Allen was discharged the following morning. He stood outside the hospital, leaning against a brick wall, eyes squinted against the sun as he finished a cigarette.

  He had only been waiting a few minutes when a flash of brilliant blue light erupted from a hospital window. Immediately, screams tore through the air. A wave of panicked people began to surge out, bottlenecking at the entrance in a desperate bid to escape.

  “Took long enough to lose control,” Allen muttered.

  He crushed the cigarette butt under his boot as his staff materialized in his right hand.

  Walking with a slight limp, Allen fought against the flow of the crowd to get inside. Over the din of the panic, he heard someone shouting that Shinobi’s squad had been alerted. He picked up his pace.

  He slotted the Prism into the staff, and his clothes shifted into the pristine white suit. The staff elongated into a sword, which he rested casually against his shoulder.

  He came face-to-face with the creature—an amorphous, human-shaped nightmare. A pair of skeletal wings protruded from its back, and the hospital gown it wore was tattered, revealing crimson skin webbed with black veins that writhed like worms. Where its hair should have been, a cluster of black, unblinking eyes stared back. Its original eyes were voids of pure white.

  “You know,” Allen said softly, “I have immense respect for the medical profession. In a way, you are heroes in your own right, always doing your best to save those in need. Now, it’s my turn to return the favor.”

  The Uncontrolled lunged, its gait wide and predatory. It slammed a fist into Allen’s chest. Allen didn't move to defend himself, letting the blow launch him several yards back.

  With a grimace, Allen spat a mouthful of blood and sighed. “You’ve got the strength of a Category 3 due to the radiation. Sorry... it wasn't my intention, but I can’t always keep these gems on a leash. Though I suppose excuses are useless now.”

  A spark flared in his eyes as he pulled the Sapphire of Honesty from his pocket.

  “I don’t want to level a hospital, but I don't want to kill you like the others, either.”

  Allen swung the sword through the air. In a flash of light, it reverted to its staff form.

  “Style Shift.”

  He flicked the sapphire into the air. It shattered mid-flight, its essence sucked into the Prism on the staff’s pommel. A deep, navy-blue radiance bled from the crystal, and water began to gush forth, swirling around Allen until he was encased in a liquid sphere.

  Inside the orb, Allen pressed his index finger against the watery wall. The sphere popped like a bubble, revealing his new deep-blue suit.

  “Honest Knight Style.”

  Allen struck the floor with the base of his staff. The scattered water from the sphere rushed toward the weapon, coating it.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “Weapon of Honest Water.”

  The wood of the staff drank the liquid hungrily. When the absorption was complete, the staff had transformed into a metallic blue trident.

  Allen leveled the trident at the Uncontrolled. Pure, crystalline water erupted from the tines, ensnaring the monster’s body. Every time the creature tried to claw through the liquid, the water sliced through its limbs like glass—only to instantly heal the wounds. A cycle of endless, agonizing restoration.

  “Lesser Star Purification!”

  Allen hurled the trident. It whistled through the air and impaled the monster through the gut.

  Blood leaked from the corner of Allen’s mouth. Masking his pain, he sprinted forward and delivered a devastating kick to the trident’s hilt, driving the weapon—and the monster—through the hospital wall.

  “Can’t... hold it...”

  Allen dropped to one knee. Suspended in the air, the Uncontrolled was swallowed by a massive water bubble that rapidly turned a dark, sickly red. When it burst, the pressure was so great that the monster’s internal organs were scattered across the debris.

  Hearing the gasps of awe from the crowd outside, Allen managed a weak smile before collapsing. His suit vanished in a haze of white light as he lost consciousness.

  Shinobi, General Titan, and several lower-ranked heroes arrived just as the bloody bubble detonated.

  “Allen again?” Titan grunted.

  Shinobi nodded grimly. He turned to the junior heroes. “Listen up! Clear the area and start a headcount of the civilians. Titan and I will secure the interior.”

  The heroes scrambled to their tasks. Shinobi and Titan walked toward the site of the explosion.

  After a few minutes of searching the rubble, Shinobi found what he was looking for: a wooden staff with a hollow pommel. Lying next to it were two stones—one transparent, one blue.

  “Titan, go find Allen,” Shinobi ordered.

  As Titan headed into the building, Shinobi reached down for the transparent Prism. The moment his fingers brushed it, a weightless, suffocating pressure slammed into him. It felt as if he were being watched by an entity far more dangerous than any monster he had ever faced.

  “What the hell are these things?”

  A cold sweat broke out across Shinobi’s back. His hands began to shake uncontrollably.

  “According to Allen, they are the ‘ideals’ of a knight.”

  Shinobi looked up into the branches of a nearby tree. Crimson Shadow was perched there, half-hidden by the leaves. He tossed a bundle of papers down to his brother.

  “That’s everything I could dig up,” Shadow said. “But there’s something that bugs me. I don't have enough proof for the theory yet. Besides, those stones and that staff... even the Federation has no record of where they came from. Either they’re truly ignorant, or they’re burying it deep.”

  “What did you find, brother?”

  Shadow scanned the area before dropping silently to the ground beside Shinobi.

  “The Gigax Leo was an Uncontrolled. But after talking to Allen, I learned she was a human with no combat ability. Yet, in the Federation’s Gigax Leo file, the keywords ‘Stones,’ ‘Emotion,’ and ‘Weapon’ appear multiple times.”

  Shinobi looked at the Sapphire in his hand. “The stones must be these. The weapon is the staff. But ‘Emotion’... I don't get it.”

  “After speaking with him, it clicked,” Shadow explained. “Allen calls that blue stone the ‘Sapphire of Honesty.’ Since honesty is an act—and an ideal—it functions as the emotional trigger. The Federation has been watching Allen for a long, long time.”

  Shinobi tried to slot the sapphire into the staff’s pommel. As expected, nothing happened. “Did you find anything else on Allen?”

  “This is the big one. Guess who the only people with access to his file are?”

  Shinobi went quiet, the realization hitting him like a physical blow. “You can’t be serious...”

  “Allen and Firmament’s data are only viewable by the Creator of the Heroic Federation and the lead scientists under his direct command. Cracking that is going to take time.”

  Shadow looked toward the hospital and let out a weary laugh. “Take a look at those papers. I’ll have more for you tomorrow.”

  Shinobi tucked the stones into his purple gi and strapped the staff to his back alongside his katana. “Weapon, emotion, and stone... there are too many variables.”

  He turned toward the hospital, the weight of the conspiracy feeling heavier than the staff on his back.