As the smoke cleared, Kiyama Harumi clutched her head and let out a half-mad laugh. "What an honor! The Third-ranked Level 5... Dark Matter!"
"Ugh... hearing that codename always puts me in a bad mood," came a cool, slightly annoyed voice. "I have a name, you know. Why can't people just use it?" The young man's tone was faintly irritated, as if the title itself were an insult.
Even as he descended from the sky, Kakine Teitoku hovered effortlessly above the ground. The three pairs of white wings unfurled behind him shimmered in the sunlight, giving him an almost angelic appearance—like a divine being come to deliver judgment. And across from him stood Kiyama Harumi, looking every bit the fallen one in contrast. To the unknowing eye, the scene might have truly looked like heaven clashing with hell.
"Kakine Teitoku, the third-ranked Level 5—do you not find it shameful to ambush a fellow Level 5 like me?" Mugino Shizuri said coldly, her expression tense as she hovered in midair, ready to fire.
"Ambush? Don't make me laugh." Kakine's lips curved into a mocking grin. "What gave you the confidence to think I'd need to use tactics against the likes of you?"
When facing Selene, he might act obedient—but to anyone else, Kakine Teitoku feared no one. Not even the top-ranked monster, Accelerator.
His tone was light, his gaze lazy, utterly dismissive of everyone present. But when his eyes landed on Kiyama Harumi, a flicker of intrigue crossed his face.
"Tch... a mere pawn of Kihara Gensei, and yet you managed to make such a mess. Impressive. I bet that old bastard never saw this coming."
The moment she heard Kihara Gensei's name, Kiyama's last fragments of reason shattered. The fragile restraint she'd been holding back gave way to pure rage.
She no longer cared why Kakine was here—her voice rose in a venomous snarl. "What, the Chairman's lapdog has come to interfere too? Did your master give you permission to bite, or are you just another disobedient mutt acting on impulse?!"
"Careful how you talk to me," Kakine's tone darkened, though his expression remained cool. "Insult me again, and I'll make sure you die very unpleasantly." It was true—many whispered that he was nothing but Selene's hound now. But hearing it thrown in his face like that... rankled.
"Heh... you can't even admit it, huh? How pathetic—"
Before Kiyama could finish, Kakine's eyes flashed with frost. Without warning, he attacked.
A blinding surge of white particles erupted from his body, and one of the six radiant wings on his back extended, stretching to over twenty meters in length. In the next instant, an enormous windstorm—far greater than any of Kiyama's earlier hurricanes—tore forward.
A roaring white tornado ripped across the battlefield, crashing straight into Kiyama.
BOOM! BOOM!
Kiyama hastily raised multiple concrete barriers to block the strike—but under that overwhelming force, they shattered like glass.
CLANG!
At the very last moment, she managed to deploy a black barrier, barely halting the storm's advance. But Kakine's assault didn't stop—it never did. His power came in unrelenting waves.
From a distance, the ruined expressway looked like it had been split by a horizontal cyclone. Debris and steel were lifted skyward, swirling around the blindingly white figure as his windstorm hammered relentlessly against the dark barrier shielding Kiyama.
As Kakine's output increased, the pressure became unbearable. Kiyama staggered back step by step, gouging a deep trench into the broken ground.
KRRAAAASH! The air itself seemed to crack.
Her barrier strained to the breaking point, flickering and groaning under the impact. Kiyama's concentration slipped—she could no longer maintain her psychic anchoring to the ground.
Her body was flung backward, smashed through one support pillar after another before finally embedding into the fourth with a bone-rattling CRASH.
"Ahh...! Cough!" Blood spattered from her lips as she fell to one knee, trembling violently. Blood seeped from her nose, ears, and even her eyes—she looked more like a ghost than a human.
So this was the difference... the gap between her and the true monsters of Academy City.
Even the "weakest" of the top three Level 5s—Kakine Teitoku—was still a monster.
Gasping for breath, Kiyama could only laugh bitterly through the pain. So this is what it means to stand among the strongest...
"I told you already—don't try to provoke me." Floating above the smoke-filled ruins, Kakine Teitoku stared down coldly at the battered Kiyama Harumi. His voice remained as sharp and detached as ever.
"I couldn't care less about your petty drama. You're just making too much noise. That nuclear reactor next door—powered by Honkai energy—happens to belong to my boss. As her subordinate, I've got to keep the property safe, you understand?"
He wasn't lying. The nuclear-powered (Honkai-powered) reactor near the expressway was indeed Selene's property—a 'gift' from the Board of Directors. Part of it was used in Honkai energy conversion experiments, providing power cores for Selene's mass-produced robots.
That was why Kakine had come—not to save anyone, but to prevent further damage to Selene's assets.
"At first, I only planned to stop the fight and tell you to take it somewhere else," Kakine continued casually. "But you pissed me off. So now... I think I'll hand you over for some quick cash. You've got quite the bounty in the Dark Side, you know?" The amusement in his tone only deepened as Kiyama's expression twisted with rage.
Cough... cough... Hearing his words, Kiyama glared up through the blood in her mouth, her hatred boiling over. To someone like Kakine, her entire network—her years of effort—was nothing but a toy.
Damn it... The moment she heard Kihara Gensei's name, her emotions had spiraled out of control. Now she'd burned that bridge completely. If I'd just stayed calm, maybe I could've escaped...
But when she met Kakine's mocking gaze, Kiyama realized there was no room left for compromise. The only path left was through him.
Even if you're a Level 5, you can't stop me. Kids... believe in me. Your teacher will save you. I swear it!
She couldn't afford to give up—not now. With that resolve solidified, the confusion in her eyes vanished, replaced by cold determination.
"Don't get ahead of yourself! Don't act like you've already won!" she shouted, forcing herself upright despite the pain, clenching her bloodied teeth. The sheer ferocity in her gaze made even Kakine pause for an instant.
Then, before he could react, Kiyama pulled a syringe from thin air—its vial filled with shimmering violet-red liquid—and plunged it straight into the vein in her neck.
"A—AAAHHH!!!"
Her scream tore through the air. Kakine's eyes widened, startled out of his momentary stupor. "What—?!"
From the shattered syringe on the ground, a faint, unmistakable energy radiated outward. Kakine's pupils contracted sharply. He knew that feeling well—it was the unmistakable presence of Honkai energy.
Though Selene's refined serums left little residue, dissipating into inert matter shortly after use, Kakine had undergone Honkai augmentation more than once. He could recognize that energy anywhere.
Without hesitation, his three pairs of wings beat powerfully, unleashing a massive gale. The air compressed into a volley of concrete fragments, transmuted and accelerated to the speed of bullets, all aimed at the kneeling Kiyama.
But it was useless.
With a deafening BOOM, the oncoming storm crashed against a crimson energy wave that exploded outward from Kiyama's body. Every fragment disintegrated upon contact.
The injection had wracked her body with unbearable pain—every muscle spasmed violently—but the crimson light in her eyes now burned with monstrous intensity.
When the dust cleared, Kakine clicked his tongue. "Tch... this just got a little more complicated."
He wasn't sure whether this was part of his boss's plan or not, but one thing was certain—he needed to test the situation.
Raising a single hand, Kakine unleashed a dazzling cascade of elemental fury. Flames roared, ice shards spiraled, blades of wind screamed, and spears of earth tore from the ground. Beams of light followed—all converging toward Kiyama Harumi.
BOOOOM!