The Academy bell rings for the student dismissal. Jack is seen rushing out of his class to meet up with his new found friend, Leina. Leina can be seen walking in the distance. That's when she turns her head after hearing Jack call out to her…
"Leina! Leina, wait up!"
"Hey! Jack!" Leina would respond with a joyful smile on her face.
"Wait up! There's something I want to show you!"
"Make it quick. I have to meet up with my siblings soon." Leina would say, as she waits up for Jack.
"This way!" Says Jack, as he would lead Leina to a place she has yet to uncover
"Oh…okay!" Says the confused Leina.
Jack would lead Leina to Bowa Bowas sushi as they continued to talk to one another.
"I'm picking up my little brother, Kuro."
"Oh…okay then." Says Leina, not being sure of what to expect, but still willing to meet him nonetheless.
"So…Leina, why is the Tensura and Hansura clan fighting?" Asks the curious Jack.
Leina stops in her tracks without saying a word. "I don't know…" Leina says, not even looking in Jack's direction.
"You're telling me that your clan is fighting another clan, and you don't even know why?" Jack questions.
Leina would start to physically get bothered by the questions Jack would ask. "I don't. But it doesn't matter. Why do you care?"
"I don't want you to get hurt. I don't need them hurting you in the slightest." Jack would say as he looked on at Leina, watching as she would continue to not look at him.
"They'd do far worse than just that, Jack…"
"What?"
"Nothing." Leina says before looking back at Jack and continuing… "Besides, they won't be able to do anything to me. As long as I remain here, I'll be safe. They don't know that I'm here, and even if they did, I doubt they'd raid the village. Not unless they want more enemies on their backs."
Jack would counter this claim by saying…"They'd just send in assassins."
Leina looks down, taking his words into consideration. "You're right…I never thought about that."
"If they do find us, we'll take them down!" Says the confident Jack.
"Right…" Leina responds, noticeably with less confidence as before.
"Alright we're here." Jack says as they approach Bowa Boa's now closed sushi shop. Bowa could be seen sleeping on a chair, holding Kuro. Kuro could be seen sleeping comfortably on Bowa, hugging her. His black hair resting on her stomach.
"He's adorable!" Says Leina, getting her first look at Kuro.
"Bowa Boa…sorry I'm late." Says Jack, nudging her shoulder, waking her up in the process. Bowa wakes up, and yawns before looking back at Jack.
"Took you long enough Jack…and who's that? Is that one of your friends or something?" Bowa would question.
"Yes!" Leina would reply.
"I see...your attire…it looks familiar. Who are you?" Bowa would curiously ask.
Leina would chuckle nervously, "Oh..right. I'm Leina…Leina Tensura. Good to meet you, Bowa Boa!"
"Tensura…you're from that clan aren't you? The Tensura clan?" Bowa asks while she focuses on Leinas clothing.
Leina would get more nervous from Bowas questioning. "Yeah…but is that a bad thing?"
"No, not at all silly. It's just out of the ordinary seeing outsiders that derived from some of the most notorious and dangerous clans known by all nations. But the fact you're here, only gives opportunity for more danger." Bowa would say with worry in her voice.
Kuro would begin to wake up. Lifting his head and yawning before opening his eyes to take a look at Leina.
"Monster!" Kuro would say, crying in fear, holding onto Bowa very intensely.
This sudden approach would only confuse and worry Leina. "Monster? I'm not a monster."
This would in turn, make Leina get closer to Kuro, bending over, looking down at Kuro, and giving him a joyful look, as she's clearly giving him a smile beyond her mask.
"I'm Leina Tensura!"
Notably, Kuro stops crying and looks at Leina with amusement. Leina reaches down and wipes Kuro's tears away. Bowa stares at Leina whilst being deep in thought. She wonders about the true nature of Leina.
"Leina, this girl is troubled. I can tell just from the way she comes off, and from the way she looks. Her essence is very abnormal as well. It isn't like the rest I've seen or felt. What is this girl hiding?"
Jack grabs Kuro and holds him in his arms
"We'll see you next time Bowa Boa! Thank you so much for watching Kuro!" Jack says, as he and Leina begin to walk away from the sushi shop. Bowa smiles and waves at the three kids.
"Of course Jack! I'll always have your backs. Be safe, you three!"
Jack looks at Leina and gives her a smile.
"Leina." Jack calls.
"Yes?"
"Do you always wear that mask?" Jack would question.
"Don't worry about it. I need to have it on all the time…that's what my parents tell me."
"It's okay! I won't make fun of you! We're friends, remember?" Jack says with a smile.
"My siblings are here. We can talk about this later." Leina would say, still not backing down. She turns and continues on with her walk.
Leina sees her two siblings waving at her from a distance, one of them being a boy and the other being a girl. Both siblings would have black hair and different colored kimonos on. Both siblings would unironically have a black face mask covering their identity as well. The boy would wear a dark purple kimono while the girl's kimono would be a dark shade of red. The siblings would run in their direction with happy expressions.
"The one wearing purple, that's my brother. His name is Takemi. The one in red is my sister. Her name is Senra." Leina informs Jack.
"Leina!" Both siblings would yell out simultaneously, happy to see their big sister.
"Hey there! How are you two?" Leina asks.
"Bored…waiting for you." Senra replies, having more of an attitude than anything.
"I'm sorry I was late, I was meeting up with a new friend! He's right here! His name is Jack!"
"Hey! I'm Jack…Jack Sawlendore!"
Jack exclaims, waving and smiling
"Please be nice to Jack" Leina nervously says, as Takemi begins to respond…
"Why does his hair look like that?"
"I said be nice!" Leina yells.
Senra laughs before asking Jack a question.
"And who is that?" With Jack responding…
"Oh, this is Kuro! He falls asleep easily. He's my little brother!"
Kuro looks on in awe as both siblings look at him
"He's cute!" Senra says as she begins to rub Kuros hair and slightly tickle his neck. Kuro laughs joyfully, making Jack as well as Senra laugh.
"So, are we bringing Jack and Kuro with us to see mother and father?" Takemi curiously asks.
"That's up to him." Leina responds before turning to look at Jack.
"Well Jack, do you want to come with us?" Leina asks.
Jack wouldn't respond with words but rather a smirk.
Meanwhile, somewhere elsewhere, Konori could be seen sitting down in his chair. His black hair covers his eyes as he fills out paperwork at his desk. As he does this, he begins to think to himself.
"Maybe Bowa isn't too bad of a babysitter. I suppose that it could be a possibility that Kuro sees her as a mother figure. Even so, I'm still going to figure out a better way of keeping him safe regardless. At his age, he remains incredibly vulnerable, no matter how much protection he has."
Ren can be seen sitting down with her legs crossed on Konori's far right, smoking a cigarette. She brushes back her blonde hair as she stares off at the ceiling. Her shades can be seen hanging from her left pocket as her green eyes continue to wonder.
"Working like this can be such a hassle sometimes, eh Konori?" Ren asks, teasingly.
"You can go outside and smoke if you'd like. I'd rather not have my office smell like toxic chemicals." Konori would say, as he continues to write down on his paper.
Ren would chuckle to herself before responding, "Ohh Konori, you're no fun. Lung cancer, heart disease and whatever else is a thing of the past. As long as we remain to keep our essence in our cells at an increased level, it won't do a single thing…It's just as normal as breathing air." She says before she puffs out a cloud of smoke.
"You can thank my wife for discovering that." Konori replies.
Ren would smile with her eyes closed before responding, "Cheers to her…however if I am distracting you I can take a short cigarette break outside. Wouldn't want you to be out of focus while taking on such a huge responsibility." She gets up and walks out of the room, while holding up a peace sign.
Konori closes his eyes and sighs for a moment, thinking to himself.
"Ren can be a little difficult at times…can't blame her for it though. She and I went through very similar struggles."
As he continues to write, a tall man with short black hair would walk into the room, handing him what looks like a magazine before leaving the room, saying nothing.
He gives the man a weird look and grabs the paper, reading it in the process. Before long, Konori's eyes would widen.
"Why hasn't anyone said anything sooner?!"
Meanwhile somewhere else, ten scouts from the village of Tensen, surround a large dark cave. Each scout wore white bottoms and tops, a black mask to cover their faces, black gloves tied to their wrists, and goggles. Each scout would have their own weapons and equipment.
The scouts stare off into the cave while another would be placing a sound tracker on the ground, which can be used to track sound at a safe distance.
"I don't know…nothings popped up yet. I'm not even getting any reads." Says the scout utilizing the sound tracker.
"Keep looking. If we have to utilize our sound projector, we will. It's clear that whatever these things are, have some way of covering their tracks and rendering their movements untraceable. They can dodge our motion trackers, but they can't dodge this." The commanding scout declares.
He raises one hand into the air, before each and every scout projects a deafening high frequency sound into the cave. All goes silent as each scout listens in. For a moment, there is no response. Suddenly, a loud humanoid screech can be heard coming from the cave.
"For a moment, I came with the belief that maybe these rumors were wrong. But maybe the higher ups were right all along. After all, these sounds are very otherworldly." The commanding scout thinks to himself
Before anything else happens, one of the scouts notices movement on the motion detector.
"Hey, I'm picking up movement! That thing is coming towards us! It's fast!"
"How fast?!" The commanding scout asks.
But before he could get a response, a large boulder would be accelerating towards the scouts. Luckily, they would all move out of the way in time, saving themselves at the cost of their equipment.
As they get back up, they are met by a large bald man with a mutated body and dark purple eyes. Bones from his rib cage would protrude out of his back, while his arms and legs would have bone-like structures on them, in the shape of spikes. His nails are jagged and bloody, as he stands there he begins to slowly speak. With his voice being deep and deformed, he says…
"Humans…beloved humans…it's a shame that…you're in…the…presence of your…deaths." Says the deformed man, as he stands, towering over the scouts.
"We've come to expand our knowledge on what you…things are! Orders from our high general. We all want to know what you and whatever others you have alongside yourself, are." The commander would stand tall, disregarding the difference in size.
"You dare…try to disturb…our pack! We…are the pinnacle of life! The Branch of Grace! We…are the ones who will slaughter all of you! And eat you from the inside! Come vermin!" Says the mutated man, getting on all fours, pointing spikes out of his body.
Notably, a purple mist would appear from the bones. The commander would notice this as they all begin to take out their weapons.
"That mist! Everyone stand back! Don't let those spikes get close! They have a highly concentrated amount of essence stored within them!"
"Your attempt to protect your kind is useless!" Yells the mutated man, as he throws a spike at the scouts. One of them throws a throwing knife at the spike, knocking the spike off of its trajectory before it causes a small explosion.
"I'll have my fun with you all right now!" The mutated man says, dashing at the scouts, cutting through some, and clashing his claws with the weapons of others. The mutant would stab a scout with one of his bones before punching him towards other scouts. Their futile attempts to get away from their stabbed squad member would fail as the body would detonate, causing the scouts to be swept away by the explosion.
"This is fun!" Says the mutant.
The commanding scout would jump into the air, placing his palms out and firing golden projectiles in the form of his palm, out and towards the mutant. As this goes on, Konori could be heard talking to the commander through his comms.
"Listen to me, commander. Leave the area! Take everyone you can and go!"
"What are you saying, general?" Asks the confused commander, almost shocked from hearing Konori telling him to run away.
"These things are stronger than what we've anticipated. Besides, we've gathered enough information on them, thanks to your help. Now take everyone and leave while you can! Disengage before you piss this thing off!" Konori commands.
The commanding scout lands on his feet and runs away. The scouts would all follow him as the commander gives the directory. But somewhere else, it would be revealed that the mutant would be covering himself in his own bones. He retracts the bones and begins dashing at the scouts, trying to catch up to them.
"We should just kill this thing now!" Says one of the scouts.
"But sir, I think it's best if we kill this thing off before it relays everything back to its pack! If not, then it will be prepared for the next time we show up." The commander insists.
"That thing is far too strong for any of you to handle. So it's either that, or you risk the entirety of Tensen if you kill this thing. We'll lose our village at the hands of this so-called, 'pack.' At least we can prepare for the next time we show up. So leave now or die. The choice is yours commander." Konori cuts contact with the commander, hoping he makes the right choice.
"New orders! Return to the village! Our general demands it!" The commander says.
"Too late for that, commander!" Says the mutant from in front of them. He throws a much larger spike at the remaining squad. The spike blows up, sending a powerful wave of energy at them, knocking their goggles off.
The commander quickly puts his arms out, forming a golden shield of essence, protecting them from the explosion. But the mutant had other plans, as he grips hard on a smaller spike, almost crushing it. The color of the spike would change to a shade of purple.
He throws it onto the shield, piercing the shield before he closes his fist and detonates it. This explosion knocks every scout over, and covers the area in debris. The mutant begins to kill off each scout, while their vision is impaired. The echoes of flesh ripping and tearing as well as the build up of silence would become much more apparent while this chaos would continue. Eventually all would go silent.
As the dust settles, every scout would be torn apart, covered in pools of blood. All except the commander who although has a hole in his stomach, he remains alive for the time being. His outfit torn and his flesh gorged, he would crawl, grunting pain. His weak attempt of escaping would only prove to be useless, as the mutant makes his appearance from behind him.
"No more running. You're only delaying the inevitable." He says with a sadistic smile, before kicking him over and onto his back, before plunging spikes into his hands, then legs. The commander screams in agony as only an evil laughter can be heard coming from the sadistic mutant.
"Yes, scream! The poison will only do its work even quicker!"
"You damn ugly bastard! I'll-"
The commander would be cut off as a sharp pain would ensue in his shoulder. Making him yell out in pain once more.
"You can threaten me all you want. But I think it's feeding time now!" The mutant says, laughing once more.
But unbenounced to him, a young boy's voice can be heard from behind him.
"Enough…Oro."
It is revealed to be a small child wearing a hooded cloak, covering the majority of his face, shrouding his identity in mystery. The mutant named Oro, would turn and face the child.
"But it's feeding time!" Oro insists defiantly.
"That will need to wait. We can leave this man to die on his own. Let this be a warning to anyone else that wants to invade our home." The boy says, turning around and heading back into the cave's direction, with Oro following suit.