The monorail car that was coming back was not quiet in a positive way. It was the thick, heavy silence that comes after war is declared. The green-tinged world moved past the windows, a dead landscape that matched our grim resolve.
Mitsuru was sitting straight up with her eyes fixed on the middle distance. She was probably already planning counter-strategies, allocating resources, and figuring out how dangerous the situation was. When there was a clear and present danger, the heiress came back to life in all her glory.
As I looked at her, I couldn't stop thinking about what Takaya had said. "You are a jerk. A lovely, empty silence." The entity inside me found the description... funny. It wasn't meant as an insult; it was just a fact. It seemed to think about the "beautiful" part, as if judging the beauty of being void-like itself.
"He gave me a key," I said, my voice loud enough to be heard over the train.
Mitsuru looked at me with eyes that had a hint of strategic gleam in them. He perceives the world in simplistic and harmful dichotomies. Since life is painful, death is free."
"He doesn't understand the power you have, so he has to assign it a name that fits his nihilistic view of the world."
"You are either something he can use to get what he wants or something that needs to be removed. Do not let what he says define you."
Her reasoning was a strong wall. It was easy for words to get through, though.
I looked down at my hands and said, "He wasn't entirely wrong."
"They didn't look special. They didn't think they could figure out what was real."
"I don't feel like I'm doing anything when I use the power. I feel like I'm allowing something to remain unexpressed. It's a way to be quiet."
She replied, "Silence can be a weapon." "But it can also be a safe place." The rhythm of a symphony comes from the space between the notes. The pause in a conversation gives you time to think. Kaito, your power is up to you how you use it. You've demonstrated that your power can be used like a scalpel. Strega only wants to make it into a club. You still have a choice."
Her faith was what kept her going. I held on to it.
The debrief at the dorm was tense and formal. We were all in the command room, along with Mitsuru and me. She told us what had happened in clear, clinical terms.
"Strega's headquarters have been located," the investigation revealed.
"The goals that they have set for themselves have been established: they want to hasten the Fall, and they see Tanaka as an essential part of their plans, either as a partner or as a potential adversary."
Junpei whistled softly and nervously. "So the creepy goth squad plans to use our guy as a doomsday device. Great. Just fantastic."
"They called him a 'key'," Yukari said, her voice laced with protectiveness. "What does that mean?"
Mitsuru said, "It means they understand, on some level, the basic nature of his abilities."
"He doesn't just beat Shadows; he changes the basic ideas that make it possible for them to exist or act."
He can "lock" a state of not-being or a state of stability in a certain way. Such a power would captivate those who desire to remain forgotten.
Akihiko clenched his fists, his expression filled with anger. "After that, we stress that he's not for sale. We started by hitting them."
Mitsuru cut him off, saying, "Recklessness is what they desire." "They rely on emotion and despair. We'll counter with logic and preparation. We prioritise defence and intelligence. We will strengthen our position and improve our understanding of the enemy."
Her gaze swept across us all, eventually landing on me. "Our most important task is to ensure that Tanaka's control is absolute. Strega will try to provoke him, causing a loss of control.
"We cannot let that happen."
The weight of it all settled on my shoulders. I was no longer just a fighter; I was a strategic asset, a territory to be defended. The pressure was a cold, constant companion.
The next few days were a case study in how to gradually make things worse. The dorm turned into a stronghold. Mitsuru put in new technological and mental security systems.
These were clever barriers made from Kirijo knowledge that would let us know if someone from another world tried to get in. Our trips to Tartarus became more focused, less about exploring and more about getting proficient at working together in battle.
My personal training moved into a new, tougher phase. Akihiko didn't give up.
"Again!" he barked as he kicked me in the basement of the dorm. The smell of sweat and ozone filled the air. "Tanaka, they won't fight fairly! They are going to hit you in the head! Pay attention, because it's both your best and worst trait!"
He moved to the left and then hit with a right hook. I barely missed, and my focus started to break. "I am trying!"
"Making an effort isn't enough! Doing this ought to be as easy as breathing for you. With the red flowing! Just when you thought the world was quiet, a voice breaks through! His move was barely audible as he pushed forward with an urgency.
"What happens if they decide to pursue Yukari? And what about Mitsuru? Would you be able to maintain your composure now? When your heart is being torn out, can you still be the surgeon?"
His words hit me hard and made me lose my cool. Fear started to rise, which is exactly what he was trying to warn me about. I caught a glimpse of Mitsuru, who looked hurt and trapped. My concentration broke.
In that panicked moment, the Entity did something. I let out a wave of negative, scattered, and crazy thoughts. It wasn't aimed at Akihiko, but at the area around him. The strong wall behind him... changed.
A perfect circle, roughly the size of a man, suddenly appeared. Damaged but not broken. In a perfectly smooth and spooky clean arc, it showed the wiring and insulation behind it.
Akihiko stopped moving, and his fist stopped an inch from my face. Slowly, he took it down. He stared at the hole in the wall with wide eyes. The space where the steel and concrete had been was now... empty. A pocket of nothingness.
We were both out of breath, and the only sound was the sound of my chin dripping on the floor.
I whispered, "I... I lost control." Fear washed over me.
Akihiko did not shout. He just looked at me, and I couldn't tell what he was thinking. He spoke softly and said, "Yeah."
"You did it." His hand went over the edge of the hole, which was too smooth to be real.
"If that had been a person..."
He left out a word. That wasn't necessary.
The event made everyone on the team feel more anxious. Even though the trust was still there, it was tempered by a strong memory of the disaster I held.
Everyone had only caught a glimpse of how thin the scabbard was and how sharp the blade really was when I was sheathed.
Makoto was the one who surprised everyone by offering a way to feel better. That night, I found him on the roof, feeding a stray cat that had become his permanent shadow.
He said, "You're thinking too much," without looking up from the purring animal.
"Is that possible at all?" I sighed and leaned against the railing next to him.
"Yes, for you right now." He scratched the cat between the ears. "You are putting up a wall to stop the ocean." It doesn't work. "The stress will always find a way through."
"What should I do?" I asked, and you could hear the anger in my voice.
He just said, "Be the ocean." "Stop going against the flow. Get it. Go with the flow. You can't turn your power on and off separately. The tide is out. The tide will keep going. You can only learn to swim in it and ride the waves instead of getting swept away by them."
His comparison made me feel strangely calm. The Entity was inside me like a huge, deep ocean. It was old, strong, and neutral. My worry caused the storm that turned it into a destructive craze. My power came from being able to navigate its depths like a sailor.
Next week, on a night with no moon, the real test came. As the Dark Hour ended, a new, more hostile signal came from the industrial district. It turned into a shout instead of a whisper. As a challenge.
Mitsuru said with a sad face on the monorail, "They're ready for us." "This is a welcome." "A trap."
Akihiko growled as he checked his Evoker and said, "Then let's not keep them waiting."
Even though the warehouse looked the same, the air around it was filled with evil intent. This time, the mental wall was stronger, a clear psychic "KEEP OUT" sign. With a thought, I broke it, and the door's padlock opened before I even looked at it. The Entity was feeling excited.
Things were different inside. A sickly purple light shone from the spiral shape on the floor. Jin and Chidori stood on either side of Takaya, who stood in the middle. But there were also others—pale, empty-eyed people from around the city that I knew—who had Apathy Syndrome.
They just stood on the edges of the room like a group of bored people, as the ritual slowly drained their energy.
Takaya smiled like a predator and said, "Welcome." "We've planned a... demonstration. For the honour of our guest."
One of the people who had Apathy Syndrome, a young woman, was pushed forward by something that couldn't be seen. Her eyes were empty, and she had lost all will.
Takaya sang, "This world is pain," and his voice slid through the vast space. "Just having it is a flaw. Warden, let us show you how beautiful the void you carry inside you is."
Hyperion showed up, and its arm rose not towards us but towards the helpless woman. It started to form not a sphere of destruction but a vortex of pure erasure.
It was like what I had unleashed on the wall, but smaller and more focused.
My heart stopped beating. He wasn't trying to hurt us. Just for fun, he was going to undress a good person right in front of me. To show me that my strength was nihilism. Making me part of his nightmare in order to break my will.
"Halt!" Mitsuru issued a command, and Penthesilea emerged in a swirl of icy air.
But Jin's Castor surged forward, colliding with her ice in a magnificent display of raw power. Akihiko and Junpei faced Chidori's Medea, their spells and steel colliding in a dazzling display of light and sound. They were kept at a distance, artfully distracted.
Only I stood in the way of Takaya's sacred ceremony and the one chosen.
The woman gazed into the swirling chaos, a solitary, clear tear carving a delicate line through the dirt on her face. It was a burst of vitality, a hint of trepidation, amidst a vast ocean of indifference.
The thing inside of me was a whirlwind of opposing urges. Part of it was that the cold, logical warden saw the woman as a lost cause and a number. It would be...effective to erase her.
She would no longer be in pain. Another part that had been changed by my humanity, Mitsuru's faith, and the bonds I had made screamed in horror.
Takaya looked at me with bright eyes. "This is how you really are, Key! Not to keep their weak and painful world safe, but to end it! Come with me! Accept it!"
A tidal wave of fear and disgust rose in people. The hole in the wall was clear to me. I heard Akihiko's word of caution.
Even so, I looked at Mitsuru, who was in the middle of her own battle. When she looked into my eyes, they didn't tell me what to do; they showed deep, unwavering trust. She thought I could figure it out. She had faith in both the man and the power.
I took a deep breath, then let it out slowly.
I stopped pursuing the ocean and instead embraced my role as the sailor.
I didn't do anything to stop Hyperion's attack. I didn't try to get rid of the attack. When I looked at the scared woman and that one precious tear, I forced an idea on her.
I made them INVULNERABLE.
Not a physical shield. An idea-based one. The thought that because she was alive, she couldn't be affected by the idea of unnatural erasure.
She was touched by the vortex of nothingness... and fell off. It wasn't able to talk to her. It couldn't even acknowledge that she was there. The key didn't work in the lock anymore.
The woman fell, but she wasn't hurt. The fear that was clear in her eyes was replaced by confusion.
It was clear that Takaya was shocked by what he saw. His sneer went away, and a confused rage took its place. What... what the hell did you do?
I spoke with a calm tone, my voice resonating with an authority that was both mine and the Entity's. "I changed the rules," I said. "You look only at conclusions. I see inequalities. On account of your nihilism, you will not make use of my power."
We were able to break the impasse. Their primary strategy was unsuccessful, and Strega's cohesiveness was shattered. Infuriated by the defeat, Jin launched a wild and uncontrolled attack, which provided Mitsuru and Akihiko with the opening they required to pursue their objectives.
As a result of the subsequent chaos, the Strega were compelled to flee, disappearing into the darkness from which they had emerged, taking their hostages with them as they went.
In the warehouse, where we were standing, the glowing spiral that had been on the floor was beginning to fade. Even though the battle was won, the war was not yet over on any front.
Yukari was already providing assistance to the woman who was perplexed, and her tone was soothing and reassuring. Akihiko made a firm, unspoken expression of approval by placing his hand on my shoulder and clapping his hand.
The only thing that Junpei did was shake his head while smiling. "Listen, dude. That was... WOW!"
My eyes, however, were solely focused on Mitsuru. She approached me with deliberate deliberation in her steps as she walked.
She halted in front of me, her eyes searching my face as she did so. She observed the tranquillity, the level of control, and the absence of the exhausting fatigue that typically followed a significant amount of effort.
The tone of her voice was filled with awe as she whispered, "You didn't just control it." "They obeyed your command. It was not a bomb or a scalpel that you were. You were... a judge."
The tone of my voice was soft as I responded, "I had a good anchor."
Her composure was shattered by an authentic, dazzling smile that appeared to contradict the verdant darkness of the Dark Hour.
As I stood among the remnants of our triumph, I felt less like an instrument of oppression and more like an ally. A guy who had faced his inner demons and learnt to soar instead of plummeting.
However, one last terrifying thought crossed my mind as we turned to depart. It was Takaya's intention to demonstrate to me the splendour of the void. As a matter of fact, he had.
I had never before experienced the power of the Entity in the form of a terrifying force; rather, I had experienced it as a tool that provided absolute and impartial justice. It was an intensely alluring sensation.
A risky one to be sure. I had just managed to dance on the edge of the line that separated the warden from the executioner, which was a terrifyingly thin line. Despite the fact that the calm had returned, it was only the eye of the hurricane, and the storm had not yet arrived.