Some contracts are written in ink.
His was written in blood and he never signed it.
Dante Kōgetsu is the best at what he does. No target too difficult. No contract refused. No emotion wasted. He built his reputation on one principle: finish the job and walk away clean.
Then a contract arrived with a photograph inside.
Her face.
Sophie Arisaka. The only person who ever made him feel like a human being rather than a weapon. He faked her death, lied to the client, and told himself it was a calculated decision.
It was not.
Now he is hunting the anonymous man who ordered her death and every step closer reveals a truth he is not ready for. The man behind the contract is Edward Yashiro. His oldest friend. A person who loved Sophie, lost her, and let that loss rot into something unrecognizable.
What Dante does not know yet is that Edward knows everything. The demons Dante carries inside him Kairo and Mūn were not accidents. They were placed there deliberately, by someone who chose him before he was old enough to refuse. And every time Dante uses their power, he pays a price no one warned him about.
He loses her. Not Sophie herself. The memories of her. One by one. Quietly. Irreversibly.
The job was supposed to be simple.
It became a war against an old friend, against the man who made him, and against the clock running silently inside his own mind.
Some things cannot be unforgiven.
Some prices cannot be unpaid.
Some contracts were never meant to end.

The warehouse was dark. Rain hammered against the metal roof. It sounded like gunfire constant and relentless. Dante moved through the shadows. He did not breathe heavily, and he did not sweat. His eyes glowed faintly, a turquoise hue in the dark.


(Kairo): "Left. Two seconds. Hostile moving."


Dante stepped left. He raised his weapon and fired once. The target fell, silent.


(Kairo): "Forward. Three hosts. Room ahead."


Dante moved. He was not thinking; he was flowing. Kairo was driving, and Dante was the vessel. The crew followed behind, careful and tired. Kisuke covered the rear, his breathing loud as he wiped rain from his eyes. "Clear," Kisuke whispered. Dante did not answer; he was already moving to the next room.


(Kairo): "Data stream increasing. Load at eighty percent."


(Kairo): "Ninety. Memory retention risking critical failure."


Chapter 32 - The First Real Cost