The rain fell like whispers against the shattered glass of Devil Hunter Headquarters.
From a distance, the sprawling complex looked like a fortress — a patchwork of steel, stone, and scarred walls rebuilt too many times to count.
Inside, the air was thick with antiseptic and exhaustion.
Every hallway echoed with soft voices and the beeping of medical machines. The scent of smoke and medicine clung to the walls.
Yuto sat silently on a recovery bench, staring at the faint reflection of his golden-eyed self in the dark window.
His body was covered in bandages, but it wasn't pain that weighed him down — it was the silence after battle.
Every flash of lightning, every scream of metal from the museum still burned behind his eyelids.
Across the room, Sousuke was testing his repaired Thunder Bolt weapon. Sparks danced at the edges of his gloves, faint but steady. "The bastards adapted mid-fight," he muttered. "They weren't improvising — they were recording our techniques."
Akari looked up from where she sat by a water tank, her reflection rippling. "You think they're learning from us?"
Sousuke nodded grimly. "Yeah. And next time, they won't miss."
Tatsusuke exhaled, crossing his dual blades carefully. The air shimmered faintly — the fog bending in rhythm with his breath. "Then we can't fight the same way again."
The door slid open with a hiss.
Master Masaru entered. His long coat brushed the floor, his mechanical arm faintly whirring under the light. His expression was unreadable, but his eyes were sharp — the kind that had seen decades of blood and ghosts.
Behind him floated a projection — maps, energy readings, names.
"Prime 8 and Prime 9," he began, "were once known as Project Gemini."
The team turned toward him.
"They weren't born devils. They were created. Half-human, half-devil — the result of an experiment to merge demon energy with human hosts."
He paused, looking at their stunned faces. "That was twenty years ago, before Akuma Ikari turned the project into a weapon."
Yuto clenched his fists. "You're saying… they were human once?"
Masaru nodded. "Brothers. Twin soldiers. But their bodies couldn't handle the strain. The experiment tore their souls apart — one retained strength, the other, emotion. Together, they form a complete being. Apart… they are war."
Akari whispered, "That's why they fight like one mind."
Masaru deactivated the projector. The room dimmed again.
"They're not fighting to destroy you," he said softly. "They're trying to understand what they lost — their humanity. But that makes them far more dangerous."
The silence after those words felt like thunder.
---
Later that night, in the weapons bay, Masaru oversaw the team's new upgrades.
Their Devil Hunter suits had been reinforced — black polymer woven with gold veins of energy-reactive fibers.
Each belt carried small capsules — energy converters that stored residual devil essence for temporary boosts.
Their masks now displayed combat readings and threat scans.
Sousuke flexed his fingers. "Feels heavier."
Masaru smirked. "It is. Strength always carries weight."
Water Legend appeared at the doorway, his armor gleaming faintly blue in the dim light. "And yet, it feels like we're arming for a funeral," he said quietly.
Masaru's gaze softened. "We always are."
The room fell silent again.
---
Hours later, under a washed-out moon, Yuto and Water Legend stood outside on the HQ balcony.
The wind carried the faint scent of rain and burnt steel. The city below flickered in dim light — a scarred civilization still pretending to be whole.
Yuto finally spoke. "You fought like the tide itself, old man."
Water Legend chuckled softly. "Tides rise. Tides fall. But the sea remembers every storm."
His eyes drifted toward the horizon. "I've seen too many warriors drown in their own vengeance. Don't let that be you, Yuto."
Yuto turned toward him. "You think vengeance drives me?"
"I think pain does."
Water Legend's gaze was calm, knowing. "And pain is a dangerous teacher."
For a moment, neither spoke. The night hummed with quiet thunder.
Then a distant tremor rippled through the ground — faint, but unmistakable.
Sousuke burst onto the balcony, electricity crackling faintly around him. "Masaru just got a reading — massive energy spike, northeast sector."
Yuto's eyes hardened. "Prime 8 and 9?"
"Worse," Sousuke said. "They're splitting up."
---
Minutes later, the alarms echoed through the HQ — shrill and urgent.
Red lights bathed the halls in a heartbeat rhythm. Hunters rushed past, arming up, shouts overlapping.
Masaru's voice boomed through the intercom. "Devil Hunter teams Alpha and Delta — immediate deployment! Prime-class energy signatures detected in Quadrant 3 and 4!"
Yuto strapped on his gold-etched gauntlet. "Then this is it. The second wave."
Water Legend's trident shimmered with waterlight as he nodded. "This time, we don't let them retreat."
Sousuke cracked a grin. "Guess we're skipping rest."
Akari's eyes narrowed. "We're not the same as before."
Tatsusuke pulled his mask over his face, voice calm but sharp. "Then let's show them."
---
As they launched into the night — the HQ doors opening to the storm — lightning forked across the sky.
In the distance, the ruins of the old city shimmered faintly, two distinct pulses of energy glowing like twin hearts in the dark.
Prime 8 and Prime 9 were waiting.
But somewhere deep within their fading humanity, something else stirred — not hatred, but memory.
And when those memories came to light, they would change everything.
The wind howled. Thunder followed.
The Night of Reckoning had begun.
To be continued…