"Not all of us are what we seem. Sometimes, within a person lies an entire world filled with love, hate, and mystery." — K.K.
The armored Saito Corporation vehicle rumbled through Shibuya. Radio chatter and distant gunfire echoed around it.
Inside sat Orion Saito, director of Saito Corporation; his stoic assistant Igami; and two elite bodyguards personally chosen by him.
"Sir, we're detecting abnormal energy readings from Shibuya. Look," Igami said calmly, handing Orion a tablet.
Orion stared at the screen—two energy sources, glowing brighter by the second.
"Dammit," he muttered. "The city's in chaos, and we have two Catastrophe-class Remembrances right in the city center."
He knocked on the partition between cabin and driver.
"How long until we arrive?" he asked.
"About 15 minutes," came the reply.
"Go faster. We need to get there now."
"Yes, sir."
Orion tapped his thumb nervously on the tablet.
"One spark and Tokyo could vanish from the map," he whispered to Igami. "Who are these sources?"
Igami furrowed his brow.
"You know them well. One gives off that oppressive aura spreading through downtown Tokyo."
"Azrael," Orion whispered.
"Yes," Igami confirmed, "the other is coming from a Remembrance we know all too well."
He handed over a second tablet. Orion leaned in.
"Sakura no Kōdō. Seiji Hayashi—one of our best hunters."
"Why has Hayashi returned now?" Orion paused. "And why is he facing Azrael head on, unleashing Shiranui the Dire? That's suicide," he glanced at Igami. "Show me the cameras."
"Right away."
Igami switched from radar to live feed. Orion watched in silence, then exclaimed:
"Damn it, Seiji!"
On screen, Hayashi stood firm—and behind him, the massive fox.
"We need to be there in ten minutes, before he loses control," Orion said, striking the glass.
"Understood," the driver replied, flooring the accelerator.
One of the young guards—a white‑haired youth with heterochromia, one eye gold, one emerald—asked, voice tense:
"Sir Saito, why is this so critical? I've heard Hayashi is always in control of his Remembrance."
Orion's gaze turned icy.
"Tachibana, is it?"
The guard stiffened.
"Yes, sir."
"How many types of Remembrances do you know?"
Tachibana answered hesitatingly: "Innate, artificial, and latent."
"Correct," Orion said, glancing at Igami. "But what if I told you there's a fourth?"
The cabin fell silent.
"Conscious ones—those that live on their own. We call them Major Spirits and classify them."
He sighed deeply.
"Shiranui is not just a conscious Remembrance. It's a legacy of someone who feels human emotion and bonds only with the worthy."
He looked Tachibana straight in the eyes.
"How would you feel if an enemy struck down one of your comrades?"
"I'd want to kill them," she answered firmly.
Orion offered a grim smile.
"Exactly. If Hayashi dies, the fox will slaughter everyone. And what happens when a Catastrophe-class conscious Remembrance goes berserk?"
Tachibana and the other guard held their breath.
"Tokyo would become nothing but memory," Igami said, clenching his fist.
"We must move," Tachibana concluded.
Orion glanced out the window and murmured, "Let's hope we make it in time…"
He turned back and added, uneasily:
"Hayashi was the only one who treated Shiranui not as a Remembrance to be tamed, but as a friend… If he dies, it'll break its mind."
The jeep tore through the streets of Tokyo. Orion, Igami, Tachibana, and the silent guard had seconds to spare. The countdown had begun beneath a Tokyo rapidly unraveling.
---
Meanwhile, Azrael stood before the master and the impetuous creature. Behind them, Kairo still lay unconscious.
The Custodian of Oblivion studied Seiji, searching for any sign of weakness, but his concern was Shiranui—the dire fox—which he had overlooked.
"You were serious when you said you'd give me everything, weren't you?" he asked, fingers tracing his masked chin.
"You know as well as I do: that boy is the ultimate anomaly. He will destroy this world."
Hayashi stepped forward, his aura amplified by connection with Shiranui. Fiery petals whirled around him like razor-sharp blades.
The fox telepathically spoke to its friend:
"Hayashi, you know I can't maintain full power for long."
Hayashi smirked. "I know—and that's why I don't give a damn what he says."
Twisty and Elacrist remained silent. Shiranui's presence had stunned them into silence.
"So you'll help me, old fox?" Hayashi asked.
"Tsk! You think I'd abandon a friend? To the end, brother," the massive fox replied firmly.
Azrael sighed, eyes flicking from Shiranui to Hayashi.
"Well then. I see you won't yield." With that, his aura erupted, triggering a quake across Tokyo.
A violet miasma of hunger and greed spread from him, his blade glowing with dark intensity.
"If that's your answer, then I'll fight at full force too."
He raised his sword toward the semi-divine human.
"Come to me, crucial fragment—transform into an entity!"
The tremor cracked the ground and the sky darkened.
Hayashi remained stoic, a bead of cold sweat on his brow.
"So you're not a Spirit. You are a Remembrance-bearer," he stated.
Azrael smiled beneath his mask but continued the incantation:
"May you devour all into the eternal void, forging my power with your essence."
He ran his fingers along the blade.
"You shall be my key, sweet sword—Sephiroth. Aperture."
The sword responded: its light deepened, shifting from violet to black and dense.
"Come to me, devourer of worlds, devourer of dreams—BEELZEBUB, THE INSATIABLE!"
He pointed the blade skyward as a column of darkness descended behind him.
A frenzied, shapeless membrane began to form, writhing with inhuman cries—some begging for mercy, others for help.
Then, from it emerged a pitch-black serpent with flames for eyes, hissing at Hayashi and the fox.
Azrael assumed his stance.
"This will be your final battle, Seiji Hayashi."
D…
"We'll see about that, Azrael!"
The two conscious Remembrances roared in unison as their wielders squared off.
Hayashi cast one last glance at the still-unconscious Kairo and whispered—promiseful:
"I won't break my word. I'll protect your son, Kenji, at all costs."
He took a deep breath, locked eyes with Azrael, and surged forward to meet the attack.
---
To be continued…