It was another dark night in Sunshine City, and Alfredo jumped into the darkness as usual. Marika was still busy as usual, and Yurika is tucked nicely in her bed. He went on a Deviant hunt as usual, but somehow he stumbled upon an old friend of his during his middle school days. He could recognize his looks, but he couldn't remember his name. He was a bit shorter than him, and he was a sword fighter like him too. He was clad in a black hoodie, and he asked him if he could fight alongside him. He obliged and decied to hunt Blood Gear gangsters in the dark alongside his fellow Esper. The two made a good team, and slain so many Deviants in one night. Not even one of them escaped their blades, nor their Sigils.
One night, the two came across an Esper girl fending for her life. She had a short brown hair and a slightly-tanned skin, and she was a proficient fighter. She easily took out a number of Deviants all by herself. She even managed to go toe-to-toe and defeat a muscular boxer hired by Christie to kill her. After a few fights, the girl introduced herself as Nanami Aoi, an Esper girl who's parents were also a victim of Christie's cruel Esper purges. She was a very traumatized girl who admitted that he killed a normal human out of fear. Now, she's a fugitive to both Blood Gear and Takahitsuji Securities. She wished to kill Christie and atone her sins, in order for her happy normal life to return.
Alfredo felt a little sick in the stomach when he heard that Nanami once killed a human, and she was wanted by his father's company. Despite being a Takahitsuji, he felt sorry for Nanami and wished to help him. The other Esper boy told Alfredo that not only his parents that were killed by Christie, but he also watched his younger sister brutally killed by the Deviant woman as well. Alfredo never knew why Christie went on a purge on Espers ever since they spilled the blood of his parents and grandparents, but probably there's something more than meets the eye to her killing spree. And so, Alfredo and his fellow Esper sword fighter formed a gang called Black Lotus, a Deviant-hunting gang focused on cleaning the city from the threat that is Blood Gear.
"Takahitsuji-san, this time we work together. Me and you can take care the stronger Deviants, while Nanami can handle the cannon fodders. Do you agree?"
"Mmm.. sure. As long as it's vengeance, and death upon those inhuman beings that destroyed my beloved ones, then I'm in."
"That's the spirit. By the way, I wanna re-introduce myself. I'm Kuroi Yakumo, your friend from high school. Don't you remember those good old days when we used to engage in mock fights, and you always beaten me fair and square?"
"I can't remember anything.. My head hurts.."
"Oh dear.."
"Ever since that entity possessed me, every time I fight and fight, I lose my sanity and my memory slowly. The doctor in my sis' place told me about it, and I was shocked"
"I hope you get well soon, Takahitsuji-san. For now, it's time for vengeance! Leave none of those morbid beings alive!!"
And so, Alfredo and the Black Lotus gang went on a hunt for Blood Gear gangsters. Kuroi's Sigil allowed him to know which one is an Esper, a human or a Deviant, so he knows which one to kill and which one to spare. Deviants may look like humans or even Espers, but they're far from human. In fact, they're more like aliens or animals, with the ability to unleash fleshy tentacle-like appendages from their body, turn their nails and bones into claws and spiky protrusions, as well as shapeshifting and blending themselves with Espers and humans alike for more advanced ones. The Deviants' origin is currently unknown, and Lazuline is currently conducting a research on them, and the threats they pose.
The three Espers fought brutally against the oncoming Deviants. None of them were left alive, and none of them deserved pity nor remorse, as the inhuman beings has unleashed the Pandora's Box upon them by killing their parents. Now the curse has fallen upon them, and one by one the Deviants fell and their blood spilled. During another fight, Kuroi was stung in the chest by an elite Deviant that somehow turned its right hand into a wasp's stinger. Alfredo quickly dispatched it after it stung his friend. The Deviant was dead, but Kuroi suffered from a heavy fever after being injected by the Deviant with venom.
"Takahitsuji-san… I don't feel so good… Take me to an infirmary, quick…"
"Hang in there. I'll help you."
Alfredo and Nanami stopped fighting and carried Kuroi to the tower. He was treated for his Deviant sting, but it was too late. The venom caused him to change his mood, and he suddenly escaped the tower. Meanwhile, Nanami gave herself in to Marika for what she did to the innocent man. The man's daughter came and looked at Nanami intently. She wanted her to be responsible for what she did to his father, and Nanami said that she was in a fit of rage and anger when it happened. However, Marika said that Nanami's deeds is a misconduct, and she had to be jailed as a result. Nanami decided to take the consequences and taken to the tower's basement prison by Lazuline officers.
"I'm sorry Nanami, but your deeds is against Lazuline's tenets. No Esper shall harm human beings, nor the other way around. Espers and mankind must coexist in peace"
"I agree, Professor. I still feel sad and enraged after what happened to my Dad. I wanted Nanami to die, but I can't seem to wish death upon other Espers. I don't know what to do, but at least you did the right thing"
"Mhm… You can call me anytime if you need me, Akane. I'm always available."
Later, Alfredo went into the darkness again to find his parents' killer again, only to bump upon Kuroi. He was glad to see him again, but the black-haired Esper attacked him. Alfredo was shocked to see that one of his childhood friends turned on him as a result of the Deviant's sting. Kuroi became brainwashed and wanted to kill Alfredo, but he won't go down without a fight. Alfredo was forced to fight against one of his friends, and somehow he has another sword in his hand. Tsubaki's White Order was with him, along with his Black Sky. He's shown Kuroi the way of Futaba, the art of dual-wielding in battle. His friend watched in amazement as Alfredo fought against him with both swords.
"Impressive… but you could've done harder."
"Shut up, and snap out of that damn venom!"
Kuroi managed to sweep Alfredo out with his quick feet. He thudded into the concrete floor and his two swords fell. He got up again, but this time his eyes turned darker. A tide of pitch black liquid suddenly engulfed him, turning him into something different as if he was hijacked by a parasitic being. His clothes became darker than ever, and his eyes became creepier, with scarlet sclera and black irises. An eerie black and red aura surrounded Alfredo, and he went for the kill on Kuroi. He easily defeated his own friend with his dual-wielding skills and enhanced Sigil, turning the fight into a curb-stomp situation. After a few bouts, Kuroi finally became weakened. He fell on the concrete floor, and Alfredo was about to finish him.
Before he managed to finish off Kuroi, a girl told him to stop. Alfredo suddenly shuddered and fell to his knees. He tried to fight back against the shadowy being controlling him, but it kept forcing him to kill Kuroi. The weakened Esper boy coughed out blood and whimpered, mortally wounded with his black hoodie stained red. Alfredo struggled against the shadowy being, and suddenly he managed to revert back to his pre-hijacked self. His eyes turned back to white sclera and scarlet irises, and his clothes came back as before. After that, he fell unconscious again, slumped on a wall. The girl carried him and Kuroi back to the tower for examination and recovery.
"Uhh… where am I? What happened? And where's…"
"You're back in the infirmary again, and I couldn't believe that you almost became a monster"
"What monster?"
Alfredo lost his memory of transforming into his Hijack Form for the first time, and almost killing Kuroi. Every time he fought using Dark Nightmare's help, he loses a chunk of his memory, turning his brain into a blank slate, which results in a strong headache every time he loses his memory. He didn't know who saved him and prevented him from killing Kuroi, since he only saw Marika after he woke up from his unconscious state, yet he didn't know who gave him the White Order sword, that was supposed to be in Tsubaki's hands. After he woke up, he looked around for Yurika. Unfortunately, she was gone by the time he came back to the tower.
"Yurika?! YURIKA?!! WHERE ARE YOU?!"
Alfredo was shocked to see that Yurika has disappeared from the tower. Someone, or something has taken away her beloved one, and it drove him to jump out of the tower once again as his Scarlet Raven persona. Marika silently followed Alfredo again, but this time using an unmanned drone since she knew that she's going to the southeastern portion of the island, and she won't risk her life by going there again. The drone flew behind Alfredo as he scurried through the darkness of the city. Meanwhile in Blood Gear's HQ, two of the gang's higher-ups, Janis and Manami prepared themselves for the worst as they guarded their boss from the vengeful raven.
"You ready for this, Janis?"
"I sure do! Time to clip off the wings of a fucking raven that killed our friends!! He's not the only one with vengeance, you know?"
"Not to mention our boss has taken someone as a bait so we can destroy that fucking menace for good."
Suddenly, a jolt of black lightning struck Manami to the ground. Alfredo already transformed into his hijacked self again like during the battle against Kuroi. Janis was shocked to see the enraged Esper in front of her eyes, but she reflected quickly by parrying his sword with her oversized wrench. Despite that, Alfredo pushed Janis' wrench away with his brute strength and electrocuted her with a dark beam of electricity. After the 2 are incapacitated, Alfredo used his Sigil to create a pool of black liquid around him, immersing the 2 Blood Gear higher-ups in it before shredding them in a vortex of black liquid mixed with red lightning. Janis and Manami screamed in pain as they swirled inside the vortex.
"Take this!!"
Alfredo finished the two with a single lightning-fast strike through the vortex. He came out unharmed, and the two higher-ups were sent flying and exploded in a black and red explosion. Manami died in the explosion, but Janis was mortally injured to the point she was unable to fight anymore. Her clothes and skin were torn, exposing bits of flesh and bones, while Manami lost her head in the explosion, leaving her muscular body behind with blood flowing from her neck. After finishing off the 2, Alfredo kicked the HQ door and fought his way through Blood Gear grunts, only to become exhausted from using too much of his Sigil power during the fight against Janis and Christie. He fell unconscious as a result, and was captured by two muscular Blood Gear brutes. He was chained onto a wall inside the HQ's dungeon after being captured, with Christie standing in front of him with a smirk.
"Well well well… if it isn't the persistent little raven. You're not here to kill me, aren't ya?"
"Let me… out…"
"Oh yeah? Guess who's coming tonight to accompany you here?"
"Ugh….. Nnghh…"
Christie revealed the surprise for Alfredo: Yurika chained to the wall, weak and wearing nothing but her undergarments. She couldn't move at all, and can only breathe heavily as she felt a numbing sensation in her body.
"Yurika!"
"Like my little surprise?"
The Blood Gear leader moved closely towards Yurika, and she turned her hands into tentacles. Christie slowly grasped the pinkette Esper in her hands, trying to molest her. Yurika yelped as the slimy appendages crawled around her body. All of a sudden, Alfredo felt a massive headache. His eyes glowed once again, and dark aura engulfed the Esper boy. He howled in anger and pain.
"STOP IT!!! STOP IT!!"
She then slowly whispered in his ear..
"You'll never be able to protect anyone.. back then and even now.."
Christie then almost proceeded to go even further but suddenly Alfredo discharged electric shocks as he roared in anger and pain. Then an explosion of dark aura bursts forth, even with the beam of darkness visible from the tower. He soon broke off from the chains and crawled on his limbs, moving as if he's a blur. Christie looked around and saw nothing. But all of a sudden, Alfredo pounced upon her and bit her neck with his jaws.
"Let go off me!! Aaaaahh!!"
"... Leave.. her.. ALONE!!!…."
"Aru-kun… is that…."
Christie broke free from Alfredo's grasps with her tentacle-like appendages, but it drove him into madness. Eventually, Alfredo became more of a wild beast as he lost control of himself. He tore the Blood Gear leader's tentacles with his bare hands and teeth, blasted her with a jolt of electricity and used his aura to pound Christie multiple times to the ground. Yurika was horrified to see her beloved one becoming a monster driven by vengeance and pure rage. Christie begged to the Esper boy to stop, but he kept maiming her as if she's nothing. Eventually, Alfredo finished her off with a swirl of black liquid and himself propelling at a very fast speed, as if he's an arrow made of red lightning. Christie was pierced inside out, and instantly died. Her tentacles twitched in the ground and shriveled after she died. But before Alfredo managed to save Yurika, he fainted as a result of his hijacked form while trying to reach to Yurika. Later on, a group of Lazuline officers surrounded the HQ and evacuated Yurika and Alfredo to the tower. He woke up again with a massive headache, and only wearing his trousers in the infirmary.
"Ugh.. what happened…. My head…."
"You were hijacked by that evil being again. It seemed as if it wanted to gain control over you, but it became too tame and made a bond with you. I hate to say this but.. That thing inside you, was an ancient evil being that was supposed to be sealed a hundred years ago."
"So that means Scarlet Raven is?"
"Yes, Dark Nightmare. Be careful of using your hijacked form, because if you use it once more, you will become its full host, and there will be no hope of becoming an Esper again."
"Not becoming an Esper… again? Then?"
Inside, a voice in his mind manifested..
"Mwahahaha.. You guillible little fool. You're so stubborn enough to unleash my greatest power upon you. One more time, and you're mine… Hahahahahah!!"
Alfredo couldn't believe that he's in the verge of losing his humanity as an Esper. If he used his hijacked form one more time, and it will be a point of no return for him as Dark Nightmare will take over his body 100%. However, he still wanted to fight in order to find the one behind the incident that costed his parents' life. Blood Gear was merely the tip of the iceberg when he discovered that there's more than meets the eye. A certain clan is conspiring to destroy his family and his ancestral clans, and his life is in danger once again. He's about to dive into the darkness once again.