After leaving the hotel, Ren swiftly made his way toward the back mountain.

  Blending into the surrounding enviro like a chameleon, his form became indistinct, a teique that only a Sequence 7 Magi could possess.

  For now, he was borrowing this power through Sefirah Castle, temporarily granting himself this ability.

  Has my trol over these abilities improved?

  The e between Sefirah Castle and himself had clearly strengthened.

  This growing synization directly affected his authority over the Castle's abilities.

  If he could raise this adaptability to a higher level, he might even break past the limitations of certain sequences.

  But that takes time.

  He was already progressing faster than expected. It had beehan two weeks since he obtained Sefirah Castle, a his grasp over its powers had grown signifitly.

  Owo… three…

  Ren ted softly to himself, feeling the gradual increase in his resoh the Castle.

  No rush. Time will hahe rest.

  Moments ter, he arrived at the outskirts of the back mountain.

  The sentry post ahead came into view.

  The gss window of the sentry box was smeared with dried, crimson blood. The outdoor surveilnce camera had a bullet hole through it, rendering it useless.

  That was fast.

  The assault force had moved with surprising efficy, brutal and decisive in their as against the drug dealers stationed here.

  Ren didn't eveo check the bodies to know that the shots had been precise: headshots, oer the other.

  What's with this level of aggression?

  Was it because of the girls' identities? Did Fujiwara and Saginomiya's presetle the higher-ups enough to push the police to act this aggressively?

  That seemed like the most logical expnation.

  He shook his head, dismissing the thought, and proceeded into the dense, shadowed forest of the back mountain.

  ---

  The t trees blocked most of the moonlight, casting the area in an eerie twilight. The underbrush seemed untouched, yet Ren knew better than to trust appearances.

  The drug dealers here were no amateurs.

  Ground-level traps.

  Ren's gaze shifted upward toward the thick branches overhead.

  Much safer.

  A burst of crimson fire ignited beh his feet, propelling him effortlessly into the opy. From there, he advanced swiftly, leaping from branch to branch like a shadow.

  The faint glow of his fmes occasionally flickered through the leaves but vanished before any ground-based observer could trace it.

  ---

  Sniff.

  Perched on a branch, Ren she air.

  Immediately, his face twisted in disgust.

  The hell is that?

  The stench was overwhelming, like rotting garbage left in the sun for weeks, bined with stagnant sewer water.

  He instinctively retrieved a mask from Sefirah Castle and strapped it on.

  The improvement was marginal.

  From his vantage point, he noticed that the advang poliit had already donned gas masks.

  Mental ash mas masks in the Castle.

  A thin mist seeped from his body, f a protective barrier that filtered the foul air entirely.

  Reled on the branch, crossed his legs, and jured a familiar object: his diary.

  Bang it on his p, he began to write.

  ---

  [The Metropolitan Police Department's special forces are moving faster than expected.]

  [They didn't hesitate at the sentry post, headshots all around, cameras destroyed in seds.]

  [Could it be that the mention of Fujiwara, Shinomiya, Saginomiya, and Sanzenin pressured them into this? If so, who?]

  [Hmm… Fujiwara inomiya seem like the most likely didates.]

  [Fujiwara's family has deep political ties. Her great-grandfather was a former Prime Minister, and her father is a promi figure in politics. Her mother's a high-ranking diplomat. That level of influence could certainly push the polito overdrive.]

  [Saginomiya, though… she's a different kind of asset. The stro miko of the modern era, apparently. If the higher-ups truly believe she handle supernatural threats, they might have insisted ora precautions.]

  [Fear does that to people. It forces them to move, evehey'd rather g to their wealth and power.]

  [But ironically, Saginomiya never even sought that power. It came to her naturally.]

  [I guess some people really are favored by fate.]

  ---

  Piu!

  The sharp crack of a suppressed gunshot snapped Ren out of his thoughts.

  A drug dealer colpsed with a dull thud, blood poolih him.

  His corpse y sprawled in the dirt like discarded trash, devoid of dignity.

  Ren's expression remained impassive.

  A misty, gray eye appeared beside him, h in midair.

  The spectral eye rotated slightly, fixating on the lifeless body below.

  Sunken cheeks. Hollow eye sockets. Pale skin.

  Cssic signs of ic drug abuse.

  No sympathy. He chose that path.

  The special forces advanced swiftly, eliminating several more targets with simir efficy.

  Ren tracked them silently from above, shifting branches with each step.

  Eventually, the unit reached a cluster of makeshift buildings hidden within the forest.

  Ren crouched low and observed the se.

  The structures were made of temporary materials, cated metal sheets, wooden pnks, and pstic tarps. Despite their haphazard appearahe worn state of the materials suggested they'd been here for a long time.

  This pce isn't new. It's beeing for years.

  Roughly twenty or thirty people had likely lived here, if not more.