Dodging Rin's relentless assault, Daichi wove through the danger, opening portals in a desperate bid to escape the lightning's wrath.

His heart heavy, Daichi couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness.

"I never wanted to come to blows with you, Rin. But your actions... they've left me no choice,"

Turning to Mei, who lay injured, Rin's voice softened, "Mei, get up. I'm about to unleash something powerful. You need to move," she urged.

Mei nodded.

As Rin prepared her devastating attack, a menacing smile played on her lips.

Removing the suppression bracelet from her neck, she channeled, 「Thunderstrike.」 A massive lightning ball began to take shape, targeting Daichi and Kurosawa.

Daichi watched, his heart racing, as he prepared to counter.

"Damn it, she's gonna kill us all," he thought.

The moment Kurosawa stepped back, Daichi removed his suppressor bracelet attached to his right bicep.

"Phantom Gate," Daichi whispered, summoning a dark, sprawling portal that began to absorb Rin's lightning ball attack.

Sweat dripped down his forehead as he focused, each breath a struggle.

When the attack finally vanished into the portal, Daichi collapsed, exhausted.

"It hurts...uh," he whispered weakly.

Chairman Kurosawa observed Daichi with a calculating eye. Although impressed, he noted a significant flaw.

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"Uhm not bad, but it seems his energy levels are pretty mediocre. That's a real pity," Kurosawa thought.

As Rin and Mei mentally prepared for the task ahead the alarms blared, signaling the spread of an uncontrollable fire throughout the Eclipse Agency.

Amid this crisis, Rin and Mei came to understand the sheer scale of the challenge before them.

The evacuation had already started as enforcers from ranks D to B, had already evacuated the building.

Kurosawa turned to Daichi with a twisted grin. "You've really outdone yourself, Daichi. This place could be collapsing for all we know. Shall we take a peek at Project K? What do you say, Dr. Yamada?" His eyes darted to Dr. Yamada, who was nervously crouching under the round table.

"Yes, C-Chairman," Yamada stuttered.

Rin and Mei took their fighting stances.

However, Daichi outsmarted them, opening a portal below their feet and dumping them into a cell below the agency.

Their screams trailed behind as they were pulled through the portal, only to be silenced when they landed in the depths of the Eclipse Agency's underground prison.

Rin tried to use her anolity, but nothing happened. "My anolity 「Voltstorm,」 it's not working! What the hell is going on?" she yelled.

Mei saw Rin losing her mind. "Let's calm down, Rin. We need to relax and conserve our strength."

Rin slammed her fists against the prison walls, her voice echoing through the cell. "You stupid bastard, Daichi! Once I get my hands on you, you're dead!"

After some time, the realization of defeat settled heavily upon them as they took stock of their surroundings.

"We lost! I can't believe it," Rin said, her voice tinged with frustration.

Mei, overcome with a sense of responsibility, clenched her fist and struck the wall.

"I'm sorry, I was weak. If only I'd been stronger, I could have helped,"

Rin placed a reassuring hand on Mei's shoulder, offering a semblance of comfort in the grim situation.

"It's fine,"

Internally, though, Rin grappled with their predicament. "Now what? How do we get out of this prison without our anolity?" Rin thought.

The question hung unanswered in the still and silent air of their cell.

____

Back in the command center, Saki and Miyu watched in shock through the peephole at what had just happened.

"We have to do something, Saki. We can't just leave them down there," Miyu said, her voice trembling with urgency.

"I know, but let's be realistic, we have no chance against Daichi."

Miyu sighed, "You're right. But we can't just give up. There has to be another way."

"We need to call Sora and tell him what we've seen here. He needs to know about Project K and what's being done to Mei and Rin," Saki said.

The two slipped away swiftly, setting off through the corridor to contact their ally Sora Yamamoto.

He was their only hope.