The phone started vibrating before the siren did.
Hifumi opened her eyes into darkness.
The ceiling above her was still. Quiet. Ordinary.
Her phone lit up on her desk.
CODE RED – MULTIPLE BREACHES – CENTRAL DISTRICT
For a second, she didn’t move.
Then her stomach dropped.
“…okay.”
Her voice sounded small.
She sat up too quickly and the room tilted. Her heartbeat was already racing, but her thoughts were strangely clear.
This was real.
It was happening again.
She dressed in seconds. Shirt buttoned wrong the first time. Fixed it. Shoes half-tied. Retied them. Almost forgot her ID badge.
She didn’t scream.
She didn’t panic.
She just moved.
Guild headquarters was awake before the sun was.
The operations floor hummed with controlled urgency.
Screens pulsed red and green. Staff were already at their stations. Hunters moved through corridors in full gear.
Hifumi slipped into her seat.
“Reporting,” she said into her headset.
Her voice trembled slightly at the end.
Kaede burst in moments later.
Hair slightly disheveled. Tie crooked. Breathing hard.
“I hate Code Red,” Kaede muttered. “I actually hate it.”
“I know,” Hifumi replied quietly.
Three gates blinked across the city map.
One pulsed darker than the others.
High-tier.
Evacuation routes overlayed automatically.
Hifumi began directing transport teams.
“Unit four, adjust northbound. Demon signatures approaching from the west.”
Her voice was steady.
Her hands were not.
Hunters engaged quickly.
Green light flared across multiple feeds as abilities activated.
Hifumi had never gotten used to that glow.
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It didn’t look natural.
Like the air was being forced to accept something it hadn’t agreed to.
Shoji entered the frame.
Her fingers paused on the keyboard.
He wasn’t supposed to be there.
He had been suspended.
She remembered Liora’s voice clearly.
Suspended.
Shoji didn’t hesitate. He cut straight into combat.
Phase One.
He was exceptional.
Clean strikes.
Efficient movement.
Two high-tier demons dropped in seconds.
Another hunter nearly got flanked—Shoji intercepted with frightening speed.
Civilians cleared faster.
Hunters repositioned around him naturally.
Even through the monitor, Hifumi could feel the shift.
He was almost S-rank for a reason.
Kaede exhaled shakily beside her.
“See? He’s fine. He’s fine.”
Hifumi nodded once.
Yes.
He was strong.
That wasn’t the problem.
She zoomed in on his system output.
Mana surge: high.
Recovery curve: irregular.
She blinked.
Zoomed again.
The spike had no taper.
It climbed.
Dropped abruptly.
Climbed higher.
“…that’s strange.”
“What?” Kaede snapped, not looking away from her own screen.
“It’s not stabilizing.”
“He’s A-rank.”
“Yes.”
“That’s what they do.”
Hifumi didn’t argue.
She kept watching.
The green glow flickered once.
Not dim.
Not red.
Just uneven.
Like a heartbeat skipping.
Phase Two.
Shoji stopped fighting efficiently.
He started fighting excessively.
A demon lunged. He sliced through it.
Then cut again.
Then again.
The third strike wasn’t necessary.
Another hunter moved to assist.
Shoji shoved him aside.
Hard.
The hunter hit pavement and didn’t get back up immediately.
Kaede went silent.
“…that wasn’t on purpose.”
Hifumi didn’t answer.
She was watching the output graph.
It was climbing again.
Too quickly.
No cooldown trigger.
No stabilizer pattern.
“Shoji, pull back,” a voice crackled through comms.
No response.
He laughed.
It wasn’t loud.
It was sharp.
Unfocused.
Hifumi felt her spine lock.
“…he’s not responding to system prompts.”
“What does that mean?” Kaede whispered.
“It means it should be telling him to regulate.”
“And?”
“It isn’t working.”
The gates began collapsing.
One.
Then another.
Red markers blinked out across the map.
Hunters cheered over comms.
The worst was over.
Smoke filled the battlefield feed.
Emergency teams moved in.
Shoji was still moving.
Scanning.
Breathing heavily.
Green light flaring violently.
There was nothing left to kill.
But he looked like he was searching.
For something.
Hifumi’s hands hovered over her keyboard.
“His system didn’t enter cooldown.”
Kaede stood halfway out of her chair.
“What does that mean?”
“It means it thinks he’s still fighting.”
“Then shut it off!”
“It doesn’t work like that!”
Her voice cracked louder than she meant it to.
She swallowed.
“I’m sorry.”
Kaede stared at the screen.
“…that’s not normal.”
“No,” Hifumi whispered.
“It isn’t.”
Shoji’s glow shifted.
Still green.
But oversaturated.
Too bright for the surrounding light.
His breathing looked ragged.
Heat distortion warped the air around him.
Another hunter approached cautiously.
Shoji turned.
Blade lifted.
The hunter backed up quickly.
No contact.
But the intent was clear.
Operations went quiet.
No one joked anymore.
No one breathed loudly.
Liora stepped into view.
Spear resting casually in her hand.
Cigarette between her fingers.
She walked toward Shoji like she was approaching something fragile.
“Good work.”
No reaction.
“You saved a lot of people.”
Nothing.
“But you’re still suspended.”
Shoji’s fingers tightened around his weapon.
The glow surged violently.
Cracks formed in the pavement beneath his feet.
Kaede’s voice trembled.
“…he heard that.”
Hifumi stood up slowly.
Her headset slipped down around her neck.
Liora stepped closer.
“Shoji.”
She reached out.
Just to grab his shoulder.
Ground him.
Her fingers brushed fabric—
The slash came instantly.
Fast.
Violent.
Liora leaned back at the last second.
The blade cut through smoke where her throat had been.
Operations gasped collectively.
Kaede stumbled back into her chair.
“He just—he just attacked her—”
Hifumi couldn’t blink.
Shoji lifted his head.
His eyes were glowing.
Bright green.
Burning.
Not focused.
Not present.
Predatory.
Liora dropped her cigarette.
Crushed it beneath her heel.
Shifted her spear into proper stance.
No anger.
No panic.
“…Alright.”
A quiet exhale.
“Guess we’re doing this the hard way.”
Shoji lunged.
The screen shook violently.
And Hifumi realized something that made her chest feel hollow.
The system wasn’t broken.
It was trying.
And it was losing.
