It was a spacious yet dark room, the light largely shielded by the curtains that had been drawn, covering most of the glass window panels save for one central panel.

At the far end of the room, which appeared to be a personal office, a large desk made of mahogany could be seen.

There, a man sat on a comfortable office spin-chair with his back facing the entrance of the room. He appeared to be dressed in a black cloak, which was in stark contrast to his blonde hair.

Beside the desk lay a motionless corpse which face couldn't be seen as it was lying face down, though the body structure hinted that the deceased was most likely male.

Now, a clear view of the face of the blonde-haired man could be seen. The man was adorning a bright red mask covering his eyes, much like a masquerade. His face was free of blemishes, testament of his youth.

After a period of silence, the man muttered to himself, "Is perception equal to reality? If not, who's to judge what's real and what isn't? After all, it is a fact that we don't perceive everything that exists in so-called reality, and at the same time we perceive things that seemingly don't exist in the real plane.

However, our conscious decisions that affect reality are determined by our perceptions, so perhaps all it takes to alter reality is to alter our perceptions. The power to alter perceptions...this is a dangerous line you're crossing, Heinrich..."

The masked man's thoughts were disrupted by a shrill female voice which blasted through the earpiece in his right ear, much to his displeasure, "Hey, what are you dallying there for, Red? The cronies of the Foundation are heading your way as we speak! Are you done disposing the target? If so, get out of there this instant!"

The man named Red replied calmly, "Relax, I know what I'm doing. Gotta let the Foundation know who's the one who did their backer in, right? I bet their expressions would be a joy to watch."

Ignoring the snide remarks made on the other end, Red turned his chair around to face the door as the sound of boots landing heavily drew nearer. Within seconds, the door was knocked down as armed soldiers dressed in white uniforms stormed the room, pointing their assault rifles towards Red.

A man who appeared to be their leader declared, "There's no chance of escape for you now, the most wanted criminal of the Foundation and leader of the Seven Spectres, Akagami Red! We've got this place on complete lockdown! "

Red sighed as he sneered, "Come on, don't be such a downer. We're in the cognitive world after all, so have a little imagination, hahaha!"

Enraged by Red's remark, the leader of the soldiers ordered, "Get him!" The soldiers swiftly opened fire, as the bullet hail from their automatic rifles shattered the window panels instantly.

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To their dismay, the moment they opened fire, Red had instinctively leaned backwards, avoiding the bullets as he performed a backroll before diving backwards out of the building through the broken window.

One of the soldiers remarked, "Is he insane, Captain? We're several metres above the ground, even if this is the cognitive world-" His superior interrupted him, "No, he's not! This is the number 1 criminal on the Foundation's hit list we're talking about, he's definitely up to something!"

As Red was plummeting rapidly to the ground below, he muttered, "Let's do this." as his body erupted in blue flames, slowly consuming his entire torso.

The Captain's question was answered as he witnessed a stream of blue flames shoot up towards the sky. The captain swiftly ordered, "Darn, he knows about our ambush on the ground below, so he's gonna try and escape from the sky above. Notify the Major whose team is on the rooftop so that they might intercept him before it's too late!"

One of his soldiers acknowledged the order and quickly relayed the message via his walkie talkie. Meanwhile, on the rooftop, surrounded by well-equipped soldiers, a burly man who was a head taller than the rest said coarsely, "The target is heading our way, you say? Very well, we'll take him out for sure."

One of his men gasped as he pointed towards an object coated in blue flames, "T-Target in sight, Major!" When the object reached the end of its upward trajectory, the blue flames dispersed in all directions, revealing what appeared to be a winged demon.

The demon's face was relatively obscure, as it was covered in blue flames, the prominent features being the 2 narrow red slits it had as eyes as well as its gaping maw in the same colour. On its forehead were 2 horns which pointed up and away from each other before bending at 90° to face the front.

The demon had black feathered wings on the back of its body, which was covered by a red suit. Even though its appearance was intimidating, with its long sharp claws and its terror inducing face, the demon had a gentleman-like appearance, topped off by the bow hat atop its head.

The Major remarked, "This is the true form of Akagami Red, the S-class demon, Arceus! Non-Reflection users, stand back and provide support fire! The rest, it's time to turn up the heat! Let's go, [Balrog]!"

To his horror, nothing emerged as the squad was thrown into disarray, with one soldier remarking, "I can't use my Reflection! What's going on, Major!" The Major quickly composed himself as he ordered, "We'll figure out the reason later! Open fire!!"

The soldiers swiftly emptied their clips as they fired at their target. Unfortunately, before their bullets could land, Red, who was now known as Arceus, created a wall of blue flames before him, melting every single projectile headed his way.

Arceus remarked sympathetically, "So many innocent lives, thrown for the sake of the ambition of one man. You, the big guy, tell your leader, Heinrich, this. The Seven Spectres would never stop till he changes his ways. We'll always be there, operating from the shadows. Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta get going. [Purgatory Flames]."

From Arceus' right hand, a torrent of blue flames erupted as it headed rapidly towards the soldiers on the rooftop, who were defenceless against the incoming onslaught. The Major could only brace himself for the worse as he cursed, "Damn you, Akagami Red!! This is not over, you hear me! The Generals will take your head for sure!"

The blue flames washed over the entire squad as bloodcurdling screams pierced the air. However, it wasn't long before the flames mysteriously extinguished without claiming any lives, as everyone on the rooftop was merely burnt slightly, much to their surprise.

The Major remained stumped momentarily before recovering swiftly to look up into the sky, but his enemy was long gone, leaving behind a sole black feather that descended slowly...