Meanwhile, back at the Hashido estate, Ervin gathered Roshi, Kayomi, Mira, Yamato, Isaiah, Kenji, and Kato to discuss the events that took place last week. They all gathered in the training area on the roof of the main building.
Ervin: So is everyone here?
Kayomi: (looks around) Yeah, it seems so.
Mira: We’re all here, Dad.
Ervin: Good. So, it’s no secret why I called all of you here. As you know, the Kaimi Daja made their move last week, leading to two significant events: the death of Joshua Egoshin and the awakening of the god eye in Kato.
Yamato: (to Kato) For real!?
Kato: (with a cartoonish expression) I told you already, didn’t I?
Ervin: Now, we knew the Kaimi Daja were targeting the Heirs of the All Mother after Joshua’s death, but we never knew why. A few days ago, they came after Kato, which made us realize there was a traitor among us, and that person was...
Ervin was about to mention Arou’s name but hesitated, noticing the hurt expressions on everyone’s faces.
Ervin: (to himself) They’ve probably heard that a million times already… No need to say it again.
Mira: Dad? What’s wrong?
Ervin:I zoned out for a second. (sighs) Moving on, after seeing the memories of one of the Kaimi Daja members, I now know their main goal and how the Heirs fit into it.
Kato: (whispers to Mira) Can Mr. Ervin really access people’s memories?
Mira: (whispers back) Yeah. It’s part of his shadow beast powers, but I’ll explain later.
Ervin:The Kaimi Daja’s goal is to collect the special body parts of the Heirs and use them to awaken the All Mother’s power.
This revelation shocked everyone.
Kenji: Awaken the All mother’s power?
Isaiah: I get that if you were to have all the special body parts in one body, it can work but……
Mira: The power won’t work on a person who isn’t from the Clan that owns it or doesn’t have a body like the All Mother’s. So what’s the point of gathering the parts if no one can use it?
Yamato: Right? If they don’t have anyone who can use that power, why bother killing the Heirs?
Kato: But the fact that they didn’t spare Joshua Egoshin and were ready to kill me after taking the god eye means...
Roshi: (realizing) So they do have someone who can use it, don’t they?
Ervin:From what I saw in Giles’ memory, their leader, who calls himself ZERO, has a technique that allows him to absorb the special powers of the Heirs by consuming their body parts once separated from them.
Kato: (briefly remembers Zero) Him?
Kayomi: But how is that possible? I thought the power wouldn’t work on a shadow or lighter who isn’t from the hereditary clan or doesn’t have the All Mother’s body type. Is this “ZERO” person a shadow or a lighter?
Ervin: Neither.
Kenji: Huh? Neither?
Isaiah: What do you mean by “neither”?
Ervin: What I mean is that Zero isn’t a shadow or lighter. He has the byproduct of both shadow and lighter energies in his body, NEXUS ENERGY. His body and energy are similar to what the All Mother was 800 years ago. This means he can use the Heirs’ special powers because he’s essentially like the All Mother. He has a constant connection to the Nexus, which means every technique he uses is classified as a Harmonic technique—he doesn’t need to chant the words “black” or “white” to activate them.
The revelation stunned everyone into silence.
Kato:So, if he gets all the special body parts, he’ll become as powerful as the All Mother?
Ervin: Yes. And they intend to use that power to remove shadow and lighter energy from the world.
Kayomi: That doesn’t sound too dangerous, though.
Ervin: It doesn’t, but there are two possible outcomes if they succeed. The first is that removing shadow and lighter energy could kill everyone who possesses it.
Kayomi: Now it sounds dangerous.
Mira: Huh!?
Kato: Huh!? Kill us!?
Ervin: Shadow and Lighters have shadow and lighter energies in their bodies. Our bodies and souls are bound to that energy, so removing it could result in the deaths of everyone who’s been born with it. Even the conduits could be affected.
Mira: (worried) No…..
Yamato: That’s insane.
Kayomi: (sighs)
Roshi: But that’s one possibility right? What’s the other one?
Ervin: The second possibility is that we don’t die at all and just become normal humans. But before that happens, myself, Kato, and many others would have to die.
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Kato: (cartoonish face) HUH!?
Isaiah: Why?
Ervin: From what we’ve seen the Kaimi Daja do, they don’t leave their enemies alive. They don’t hesitate to kill innocent bystanders, as we saw when they used the Shadow Bugs to lure Kato. That means they’ll kill me, Kato, and the other Heirs to make their goal a reality.
Kato: (cartoonish face) Why is the situation so bad for me even in both scenarios?
Kenji: Sucks to be you, Kato.
Roshi: But the plan is to prevent both scenarios, right?
Ervin: Yeah. I’m working on a plan for that.
Kayomi: But why tell us? Why not tell the Elders?
Ervin: The Elders don’t care about the Kaimi Daja’s threat. They only care about the Shadows dominating the world, and that’s not what we should be aiming for. It’ll just make things worse. Plus, they probably have someone from the Imperial Guard eavesdropping on us right now.
Kayomi: That’s true.
Kato: (to himself) The situation is bad for me no matter what scenario it is. Is this how it’s going to be until we stop them?
Ervin: Well then. The obvious thing we should do is get stronger so we can put a stop to their plans.
Yamato: (raises his hand) But what about the HFA? They're probably going to be stopping them too, right? What happens when we cross paths with them?
Ervin: We engage of course. We will fight them BUT we won't kill them. Doing that will only fuel the cycle of hatred that we are trying to put out.
Yamato: Oh that's true.
Kato: (to himself) But would NOT killing our foes really be enough to end this cycle?
The words Kato had heard from Gaki, Arou, and Zero echoed in his mind...
“Sorry to break it to you but the world doesn't work according to your desires.”
“I’ve sat back and let others find different ways to CHANGE this world but it never ended well. More people ended up dying as a result. The conclusion I got from that is that no matter what path you decide to take, there will always be death and pretending that you can stay clean through it is BULLSHIT.”
“EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU ALWAYS HAVE THE SAME ANSWER!!!!! YOU ALL SAY THE SAME SHIT BECAUSE ERVIN TOLD YOU THAT WAS WHAT HE BELIEVED IN. TRY AND THINK FOR YOURSELVES FOR ONCE!!!”
Ervin: While I work on the plan to stop the Kaimi Daja, I also want to focus on something else that happened last week: Kato awakening the god eye and using it right away.
Kenji: Oh yeah I heard about that from Yamato the other day. How exactly does it work, Kato?
Ervin: I was about to ask him the same thing. Do you know the conditions for the eye to work?
Kato: Yes, sir. The information on how it works came to me the moment the eye awakened.
Isaiah: (to himself) That seems appropriate.
Kenji: It’s like how a bird is born knowing how to build a nest.
Yamato: (amazed) Oooh….
Mira: I didn’t even think of it like that.
Kato: So based on what I know, the god eye has four conditions it has to go through before I can copy a technique. As these conditions are:
The god eye has to see the technique being used first while it is activated
When the god eye sees it, it begins to process the technique’s information, which is transferred to the user (me).
The god eye begins to imprint the information it has gained into the user’s body so they can replicate the technique it has seen and this will take 14 seconds.
Within those 14 seconds, I have to be within three meters of the person using the technique. If I’m any further, it won’t work.
The god eye doesn’t copy the entire technique. It only copies the specific aspect of the technique that’s being used in front of it. (So, just because I copy a fireball skill doesn’t mean I’ll be able to use other fire techniques. The god eye will only copy the fireball skill.)
Kayomi: So, that’s how you were able to copy my technique and Arou’s?
Kato: Yeah.
Kayomi: Makes sense coz you were close by when we fought and used our techniques.
Yamato: That’s pretty cool if you ask me.
Isaiah: Hmmm
Kenji: I agree with that.
Mira: Right.
Ervin: The same thing happened to me when I was a kid. The moment I awakened the shadow heart, all the information on the technique was placed in my head immediately. So, you have four techniques now, Kato.
Kato: Four? Don't you mean three?
Ervin: No, I mean four. And I’m not talking about the god eye—it’s not a technique, it’s a special power. I’m talking about your actual techniques.
Kato: Actual techniques???
Mira: Huh? I don’t quite follow.
Ervin: So far, you’ve learned three techniques:
Shadow Rush, which Roshi taught you.
Shadow Hardening, which you copied from Kayomi.
Shadow Fragmentation, which you copied from Arou.
Roshi: But that's only three.
Kenji: Yeah.
Ervin: Right. But what about the technique you were born with?
Kato: Born with?
Kayomi: Oh. I get it.
Kato: What is he talking about, Mr. Kayomi?
Kayomi: You awakened the god eye, which was the power of the All Mother that was given to the Hamorabi Clan—one of the great shadow clans back then. Being a shadow from the Hamorabi Clan means that the hereditary technique of that clan would have been in you from the moment you were born.
Kenji: But Kato was just a shadow conduit with only 1% shadow energy until a few months ago. A technique wouldn’t exist in a shadow conduit, would it?
Ervin: It would. But a conduit would never be able to use it because of the low shadow energy they possess. That was the case for Kato, too, until he was bitten by a Shadow Bug and became a shadow himself.
Kato: But how can we know that I really do have this technique? I’ve only ever used the ones I learned or copied, and you said you can’t teach me a technique you or anyone else doesn’t have.
Ervin: That’s true, I did say that. But you’ve already used another technique besides the three I just mentioned.
Kato: I did?
Kayomi: Yes, you did. Think back. When the leader of the Kaimi Daja came, your shadow energy levels suddenly spiked. Your eyes turned red, and your strength and speed increased significantly. That’s not something just anyone can do on the fly.
Kato: (suddenly remembers his first encounter with Zero and how he had suddenly gotten strong enough to break free from Lorra’s tree restraints and began to fight Zero) So you're saying that could be my actual technique?
Ervin: Exactly.
Kayomi: How did you feel in that moment? When you suddenly attacked Zero back then?
Kato: (thinks back for a moment) I felt so angry. Stronger than I usually do. I could feel the shadow energy and blood moving within me, and everything seemed so clear in that moment. And it’s not the first time. It happened before—when the Kaimi Daja made me fight one of their members after I was first kidnapped. But I got taken down by another hunter before I could do anything else.
Mira: (to herself) I didn’t know that.
Ervin: Ever since the Hamorabi Clan was annihilated all those years ago, we’ve had no knowledge of their hereditary technique or how it connects to the red eyes Kayomi mentioned. The only person who might have answers is…
Kato: (clenches his fists) My father, right?
Ervin: Yeah. But we don’t know where he is or how he’s still alive after 500 years. There’s so much mystery surrounding him, and we won’t get answers until we find him.
Kato: I don’t think he wants to be found, considering he left his wife and son without ever coming back.
Ervin: (to himself) Still holding contempt for him, huh? (to Kato) Anyway, I’d be careful about copying any more techniques if I were you.
Kato: Huh? Why is that?
Ervin: A normal shadow or lighter can only have three techniques. The Heirs and anomalies, like you, can have five. You already have four, so copying another technique would bring you to your limit. Your body and brain can’t carry more than that. So, the next technique you copy needs to be something truly worth it.
Kato: Understood.
At that moment, Ervin’s phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen and saw Dana calling.
Ervin: (answering the phone) Hey, Dana. What’s wrong this time?
Dana: Nothing’s wrong, actually. Is Kato there?
Ervin: Yeah, he’s here. Why do you ask? (suddenly realizing) Oh.
Dana: Hand him the phone. I need to tell him something important.
Ervin: Alright. (to Kato) Kato, Dana has something to tell you.
Kato stood up and walked toward Ervin, taking the phone. As he did, everyone noticed the tabi sandals he wore—a gift from Kayomi to help him master the shadow hardening technique.
Kato: (taking the phone) Ms. Dana?
Dana: Kato… It’s your mother. She’s awake.
THE KAIMI DAJA ASSAULT ARC ENDS