"The enemy doesn't need to see the world through your eyes. They only need to be a step ahead of you. And that's enough to erase you."
The silence in the room felt suffocating, like the calm before a storm. Rentarō stood in front of the fallen girl—Subject 075—his breathing slow but deliberate. His hands still clenched the gun, its barrel smoking slightly from the earlier shots. The girl's body lay motionless on the cold metal floor, her chest barely rising and falling in shallow breaths.
Hotaru, Enju, and Shōma were still recovering from their injuries, their expressions a mixture of disbelief and weariness. Karasuma was checking the perimeter, his eyes darting between the control panels, as though expecting another attack at any moment.
Rentarō's thoughts were in a whirlwind. He couldn't shake the image of her eyes—those hollow, lifeless eyes. She wasn't human. She wasn't cursed. She was something else entirely. Something that had been engineered, crafted with precision, and built with one purpose: to kill.
But what was the true nature of this new threat? What was behind it all?
"We've got a problem," Karasuma said, breaking the silence as he approached Rentarō. "The systems are back online. We've only got a few minutes before the facility locks down and reinforcements arrive."
Rentarō's gaze hardened. He could feel the weight of the situation bearing down on him. Time was running out.
"Then we need to move. We need to find out who's behind this," Rentarō said, his voice steady but tinged with determination. "And we need to find out now."
Enju, now standing with her sword in hand, nodded in agreement. "She's not the only one, is she?" Her voice was calm, but there was an edge to it. "We've seen prototypes before. But this—this is something different."
Rentarō turned to face her, his expression unreadable. "This is just the beginning. We need to learn everything we can about these prototypes and stop them before they're unleashed on the rest of the city."
Shōma stepped forward, his expression grim. "If the Council is behind this, they're playing a dangerous game. And we're right in the middle of it."
Rentarō nodded, his thoughts racing. The Council had always operated in the shadows, controlling everything from behind the scenes. But this… this was something different. The synthetic soldier they had just encountered was beyond anything he had ever seen. If there were more like her, more designed like her, then the entire world was at risk.
And Rentarō couldn't afford to let that happen.
"We need to find their lab," Rentarō said, his voice cold with resolve. "If we can locate the source of this, we can stop it before it gets any worse."
The team nodded in unison, the gravity of their mission settling in. They didn't have much time, and they couldn't afford to make any mistakes.
But just as they were about to move, the loud crack of the facility's locking mechanism echoed through the air. Rentarō's heart skipped a beat.
"They're already here," Karasuma said, his tone grim. "We need to move now."
The team sprinted through the facility's winding corridors, the sound of their footsteps echoing off the walls. Rentarō's mind was focused, his senses heightened. The mission was clear: find the lab, destroy whatever research was being conducted, and make sure the synthetic soldiers never saw the light of day again.
But with each passing second, the weight of what they were facing seemed to grow heavier. The enemy was out there, waiting for them. And if they weren't careful, the next encounter could be their last.
It wasn't long before they reached the heart of the facility. The walls were lined with reinforced steel doors, each one a potential entry to whatever horrors lay beyond. Rentarō led the charge, his gun raised and ready.
But as they approached the central control room, a voice crackled through the intercom, freezing them in place.
"Subject 075 is no longer the only model in the field. Initiating backup procedures."
Rentarō's stomach tightened. He had been expecting something like this. The Council wouldn't just let them walk away. Not with what they had discovered.
A low rumble shook the floor, and the lights flickered ominously. Rentarō turned to his team, his expression hardening.
"Brace yourselves," he ordered. "They're coming."
The door to the control room slid open with a hiss, and Rentarō stepped inside, his gun aimed at the darkened room. The screens in front of him flickered to life, revealing rows of security footage. And what he saw made his blood run cold.
There, on the monitors, were dozens of synthetic soldiers—each one looking eerily similar to Subject 075. But there was something different about them. Something darker.
Rentarō's eyes narrowed. "They've already started mass production."
The door behind them slammed shut with a force that rattled the walls. Rentarō spun around, his instincts kicking in as he fired a shot at the control panel, hoping to disrupt the facility's systems. But it was too late.
A mechanical screech filled the air as a series of steel gates slammed down, trapping them inside.
The girl—the one they had just encountered—appeared on the screens again, her blank expression staring back at them.
"Welcome to the beginning of the end."
And then, with a flash of light, the room was flooded with a storm of synthetic soldiers, their eyes glowing with cold, calculated fury.
Rentarō's team fought back with everything they had. Gunfire rang out, blades slashed through the air, and the sound of combat filled the room. But the synthetic soldiers were relentless—no hesitation, no mercy.
Hotaru ducked low, taking out one soldier with a swift slash, but there were more—always more. Enju moved like a blur, her speed and agility taking down several enemies in quick succession, but even she was beginning to tire.
"Fall back!" Rentarō shouted, firing at the advancing soldiers. "We need to get out of here!"
But there was no time. The synthetic soldiers pressed forward, their movements synchronized and precise, each one an unstoppable force of nature.
Shōma was the first to fall, his body overwhelmed by the sheer number of enemies. Karasuma's gunfire continued to tear through the room, but it was clear they couldn't hold out for long.
And then, as the last soldier fell, Rentarō turned to his team, a grim resolve settling over him.
"We'll fight," he said, voice unwavering. "But we need a way out. And we need it now."