Chapter 23: — “Into the Umbra: Part 4 — Forcefields and Fuck-Ups”

The basement felt endless, rooms stacked with crates, shelves packed with trophies, jewelry glittering in glass displays, even half-built drones humming faintly like they were sleeping beasts. Every direction screamed wealth and danger, and yet Rin strode through like she’d been here a hundred times before.

“There,” Rin said sharply, pointing. “That room.”

At the far end stood a reinforced door, cables coiling like veins into its steel frame. My stomach twisted. That had to be it, the box. The box with everything we’d risked this madness for.

Rin slid her phone out, connected a small USB stick, and knelt by the lockpad. Her fingers flew across the cracked screen, eyes narrowed. Sparks flickered on the panel.

“Hurry…” I whispered, hugging myself.

“Don’t rush me.” She bit the inside of her cheek. “If I miss one override command, this whole door’s going into permanent lockdown.”

I tried to breathe through the suffocating hum of alarms echoing above us. Somewhere, Kaito was out there, fighting God-knows-what. The thought made my chest ache.

A final beep. The door hissed, unlocking.

Rin shoved it open.

Inside, lit by sterile white light, sat a small pedestal. Atop it: the box. Black steel edges, sealed inside a case of bulletproof glass. My heart pounded harder.

But before we could take one step—

Heavy boots thundered down the stairwell.

“DOWN HERE!” someone barked.

I froze. Guards poured in, rifles aimed, helmets gleaming under red emergency lights. At least a dozen.

I couldn’t breathe. We were surrounded.

One of them approached slowly, almost cocky, gun loose in his hand. He grabbed Rin by the shoulder.

“Don’t move, gir—”

CRACK!

Rin slammed her forehead into his visor, grabbed his blaster, and shot him point-blank in the chest. He crumpled before the others could even blink.

“MOVE!” Rin grabbed my wrist and dragged me behind the nearest wall as a rain of gunfire shredded the air.

The guards screamed:
“LIGHT THEM UP!”
“DON’T LET THEM GET THE BOX!”

Blaster fire crackled, scorching the walls.

Rin peeked out, returned fire without hesitation, mowing two down. She ducked back and shouted at me, voice sharp:

“Yuzuki! SHOOT!”

My hands shook violently on the grip of my blaster. My throat closed up. I couldn’t move.

“I… I can’t,” I stammered.

Rin snarled, popping out to fire another round. Sparks showered from the impact against the glass case holding the box.

“You CAN! Unless you wanna die down here... SHOOT THEM!”

Tears stung my eyes. My chest heaved. All I could see were people. Guards, humans, not monsters. How could I—?

“YU-ZU-KI!” Rin screamed, fury mixed with desperation.

Something inside me cracked.

With shaking hands, I lifted the blaster, aimed blindly around the wall, and pulled the trigger. A guard yelped. Another dropped his weapon.

My stomach lurched. I couldn’t stop shaking.

Another burst of fire, another man fell.

I forced the tears back, bit my lip so hard it bled, and kept firing. Every shot felt like I was tearing a piece of myself away.

“Good!” Rin yelled over the chaos. “Don’t stop! KEEP FIRING!”

I whimpered, but squeezed the trigger again. And again.

Somewhere in the storm of gunfire, I whispered, almost like a prayer:

Kaito… please… come help us…

The basement echoed with boots and shouting. More guards swarmed in, rifles already raised. Rin and I were cornered; if we poked our heads out for even a second, we’d be shredded. My chest ached from holding my breath too long.

And then, chaos.

A car tore straight into the basement like some hell-born beast, headlights blazing, engine screaming. The metal shriek of its bumper colliding with bodies and the sickening crunch of bone filled the air. Guards screamed as the vehicle plowed through them like they were paper cutouts.

The driver leaned out, firing a blaster one-handed, and I knew that person even before the doors screeched open.

Kaito.

He stepped out, clothes bloodied, bruises splattered across his face, eyes dead-cold. He didn’t even flinch at the wreckage he left behind.

“About time you came!” Rin barked, popping up from cover with her blaster still hot.

I couldn’t help it, I bolted straight at him and wrapped my arms around him tight. “Are you okay?!” I cried, voice cracking.

“I’m fine,” he muttered flatly, pushing me back without looking me in the eyes. Like none of this mattered.

I glanced at the mangled guards, then back at the car. He’d driven. Seventeen, bloody, reckless, and he’d just bulldozed through armed men like it was nothing. My heart felt like it was tearing itself apart with relief and terror.

He popped the trunk and pulled out a compact plasma cutter, tossing it to Rin. “Glass,” he said.

Rin caught it like she’d been waiting for it all night.

I opened my mouth. “No, wait... I should—”

Kaito’s eyes cut into me, cold and sharp enough to silence me on the spot. If looks could break bones, I’d be in pieces. My throat closed up, and I swallowed hard, trembling.

“I’ll deal with the guards,” he said, turning his back to us.

“Kaito—” I started again, desperate, pleading.

But Rin cut me off sharply. “Enough. Come on. We don’t have time for your crying.” She pulled me toward the glass, cutter hissing to life.

I cast one last look at him, bloodied, bruised, already ducking behind a steel crate with his blaster cocked. He peeked up once, jaw tight, then settled in, ready to tear apart anyone who came through that stairwell.

The alarms screamed overhead. The sound of boots grew louder. Dozens of them, maybe more. They were coming.

Kaito crouched low, thumb brushing his blaster’s trigger, eyes locked on the door. He wasn’t running. He wasn’t planning to.

He was about to unleash hell.

The guards poured into the basement like a flood, boots slamming against the metal floor. Kaito didn’t hesitate. He popped out from behind cover and opened fire, blaster spitting red light into the swarm.

Zap, zap, zap. Three men dropped. Kaito ducked back behind the crate, chest heaving, then popped up again to cut down another wave. It was a brutal rhythm: peek, fire, duck. Repeat.

Rin had the plasma cutter steady in her grip, the hiss of it burning through the bulletproof glass filling the room. Sparks flew, bouncing against her boots, but her hands never wavered.

I just stood there, frozen. My stomach was knotted so tight I could barely breathe. Every second Kaito fought, every grunt and yell, it ripped me apart inside.

“Rin... I can’t just stand here! I’m going to help him!” I shouted, my voice cracking.

Rin’s hand snapped out, catching my wrist before I could move. “Don’t be an idiot! You’ll get yourself killed the second you step out there!”

“I don’t care!” I yanked against her grip, tears already burning in my eyes. “I can’t just let him die out there while we hide!”

“He’s holding them back so we can finish this, Yuzuki! If you walk into the crossfire, you’re dead! And then what? Then it’s both of us fucked!”

“You don’t get it!” My voice was rising now, raw and desperate. “He’s risking everything for us. I won’t just sit here while he—”

“YUZUKI!” Rin snapped, cutting me off, her voice like a blade. “Shut up and let me work!”

Her words hit me like a slap. For a second, all I could do was shake, caught between fury and helplessness. And then... my world tilted.

A vision slammed into me.

Kaito, chest bursting open as a sniper blast tore through him. Blood soaking his shirt as he dropped to his knees, his blaster slipping from his hand. And then the finishing shot, straight to the head.

“No… no no no—” My breath hitched, and I realized my hands were trembling. The tears I’d been holding back broke loose.

And then I saw him, the guard in the corner, leveling a heavy sniper blaster right at Kaito.

I didn’t think. I didn’t weigh the risks. I just moved.

“YUZUKI, NO!” Rin screamed as I tore free from her grip and sprinted into the open.

Everything slowed. My lungs burned, my legs felt like they’d shatter, but I ran anyway.

Kaito saw the sniper aiming and froze, realizing he couldn’t dodge in time. His eyes widened as he braced for the shot.

The guard fired.

The blast never reached him.

Instead, it cracked against a shimmering wall of blue light. A forcefield.

My forcefield.

I stood between Kaito and the sniper, arms raised, palms glowing with a raw energy I didn’t even understand. The barrier flickered, trembling under the impact of the blast, but it held.

“What the hell?” Kaito muttered, stunned. His blaster lowered for a moment as his eyes darted to me.

Behind him, even the guards stopped firing, stunned by the sight. “She, she’s got powers?! What the fuck?!” one of them shouted.

I gritted my teeth, my arms shaking violently as the forcefield absorbed another round of gunfire. It felt like lifting a mountain. Pain lanced through my arms, but I forced a smile over my shoulder.

“I’ve got this,” I managed, my voice trembling.

Kaito’s expression darkened, shock, awe, and worry all tangled together. “Yuzuki… hold on.”

I didn’t answer. Couldn’t. Every ounce of my will was focused on keeping that shimmering wall up between him and death.

Inside, my thoughts were screaming. Is this… my Warlock power? Is this what it’s supposed to be?

I didn’t know how long I could last. But I knew one thing: I wasn’t going to let him fall. Not while I was still breathing.

The guards regrouped, shouting, firing again. The blasts ricocheted against the field, shaking my bones.

Kaito checked his blasters, lips tightening when he saw they were cooling down, then loaded fresh cells with a snap. He glanced at me again, sweating, shaking, barely standing, but still holding the line.

His jaw clenched. He stepped out into the open, blasters raised.

“Alright,” he muttered. “If she’s got my back… then let’s end this.”

Kaito peeked over the crate, lining up his next shot, then froze.

The forcefield was gone.

His eyes widened. He ducked back down instantly, heart hammering. “Yuzuki, what the hell happened?! Where’s the shield?!”

Silence.

“Yuzuki?!” He whipped his head around, fury and panic mixing in his voice. “Why’d you—”

His throat closed.

I was on the ground, motionless.

“YUZUKI!” His scream ripped through the basement as he scrambled toward my side. He shook me, desperation in his voice. “Wake up! Damnit, wake up! Don’t you dare fucking do this to me!”

And then, he heard it.

One of the guards sneered, shouting across the chaos:
“Forget the boy... capture the girl! She’ll make a perfect hostage!”

Something inside Kaito snapped.

A crackle of blue-white electricity sparked around his body, faint but there. His eyes burned with something dark, something feral. The panic in his voice vanished, replaced with pure wrath.

“TOUCH HER AND I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU ALL!”

He popped up from cover, screaming as he unleashed HELL. His blaster roared, bolts ripping through guard after guard. “YOU THINK YOU CAN TAKE HER?!” He fired again, dropping another man. “FUCK YOU!”

He didn’t stop. He didn’t slow. His voice was hoarse with rage as he spam-fired into the swarm. “COME ON! COME AND FUCKING DIE!”

Guards fell one by one, their yells drowned out by Kaito’s furious shouts. Even as reinforcements rushed in, they didn’t last more than seconds. Kaito cut them down mercilessly, like a demon tearing through prey.

When the last guard dropped, Kaito’s chest heaved, his arms trembling from recoil. The spark of electricity fizzled out, leaving him bloodied, bruised, and drenched in sweat.

He dropped his blaster, rushing back toward me. He knelt, gripping my shoulders.
“WAKE UP! PLEASE, YUZUKI, WAKE THE FUCK UP!” His voice cracked, desperation pouring out.

Rin emerged from the back room, the heavy box in her arms. She froze when she saw me sprawled out, unconscious. Her lips parted, but Kaito cut her off, his tone sharp, commanding.

“Put the box in the car. Take her with you. NOW.”

Rin blinked, stunned, but didn’t argue. She nodded, quickly hauling the box toward the stolen company vehicle parked at the far end of the basement.

I felt her arms around me, my body limp, heavy. She carried me like I was weightless, her breathing heavy but steady. She sat me in the backseat of the car, gently, carefully. My head lolled against the seat.

When my eyes fluttered open minutes later, the first thing I saw was Rin beside me. I blinked, groggy, my voice faint. “W…what happened?”

“You passed out,” Rin said quietly. Her tone was firm, but I caught the concern buried in it. “You overdid it.”

I pushed myself upright, my head spinning. “Wait, where’s Kaito?!” My chest tightened, panic crashing back. I scrambled to my knees. “Where IS he?!”

Before Rin could answer—

BANG.

The car door slammed, rattling against my side. A guard’s face smashed into the window, blood spraying against the glass. Behind him was Kaito, absolutely savage, punching, kicking, elbows and knees slamming into the man until he collapsed in a heap.

Kaito didn’t even hesitate. He drew his blaster, pressed it to the man’s skull, and pulled the trigger.

Then he yanked the driver’s door open and slid into the seat, breathing ragged, sweat dripping down his jaw.

“Kaito!” I gasped, relief hitting me like a wave. “Are you okay? What happened—”

He shot me a glare in the mirror. “Me? What about you?! You passed out, dammit!”

I froze, stunned by his tone. “…I just... I wanted to make sure—”

“Seriously?” His look said it all. Blood, bruises, exhaustion, and I was still asking if he was okay.

“…Oh,” I whispered, sinking back into the seat.

The silence stretched thick and heavy until Kaito finally spoke again, eyes still on the road. “What was that back there?” His voice was low, cautious. “How the hell did you summon a forcefield with your hands?”

I swallowed hard, avoiding Rin’s gaze. “I… I don’t know.”

Rin narrowed her eyes at me, her suspicion sharp, but she said nothing.

Before the air could grow heavier, shadows moved outside, more guards closing in. Kaito cursed, slamming the car into reverse.

“Hold on.”

The car screeched backward, slamming into a wave of guards. They flew aside, groaning, injured but alive.

“Kaito!” I shrieked, clutching the seat. “Careful!”

“HAHA! That’s what I’m talking about!” Rin whooped, smirking as she watched Kaito mow through them.

Kaito ignored us both. He shifted gears, tires screaming as he floored it forward, straight toward a wall.

My heart leapt into my throat. “Kaito, no, no, no, STOP!”

Even Rin snapped now, her smirk gone. “KAITO, SLOW DOWN! ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY?!”

He didn’t listen.

The car slammed through the wall, concrete and steel exploding outward as daylight burst into view.

And just like that—
we were gone.

Well... sorta... we were still in the territory, finding the exit...