~Nighttime~
"Mahito, are you done", Naoya asked as he was starting to grow impatient with the curse's antics. Meanwhile, Mahito smiled as he placed a hand on one of the residents of Tokyo that he lured out of the city.

"Mhm, this should be the final one. Finally, I can take a small break" Mahito screamed with joy as he used his Idle Transfiguration on the captive human. The victim screamed as her blood felt so hot that it was like there was fire in her veins. Soon her body began to expand as her veins were pulsing vigorously from under her skin. Suddenly all of her limbs began to grow bigger and mishaped as her head began to expand.

"You know, you humans are interesting", Mahito said as the woman's head exploded. Her blood staining the ground as her body shrunk to the point it could all fit onto Mahito's palm. "All the humans I met so far seem to have one thing in common. They're all so quick to resort to violence, yet when met with even greater violence, they can't seem to do anything. And yet......those humans part of the church managed to kill Merkava and not get Transfigured by me."

"What are you getting at", Naoya asked the cursed spirit as they were slowly approaching their destination. Behind them were several disfigured creatures varying in shape in size, some having more limbs than others. The only thing all of these creatures had were their faces, which had their eyes wide and mouth agape as they were twisted into the shape of a person screaming for their lives.

"What I'm saying is this, Naoya Zenin. For those gems, those people who follow the instincts of their soul, I want to see how far I can go with toying with them. Think of it like a human child having an unbreakable toy. I want to do everything in my power to break apart their beautiful souls and shape it how I please."

~Tokyo Branch Headquarters~
"Shiki? Shiki?! Where are you?"

As Megumi was walking around the Tokyo Branch, she kept looking for her partner as she hasn't seen him all day. While she was walking around, Megumi saw a figure standing alone as they looked out the window and were staring at the night sky.

"Shiki, there you are! I've been looking for you all da-"

Megumi stopped mid-sentence as she noticed something unusual with Shiki. As the boy was staring at the window, Megumi noticed how the boy's right hand was shaking. Before she could ask what was wrong, Megumi heard the boy speak to her.

"Megumi-senpai. Sorry, I just needed some time to myself...that's all."

"Shiki, what happened? You're not acting like yourself."

"Olivia told me something. About the beast that w-.......that I killed at the park that one night."

Megumi clenched her fist as she heard this. After learning that Olivia suspected Shiki, Megumi was worried she might target the boy. But what could she have said to have shaken the boy this much?

"Yeah. The monster was eating several human beings at night. If he wasn't dealt with, countless more people could've died."

"I thought the same thing too. But then, Olivia told me Merkava's identity. Apparently he use to be a human by the name of Viktor von Degurechaff."

"Viktor von Degurechaff?! He was the man that first discovered the existence of S-Rank Cursed Treasures and even dabbled in trying to harness the power of other curses. His family is known for their nigh perfect manipulation of mana. Wait....if that was Merkava's real identity then..."

"Yeah....it's just as you think. I killed Olivia's father", Shiki explained as he looked down at his trembling hand. "I killed a monster who was formerly human, I robbed Olivia a chance to turn him back human, and stole her only reason for joining this organization by her own words. Even knowing that, do you know what the worst part about all this is?"

As Shiki finally turned around to face Megumi, the girl couldn't believe her eyes. She expected a few tears from him since he found out he killed something that was once man, but that wasn't the case. Right now, in this moment, Shiki's eyes were wide as a sadistic smile was plastered on his face.

"Everytime I think about my knife taking Merkava's life, why does it feel so good" Shiki asked as he took out his knife and his grip on the hilt tightened. "I took his life with this knife, but even after learning of his human origin, why does the memory of killing Merkava make my heart skip with joy. What the hell is wrong with me?!"

"The Nanaya bloodline is truly terrifying. Instead of focusing on magic and other such things, they focused solely on killing demons and other related creatures. To the point where they uniquely developed a bloodlust towards non-humans. By combining that with their assassination techniques, they're a terrifying bunch....however....."

From what she already knew about the clan and after learning the truth from Ochita, Megumi had an idea on what was happening. Shiki seems to never have experienced this bloodlust before and it also seems he hasn't learned any of the Nanaya family's assassination techniques. With the only survivors being himself and his father, Shiki almost had no one to turn to in order for him to be taught the techniques or how to keep the bloodlust in check.

"But wait, the Koritsu Clan was part of the Nanaya clan. If that's the case, shouldn't Shiki's father know something. Why hasn't he confronted Shiki about this and help him keep this murderous intent in check? Should I tell him? What do I even say? No, he deserves to know if his ignorance is causing him this much distress."

"Shiki .......there's something you need to kn-"

"AAAHGGGGGHHHHHHH"

Before Megumi could finish her sentence, both herself and Shiki heard a loud roar coming from outside of the Tokyo Branch headquarters. As Shiki turned around to look out the window, he couldn't believe what he saw.

"Those things we fought at the park during the mission to exterminate Merkava. What the hell are they doing here?! Why are there so many of them?!"

"That patchwork faced bastard. Was this what he was doing while we were busy recovering? Was he reinforcing his arsenal?"

As Megumi said this, she noticed Shiki just staring outside as he opened the window. Soon a sinister smile was slowly forming on his face as he jumped out the window. Seeing this, Megumi panicked as she jumped out after him. As the two executioners landed on their feet, Megumi looked at her kouhai in shock.

"What were you thinking, Shiki?! That was dangero-"

"In this line of work, that stunt is nothing compared to what we do. Besides, it's our task to help the Tokyo Branch, so what choice do we have" Shiki stated as he held three black in each hand while staring down the army of creatures. Seeing this, Megumi sighed as electricity began to escape from her right hand.

"That may be true, but give me a heads up next time. For now, it seems we got a lot of cleaning up to do."

~Meanwhile~
"Phew, there we go. I sent fifty transfigured humans their way."

Deep within the veil of trees from which the transfigured humans originated from, Mahito was seen sitting on a tree branch as Naoya stood next to him while they both watched what transpired.

"You know the plan, right Mahito?"

"Geez, have some faith in me. If they die against the initial fifty transfigured humans I sent, then that would make things easy. However, should they survive, i'll send the other fifty after Megumi-chan."

"Then you and I will separate the boy from her and take him on personally", Naoya finished that thought as a smirk was plastered on his face. As the Zenin looked forward, a single thought ran through his mind.

"Looks like the Nanaya clan is nothing to be feared anymore. Now the Zenin clan will finally be one step closer to finally be on top in the organization."