In an abandoned city, inside a surprisingly neat but lifeless building, Sorata reclined on a worn-out sofa. Though he appeared relaxed, his expression was far from peaceful—his eyes carried the weight of something darker. Across the room, Garou lay sprawled out on another sofa, bruised and beaten, while Shinki stood silently near the door, arms crossed.
Sorata glanced at Shinki and broke the silence.
"You've been staring for a while now. You good buddy? Is there anything to be worried about?"
Shinki smirked, a glint of amusement in his eyes.
"I just find something funny about you. You dont hurt others who have nothing to do witj you, yet youre in a criminal organisation. You're calm, but you're crazy. You acted like a psychopath towards kojin and lost your cool. Youre like a faulty switch. "
Sorata's expression darkened.
"That's coming from a sociopathic fuck like you. You know, you act cool, but your blood lust and your imagination to kill reacks out once in a while"
Groaning, Garou sat up, his body clearly aching. Pieces of his armour was on the ground with the exemption of the one's that were supposed to protect his legs.
"That was one heck of a fight. Each time i attacked, he just closed the distance and fired beams relentlessly. He's like a war machine. I swear he was moving at light speed."
A sudden gust of wind swept through the building, drawing everyone's attention to the balcony. Sitting confidently on the railing, legs crossed and wearing a revealing witch-themed outfit, was Ukina—grinning like she'd been waiting for the perfect entrance.
Sorata's eyes narrowed with slight annoyance.
"Took you long enough. What do you want now? Here to take us on another mission?"
Ukina grinned wider, it was like she was teasing them.
"How did the mission go?"
Sorata scoffed.
"Im not in the mood to talk. I just want to relax and get the strength i lost."
Shinki chimed in.
"We were ambushed by some C-rank assassins. Seemed like they were team leaders. Our plan was to just walk through the forest and into the city without suspension. Although even without entering the city, i could tell that everyone, including civilians are strong. Everyone is a solider and assassin. Well at least most people are trained. If worse came to worse, we'd have to deal with civilians as well. And most of em were D to C-rank"
Ukina nodded as if she expected that.
"Good analysis. Either way, everythings going according to plan. Wasn't expecting results right of the bat."
Sorata raised an eyebrow.
"You're insane you know?. What plan do you have this time?"
Garou groaned.
"Whatever it is, leave me out of it."
Shinki chuckled.
"This coming from the guy who got wrecked out there."
Garou snapped back.
"I did not get wrecked!"
Sorata joined in with a mocking tone.
"Come on, Garou. You boasted you'd crush anyone, then got folded. Don't lie."
Shinki burst into s small chuckle while Garou yelled in denial.
"That never happened!"
Still smiling, Ukina addressed them.
"There are plenty of dangerous criminals roaming this city—skilled and powerful. We need to recruit em."
Sorata looked at her sideways.
"You're not seriously asking us to go hunting for criminals to join the Dark Sign, are you?"
Ukina gave a playful nod.
"Correct."
Sorata blinked.
"I take back calling you crazy. You're a crazy bastard."
Shinki frowned.
"I'm not really into the idea."
Garou slumped deeper into the sofa.
"I don't have the energy for another fight."
Sorata stared at Ukina.
"We're already ten in number. Why do we need more members?"
Ukina stepped forward slightly.
"We only need two more. One of them agreed to join—but only if he gets to fight you first."
Sorata paused, confused.
"Huh?Come again?"
Ukina nodded seriously.
"He wants to test his strength against you—one of our strongest. Think of it as... quality control."
Sorata sighed deeply.
"Quality control my ass! I'm being used as some kind of test dummy!!"
"Exactly," Ukina replied with a grin.
Garou burst into laughter.
"Sucks to be you!"
Shinki tried to hold his laughter in, covering his mouth.
Sorata stood up from the sofa.
"You haven't forgotten why I joined the Dark Sign, have you? I've got a purpose. I'm not going to waste time with some random punk."
He walked out, his steps echoing in the empty hallway.
"Whoever he is, I won't deal with em for long. I don't really care about all this unnecessary fights."
Ukina, still smiling, whispered to herself.
"I like the way he handles things."
Out on the silent street, Sorata glanced around, the eerie quiet pressing in.
"Why the hell am I getting dragged into this crap again? I just wanna go about having a nicd day" he muttered.
Suddenly, chains shot out of nowhere, slamming into the ground where Sorata had just been. The impact shattered the pavement, sending debris flying.
As the smoke cleared, a teenage boy in a black hoodie stood above the black chain that just shot at him. Black chains swirling around him.
"Who the hell are you?" Sorata asked With his hands in his pockets.
"Name's Mirio." The teenage boy in a black hoodie replied.
High above, on a tall building, Ukina observed with crossed arms. Shinki appeared beside her.
"You sure this is a good idea? You basically just set him up. And judging from his character, he's not gonna like you much"
Ukina nodded.
"Sorata seeks power—for revenge. I'm giving him that path."
Sorata looked up and gritted his teeth in annoyance.
"She's at it again. Damn crazy bastard."
Mirio raised a hand, his chains coiling aggressively.
"I want to join the Dark Sign. But first, I need to test the strength of the one who wields that purple destructive energy."
Sorata groaned with annoyance in his voice.
"You're just a kid no older than sixteen and you're already this evil? What went wrong in your life?"
"None of your business," Mirio snapped.
Without warning, Mirio fired a barrage of chains at Sorata, who countered with blasts of his purple destructive energy. The shockwaves of their clash rocked the area, destroying buildings and city blocks.
Back on the rooftop, Shinki asked:
"What's your plan, Ukina?"
"Simple," she replied.
"Pit Sorata against someone equally powerful. If he wants to grow, he needs real pressure."
"At full power, Sorata could destroy cities," Shinki reminded her.
"So could Mirio. They're well matched."
Back on the battlefield, Mirio reshaped his chains and were blasting them at sorata at an alarming speed, sorata seeing this, started to launch huge waves of destructive energy while running and dodging these huge chains as fast as he could. His movements and reflecses were skillfull. And at the same time, he was blasting huge waves of destructive energy that were taking out massive numbers of city blocks.
"You're starting to piss me off." He exclaimed in annoyance
He charged up more destructive energy and obliterated the attacks, as well as sending huge eaves of destructive energy at mirio l. Mirio blocked the huge waves this attack with a wall of chains.
"I expected more from someone like you," Mirio taunted. "You're energy attacks are pathetic."
Sorata's destructive energy blasted out of his hands with more power and grew even more dangerous.
"Oh? My bad.". While looking like an absolute menacing with a smirk on his face, he completed his sentence "I'll just keep throwing more power at you till you burn. How does that sound?"
Shinki tensed.
"Should we stop them?"
Ukina's eyes gleamed.
"No. The fight is just beginning."
NOTE TO READERS:
Some upcoming chapters will shift focus away from the main cast to introduce new villains. These segments will last for only two chapters. Thank you for your patience and support.