Rewinding a few hours ago…

From within the forest, two men emerged—their respective blue and black armors, or rather, exoskeletons were covered in mud and charred spots, signaling an arduous trip that both had just gone through. Their expressions, however, were content with a job well done.

“Green was right,” the blue man exclaimed. “Who would have thought that the entrance to the Dragon God’s sealing point was right under our noses the entire time?”

The man with the jet-black armor replied with a shrug. “It’s just Green. He and Red always know stuff that we don’t.”

“I don’t think Red was aware of it,” the blue man shook his head.

“How come?”

“If he did, then Green wouldn’t be the one to give us the order.”

“True.”

The two men kept going back and forth with their conversation as a way to rid themselves from the trip’s fatigue, as well as to kill time for their eventual destination of their headquarters. But the scene awaiting them when they entered the giant tree was nothing like they had expected.

Scrolls lying all over the place, one of them being half open. Three tea cups on the table, one was full and on the table, while the other two dropped to the ground half drunk, as evidenced by the spilled liquid on the floor. But the strangest thing of all was naturally the lack of people in the room, despite every trace pointing to the opposite.

“What happened here?” Kurogiri Urame, codenamed Black, was the first to react.

“It can’t be a fight,” replied Aozaki Kaiji, also known as Blue. “Red and Green hadn’t gone out of the village. An Omushi attack wouldn’t take place here, either.”

“You have a point. But…”

Aozaki’s eyes caught the sight of the half-opened scroll, thus prompting the man to interrupt his current partner’s question. “Wait, Black. Look.”

Following the direction, both of them approached the lying scroll. And with just a single look, the truth was clear.

“The kid knows about the Dragon God.”

That was the conclusion that both uttered at the same time. And following that, a third voice called out from behind them.

“Correct.”

“R-Red!” As soon as he heard his leader, Kurogiri turned around and made a bow. Aozaki followed suit, but didn’t bend his body for just an inch.

“Red, what’s the meaning of this?” The latter questioned.

“Yakushi-kun has learned the truth. We’ll hold the Evolution ritual for him tomorrow.”

“Hold on, tomorrow?” Both Aozaki and Kurogiri gasped at the news. “But it’s too sudden! How will we prepare everything? And the kid’s Omushi too!” The latter added.

“I’ve handled everything,” replied Akabane, without a trace of emotion. “As for the Onigiri, we’re currently keeping it locked in Yakushi’s room. Tomorrow, we’ll bring it out for the ritual.”

“That’s…”

Both of them couldn’t believe their ears. They had never heard of such a hastily prepared Evolution ritual, as if their commander was in a rush of something. But just looking at the way Akabane was fuming with anger, even though his words remained the same as usual, they knew that they couldn’t pry any deeper.

“T-then, if there’s nothing else for us to do, we’ll…”

Kurogiri only wanted to get out of that situation as fast as possible. However, his partner had other ideas.

“If that’s the case, then how are the guards at the Onigiri?” Aozaki asked.

“Security is tight, of course…” Akabane tried to reassure his teammates, but was immediately countered.

“I don’t know about that. The thing is special, remember? Let’s not forget that it and the boy were the major players in our most recent raid. If it could stand on equal footing with that monster, then I don’t think just a few of our regular guards would be enough.”

“... You have a point,” nodded Akabane. “Then who do you suggest?”

“Where’s Green? He can…”

“Green has betrayed us. He didn’t want the boy to partake in the ritual.” A cold answer shut down Aozaki’s suggestion before he could finish.

But the man hadn’t given up just yet. “Then what about Black?” He gestured towards the man next to him. “Out of us, he should be the most suitable to contain the Onigiri, right?”

This time, Akabane took the bait.

“Hmm… Good idea. His overall defensive strength and raw power should be enough to repel its slashes. What says you, Black?”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“I… Whatever you say.” The man in question could only meekly answer. He was still lower ranked than Akabane, and so, he couldn’t refuse the order issued to him.

Of course, he wasn’t an idiot. And so, he was celebrating inside—just through the short exchange, he could tell that Aozaki had purposely set up the situation, so that he could be the one to break Akari out and bring it back to Yakushi. With this, their plan had started to come into motion.

Night soon fell, and unsurprisingly, a commotion ensued.

It started with a sudden breaking of something within Yakushi’s old room. Following suit was the warning shout of a few different guards—signaling that their makeshift prison had been breached.

The culprit was none other than Kurogiri, the man named Black. And because of his namesake, the normal guard couldn’t hold a candle to his strength. After breaking Akari free, the man took no time to restrain it in his arm and ran straight to the prison where Yakushi and Midorikawa were held.

Being a colored name, only fellow members of the highest-authority group in the Mujin village could hope to be equal to Kurogiri in combat. And with Yamabuki out of commission, Midorikawa being imprisoned, and Aozaki being his partner in crime, there was only one person who could be his opponent—the leader of the group, Akabane Kogoro.

However, even the leader himself didn’t account for the fact that he had been betrayed. And not just by a single person, either, as he was already taken out before the operation had even begun.

When he heard the warning shouts, Akabane rushed to the scene as fast as he could. Or at least, he was going to, before the man found out that his exit had been blocked.

Standing with one leg blocking the hole outside the tree, Aozaki waved, letting out a friendly, but sarcastic smile.

“Yo, Red. Nice evening we’re having, huh?”

“Out of the way, Blue,” Akabane answered, restraining himself not to spurt out insulting words. “If you just let me pass, I’ll only consider Green and Black to be traitors to the village. As an outcast, surely you must know better than anyone else how scary it is to be alone in the wild out there.”

“You’d be correct. But because I’m an outcast, I can say that I don’t give a damn about this place.” Aozaki answered with a smirk.

“You fool! Do you know what you’re doing? Without the prophesied hero, we can’t…”

“Ah, yes, that stupid prophecy,” for the first time, Aozaki flared with anger, clutching his fist in response. “You’re no different from the old farts in my old home.”

“We don’t have time to be telling our life stories right now, Blue!”

“And I’m telling you to sit your ass back and listen, Red. Did you ever think about why I was tossed out of my homeland?”

“...”

“Well, I’ll tell you. Because I was the only one that didn’t believe in that stupid prophecy,” Aozaki shook his head and gave a bitter laugh. “It’s funny; our Dragon God part was on the verge of awakening, and yet, the old farts in my place didn’t even lift a finger. ‘We’re not the prophesied hero,’ they said. And guess what? The thing awakened, everyone was wiped out but me, and now Ryugashi is a wasteland.”

“Then it’s all the more reason to get Yakushi-kun to undergo the Evolution ritual! With him as the hero,…”

“Don’t you get it, Red? I’ve seen the Dragon God part in action. I can confirm this: the kid means jack shit. If everyone in Ryugashi had banded together, we could have stopped the disaster without even needing any dumb prophecy. And here is the same—we’ve found the sealing location, Red. Just go with us, and destroy the part before it can awaken. There’s no need to force ourselves to go through with a prophecy that came from who-knows-where without even a confirmation whether or not it would work.”

“And what if we do need it? Do you think I’m just gonna sit here and let you guys throw away the village’s safety just to prove a point?”

Seeing Akabane’s shell creaking in rage, Aozaki could only let out a sigh. He knew that it would eventually have to come to this, but deep down, he wished that he was wrong just once.

“Alright,” putting his leg down, the blue man shook his head. “Fine by me. You can go.”

Before Akabane could take a single step, however, Aozaki had disappeared from his initial position. Swift as the wind, the blue man dashed towards his opposition’s stomach and prepared his strike.

His armored shell was not sharp like the others—in fact, it could be considered the most “armor-looking” out of everyone in the group of five, with its blunt fingertips and lack of spikes coming from the limbs. The body was sleek and toned, while the legs were also lightly protected, giving a feeling of a martial artist more than a hulking knight or a sharp assassin. Aozaki’s fighting style was also reflected in this simple, yet elegant design.

His palm open, his fingers tightly put close together, Aozaki simply pushed forward, hitting Akabane's stomach. However, with his knees bent at a low gravity and his lower muscles hardened, the man could put his full force into that simple push, resulting in the target flying all the way from one end of the room to another, almost breaking the tree trunk itself.

For Akabane, the man only saw a flash of blue, and the next minute, he was on his knees coughing a pool of blood.

“What in the…” he muttered, not believing his eyes.

“Oh, right, you’ve never left this dinky forest, so you wouldn’t know,” Aozaki answered with a sarcastic smile, grabbing one wrist with the other hand.

To Akabane’s sheer shock, Aozaki removed the armored part with ease, revealing a regular, human hand inside the armor.

“Don’t get me wrong,” the man continued. “Us Setsujin also have to devour our partners to evolve. However, unlike you Mujin, we don’t merge our bodies together. We merge souls, while the partner’s body becomes protective armor for us that we can will into existence through our control of life energy. In other words…”

“The Setsujin is no different from Unborns wearing armor.” Akabane spat.

“Correct, but not enough,” Aozaki wagged his finger, taunting his opposition. “Inside, we’re no different from Unborns, but our control of life energy has given us a new fighting style, one that utilizes natural forces within us to amplify our strength—the Gentle Fist.”

“All of that, for what?”

As the provoked question came out of his mouth, a ripping sound echoed in the air. However, it wasn’t any objects being torn, but Akabane’s own forearms—with blood dripping down like a stream, on his arms now grew two large crimson blades, making the man eerily similar to the partner he once had.

“Ouch,” commented Aozaki. “The Mujin’s secret ability, eh? Forcefully growing and assimilating into your partner’s original form, Metamorphosis.”

“Shut up,” replied Akabane, his voice also warping into a freakish high, almost like the cry of an insect. “In any case, I just need to cut you up, right? For you to realize how wrong you are.”

“That might be true…” Aozaki smiled. “But only if you can, that is.”