Third Person POV:
When the cadets left the place, the full members were still in a meeting.
They all had their heads down, saddened.
"What should we do, Toshiro?" Saya questioned, her head down.
"I can't think of anything, but I think we should just scout the entirety of Tokyo. There's a chance we might find something," Toshiro said, his tone deeply saddened.
"We can't really do anything against the Hollow Nest. Out of all the organizations, it's the worst in my opinion. There's no way it gets any worse than kidnapping children and making them their weapons," Hayato said, stating what he believed while clearly upset himself.
Toshiro sighed and said, "I don't think this meeting is going anywhere. Everyone, let's scout the entirety of Tokyo on foot."
"Understood," everyone replied, and they all left the place immediately afterward.
First Person POV:
We were all going at full speed, all of us side by side to each other, pressing against the intense gust of cold and fresh wind as we picked our pace every second in hurry.
Even though Daiki and Riko could teleport, it wouldn't be convenient since we had to raid a dungeon together as per Toshiro's orders.
The best place to find a powerful gate would be somewhere with a large population—but not so large that we couldn't actually find the gate.
Since the gates form where the most amount of mana is leaked from entities.
Ryota was as expressionless as ever, while Daiki and I were composed, Riko's face looked serious, and Haruka and Misora seemed a bit scared.
I turned toward Misora's side while running.
"Scared, huh?" I asked Misora.
"I am. Why wouldn't I be? After all, even our seniors were worried," Misora said while she ran.
"Worrying won't change a thing. You don't have to worry—after all, your brother is the former God of Death. I used to kill people under the Original Creator's orders," I whispered to Misora.
"I don't know about how you did it, but how did you used to kill, and whom did you used to kill?" Misora whispered back.
"I used to kill those people who disrupted the law of absolute perfection. Although it was just a few, the instant they committed something bad, I killed them right away," I whispered.
"I don't know the context... isn't that a good thing?" Misora asked.
"No. Killing just because they did what they wanted instead of what the Original Creator willed was like being trapped in a simulation without knowing the rules—and still being expected to follow them—while surviving the hell of being hollow from the inside. You won't understand because this is something from the Era of Perfection, so just forget it. I'll explain it some other time," I whispered as I smiled at her.
She smiled back, and we continued the run.
Running on the roads toward Tokyo while the bright moon lit our path enough to see, Tokyo was finally in sight, only a few dozen miles ahead of us.
Daiki suddenly stopped, and confused, we all stopped with him.
"What happened?" Haruka asked.
"Even if we're following orders, we still need a leader from the six of us," Daiki said.
That wasn't even smart—it was something we should've done from the start.
"Who's gonna become the leader?" I asked.
"I think we should immediately vote on it," Daiki said.
All six of us thought for a few seconds.
Naturally, if I wasn't voting for myself, I'd vote for Riko since she's the one I trust here the most, personally.
"I think Kuroto would make a great leader," Riko said.
"What?" I said, confused.
"I agree. After all, he killed the Black Cloaked Manipulator," Ryota said, even though he was aware I wasn't as strong as the rumors said.
"Personally, I think Riko or Kuroto would both make a great leader. If you're all saying Kuroto, then let's go with him," Haruka said.
"Huh?" I said, confused.
"That's a good idea. Let's go with Kuroto," Misora said.
"Well then, my vote doesn't matter. Anyway, I'd pick him as well," Daiki said.
They were talking about me becoming the leader, which was fine, but I wouldn't pick myself if I were in their position.
"Well... okay. If you're choosing me, let me think about what to do," I said.
VoidMind: "Enabled Thought Acceleration."
Toshiro told us to raid only dangerous-looking dungeons. That would take us a while, and we wouldn't know if there was a more suited dungeon we could've raided instead.
So the best would be to split up.
VoidMind disabled Thought Acceleration, and I spoke.
"I have an idea," I said, and they listened.
"We'll all split into teams of two, cutting us into three parts. We'll scout through Tokyo for 20 minutes straight, come back right here afterward, and share which dungeon looked the most dangerous," I said.
"But how would we know which one of us had found a more dangerous gate?" Haruka questioned.
"We'll split the dungeons into difficulties from E to S. Difficulty E would be the easiest dungeon you've ever seen in your life. As you go up—D, C, B, A, and S—they get harder. We must only focus on difficulties B, A, and S. Difficulty B would look hard, making it feel like you can raid it with your teammate, but it would still be a bit tough. Difficulty A would be something we're aiming for—only the six of us combined would be able to beat it. While difficulty S doesn't matter, since it'll feel like only the full members are capable of beating it and it's way out of our league," I explained how we'd assess dungeon difficulty.
They thought about it for a minute, and afterward they comprehended it all and nodded.
"The teams would stay the same, but Riko and I will be together, while Daiki will go with Haruka," I said.
"Why are you with my sister?" Daiki asked.
"I don't have time to explain," I said. Daiki was still confused but agreed.|
I stepped forward, Tokyo in front of me as we stood on the road, and said, "Ryota and Misora, you two scout toward the left side. Daiki and Haruka, you two scout the right. Riko and I will scout the middle," I said, pointing my fingers in each direction. They nodded.
"Let the first joint mission of the Crimson Order cadets be a success," I said, indicating our mission.
Everyone nodded.
And then we all headed our separate ways.
Ryota's team went out its way from the road to the left, while Daiki's went to the right.
Riko and I still remained on the road's track, essentially aiming for the middle side.
Again running at top speed as the wind pressed against us.
"It's fun, isn't it?" Riko spoke, giving a smile.
"What do you mean?"
She sighed and said, "We've both been trapped inside the divine realm and haven't lived much like mortals, ever. Even after God of Absolute came, we were never vulnerable to danger, but now it feels like we're free," she said.
Although the wind pressed against us, we could hear each other loud and clear. It might sound dumb, but if you focus mana a little on the throat, the vibration of your voice carries mana, making the voice soundwave overpower the wind, or simply ignore it. I don't know how that works though.
That allowed us to talk just as clearly.
"While that's true, in fact I wanted this type of life, I have already experienced a near death situation against the Black Cloaked Manipulator itself, so I'd very much prefer not another one," I replied, my voice wishing it didn't happen.
Riko had a habit of not speaking after something that gets her thinking, and she never talks about it again after that.
So she just became quiet after that.
A few seconds later, we reached inside of Tokyo.
"Where should we go first?" I asked Riko.
"Since the more population and the mana leak would cause gates to spawn, I think we should thoroughly check out Shibuya. And as per the news, citizens of the middle side, Shibuya, have been strictly forbidden to leave their homes since the kidnapping was committed not so far away from Shibuya," Riko said.
I didn't know much about the news, but it would seem she did.
"Alright," I said, and we headed for Shibuya.
We reached the place.
We went past a couple gates before we reached Shibuya; they weren't worth a notice.
"Let's split. You take the left and I take the right. Meet me after three minutes," I said to Riko when we reached the place. We weren't just scouting Shibuya but the surrounding area as well. It would take half as much time by separating.
I slowed down, making sure I wouldn't miss anything.
The empty Shibuya seemed weird—it felt like a completely different place.
Just running, I saw two people on a crosswalk.
I tried running past them, but they gestured for me to stop.
I approached them.
Two girls just about my age. They were sweating—might've been scouting to make sure no citizen was roaming here.
"Sir, are you a citizen?" the girl on the right asked.
"No, I am on a mission from the Crimson Order. I would prefer not to tell you about it," I said.
I mentioned the Crimson Order to avoid further conversation.
The two looked shocked and glanced at each other.
They felt the need to apologize by bowing their heads, but I didn't really care.
After they apologized, I just left and got back on the way to find gates.
Third Person POV:
As soon as Kuroto went back on his way, the two girls started talking to each other.
"What do you think? He's a True Awakening chosen one. It's only a matter of time until he truly awakens, but his power is already incredible—it might rival the boss's power post-true awakening," the girl on the right said to the other girl, her voice much deeper than before and carrying a hint of malice.
"You're not wrong. After kidnapping the children, we're just pretending to be some girls from a random Order, but I never would've thought we'd find a gem like him while transporting," she said in a devious tone.
"But if a full member comes, not only would it be the end for the both of us, but the two prodigies we kidnapped wouldn't reach the Hollow Nest. And I don't think it would be impossible to brainwash him post-true awakening, as long as he's only on his first raid," she added.
She turned behind, pulled out a green ancient-looking key, and said, "We'll come for him another time—and with a stronger teammate."
She locked the key in midair and twisted.
Suddenly, a gust of wind started to form where the key was twisted.
A few seconds later, the wind began carrying green and white particles, forming a gate—except instead of red or blue, the particles were green.
About a minute later, the gate had fully formed.
When the two entered, the place was all darkness, with nothing to see—except two children laid down, passed out. They dragged the two.
The two kids were a boy and a girl. The girls started to carry them out in their arms.
As soon as they exited the gate, side by side, they suddenly heard a voice.
"You should hide your malice a little better, don't you think?" the voice said from the left.
Their hearts skipped a beat. They turned toward the voice.
Standing there was Kuroto, leaning against the wall, smiling. He took a step and turned toward them.
Shocked and scared, the two murmured to themselves, "How did he know?"
"I knew Toshiro was hiding something from us, so the kidnapping wasn't just from some nobodies but a group such as yours," Kuroto said.
The two were on guard but something struck their mind.
They suddenly started laughing.
Kuroto stood there, confused why the two were laughing.
"Why are you laughing," he asked, confused. "Do you not deem me as a threat?"
They laughed.
"No, we don't deem a mere prior True Awakened a threat, even if we're on our first raid, there's no way a prior True Awakened can beat us," the girl on the right said, smiling deviously, the two put the kids down on the road.
Suddenly, both their appearance started to change, not directly a glow type, but just their entire body shape started to change, including their clothes.
Kuroto wondered what was happening, meanwhile the two had completely changed.
They didn't look innocent at all like before, in fact they weren't even girls anymore.
Two average looking men, covered in a black clothes from head to toe, completely covering their entire appearance, a white mask with the left eye covered, their uncovered right eye gave off uncontrollable malice with no spark of life in them at all. Their presence stable like the full members of the Crimson Order, they emitted an aura of dread and loneliness.