Nana had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Miko and was barely able to escape with her life after using an escape gadget to instantly teleport away.

She was currently running through the 9th district covered in wounds and her own blood.

She leaned on a wall while breathing heavily.

“That…That bastard!”

She remembered her entire fight with Miko from start to finish. She easily acknowledged that Miko didn't fight her seriously in the beginning and only showed his true strength at the end.

She also acknowledged that she was weaker than him when he gets serious.

“He played around with me and took me for a complete fool!”

She gnashed her teeth in frustration.

“What am I going to do? I went against orders and have nothing to show for it that could grant my forgiveness. In fact, I even got defeated.”

She spoke to herself.

It was at this moment a holographic window appeared in front of her.

It showed that she was getting a voice only call, and the caller was none other than her father.

Nana gulped when she saw it.

She hesitated for a while before tapping on the holographic window.

“Goodnight, Father. How may I help you today?”

She spoke with the cutest voice she could generate.

“You know why I'm calling, Nana. I'm surprised you can play dumb with your body so dent up.”

Her father spoke coldly, completely discarding her attempt to seem cute.

‘Tsk! He was watching!’

Nana thought in her mind.

“I'm sorry for going against orders. It's just that my instincts got the better of me.”

“And that led to your miserable defeat, and pathetic retreat.”

“………”

Nana said nothing to refute her father.

“Well, forget it. Return to syndicate for now.”

“What about the Heavenly Demon King?”

“The syndicate has decided to deal with him another time. We have more pressing matters at the moment.”

“You mean…?”

“It's as you're thinking.”

The voice paused for a second as if he was overwhelmed with emotions.

“It's time for us to knock down the four pillars.”

Around this time, Bloom who was at her home in the residential area of the 13th District received a call from Sapphire.

“What? Miko clashed with Shadow Beast Nana?”

She asked in disbelief.

“That's right.”

“What was the result?”

“It was Miko's victory. He looked like he was having a bit of a hard time at one point, but once he got serious it was his overwhelming victory.”

“….I see.”

Bloom was once again enlightened of the depth of Miko's true strength.

Even though Nana was weaker than each member of Silver Crow and it wouldn't take much for Bloom to defeat her, she was still a tough opponent. Especially for some who was in [A Class].

“It looks like Miko's true strength is around [Lower S Class]. It's still weaker than a Fang in the Syndicate, but it's enough to put up a fight.”

She said with a pondering expression.

“I agree with you. He was able to defeat an opponent who burnt his life away to reach the limit of [Lower S Class], to become king after all. There might be a chance that he hid some of his strength during that battle too. His true strength might match Jin’s. Without his war gear of course.”

“Matches the Boss’s huh? It might be possible.”

Bloom leaned back in her chair.

She was sitting around a desk with several tablets in front of her. She was in the middle of completing an assignment when she got Sapphire’s call.

“If he's as strong as the boss, then he must be as strong as Kaido.”

“The Chimera, Huh? I wonder who would win if they all had a three way battle?”

Sapphire asked without thinking.

“I prefer not to see that. The Boss is one thing, but I doubt Miko and Kaido would care about collateral damages to the city.”

Said Bloom.

She could imagine the destruction that would occur if those three actually fought.

“Sapphire see if you can prevent Miko and Kaido from meeting. Although it's unlikely to happen, I would like to avoid a conflict between those two.”

“Roger. I'll do my best.”

After saying that Sapphire cut the call.

“I'll have to talk to Kaido when I see him at the academy tomorrow.”

Bloom sighed and the continued to finish her assignments.

After his fight with Nana, Miko did as he said he would and went out to eat.

He ignored the stares he got from having holes in his clothes and body and stood in line at his favorite restaurant.

Because of his constant life threatening battles over the years, as well as the brutal training he's endured, Miko now had a higher tolerance for pain and a fast healing rate.

So although the wounds he suffered were horrifying, to Miko it was just a moment of pain before going numb.

His wounds were healing at rate that was quite visible to the eye.

After ordering everything he wanted, he left under the curious gazes of the people.

He and the girls then walked towards a nearby park where they could eat in peace.

Although Ishma had already began her feast while walking.

The three had unusually appetites, and one of them alone could eat five times the average person. And this was all just to keep their body going.

There was no such thing as overeating for them.

The other two were just gluttonous, but Miko had a very good reason for his large appetite.

He not only practices Qigong, which burns calories like paper damped with gasoline, he had to provide energy for three persons.

Ishma and Regis both constantly receive energy from Miko, which was different from the energy they received from eating. Because of this Miko needed to eat three times his usually amount, which was already five times the normal person.

Which meant on average, Miko ate 15 times the average person daily.

As for the energy Regis and Ishma got from eating themselves, that was stored somewhere different inside their bodies in case of emergencies where Miko could no longer supply them with the sufficient amount of energy.

If the energy Miko provides them and the energy they store up themselves runs out, they'll revert to their sword forms until they receive enough energy to resume their humanoid shape.

They arrived at the park around 10 minutes after leaving the restaurant.

By the time they sat down, Ishma had already ate half of her food and looked nowhere near satisfied.

“I'm not giving you any of my food later you know.”

Said Regis.

“I can't help it. The food smelt too good.”

Ishma said while talking with her mouth full.

“Well, I'm going to cook up some food when we get back anyway. So you can eat as much as you want.”

Said Miko as he started to dig in to his large pile of food.

“Really? I want something sweet!”

Ishma eagerly declared.

“You're going to get sick one of these days.”

Regis said with a sigh.

“Hm?”

It was at this moment Miko saw something a bit odd.

Not too far away from him, he saw a single girl sitting on a bench by herself. In front of the girl was a group of men with lustful expressions.

The girl was about Miko's age.

She wasn't stunningly beautiful compared to the girls he's normally around, but she had a certain charm about her.

She had green hair with white endings, and her silver eyes looked like they lacked focus. Or would it be better to say that they were cloudy.

Miko narrowed his eyes when he saw them.

“She's blind?”

He mumbled to himself.

From what he knew, stuff like blindness barely exist in this world. This was because of the existence of magic that could heal simple disabilities like lost of sight.

However, Miko was certain that the girl surrounded by the group of men was blind.

This intrigued him greatly.

Why was this girl blind?

This question had now started nagging him.

Miko listened in on the conversation that was occurring between the girl and the men.

“Hey, come on. It won't take long. Just hang out with us for a while. It's better than sitting out here in the cold by yourself.”

Said one the men.

He was making some odd gestures with his hand when he spoke.

Gestures that normal meant to have sex.

He obviously knew that the girl was blind, because he took it another level and even did the gestures right in front of her face.

Obviously she showed no signs of reacting to them.

“I'm sorry, but as I've said multiple times already I'm waiting on someone.”

The girl spoke with a calm and polite tone, contrast to the men's aggressive approach.

It was like she had no reason to fear the men.

“Or could it be that she doesn't value her wellbeing?”

Miko mumbled to himself.

Seeing the girl brought up some memories of his first encounter with his past-lover.

Miko decided to watch how the girl chooses to diffuse the situation, or if she wanted to diffuse it at all.

You could say that girl was currently a form of entertainment to him.

“You've been saying that, but is someone who left you defenseless like this worth waiting around for?”

Said one of them.

“Just forget that heartless loser and come hang out with us. We’ll even protect you from the bad guys out there.”

Said another man.

“Your offer sounds tempting but I'll have to decline. The person I'm waiting on is far from heartless, and is protecting me even as speak.”

The girl’s tone was still gentle and calm.

“Hahahaha!”

The men burst out laughing.

“He's protecting you?”

They looked around.

“No there's no one here but us! Where is he then?”

The men didn't noticed Miko because he used [Stealth-Camouflage on himself and the girls the moment he started observing the blind girl.

This was so that his existence didn't affect the upcoming events.

He was a spectator watching a show with no intention of affecting the story.

“The person she's waiting for is protecting even now?”

Miko was also skeptical about the girl’s words.

But from what he could tell, she wasn't lying.

“Hm….”

Miko silently spread his Qi to cover the area and search for any nearby life forms.

As a Qigong warrior his Qi could stretch for a couple hundred meters, he could then detect anything in that range and receive detail information about it.

“All those men are [B and A Classes].”

He said to himself.

He wasn't able to detect anyone hiding nearby, but he was able verify the [Classes] of the men. As well as the girl.

“[B Class]?”

Miko was surprised to find out that a frail girl actually had an above average strength.

He became even more interested in the girl.

“Hm?”

Suddenly Miko saw the girl look in his direction.

“Was I discovered?”

Miko shook his head of that thought, and told himself that he was overthinking.

Well, that was until the girl smile at him.

“?!”

This greatly shocked Miko.

Someone who was blind actually was able to detect him while he was using a powerful technique like [Stealth-Camouflage].

He doubted that he made a mistake in the technique and gave away his position.

The only thing he could think of was that when he spread his Qi, the girl was able to sense it which gave away his position.

He careless used his Qi in such a grand way because he believed that there wasn't any Qi users in the city.

But this blind girl was somehow able to detect his Qi.

Miko was even more intrigued.

“Hey! What are you looking away for?”

One of the men shouted in displeasure.

“Maybe she's giving us the cold shoulder.”

Said another man.

“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you, and I sincerely apologize if I did. There was just something that caught my attention.”

Even in the face of men's shouts, the girl maintained a polite and calm speech.

“Something caught your attention?”

The men looked over in Miko's direction.

Seeing that, Miko threw up two middle fingers.

“There's nothing there.”

Of course the men couldn't see Miko or his gesture.

“Do you think we're stupid? We know that you're blind. How can there be something that caught your attention?”

The men clearly felt offended although they're the ones who were offending the girl all this time.

“I'm not lyin-”

The girl was unable to finish what she was saying before her collar was grabbed.

“I'm bored of this! Let's just take her away and cut the pleasantries!”

The men stared surrounding the girl with expressions like they were wolves ready to devour a lamb.

“You're going to keep us company for the night. After that we'll sell you in one of those slaves auctions in the 11th District.”

Said the man who grabbed her.

“I'm sure they're lots of men with a blind girl fetish who are willing to pay big for you.”

The girl didn't say anything and smiled at the men.

It was as if her life wasn't in danger.

“You little!”

The man didn't like that so he lifted his hand to slap her.

“And that's my cue.”

It was at this moment that Miko deactivated [Stealth-Camouflage] appeared in front of the men.

“Wha?

“Where did this guy come from?!”

Of course the men were shock to see his sudden appearance.

“Who are you?!”

“Now that isn't really important. What's important is that I can't really afford for you to take this girl.”

After he said that he attacked.

[A Class] or not they didn't stand a chance against Miko.

Miko quickly used [Mirage Step] to catch them off guard, and then pierce through their unprotected chest with the quickest speed he possessed.

It all ended in seconds after his appearance.

The men all fell lifelessly on the ground.

Miko then turned to the girl.

“You're pretty interesting, girl. What's your name?”

The girl opened her mouth to respond when-

“Hana.”

Someone called her name from behind Miko.

It was a teen boy with a slight muscular build and black hair with white endings.

“Kaido.”

Miko looked at this teen called Kaido who was somehow able to appear behind him undetected.

Kaido looked back at him with no expression on his face.

This was the first meeting between Kaido and Miko.

This was also the beginning of a deadly rivalry that went down in history for many years to come.