The night was thick with tension. On the rooftop of the scorched high-rise, the stars were hidden behind dark clouds, flickering like embers ready to fall. The city below burned faintly, a reflection of the chaos they had endured.
Ash stood alone, his coat fluttering in the wind, katana sheathed, eyes narrowed.
Then—
Clack.
A heavy boot echoed on concrete.
From the shadows stepped a tall, lean figure cloaked in midnight armor. His eyes glowed crimson, and a cruel smirk crossed his face.
"You're Ash… the one who killed Isamu."
Ash didn't move. His voice was cold. "And you must be the Third Elite."
The elite spread his arms wide. "Call me Kuro."
Without warning—Kuro vanished.
Ash barely ducked. A blade scraped past his cheek. Ash countered with a spinning slash—clang! Their swords clashed, sparks flying.
Kuro smirked mid-air. "Faster than I expected."
Ash said nothing. His sword glowed faintly, charged with elemental energy.
They both leapt—the rooftop cracked under the force. Metal beams screeched. In an instant, they exchanged twenty strikes, each one ringing louder than the last.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Kuro spun and kicked Ash backward into a steel vent, denting it.
Ash winced, eyes narrowed. "You use shadows."
Kuro raised a hand. The area around them darkened—shadow clones emerged, circling Ash.
"This is the battlefield of assassins. Your light means nothing here."
Ash closed his eyes for a moment. Then opened them—they gleamed with lightning.
"Then I'll burn your shadows."
With a yell, he exploded with speed, dashing through the clones in a blur—each one sliced, dispelled.
Kuro appeared behind him, but Ash had already turned, parrying the incoming strike.
"Storm Step!"
Ash vanished mid-air, reappearing above, his blade surging with blue lightning.
"Thunder Fang Slash!"
He came down like a bolt of wrathful lightning.
BOOM!
The entire rooftop shook. A crater formed where Kuro stood.
But—
He wasn't there.
From below the rooftop, Kuro rose up, arm bleeding, grinning.
"Impressive. But now… no more games."
He took off his mask.
Ash's eyes widened.
He had no mouth. No nose. Only cursed markings.
Kuro raised both hands. The clouds above began to spiral.
"I am the Abyss Tongue. Born in darkness. Let me show you what true silence means."
From his hands, a dome of soundless energy spread out—nullifying noise, magic, light itself.
Ash found his body slower, duller.
Kuro appeared beside him and stabbed through his shoulder.
Ash gritted his teeth but didn't scream.
He spun, blood trailing, and kicked Kuro into a chimney, then leapt back, hand over his wound.
"You want silence? Fine."
Ash unsheathed his second sword—a blade of pure energy, glowing white.
"Let's speak in blade."
They clashed again.
This time faster. More brutal. No words. Just willpower and fury.
Steel tore air. Concrete shattered.
Ash combined lightning and wind—flashes of storms followed his every step. Kuro manipulated shadows—snakes of darkness trying to wrap Ash's legs, his throat.
Ash cut through every one.
Kuro: "You think you're righteous?"
Ash: "I don't care what I am."
CLANG!
Their final clash cracked both swords.
Ash dropped to one knee, panting.
Kuro stood, coughing blood.
"You're finished."
But Ash whispered, hand glowing.
"Final Surge: Heaven Cutter."
His katana reformed—longer, brighter, brighter than lightning itself.
He slashed once.
A line of light split the rooftop. Kuro's eyes widened.
Too fast. Too final.
SHHHHNK.
Kuro fell, coughing blood, a wide gash across his chest.
He looked at Ash, smiling bitterly. "Heh… maybe we're not that different."
Ash stared at him, expression unreadable. Then turned, walking away as Kuro collapsed behind him.
The rooftop was silent once again.
But the war was far from over.
Ash turned to walk away.
But behind him—a chilling click.
He froze.
Kuro, lying in a pool of his own blood, grinned manically, blood running down his chin. His hand shook as it reached into his armor, pulling out a black metallic syringe etched with runes.
"Gate... Unlock."
He stabbed the needle into his neck.
"NO!" Ash spun around—
But it was too late.
The moment the drug entered Kuro's system, the entire rooftop vibrated.
Dark crimson energy exploded from his body like a demonic storm. The cracked concrete began to float. The shadows around them screamed as if alive.
Ash's instincts flared—danger.
Kuro's pupils turned to slits. His muscles pulsed unnaturally, his arms surged with veins of black fire. His wounds closed in seconds.
"You should've killed me when you had the chance, Ash."
His voice echoed, layered, like many demons whispering at once.
"What the hell did you inject…?" Ash asked, gripping his blade tighter.
"A gift. From the God of Rot. Gate—a forbidden enhancer, sealed after destroying an entire city. But I'm no coward like Isamu. I will use whatever it takes."
In an instant, Kuro vanished.
BOOM!
A punch smashed into Ash's gut, sending him flying through a rooftop vent and into a metal beam.
Ash coughed blood, stumbling back to his feet.
Kuro followed, each step causing the air to warp. His speed had tripled. His strikes were like a berserker's fury now—unrefined but devastating.
They clashed again.
Ash slashed with storm-light precision—
Kuro blocked with raw force, grabbing Ash's blade with his bare hand and snapping it in two.
Ash's eyes widened.
"He's stronger than before. I can't fight him head-on anymore."
He ducked under a sweeping kick, backflipped, and conjured a wind barrier, but Kuro shattered it with a punch, then grabbed Ash mid-air and slammed him into the rooftop with a thunderous quake.
Ash screamed. Blood poured from his mouth.
"You were so confident earlier. Where is that now, hero?"
Ash gritted his teeth. With his remaining blade, he pierced Kuro's thigh, but the elite didn't flinch. He grinned, grabbed Ash's face, and hurled him across the rooftop like a ragdoll.
The building creaked.
Ash rolled, barely landing on one knee, vision blurry.
"This power... it's inhuman…"
Kuro stalked forward, dragging his blackened sword behind him like a predator. "This is war, Ash. There's no room for mercy or limits."
Ash tried to rise again. His entire body screamed in protest.
Suddenly—
"I'm not done."
Ash focused his magic into his palm, forming a compressed bolt of lightning.
"Flash Pulse!"
He threw it at the ground—BANG!
A blinding explosion of light.
Kuro shielded his eyes for a moment.
Ash used that instant to launch himself upward—
He channeled everything left into his blade, using wind magic to double his strike speed.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
A flurry of rapid cuts rained down—
But Kuro caught the final slash with his bare arm.
Snap.
Ash's blade shattered completely.
Kuro punched Ash in the chest, cracking his ribs.
Ash was sent flying—crashing into the edge of the rooftop, barely hanging on.
Kuro walked slowly, face emotionless now. A god of death.
"You lose."
Ash, bleeding, looked up. "Not… yet."
With his last breath of strength, Ash whispered a code into his communicator.
"Naoto… if I fall here… tell them…"
BOOM!
Kuro struck one last time—
Ash's body disappeared in a flash of teleport magic.
Smoke rose from the rooftop.
Kuro stood alone, panting.
He dropped to one knee, gripping his heart—the drug was taking its toll. His blood turned darker.
"That fool… ran away? No…"
He looked up at the sky.
Rain began to drizzle. The rooftop was cracked, scorched with magic, and smeared with blood. Ash coughed as he limped across the broken ground, his ribs cracked, body aching from the savage beating he had taken from Kuro.
The teleportation spell had barely saved his life.
His boots crunched over shattered debris. His breath was shaky, but something shimmered in the corner of his eye—a small black cylinder rolling slowly near the edge of the roof.
Ash narrowed his gaze.
He crouched and picked it up carefully. It was cold to the touch. Smooth. Etched with red runes.
A label barely scratched into the metal read:
"GATE – Dose #13 – Forbidden Use Only. Property of Hero Hunter Division."
Ash's grip tightened.
This… this is what gave Kuro that power.
The vial pulsed slightly in his hand, as if alive.
"He dropped it during the fight… one of them wasn't used."
He remembered how the moment Kuro stabbed it into his neck, everything changed.
That inhuman speed. That monstrous power.
Ash stared at the vial.
A part of him—deep inside—whispered:
You could use it. Become stronger. Protect them. Save your team. Kill them all if needed.
He clenched his fist.
"No."
He reached for his communicator.
"Naoto. It's Ash. I found something..."
Static.
He looked again at the vial. So small. So deadly.
Ash pulled out a magic containment seal from his gear pouch and wrapped the vial inside, locking it in a reinforced metal box with an elemental lock.
"You'll never be used again."
But as he turned to leave, he paused.
And looked over his shoulder toward the dark rooftops in the distance.
Kuro had changed. The drug worked. And this war was only beginning.
Ash whispered to himself, barely audible through the wind and rain.