Three days later — Northern Exclusion Zone.
Fog blanketed the ruins where the city once reached skyward. Now, the skyline was jagged teeth, gnawed down by fire and time.
Aiko stood at the edge of a forgotten crater—half-swallowed by vines and collapsed buildings. Her eyes were distant.
"This is where they buried it," she said.
Miura swept a scanner across the pit. The readings spiked.
"Massive structure below. Cloaked. Shielded. Old tech."
Ryoji adjusted the suppressor on his sidearm. "And Division Zero built their HQ on top of it."
"They didn't build it," Aiko whispered. "They found it."
Ryoji paused. "You remember?"
"I remember enough."
Flashback Fragment – Memory Bloom
Wires in her spine. Cold liquid in her veins.
The vault door opening for the first time. Scientists in hazard suits bowing to something in the dark.
A name: The Root Protocol.
A voice:
"She's the last key. If she wakes it up, the world resets."
Now – Perimeter, Division Zero HQ
Nightfall.
The HQ was a monolith of obsidian steel and light, embedded into the crater's northern wall like a blade. Surveillance drones glided in silence overhead.
Miura pulled up blueprints she'd stitched together from stolen archives.
"Mainframe's buried four levels down. We reach that, we can pull everything—files, protocols, locations of Revenant units."
Aiko stepped forward. "And the vault beneath it."
Ryoji narrowed his eyes. "You sure you want to see what's down there?"
She didn't blink. "I need to."
Ryoji nodded. "Then we ghost in. Quick. Quiet. Surgical."
Miura smirked. "And if that fails?"
Ryoji slid a fresh mag into his pistol.
"Then we improvise."
Inside the HQ – 23:42 Hours
The team slipped in through the old maintenance route—decommissioned decades ago. But still alive enough to breathe death.
Sensors pulsed.
Revenant shells lined the walls—some active, some dormant. Their eyes flicked open as the group passed.
"Don't run. Don't speak," Ryoji whispered. "They track emotion."
They passed like ghosts.
But just as they reached the third level—
ALERT.
INTRUSION DETECTED.
Sirens screamed. Turrets dropped from the ceiling.
Ryoji grabbed Aiko and rolled behind cover.
"Looks like we're improvising."
Below – Final Sub-Level
Through fire and gunmetal, they reached the door.
The one from Aiko's memory.
Miura hacked the lock. "This was never meant to open again."
Ryoji raised his weapon. "Then maybe it shouldn't."
Too late.
HISSSSSSSSS
The vault creaked open. Inside was a chamber of light—and something vast at its center. Organic. Mechanical. Rooted deep into the earth.
A heartbeat echoed from it.
Aiko stepped forward.
"It's… alive."
Ryoji gritted his teeth. "What is it?"
She looked back, eyes glowing.
"The beginning."
To be continued in Chapter 32….....