Above – Sector 9 Utility Shaft
Ryoji moved like instinct.
The Revenant lunged—its blade a blur of polished alloy—but he was already turning, parrying with his knife. Sparks burst. The impact numbed his arm.
No breath. No sound. The Revenant didn't fight like a man. It fought like a memory—precise, relentless, cold.
Ryoji ducked under a swipe, slammed his elbow into its neck, then swept its legs out. The move would've dropped any normal agent.
Not this one.
The Revenant twisted mid-fall and caught itself on the wall, flipping back up without pause.
Its eyes glowed brighter.
Ryoji narrowed his own. "You're not the first ghost I've buried."
Then he pulled the pin on a flash charge and tossed it behind him.
FLASH—BOOM!
Light seared the shaft. The Revenant reeled—
—and Ryoji vanished down the secondary tunnel.
Below – Descent Shaft
The elevator groaned to a halt.
Miura scanned the chamber as its gates opened. The air was thick with dust, heavy with cold. Old maintenance bots lay in pieces. Every wall was tagged with faded warning signs: NO EXIT BELOW THIS POINT.
Aiko stepped out slowly, her breath visible.
"Where… are we?"
Miura's voice was quiet. "Off the grid. Pre-war infrastructure. They built these places before Division Zero even existed."
Aiko knelt near a shattered console. Symbols etched in the steel. A mirrorflower emblem—barely visible beneath grime.
Miura looked over. "You recognize that?"
Aiko hesitated. "I've seen it. In my dreams."
Miura stared.
Then—
KRK—SSSHT.
The elevator cables above shook violently.
Miura yanked Aiko back. "They're coming fast."
Aiko pointed to a corridor marked B-ZONE ACCESS: MAINTENANCE ONLY. "There. That way!"
They ran.
Above – Sector 9 Tunnel Fork
Ryoji slid into a service corridor, blood dripping from his arm. The first Revenant was recovering. Another had joined it.
Double the odds. Half the time.
He reached a junction point—and set the charge.
"Hope you're watching," he muttered.
Behind him, the Revenants closed in.
Ryoji waited. One step closer… two…
He detonated the junction.
BOOM—CRACK—
The ceiling collapsed, metal and concrete raining down, swallowing both Revenants in the crush.
Smoke. Silence.
But Ryoji didn't celebrate.
They weren't dead. Just delayed.
He ran.
Below – Forgotten Lab B-Z42
Aiko and Miura emerged into a long-forgotten chamber—rows of containment pods shattered and dark. Glass crunched underfoot.
On one wall, a digital panel flickered to life as they passed:
SUBJECT STATUS: UNKNOWN
PROJECT MIRRORFLOWER: TERMINATED
Aiko froze. "This is where they made me."
Miura turned. "What?"
But Aiko stepped closer to one of the pods—where a dried stain ran down its side. A child's handprint. Hers.
"I remember now."
Before Miura could speak, the console blared to life—
INTRUSION DETECTED.
REVENANT UNITS INBOUND.
Miura raised her rifle.
Aiko whispered, "They found us."
Above – Service Tunnel Exit
Ryoji reached the emergency slide, dove in headfirst, and vanished down into the black.
His voice echoed in the comm one second before it cut:
"Hold the line. I'm coming."
To be continued in Chapter 29…