The final battle becomes one of revelation and revolution. The metallic clink of chains echoed through the dim cell, Jun's breathing ragged, his wrists raw from relentless struggle. Outside, the world was falling apart—explosions rocked the air, screams tore through the silence like blades, and the sky above the Fallen City headquarters was blackened with smoke.
"This power... it's the only thing I've ever trusted!"
Jun's voice cracked through the room, fury swelling in his chest like a storm ready to explode.
"There's no way in hell I killed Haruto!"
His body surged with a burning force, fueled by betrayal and pain. The chains groaned, then—SNAP. They shattered.
False accusations. Broken trust. A betrayal too deep to forgive.
And now… vengeance.
Jun didn't hesitate. He stormed through the corridors, each step more determined than the last, until he reached the weapon storage. The guards were nowhere to be seen—either dead or too preoccupied with the chaos outside. Perfect.
He found them—his guns, cold and familiar in his hands.
"Just like old times," he muttered.
Without wasting another second, he sprinted toward the nearest window. With a swift kick, CRASH—glass rained down like shimmering stars as he leapt through the opening and into the smoke-filled sky.
But just before he could disappear into the night—
"JUN!"
A voice rang out behind him.
Jun froze.
Turning sharply, his eyes widened. "Ace?!"
Bound in the corner, beaten but not broken, was the boy he never expected to see again. Jun dashed back, slicing through the restraints in one clean motion. Ace dropped to his knees, coughing, but already reaching for the weapon Jun handed him.
"Can you still fight?" Jun asked, voice low.
Ace's fingers clicked a bullet into the chamber with practiced ease. "Don't have to ask me twice."
Their eyes met—no more words needed.
"Our target is Aragon Hunter," Jun said, locking the chamber with a snap. "We let Zane and Ren settle their score."
Ace smirked, cocking the gun. "Then let's end this mess once and for all." Where It All Began
Ren's eyes scanned the battlefield, heart pounding louder than the distant gunfire that echoed through the ruined city.
Smoke curled around fallen towers. Screams and chaos filled the air. But Ren wasn't looking at the war anymore—he was searching for one person.
Zane.
Where are you?
His breath hitched.
Then it clicked.
A memory—faint, buried, but sharp enough to slice through the noise. Without hesitation, Ren turned on his heel, darting through the shadows, leaping over broken rooftops with a desperation that burned in his legs.
His destination?
Home.
Or what was left of it.
He landed on crumbled concrete, staring at the charred remains of the place where everything once felt whole. Ash drifted through the wind like snow. But Zane wasn't there.
Ren's fingers curled into fists. No... think. If not here... then where?
Then his eyes caught it.
In the distance, beyond the wreckage and fire—a single building stood untouched. An empty shell of steel and silence. The same place that housed the explosion sixteen years ago… the day he was born.
His lungs burned as he ran. Past memories. Past ghosts. Past everything.
And then—he stopped.
His breath froze in his throat.
A lone figure stood in the middle of that desolate space. Still. Silent.
The past and present collided in Ren's chest.
"Zane…" he whispered. A crimson glow pulsed from the heart of the ruined lab, like the city itself was holding its breath.
Ren stepped forward, boots crunching against broken glass and scorched stone. The walls here remembered. They whispered in the heat. Of experiments. Of betrayal. Of a father who once stood in this room a victim to the scientests caught in their game and chose destruction for the sake of love.
Zane stood ahead, bathed in the light of the Moonris Serum. Veins glowing, eyes sharp with something between madness and pain.
"You don't get it, Ren," Zane spat. "I'm not the villain. I'm the result or perhaps we both are."
Ren's breath caught. This was the brother he once chased through moonlit alleys. The boy who left to burn a lingering guilt remained and yet now, a stranger.
"You're right," Ren said softly. "But being a result doesn't excuse what you've done."
"Then what are you, Ren?" Zane snarled, taking a step closer. "You've lied, abandoned, burned everything in your path. You're not the hero. You're just better at hiding the monster inside."
The chamber trembled. Fire coiled around Ren's arm like a dragon waking from slumber he tried so hard to ignore.
"I'm done hiding," Ren whispered. "And if I have to become a monster to stop this... then so be it."
The ground split between them, heat surging up in spirals. Elvina screamed from the edge of the platform, trying to reach them. Jun raised his weapon, eyes torn between duty and friendship. Kenji and Akito were already in the fray, dodging serum-infused soldiers as Fae called out coordinates over comms, voice shaking.
Above it all, the remnants of the Moonris core began to crack — releasing flickers of ancient, volatile energy. The origin of fallen magic.
Zane lifted a hand. "Then let's end it, brother."
Ren's flames exploded upward, colliding with the cold, ruthless power radiating from Zane. For a moment, the world held its breath — two fates, two broken sons of a broken city.
And then everything ignited
whisper.
"Zane…" Ren breathed. "Why here?"
Zane stepped forward. "I wanted to remember what started all this. Where you were born. Where our parents died where we died. Where our lives were rewritten by fire and lies."
Before Ren could answer, another crash echoed in the distance. Glass shattered behind the building—Jun landed with a roll, weapons in hand, Ace following close behind.
"Elara said you'd be here!" Jun shouted, fury in his voice and pain etched in his glare. "We're ending this now."
Zane's eyes flicked toward them, barely impressed. "Tsk. More interruptions."
But the tension shifted when Elara stepped into view from behind a wall, her arm wounded, but her presence unshaken. "You don't know the full story, Zane," she said, voice calm, yet broken. "Ren wasn't the curse… your father was."
Zane froze.
"What did you say?" he asked slowly.
Elara's voice trembled. "Your father made the deal… with us. The scientists. He begged for a cure for his wife, but when he realized she was pregnant, he panicked. We told him the serum was experimental—but he gave it to her anyway. That's why Ren is what he is. That's why your mother died. He tried to burn it all away—Ren included."
Ren's entire body went still.
Zane stared down at his hands, trembling. "No… No, that's not—"
"You knew," Jun cut in, eyes narrowed. "Deep down, you always knew it didn't add up. That your brother wasn't the one to blame."
Zane gritted his teeth, anguish twisting his features. "Then why did he run?! Why didn't he stay?!"
"Because your father tried to kill him," Elara answered coldly. "And Van—your uncle—risked everything to save him."
The silence was deafening.
Zane's fists clenched. "So I've been living for vengeance built on lies…"
Elara stepped closer. "You still have a choice. Don't become what they wanted you to be."
Zane looked at her—then at Ren.
And for a moment, the rage in his eyes dimmed.
Then—
"I'm sorry," Zane muttered, before vanishing into the shadows of the ruins.
"Zane—!" Ren called out, but it was too late.
Ace placed a hand on Jun's shoulder, both of them staring ahead as the truth settled over them like ash from the past.
Ren knelt on the cracked ground, clutching the dirt beneath him.
"I was never the source…" he whispered. "I was just the result."
That flicker of hesitation in Zane's eyes.
A memory broke through.
FLASHBACK:
"Promise you'll never leave me, Ren."
They were kids, curled up under the same blanket. The world outside was chaos, but they had each other.
Ren ruffled his brother's hair, grinning through scraped-up cheeks. "I'll never leave. I'm your big brother, remember?"
The smoke no longer choked him. The fire inside no longer begged to rage.
For so long, he thought power defined him. That his curse was the source of everyone's suffering. That his brother's hatred was earned, and the rebellion's wrath, inevitable. He carried guilt not because he was guilty—but because he had no answers. Only pain.
But now he knew.
He was not born from evil, nor forged by malice. He was born from desperation—his father's mistake, his mother's sacrifice, and a system that turned fear into weapons. He had been hunted not because of who he was, but because of what people feared he could become.
And yet, in all the chaos, Ren had made his choice.
Not to be what others feared.
But to become what they needed.
He realized something then—a truth carved from fire and sorrow:
Power isn't what makes you dangerous. It's the absence of purpose.
He would no longer fight to prove he was more than a mistake. He would fight because the world needed someone who understood both destruction and healing. Someone who had burned and still chose not to let the world burn with him.
He wasn't a monster.
He was a survivor.
A brother.
A spark that refused to die.
And in the silence, with the moon casting pale light over the ruins, Ren finally let go of the boy who was blamed for being born… and embraced the man who would shape what came next.
To be continued