Renzo, a swordsman who notably wore a mask to conceal his identity, stood up before his leader Dex, who was lying down on one of the walls of the building located in the City of Fashion’s sub-districts.

“Well, that’s fine by me… But what should we do from this point onwards?” questioned Renzo, who was confused as to what the crew should do to be known throughout the entire galaxy.

“First off, we’ll make a name for ourselves in this world… But we have to be strong first if we want to achieve something like that.”

Dex replied to Renzo, who was getting rid of the dust from his robe after kneeling down to his leader for a few minutes.

“That’s true, if we want to be well-known outlaws, then we’ll have to master Essence first… Thankfully, I can give you all of my knowledge about it, since my grandfather taught me all there is to know about this power that we both have.”

Renzo said to his leader, Dex, who was still questioning what Essence even is, and why it’s so important in becoming a strong outlaw.

“Essence, essence… What the hell even is that? Why do we need to master it to become the strongest?”

Dex questioned Renzo in a slightly irritated tone, he was tired of hearing the word Essence every time they spoke of something, and he had to know why. Renzo sat down once again, and handed Dex a piece of paper that briefly explained what Essence truly is.

“Essence is the life force of a living thing, no living being can live without Essence, as it is the string that binds us to life and death… In some rare occasions, your Essence can awaken, and you will attain supernatural abilities that only a few people can imagine getting. Enhanced strength, enhanced healing, just to name a few.”

Renzo briefly explained the concept of essence to Dex, who slightly understood what he said.

“I see… So I’ve awakened my Essence already without even realizing it?” Dex questioned his crew member Renzo.

“Exactly, but your Essence is still incomplete… It is quite lethal, but you still haven’t awakened your Essence Ability, the extension of your spirit.”

Renzo answered, standing up once again and brushing his robe, making sure that all of the dust had been fully brushed off. Dex was absolutely flabbergasted, and didn’t know what to say anymore.

Suddenly, Tanya’s consciousness went back, and she stood up while she still had a slight ache in her head.

“Hey, chill out for a moment, you just woke up!” exclaimed Dex as he held Tanya straight up, making sure that she didn't unexpectedly fall over once again.”

Tanya looked at the swordsman who was Renzo, and instantly recognized him as his ally that guided him to the Sandstorm skyscraper wherein she met Dex.

“R-Renzo, is that you? I thought you left me in that skyscraper?!”

Tanya unleashed her thunderous Essence, creating a surge of lightning that could be seen from outside the alleyway, Renzo was immediately frightened, knowing how dangerous she is, thinking of her like a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment.

“I’m sorry about that, I just couldn’t enter the skyscraper after all the mess you made.”

Renzo sincerely apologized, but that was not enough to fully convince Tanya that he was telling the truth.

“Maybe next time, try apologizing sincerely!”

Tanya shouted, hitting Renzo with a punch imbued with Essence that would’ve broken his ribcage if it ever critically hit him. However, Renzo unleashed the fullest of his Essence, which looked like a ghostly blue aura compared to Tanya’s lightning to deflect the attack, preventing any further damage from being caused by him.

“She’s quite unpredictable from my experience… I’m quite surprised at how you managed to calm her down like that at the restaurant earlier…”

Renzo complimented Dex, who was the only person who could calm down Tanya, and not make her seem like the ticking time bomb that Renzo always perceived her to be. While Tanya’s consciousness was starting to fully return, Dex and Renzo had a conversation about what Essence is, and the ways to fully master it.

“Now, back to the real question… How do you even attain essence? Do you just train for months and hope that you attain it?” said Dex, who was extremely curious.

“To obtain Essence, you must either survive intense physical or mental trauma… The way I obtained it was by witnessing the death of my grandfather who was killed by Intergalactic soldiers, which fueled me with immense energy, and eventually awakened my Essence over a few seconds.”

Renzo replied, reminiscing of the time where he witnessed the death of his grandfather Tarou Kenshin, who was assassinated by Intergalactic soldiers over his past crimes against the Intergalactic Federation.

“I think I obtained Essence when both of my parents died, they were also assassinated by those Intergalactic soldiers, and I couldn’t do anything but watch as they hopelessly got killed.” said Dex, who slightly showed tears in his eyes before quickly wiping them away, reminiscing of the time where both of his parents were killed when he was young.

“I’m sorry about that… It’s just that all Essence users have experienced some sort of traumatic event that fueled their negative energy in one way or another, awakening their essence.” said Renzo, who was devastated by what had happened to Dex.

“Also, how did Tanya obtain her essence? I’ve been wanting to know that ever since you told me how Essence was attained.”

Dex questioned Renzo once again, to which he responded.

“Tanya was an experiment created by the Intergalactics, they were tasked to find out how much Essence could be sustained onto a living being, and gave Tanya almost infinite essence, with the negative energy inside her eventually awakening her Essence and destroying the entire Intergalactic Facility with just the pressure of her aura alone.”

Renzo answered, which stunned Dex, giving him more insight about his partner that he encountered while searching through the skyscraper earlier in one of Vespera’s towns.

Tanya finally woke up, and didn’t speak a word once Renzo told Dex about her past.

“Getting silent now, are ya?” Renzo teased Tanya with a slight chuckle in his face.

“Fuck you, telling someone how they awakened their Essence isn’t something you normally say to each other…” said Tanya, who was irritated by Renzo’s antics.

“What’s wrong with sharing psychological trauma with a partner?” said Renzo, who shook his arms around Tanya, who unleashed a surge of lightning that slightly electrocuted Renzo.

“Chill out! You’re gonna kill me if you keep doing that–”

“Just die already, would you?!”

Renzo spoke, but was interrupted by Tanya who kept unleashing a large surge of lightning that caught the attention of the people in the district, wondering how that lightning even appeared there in the first place.

The surge of lightning became larger and deadlier than ever before, even electrocuting someone who was unintelligent enough to pass by the surge of lightning, unaware of the consequences of going near it.

However, there were a group of people that seemed to have caught their interest the most, they were a band of hitmen sent by Sandstorm’s last remaining members that had knowledge in Essence, the supernatural power that both Dex, Tanya, and Renzo had. 

These hitmen were the most that the last remaining Sandstorm members could afford, with them carrying the last funds that the skyscraper had when it burned down to the ground after the Intergalactic soldiers fled the town.

“So, those are our targets? They seem like a pain to deal with.” said one of the hitmen, who carried a sniper rifle with him at all times.

The band was quite frightened over the surge of lightning that appeared on the dark, narrow alleyway. It proved to them that this assassination was no easy task whatsoever, and the chances of death were quite high.

“Don’t underestimate them, I heard that one of them killed Herald not too long ago…” said another hitman, who wore a black suit and carried a katana with him that he placed on his waist.

“Will you guys shut up already and finish the mission? We’ll sneak behind and ambush them when they least expect it.”

Said the leader of the band of hitmen, a large, tall man who bore a lightsaber that could cut through any material with ease, the band looked closely at the group who went out of the alleyway to keep exploring the districts of the City of Fashion.

“Let’s go everyone, let’s not waste our time…”

The band started to move, traversing through buildings and slowly closing the distance between them and the outlaws that they were assassinating. Dex, Tanya, and Renzo haven’t realized it yet, but they were in for quite a fight, with all of the members having some form of knowledge over the unnatural power of the galaxy that is Essence.