Time: 6:03 AM — Core Access Perimeter, Edge Sector
The city ended like a scar.
Beyond the final checkpoint—where Miura's rig now idled in silence—the road disintegrated into fractured glasscrete and overgrown vines. Towers loomed in skeletal ruins. The Core Zone wasn't abandoned.
It had been erased.
Kane stepped out first, axes glinting in dawn's grey breath. The others followed with military precision. Miura dropped a signal dampener behind them—no comms in, no surveillance out.
Aiko felt it immediately.
The hum.
Not mechanical.
Organic.
She turned toward a building half-swallowed in ivy. The architecture pulsed faintly—light flickering behind broken glass like a heartbeat.
"They tried to kill this place," she said. "But it's still breathing."
Ryoji scanned their perimeter. "Movement. Second floor. Clockwise sweep."
Yuki's fingers danced. "Intercepted a comm burst. Encrypted in NATO-black protocol. That's not Division Zero."
Miura growled. "Then we're not the only ones after the Core."
6:10 AM — Core Block 9, Underground Access Tunnel
They breached through a collapsed metro stairwell—dark, wet, silent. Maru patched emergency lights. Red glow bathed their descent. Symbols lined the walls.
Not language.
Warnings.
Rafiq paused at a bulkhead marked with Division Zero's ancient insignia.
"This was off-books," he whispered. "Old tech. Pre-collapse. We're walking into a graveyard."
The doors slid open with a hiss of old air.
Inside, everything changed.
The corridor stretched into blackness. No dust. No decay.
Just perfection.
Zhenya raised her scope. "Tachyon residue."
Yuki paled. "Time distortion field."
Miura's voice dropped. "This isn't just a vault. It's a containment cradle."
Suddenly, Aiko stopped.
Her eyes widened.
She wasn't looking at the walls.
She was listening.
They're awake.
6:18 AM — Core Cradle Chamber
The chamber bloomed like a sphere—walls pulsing with bioluminescent circuits. In its center floated a crystalline sarcophagus, suspended above a magnetic cradle.
Inside it: a girl.
No older than Aiko.
Eyes closed.
Breathing.
Ryoji's hand went to his weapon. "Another Mirrorflower?"
Aiko's voice trembled. "No. Not a mirror. A beginning."
Suddenly—lights died.
EMP burst. Screeching static. All systems down.
Yuki screamed, "We've been pinged!"
Miura drew her rifle. "Everyone—form up!"
From the tunnel behind them, footsteps.
Dozens.
Then a voice in the dark.
Cold. Male. French accent.
"You should not be here."
Out of the shadows stepped men in black combat suits—emblems stitched in gold.
Groupe Fantôme.
France's most covert black ops unit.
Their weapons were already raised.
"You opened the cradle," the lead agent said. "Now you die with it."
To be continued… Chapter 42....