The team formed a tight circle around the pulsing monolith, their weapons drawn and eyes scanning the shifting shadows of the jungle. The air grew heavy, static-charged and smelling of wet earth.
Xiaolong stepped toward the heart of the clearing. "Alright," he said, his voice level despite the adrenaline. "I'm touching it now."
He reached out. The moment his palm met the cold, jagged surface of the stone—BOOM!
A deafening, primordial roar erupted from the earth, shaking the very foundations of the jungle. The shockwave rattled the trees and sent birds screaming into the sky.
"Oi! Why is it this loud?!" Kento yelled, clamping his hands over his ears. "You could've warned us first!"
Xiaolong stared at the stone, his brow furrowed. "When I touched it before… it didn't react like this. It's different now."
Suddenly, a shimmering system card flickered into existence in the air before him. At the top, glowing in ominous, golden letters, were the words: [EXCLUSIVE STONE].
Dr. Ishimiya's eyes widened behind his glasses. "So that's it. It's officially an Exclusive Stone... a primary data node."
Below the title, three distinct options hovered in the air:
Exclusive Stone Locations
Soul Hunter's and Phore
Soul Reaper Encyclopedia
"Click on the locations first!" Ishimiya urged, stepping closer. "We need to know how many more of these there are!"
Xiaolong nodded and reached out—but his finger never touched the screen.
A searing violet laser beam tore through the canopy, aimed directly at the back of the doctor's head. Xiaolong moved by instinct, snapping his hand upward. A high-pressure water barrier spiraled into existence, catching the beam and dispersing it into a cloud of steam.
"...We almost died," Ishimiya gasped, collapsing to his knees.
In the same breath, Takashi launched himself into the sky. He didn't use a weapon; he used the raw weight of his evolved strength. He caught the Fourth-Grade Soul Reaper mid-air and slammed a fist into its core. The creature didn't just die—it shattered into a thousand black fragments.
But as Takashi landed, the jungle began to hum. From every direction, dozens of Fourth-Grade Soul Reapers began pouring through the trees, their eyes glowing like embers in the smoke.
"No time to waste," Kento growled, his Thunder Sword crackling back into existence. Takashi didn't answer; he simply broke into a sprint. Together, the two of them dove headlong into the swarm.
At the perimeter, Nanami watched the horizon with narrowing eyes. Beside him, the air shimmered as Sami hovered a few feet off the ground, her silver aura casting long shadows.
"Sami," Nanami said sharply. "Large group of Fourth-Grades approaching from the north."
"I see them," she replied calmly.
She didn't move her hands. She simply willed the world to change. The approaching Reapers were suddenly seized by an invisible force. They were slammed into the earth, hoisted fifty feet into the air, and crushed back down repeatedly, their bones snapping like dry twigs under the weight of her telekinesis.
Nanami stared at the effortless slaughter. "...Incredible."
A soldier scrambled up to them, his face caked in mud and blood. "Sir! First Division—Commander Hayato reporting! Fifteen Third-Grades are tearing through our line at the lower entrance! We're losing men every second!"
Nanami's jaw tightened. He looked at the horde Sami was currently dismantling, then toward the smoke rising from the lower sector. "Sami. Leave these ones to me. My units can handle the cleanup here. Go support the First Division. Now!"
Sami nodded, her expression hardening. "Roger that." She banked hard to the left, a silver streak of light trailing behind her as she vanished into the trees.
At the lower entrance, the battlefield was a vision of hell.
"Take cover!" Commander Hayato screamed over the roar of explosions. "Dodge the fireballs! Fire RPGs at the source!"
The air was thick with the choking, grey smoke of the Reapers. Soldiers dived behind rusting vehicles and jagged rocks. Fireballs rained down like meteors, turning the jungle into a furnace. Hayato watched in horror as his men were caught in the crossfire—some incinerated before they could even draw their weapons.
One soldier managed to raise his launcher, but a fireball struck him from the flank, and he was gone in a flash of heat.
This is happening because of me, Hayato thought, his hands trembling. I'm not a genius like Nanami. My soldiers are dying for my lack of skill.
A fireball slammed into the vehicle he was using for cover. The explosion threw him across the dirt. He rolled, gasping for air, as a Third-Grade Reaper emerged from the smoke, its maw glowing with a final, lethal charge.
Hayato gritted his teeth. No. This isn't the time for self-pity. Even if today is my last... I'll protect them till the end.
He aimed his RPG and fired. The missile hit the Reaper's chest, but the creature didn't fall. It screeched, launching a massive fireball directly at the defenseless Commander.
This is it—
Suddenly, a massive tree crashed down from the sky, intercepting the fireball mid-air. The flames vanished instantly upon contact.
Hayato froze, blinking through the ash. "...Huh?"
The smoke slowly cleared. He looked up, and his heart stopped.
Floating in the air was a girl, her silhouette framed by the sun. Her entire body was wrapped in a flowing, brilliant silver aura. Dozens of jagged rocks levitated around her, each one humming with the same silver glow.
Hayato's breath caught in his throat. In the midst of the carnage and the screams, she looked impossible.
"...An angel?" he whispered.
Sami's silver aura intensified, turning the daylight into a cold, brilliant white. The battlefield suddenly went silent as every Reaper in the vicinity turned to look at the new threat.
The Silver Angel of Japan had arrived.
Sami didn't waste a single second. The moment her boots left the dirt, the air around her began to hum with a terrifying frequency. She extended her hand toward the thickest part of the smoke, and instantly, five Third-Grade Soul Reapers were wrenched from their hiding places.
They were ripped off the ground, lifted helplessly into the air like marionettes with broken strings. Their bodies twisted and contorted as Sami's invisible force tightened around them, the pressure so immense that their dark carapaces began to crack.
They floated there, trapped in a pocket of distorted space. Sami's eyes turned cold, reflecting the silver light of her aura.
"Now die."
With a violent closing of her fist, she slammed all five together at the center point.
BOOOOOOM—!
The collision was seismic. Their bodies pulverized one another in mid-air, exploding outward in a spray of black fragments and scorched energy.
Commander Hayato stared, his mouth agape as the debris rained down around him. "...Whoa. Incredible." He gripped his weapon, a realization dawning on him. "So... she's Sami. The one Nanami spoke of."
Sami descended with the grace of a falling feather, landing directly in front of him. Her silver aura faded to a soft glow as she checked him for injuries.
"Hey, Commander Hayato," she asked, her voice calm and steady despite the carnage. "Are you alright?"
Hayato froze for a heartbeat, his mind racing. How does she know my name? He quickly shook off the confusion and pointed toward the swirling grey mist deeper in the trees. "Yes. I'm fine—but look around! There are still ten Third-Grades left. Take them out first!" He clenched his fists, his voice urgent. "Many soldiers are injured. We need to move them to the ambulances or they won't make it."
Sami nodded, her confidence unwavering. "Got it."
She lifted off again, her body rising smoothly into the sky. "I'll handle the remaining Soul Reapers. You gather the injured and bring them together."
"Understood!" Hayato shouted, already signaling his remaining able-bodied men.
Sami flew forward, plunging back into the thick, choking smoke. She didn't rely on her eyes; instead, she extended her mental senses, feeling for the flickering, warm auras of the human soldiers. One by one, the wounded men felt the ground fall away as they were lifted gently into the air by a soft, silver light.
"I'm moving you somewhere safe," Sami's voice echoed in their minds, radiating a calm that suppressed their panic. "Stay together."
She ferried the soldiers out of the kill zone, placing them carefully in a clear, elevated area where they could be treated far from the crossfire.
Suddenly—FWOOSH! A massive fireball tore out of the smoke, aimed directly at her back. Sami twisted mid-air, the flames missing her by an inch. She righted herself, her expression hardening into something lethal.
"You bastards..."
She raised both hands high. Beneath her, the earth groaned. Massive chunks of bedrock tore themselves free from the soil, rising like jagged teeth. Under the immense pressure of her telekinesis, she shattered the boulders into thousands of razor-sharp stone fragments.
With a single, sweeping motion, she hurled the entire storm of shards into the smoke.
It was a meteor rain of jagged flint. The smoke was pierced from every direction, the fragments moving with the velocity of bullets. The Soul Reapers inside were shredded, their bodies torn into unrecognizable pieces by the relentless barrage. In a singular heartbeat, seven more signatures vanished from her mental map.
The battlefield fell into a sudden, eerie silence.
Only three Third-Grade Soul Reapers remained, hiding in the deep shadows of the jungle. But Sami was no longer waiting for them to attack. She was already moving, a silver streak of retribution cutting through the dark.
The remaining three Soul Reapers realized the tide had turned. They began to retreat, moving deeper into the suffocating grey smoke, dragging the darkness with them like a shroud.
The soldiers of the 1st Division who were still standing didn't hesitate. Fueled by adrenaline and the sight of their fallen comrades, they pressed forward. One soldier dropped to a knee, stabilizing a heavy launcher on his shoulder.
"RPG ready!" he roared.
The missile streaked through the air, disappearing into the swirling mist. An instant later, a thunderous BOOM echoed through the trees.
"Yes! I got one!" the soldier cheered, his face lit by the distant orange glow. "Only two left! We can do this!"
But their hope was premature. These were Third-Grade Soul Reapers—creatures forged from more than just shadow. They were resilient, and they were vengeful.
From the heart of the explosion, the "dead" Reaper emerged. Its carapace was charred and cracked, black fluid leaking from its wounds, but its eyes still burned with a hateful light. It raised a mangled arm, and the air around its palm began to ripple with intense heat.
A fireball materialized in a heartbeat. Before the soldiers could even dive for cover, it was launched.
BOOOOM—!
The explosion was catastrophic. The soldier who had fired the RPG, along with three others standing beside him, were engulfed in the blast. Their bodies were thrown back like ragdolls, landing limply in the dirt.
Silence followed. They were gone.
As the remaining two Reapers stepped out of the smoke to finish the survivors, a silver blur descended from the heavens with the force of a falling star.
Sami landed between the monsters and the trembling soldiers, the impact of her landing cracking the earth beneath her boots. Her silver aura flared into a blinding halo, the sheer pressure of her presence pushing back the smoke.
In one fluid motion, she clutched at the air. The three Soul Reapers—even the charred one—were wrenched from the ground. She forced them into a perfect horizontal line mid-air, pinning them against the sky with invisible chains of gravity. They thrashed and clawed at the air, but it was like struggling against a mountain.
Sami's gaze shifted to two massive, ancient trees flanking the clearing. She focused her mind. The wood groaned and splintered as the branches were stripped and compressed, the tips sharpening into jagged, lethal points under her overwhelming telekinetic force.
She pointed a single finger.
CRASH—!
The sharpened trunks shot forward like massive ballista bolts. They tore through all three Soul Reapers simultaneously, ripping massive holes through their torsos and out the other side. The creatures froze for a split second, their dark essence leaking into the air, before their forms collapsed into ash.
Dead.
Sami exhaled a long, shaky breath, her shoulders finally dropping. "Finally… this side is done."
She didn't stop to celebrate. She turned back toward the carnage, her eyes scanning for any sign of life among the fallen. "Now I need to get the injured soldiers to the ambulances."
With the grace of a guardian, she began moving among the wreckage, lifting the wounded with a gentle, silver light and carrying them toward the perimeter. Behind her, the smoke finally began to clear, revealing a battlefield that had been saved—but at a heavy price.