A devastating upward kick caught the Gargoyle squarely on the chin. The sheer kinetic force of the blow launched the massive stone beast high into the night sky, tearing through the roof of the ruined mansion.
Down below, the dust cleared to reveal Faiz. But it wasn't just his left eye that had changed.
A pair of jagged, ethereal wings forged from pure, crimson energy erupted from his back. A glowing red horn protruded fully from his forehead, pulsing with a terrifying, rhythmic light. With a single flap of those energy wings, Faiz broke the sound barrier, shooting into the sky. He appeared directly above the ascending Gargoyle and delivered an earth-shattering axe kick, sending the monster plummeting back down into the rubble.
The Gargoyle struggled to its feet, its stone armor cracked and crumbling. It looked up at the floating figure in the sky, and for the first time, its voice trembled.
"What... what is that?" the Gargoyle gasped. Then, realization dawned upon the ancient creature. "I see... the King has finally awoken from his slumber."
High above, Faiz stared down at his own hands. His consciousness was slipping, dissolving into a sea of red.
"My... consciousness..." Faiz whispered, his voice fading.
In the blink of an eye, Faiz's soul sank into the dark abyss of his inner world, completely replaced by the entity that had been waiting for this exact moment.
D.Faiz rolled his shoulders, a wicked grin stretching across his face. "Hmm. You just rest for a bit, kid. As for this little insect... I think I'll play with it for a while."
Sensing the shift, the Gargoyle launched itself off the ground, rocketing toward D.Faiz. It unleashed a heavy, spinning kick with enough force to generate a massive shockwave, kicking up a thick cloud of debris that obscured them both.
The Gargoyle smirked, thinking the blow had connected cleanly.
But as the dust settled, D.Faiz was merely holding his left hand up. He had caught the Gargoyle's massive stone leg effortlessly. His arm was coated in a blazing, crimson aura.
"Is this really all you can do?" D.Faiz mocked. He tightened his grip. The sound of solid granite cracking echoed through the air. Finding a solid handhold in the shattered stone, D.Faiz swung the three-meter-tall monster like a ragdoll and hurled it violently back into the mansion. The impact tore a massive, gaping hole through the center of the estate.
"Your output is pathetic, but I suppose your body is durable enough," D.Faiz mused, floating gently to the ground. "I think I can use you for a little experiment."
He raised his right hand, aiming at the crater where the Gargoyle had landed. Sizzling arcs of red and black lightning began to coalesce in his palm, condensing into a dense sphere of chaotic energy. He fired.
The resulting explosion completely vaporized the entire right wing of the mansion.
However, as the dust settled, the red aura around D.Faiz flickered and dimmed slightly.
"Tch. It's been far too long since I've seen the outside world. I'm not letting the fun end this quickly," D.Faiz grumbled. "Let's crank the output up to seventy percent."
He attempted to push the Half-Crazy engine further, but he felt a sudden, stubborn resistance. Faiz's dormant soul was subconsciously trying to hit the brakes. D.Faiz peered inward, looking at the boy's sleeping spirit.
Right before slipping completely into unconsciousness, Faiz's soul whispered a single word: "Pela..."
D.Faiz clicked his tongue. "Hmph. You really care about that mutated brat, don't you?"
Yielding slightly to the host's lingering will, D.Faiz dropped back down to the courtyard. The evolution to 70% completed. The energy wings grew wider, the horn sharpened, and intricate, tribal-like tattoos spread across his forehead, centering around a bright red crystalline formation between his brows.
Seeing D.Faiz distracted, the Gargoyle charged from the burning wreckage, desperate to land a lethal blow.
"Insect," D.Faiz spat.
Without even moving his hands, D.Faiz fired a concentrated beam of red-and-black lightning directly from the crystal on his forehead. The laser struck the Gargoyle dead in the chest, blasting it miles away toward the city center.
Ignoring the monster for a moment, D.Faiz walked casually toward the pile of rubble where Pela was buried. With a single, lazy flick of his index finger, the massive slabs of concrete and stone were lifted into the air and instantly pulverized into fine sand.
D.Faiz looked down at the unconscious girl.
"Hmm. She burned through her stamina too fast during the fight. When the pillar fell, she instinctively manipulated the gravity around the debris to cushion the impact, but ran out of juice before she could stop it entirely," D.Faiz analyzed. "It's going to take her forever to heal at this rate. Fine. Consider this a favor."
He knelt down and channeled a small fraction of his own dense energy into Pela's chest. D.Faiz rarely felt gratitude, but he held a strange, twisted respect for Pela. While the rest of the world—and even Faiz himself—saw D.Faiz as a curse or a bad influence, Pela simply accepted Faiz exactly as he was. She welcomed the monster.
Suddenly, the blaring sound of emergency sirens echoed from the distant city skyline.
"WARNING. HIGH-LEVEL AKUMA DETECTED IN THE CITY CENTER. ALL RESIDENTS EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY."
D.Faiz stood up, looking toward the flashing lights. "Looks like that overgrown pebble is throwing a tantrum. I suppose I should exterminate it."
With a powerful leap, D.Faiz took to the sky, hurtling toward the city.
He found the Gargoyle standing amidst the ruins of a downtown intersection, casually leveling office buildings with sweeps of its wings. Sensing D.Faiz's arrival, the Gargoyle roared, its voice filled with desperate fanaticism.
"THIS IS OUR PURPOSE! WE ARE AKUMA! BORN FROM DESTRUCTION, WE MUST BRING DESTRUCTION TO THIS WORLD TO CLAIM OUR RIGHTFUL PLACE AT THE TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN!"
D.Faiz couldn't help it. He threw his head back and laughed—a dark, echoing sound that chilled the air.
"A pathetic insect like you? The top of the food chain? Don't make me laugh," D.Faiz sneered, floating above the beast. "The kid whose body I'm borrowing right now... he already stood at the absolute apex of human power. He could have ruled the underworld. He could have been the strongest, even without my help. But he threw it all away. He chose to be a normal, boring human."
D.Faiz's eyes narrowed, his aura flaring violently. "Because he actually understands love and humanity. Even though he rarely receives it. He constantly gives, constantly bleeds for others, and asks for nothing in return. I know this because I am the shadow that desires everything he refuses to take. He knows the pain of loss, so he refuses to burden anyone else. And in this battle, I'll carve his answer into your stone skull!"
Infuriated by the psychological pressure, the Gargoyle lunged wildly.
D.Faiz didn't dodge. He clenched his fist, condensing a massive amount of demonic energy, and met the Gargoyle head-on. His punch shattered the creature's stone guard, leaving a gaping crater in its chest. Before it could fall, D.Faiz kicked it straight up into the air, firing another laser from his forehead to juggle the beast higher into the sky.
D.Faiz blurred, appearing above the Gargoyle and axe-kicking it back down to the asphalt.
Before the monster even hit the ground, D.Faiz raised his hand. Glowing, ethereal chains of dark magic erupted from the earth, tightly binding the Gargoyle's limbs. D.Faiz swiped his hand, forming a massive, elongated blade of pure magical energy.
With blinding speed, he slashed downward, violently carving the Gargoyle into pieces.
To finish it, D.Faiz descended like a meteor, driving his heel directly into the remaining torso of the monster. The resulting explosion of energy obliterated the intersection, leaving a massive, smoking crater in the heart of Yokohama. There wasn't even a speck of dust left of the Gargoyle.
D.Faiz stood in the center of the crater, staring blankly at his hands, momentarily lost in thought about his host's strange, selfless nature.
"HAAAH!"
A sharp battle cry broke his focus. D.Faiz sidestepped effortlessly as a heavy steel quarterstaff slammed into the ground where he had just been standing.
He looked up to see a familiar silhouette. It was Yori.
"I felt a massive, evil aura from miles away," Yori growled, gripping her staff. "So it was you. You monster."
"Hahahaha! Look who it is," D.Faiz chuckled, amused.
"Huh?" Yori blinked. "You can talk? What the hell are you?"
(She doesn't recognize the kid in this form?) D.Faiz mused. "Hmph. Why don't you try to guess?"
D.Faiz vanished, appearing right in front of her. He unleashed a rapid-fire barrage of hand-to-hand strikes—the exact same martial arts forms Faiz always used, but executed with the terrifying speed and crushing weight of the 70% Half-Crazy mode.
Yori desperately blocked, her arms going numb. "These movements... they look familiar. Don't tell me... Faiz?!"
"Ding, ding, ding! You got it. It's your favorite rookie. Did you forget me already?" "Impossible! There's no way you're him!" Yori denied it, activating her Saxum armor to its maximum limit and swinging wildly.
Not a single strike landed. D.Faiz danced around her sluggish attacks effortlessly. With a bored sigh, he delivered a devastating palm strike that shattered her stone armor and sent her flying. He casually walked over and planted his foot heavily on her chest, pinning her to the ground.
"Gaaahhk!" Yori coughed up blood.
"I really should have just exterminated you back in the arena," D.Faiz said coldly.
"You..." Yori wheezed, staring up at his glowing red eye. "This aura... you're the one from the arena. You're the monster hiding inside Faiz's body!"
"Hiding? You're severely misinterpreting the dynamic here," D.Faiz kicked her away like a nuisance. "GET UP! IS THIS REALLY ALL THE CAPTAIN'S VICE-COMMANDER CAN DO?"
Yori struggled to stand, but before she could charge again, the screeching of tires pierced the air. A black armored car drifted to a halt at the edge of the crater. Saki and Hisoka leapt out.
Seeing the demonic figure covered in tribal tattoos and energy wings, Saki's eyes narrowed. She recognized that silhouette from the loading dock.
"Have you completely lost your mind, FAIZ?!" Saki roared.
Hisoka and Yori stared in absolute shock. It really was him.
"Hmph. You bark orders like you own me," D.Faiz sneered. "Honestly, I'm getting pretty sick of you. I think it's time I taught you a lesson."
D.Faiz casually pointed a finger at them, firing a condensed sphere of red energy. The three Hunters scattered instantly, dodging the projectile. But they didn't realize D.Faiz had intentionally aimed behind them. The sphere struck their armored car, triggering a massive explosion that blew all three of them off their feet.
"Tch. Sneaky bastard," Saki gritted her teeth, retrieving her fallen sword from the wreckage. She glared at her Vice-Captains. "Do not hold back! If you have the opening to kill him, take it!"
The three veterans seamlessly entered combat mode.
Hisoka activated his Boot Up, moving at supersonic speeds, circling D.Faiz to kick up a massive smokescreen of dust. But D.Faiz didn't even need to look. He summoned his magical chains, whipping them blindly into the dust cloud. The chains wrapped around Hisoka's ankle, yanking him out of his sprint and throwing him into a ruined building.
Yori charged in from the blind spot, her fists completely coated in Saxum stone.
"Oh? A contest of pure strength? I'll humor you," D.Faiz laughed, coating his own fist in red lightning.
Their fists collided. Yori's stone shattered instantly, but she used the momentum to throw her staff behind D.Faiz. Hisoka, recovering instantly, caught the staff mid-air and swung it at the back of D.Faiz's head.
D.Faiz blocked the staff with his forearm without even turning around. But it was a feint. Yori was already sweeping his legs, while Saki descended from above, her sword glowing with the lethal blue aura of Kiru.
D.Faiz manifested a blade of energy from his wrist, parrying Saki's strike with a shower of sparks.
"Is this all you have?" D.Faiz taunted.
Saki didn't reply. She formed an invisible claw with her left hand, swiping directly at D.Faiz's glowing left eye. Reacting purely on instinct, D.Faiz fired a point-blank laser from his forehead crystal. Saki crossed her sword to block, but the force blew her backward.
While mid-air, Saki threw her steel war fan. It spun like a buzzsaw, radiating waves of cutting kinetic energy. Realizing the danger, D.Faiz cut off his laser and instantly backstepped fifty yards to avoid being sliced.
The three Hunters regrouped, panting heavily. They couldn't believe the sheer speed and power Faiz possessed.
"Hmph. That was close," D.Faiz grinned, cracking his neck. "I'm actually starting to enjoy this game."
Saki gave a sharp nod to Hisoka and Yori. Understanding the silent command, the two Vice-Captains launched a reckless, suicidal frontal assault. Unsuspecting, D.Faiz focused on parrying their wild strikes, enjoying the brawl.
He didn't notice the massive gathering of blue light behind them until it was too late.
"Kiru..." Saki chanted, her aura taking the shape of a massive, roaring mythical beast. "DRAGON ROAR!"
A colossal, concentrated wave of slicing kinetic energy in the shape of a dragon hurtled toward D.Faiz. Instantly, Yori and Hisoka dove out of the blast radius. But before Hisoka had retreated, he had landed a precision strike on D.Faiz's nerve clusters behind his knees, momentarily paralyzing the demon's legs.
Unable to dodge, D.Faiz stared at the incoming dragon. He wasn't scared; he just laughed.
"Fine! I accept your challenge!" D.Faiz poured all of his remaining energy into his hands, forming a gargantuan broadsword of red lightning. He raised it high, preparing to cleave the Dragon Roar in half.
But just as he brought the blade down, a small figure stumbled directly into the space between him and the incoming attack.
"Faiz...!"
It was Pela.
She had woken up from the energy D.Faiz had given her, heard the sounds of battle, and sprinted toward Faiz's aura. She had no idea she had just walked into the epicenter of a lethal crossfire.
Deep within the abyss of the inner world, Faiz's dormant soul heard her voice.
Panic and desperation flooded the host's mind. Faiz violently forced himself awake, brutally wrestling control back from D.Faiz.
For a split second, Faiz's brown eye returned. Regaining partial control of his body, he abandoned his energy sword. He shot his magical chains forward, wrapping them gently around Pela's waist, and violently yanked her into his chest, wrapping his arms around her to shield her.
To counter Saki's attack, Faiz forcibly expelled every single drop of the Half-Crazy energy out of his pores at once.
The resulting explosion of pure, raw energy collided with the Dragon Roar.
A blinding flash of light engulfed the street, followed by a shockwave that shattered every remaining window for blocks.
When the light faded, the demonic tattoos, the horn, and the wings were gone. Faiz was completely back to normal. He stood in the center of the scorched crater, still tightly hugging Pela.
"Pela... thank god you're okay..." Faiz whispered.
He coughed violently, a massive splatter of blood staining the pavement. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground, completely unconscious.
Saki, Hisoka, and Yori slowly approached, completely bewildered by the sudden conclusion of the fight and the massive energy detonation. Seeing Pela kneeling beside the unconscious Faiz, crying softly, Saki immediately barked orders.
They carefully picked up Faiz and Pela, calling Kiyoshi for an immediate emergency extraction.
As his body was carried away, deep within the dark recesses of Faiz's mind, D.Faiz sat on a throne of shadows. He wasn't angry about losing control. In fact, he was chuckling.
"Heh. That was a fun fight," D.Faiz muttered to himself in the darkness. "But that Saki woman... I strongly suspect she knows the truth about the 'Gemini Souls.'"