Time: 12:17 PM — International Terminal, Undisclosed Country
The crowd froze.
The moment Ryoji reached for his sidearm, the air shifted. Civilians turned, confused. Aiko's breath caught in her throat as the tall figure closed the distance, every movement like a glitch in reality—smooth, but wrong. Like he was skipping frames.
The man stepped under the terminal lights—and Aiko saw it.
Not a man.
A mask. Matte black. Featureless, except for a single horizontal slit glowing faint blue.
Ryoji's jaw tightened. "That's not him."
Miura stepped up beside them, her hand already on her weapon. "Who the hell is that?"
"Not a who," Ryoji muttered. "A program."
The figure tilted his head.
Then, a dozen devices around the terminal—phones, digital signs, terminals—flickered. The lights dimmed. The temperature dropped.
Static.
A whisper, crawling through every speaker.
Then:
"Seal synchronized. Target reacquired. Commencing override protocol: Black Echo."
Ryoji cursed. "MOVE!"
The lights cut out. Emergency red strobes kicked in. Panic exploded through the terminal.
Aiko's Seal flared—bright enough to light the ground around her. She clutched her hand, teeth gritted as a new sensation hit her—cold. Not physical, but something crawling into her thoughts. Not a pull this time.
A voice.
A whispering voice inside her skull.
"Let me in."
She screamed and dropped to one knee.
"Black Echo's not a person," Ryoji shouted as Miura yanked Aiko up. "It's a psycho-neural incursion tool. One of the Kill Programs. Division Zero's digital assassin."
"Then how is it here?" Miura shouted, eyes darting.
"It infected the Seal. It's been tracking her since the garden. The Seal isn't just a beacon—it's a backdoor."
The figure stepped forward again—and vanished.
A second later, one of Miura's team members—Kane—twitched, then slammed his head into the nearest wall with impossible force.
Blood sprayed.
"KANE!" Zhenya screamed, rushing to him—too late.
Kane fell, body convulsing. His cybernetic implant fizzed, veins glowing faint blue.
"Remote overwrite," Ryoji snapped. "He's jumping through the system!"
Aiko could barely breathe. Her hand burned, her mind drowning in static and whispers. She saw images—flashes of corridors she hadn't walked, faces she didn't know, all bleeding into one another. A voice kept repeating:
"You were never alone."
"You were made for this."
"Unlock the door."
Then her eyes snapped open.
"He's in my head."
Ryoji aimed at the shadows. "Then we drag him out."
From the far end of the terminal, screens lit up again—this time showing Aiko's face. Surveillance footage. Camera feeds from Japan. Division Zero's logo rotating slowly behind them.
A countdown appeared on screen:
00:01:59
00:01:58
"What the hell is that?" Miura asked.
"Black Echo's core function," Ryoji said grimly. "He's not here to kill us directly. He's trying to corrupt the Seed inside Aiko. Trigger a cascade failure. Use the Seal to open the door Division Zero failed to."
"Then stop it!" Miura snapped.
"We can't." He turned to Aiko. "She has to."
The lights flickered again.
The figure returned—only this time, he didn't walk.
He phased through the crowd like a ripple in time, and when he reached them, the temperature dropped to freezing.
Aiko stood, barely able to stay upright. "What do I do?"
"Focus." Ryoji barked. "Shut him out. The Seal responds to will, not fear. You're not a conduit—you're a firewall."
The figure raised a hand, and Aiko felt her vision split. Two timelines. Two realities. One where she was here, fighting. One where she had already fallen.
And in that future—
Tokyo burned.
Her friends were dead.
Division Zero stood triumphant.
She screamed and thrust her hand forward, palm open, Seal glowing like a flare.
"No more," she growled.
A wave of energy tore through the space between them, shattering the illusion. The figure screamed—no sound, just digital feedback—and disintegrated, his form unraveling like code exposed to fire.
The countdown stopped at 00:00:02.
Everything went dark.
Then still.
Then quiet.
Only the sound of breathing. People. Alive.
Aiko collapsed forward, caught by Ryoji. "It's not over," she said. "He's still in there."
Ryoji nodded. "I know. But we bought time. That's all we ever needed."
Miura looked at them both. "Where to now?"
Ryoji's eyes narrowed. "South. There's someone we need to find. Someone who built the Kill Programs."
Aiko looked down at her hand.
The Seal had stopped burning.
But the light hadn't gone out.
Not yet.
To be continued… Chapter 48