"I thought I made it clear not to engage," Easton said in a low voice, resting her chin on the table in her office. In front of her was Kage, one of the top 100 awakeners, standing with his head down and a truly pitiful expression.
"I-I apologize, ma'am. I didn't think they would deal in a place that was open to everyone. With the abnormal energy fluctuations, I had to visit the area myself since it was near the school. Moreover, I made sure not to engage in a fight with them," Kage offered his excuse in a staggering tone.
It wasn't fear that he had in his voice, but rather a feeling of disappointment at not being able to live up to her expectations.
^Sigh. Easton sighed, knowing well the reason for Kage's behavior. He had a soft spot for children. If there was the slightest threat to their lives, there was no way Kage wouldn't act.
"Give me the details," Easton ordered as she leaned back.
Kage raised his head and began to recount every detail from the start of their encounter with the Bronca brothers.
"They weren't particularly strong. If I had to measure their power levels, Niko ranked far below the top hundreds—maybe even in the five hundreds. However, Riko could be considered among the five hundred rankers. Moreover, the reality veil they created was something I've never seen before. It was easy to break through; one might even walk past it without being aware of its presence. But it was hard to track down. Rather than something that separated reality, it focused on creating a psychological impact on the mind, suggesting the ignorance of that particular area. But once you know something's amiss, you can catch onto the veil."
"A reality veil that creates a psychological impact rather than a wall? That explains why it was hard to catch onto them," Easton pointed out.
"They also retrieved a very interesting prototype of Omicron. This one erases the core of awakeners and transfers its raw power into their bodies, which mutates them… hideously," Kage added.
"Anything else?" Easton asked.
"Yes, ma'am. This news might interest you even more," Kage stated with a smile on his face as he brought a tablet in front of Easton and played a video of the camera recordings.
"This is the recording just before I approached the veil," he said, looking at the screen as he stood beside Easton.
Easton leaned forward as a man wearing a white zipper and a black cap appeared out of nowhere in a silent street, holding tightly onto a girl.
"Teleportation?" Easton asked, raising her brows.
"Seems like it, and he's quite good at handling it, seeing he can use it while holding a person too," Kage said. Using one's ability on a person without harming them required a veteran level of skill.
"I looked into him. His name is Kojin Ozias, the adopted son of a very renowned Heart sergeant, Dr. Elio Ozias. He shifted to Brighton four years ago, and since then he's been studying here. However, I couldn't find any information about the adoption itself—no orphanage records, no real parents' names, and nothing from before he was ten years old," Kage spoke up.
"The one in his arms is Meloni Olin. Nothing special, from the looks of it; she's a normal human. Her father's a design manager at ORBIS, and her mother is an assistant manager at State Bank," Kage informed Easton, who was repeatedly rewinding the clip and watching Kojin appear on the screen out of nowhere.
"He is a non-registered awakener, and according to the rules, it is us who will be overseeing him further. Considering the fact that the Awakeners' Association doesn't know about him, it's a good time to be on his good terms," Kage said as he looked at Easton.
"If you permit, may I contact him personally?" he asked with desperate eyes. In his opinion, Kojin was a pitiful child hiding his abilities, and now, to save himself from a group of criminals, he ran for his life.
Seeing that his friend was not waking up and the panic in his eyes, Kage believed that Kojin was in need of a polite introduction into the world of awakeners, rather than being burdened with rules and regulations.
He believed that Kojin might have suffered a lifelong trauma.
+++
Kojin smirked as he surveyed the clean cut along the lamp posts, which extended for several meters.
"You could've gone all out from the start."
"You!" Riko shouted in clear rage.
"Even if it costs me my fucking soul, I'll make sure to end your fucking life!" He gently laid his brother's head on the ground.
By now, Niko's body had become an empty lump of flesh.
"You could have just saved his life if you loved him so mu—" Before Kojin could finish his sentence, an invisible force sliced through the air toward him.
He slightly shifted towards right, evading a vertical slash.
"Amazing," Kojin muttered, staring at the deep cut in the road that widened at the end.
"This is my first time fighting someone with powers," he added, bending down to trace his fingers along the deep cut. It looked as though the ground had been violently torn apart.
Riko who was now lost in rage, charged at Kojin with a singular goal in mind. His speed was faster and wilder than before. Just as his hand reached for Kojin's neck, Kojin vanished again.
But Riko didn't relent. He adjusted his attack, anticipating Kojin's movements. Each time he swung, aiming to connect, he found himself striking nothing but air.
Kojin's ability allowed him to shift locations without any time constraint; it depended only on how quickly he could process the energy of his core.
All Riko saw were Kojin's afterimages, never the real thing.
As Riko continued with his relentless and continuous attacks that always went in vain, his energy began to drain. The road and surrounding area were left with deep cuts and splits.
"Bastard!", Riko screamed.
"Come forward, face it!", Riko's rage and his frustration of not being able to put up with Kojin's speed made him lose his mind slowly.
"What kind of brother are you?", Kojin whispered in Riko's ears, appearing right alongside him when Riko paused to take a breath.
"You can't even take revenge for your brother".
Riko swung his arm wildly, but his attacks were growing weaker over time. His eyes were bloodshot, and the faint redness on his skin from anger made him look like a madman.
"I'll- I'll kill you. No-No, I will. I'll make-make sure I do", Riko began muttering to himself with a voice trembling in desperation.
He kept scratching his burned right eye as blood traced down his finger, but his frantic muttering and scratching didn't stop.
Riko's attacks had now become meaningless; he had been using his core's energy non-stop for the past hour.
"What a pitiful sight!" Kojin taunted Riko as he appeared in front of one of his attacks and blocked Riko's hand.
"Let's stop this," Kojin said while looking directly at Riko.
In a flash, he grabbed Riko's vocal cords.
"Your voice…" Kojin remarked with his fingers digging into Riko's neck as he caught hold of the cords.
"I don't like it." He pulled it out and blood spattered on his face and clothes. A lot of it flowed down Riko's neck from a big hole.
Kojin crushed the cords in his hands, igniting Riko's body in his blue flames.
"I wonder…" he muttered as all traces of organs burned away from his hands.
"Will you be in the morning news?"