Hikari's heart hammered against her ribs—not from the altitude or the mission, but from the warmth pressed against her back.
Every point of contact burned with awareness: Lila's arms wrapped around her waist, the soft press of her chest, the tickle of pink hair against her neck as the wind whipped around them.
Focus. You need to focus.
But the thought dissolved the moment Lila shifted, tightening her grip just slightly.
Hikari's concentration shattered.
Their flight path wobbled—a sudden dip that made her stomach lurch.
"Woah!" Hikari yelped, overcorrecting with a burst of telekinetic energy that sent them tilting sideways.
"Woah indeed," Lila's voice came right by her ear, warm breath ghosting across sensitive skin. "You should be more careful, ari-Chan. We're pretty high up~"
The teasing lilt in her tone made Hikari's face burn hotter than any psychic flame she'd ever conjured.
"Y-yeah, I guess we are..." Hikari steadied their flight, grateful Lila couldn't see her face right now. The city below blurred past—cars like toys, people like ants—but all she could think about was the girl holding onto her.
Her pulse thundered in her ears.
Just ask. Just... ask her.
"Lila, can I ask you something?"
A pause. Then, softer: "Anything."
Hikari took a shaky breath, the words catching in her throat. The wind seemed to quiet around them, as if the world itself was holding its breath.
"How do you... feel about dating a... girl?"
Silence.
For a moment, the only sound was the rush of air and the distant hum of the city below.
Then Lila's arms tensed around her waist.
"I um—" Lila's voice cracked slightly. "Well, y'know I never really aghm—I mean, I haven't exactly—"
Hikari could practically feel the heat radiating from Lila's face now, pressed against her shoulder blade.
"I... I never really thought of it?" The words tumbled out in a rush, each one more flustered than the last. "But I... wouldn't be... I mean, it's not like I'd be against—or whatever—I just—"
Lila was stammering. Lila never stammered.
A smile tugged at Hikari's lips despite the nervous flutter in her chest. She bit down on it, trying to keep her voice steady.
"Oh. Okay. Good to know~"
The teasing note in her own voice surprised her—when had she gotten brave enough for that?
Lila made a strangled sound that might have been protest or agreement, her grip tightening almost imperceptibly.
The moment shattered.
Lila’s psychic senses screamed a warning half a second too late. Something was coming. Fast. Too fast.
"Hikari, do you see that—"
The words died in Lila's throat.
FLASH!
A blur of motion tore through the air beside them. The shockwave hit like a physical wall, and Hikari felt something wrong wash over her skin. Not Aura. Not psychic energy. Something older. Darker.
Before either of them could react, ash gray hands clamped around their wrists with crushing force.
The world twisted.
Hikari's stomach lurched as they were yanked from the sky and hurled toward the cityscape below. Buildings rushed up to meet them at terminal velocity.
CRASH!
They hit the rooftop simultaneously, but the landings couldn't have been more different.
Lila's body slammed into the concrete with bone-jarring force. The impact didn't stop there. The rooftop gave way beneath her like paper, and she plunged through floor after floor in a cascade of shattering concrete and twisted rebar.
Each level she crashed through sent up clouds of dust and debris, the sounds of destruction echoing through the building's hollow skeleton.
Hikari, by contrast, twisted mid-fall. Years of martial arts training kicked in on pure instinct. Her body rotated, legs bending to absorb the shock, arms spreading to redistribute momentum.
She hit the rooftop hard enough to crack the concrete beneath her feet, but she stayed upright, skidding backward in a controlled slide that left twin furrows in the roof.
The difference was stark. Lila had raw power, devastating psychic abilities that could reshape battlefields. But Hikari had spent a decade learning how to fall, how to shift her weight, how to turn potentially lethal impacts into survivable ones. In that split second, muscle memory had saved her from Lila's fate.
Hikari's eyes blazed cyan as she straightened, psychic energy already crackling around her fists.
"Shit. What was that?" She spat blood, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Her ribs ached, but nothing felt broken. "Also, why am I always getting hit while in the air? Seriously, what is it with people and aerial ambushes?"
"Well, well, well."
The voice was smooth. Cultured. Almost polite.
Hikari's head snapped toward the source.
A figure stood at the far edge of the rooftop, silhouetted against the neon-soaked Tokyo skyline. As he stepped forward into the light, Hikari's breath caught.
His skin was dark ashen gray, threaded with faint crimson lines that pulsed rhythmically, like veins carrying molten lava instead of blood. The pattern was hypnotic, almost beautiful in its terrible symmetry. His eyes were the worst part.
Deep black sclera surrounding iridescent red pupils that seemed to pierce straight through her, seeing things she didn't want seen. Two short, jagged horns protruded from his forehead, catching the city lights and casting strange shadows across his face. His nails were sharp and claw-like, more weapon than hand.
His attire was a fusion of function and ritual. Battle-worn gear covered in intricate runes and symbols that seemed to writhe when she wasn't looking directly at them. Every piece of armor looked designed to amplify something dark and primal.
"You must be the psychic apostle my master told me about." His red eyes locked onto hers with unsettling intensity. "The one who's been causing so much trouble."
Hikari's stance shifted, weight distributing evenly. Her psychic energy hummed beneath her skin, ready to explode outward at a moment's notice.
"And you are?"
The figure's expression shifted into something that might have been amusement. Then, to her complete surprise, he performed a traditional Japanese bow. Perfect form. Respectful. Utterly incongruous with the violence he'd just unleashed.
"Oh, how rude of me. I didn't introduce myself." He straightened, that unsettling smile still playing at his lips and bowed in the traditional Japanese manner. "My name is KJ, the Demonic Heart of the Sect of Her Shadows."
Hikari's mind raced. The politeness was jarring, almost offensive given that he'd just thrown her and Lila through a building like discarded trash. But something else spiked through her thoughts, sharp and immediate.
He's bowing right now.
That gives me a chance.
Hikari exploded forward.
Her body became a blur of motion, psychic energy coating her fist in a crackling shell of cyan light. The distance between them evaporated in a heartbeat. She cocked her fist back, channeling every ounce of strength she could muster into a single devastating strike.
Her fist connected with something solid.
For a split second, she thought she'd hit him.
Then she looked closer.
Her fist had stopped against some kind of fleshy, glowing red shield. The surface rippled like disturbed water, absorbing the kinetic energy of her strike. The shield pulsed with the same crimson light as the veins beneath his skin.
The shield that definitely wasn't there two seconds ago.
"So that's the strength of an apostle." KJ's voice carried a note of genuine disappointment. "I'm actually quite disappointed. I expected more."
Time seemed to slow.
KJ's fist cocked back. Hikari saw it coming but couldn't move fast enough. The shield vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
His fist drove into her stomach like a freight train.
The impact was immense. Catastrophic. Hikari felt something inside her give way, felt blood surge up her throat. The force didn't just hurt. It ragdolled her, lifting her off her feet and sending her flying backward off the building's edge.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
The world spun. Sky and city traded places in a dizzying kaleidoscope.
KJ didn't hesitate. He ran off the building after her, his movements fluid and predatory.
Midfall, he raised both hands, palms open toward the sky.
Demonic energy coalesced between his fingers, solidifying into something massive. A war hammer materialized, forged from the same glowing red material as his shield. The weapon was enormous, easily six feet long, its head covered in wicked spikes and pulsing runes.
He executed a perfect front flip mid-air, the hammer arcing overhead with terrible momentum.
The weapon came down on Hikari in a devastating overhead strike.
CRACK!
The impact accelerated her descent exponentially. She became a meteor, plummeting toward the street below faster than gravity alone could pull her.
She hit the ground with a sound like thunder.
The concrete exploded outward in a massive crater, chunks of asphalt and debris flying in all directions. Car alarms shrieked. Windows shattered for blocks around.
Hikari lay at the center of the destruction, blood trickling from her mouth. Her entire body screamed in agony. Ribs definitely broken this time. Maybe her spine too. Neural Stitching was already working, but the pain was overwhelming.
"Holy... shit." She coughed, more blood spattering the cracked concrete. "Why was that punch so..." Another cough, wet and painful. "Strong? Also, it seems he can create weapons somehow."
She forced herself to move. Every muscle protested. Her psychic energy wrapped around her broken body like invisible hands, helping her pull herself out of the crater.
When she finally dragged herself to the edge, he was standing there.
Waiting.
KJ stood at the crater's rim, completely relaxed. Not even breathing hard. The war hammer had vanished, dismissed as easily as it had been summoned.
"It feels nice to finally meet someone else with an Authority."
Hikari tensed, psychic energy flaring defensively around her despite the pain. "An Authority? And I'm supposed to know what that is?"
"Ah, right." KJ tilted his head, those red eyes studying her with something that might have been curiosity. "I suppose you wouldn't know. Your education has been... lacking. But allow me to enlighten you."
He began to pace along the crater's edge, hands clasped behind his back like a professor delivering a lecture.
"Authorities are the embodiment of raw power, drawn directly from the unfathomable depths of the Abyssal Nexus. Unlike any other forces in this world, these abilities are not learned or acquired through study. They cannot be taught or transferred through training. They are inherited through blood, destiny, or the twisted whims of fate itself."
Hikari pulled herself fully out of the crater, standing on shaking legs. Her psychic energy worked overtime, knitting broken bones and ruptured organs back together. The pain was excruciating, but she forced herself to focus on his words.
"Only a select few are born with the potential to wield an Authority," KJ continued, his voice taking on an almost reverent quality. "And the abilities they inherit are as unpredictable as the Nexus itself. No two wielders of Authorities share the same powers, no matter how similar their circumstances may be. Each Authority is unique. Singular. Absolute in its domain."
He stopped pacing, turning to face her directly.
"However, those with enough control over their Authority can shape its form, tailoring its powers to suit their needs. At a great cost, of course. Nothing this powerful comes without sacrifice."
KJ's smile widened, revealing teeth that seemed just slightly too sharp.
"As an apostle, you inherently possess an Authority. For you specifically, that would be the Authority of Psionics. The power to manipulate reality through pure thought and will. Quite impressive, really. In theory."
Hikari's mind reeled. She'd thought her psychic abilities were part of her Aura, like what Katsuki and Lila had told her. A natural extension of her spiritual energy, something she'd developed and trained. But now this demon was telling her that her powers were something she'd inherited? Something tied to being an apostle?
The implications were staggering. If her psychic abilities weren't something she'd earned through training, then what did that mean about her identity? About who she really was?
But she couldn't afford to spiral right now. She needed information.
"So what's your Authority then?" The question came out rougher than she intended, her voice still raw from coughing up blood.
To her surprise, KJ answered without hesitation.
"My Authority is the Authority of the Demonic Heart." He raised one hand, and crimson energy swirled around his fingers like living flame. "I can harness demonic energy in its purest form, allowing me to unleash devastating attacks, bolster my physical abilities beyond mortal limits, and generate demonic constructs at will. The weapons you saw? Merely the simplest application of my power."
That explains the strength. That explains the weapons.
Hikari's tactical mind was already working, analyzing, looking for weaknesses. If he could create weapons and shields on demand, she'd need to overwhelm him with speed and unpredictability. Multiple angles of attack. Keep him from anticipating her moves.
But even as she strategized, she knew she was outmatched. That single punch had nearly killed her. If not for Neural Stitching, she'd still be lying broken in that crater.
"But enough chitchat." KJ's demeanor shifted. The polite lecturer vanished, replaced by something predatory. Hungry. Two dual daggers materialized in his hands, their blades gleaming with that same sickly red light. "My master ordered me to kill you on sight. Simple. Clean. Efficient."
He began walking toward her, each step deliberate and measured.
"But I want to test what you can do first. I want to see if you're worthy to wield that Authority. If the last descendant of the Orionis clan has any of the strength her ancestors were famous for."
Hikari's blood ran cold.
Orionis clan?
The name meant nothing to her. She'd never heard it before. But the way he said it, with that mixture of reverence and contempt, suggested it should mean something. That she should know what he was talking about.
Another piece of her past, hidden from her. Another secret about who she really was.
But there was no time to process it. KJ was moving now, closing the distance between them with terrifying speed.
"Let's see what the last descendant of the Orionis clan can do."
The daggers gleamed in the neon light.
Hikari's psychic energy exploded outward, cyan light blazing around her like a storm.
The real fight was about to begin.
Lila Kurata pulled herself from the rubble, concrete dust cascading off her shoulders like gray snow. Ten floors. She'd been sent through ten goddamn floors.
Her fingers found purchase on twisted rebar. She hauled herself upward, muscles screaming protest. The world tilted, then steadied.
"Ah, my head..." She rolled her shoulders, joints popping in sequence. The pain was distant, manageable. Her psychic barriers had absorbed most of the impact, but the disorientation lingered like static in her skull.
She blinked, surveying her surroundings.
An abandoned mall stretched before her, vast and hollow. Storefronts gaped like empty eye sockets, their windows intact but dark. Escalators frozen mid-ascent. A fountain in the center, dry but clean. No graffiti. No structural decay. Just... absence.
Recent abandonment. Months, maybe a year at most.
The air tasted wrong. Sterile. Like someone had scrubbed away every trace of human presence but left the architecture as a monument to what once was.
"I wonder what threw us." The words echoed too loudly in the silence. She tested her weight, confirming nothing was broken. "Anyways, I should probably regroup with Hikari."
The thought of Hikari sent a spike of urgency through her chest. Was she okay? Had she landed somewhere safer? Was she fighting alone right now?
Lila started toward the main foyer, her footsteps too loud against polished tile that shouldn't still be polished after months of neglect.
Then she heard it.
Footsteps.
Not hers.
Heavier. Purposeful. Predatory.
Her hands moved on instinct. Cyan light erupted from her palms, coalescing into solid form. Two battle axes materialized, their edges humming with psychic energy, the weight familiar and comforting in her grip.
"Who's there?" Her voice carried the edge of someone who'd fought too many battles to be caught off guard.
The footsteps grew closer. Louder. Each impact deliberate, measured, like a countdown.
Then the figure emerged from the shadows between storefronts.
A woman.
Petite, barely five-foot-four, but the way she moved made her seem larger. Dangerous. Her build was lithe, compact muscle wrapped in pale skin that seemed to drink in the dim light. Jet-black hair fell to her shoulders in wild, untamed waves, crimson streaks cutting through the darkness like fresh wounds. Her eyes burned ember-orange, glowing faintly in the gloom, pupils too narrow, too focused.
Scars lined her arms and neck. Not the clean surgical kind. These were jagged, violent, the remnants of something that had torn into her and left her changed.
The woman's lips peeled back.
A growl rumbled from her throat, low and guttural, more animal than human.
"You..." Her voice was rough, scraped raw. "Smell like a fox."
Lila's grip tightened on her axes. "What?"
No explanation came.
The woman exploded forward.
CRACK!
The impact drove Lila backward, her boots skidding across tile. The woman had closed the distance in a heartbeat, tackling her with force that shouldn't have been possible from that frame.
They hit the wall. Hard.
The woman's fist drove into Lila's stomach.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Each blow landed with supernatural strength, forcing air from Lila's lungs in sharp gasps. Her psychic barriers flickered, absorbing what they could, but the sheer ferocity overwhelmed her defenses.
The woman's hand clamped around Lila's face, fingers digging into her cheeks.
Then she slammed her down.
The floor cracked beneath Lila's back. Pain exploded through her spine, white-hot and immediate.
"I hate foxes." The woman loomed over her, eyes blazing with feral intensity. "And you are an apostle to Tsukihana, the one that created those damn kitsune."
Lila's mind raced through the pain. Kitsune? Tsukihana? What was this woman talking about?
"Kitsune?" She forced the words out. "Like the fox spirits?"
"What else..." The woman's forearms began to swell, muscles bulging beneath scarred skin. Her fingers elongated, nails sharpening into claws that gleamed in the dim light. "Would I be talking about?"
She grabbed Lila by the collar and hurled her across the mall.
Lila's body became a projectile. She crashed through a storefront window, glass exploding around her, tumbled through displays of mannequins frozen in outdated fashion, and slammed into the back wall hard enough to crater the drywall.
She lay there for a moment, tasting copper.
The woman's voice carried across the distance, sing-song and wrong. "You exorcists are incredibly dumb. Buuuut..." A pause, pregnant with anticipation. "I can't wait to tear your flesh from your bones."
The last word stretched out, almost affectionate, like she was savoring the promise of violence.
Lila pushed herself up, spitting blood. Her ribs ached but nothing felt broken. Her psychic energy flared, knitting minor injuries, reinforcing her body against further damage.
"Well that's just plain creepy." She raised both hands, palms open, fingers spread wide.
Cyan light gathered between her palms, building, intensifying, until the air itself seemed to vibrate with contained power.
She released it.
BOOM!
The psychic blast tore through the mall like a tidal wave of pure force. It caught the woman mid-stride, lifting her off her feet, sending her ragdolling backward through the air. She crashed through the entrance of another store, disappearing into darkness.
Silence.
Lila didn't wait to see if it had worked. "Gotta regroup with Hikari."
She turned toward the exit, legs pumping, psychic energy already gathering for another barrier in case—
Rumbling.
Deep. Resonant. The entire mall shook.
Lila's heart sank.
"You should know..." The voice came from within the store, distorted now, deeper, layered with something inhuman. "To never turn your back on an enemy..."
The storefront exploded outward.
Not collapsed. Exploded. As if something inside had detonated with enough force to obliterate concrete and steel.
The figure that emerged was not the same woman.
She stood taller now, nearly seven feet, her frame swollen with muscle that rippled beneath skin stretched too tight. Obsidian fur covered her arms and legs, crimson undertones pulsing like veins of molten rock. Her face had elongated into something between wolf and demon, a twisted snout filled with fangs that gleamed wet and sharp. Her eyes burned pure red, no whites, no iris, just hellfire given form.
Patches of fur emerged along her neck and shoulders. Her hands had become claws, each finger tipped with talons that could rend steel. Her legs bent wrong, digitigrade, built for explosive speed and devastating power.
Jagged cracks ran along her exposed skin, seeping black and red mist that coiled around her like living smoke.
The air around her shimmered with heat. The floor beneath her feet blackened, tiles cracking and smoking.
"Till you're sure they're dead."
Lila's breath caught.
Hybrid.
Of course it was a hybrid.
She sighed, letting her axes dissolve and reforming them larger, heavier, more solid. Her psychic energy flared around her like a storm, cyan light pushing back against the oppressive heat radiating from the creature before her.
"Of course I'm fighting a hybrid."
The woman tilted her head, the gesture almost playful despite the monstrous form. "Oh how rude of me." She took a step forward.
The entire mall rattled.
Another step.
The fountain in the center cracked down the middle.
"I didn't introduce myself."
She was close now, close enough that Lila could see the embers drifting off her body, could smell the sulfur and ash, could feel the wrongness of her existence pressing against reality itself.
The woman's lips peeled back in something that might have been a smile if it weren't so full of teeth.
"I am Kaida Tsukino..." Her voice dropped to a purr, predatory and delighted. "The Hound of Vengeance of the Sect of Her Shadows."
The title hung in the air like a curse.
Lila's grip tightened on her axes. Her mind raced through tactical options, calculating distances, analyzing weaknesses, preparing contingencies.
But beneath the strategy, beneath the combat readiness, a single thought pulsed with uncomfortable clarity:
This is going to hurt.
To be continued...
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