In a dark underground chamber,
a man sat in a chair, holding a glass of wine.
Then, a large man appeared.
"Hey, Otherself. I found the girl and unexpectedly, the boy too. You might be shocked to hear this, but I guess you'll need to see it for yourself."
The man with the wine raised his hand.
The large man's body melted into a liquid substance and returned to the man's skin.
His eyes glowed faintly silver as he absorbed the memories of his other self.
"I see," he muttered, then recreated the large version of himself once more.
Another muscular man emerged from the shadows. "What's your order, boss?"
"Get what you can about the boy's identity," the man said calmly. "As for the girl... we'll wait and see what He orders."
"At your command."
"And you, Otherself… do what you want."
Scene Shift — Aria's Mansion
In a chamber elsewhere, Ren was being treated by nurses while Yū stood outside, staring through the see-through glass.
The scene replayed in his mind, over and over.
He still couldn't understand what had happened to him back there.
Aria arrived quietly. "You don't need to worry," she said. "We'll do our best to treat your friend."
Yū blinked. He didn't expect her to be this kind.
Maybe I judged her too early, he thought.
"Thank you, Lady Aria," he said politely.
"You don't need to be formal," she replied. "Just Aria is fine. And that idiot Ayato -sigh- he'll receive disciplinary action soon. But since both sides admitted he only interfered, he won't be punished too severely."
Yū nodded. I guess that guy, Kaito, told the truth after all.
"What about that guy?" he asked.
"Kaito? He's under investigation. He used Essence without authorization."
Shock crossed Yū's face. He remembered when Aria once interrogated him. He trembled slightly, and Aria noticed.
"Don't worry," she said gently. "That won't happen again. Yours was… more personal. And I'm sorry for that."
Yū sighed in relief.
"We'll take care of your friend," Aria added. "You can visit anytime. For now, go home. You there," she called to a guard, "drive him back."
At Yū's House
When Yū arrived home—
"I'm back," he said softly.
"Mmm," his uncle, Satoru Kisaragi, replied from the couch. "Oh, welcome back—hm? What happened to you?" He frowned, noticing Yū's messy shirt.
"Ah, it's nothing serious!" Yū said quickly and rushed to his room.
"Hey! If someone's bullying you, tell me, alright?" his uncle called out.
"For God's sake…" he muttered under his breath.
Inside his room, Yū sat on his bed, trying to recall every single thing that happened.
Then he grabbed an old history book.
[The History of Superhumans and The Deathman's Parade]
He flipped through the pages, searching for something that could explain what was happening to him.
Finally, he stopped on a section titled Affinity — people born with the ability to manipulate metals, elements, and sometimes, things not of this world.
The Book's Record
Other historians say that the origin of these powers came from a meteor that fell thousands of years ago. However, the evidence supporting this theory has long been lost or perhaps never existed at all. Still, a brilliant professor named Amon Gisaraki, one of the geniuses of his era, supported this theory.
He believed that the essence people now possess originally came from that meteor, which assimilated into both humans and animals. Because of this, humans gained superhuman abilities, while animals evolved into beasts.
As time passed and civilization developed, these powers continued to evolve. Humans without affinities eventually discovered a new kind of energy called a "Trigger" a type of essence that only awakens under certain conditions. Some people go their entire lives without knowing they have one, unless they find the right activation for their Trigger.
Later, Amon's great grandson, Toru Gisaraki, continued his research. He theorized that as generations passed, humans with affinities began marrying normal humans. Their children sometimes inherited the parent's essence, but if a sibling did not, that child could still carry the bloodline of an affinity user. Because of this, there was about a 30% chance that the child could one day awaken a Trigger ability of their own.
Over time, experiments were conducted to test these theories. Scientists extracted and analyzed the blood of affinity users, injecting it into normal humans. The results were not as they hoped: the injected subjects became Enhanced Humans — stronger, faster, and capable of pushing beyond human limits — but not superpowered. Some could lift heavy objects or run for miles, but their enhancements faded without training. Eventually, the effects would wear off, and they would return to being normal.
As years passed, conflict arose among the Affinities, Triggers, and Enhanced Humans. Battles broke out, each faction trying to dominate the other. But during one of these wars, a new kind of power emerged —
the Death Trigger.
The first known Death Trigger was discovered when a Trigger user was killed in battle… and then came back to life, completely healed. His original trigger had evolved into something far more powerful.
This phenomenon intensified the war. Armies began hunting Trigger users with Death Trigger potential. Many were kidnapped and experimented on, but scientists failed to reproduce their abilities. Some tried transferring Death Trigger energy into Affinity users, but the results were disastrous —
some lost their elemental powers completely, while others died moments after gaining the Death Trigger.
Eventually, it was discovered that the weakness of the Death Trigger was blood loss. If a user lost too much blood, the Death Trigger would fail to activate, and they would die.
After countless deaths, a ceasefire was finally declared. For the sake of ordinary people, all sides agreed to stop fighting. But peace didn't last long. A new Death Trigger user appeared — one who could steal the abilities of others.
No one knew why this "Deathman" began to threaten humanity. But his existence forced all groups — normal humans, Affinities, Triggers, Enhanced, and Death Triggers — to unite against him.
This event became known as The Deathman's Parade.
After the war, a peace contract was signed, dividing the races of superhumans. But to ordinary people, anyone with strange powers simply became known as the Supernaturals.
---
As Yū closed the book, he noticed it was already past midnight. He sighed in frustration —
he hadn't found a single clue about what was happening inside of him.
Everything he read was just history.
Nothing that could explain him.
He leaned back on his chair, whispering to himself,
"Affinity… Trigger… Enhanced… none of these fit me. Death Trigger is one thing but that thing..."
He paused, remembering the scene—
the chain, the thing, the static voice that wasn't his.
"Then… what am I?"
He shut the book and stared out the window, the moonlight reflecting on his face.
Little did Yū know that trouble was already stirring in the shadows…
and it was coming.
---End of Chapter 11---