CHAPTER 8: ARK A NAME THAT EVERYONE WILL NEVER FORGET

Hadir arrived in Japan in the late afternoon, his face tired yet his eyes still burning with unshaken determination. He came from the Middle Eastern Front, sent to reinforce the Japanese Resistance that had begun to struggle against the SSFA.

Kamito Ryuga stood at the edge of the base, checking his weapon when Hadir approached.

“You are Kamito Ryuga?”
“Yes.”

Hadir extended his large, firm hand.

“I am Hadir. We fight for the same purpose.”

In a small room within the base, they exchanged information about Saintless operations, detention camp locations, and kidnapping reports.

Then a piece of news arrived:

“There is a concentration camp on the eastern coast. Many missing civilians might be there.”

Kamito was silent at first.
Refusing.
Unwilling to let himself hope too much.

But when the map of the camp was shown, his heart trembled.

“…There is a chance my little sister is there.”

Kamito’s voice was faint, but filled with iron determination.

He stood.
Took his weapon.
Tightened his combat gloves.

“I’m coming.”

Hadir gave a slight smile.

“Good. We depart at dawn.”

The eastern coast of Japan was covered in fog and the scent of salt.
The concentration camp stood like an open wound at the edge of the ocean: barbed wire, watchtowers, and old wooden barracks.

After breaking through the SSFA perimeter, the Resistance entered the camp.

And the world they knew collapsed.

Hundreds of emaciated people, hairless from chemical exposure, wearing ragged pieces of cloth, sat in the corners of the barracks with empty eyes.

Walls covered with dried blood and claw marks.
Thin moldy mattresses.
A stench of death that not even the strongest ocean winds could erase.

Kamito found an elderly man from Aokibana. His breath was weak, his body covered in burn scars and injection marks.

Kamito knelt, pouring water to the old man’s lips.

“Sir… hold on… it’s me…”

The old man smiled faintly, as though seeing another world.

“Aokibana… you… still alive…”

“Shino…?”

Kamito held the man’s hand tightly.

“I’m still looking for her.”

And the man passed away.
Peacefully.
Without another word.

Then they found the experimentation building.

Broken tubes.
Medical notes scattered.
Iron beds flipped over.
Marks of hand and foot restraints.

And in one corner of the room, dozens of small bodies wrapped in thin blankets.

Children.
All failed in the Super Soldier experiments.

Hadir closed his eyes.

“They… slaughtered all of them.”

The Resistance began digging temporary graves immediately.
They buried the victims with simple prayers.
No names.
No gravestones.
Only earth.

The survivors were taken to the base, their bodies trembling, their eyes hollow—but alive.

But Shino was not among them.

The third operation was carried out only a few weeks later. The Resistance discovered the location of an SSFA armada in the northern forest. But the enemy numbers were overwhelming.

A battle erupted.
The Resistance was pushed back.

“We have to retreat now!” Hadir shouted.

Everyone began to withdraw, but Kamito remained still.

“I’m staying.”

“Don’t be stupid! You want to die?”

“This is my responsibility! They are retreating because I joined this operation!”

Hadir stared deeply into him.
He knew those words were not arrogance.
They were sorrow.
The burden of a leader.

Finally, he clenched his teeth.

“Fine. But don’t die, Kamito.”

The Resistance withdrew.
Kamito stayed behind.

Enemy artillery tore through the forest.
Trees fell.
Earth lifted.
Wood splinters flew everywhere.

Kamito hid behind a large boulder, breathing heavily.

Then he saw something.

Not enemy troops.
Not weapons.
Not armada.

But…

Surviving members of the Resistance.

Some pinned under fallen trees.
Some sprawled with broken legs.
Some dying.
Some calling for their mothers.
Some lifting weak hands, begging for help.

Without hesitation, Kamito ran toward them.

He carried one man over his shoulder.
Brought him to an old shack.

Then returned.

Another.
Returned.

Another.
Returned.

Kamito’s hands shook.
His knees nearly collapsed.
His back burned from bullet sparks.

But he kept moving.

“God… just one more.
Please… just one more.”

He saved not only Resistance fighters…
but also an SSFA soldier abandoned by his comrades, left dying in the mud.

“One more… one more…”

He was close to collapsing, but he still lifted them.

When he was about to fall, an elderly local villager appeared.

“I saw what you were doing. I’ll help.”

They worked through the night.
Carrying.
Treating wounds.
Binding them.
Covering the victims with blankets.

Even when rain poured and the ground turned to mud—they never stopped.

By dawn, everyone was saved.

The next morning, the Resistance returned.

They found an impossible sight.

Dozens of survivors.
All treated.
Some sleeping out of exhaustion.

And in the corner of the shack, Kamito lay unconscious with a wounded small dog curled on his lap—the same dog he had saved at the very end.

Hadir stared at the young man for a long time.

“He carried all of them here… alone…”

A member of the Resistance whispered:

“He saved all of us. Like… an ark.”

Hadir smiled faintly.

An ark.
Ark.

“From today onward… he is Ark.”

Months later, a new operation was conducted. The Resistance found another village that had been burned down by the SSFA.

Not a single survivor.

Kamito—now Ark—requested time alone, walking among the still-warm rubble.

Then he heard a faint sound.

A cough.
Weak.
Barely audible.

He pushed aside debris.
Forced wooden beams away.

And there—

A young girl with long brown hair and green eyes, covered in ash and tears, stared at him in fear.

“Help…”

Ark lifted her, wrapped her in his jacket, and gave her water.

“You’re safe now. I’m Ark.”

The girl sobbed.

“Natsume… Natsume Airi…”

Ark smiled softly, though his heart was breaking.

“From now on, you stay with me.”

From that day on, Airi became Ark’s right hand.

Loyal.
Sharp.
Never failing a mission.

By 2040, she began searching for information about human trafficking—an underground mission Ark believed might be the only remaining clue about Shino.

Because even though the world had fallen apart…

Kamito Ryuga—Ark—would not give up.

Not until he found his sister.