"The spirit that lurks beside the dead."

"We call you forth from the other world."

"Make thy presence known, so that we may gaze upon thee."

The two female voices spoke out, reciting the ritual chant. In a bedroom that clearly belonged to a girl, two of them were sitting on the ground cross-legged.

Between them on the ground was a pentagram drawn in blood-red ink, with four candles placed at each cardinal point.

The one girl with short hair spoke out, her teeth slightly chattering. "Me…Melissa, are… Are you sure we should be doing this?"

Opposite her, the girl named Melissa nonchalantly swatted her hand. "See, nothing happened. That group of boys were just scaredy-cats. I'll give them a piece of my mind tomorrow."

The short-haired girl then breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that nothing happened. However, none of them seemed to notice that the shadows in the room had grown darker.

In the corner of the room, clad in shadow. A figure calmly observed them.

….

In the meeting room, the members of Squad 0 had gathered around a large table, with a projector screen facing them.

The ones present were Shin, Ren, Valerie, and Tsuki, who seemed a bit tired. Also joining them was Gin, who stood in front of the projector, and someone whom Shin had never met before.

He seemed like an older gentleman, with gray sideburns and a bit of wrinkles pulling at his face. And just like Valerie, he was a foreigner, but it didn't look like they came from the same city. When he looked at Shin, the subtle green in his eyes was exposed.

"Hello there, young man. We haven't had the pleasure of meeting. My name is Williams, but you can just call me Doctor." The man introduced himself in a rich voice.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Shin. Valerie told me that you were the one who helped heal me. Thank you."

"No need; that is but one of my many duties." William waved his hand.

He must be on the path of Shaman, they are the only ones who can utilize healing energies. Examining the gentleman, Shin took a mental note.

After everyone had seated, Gin finally commenced the meeting.

Pointing to the projector screen, an image appeared of an odd-looking mannequin clad in red garments, wielding a crooked umbrella.

"Ren managed to capture the Midnight Stalker; it's currently en route to HQ. Assignment complete."

Looking over. Shin saw that the red-haired Ren seemed very smug about this achievement.

Then clicking over to the next slide, it revealed the familiar ritual drawing that Shin and Tsuki had investigated.

"Due to the reevaluation of the danger to this assignment, HQ has temporarily put it on hold. Assignment suspended.

After that Gin switched to another image slide. On this one, there were photographs of Hollows, empty eyes filled with darkness, and an empty cavity where their mouth should be.

"An unusual occurrence has recently taken place in the Middle to Lower Districts. This mission was issued to all squads in Sakura City via the Silver Palace. Once a week for the past 5 weeks, a Hollow would appear in a random location outside of the Waking Hour."

"However, the worst thing is that the Hollows are completely dead."

"In the first instance a Hollow appeared outside a shopping center in the 68th District. Eyewitness testimonies described a 'dried-up corpse.' Local authorities have already cordoned off the area."

"Currently Manji is on the case, working with Squad 2. So we'll await his report before taking further action. Assignment ongoing."

Finally the squad meeting came to an end. All the members then began to take their leave, except Shin, who stayed behind to discuss something with Captain Gin.

"We haven't had a proper conversation after your promotion. I was supposed to give you the whole speech about guarding humanity and how to use the powers of the supernatural blah blah…" Gin harped on, still showcasing his carefree attitude towards the Order of Silver.

"But screw all that, I'll personally make an excellent agent out of you, Shin."

"How exactly are you going to do that, Captain?" Shin asked, as he found his captain's display of neglect of the rules worrying.

"Get dressed and then meet me in the gym. Quick, quick." Gin instructed, with visible excitement.

Hopefully he will be able to teach me how to better use this new ability of mine. Ah yes, I'm also going to ask him about how I can utilize multiple paths.

Swiftly making his way out of the meeting room, Shin hurried towards the bedroom. He felt that this was going to be the first step to finally getting stronger.

…

In a warehouse located in the 59th District.

"This makes it 6 Hollows cases thus far." Crouching down and closely examining the Hollow corpse, an agent of the Order of Silver states to a companion next to her.

The companion was a man of large stature, wearing the same attire that an agent would wear. However, he had a clean-shaven head that was very eye-catching. And on the left side of his head was a dragon tattoo that curved all the way across his left eye.

"Agent Manji, have the leads not revealed anything?" The female agent asked.

When the man opened his eyes, they were serene and filled with the aura of gentleness.

He then answered the lady, his voice as firm as a drum. "Each of these Hollows had been cut by a sharp object, meaning all of these were caused by the same perpetrators. But disregarding all that, the situation in and of itself is unprecedented. Never have Hollows appeared in the real world."

"And to be able to kill a Hollow…" Minji turned his calm eyes towards the horizon.

"...this could be a sign of an ill omen."

…

Back in the Outpost 0 gymnasium, Shin had changed his attire and mentally prepared himself. Because when the rest of the Squad members heard that he was going to be personally trained by the Captain, each and every one of them showed fear, even the bold hotheaded Ren.

The old man Williams told him that his healing abilities might not help once he finished the course.

Not long after arriving, Gin had given him the essential breakdown of the training routine.

He was going to do warm-up exercises every morning before training. Followed by combat training that includes hand-to-hand, marksmanship, and managing his ability.

And finally each evening will round off with a quiz practice; the captain had made sure to highlight that any wrong answers would lead to punishment.

Standing opposite each other, Gin had a gleeful smile on his face. "You know, Shin, I barely have the opportunity to teach others. Everyone is always too busy."

"So please bear with me." His words had barely left his mouth when he suddenly charged at Shin.

His right hand swung at an invisible pace, aimed straight at Shin's head.

He felt the gushing air rush past him just as he disappeared into the wanderer's veil, moments before the punch could connect. That punch was meant to cause harm, as it almost took Shin's head.

Now I know why everyone's scared of you. You don't know how to hold back! He cursed at his captain while in his brief sanctuary.