Precursor.

After having a talk with the chairman, Kenjaku could be seen walking outside of Hunter's Association, stopping at a nearby vending machine.

'I haven't done something 'normal', by human standards, in a long time. I wonder, how do these drinks taste?'

Not even bothering to check his empty pockets for money, Kenjaku started to hit the machine, holding back as much strength as he could so that he wouldn't destroy it.

'Tch. These drinks aren't falling down. You know, it wouldn't hurt if I-'

"Oi. What are you doing?"

Looking up at the direction where the voice came from, Kenjaku could see one of the Japanese hunters he had just defeated leaning on the machine, looking at him with a strange expression on her face.

"Just trying to get a drink, but I don't have any money. So...I was doing exactly what you thought I was doing."

Getting out some WON from her pockets, the woman inserted it into the machine, grabbing two drinks and handing one to Kenjaku.

"Here you go. This is for giving our guys a reality check. Especially Goto. He's been acting like a fool recently."

Kenjaku, surprised by her gesture, took the drink, popped the cap and gulped it down.

"No problem. You all needed it anyways. Even though I've never tackled an S-rank gate before, judging by the escalation of difficulty from a B-rank gate to an A-rank gate, I don't think any of you are ready for an S-rank gate. Personally, I think most of you are going to die in this raid."

Her expression got colder as she finished her drink and crushed her can.

"Do you think we are that weak?"

"All of you were unconcious not even 30 minutes ago. Of course I think you're that weak."

Just barely stopping herself from throwing the can at Kenjaku, the woman took a deep breath, looked at the man seriously and responded, "Again, thank you for showing us our own weakness. But we have our own pride to protect. Do you really think the Japanese can't take out a few ants-"

Raising his hand, Kenjaku stopped her from talking, causing her expression to go sour.

"Let's make a bet. If more than four of your Japanese hunters survive, I'll do anything you ask of me. If not, then, betray your country and join my guild. With your mindset, I could-"

"Stop right there."

Taking another deep breath, the woman extended her hand and said, her expression unwavering, "I am Kanae Tawata. On my honor, I will...no, Japan will prove it's strength in this upcoming raid. I accept your bet. So prepare to eat your words."

After Kenjaku shook her hand to seal the deal, the woman turned away, walking back to the gym with brisk steps.

"Damn, what a serious woman. She'd probably do well alongside the others. Sigh...time to get back to training."

Disintegrating the can in a short burst of flames, Kenjaku jumped away into a secluded area and opened a gate, quickly heading back to his palace.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Mei Mei, equipped with a long-shaft axe battled feverishly with Nagi, who as usual, used a katana. Even though Nagi started off at a much lower level than Mei Mei, the fact that she caught up so fast had caused a bit of frustration to build in the latter's psyche.

'She went from E-rank to A-rank in a matter of weeks. Almost as fast as the master. Tch! I guess those are the perks of being his favorite. If he only knew how I felt...'

Unbeknownst to her though, with one look at her expression, Kenjaku could tell what she was feeling. After all, she was apart of him on a spiritual level.

'Suffering begets growth, Mei. That passion you feel, channel it. It will give you strength.'

Summoning a legion spear out of thin air, Kenjaku jumped in between them, breaking the stalemate they were in.

"For the next four days, we will train non-stop. Get ready."

Ignoring the looks of frustration plastered across their faces, just as he said, Kenjaku pushed the girls to their limits with not even a second of rest over the next four days, even refining his spearmanship as he went.

'The thrusting and most slashing techniques of a sword could be used to the same 100% effectiveness on a spear too...'

In his hand, the spear became an extension of himself, every movement of his becoming more precise and powerful with every waking second that passed.

The girls had been blown away by his constant pressure a while ago, their bodies shaking rapidly from the amount of pain they went through over the past several days.

Now, he was training by himself, swinging his spear as if he was fighting the greatest battle of his life.

'It's very similar to the double-bladed lightsabers and lightsaber pikes I used in the past...so the combat styles I employ should be similar. Hm...this is wrong.'

Throwing away the legion spear, Kenjaku summoned Longinus and continued swinging, thrusting, slashing, impaling.

'This is better. I should train as I fight. Longinus has a different feel to it. It's weight, the balance, the trident sure is different. Juyo, Makashi, Shien, Ataru and a bit of Soresu. I could translate this combination well to pikes before, surely I could do the same with Longinus. I might be lacking in the force...but I've grown past such limitations.'

Kenjaku was the spiritual amalgamation of several Sith and Jedi masters that existed throughout the ages. Mastering something like this was just a matter of time.

Hours passed as he trained, his body and mind constantly adapting to his vision of his ideal technique.

"Um, Master Ken, you're forgetting about the raid."

Stopping mid-swing, Kenjaku glanced to the side, looking at Mei Mei's warm smile as her words reached him.

"You're right. I did agree to help them. Heh...I got so caught up in training that I forgot."

Using his biomass, Kenjaku formed a long sleeve, high collared black tunic with thin silver armor running down the arms. Combined with black pants and a slightly thicker layer of metal running down his legs, this was the first time Kenjaku had worn armor during a raid.

To finish it off, his fur cloak appeared over his shoulders, giving him quite the intimidating appearance.

Walking up to him to dust off his cloak, Mei Mei said, "Go have fun out there, Ken. This is your real debut as a S-rank hunter. The world will know you. I know you'll put on a good show.~"

Giving a nod to Mei Mei and the unconcious Nagi, Kenjaku opened the gate and left, heading to battle. It was time to face his first S-rank dungeon.

---------

As he exited the gate, Kenjaku found himself standing on a rooftop in the middle of Seoul.

'Even from here, I could feel the mana waves coming from Jeju Island. That means the raid started a while ago. I should hurry.'

BZZT!

Red lightning surged across Kenjaku's body as he leaped into the air, Longinus in hand. With incredible speed, Kenjaku flew across the country in a red streak of lightning, rushing to Jeju Island.

Ever since Longinus regained it's true form, Kenjaku found that the sky and ocean's felt as if they were calling to him. As if they were begging him to come home, begging him to take Authority over them.

So something as simple as flight, came like second nature.

It only took a few minutes for Kenjaku to get to Jeju Island, or at least what remained of the abandoned city.

'Here we are.'

Standing in the air as if the sky itself was a platform, Kenjaku looked down at the swarm of innumerable ants rushing back into their lair, seemingly bloodlusted for some reason.

'Each one of these ants is at least an A-rank magic beast...if I made an estimation, I would guess maybe 20% of the S-ranks are alive.'

Using his viral sonar, Kenjaku spread his senses across the island, a wide grin appearing on his face as he realized the amount of enemies he needed to defeat.

"One man against an army of enemies...this is how it should be!"

WHOOSH!

Kenjaku, not even caring about the number or rank of the enemies in front of him, blasted off headfirst into their lair, his mana surging as he raged on.

It was time for a slaughter.