The monster moved suddenly.
My eyes widened, and I took a step back. Its body, crashed against the ground, shuddered before its chest rose violently. It opened its dark eyes and glared at us with distorted hatred.
"You... humans..."
It dug its claws into the ground, burying their tips into the rubble. The entire area shook—not like the previous quake, but as if the earth itself were overturning in rage. The dilapidated buildings around us cracked, and shards of iron and stone were propelled toward the sky.
"Modification again..." Revan’s voice came in ragged breaths. He raised his arms quickly, but I could see a violent tremor in his muscles. The transparent bubbles surrounded us. "They’ll vanish at any moment, so make it quick."
The monster... was laughing. A bloody, fragmented laugh as it rose to its feet despite the hole in its chest.
"You will die... with me."
A chill ran down my spine. This wasn't a desperate attack; this was... suicide.
"As if I’d let you!" Axel lunged forward.
"Axel—"
"Shut up! Your 'cooperative attack' was useless anyway!" Axel surrounded the area with electrical bolts that struck the monster, but the beast didn't budge.
"It’s using every last drop of its strength," Revan muttered, his nose beginning to bleed. He fell to his knees, and the bubbles began to slowly fade. Debris struck our bodies from every direction. I stumbled on the uneven ground and fell. A metal plate slammed down beside me, and I instinctively raised my arms to protect my head. The air was thick with dust and shrapnel; everything around us was collapsing.
As I struggled to stand, with dust filling my mouth and lungs, another image flashed in my mind...
The monster glowing with a brilliant white light, then expanding at incredible speed to swallow everything within a hundred-meter radius. This wasn't a normal explosion; it was a modification of its own physical structure.
"Axel! Stop! It’s going to detonate its core!" I screamed with all my might, trying to push through the heavy air with my exhausted body to reach him.
Axel ignored me, continuing to release bolts that were being absorbed into the monster’s body like fuel for its coming destruction. "Your rubble won't stop it, idiot!" Axel snapped, burning with rage.
"Everyone, get back!" I screamed again until I felt my throat tear. But my voice was lost in the roar of the earth and the explosion of stone. The monster’s body began to swell with light, white cracks appearing on its black skin, each pulse violently displacing the surrounding air.
"Retreat!" Mirai ordered, grabbing my arm and trying to pull me back.
"Axel is still there!" I wrenched my arm away.
"Leave him!" Revan shouted from the ground, his voice broken from exhaustion. "We won't reach him!"
I looked at Axel, who was still preoccupied with trying to challenge the monster. In that moment, the air split open. Something dropped from the sky at a speed my eyes couldn't track, appearing directly in front of the monster.
The Colonel.
He stood between Axel and the monster, his back to us, one hand raised.
"Crumble."
A thin black layer formed around the monster, then closed in from all sides like a folding tomb. The monster exploded. But the explosion didn't escape. The light, the heat, the shockwave—all were compressed inside that black shell. The air vibrated, and a sharp whistling sound echoed as if space itself were groaning.
Absolute silence fell the moment the black shell contained the blast. There was no flying debris, no thick smoke—just the total erasure of everything within that sphere. The black shell fell away and turned to dust; not even a trace of ash remained of the monster.
The Colonel lowered his hand coldly and turned to us. His eyes held a terrifying sternness that made the breath catch in our chests.
"Disgraceful."
Axel swallowed hard, while Mirai struggled to regain her breath."Four recruits against a wounded monster, and you nearly died because of a petty squabble. A fractured team: one reckless member throwing himself to his death, another exhausting his energy to the point of collapse, an out-of-control leader, and another who is indecisive."
"You..." The Colonel addressed Axel, "Your ego almost wiped you and your team off the map."
Axel clenched his jaw but lowered his head.
"However," he looked at me, "your warning was well-timed."
My breath hitched. He gave us a scrutinizing look. "An excellent result... if your goal was to die."
Mirai gritted her teeth, and Axel looked away. Revan wiped the blood from his face with the palm of his hand.
"Are you okay?" I approached him.
"Yes... don't worry." His voice was too weak to carry its usual sharpness. I stared at him for a second, then pulled a small piece of cloth from my pocket and held it out to him.
"Then wipe the blood yourself."
He hesitated, then took it. He looked at me with a touch of wariness. "To be honest, I might have been wrong about you. You aren't useless, and you're likely not dangerous." Revan, who had maintained a neutral stance regarding my existence, finally acknowledged me.
I smiled at him. "It's fine."
"What a touching scene. Are you finished?" Axel mocked.
"Be quiet," Mirai said sharply, stepping toward us. Dust covered her hair and shoulders, but her posture remained straight. "The Colonel hasn't finished speaking yet."
Everyone turned toward him immediately. The Colonel stood atop a high pile of rubble, looking down at us as if evaluating scrap metal.
"Despite your tactical failure, the mission showed enough to make a decision. From this day forward, Team One will remain as is. The members will not be changed."
Mirai froze for a second, then composed herself. Axel clicked his tongue in annoyance. Revan let out a visible sigh of resentment. I remained silent.
"Because if you learn to cooperate... you might actually become dangerous. That is what the camp is betting on."
I looked at him in surprise. Was that... a compliment? The Colonel turned and headed toward the aircraft without another word.
"So, from now on, let's train together. We will get used to fighting together this way," Mirai declared.
"Don't act like you're the leader," Axel muttered.
"I am the leader," she replied confidently.
"And who decided that?"
"I did," she said without hesitation.
"Doesn't matter. I won't show up anyway."
I stifled a laugh in spite of myself.
"What's so funny?" Mirai turned to me.
"Nothing."
"Tell me."
"You guys are just... fun."
She shot me a shocked look. "Weirdo."
"Totally," Axel added.
"I agree," Revan concurred.
Has the hatred shifted to me now? It seemed to be the only thing they could agree on. As we boarded the plane, the silence this time was different. It wasn't the silence of complaining strangers, but the silence of fighters who had just realized their lives were now tied to a single thread.
Do I finally... belong with them?
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