Fractured Light

Darkness swallowed everything. A crushing weight pressed against Haruki’s chest, and for a moment, he wasn’t sure if he was still alive. His body ached, his mind swam in a fog of confusion, and the only thing grounding him was the sharp sting of dust and metal in his lungs. Then, sound trickled back in—distant, muffled voices, the faint echo of footsteps, the ringing in his ears slowly fading.

“Haruki! Wake up!” Aoi’s voice was strained, panic laced in every syllable.

Something shook him, fingers gripping his arm tight. He forced his eyes open, and the world lurched violently before snapping into focus.

Aoi knelt beside him, her face pale and streaked with dirt. Relief washed over her features as his gaze met hers. “Oh, thank god. You’re awake.”

Haruki groaned as he pushed himself up, his ribs protesting the movement. “What… happened?”

Aoi glanced over her shoulder, eyes flickering toward the ruined battlefield. Smoke still clung to the air, the ground cracked and littered with debris. In the distance, Renji was slumped against the wall, wiping blood from his mouth, while Natsuki helped Kisaragi to his feet. Kaede stood near the wreckage, rifle still raised, her gaze locked on the unmoving form of Revenant.

“He just… stopped,” Aoi whispered. “One second, he was about to tear you apart, and then—nothing. He just collapsed.”

Haruki forced himself onto his feet, ignoring the way his head spun. Revenant lay motionless, the single red eye flickering weakly like a dying ember. Something was different. The presence, the overwhelming sense of suffocating power—gone.

Kain was nowhere to be seen.

Kaede scowled, lowering her rifle. “That bastard ran.”

Renji groaned, wiping at the cut on his cheek. “Yeah, can you blame him? His unstoppable monster just stopped.”

Kisaragi adjusted his glasses, stepping toward Revenant’s fallen form with slow, cautious steps. He crouched beside the body, inspecting the damage. His fingers brushed against the exposed plating, and a deep frown settled on his face. “No… this isn’t right.”

Haruki stepped closer. “What do you mean?”

Kisaragi’s fingers hovered just above Revenant’s neck, feeling for something. “This wasn’t a power failure. Something inside him broke.”

Aoi swallowed hard. “Broke… like, permanently?”

Kisaragi hesitated, his expression unreadable. “I don’t know.”

Natsuki exhaled, gripping her knife tightly. “So what? We just leave him here? What if he wakes up?”

Kaede shook her head. “No chance of that.” She pointed at the shattered plating near Revenant’s neck. A single bullet hole was lodged deep into the exposed circuitry beneath. “Looks like something important got fried.”

Renji smirked. “Damn. Guess your aim’s not so bad after all.”

Kaede rolled her eyes. “Shut up.”

Haruki stared at Revenant’s still form, unease twisting in his gut. He should have felt relieved—this thing had almost killed them, after all—but something about it didn’t sit right. It wasn’t just a machine. It wasn’t just another experiment. There had been something in the way it moved, the way it reacted.

Something human.

Aoi nudged his arm gently. “Hey. You okay?”

Haruki forced himself to shake off the feeling. “Yeah.”

Liar.

Kaede took a step back, rolling her shoulders. “We don’t have time to stand around. Kain’s still out there.”

Renji let out a tired laugh. “And? You think we’re in any shape to go chasing after him?”

Kaede’s expression darkened. “We don’t have a choice.”

Kisaragi stood, brushing dust from his coat. “Actually, we might.”

Everyone turned to him.

Kisaragi adjusted his glasses, glancing toward the ruined consoles along the far wall. “Kain might have run, but he didn’t leave empty-handed. If I had to guess, he downloaded whatever was left of this place’s data before he disappeared.”

Aoi’s face fell. “So… we lost?”

Kisaragi shook his head. “Not necessarily. I can still salvage something.”

Haruki narrowed his eyes. “How?”

Kisaragi stepped toward one of the flickering screens, his fingers moving across the shattered keyboard with practiced ease. The system was barely functional, but traces of old code still lingered, like ghosts of the past.

“If Kain took what he needed, then there should be traces of his access logs. If I can track them, I might be able to find out where he’s going next.”

Renji crossed his arms. “And what if he just wiped everything?”

Kisaragi smirked, not looking up from the screen. “He’s smart, but he’s not perfect.” His fingers flew across the keyboard. “Besides, the thing about classified experiments is that they never exist in just one place.”

Aoi leaned in, watching as lines of old code scrolled past the screen. “You mean… there’s another lab?”

Kisaragi nodded. “More than one, most likely. But I only need one.” His eyes flickered with something sharp. “And I think I just found it.”

Haruki straightened. “Where?”

Kisaragi’s smirk widened. “North.”

Kaede’s expression tightened. “You’re talking about the Artifice Zone, aren’t you?”

Kisaragi met her gaze. “It’s the most likely location. Remote. Off the grid. And it used to be a major research hub before the government shut it down.”

Renji groaned. “You mean that place where people go missing?”

Aoi shuddered. “I’ve heard stories about it…”

Kaede sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “Damn it.”

Haruki frowned. “What?”

Kaede crossed her arms. “We’re running out of time.”

Haruki’s jaw clenched. “Then we go.”

Aoi hesitated. “Are we sure this is a good idea?”

Kaede gave her a flat look. “No. But when has that ever stopped us?”

Aoi groaned. “Fair point.”

Kisaragi pulled a small drive from the console, tucking it into his coat. “I’ve got what we need. But if we’re doing this, we have to move fast. If Kain knows we’re onto him, he won’t wait around.”

Renji stretched, wincing slightly. “Great. Another suicide mission.”

Haruki glanced back at Revenant one last time before turning toward the exit. “Let’s go.”

The others followed, their footsteps echoing through the ruined halls.

The fight wasn’t over.

It had only just begun.