After waiting for the last chopper to arrive, Kyuuto's team realized that Aosuke and Hoshikawa didn't come with them. Making the team even more anxious as to what actually happened in the city while they were away. The team then talked to the team management committee to arrange their comeback on short notice. Soon enough, the following morning, the team took off to hunt for answers.

----

They arrived shortly after, as they already had guessed, the base was in disarray. Its beacons were scattered all over the place, there were only two working as they arrived. There was no one to greet them. Kyuuto and the other teams decided to split and looked around for any survivors.

"This is so weird, I believe they were already out of beacons to deploy," RIn inquired, as she looked around. The buildings were destroyed in the same manner or even worse than Kuroyuki's breach, "Hello?!"

The team walked around, but there's still no one to answer their calls. "Stop," Hikiri suddenly halted their movements. He then looked around, convinced that they were watched by something.

"HE'S HERE!!" suddenly, from both sides, more than 10 warriors popped out to ambush the team, they targeted Kazuki exclusively. Kyuuto and the others didn't have much time to react, then Hikiri jumped upwards, conjured his wind element in all directions, and pushed the warriors away.

"What the hell is going on?!" Kazuki finally had the chance to draw his blade, while the others also prepared their weapons.

The ambush didn't stop there, when Kyuuto looked upwards, he saw a shadow already leaping towards him, he then clashed his blade with Aosuke, who came with a full burst of flame. "Aosuke-- what the hell happened here?!" he asked, but the man didn't responded, he just pushed with even more force.

"Your companion here... he slaughtered most of us! I can't believe you're still on his side!" Aosuke referred to Kazuki who was still confused.

"What?!--- What are you talking about?!" Kyuuto pushed Aosuke away, then conjured a sub-zero frostbite to freeze Aosuke up to his shoulders. He was kept that way for some moments until he essentially became an ice sculpture of himself, "just chill down, and talk to us! This isn't the Kazuki you thought he was!"

Aosuke struggled fiercely by trying to combust his flame to then melt the ice, but Kyuuto was more powerful to the point of his own exhaustion.

Seeing Kyuuto's team preparing their weapons, Aosuke finally gave up and asked to be unfrozen.

----

"Kazuki came to our base about two weeks ago. He attacked us, murdered many of us, while boasting about how useless our cause was," Aosuke finally opened up to them. He also warned the team that there are multiple ambushes ready to surprise them if they step into already determined zones.

"But.. Kazuki was still in health care two weeks ago, you can't just teleport, right? Can you?" Kanata questioned while giving him a sharp stare.

"Of course not! I looked through the health care windows that our teammate has gone ballistic over you guys, while I was struggling to move a bone. Maybe you just saw some kind of illusion," Kazuki denied vehemently, then turned his eyes to Aosuke who was still suspicious of him.

"I'm afraid it wasn't," Hikiri inquired, he then walked around to see the damage on the buildings, "did you notice anything different about this violent Kazuki? Like his fighting style?"

Aosuke recalled his experience witnessing his version of Kazuki, he then explained that the Kazuki he saw was more savage than usual, and more importantly he didn't use light elements like he used to. Instead, Aosuke described this Kazuki as being deeply influenced by darkness.

"He's also hard to kill. Many of our jaegers reported that their blades were just 'went through' his body," Aosuke ended with a quotation gesture, "I thought he was just like Kuroyuki or Yamato, getting new set of powers after they left our side,"

----

After the warriors all gathered and the ambushes canceled, a level-headed discussion then commenced. Some were relieved in the fact that Kazuki was among them again, despite the terror they experienced, while the majority still distrust him and increased their scope to include his teammates into treacherous defiants.

Hoshikawa then came through the door, with his body covered with bandages and his feet supported by crutches. Kazuki instantaneously sprang up from his chair to greet and help him walk, but Hoshikawa didn't even listen to his brother calling his name. He just sat quietly after giving everyone in front of him a desperate stare.