Where Shadows Walk

Neo-Tokyo, 2085 23:47 Local Time

Leo's muscles burned from maintaining his crouched position for the past two hours.

The meeting below had dragged on longer than expected, but he couldn't risk missing anything.

Through his augmented camera lens, he watched as Harrison Vale, CEO of Quantum Dynamics, handed over a sleek metal briefcase to a man whose face was obscured by a hood.

"Got you," Leo whispered, capturing the exchange.

Corporate executives dealing with awakened mercenaries wasn't news, but a CEO of Vale's status doing it personally? That was worth the cramping legs.

Despite them being a good distance away, he could still hear a part of their conversation.

"...test subjects ready by..." Vale's voice drifted up.

"...ensure no GPA involvement..." the hooded figure responded.

Leo adjusted the audio enhancer on his ear, but before he could catch more, his wrist-mounted scanner flashed red with a text. 

[Warning, Warning]

[High power signature detected. Class-A]. 

Seeing the warning, his heart rate spiked. No one had mentioned an A-class would be at this meeting.

The shadows around the room seemed to turn darker and the lights coming from out the windows began to flicker on and off.

Leo held his breath as a new figure emerged from the darkness, a curvy woman in a black bodysuit, her long brown hair swayed in motion with her hips as she slowly moved forward. 

The mercenaries tensed, their hands glowing with energy getting ready to strike.

"Gentleman," her voice moved clearly through the dilapidated room. "I believe you're conducting business in my territory."

Vale stepped back in fear. "Kaori Yamashita. The GPA has no jurisdiction here."

Leo's fingers tightened on his camera. Kaori Yamashita, the notorious resistance leader. This wasn't just a story anymore, he was witnessing something much bigger.

"The GPA?" Kaori laughed, the sound echoing off the crumbling walls. "I haven't worked for them in years. But I am interested in what's in that briefcase."

Hearing that, the hooded figure moved, unleashing a blue plasma blast that lit up the building.

Kaori didn't even flinch. The energy curved around her like water around a stone. "C-class attacks?" She sighed. "Disappointing."

What happened next made Leo hold his breath. He held his camera carefully so he could capture every detail.

Kaori raised her hand slowly, and the very air around her began to change. 

It started as a slight shimmer, like glitter being thrown into the area around her, then rapidly transformed into beautiful but deadly crystals that hung suspended in the air.

Within seconds, the very air seemed to turn to crystals, creating a beautiful but lethal barrier that surrounded her.

The mercenaries, realizing the danger, unleashed everything they had. They fired blast after blast, their attacks lighting up the room in flashes of several colors. But each attack met the same fate. 

Plasma bolts hit the crystal wall and shattered into harmless sparks. Energy blades struck and slid off, unable to penetrate. Even the compressed air seemed to dissolve when it hit the crystalline barrier, creating rainbow-like lights in the slightly dark room.

Kaori's expression turned serious. With a simple gesture of her fingers, she transformed her defense into offense.

The crystallized energy that had absorbed their attacks now broke apart into hundreds of razor-sharp spikes. They hung in the air for a moment, catching what little light remained in the room and turning it into a deadly light show.

The mercenaries' faces paled as they realized what was coming. They scattered in different directions, but Kaori wasn't finished.

She manipulated the crystal spikes to cause a wave of destruction, sending them flying in precise patterns that forced her opponents to move exactly where she wanted them.

Leo watched through his camera lens, completely captivated. This was A-class power in its purest form, beautiful, terrifying, and absolutely lethal.

What he didn't know was that he was about to experience something even more extraordinary.

The mercenaries' eyes widened as what was caused by their own power was turned against them.

They scattered like startled birds, diving behind pillars and rubble as crystal spikes embedded themselves in the walls and floor with devastating force.

The sound of breaking concrete filled the air as the last few spikes shot out, sending dust and small pieces of crystals flying everywhere.

Seeing the onslaught of spikes end, the mercenaries revealed themselves and continued to attack.

The battle exploded into chaos. Plasma bolts from the first mercenary lit up the room like a lightning storm.

Kaori moved between them, her crystal barriers being destroyed and reforming with each hit. The plasma bolts created faint lights on her beautiful face, showing her determined expression as she thought of her next move.

A second mercenary with robotic arms tried sneaking behind her. Blue energy blades extended from her arms as she struck, but Kaori was ready. She spun around, creating several small pieces of crystals that caught the blades mid-swing.

The impact made large cracks on her crystal wall like broken glass. The sound echoed through the empty building, making Leo's camera shake from the force.

"Is this the best Vale's money can buy?" Kaori mocked, her voice carrying a hint of disappointment. She had expected better from Vale's mercenaries and personal security team.

The third mercenary however, proved craftier. While the others kept Kaori busy, he had been quietly manipulating the air around them.

His hands moved in weird patterns, gathering more and more pressure with each passing second. With a quick gesture, he turned it into a crushing wave of air pressure.

The invisible force slammed into Kaori, making her slide backward despite her crystal shield. Her boots scraped against the concrete floor as she fought to maintain her position. 

Seeing her lose her momentum, the mercenaries attacked together, forcing her to constantly change her defenses as they struck from different angles.

Their coordination was impressive, they had clearly trained together for situations like this.

Leo excitedly recorded the events thinking of the chaos this footage would create. His hands were steady despite the danger of being accidently hit, years of journalism experience keeping his shot focused and clear.

As he watched in glee, imagining the headlines this would generate, a deflected blast of compressed air hit the wall next to him with devastating force.

The impact sent dust, rocks and rubble flying, and one particularly sharp piece of stone sliced deep across his temple making way for a small, stray piece of Kaori's crystals to enter his forehead.

Time seemed to slow as the crystal shard embedded itself into his wound, a strange warmth spreading from the point of impact.

Blood trickled down his face, each drop hitting the ground in slow-motion with what felt like earth-shattering significance as the blood stains… turned black. 

The blackness spread through the blood drops like ink in water, and as Leo watched, horrified, the shadows around him began to move.