The wind was silent tonight—too silent.
Squad Umbra marched through the burnt remains of the northern sector, their boots crunching over ashes and shattered bones. The land once held crops, children's laughter, and summer winds. Now, only charred silence remained.
Kaizen walked at the front, his body upright but his eyes hollow. The incident with Krovar had left him drained, but something far worse had begun festering inside him—a voice, faint at first, now breathing down his neck like a shadow that never belonged.
"Do you feel it, Kaizen?" the voice whispered again.
He stopped. The others almost walked past before realizing he'd halted.
Ayaka stepped beside him, her hand lightly brushing his. "Are you okay?"
Kaizen didn't respond immediately. His lips parted but no words came. In his mind, the voice was louder now—scraping, whispering, promising.
"You are awakening. Not what they made you to be, but what you truly are."
He shook his head hard, forcing it out. "Yeah… just tired."
"Don't lie to me," Ayaka whispered, so only he could hear.
He gave her a faint look, eyes glowing for a split second with that same crimson shimmer from the battle. Ayaka's heart dropped. She had seen that shimmer before—during the night he lost control and massacred the Bist general in a flash of Veinborn rage.
Something was changing. Again.
---
Elsewhere in the Fortress—
Commander Valken stood before a distorted projection, flickering with static. The black shard retrieved from the battlefield had started... reacting.
A young researcher named Ryu called out, "Sir, it's forming a pattern. Looks like… veins?"
"No," Valken muttered. "Not veins. Pathways. Like a brain map."
Suddenly, the shard pulsed, and across the room, several lights died. The temperature dropped by ten degrees.
And in the far corner of the lab, a figure appeared for only a second—tall, masked, its face veiled in dark fog. It was gone as quickly as it came, but the cameras froze on that frame.
Nerovar. Watching. Learning. Smiling.
---
Back with Squad Umbra—
As they reached a derelict watchtower, a scream erupted from one of the men.
"Something moved! Inside the tower!"
The team readied weapons. Kaizen, without thought, stepped forward.
He entered the crumbling building alone, ignoring Ayaka's call behind him.
Inside, it was darkness... and whispers.
Not external whispers. Not from Bists.
From himself.
He moved up the spiral staircase, slow and methodical, each step feeling like eternity.
And at the top, he saw it.
A mirror. Broken. Old. But as he gazed into it, he didn't see himself.
He saw another version—skin pale, eyes glowing with endless red, veins crawling like roots across his body. His reflection smiled.
"You will never outrun me," the reflection said.
Kaizen blinked, and it was gone.
But when he turned, the broken mirror whispered:
"The Shard King bleeds not just blood… but memories."
---
That Night
Ayaka sat beside the campfire, eyes red with exhaustion. Vorn and Lira slept nearby. Kaito polished his blade in silence.
Kaizen hadn't spoken since the tower.
Finally, Ayaka approached him.
"You saw something again, didn't you?"
He looked up slowly. "I saw myself. But not me. Something older... darker."
Ayaka's hands trembled. "Is it Nerovar?"
Kaizen shook his head. "Worse. It's me. Or what I'm becoming."
Silence.
Then Kaizen whispered, almost too soft to hear:
"Ayaka… if I lose myself… will you stop me?"
Tears welled in her eyes, but she nodded. "Even if it breaks me."
They sat in silence, the fire cracking between them.
High above, unseen on the cliffs, a dark silhouette observed—Nerovar.
He whispered to the wind:
"The cracks have begun. Let him shatter himself."