Chapter 37: — "The Final Showdown: Part 3 — R̴̯͓͔̤͒͌͌̏̍̕͜e̷͔̭͉͉̳͋͛̆ţ̸͈̯̘͇͎͎͎̠̔͝ṟ̷̰͚͕͔͇̤̌͊͜ȅ̴̡̡͕̤̘̹̬͒̄̉͌̚͠͝a̷̡̻̘͉̭̥̝̺̱͌̔̇͊̍͂̕t̷̢̢̜̤̰̙͖̻̎"

The world had narrowed to flashes of red and steel.
Every second was movement, gunfire, screaming engines, sparks across the dark horizon. The car roared down the cracked road, its armor scorched from the last barrage.

“Turrets locking on!” Jiro’s voice cracked in my ear. “You’re seconds from the gate—”

“Too late for subtlety!” Kaito shouted, slamming his foot down. The car surged forward, the engine’s scream cutting through everything.

The ground shuddered as Rin leaned out the window beside me, firing burst after burst toward the incoming patrol trucks. Sparks erupted as her shots hit their hoods, flipping one into a flaming spin that skidded into the barrier.

“Two more on the right!” she yelled.

“I’ve got them!” I steadied my blaster against the window frame, sighting the hovering defense drones circling above. My hands trembled, but I fired anyway, each shot slicing blue across the night. The first drone exploded midair; the second dropped like a broken wing, colliding with the last truck and sending it veering off course.

The road ahead glowed faintly now, a ghostly shimmer of metal walls and scanning lights. The gate.
Almost there.

“Jiro,” Kaito barked. “Give me the access route!”

“Straight shot! Gate’s sixty meters ahead, blow through it if you have to!”

Kaito gritted his teeth, eyes locked forward. “Rin, Yuzuki... cover fire!”

We both fired relentlessly, blasters heating until they whined with each pull. My chest ached with adrenaline. Every breath was smoke and heat.

Kaito’s voice came low, strained but steady. “We’re almost through—”

Then everything changed.

A flicker under the road.
A faint red pulse, too late to react.

“KAITO, STOP!” I screamed.

The explosion tore the night apart.

The car lifted from the ground in an instant, the shockwave slamming through my chest like a hammer. Heat and white light consumed everything, sound vanished, replaced by a high ringing that swallowed all thought. I felt my body jerk sideways, weightless for a heartbeat before metal crushed in from every side.

Smoke filled the air. The car spun, flipped once, then the world hit back with a violent crash.

Then silence.
Then pain.

I hit the ground hard, air torn from my lungs. The world spun in a blur of orange and gray. The car, what was left of it, burned several meters away, flames reaching high, bits of metal still falling from the blast.

I tried to move... but couldn’t. My arms felt heavy, numb.
The ground was shaking beneath me, distant pops of gunfire echoing somewhere far away.

Rin was a few feet ahead, face-down on the pavement, unmoving. Her blaster laid just beside her hand, still glowing faintly from the last shot she fired.

Farther out, maybe ten, fifteen meters, I saw Kaito. He was sprawled on the asphalt, one arm bent awkwardly, blood streaked down his face. He wasn’t moving.

“Kai…” The sound barely escaped my throat. “Kaito…”

He didn’t answer. The comms were dead, filled with static.

Sparks flickered from twisted metal nearby, the air thick with smoke. My ears rang, a piercing, endless tone that drowned out everything else. Through it, I caught faint noises… boots crunching. Mechanical whirs. Voices in the distance.

Guards. They were coming.

No. Not like this. Get up, Yuzuki. Move. MOVE!!

I tried to crawl forward, dragging myself across broken asphalt, reaching toward Kaito. Every inch felt like an eternity. He was too far, way too far, and my vision was fading at the edges.

I reached out one last time. My fingers brushed empty air.

Then darkness took over.

There was no sound. No screaming metal, no wind, no pain.
Just stillness.

I didn’t feel my body. Didn’t hear the chaos that followed. I was entirely blacked out.

Smoke bled across the road, rolling low and thick, lit orange by the fire that used to be our car. Pieces of the wreckage hissed as fuel dripped across hot asphalt. Sparks burst from twisted metal, the echo of the explosion still trembling through the air.

And through that haze, Kaito.

He moved first. Barely. His body shifted with a strangled groan, glass crunching beneath him. His arm dragged forward weakly, pulling his chest off the ground just enough to cough. Blood streaked down his face, dripping onto the pavement.

His eyes opened halfway, red, dazed, hollow with shock, searching through the smoke until he locked on something in the distance. Us.

Me and Rin, laying there all knocked out, unconscious.

He blinked hard, breath shaking. Tried to call out, nothing came. Then again, louder, tearing at his throat.

“Rin… Yuzuki…”

Still no response.

He coughed again, the sound raw and wet, forcing himself to move. Every inch forward looked like it cost him something vital. His fingers clawed at the asphalt, scraping his knuckles open as he crawled.

“RIN!! YUZUKI!!!”

The name shattered through the night, carried by the wind.

Nothing answered him... not me, not Rin... no voice, no movement. The only reply came from the crackle of flames, the popping of metal cooling in the night air.

Kaito’s breath came uneven, rasping. His muscles trembled violently as he pushed himself another inch. The pain was brutal, his side torn open, his right leg bent awkwardly, blood soaking through his clothes. But he didn’t stop. Couldn’t.

The firelight flickered across his face as he dragged himself closer to where we’d landed. Rin laid motionless, one arm stretched toward her blaster. My own body was half-turned, face down, hair tangled and streaked with soot.

For a moment, Kaito’s expression broke. The rage, the command, gone. Only panic remained.

Then... headlights.

A dozen of them, slicing through the smoke. Engines growled low, heavy tires rumbling over the cracked road.

Kaito froze, eyes narrowing. His hand reached instinctively toward his belt, his sidearm was gone.

Boots hit the asphalt.
Metal clanked.
Voices, distant but sharp, filtered through modulated helmets.

“Target confirmed.” One guard said, voice low but firm. “Vehicle down. Three occupants.”
“Two alive... female subjects. Kouji might want them for the experiments.”

“Yeah... we also got a third one… By the looks of it. Might not make it.” Another guard said, writing something down on pen and paper

Kaito’s jaw clenched. His entire body tensed.

"Eh, he'll be useless if he's gonna die anyway. Let him be." The third guard stated, like he was the one making orders instead of following them.
"Grab the girls and let's head back." 

That was all it took.

Kaito’s head snapped toward them, fury blazing through the haze of blood and exhaustion. He planted his elbow on the ground, forcing himself upright an inch, two inches, until he could barely lift his chest.

“GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM THEM!!!” he roared.

The guards paused, turning toward the voice. Flashlights cut through the dust, illuminating Kaito’s broken figure, his shirt torn, one side burned, blood dripping from his mouth.

One of the guards muttered, “Holy shit, he’s still alive.”

Kaito’s voice came again, hoarse but vicious.
“YOU HEAR ME?! BACK OFF!”

No one answered.

Instead, two guards moved toward Rin and me. They grabbed Rin first, roughly pulling her up by her arm. Her head hung limply, hair falling forward. One of them checked her pulse, gave a nod, and started dragging her toward a transport truck.

Kaito tried crawling faster, but his limbs barely obeyed. He was moving on instinct, no strength, just rage. Every pull left a streak of blood beneath him.

“YOU BASTARDS! PUT HER DOWN!”

A guard looked back briefly, voice calm, detached.
“Orders are clear. Both are priority captives.”

Then they reached me. One of them crouched, pressing fingers against my neck for a pulse. He said something I couldn’t hear, then lifted me effortlessly, throwing me over his shoulder. My head lolled, lifeless.

Kaito screamed again, the sound cracking as his throat tore.

“YUZUKI!! RIN!!”

No movement. No answer.

He reached out, hand trembling, trying to drag himself faster. His nails split as they scraped against the rough road. His breath came in shallow gasps, half from pain, half from helplessness.

The guards shoved me into the back of the truck beside Rin. One of them secured the doors, slamming the metal shut with a hollow bang that echoed through the air.

Kaito’s hand reached forward again, barely a meter too short. He fell forward, face hitting the asphalt. Blood smeared beneath him.

He tried again, slower this time. Each inch looked like it drained the last bit of life from him. He managed to lift his head just enough to see the taillights of the truck pulling away, disappearing through the smoke.

And still, he shouted.

“I’LL FIND YOU!”

The trucks didn’t stop.

“I SWEAR TO GOD I’LL FUCKING KILL EVERY ONE OF YOU!”

His voice cracked, dissolving into coughing, but he didn’t stop screaming until the lights vanished into the distance.

Then… silence.

Kaito’s body gave out, collapsing fully against the ground. He lay there, chest heaving, smoke curling around him. His blood pooled beneath his arm as his vision started to fade.

The fire flickered in the distance, lighting his broken outline, the last one left on the road.

His hand slammed against the asphalt, leaving a dark smear of blood.
His throat burned as words tore free, half-scream, half-sob.

“NO! NO, NO, NO, NO!!!”

He dragged himself up to one knee, coughing hard, blood spraying onto the ground. The wreckage around him hissed and popped as flames ate through what was left of the car.

“They’ve taken them…” His voice shook, trembling between fury and disbelief. “They’ve… they’ve FUCKING TAKEN THEM!”

He clutched at his head, pulling at his hair, breathing uneven.

"No… calm down, Kaito, calm down... maybe... AHHHHH—"

“I CANNOT CALM THE FUCK DOWN, KAITO!” he roared into the smoke. His voice echoed off the ruined concrete. “SHUT UP… just shut up…”

He pressed his palm against his forehead, forcing a breath through clenched teeth. The wind howled across the open road, carrying embers past his face. His entire body trembled, not from pain anymore, but from rage boiling in his chest.

“They’re gone…” he whispered, eyes wide and unfocused. “Jiro…”

The name grounded him, barely. His thoughts snapped toward the city, toward home, toward the only person left who could do something.

“I need to go back to Jiro…”

He looked down the opposite end of the road, the long, dark stretch leading back toward Lysethia. The city lights were faint, distant specks behind the smoke and fire. It might as well have been a thousand miles away.

Still, he stood.

Slowly.

Each movement felt impossible, bones grinding, muscles screaming, vision spinning — but he didn’t stop. He stumbled once, caught himself, then started forward.

Limping.
Breathing hard.
One step. Then another.

His fists clenched at his sides. “I’ll get them back,” he muttered under his breath, voice low and venomous. “I don’t care who I have to kill.”

The night swallowed him as he limped down the open road, the fires behind him fading to a dull orange glow.

The gate, the explosion, the screams, all left behind.

Only one thought remained, looping over and over through the pain and the fury:

Jiro will tell me what the fuck went wrong.