The hospital was quiet.
Too quiet for a man like Kai Ren.
He stood alone in the shadows of a private recovery ward—arms crossed, mask on, body still. His presence unsettled even the guards outside, though none dared enter.
Behind the glass, Jin lay unconscious, wires running from his wrist to a monitor that beeped in a slow, steady rhythm.
Ren didn't move.
He just watched.
An hour passed.
Then another.
And finally… Jin stirred.
His eyes opened, slow and heavy.Disoriented. Breathing weak.Until his gaze found the figure across the room—motionless, watching.
"You…"
Ren said nothing.
The light flickered softly above them.
No doctors.No nurses.Just the two of them in silence.
Jin tried to sit up. His voice cracked.
"Why…?"
"Why did you save me?"
Ren didn't answer.
Didn't even shift.
Jin's tone darkened.
"How did you know where I was?How did you find me?"
Still—nothing.
Just that obsidian mask staring back at him like a mirror too tired to reflect the truth.
Finally, Ren turned.Walked to the door.
Paused once.
Then left.
Minutes Later…
The door opened again.
But this time, Jin's team poured in—agents, analysts, commanders.
The room was no longer still.
They surrounded his bed, voices low and clipped.
"Who did this?""What happened at the rendezvous point?""Was it an ambush?""Do you know who the masked woman was?"
Jin's jaw tightened.
His chest ached.
He looked down at the pulse monitor.The beeping felt louder now.Like a countdown.
And then, he spoke.
"I… don't remember."
They stared.
"You don't remember the face? The location?"
"No," Jin said, voice flat."Just pain. Fog. Then nothing."
They wrote it down. Believed the words.
But he wasn't protecting his memory.
He was protecting his sister.
Elsewhere — The Black Commandment's Base
Kai Ren stood before a massive data wall, screens mapping years of movement, sales, aliases.
At the center:Lisa.And under it… a new name emerging from the shadows:
Nyxara