"This is stupid," he muttered under his breath. He adjusted his baseball cap on his head and looked at where they had come from.
"Eldrin's temple was all about inner peace. This? This is about not getting skewered by rogue Game Borns or worse. And finding a super-ninja. How hard can it be? Just listen for the faint whispers of paranoia and the scent of urban decay. Piece of cake."
He adjusted the mask covering the lower half of his face, a habit now, a second skin.
He had left Eldrin's sanctuary with a fragile sense of hope.
The Heart of the Eclipse felt subdued, a quiescent beast rather than a thrashing terror.
But the return to the place had been a jarring shift. The city, once a vibrant tapestry of life, now felt… brittle.
A constant hum of anxiety vibrated through the air. Graffiti of strange creatures marked the walls.
News feeds on public screens showed headlines about "unprecedented energy surges" in unexpected places.
Elara walked beside him, her soft blue aura a stark contrast to his own subdued darkness. She moved with surprising strength.
Her gentle healing powers were now focused on sensing disruptions in the city's flow.
"So, your system… it just tells you where the 'Shadowblade' types hang out?" Elara asked, her brow furrowed as she scanned the grimy walls of a forgotten textile factory.
Kenji shrugged, his gaze sweeping over the labyrinthine complex. "Not exactly. But it flags unusual energy signatures. This one is… erratic. Like someone constantly trying to erase their presence. And this area… old factories, crumbling infrastructure, tons of blind spots. Classic Rogue territory." He felt a flicker of grim satisfaction.
He knew these places. He'd played in them. He'd hidden in them.
They moved through the skeletal remains of the industrial area. It was a maze of rusting gantries and crumbling brickwork.
The air grew heavy with the scent of stagnant water and old machinery. Kenji spotted a faint energy trail.
It was too subtle for regular Game Borns and too precise for random Awakened.
"Over here," Kenji said, pointing to a narrow space between two giant, quiet machines. "Fresh trail. Very fresh."
Suddenly, the ground beneath them rippled. Cracks spread like spiderwebs on the concrete.
A sickly green mist started to seep from these gaps. From the mist, distorted, fleshy tendrils began to writhe upwards. Minor Corruption.
Elara gasped, her blue light flaring instinctively. "More of them! They're getting closer to the city centre!"
"Stand back!" Kenji commanded, his voice sharp. He wouldn't risk Elara. He focused on his internal control.
He channeled power not just for destruction, but for containment. Shadowfang materialized in his hand, a violet blur against the decaying concrete.
The tendrils lunged, surprisingly fast. Kenji moved like a dark current, too fluid for their clumsy strikes. He didn't waste energy.
He used precise Dark Slashes, severing the tendrils, making them recoil and dissolve.
But one, bigger and thicker than the rest, coiled around a weak support beam, trying to drag it down onto Elara.
"Elara, look out!" Kenji yelled. He lunged, a desperate Shadow Step putting him directly in front of the collapsing beam.
He activated Abyssal Shield, a shimmer of dark energy flaring to life just as the beam impacted.
The force shook him, sending vibrations through his arms. The shield held strong, deflecting the debris.
Elara reacted instantly. As the beam bent, she fired a strong burst of Lumina energy at the thick tendril still on the ground.
The blue light pulsed, not destroying, but purifying. The tendril shrieked, recoiled, and withered into dust.
His system flickered, showing a spike from the close call. Then, it quickly settled back to 5% as he kept control. He glanced at Elara, who was breathing hard, her light dimming slightly.
"You're good," Kenji said, a genuine note of appreciation in his voice. "Better than I thought."
Elara managed a weak smile. "You're… terrifyingly efficient. And your shield held. Thought it would tear you apart."
"The training with Eldrin helped," Kenji replied, already looking ahead. The corruption was dealt with, but their quarry might have heard the commotion.
"Come on. Our 'ghost' probably just has got a very loud warning."
They started their hunt again, tracking the strange energy signature. It led them through a maze of rusting pipes and old machinery.
The sun started to set, casting long shadows. Kenji quickly used them to his advantage.
They finally caught their target in a car park, with concrete levels rising into the twilight.
The energy signature was here, strong and agitated.
As they ascended the ramps, they heard a sudden thud, followed by a faint whirring sound.
A figure in dark, tight gear zoomed by on a custom hoverboard, vanishing into the shadows above.
"Well, that's subtle," Elara muttered, staring after the blur.
"He's fast," Kenji acknowledged, already calculating his next move. "But I'm faster."
Shadow Step! Kenji materialized on the level above, cutting off the rogue's escape.
The figure, a young man with sharp, intelligent eyes, spun, his hands darting.
A flash of light and a blinding flare erupted from his palm, dazzling Kenji. He recoiled, his vision momentarily compromised. When he recovered, the rogue had gone, leaving only the faint scent of ozone.
"Damn!" Kenji cursed, rubbing his eyes. "Light-based distraction tech. Clever."
"He used the environment, too," Elara observed, catching up.
"The glare off the concrete, the shadows of the cars. He's good."
The hunt turned into a high-stakes game of cat and mouse. The rogue, nimble and resourceful, used the car park to his full advantage.
He dropped smoke bombs, turned off the lights, and set up small, harmless electrical traps. These traps crackled as Kenji dodged them. Kenji used quick Shadow Steps.
He predicted the rogue's moves, pushing him higher and higher.
Elara used her light-sensing skill to follow the rogue's energy signature in the dark. She called out his locations as she tracked him.
"He's on the roof! West side!" Elara shouted, her voice echoing.
Kenji burst onto the rooftop, the rogue, Kaito, a silhouette against the purpling sky.
He stood poised on the edge, ready to leap to a neighboring building.
"Who are you people?!" Kaito snarled, his eyes narrowed, his body coiled for escape.
"You with the Enforcers? Or worse, one of those… things?" He gestured vaguely at Kenji's dark form.
Kenji raised his hands, showing he was unarmed.
"We're not with the Enforcers. We're here because we need you. This isn't about gangs or turf wars anymore, Kaito. This is about Noxius. And he's coming for everyone."
Kaito scoffed.
"Noxius? That's just a bedtime story for Game Borns! A boogeyman to keep players in line." He shifted, looking for an opening.
"It's not a story," Kenji countered, his voice firm, unwavering. He pulled down his mask slowly, showing his face.
Then, he raised his hand to reveal the Shadow Brand, which pulsed faintly.
"This isn't a game, Kaito. I'm a vessel for the Heart of the Eclipse. And the Blight is real. It's spreading. It's why that tree was dying. It's why the Enforcers are losing control. It's why you're hiding."
Kaito's eyes widened. He felt disbelief mix with a touch of fear as he saw the Shadow Brand.
He glanced at Elara, whose kind but firm expression seemed to confirm Kenji's wild claim.
"A vessel… for the Blight?" Kaito whispered, his cockiness replaced by genuine shock.
"That's… that's impossible. Only in the deepest lore…"
"It's happening," Elara interjected, her voice gentle but firm.
"I'm a Lumina. My powers are weak, but I can feel the corruption growing. He saved me from a blighted creature. And he's trying to contain the Heart of the Eclipse himself. He's risking everything."
Kaito glanced from Kenji's determined face to the damaged skyline of the city.
Then, he looked back at the two strange figures in front of him: the dark-wielder and the light-healer.
He took a deep breath, a shudder running through him.
"Alright. Fine. You're crazy. Both of you. A walking darkness and a healer who can barely spark a glow stick. But crazy looks like the only option left. What do you need me for?"
Kenji felt a surge of relief, a fragile spark of triumph.
"Your agility, your knowledge of this city's hidden paths, your tech. You're our eyes and ears. Our way in, and our way out."
He pulled up his system.
A new, ominous red marker appeared, pulsing softly above a dark district.
A major Corruption node, far larger than anything he'd encountered before.
"This is just the beginning," Kenji said, looking at Elara, then at Kaito.
"The city is dying. And we're going to stop it. Together. Our first real mission. A full-blown Corruption node. Are you with us?"
Elara stepped forward, her light subtly flaring, a silent testament to her commitment. Kaito looked at the blighted skyline, then back at Kenji. A grim resolve hardened his features.
"Lead the way, Shadow-Vessel," Kaito said, a new seriousness in his voice. "This madness… it just might work."
Kenji nodded. He looked at Elara, a glimmer of true camaraderie in his eyes.