Ren steps forward, his presence weighed with unspoken rage. “You knew.”

  Sato takes a sip of his tea. “Knew what?”

  BANG. Ren’s fist sms against the desk.

  “Kuroda. His connection to all of this!”

  Sato sighs. “Now, now, Ren. You’ve been… worked up tely. Why don’t we sit and talk this out?”

  Ren scoffs. “We should have talked years ago, Commander Sato. But now? We’re way past the talking stage.”

  His fingers twitch, ready to press further—

  Then—

  Knock. Knock.

  The assistant from earlier peeks in, pale. “Sir… We have reports of an unmanned core about to enter activation in the west region.”

  A slow pause.

  Sato rubs his temples again. “…Of course it has.”

  He gnces at Ren. “I’ll answer your questions when you get back.”

  Ren gres. “I ‘failed’ my st mission. I don’t take orders anymore.”

  Sato smirks. “Then don’t think of it as an order. Think of it as a choice—between getting what you want… and watching innocent lives be destroyed because you let a Tamashkii core run wild.”

  Ren grits his teeth. “Bastard.”

  Without another word, he storms out.

  ?

  The abandoned building loomed ahead, its windows boarded up, dust thick in the air. Ren listened at the door.

  Too quiet.

  He steps inside—

  SLAM.

  The door shuts behind him.

  It’s dark, but he can sense people trying to suppress their aura.

  One. Two. No, five.

  Five Ju Setai assassins surround him.

  His own comrades.

  They aren’t here to help.

  They’re here to kill him.

  Ren scoffs, raising his arm. The cube on his bracelet glistens.

  “Sadly for you guys, I’m already pretty pissed off.”

  “Take Form—Tsukuyomi.”

  Bdes csh.

  Steel against steel.

  Two assassins fall instantly to Ren’s first strike. The third swings a spiked chain, warning the others to back up.

  The fourth refuses.

  The fifth—silent, watching.

  The chain swings.

  Ren leaps over it, cshing with the fourth. Smirking, he nds lightly. “Two at once? Haven’t I trained some of you? You know that’s not enough.”

  The fourth assassin realizes—his attack was slowed.

  Ren’s always activated ability.

  Silent Dominion.

  Ren inverts the gravity.

  “Blood Moon.”

  The third assassin floats—losing control of his chain. It wraps around the fourth.

  Ren exhales. “Never mind. I couldn’t have trained you guys.”

  “Half Crescent.”

  A moonlight ssh tears through them.

  The third assassin falls.

  His chain tightens around the fourth, cutting into him.

  Then—

  “Take Form—Vajra.”

  The fifth assassin steps forward, smming a golden fist into the fourth, putting him down.

  “Useless.”

  Ren narrows his eyes. “…So one of you had a form after all.”

  The assassin removes his mask.

  Ren’s eyes widen.

  ”…Seiji?!”

  His former student smirks.

  “Long time no see, Sensei.”