The silence in the warehouse was almost absolute, broken only by the soft sounds of the outside world — a bird chirping in the distance, the whisper of a breeze slipping through the cracks in the corroded ceiling, and the faint metallic creak of old structures touched by time.
Uzuki stood near the entrance, leaning against one of the rusted beams, arms crossed. His eyes slowly followed the sunlight streaming through the holes in the roof, casting golden rays on the dusty floor. The light moved slowly, as if it too were lost in thought.
And he… was lost in his own thoughts.
The escape from Tartarus still echoed in his mind like a nightmare in slow motion.
It wasn't just the chaos.
It wasn't just the screams.
It was the weight of his own actions.
"The destruction... the blood... the bodies torn apart by Yamato..."
He took a deep breath, trying to push the images away, but they always came back. They were etched into his memory like scars burned into flesh.
Escaping the world's most secure prison wasn't a small feat. He knew that.
But the impact it had caused...
The way the authorities were handling the situation...
It was disproportionate.
This wasn't just a normal manhunt.
It was a relentless pursuit.
Almost as if the entire world was trying to erase him.
And that made Uzuki's mind drift back in time, decades ago — to the dark alleys of Osaka, the silent contracts, the targets eliminated with surgical precision. Back then, he was a ghost. A name that struck fear through enemy ranks. A Yakuza assassin... ruthless, cold, efficient.
Back then, he also believed he would never be caught.
But now, something felt different.
Distorted.
"Am I... becoming that again?"
"Is that the fate that awaits me?"
The question weighed on his mind like a chain wrapped around his chest.
Logic pointed to yes.
During his escape, he had shown no mercy. He used the legendary blade Yamato to cut down guards, heroes, even other inmates. He unleashed the condemned souls from the Maximum Security Wing, releasing criminals whose names were forbidden to even be spoken.
He had done the unthinkable.
And yet, something was wrong.
There was another layer behind that manhunt.
That's when the memory hit him—hard.
The curse.
The greatest of all.
The Manipulator.
His body tensed. Uzuki's eyes lost focus for a moment, as his mind sank into that hidden truth.
Fate, like fabric, was woven by invisible threads. And that curse… was the one pulling them.
It controlled his path.
Molded his journey.
And always led him back to the same point: villainy.
It was like being trapped in a play where the script had already been written, and no matter how much he tried to improvise, he always ended up reciting the lines his role demanded.
And now, there, in that warehouse… faced with a silent choice… he felt the weight again.
"If I choose to fight against the Path of Villainy… then I'll probably have to let you go."
His gaze turned to Kaina.
She was still asleep in the driver's seat, her face serene, unaware of the storms raging inside him. There was something about her that made him hesitate. A bond. A reminder of the humanity he barely knew still existed within him.
Uzuki gave a faint, bitter smile.
"Hah… What a joke."
The words slipped out almost as a whisper.
But inside, he knew.
Some part of him had changed.
Or maybe… returned.
The cold heart of a killer was beginning to feel again.
"Is it because I'm in a younger body?"
He didn't know how to answer. Not with certainty.
But amidst the fragments of scrambled memory—glimpses of his past, memories of battles, blood, losses—there was one certainty: even before reincarnating, this body already looked far too young for his age. His body was a mystery, as if it had been preserved by something beyond logic.
Even though he was 35 now, he looked like he was in his early twenties.
Maybe the answer was tied to the curse. Maybe not.
He turned his gaze to Kaina, his eyes now softer.
He took a step toward her.
The air around him grew heavy, almost electric. A dark mist began to form around his eyes. His arm extended slowly, feeling the power pulse through him.
It was as if the Esoteric Power reacted to his emotional state, amplifying everything—desire, doubt, intent. The tension in the air was suffocating.
A choice was being formed.
His hand approached her face, each inch contested between impulse and self-control. The darkness grew, as if the universe held its breath, waiting for what would come next.
But then…
He stopped.
And in a sudden movement, he closed his hand tightly. His eyes shut.
The power ceased.
The dark mist dissipated.
The air returned to normal.
And in a firm, almost sorrowful tone, he muttered:
"Sorry... But I can't do this."
He stepped back.
Not like a coward.
But like someone who, even trapped on a path of destruction and darkness, was still able to say no.
Still able to resist.
"Hehehe!"
A strange and subtle sound cut through the warehouse's silence like a sharp blade slicing dense air. A low, almost whispered laugh echoed among the rusted metal structures and dust-covered pillars.
Kei Uzuki, who had remained focused until then, spun his body sharply around, his eyes narrowing like those of a predator on alert. His senses were heightened, and his breath paused slightly for a moment.
Nothing.
There was no one there. No visible presence. No perceptible energy.
"What was that?" Kei muttered, his voice muffled by his own suspicion. He raised a hand to his face, pressing his forehead hard, as if trying to push away the growing thought that was gnawing at him from within."I'm going crazy… That must be it…"
The silence returned, heavy, as if it wanted to crush reality itself around it.
...
While awaiting Kaina's awakening, Kei Uzuki remained still, but inside, something was flowing. Something immensely greater than what could be seen.
He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and allowed the Esoteric Power to circulate freely through his body. He felt it as a river of living energy, winding through his veins, entering muscles, bones, thoughts. A dense, mysterious, and vibrant power that responded directly to his will — or the absence of it.
It was a silent ritual he had been repeating day after day. And with it, his mastery grew. His control deepened. New manifestations emerged without him even needing to force them.
The idea of becoming more powerful crossed his mind for a brief moment. A natural desire, almost instinctive. But he quickly dismissed the thought as one would swat away an annoying fly.
He was already beyond. Far beyond.
Even among the strongest, Kei Uzuki was an anomaly. An outlier. He rivaled the Number 1 Hero effortlessly. And yet… the energy dwelling within him seemed to contain something more. Something that didn't belong to any known category of strength.
The Esoteric Power — he reflected — was like the dark matter of the cosmos itself. Invisible, misunderstood, yet fundamental. A primordial force that perhaps even preceded reality as we know it. The hidden source from which all other energies derived.
Kei slowly raised his hand.
In the next instant, the energy condensed in his palm as if responding to a silent call. A black, translucent, flickering sphere appeared, floating above his fingers. Inside it, brief flashes could be seen—like lightning crossing a night sky in slow motion.
He watched it for a moment… and then, the sphere vanished without a sound. It evaporated like smoke that had never truly been there.
Kei slightly rotated his wrist, and with a simple movement of his arm...
BOOM!
The impact was immediate. A muffled explosion reverberated through the warehouse. A massive hole burst open in the reinforced concrete wall, cracks radiating like spiderwebs from the point of impact. Shards of metal and stone flew in all directions, raising dust and letting the echo of destruction linger for several long seconds.
The direction of the explosion matched the gesture Kei had just made.
Silence once again.
Kei looked at his own hand, fingers still open, as if observing something sacred.
"Looks like there are no limits to this power..." he murmured, his voice laced with a cold, almost scientific curiosity. "I didn't even modify its properties to take on this attack form. It just... chose it on its own."
His gaze drifted into the void, as if seeking, beyond the walls of that world, the origin of it all.
"Looks like you came back."
The soft voice, though filled with relief, made Kei Uzuki turn around immediately. Emerging from the white Dodge STR, Kaina stepped out with firm strides. The pale glow of the moonlight touched her figure, revealing she was wearing a jacket slightly too big for her — his jacket.
There was something symbolic about that image. She seemed to have crossed worlds just to be there, wrapped in something that belonged to him.
"I'm glad you came back in one piece..." she said with a faint smile, though her eyes still carried traces of concern. "How did you find me?"
Uzuki scratched his head, walking slowly toward her, as if unsure whether he should be there or not.
"I used The One," he replied simply. "I acquired the power to teleport using something… or someone… as an anchor. You can probably guess the rest."
Kaina nodded slowly, crossing her arms and looking away for a brief moment, processing everything.
"I see..."
Uzuki let out a deep sigh, his shoulders slightly lower than usual.
"Sorry for waking you up like this..." he said, almost in a whisper. "I didn't want to do that."
She shrugged casually, trying to lighten the mood.
"It's okay. I probably would've woken up soon anyway."
But the way she said it… the heavy tone, as if something was caught in her throat… didn't go unnoticed. Uzuki watched her closely. He knew that feeling. That vibration echoing between nightmares and memories — guilt, maybe? Trauma?
The prison? The past?
He didn't ask. He just reflected in silence.
"I see..." he said, leaning against the car. The cold metal of the bodywork brought him back to reality. He crossed his arms and stared at the ground, as if searching it for answers the universe seemed to hide.
Kaina stared at him, confused. There was a curious glint in her eyes. Something was consuming him from the inside, and she knew it. But what?
"Kaina..." he began, finally breaking the heavy silence. "There are choices we have to make… and I've had to make many. Difficult ones. Some of them still haunt me to this day."
He looked up at her, directly, as if searching for confirmation of his own existence.
"One of them… is about what I should be. What I should do..." he continued, his voice growing deeper, firmer. "When I don't even know who Kei Uzuki is. All of this… has left me confused. Distrustful of myself."
He straightened up, still leaning on the car, and closed his eyes for a moment before finishing:
"My The One… it's not just a power. It's a reflection of me. Of something broken inside me. And maybe... maybe it's because I never really knew who I was. Because deep down..." He opened his eyes, now burning with a truth about to surface. "...I was never from this world."
Kaina blinked, stunned.
"Huh?"
"I'm from another world," he said with a coldness that silenced everything around them. Not even the crickets dared to continue the night's song. "I was a Yakuza assassin… in a world where there was no such thing as power. No magic. Just violence, death… and survival."
The air suddenly grew heavy, like an invisible hand pressing down on the chest of anyone present. Kaina's eyes widened, frozen from within. The words sounded far too absurd… but the tone, the gaze, the unspoken pain — all of it screamed the truth.
"And to prove I'm not lying..." Uzuki added, raising his right hand.
Esoteric energy shimmered like a dark aurora, alive and pulsing, filling his palm with a glow that seemed to come from outside reality.
Kaina did not flinch.
On the contrary... she took a step forward.
With a silent gesture of acceptance, she placed her hand on his.
In that instant, time seemed to slow down.
And then… everything came flooding back.
Memories. Fragments. Pain. Choices. Blood. A buried childhood. Betrayals. The first time he killed. The muffled sound of a gunshot. The silence after a murder. The rain washing the asphalt. One name being forgotten. Another being adopted. And then… the leap between worlds. The breaking of everything that was real. The birth of the Esoteric Power. And the void. The eternal void trying to be filled with purpose.
Kaina saw it all.
And when she came back to herself, her eyes shimmered with something new — understanding.
And something even deeper: empathy.