XCEL

Nagora Ibuse hadn’t known what to expect when he passed beyond the light and in between those golden sliding doors. In that final instant, his mind was flooded with panicked thoughts, paralytic what-ifs. A stone of resolve formed in the detective’s gut, and he clung diligently onto the only advice he could trust—Toshina’s—and stayed his course, knuckles whitening on the steering wheel.

Miraculously, nothing disastrous happened.

As his car passed the threshold, Ibuse transitioned seamlessly from the highway and into the corridor beyond. He couldn’t help but peek through his windscreen. The vast hallway, linear as could be, disappeared long into the horizon ahead of him. The corridor was nearly twice the width of his vehicle, both walls interspersed with intricate marble pillars set underneath a tranquil evening sky. The primordial artist had painted an intricate fresco of shifting blues, oranges and purples across the skies, while a muffled sun cast god rays through silver-lined clouds. The rumbling of the tarmac’s slight perturbations through the vehicle’s frame abruptly vanished, but he was still in full control of the car. All he felt now was the smooth purr of his engine. No surprise why: the floor had been replaced with patterns of glossy blue tiles as far as he could see.

With a sobering jolt, Ibuse had to remind himself to keep his eyes on the road ahead! He didn’t want to total his ride wherever this was. He doubted his insurance covered accidents in surreal hyperdimensions.

“So? Where next?” He asked Toshina, to no response. “Hey! Are you going to be any kind of help here?” Glancing left, he saw his passenger seat completely vacant. “Son of a bitch!”

The fickle spirit remained absent, but the brief instructions still rang in the back of his mind. What was it again, down the hall and take a left? A detail then caught his eye: on either side, between each set of pillars, sat further set of sliding doors! As he drove past, each slid open in turn, exposing further sects of blank void beyond. He kept driving a little longer, now spotting ornate brass clocks above each doorway. The time on each one remained a mystery. He was going too fast to tell.

Which door should he choose?

A few agonising seconds passed before—

“Oh, to hell with this!” Ibuse yanked on the handbrake and spun his wheel full left lock. His tired screeched across the tiles into a perfect ninety degree turn. He grinned, glad to see his muscle memory driving for GSPEC hadn’t yet vanished. The car drifted neatly into into place in front of another set of doors. The doors opened with a soft click, and allowed him passage. His clutch bit the transmission, engine revving furiously, before the detective released the handbrake and tore off through the gateway.

Ibuse didn’t have a clue what was happening, but he’d be damned if he let it get the better of him yet. He was getting older, not obsolete.

* * *

Severance Planar

断面 Danmen

Rin’s first strike—an overhead slash—missed Meguru by inches. Rin pressed the assault and tried again. Miss. Twice more. No dice. Every single time, the man weaved just out of the way. All the cleaving planes cut was air.

“Are you even trying?” Meguru yawned.

Rin either refused to rise to, or was too enraged to hear the taunts. The gremlin grabbed his cleaving frame and twisted it into another shape, extending and shaping it in conjunction with several more. A short straight-sword, similar to a Chinese Jian, constructed itself in real time in his right hand. Rin had improved the design of the dull blade, in both functionality and aesthetics, since the first prototype he had used on the fly against Bango. He’d christened it “Box Cutter.” Any fool with a blade could cut, the Architect had criticised; Rin wondered just how many fools could make that same cutting blade? Rin stepped up the pressure, lashing out with a cry. This sword wasn’t so blunt anymore. By maintaining the blade in its hollow, un-captured state, he had designed this frame to rapidly capture whatever was caught between the vertices: a repeatable version of Severance Planar! Rin dived towards Meguru, unleashing a flurry of wild slashes, each more voracious than the last.

“This passion…” Thought Meguru with a grin. “He might even excite me at this rate.” Forced onto the back foot, he raised both arms. The man wove like a seasoned boxer between Rin’s wild assault.

“You’re full of openings.” Stepping forward, Meguru flicked the flat side of the Box Cutter, shattering the sword. Rin recoiled, but retaliated with a punch crackling with psychic energy. Meguru stepped to the right and swiped the boy lightly across one cheek.

Disaster Strike

災害打 Saikatsuda

A mighty crack resonated through the chaotic space, snapping Rin’s head to the side from the recoil and launching him spinning into a corkscrew. The boy hit the ground, hard, some distance away. Winded by the impact, but not out, he managed to use the remaining momentum to roll back up to his knees.

Rin righted himself. “I’m not done!”

“Then let’s keep going.” Meguru beckoned with one hand.

Rin cursed. He had let his emotions get the better of him. His psychic energy spiked at all points along his skin, that horrible prickling that stabbed at every part of him, inside and out. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Rin felt the edges of his vision return. The pulsing through his head subsided, as a familiar flow started to build. A uniform distribution; no movement, only constant control. Drawing out more frames, Rin felt the flow of his psychic energy cool his nerves, quenching the rage in his blood with a steady, alternating current.

Scaffolding

足場 Ashiba

Spinning on his heel, Rin constructed a dome shield around himself. Fixing Meguru with a stare, Rin started an intricate dance of hand motions, lips mouthing wordless curses, weaving psychic energy into shapes and patterns Meguru couldn’t—or couldn’t be bothered to—understand.

“This trick again?” Meguru sighed. “Wonder how that’ll work out for you when I blow your little house down.”

Cupping both hands around his mouth, Meguru took a deep breath and unleashed a torrent of air. Like a barn in a hurricane, Rin’s dome began breaking apart under the force of the wind, each frame peeling off and shattering one by one. This had bought Rin all the time he needed, however. His preparatory gestures complete, he slammed his hands together with a grin, conjuring a double-layered box into existence around Meguru.

Box Technique: Cocoon

囲箱技: 繭 Isōgi: Ken

The surfaces shimmered, solidifying the sudden barrier.

“Baiting me into standing in one spot, huh?” Meguru growled. “Clever…”

Rin grinned. All needed was a little breathing room. Paradoxically, using Box Technique was easier to do than trying to capture the man in a single, large frame. The larger he made each individual frame, the longer it took to fully capture. The difference was in the realms of seconds, at least on the scale he was working with, but he didn’t want to give Meguru any opportunity to evade. By decreasing the volume of the frame’s capture area by incorporating an inner boundary, Rin significantly decreased the activation time!

Scaffolding aside, the Box Technique was one of his proudest fundamentals developed to date. Through trial, error and puzzling it over in his mind over breakfast, he’d finally managed to figure out how to create and solidify his frames at a distance! Visualising himself in the space around him, Rin managed to mentally disconnect and move the centre of his focus to some external point, manipulating the psychic energy into the constructs he needed from far away! The hand gestures were still a necessity at this stage, but he’d figure out how to bypass those soon. He’d attempted to grill the Architect on how the man was able to manifest frames with just a snap of his fingers, but the disparaging remarks he received made him regret asking.

“Just a box?” Meguru tapped the side with his knuckles. “Looks solid enough.” He licked his lips, a devious grin. He raised a finger to prod the glassy surface. “What if I—”

“Not letting you!” Rin clenched his fist.

Crush

搾 Saku

The walls of Meguru’s prison abruptly closed inwards, trapping him in a coffin. Meguru gnashed his teeth and strained against his bonds. Moving his hands apart vertically, the outer layer of the box lost its shimmer.

Entomb

墓 Bo

Meguru’s coffin slipped through solid ground, falling several feet below the surface. That wasn’t all. Resizing a chunk of rock he had cut in a frame earlier, Rin positioned it above where he’d buried the man, and released. The cube of tombstone sealed the deal with a resounding thud that made Rin’s knees tremble. He relaxed his hands, feeling the renewed strain in his wrists. Gingerly massaging the tension in his forearms, he took laboured breaths and waited on tenterhooks for any sign of life. He took care to maintain his flow. The steady pulse of his psychic energy was a comfort. The circulating current rejuvenated his muscles, tired and screaming from exertion.

A crack split the ground underneath him in two, and Rin jumped on instinct. Drawing a frame underneath him, the boy stood in midair. Skirting several paces away, frames supporting every step, Rin looked down to see the impossible he’d been expecting. The tombstone boulder shattered like ceramic, and a hand clawed a dead man out of his impromptu grave.

“Who’d have thought you’d adapt so quickly.” Meguru hauled himself out of the earth and brushed the dirt off his jacket. “It’s a good strategy, but there’s more, ain’t there? I don’t think you expected to finish me off with that.” Lacing both hands behind his back, Meguru stretched his arms out behind him and flexed his back. “It ain’t my time; you’ve gone and interested me now.”

Rin shoved the miniaturised car he’d been about to throw at Meguru back into his pocket with a scowl. He’d stolen a fair few at this point so he’d have some ammo as a contingency. He’d changed so many tacks at this point, it was tricky to figure out how many he’d have left. Capturing the man in a frame would take far too long; Severance Planar was too slow; Box Technique, he’d already used.

“You gonna get down from there?” Meguru called.

Rin pulled a face. “Make me.”

“Bet.” Meguru pulled a coin from his pocket, and took aim.

Rin only just managed to parry the shot in time. The brass coin zipped like a bullet at his face, shattering the frame. The resultant force knocked Rin backwards off his perch.

“Been meaning to get rid of some loose change.” Lowering his centre of gravity, Meguru grinned and kicked off the ground. The man crossed the distance faster than Rin could track, leaving a small crater where he’d once stood. Appearing in mid-air before Rin had even a chance to fall, Meguru prodded Rin’s forehead with one finger.

Disaster Strike

災害打 Saikatsuda

At the slightest touch, the mightiest force slammed Rin headfirst into a fresh crater. The shock sent a tremor through the fragmented lands. Meguru deftly touched down a few metres away.

“Hakana was right,” he gloated. “This has been fun. I’ve been chilling for so long, I forgot what a thrill this whole psyche thing was.”

Rin’s body still arced with psychic energy. The flow managed to dull most echoes of pain. “I’m still not done,” he growled, picking himself off the floor.

A fresh wave of thunder crackled around the expanse. The edges of the distortion grew further away, as more and more of Kawarajima’s surroundings was swallowed into the distortion.

“You’re just stupidly tenacious, ain’tcha?” Meguru grinned. “You know you ain’t gonna win, but you just keep trying. I don’t get it, but I love it! It’s so stupid!”

“You wouldn’t understand; you’ve never had anything to work for. You’ve never had to aspire to anything.” Rin glowered. “I’m not going to stop; I’m not going to rest; I will achieve my dream, even if it kills me.”

“It will!” The man cackled. “Where do you get off on that kind of philosophy? More. More! I wanna see more, Harigane!”

Rin didn’t match Meguru’s enthusiasm. Staring down at the floor, black hair flopped over his face. Holding out his right hand, Rin reconstructed his Box Cutter.

“That boring sword again? C’mon, throw me a bone here, kid!”

Rin didn’t throw him a bone; he threw him a Nissan. Pelting the miniaturised car like a baseball, Rin released the frame with a yell.

Meguru’s eyes lit up. “That’s more like it!”

Whether the car made any impact or not wasn’t Rin’s concern. The moment he felt properly obscured, he dashed forward and ducked down into a sweeping stance.

Meguru Yoha was lazy. The man could manipulate the consequence of any action in his immediate vicinity. The car didn’t pose a threat. He could just stop the car with minimal impact; no reason for him to move. That was exactly what Rin was banking on. His Box Cutter had limited range; he could only make the sword so big before it became unwieldy. However, the blade itself was a mobile frame. This had given Rin an idea. His iaido technique was likely all wrong, but he didn’t have time to second guess himself. He’d end this in a single slash. Meguru wouldn’t even see it coming. “Sheathing” the blade at his side for a moment, Rin swiftly pulled it out in an upwards slash. In a flash, the blade extended to over five times its length, cleaving straight through the middle of the car in a wide arc.

Severance Planar: Blade

断面: 刃 Danmen: Yaiba

The car’s sparking metal chassis, split in two, hit the ground with a crunch on either side. Rin rose from his stance, eyes widened.

Neither hide nor hair of Meguru, harmed or otherwise.

“You really thought I wouldn’t bother dodging, didn’t you.” The lackadaisical man stood to Rin’s left, shaking his head. “Normally, you’d be right, but I saw something in your eyes. Guess I got lucky, huh?”

Parrying Rin’s next frenzied overhead slash, Meguru seized Rin’s right wrist in an iron grip. “Really got to hand it to you,” he chuckled. “These bad boys are the real menaces here.” The man sharply twisted his grip. A crack, followed by Rin’s agonising scream. Wrist snapped; his hand flopped forward, loose fingers slipping free of Box Cutter’s handle. Meguru grabbed the sword and drove the hilt into the boy’s solar plexus. Rin didn’t have time to double over; Meguru slapped the underside of his chin.

Disaster Strike

災害打 Saikatsuda

Rin’s head snapped back, knocked a few feet airborne. Meguru responded by grabbing the front of the kid’s hoodie, turned about face and threw him to the floor.

Disaster Strike

災害打 Saikatsuda

Rin—reduced to a ragdoll—slammed into the ruptured ground with a sickening crunch, spine compressing into itself, a human accordion, before bouncing back up into perfect position for Meguru’s final, decisive flick to his sternum.

Disaster Strike

災害打 Saikatsuda