An hour before Feng Ye heads out, the clouds darken quite quickly and soon rain starts to pour. As time continues, the storm increases in size and intensity. Winds start howling throughout the entire city and is accompanied by the sounds of thunder. Occasional bolts of lightning streak across the darkened sky.

Akimichi sighs. He has been trying to trace the culprits behind the accident which had occurred a month ago.

A month ago, he noticed a blue haired individual running to the Kami Institute seemingly distressed and late. However, he also noticed that a suspicious looking vehicle was driving quickly along.

As Akimichi is apart of the student enforcer team, he has the responsibility to investigate. Akimichi didn’t know that he would later regret this. He had teleported into the vehicle and noticed the startled expression on the driver’s face. However, he also saw that on the back seats of the vehicle were packages of Synapt. As the vehicle had tinted windows, none can see inside. Immediately, Akimichi decides to stun the driver and bring them to the main campus for interrogation. Unfortunately, the driver was quite decisive and bit a cyanide capsule he had in his mouth. When Akimichi teleported the driver with him to headquarters, the driver was already dead and no information could be gained.

Due to the vehicle losing the driver, it went out of control and crashed into a nearby light pole. The light pole gets damaged and the monitoring devices on top short circuit, thus, interrupting the transmission.

The past few days, Akimichi has been trying to find traces of evidence in relation to the driver such as investigating the driver’s history and past driving routes. The more he looks, the more anxious he becomes as he feels that he may have investigated some turbid waters. As he continues tonight in the stormy weather, a buzz suddenly can be felt from his pocket.

Akimichi Yen teleports out of the rain and reappears under the roof of a nearby closed restaurant. In this relatively dry area, he takes a look at the text message presumably thinking it may be from the higher ups in the student enforcer team.

Unknown Number: Akimichi Yen. Please come to the location specified in the map attached alone. You have 5 minutes. Failure to do so will result in the detonation of these areas circled on the map.

Akimichi shows a worried expression. From the attached image, a map is shown which designates the area he needs to show up alone and also the circled areas of detonation if he doesn’t show. Along with the circled areas, he can see images of packages of C4 explosives in numerous areas within the marked detonation areas. He knows that he can’t disable them all within 5 minutes.

Immediately, he makes a phone call to a higher level member of the student enforcer team. Akimichi reports the situation and has to delay the time the explosives would go off. The police coordinate with the student enforcer team to rush to the specified areas under the protection of espers.

Akimichi sighs as his form disappears from the restaurant. A second later, he finds himself in a construction area of the city. Here, a dark form appears several yards away from him. The lighting in this area is rather dim. As it is in construction, no one resides here and the entire area is sealed off until the construction finishes. No other individuals besides the form in front of him are present as the time is quite late and all workers have already gone home. The two form size each other up for a short moment while the rain continues to fall..

“Who are you and what do you want?” Akimichi inquires loudly to the individual in front of him. The dim lighting shows some of the facial features of the individual. He has a scar on his left eye. His eyes are covered by a pair of dark shades. He also has red hair and is around 6 ft in height. He is wearing a trenchcoat which looks drenched due to the rain.

The man in front of him coldly smiles and replies, “Unfortunately, it is the end of the road for you buddy. You have investigated something you shouldn’t have. Also, if you run then this button will cause the nearby designated explosives to detonate.”

As his words fall, he dashes forward with a dagger towards Akimichi. As Akimichi also had been diligent in his trainings and combat practice, he was able to respond quickly. Immediately, Akimichi blinks towards that man’s back getting ready to attack from his rear with his own dagger.

The man snorts and laughs, “Mediocre.”

In a flash, he was able to turn 360 degrees and block Akimichi’s incoming attack. The sound of the two daggers colliding can be heard.

Akimichi clenches his teeth and realizes that he possibly isn’t the match of this individual. However, he needs to delay until the bombs are disabled or take the remote which controls the detonation. Immediately after the first collision of daggers, Akimichi immediately uses his other hand to send three throwing daggers in the direction of the formidable enemy while teleporting ten yards back away from him.

The man notices this action of Akimichi and performs a roundhouse kick in the direction of the daggers. The daggers are flung in another direction as they make contact with the man’s leg. Akimichi stares with an unbelievable expression at this. In terms of strength, the mysterious enemy in front of him seems to have a body as tough as steel. “Genetically modified human?” Akimichi thought to himself.

As Akimichi also had a little bit of contact with the higher levels, he knew that genetically modified humans do exist. By experimentation, humans were able to strengthen certain genes which lead to exponential increase of abilities and potential.

“I’ll be having some trouble..” Akimichi, as an information officer, has the most trouble fighting this type of match. The issue also lies in that the mysterious man hasn’t used any abilities except their enhanced physical traits. He may also be keeping a card at hand.

Without enough time to ponder, Akimichi sees the man rushing towards him. His speed also seems to have exponentially increased. Akimichi hardens his resolve and immediately teleports to the man’s side with another attack with the dagger, hoping to get him caught off guard. However, he had underestimated the man’s reflexes. As soon as he appears, in the next half second, he can see a fist welcoming him.

Bang! Akimichi gets hit squarely on the chest. He is blown backwards and crashes into the wall of a nearby building. As soon as he collides, he coughs out some blood and disappears.

Akimichi knew that he made the correct decision as the moment he vanished and teleported twenty yards away, a large bang can be heard as the man can be seen punching a hole where Akimichi was previously a moment ago.

Akimichi swears in his mind and his entire body is drenched in cold sweat. He has a hand which supports his chest injury. He knows he is no longer combat ready. If this goes on, he really will pass away here.

The man coldly snorts and rushes again. The battle protracts as Akimichi wholeheartedly is evading each attack while trying to kite the enemy down with his daggers. Unfortunately, besides slightly slowing down the man’s movement, no additional effect or noticable injury can be seen. As the battle continues, one can notice that Akimichi’s injuries continue to worsen and can notice a few scratch marks on his skin that have been caused by the man’s dagger.

***

Meanwhile, as the battle between Akimichi and the mysterious man continues in a protracted war, Feng Ye notices this unusual behaviour on his phone. He can see the red dot blinking multiple times around the same small area. He rushes in the rain to the location indicated as he knows that Akimichi probably has met trouble.

“Come on Akimichi, hang on.” Feng Ye anxiously mutters as he sprints through the wet streets of the metropolis.