Three weeks had passed since the assassination exams. The battles—Kojin and Ranpo versus Ukina, and Tomoa and Levi against Kenji—had ended, but something bigger was on the horizon.
Standing on a large platform on the balcony of the lords office, Kojin made a public declaration. His voice boomed across the crowd gathered before him.
"There's been a force moving in the shadows… a group responsible for the chaos and mishappenings that have plagued our city."
He held up a photograph of a man with sharp eyes and a sinister expression.
"This man is Shinki. He's a member of the organization known as Dark Sign. Out of all their members… he's the deadliest. We also have more footages of the members of the dark signs". The giant screen behind him showed footages of Sorata, Kenji and Garou.
The crowd stirred in fear and confusion as Kojin continued warning them, urging everyone to be wary.
Meanwhile…
Alex was at home, lazily munching on a bowl of cereal. Still in his pajamas, he gave no care to the outside world at the moment. After finishing his cereal, he strolled to the bathroom, took a warm shower, then collapsed onto his bed, a manga volume in hand.
Just as he flipped a page, the doorbell rang.
"Ugh… who the heck is that?" he groaned, dragging himself toward the door. "It better not be kinto again. For the past two weeks after the exams, he's been using me as his test dummy for his new explosives. If it were to be him this time I swear..."
He opened the door.
"SURPRISE!!" Raquel shouted gleefully, leaping into his arms.
Alex was momentarily stunned. "H-Hey Raquel. What are you doing here?!"
"I just wanted to thank you!" she beamed. "You beat Mori in the assassination exam and stood up for me. You were amazing!"
She practically sparkled with excitement.
"Also, guess what? You came in second place in the assassination exams!"
Alex blinked. "Second…? Wait, what do you mean 'second'?"
"The results came out two weeks ago!" she laughed. "I forgot to tell you."
Confused and a bit agitated, Alex asked, "Okay. So… who came in first?"
Raquel tilted her head, thinking. "Uhh… oh yeah! Kazuki. Yeah, Kazuki came in first. You came in second. And Kinto came in third"
Alex froze.
"KAZUKI!? HOW THE FUCK.....?!"
He screamed internally. "HOW THE HELL DID HE GET FIRST PLACE!?!"
Taking a deep breath, he glanced at Raquel's bags by her side.
"Wait a sec… what's with the luggage?"
Raquel blushed slightly, lowering her head a bit.
"Well… since you stood up for me and were nice enough to be my friend, I thought maybe… I could stay with you for a while?"
Alex paused. His imagination took over—images of him and Raquel half-naked in the bathroom flashing through his mind. A devilish grin crept across his face.
"You're more than welcome to stay… as long as you want." He said with a straight face while hiding his internal excitement.
"Yay!!" Raquel jumped on him excitedly. "We're gonna make such great roommates!". Alex tilted his head with a wierd smile "Yeah, roommates." He thought to himself "More like fucking partners"
Later that day…
In a quiet valley, Kazuki stood before Diablo.
"So… what did you want to tell me?" Kazuki asked.
Diablo smirked.
"It's time I debunked your strength."
Kazuki raised a brow. "Debunked? What's that?"
"Yeah. Debunking is just a way of explaining how powerful one person is." Diablo said casually. "You've grown since the exams and the missions. You're currently at C-rank which is impressive considering you just started this journey of soldiers and assassins a few months ago."
Kazuki blinked. "I dont know where this is going"
Diablo grinned. "There are six power ranks—D, C, B, A, S, and God-level."
He broke it down:
D-rank: They are people who can destroy a building at minimum, and a city block at maximum.
C-rank: Can destroy multiple city blocks up to an entire city.
B-rank: Can produce power enough to wipe out a city at least, and can destroy mountains at max.
A-rank: They have mountain to country-levels of power.
S-rank: Can destroy half a planet or the entire planet.(He started to think of a lady with pink hair with a teasing smile). Shit, I just remembered her.
God-level: Can wipe out planets and even entire universes. But that's unimportant right now.
"So yeah, you're currently strong enough to probably level the city if you wanted, but there are levels to it. Aside from power, your speec determines your rank. For instance, D-ranks can move at wind to sound speeds. C-ranks can move hundreds of times that if sound, they can even reach lightning levels of speed when pushex hard enough, same thing goes for B and A-ranks. S-ranks are on a different level tho."
Kazuki looked overwhelmed. "That's… a lot to take in, seriously.". Diablo had a wierd smile on his face "Ah, his brain isn't braining anymore."
Diablo patted his shoulder.
"You've done well, Kazuki. I'm proud of you."
Kazuki smiled. "Thanks. It's all because of you."
But Diablo wasn't done.
"Also… Alex is at C-rank too, he and the rest of the squad. And just so you know, the gap between you two in the exams was barely anything. You only managed to get first place above him by a small margin."
Kazuki's face changed to that of an unimpressed and depressing look "Should have known. TCH!", he muttered. Diablo said to him with a teasing smirk "Dont get too bitter now." Kazuki smirked "It doesn't matter. No matter what happens, there's no way I'm letting Alex get ahead of me."
Diablo nodded "Okay then, continue to train harder then!"
"Before I go… there's one more thing I need to do."
"What is it?" Kazuki asked.
"Close your eyes." Diablo said.
Kazuki obeyed. Diablo tapped his forehead.
Kazuki suddenly saw a vision of himself in the future—older, with two swords in hand. One was made of purple lightning, the other purple flames. Around his neck swirled a scarf made of glowing purple energy and what seems to be like dragons made from purple energy were swearling around him.
"You can open your eyes now." Diablo commanded.
"What was that about?" Kazuki asked while being slightly annoyed.
"I drew on your face." Diablo replied with a playful smile.
"Wait—WHAT?!" Kazuki exclaimed.
Kazuki looked at his reflection in the river—his face was covered in a clown doodle. He rubbed at his cheeks in frustration as Diablo laughed.
"You'll be strong one day, Kazuki… I can't wait to see what kind of future you carve."
Diablo looked toward the sky.
"Alex… what about your future?"
That night…
Alex was in the shower, sighing with satisfaction.
"Man… I had way too much fun today."
He stepped out, changed into his pajamas, and plopped onto his bed—only to feel something soft beneath him.
"Hm…?"
"Are you that eager already?" Raquel's voice teased.
Alex blinked and realized… he was squeezing her breast.
"W-Wait—I didn't mean to! But damn, it feels so—"
Raquel climbed on top of him.
"If my boobs feel good… how about a kiss?"
She leaned in and kissed him. Alex melted into it, the moment growing more intense.
That's when—CLANK—the window opened.
"Hey, Alex! I got some good new—"
Kinto paused mid-sentence, seeing the two locked in a kiss.
Alex broke it off with a tired look.
"What is it now Kinto?"
Kinto slowly backed away, awkwardly grinning.
"Uhh… nothing. I'll tell you tomorrow. Continue with your baby making.."
Alex muttered with slight annoyance "Tch. What a way to spoil the mood."
Kinto disappeared into the night.
Elsewhere, on a rooftop across the city…
Shinki stood, his red cape fluttering in the wind. His eyes were locked on Alex's house. A chilling silence surrounded him "I feel bad really. Taking the life of a kid who has a good talents and a promising future. But a mission is a mission. Whether you're In the wrong or on the right!"
The calm before the storm.
End of Episode.