In the gray cell, where only a faint beam of light filtered in through a small skylight, Kaido sat with his back resting against the cold wall, eyes shut. He wasn't asleep—just sunk in a heavy silence, breathing slowly as if weighing each breath with caution.
Three hours had passed since he was retrieved from the last gate. No one had spoken to him. No interrogation, no reprimand. That silence bothered him more than anything.
Then came footsteps.
The metal door creaked open, revealing Morasaki—not alone this time. Beside him stood a woman with sharp features and steel-colored eyes. She wore a dark uniform marked with the insignia of the Central Hunters Council.
She spoke with a cold, detached tone.
"Kaido Shin. We're not here just to understand—we're here to decide."
Kaido glanced at her without moving. "Decide what?"
Morasaki's tone was gentler: "Your fate."
The woman sat across from him, pulled out a sleek tablet, and played back footage—grainy, enhanced. The moment of the energy surge. The fragments dissolving into silence. The strange calm that followed.
"This ability," she said, "doesn't match any classification in our database."
"I don't understand it either," Kaido replied.
She stared at him for a moment. "You're not alone anymore. That thing... what entered the gate with you—it's still here."
Kaido exchanged a glance with Morasaki.
"Do you feel it?" Morasaki asked.
Kaido was silent for a moment, then placed a hand over his chest.
"Sometimes. Like... it beats with me. But it doesn't speak."
The woman's expression didn't change. "Pacts aren't just energy. They're bargains—trades."
Kaido asked, "Then what did it take from me?"
"Not yet," she said. "But every pact takes what it wants—when the time comes."
She stood, cold and mechanical.
"The council has placed you under observation. You won't be locked up... but you'll be watched. Closely. Used when necessary."
Kaido raised his head.
"A tool, then."
She turned toward the door.
"Some tools make history."
---
Two days later, Kaido stood atop one of the city's high towers, gazing out over Tokyo's endless sprawl. From here, the city looked like a painting—alive with lights, yet veiled in a calm that betrayed none of its deeper mysteries.
A familiar voice rose behind him—gentle, hesitant:
"Kaido."
He turned. Aiko stood there, wrapped in a gray coat over her school uniform. Her eyes were filled with worry and something unspoken.
"They finally let me see you," she said softly.
She approached, touching his arm, her fingers brushing the bandages gently.
"I heard you've... changed."
Kaido's voice was quiet. "I didn't ask for it. But it happened."
She sat beside him on the ledge, legs dangling over the dizzying drop.
"Does it hurt?" she asked.
"Sometimes. But the pain isn't the problem."
"Then what is?"
"The doubt. I don't know if I'm still... me."
She looked at him for a long moment, then whispered,
"You're my brother. That's enough—for now."
---
In the following days, gates began to multiply—and shift. They no longer appeared in predictable patterns. Some materialized in crowded areas, without warning. Worse still: the creatures spilling from them bore no resemblance to any previously known classification.
In an emergency meeting at the Black Thorn Order's headquarters, Ryu Hayashi stood with his hands behind his back, watching a live broadcast of a raid on a Class B gate that had escalated to Class A within minutes.
One officer said, "That's the fifth this week. Something's interfering with the gate system."
Ryu answered, "Or someone."
He turned to one of his agents.
"Monitor everyone who's returned from gates alive... especially that boy—Kaido Shin."
---
Elsewhere, in an ancient hall hidden beneath the city's foundations, three entities gathered—the Lords of the Pacts. No one knew if they were human anymore—or ever had been.
The first spoke, voice like a hiss:
"One has answered the pact... and did not perish."
The second:
"Rare. And dangerous."
The third, thunderous:
"The blood has awakened. The chains are weakening."
---
The next evening, Kaido was summoned to the central Hunters Association—this time not as a suspect, but as a subject of concern. In the grand hall, several guild leaders had assembled. Among them were Kaori Mizuki of Dragon's Vow, and Takashi Inoue of Ghost Pavilion.
Kaori's tone was sharp:
"We're here to decide. Can you be trusted—or are you a ticking bomb?"
Takashi, always composed, added:
"Power with no known source... could consume us all."
Kaido stepped forward, his gaze unwavering.
"I'm not asking for your trust. But if you want to stay alive... keep me close."
One whispered, "He doesn't fear anything."
Another replied, "Maybe because he's already lost everything."
---
That night, as Tokyo slipped into yet another uneasy dusk, Kaido entered his apartment. He dropped onto the couch, eyes heavy.
Then came the voice again.
This time, clearer than ever—deep, resonant, from inside him:
"Your blood opened the gate. But crossing it... was your choice."
His eyes snapped open.
In the corner of the room, shadows shifted. A form took shape—no face, but two burning coals where eyes should be.
The voice spoke again:
"The test hasn't begun."
Kaido didn't flinch. He stood, facing the specter head-on.
"Then let it begin."
And with that, the shadow vanished.
Only its echo remained—
A deep, haunting tone...
As if something unstoppable had just begun.