ANTARA'S TOWN—CENTRE CITY.
The sun sinks behind Antara’s skyline.
Gold drains from glass towers. Evening gathers between buildings. The city exhales into shadow.
Inside Blue Whale's headquarters, Tanya hangs bound from a steel beam.
Rope bites into her wrists.
Her head droops forward, barely conscious.
In front of her stands the Tattooed Captain of the North.
His hook rests on his shoulder.
He looks bored.
Across the city, two figures race through the streets.
Their feet hammer pavement in sharp, relentless rhythm. Aura coils tightly around them — controlled, hardened, lethal.
Daisy slows first.
She glances east.
“The enemies are there.”
Mami does not turn.
“My target is ahead.”
She keeps walking.
Daisy tilts her head once — then dissolves. The air folds around her and seals.
Far away, Sonia stops mid-step.
The sky feels wrong.
Not darker.
Heavier.
Her pulse tightens.
Someone strong is disturbing the city’s aura.
She vanishes.
Space thins where she stood.
On another street, Johnny suddenly stops.
A vibration hums through his chest.
Not sound.
A pull.
He presses a hand to his heart and looks up.
Then he runs.
Inside the Blue Whale's mansion.
The Tattooed Captain stiffens.
Something approaches.
He steps outside.
And sees her.
Mami Shallow walks toward him without hurry.
Her eyes glow white — steady, controlled, like a blade held still before a strike.
He smirks.
“A receiver. I can tell from your eyes.”
Mami stops.
Behind him, Salion lies motionless on the pavement.
Her gaze shifts to the body.
He follows it.
Realization dawns.
“Oh,” he chuckles. “That one was yours? I was getting bored.”
Silence stretches.
Mami lifts a finger and points at him.
“So you’re the one.”
“Yes,” he replies casually. “And I expected better than children.”
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She smiles.
Not kindly.
His grin falters.
“You’re smiling?” he says. “You should be grieving.”
“Dogs like you,” she answers softly, “don’t understand grief.”
And then—
The air snaps.
They vanish.
Two streaks — white and red — rip through the evening sky.
Steel clashes.
Shockwaves crack windows.
They measure.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
Each strike rings through the block.
He accelerates — red aura flaring violently.
She matches him — white light tightening, sharpening.
He shifts tempo mid-swing.
She adjusts instantly.
They both land on the pavement.
He grins wider.
“Now this is interesting. Thank you for bringing a heavy tempo into the battlefield.”
“Fools like you think only of power and dominance. That’s all you know,” Mami says.
He chuckles.
“What is this cursed world worth if I don’t dominate it? If I don’t make others feel my tempo?”
He surges forward.
The hook descends.
She slips sideways, glove catching metal, redirecting it.
Counters.
Her fist grazes his jaw.
Not enough.
He dissolves and reappears above her.
The hook crashes down.
She vanishes.
The pavement explodes.
She reforms behind him.
He is already turning.
Too fast.
Too adaptive.
The hook curves in an impossible arc—
Steel bites into her arm.
Heat tears through muscle.
Blood splashes across stone.
Her knee hits the ground.
She glares. He's fast. An awkward rhythm. Hard to perceive.
He is already in front of her.
His leg slams into her ribs.
Stone shatters as she crashes through it.
Before dust settles, he closes again.
She vanishes.
A blue veil lingers where she stood — shimmering.
He swings through it.
Nothing.
His eyes lock. What's this?
She solidifies several feet away, breathing harder.
Glad I brought the perception blinder. He almost got me.
“That veil won’t save you forever,” he says.
She smiles. “It doesn’t have to.”
He attacks again.
Faster.
His fist breaks through her guard.
Her cheek whips sideways.
Another punch drives into her stomach.
She fades just in time—
Reappears—
He is already there.
The hook screams toward her chest.
She leaps back.
Enough.
Her palm opens.
A golden baseball bat forms in her hand.
His grin falters.
“What is that?”
"Heaven's wrath. It’s the size of two planets," her white eyes brighten more.
"What's more extraordinary is that it exists on the planet and in my possession."
The tattooed man laughs widely. “That thing? I can already measure its worth.”
Mami's lips curl. That's right.. love the ignorance.
She raises it.
The air bends.
Gravity leans toward her.
The street groans.
The bat expands.
Ten times larger.
The sky trembles beneath its weight.
Pressure crushes downward.
Even he feels it.
He lunges anyway.
She swings.
He ducks — barely — and shoots forward.
Gravity disrupts his footing.
She punches him mid-stumble.
He skids back, jaw bruised but intact.
He wipes blood from his lip.
“And you kept that hidden? Good.”
They clash again.
Hook against bat.
White and red colliding.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
A beat
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
The ground cracks.
She lunges.
Swings.
He fades, solidifies back.
In a heartbeat. She's in his face.
The bat approaching.
He backpedals fast.
She closes in. I need to end this fast.
He swings his Hook.
She Twist.
A red line blooms across her stomach.
Blood drips down.
She looks down on the blood. Eyes widen.
Damn. That was quick. Good timing.
His hook approaching now.
She retreats.
Her palm suddenly clamps onto the hook’s edge.
Silence.
Red aura flickers — suspended.
Time stalls.
She looks into his eyes.
“You slipped.”
A pause.
“The victory is mine.”
Time resumes.
She releases and backpedals instantly.
Her knee drops.
Blood pours from her arm. Ears, nose and mouth.
Her gaze dizzy.
He laughs.
“This hook isn’t some infant legend-class. And neither am I a baby class fighter. A receiver doesn’t control my hook so easily.”
He lunges.
I need to move fast..
She rises.
The hook slices toward her head.
Gone. The Veil appears.
The tattooed man glares. "This stupid Veil.. I'd have gotten her."
She solidifies inches away.
The tattooed man smirks. She's unstable.
Her boots keep a steady beat.
Retreating.
Calculating...
I need to tap in that hook fast.
He is in her face now.
Hook reaching for her chest.
Her eyes widen. This is my last chance.
She twists.
Palm shoots out fast, grabbing the Hook's edge.
Silence crashes down.
This time she taps fully in.
His overconfidence fractures.
Mami's lips curl. "The battlefield is cruel... only those who miscalculate fail."
Time resumes.
He hesitates—
She vanishes.
The hook clatters to the ground.
He advances, hand reaching for the hook—
Too late.
The blue veil appears, blinding his vision.
Behind him—
Heaven’s Wrath approaching, the bat crashes in.
The world bends.
Impact.
His body detonates.
Red aura flickers.
Gone.
Silence spreads across the street.
Mami kneels.
Blood pours from her mouth. That was a risky move. Lucky me. The moment I touched it, the hook bonded with my perception.
She stands.
Heaven’s Wrath shrinks to its original size. It fades.
The fallen hook lifts from the ground and floats into her palm, compressing under her control.
Her eyes flare brighter.
“What a fool,” she murmurs. “The world is already dark. Making it darker is pointless.”
Her fist closes.
“Silas… I’m coming.”
She turns.
Salion lies still.
Mami kneels beside her.
Touches her shoulder.
No response.
Her composure fractures.
A scream tears from her chest — raw, violent, unrestrained.
The wind carries it through Antara’s streets.
In the distance—
Johnny runs faster.
Sonia descends from the sky.
And far away, inside Mercury’s mansion—
The Alligator opens his eyes.
Something has shifted.
The battlefield is moving.
Nina appears like a ghost and kneels.
“Boss. No sign of that woman. I searched everywhere.”
The Alligator rises slowly.
“Rest.”
His gaze turns toward Antara.
I’ll have to enter the battlefield myself.
Inevitability settles in his eyes.
And this—
is only the beginning.
