The silence after impact was suffocating.
Aiko sat in the ruins of the underground chamber, her breath fogging in the cold air. Around her, shattered terminals blinked and sparked—remnants of the Root Protocol, now collapsed into digital death. What she'd unleashed... could not be undone.
Miura knelt beside her, one hand steady on her shoulder. "You did it," she said quietly.
Aiko shook her head. "No. I just opened the door."
Across the chamber, Ryoji stood like a statue—soaked in blood and smoke, one blade still clenched in his hand. The data core at the center of the room had imploded, spilling pulses of corrupted code and memory into the air like dying stars.
"It's out," he murmured. "The truth. Everything they buried."
A flicker on Miura's wristpad drew their eyes.
—GLOBAL UPLINKS ACTIVATED—
—DIVISION ZERO SURVEILLANCE FAILURE DETECTED—
—PANIC SPREADING ACROSS NEURAL ZONES 3 THROUGH 7—
Screens across the world were hijacked.
City billboards glitched into images of Mirrorflower Project files. Medical records. Death reports. Surveillance tapes. A girl with glowing veins locked in a glass tube. Screaming. Silent.
Aiko stared at herself. The past staring back.
"They know now," she whispered.
Elsewhere – Division Zero HQ
A white room. Sterile. Silent.
Shirow stood before a war table, watching the digital horizon collapse. The Root had been their failsafe, their leash. And it was gone.
Behind him, the woman in the black coat spoke calmly.
"Containment failed. Uprisings in the lower sectors. Civil authorities are requesting guidance."
Shirow didn't look at her.
"Then we guide them."
He raised a hand—and a second screen lit up.
Rows of units in cryo-stasis. Unmarked. Not Revenants. Something worse.
"Unseal the Helix Vault."
The woman paused. "That would break Protocol Nine."
"There are no more protocols," Shirow said.
A beat. Then:
"Operation Fallveil is authorized."
Back in the city – Abandoned Transit Node
Rain fell through holes in the concrete. Ryoji lit a flare and set it on the ground, illuminating their temporary shelter. Aiko leaned against the wall, her fingers wrapped around a canteen.
"I remember more," she said suddenly. "Not just the lab. The training. The other children. The tests…"
Miura looked up. "There were others?"
Aiko nodded. "They didn't make it. I think—I think that's why I was important. I survived."
Ryoji sat across from her, silent for a long time. Then:
"You're more than what they made you into."
Miura added, "You made a choice. That makes you human."
Aiko smiled, barely. "I don't feel human."
Ryoji leaned forward. "None of us do. Not after what they've done."
A silence passed, not heavy this time—but charged.
Then Ryoji stood.
"We'll need supplies. Safe exits. Eyes on the streets."
Miura checked her gear. "And targets."
The flare crackled lower.
Aiko stood too. "Where to next?"
Ryoji looked out at the broken skyline.
"Division Zero still breathes. We don't run anymore."
He turned, eyes hard.
"We end this."
Elsewhere – Unseen Location
Monitors blinked in rows. Someone else was watching. Not Shirow. Not Division Zero.
Another player.
A voice murmured in the dark.
"They cracked the Root. Good."
Fingers tapped a terminal.
"Now we see what blooms in its place."
To be continued in Chapter 34…....