captain had more experience than he did in many things. Most of that had involved humans and Earth instead of Neighbors and other worlds, but they allied to both when used like this.

Denji felt a shiver run throughout him from the inside.

"Hah~ That just makes knowing him even better."

But thinking about that now was not the best thing to do.

"I need to get ready. It looks like this guy is finally reaching his breaking point with this."

.

It hurt his head.

The walls coming up from all over crashed into each other, made solid noises, shook the hallway and the air, retracted, then repeated the process again without stopping.

All of that had made it hard to focus on using his Trigger and he could not tell what direction anything was in. Everywhere around him had blended together until it was just a space where walls were created, noise rang out, and vibrations ruled.

I'll kill them... Whoever is doing this...I'll kill them. I'll kill them! I'll get back at them for this! I'll put them through something worse than this and then kill them!

His body did not hurt, but his mind was in shambles and there was a painful ringing in his head.

Knowing that this was a cage for him and not a way of attacking him, Enedora made a decision.

Giving up on moving or figuring out where he was, he focused on one thing and one thing only.

His Trigger.

Vorvoros was the Mud King that could turn his body into a gas, solid, or liquid. The power and flexibility of it was something amazing and perfectly showed the power of a Black Trigger.

He had used Vorvoros to fight against one of Miden's squads already and had taken out the leader of that squad. The remaining two had wanted to continue the fight - to get revenge for their leader - but had left instead. It had been disappointing, but it gave him the freedom to attack Miden's base of operation.

Once he had arrived, there had been nothing to stop him from rampaging throughout the base as he pleased. Everyone had run away, thinking they could get back some kind of shelter.

"It's all useless against me!" he had thought.

Their defenses meant nothing compared to Vorvoros' power and flexibility. They were all destroyed without any issue and he had attacked those Miden monkeys without any hesitation.

But then...

None of them had died. I got stuck in this annoying trap. Moving does nothing and trying to change myself is now difficult. All because of these monkeys thinking they could do something against me.

So he would retaliate.

How?

I'll kill them!

He focused only on Vorvoros and himself. Everything around him had become too difficult to discern, so he gave up on that. Moving only let him get through small spaces before the vibrations caught up to his mind and shook him up. There was no reason to focus on any of those things when it would only strengthen the trap he was placed in.

So he did none of that.

And the end result was his freedom from the cage.

.

Denji watched the hallway using his phone. The reflection showed him the result he had been expecting since he started his counter to the Black Trigger.

The Neighbor had seemed to stop moving completely as their liquid body fell down before bouncing up with another Escudo wall being made. It made no other movement and seemed to be just a pile of mud that had been left in the hallway.

But of course it won't be that easy.

This was a Black Trigger. A trick like this would only go so far against something that could not be hurt by normal human means. At some point the Neighbor would be able to break through it.

And he did.

"I'll..."

Denji could hear it from the mud being bounced around.

A voice that was filled with nothing but hatred.

"I'll kill yoooooooooou! You fucking Miden monkey!"

The liquid mud that had been bouncing around suddenly sprang to life as another Escudo wall was about to hit it.

Solid spikes shot out from the mud while the mud itself seemed to bubble. Each spike tore through the walls that came out from the hallway and the bubbling seemed to also release the voice of hatred.

"You got me with this, but that's why I'm going to kill you! Those three from before were annoying at best, but this is different! You're someone I now hate so much for doing this to me!"

Denji savored that hatred.

That voice of hatred sounded as if it contained more than just his feelings towards Denji and instead put in all the hate inside of him just to direct it all at Denji. If it was an attack then it would all be sent to him and no one else. It created a narrowed view that left Denji as the only target.

And he took it all in.

The hatred of all was what he strived for. The fact he had managed to gain this Neighbor's full hatred was something he could only feel proud of.

But I still have a job here, so I guess I should put that aside for now.

That was impossible, but he decided to ignore that for now.

With his eyes still on the reflection of his phone, he saw the bubbling mud begin to swish and swirl until it formed a chest. Then a neck. Then a head. Hair and eyes followed. Last were the two black horns on his head.

The Neighbor had reformed himself.

The spike retracted into his body as he looked around the hallway.

So what will you do now?

He would attack.

The Neighbor turned in his direction and shot a spike of mud out. The spike crashed into the wall, impaled it, and destroyed it.

Denji whistled at the simple destruction.

"Hey, hey, if you're going to attack like that, then do it seriously. Guys like me tend to use these kinds of games as a way to counterattack. Think more about these things before you do something reckless."

Walking towards the spike, he pulled out Kōgetsu and gently lifted it to touch the spike.

"Damn, this thing really is tough."

The Neighbor was not attacking him. That only meant...

He's as twisted as I am.

.

"The weaklings from before put up a fight, but they couldn't do any damage to me. You did something and got me pissed, so I don't really give a damn about that kind of stuff right now. I just want to show you what you're up against."

"Oh, how nice of you. I guess Kazama and his squad were a bit rude when they fought you, weren't they? And here you are, being nice to someone who managed to mess you up the way I did."

"You're the only one who decided to fight back since I got here. That got me pretty excited."

"To tell you the truth, I'm not into guys with long hair, so sorry about that. Oh, but I'm not into girls with short hair, so it evens out."

Denji placed Kōgetsu back into its holder as the spike moved back to Enedora.

The two of them were only a few feet away, something that did not even count as a distance for people like them. A simple movement could cover that ground in no time at all.

But that was fine.

Both Denji and Enedora only grinned towards each other. One showed his teeth with his maniacal grin while the other was lazy with his, not even opening his mouth for it.

"Well, I guess I should return the kind favor."

Denji spread his arms out as he spoke.

His body movement showed no sign of attacking or defending.

"Hello there, my enemy."

Enedora used the chance.

A spike shot forward with great speed. It was aimed directly for Dneji's face, but...

"Welcome to my fighting spree."

It stopped.

"!?"

No. It was forced to stop.

A wall of trion appeared in front of the man's face. The density of it had caused the spike to stop before it could reach Denji's face.

Denji only grinned.

"This is where I have some fun and you go home bleeding."

He continued to speak even as the reality of the situation was right in front of his face.

"It didn't have to be this way. Didn't anyone warn you? I guess they wouldn't know from just those two fighting out there."

"You talk too much!"

Three more spikes moved out from Enedora's body. Each one of them moved at a different angle so that they couldn't all be seen at once.

And yet none of them hit.

Three more walls of trion appeared to stop those spikes. Each one of them was dense and unmovable.

"I guess I should get to the point then. From the history of this country, there is an honor system. I don't care much for it, but since we have mutual feelings for each other... No, sorry. I forgot that I already won that the moment you started hating me. Well either way, I'm going to go ahead and introduce myself now. Feel free to do the same with you, okay? It would be nice and all, but don't feel pressured. After all, I already won thanks to you. You did more than enough with this."

Denji did not reach for his blade and he did not move his feet. The walls of trion protected him and Enedora could see that he had no intention of doing anything but talk.

Everything that had built up due to their interaction was now being put on full display.

"I am Border's A-Rank Captain - Bakuto Denji. And more than that..."

He tapped his head twice.

"I am the second most unneeded person around. Have fun fighting someone so worthless."

Enedora starred.

He stared at the man before him.

But Denji did nothing else.

Using even more force, Enedora tried to push past the walls of trion.

Once it was clear that they were hardened to a certain point, he began to retract the spikes.

The moment they returned to his body he noticed something.

"You damn monkey... You put another trap, didn't you!?"

"Multi-layered traps aren't my specialty, but I can work with them. If anything, that's more for those weirdos around here who like that sort of stuff. Oh, but I guess that's kind of rude to an old man who gets told off by his own Operator."

"Fine then. I'll go along with this for now."

It was his turn to speak.

"The name's Enedora! And my Trigger is Vorvoros! It's what I'll use to kill you!"

.

Enedora took the initiative again by attacking everything around him.

Large spikes came from his body and tore through the air. Each one crashed into the walls to destroy them and make more space. With nothing for those walls to come form then he would never have to worry about the first trap that had been set.

Or at least, that was how it should have been.

What!?

Looking around the hallway, he saw the reason his attack had failed to connect.

This guy is really pissing me off here!

The walls, the floor, and even the ceiling were all coated with trion. A layer of trion was over the entire hallway and stopped at the two exits there. Walls of trion blocked the two ways out and prevented any sort of escape. Turning to gas would do nothing now that this had been set up.

This doesn't make any sense! If he has a defense spread out like this, it should be easier to destroy! The other ones were condensed to single points, but this is spread out so much!

Even a condensed shield should not have protected him from Vorvoros' attack that much. There was no push against the small shields, only full stagnation on his part. They had become complete walls that he could not get past.

The fact this spread out shield that covered the entire hallway had not collapsed in an instant was something that only brought anger and confusion.

He had not been told that this was the work of a Black Trigger, so that meant it was only a White Trigger doing this. Something like that defending against a Black Trigger like Vorvoros brought his mind back to the first trap he fell into. It was something that had been done to mess with him and keep him caged instead of something to attack him directly. The way Denji had put away his sword also indicated that he had no intention of moving in to attack. With that being the case, he was left with no way of moving around.

This hallway had become a multi-layered cage meant just for him.

All because he decided to attack the base.

Realizing the full extent of the situation he was in, Enedora's mind started to go blank.

And then...

"Do you want us to get you out of there?"

.

A voice came through to him.

A taunting voice meant to hit his nerves even worse than they already were.

The feminine voice was not raised and there was nothing in it besides a want to go after his decision to attack the base.

"Enedora, do you want us to get you out of there? Rather, do you want me to get you out of there? Out of that cage?"

The feminine voice continued to speak with the same taunting tone as before.

She had told him that his decision had been incorrect and that it was his fault that this happened to him. Attacking the base instead of following the plan had led him to be trapped twice and face this grinning man who would not even attack him. A strong defense was placed around the man and prevented Enedora from killing him.

And that woman was rubbing it in by telling him that she could pull him out from this situation. If he wanted that, she would do it.

So it snapped.

Everything else in him snapped as each piece of information fit together like a puzzle. Each piece added to his growing anger that had put him in this position in the first place.

"—!"

.

Denji watched as the spike repeatedly sprang out from Enedora's body. Each one crashed into the walls, floor and ceiling of the hallway. Some of them had almost reached him until the shields appeared to stop the attack.

Spreading out the shield to cover the entire hallway was risky since it lessened the effect of it by doing so, but there was something to it that made the risk worth it.

The base itself.

He had gotten permission to use the trion from the base itself in order to keep Enedora here and trapped. Spreading out his personal shield like this had been the first step of this trap. The next part was using the trion from the base to strengthen his own shield at certain parts. Once an attack would reach the area, he would increase the density of the trion in that particular area so that the attack would be stopped.

It required proper timing and a knowledge on how Enedora would attack, but it was an efficient way of doing this. After all, it was more than just the hallway that was being protected. Shields could be made anywhere within the hallway in order to stop the attacks. Some of it was used in order to defend him while most of it went to protecting the cage he had made in order to stop Enedora.

I would have liked to be on the outside of this, but I have a better understanding if I'm inside of it. Watching him from outside messes with my timing and perception of things a bit. That sucks, but that's all there is to it. But besides that...

The amount of trion I need to use to defend really goes to show what a Black Trigger can do. Fujin's base power when Jin uses it is pretty set, so a regular focused shield can handle it, but this is different. Enedora's Vorvoros has more power backing it and can attack multiple locations. I need to use even more trion to cover all the locations he's going to hit, which also takes time to determine.

But he was able to do it.

While not at the level of some others when it came to mental capacity, Denji knew that he was able to do this much.

Fighting had always been something he was good at, so was gambling. Both of those had required him to think about the situation in different ways so that he could be guaranteed a win against someone else. Both had been things that ended up fitting together and expanding his mental capacity so that something like this could be possible.

Hm. I'm no hero, so that also helps me. I don't have any sort of code of conduct, so I can do this. Right...

That means I can do things recklessly no matter what. Without regret, I would do anything to make sure it all ended up fine. I'll fight, no matter how much I'm despised. Actually...I want that. I need that. So even if I end up losing here I'll remain in this hallway and come up with a way to make sure this guy is caged here.

I won't let him go.

I'll make sure he stays here and continues to hate me.

So.

I just need everyone else to continue being good people so I can be the worst.

"—!"

.

"I guess this might happen sooner than I expected."

"You...!"

"Me. Yes. Hello~"

Repeated sounds rang throughout the hallway for a second time in the past few minutes.

This time the sounds came from solid hammers beating into the walls of trion that covered the entire hallway. Spike came out from them, making more noise. The hammers and spikes pushed against the shields, but could not get through.

Once they moved back, a new set of attacks came.

The spikes tore through the air and stabbed the trion walls. They could not pierce them, but they did not retract. Instead, they waited.

The hammers were raised before being brought out on the spikes. The two collided, making a new and unfamiliar noise. But more than that...

"...!?"

A crack formed.

Small cracks appeared along the trion walls covering the hallway. They started from the newly made holes that came from the spikes that were struck by the hammers.

Denji watched this happen with a raised brow, but did not move.

"You won't attack me, so that means you won't try to stop me!"

"That's right. I won't stop you."

He would add more trion to the walls so that they would not be broken through.

"I just need to change tactics."

"Will it be another cage?"

"Cages are starting to be less effective against you. I could try to make another one, but at this point it would be a waste of trion."

"Then what will you do, you damn Miden monkey!?"

A snap of his fingers, Denji laughed.

"I'll leave it up to other people."

A noise came from Denji's pocket. Putting his hand into his pocket, he pulled out his phone.

A timer went off as the trion walls covered the hallway shattered. The raining shards began to disappear as they fell.

"I'm out of trion and my time limit for using the base is also out. I'm not the type to stall, so this was the best I could do. Yeah, I'll leave it up to you guys."

.

Enedora looked at Denji as the shard of trion fell from the ceiling and the walls. His Trigger had been turned off due to using up all of his trion and now he stood in his flesh and blood body at the end of the hallway. He had not escaped like the other one had earlier on.

This meant that there was nothing protecting him.

He could kill this man who had caged him twice.

So he did.

Controlling Vorvoros, he threw out multiple spikes forward with the full intent to kill the man before him. Each one would pierce his body in a way that would easily turn him into a pincushion. There would be nothing left but the blood and chunks of his remaining body parts.

No! I'll make sure that there's not even chunks!

There would only be blood.

Just a little more!

His attack would finally connect.

Or it should have.

But...

"Hey, don't make things this hard for us, Den-san!"

Two bodies moved ahead of Denji and blocked the attacks aimed for him. Blades were used to block the attack while shields were held out to restrict the movement of the remaining ones. Denji himself had also moved back three steps so as to not be in the way.

"Now what!?" Enedora shouted towards the trio.

Denji only smiled as one of the two new people moved back to stand next to him.

"I'm not going to thank you for coming here."

"I know that. Our captain is pretty good at reading situations though, so he sent us back here in case something happened."

"Oh? But he knew I was here, so he should have just left it to me."

"He did, but he wanted to be certain. You're a pretty reliable guy, but there are still some things you can't really do yourself."

"That's pretty harsh."

"I was talking about hating others. Just to be clear."

"I know. That's why it's so harsh."

"Um, Vice-Captain-san, Bakuto-san, there is still this person here."

Enedora attacked again.

While they were not ignoring him, they were pissing him off even more. Something he did not think was possible at this point.

The two new people had prevented him from killing Denji at the cost of taking some hits. Trion leaked from their cuts, but it had been nothing fatal.

And even now, as they were being attacked, they continued to talk.

.

Life: "So Dai-chan. From everything we've gotten about this guy, who would you say is stronger between him and the guy you fought against before?"

Simple Boy: "They both seem strong, but that is to be expected from Black Trigger users. If I had to pick though... It would be Trochskos-san. He is much nicer, seems to have a lot of experience, and gives me the feeling of someone who has seen things that we may not be able to comprehend."

Life: "Damn, giving me some pretty creepy vibes. Well I hate the both of them all the same. Black Triggers are the worst, so make sure not to use them, 'kay~?"

Jinsei looked back to give a smile towards Denji.

"Sorry, but you can't take that hate away from me. I'll hold on to that for the rest of my life."

"Don't worry, I already know that. I have my own feelings about stuff like that, but even I understand that there is some hatred that can never be directed towards me."

Both of them understood each other enough that the bitter smiles they wore were all that was needed for them.

From his spot in front of them, Daigo gave a noise and nothing more.

Instead, he focused on the enemy directly in front of them.

Rather, he focused on what happened to the Neighbor.

Attacks from the side came in contact with the Neighbors, making his body spread out like mud. His body and head had been hit, but not signs of damage had been done.

Looking over at where it had come from, they saw...

"First new models and now Black Triggers!? Can't a guy get some rest here!?"

From where they stood, Jinsei and Denji could see the corner of Daigo's mouth start to move up. It had been for a small moment, but had been there.

"Suwa Squad."

Hearing their name, Suwa Squad looked over at the trion.

"Ha! Looks like you were beaten pretty badly, Denji! Serves you right!"

"Th'nks' f'r th't, Sukō! I'll m'ke s're ta gr'pe y'u l't'r on!"

"Touch me and you're dead!"

Their conversation was quickly interrupted by Enedora who seemed to have cooled down a bit compared to when fighting Denji.

"Even more small fry!"

Holding out his phone, Denji grinned.

Gambler: "I'll send you all the current situation with this guy. Make sure you deal with him or else I would have gotten up for nothing."

Mystery Smoker: "Then hurry up! Jinsei and Daigo, you're going with us!"

Life: "Yay! Party with Suwa Squad!"

Victim: "Please focus on this, Kirikari."

Simple Boy: "Sasa-... Hisato."

Decoy: "Yeah?"

Simple Boy: "Let's do our best."

Decoy: "Right!"

With that settled, they moved.

.

Denji smiled as he turned away, phone in hand.

There was no reason for him to be here anymore, so he would go back to his squad's operating room.

As he did so, he saw a message appear on his screen.

Still Young Girl: "Did you have fun out there?"

He did not wait to answer.

Gambler: "The fun is what comes after."