[Shigeo & Zara — POV]
— "Hang on, especially!"
Shigeo shouted over the wind, his heart pounding in his chest, not just from the stress but... from the closeness.
Zara was pressed up against him, her arms wrapped around his chest. A position that was both practical... and incredibly awkward.
His cheeks were burning. He prayed she wouldn't notice.
Zara didn't say a word. Her eyes were closed, her face calm. But Shigeo could feel her fingers trembling against him.
— "Are you sure you want to continue?" he whispered, mostly to himself.
She lifted her head, and in her eyes, Shigeo saw an irresistible charm.
— "I'm the one who told you I'd help, right ? I'm not backing out now. Not after what they did to me and my sister."
A brief silence passed.
— "...You sound like you're in a manga. Are you serious ?"
She gave a bitter smile.
— "I'm just trying not to fall apart, Shigeo."
He didn't respond, understanding completely.
They landed on the roof of a train car twisted by a recent explosion. The metal was hot beneath their feet.
Before he could react, Zara kicked open the hatch. A blast of black smoke escaped. She dove in first.
Shigeo sighed.
— "Great, now I'm the coward..."
He followed her.
Inside, it was chaos.
A boy was trapped under debris, his leg bloody. A girl was crying, calling for her sister.
Others screamed from the back, trapped in a compartment. And in the corner... a homemade bomb, ready to explode.
— "That one... it's unstable." Zara commented, kneeling down.
— "Can you deactivate it ?" Shigeo replied.
— "Tell me if I cut the red wire or not, genius."
— "The blue! The blue!" he shouted, unsure.
She paused.
— "Are you bluffing?"
— "Maybe."
— "You're stupid for joking in this situation."
But she cut the blue wire. And suddenly... nothing.
— "I was right!" he breathed, relieved. "Or maybe I just got lucky. Come on, help me get this kid out!"
They continued their descent into the rolling hell, deactivating more bombs with Shigeo's precise instructions and his makeshift gadgets.
He even managed to use a drone to lift a collapsed compartment.
Some students managed to escape, but not all. Some were... already too far gone.
Then, as they advanced, they smelled something rancid.
They heard inhuman groans, and saw distorted figures in the next train cars.
— "Shit..." Zara muttered. "They've mutated."
— "That's not possible... Are they students? Supervisors?!"
— "Too much black energy... Too much emotion... They didn't have the mental strength and..."
She didn't finish her sentence.
Shigeo instinctively backed away. He had never fought, never seriously hurt someone, let alone a... a mutant.
— "Okay, we'll just... we'll avoid them."
He tried to move quietly. They crawled through the broken cabins, holding their breath, avoiding footsteps.
The mutants, on the other hand, growled, eating something... or someone.
Then a screwdriver slipped from Zara's pocket, making a small metallic clink.
The growls stopped, and a hoarse scream echoed.
— "They've spotted us!" Zara yelled.
— "RUN!"
And the chase began.
They sprinted through the train cars while the mutants screamed, smashing through walls, climbing on ceilings, charging at them like wild animals. There were too many of them.
— "What are you doing with your watch?!" Zara shouted while running.
— "I... I'm launching mini-drones to deploy decoys!" Shigeo responded, his hands shaking as he frantically tapped the holographic interface. "I'm trying to slow them down!"
— "You're not Tony Stark, Shigeo!"
— "I prefer Batman anyway!"
He launched a sphere that exploded into blinding light.
The mutants screamed, some collided with each other, others stumbled.
They gained a few precious seconds.
Zara climbed into an empty compartment.
— "In here! Get over here!"
Shigeo joined her just in time, slamming the door shut with a kick.
He locked it... but they weren't alone. In the corner, a bomb he had deactivated earlier.
— "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked, her gaze sly.
He nodded. They held their breath, waiting for the mutants to approach.
— "Five... Four... Three..."
He manually activated the bomb : countdown engaged.
— "We're getting out through the roof, quick!"
They climbed into a service hatch just as the mutants broke down the door. And behind them...
A deafening explosion made the whole train shake.
A wave of heat slammed into them, throwing Shigeo into a blasted train car.
He rolled on the ground, dazed, the taste of blood in his mouth.
Zara dropped down and grabbed his arm.
— "Shigeo! Are you alive ?"
— "...Did we get them?" he asked weakly.
— "All of them!"
Breathing heavily, his legs burning, Shigeo leaned against a wall.
His arm was bleeding, a deep gash paralyzing his right hand.
Zara was by his side, panting, covered in dust and blood — not all of it hers.
The distorted screams, the beastly growls of the mutants... it all seemed to fade, just for a moment.
A heavy calm fell over them. Just enough to remind them that it was far from over.
And that's when he appeared.
A man — or rather, a humanoid figure, tall and upright, covered in a filthy white coat, his face hidden by a mask made of sewn-together skin, with only two red eyes visible.
He exuded this presence... the kind of being that should never have existed in this world.
Zara instinctively stepped back.
— "It... it's not possible..." she whispered, her breath trembling.
The man stared at her without a word at first. Then, his voice came.
— "So, it's you... Zara."
He moved slowly.
— "You betrayed us. You betrayed your sister."
Shigeo struggled to get up, leaning his injured arm against a metal bar for support.
He wanted to say something, but the stranger's voice interrupted him again.
— "Your little sister... She'll scream. I'll make sure she begs me to finish her off."
Zara paled, her pupils constricting. She stepped back, faltering, almost falling.
— "You're... insane, Ruben."
The man reached for a small black device on his belt, his dirty fingers trembling with excitement. He pressed it.
Nothing.
He pressed again. Still nothing.
A twisted grin appeared behind his mask. He turned his head toward Shigeo, and suddenly, his voice became more hateful.
— "You... you're the one who deactivated the bomb. You piece of... filthy human."
He threw the device to the ground and crushed it under his heel.
— "You think you'll survive ?"
At that moment, a series of explosions went off.
The train shook. Explosions rattled the engineer's car and the ones behind it.
A fire broke out at the front. From where they were, Shigeo and Zara could see the flames spreading, the screams piercing the night.
The number of survivors was dropping rapidly.
Black, contorted figures were tearing themselves from the searing flesh, screaming and hitting anything that moved.
The weak in health and mind mutated. Some exploded into pieces, others painfully transformed into horrors made of bloated flesh and fangs.
Zara threw herself behind an overturned seat. Shigeo followed, stumbling, pulling on her arm.
— "Damn... there's too many... they're coming!"
— "They're already here!" she shouted, pointing at a shapeless mass crawling across the ceiling.
But Ruben wasn't done.
He spread his arms. Tentacles made of flesh and veins erupted from his back, slithering on the ground like snakes.
One arm transformed, splitting into four segments, revealing a beating mass of muscle.
From this horror, bone blades shot out with a sickening crack.
Zara narrowly dodged an attack. Shigeo tried to strike with a pipe torn from the ceiling, but was thrown against the wall with a single tentacle strike.
His vision blurred. He heard his ribs crack.
Zara was fighting bare-handed, scratching, dodging, clinging to the walls like a hunted animal. Every second was a miracle.
— "Why... why are you doing this?!" Shigeo screamed, filled with rage and pain. "Why are you doing this to us?!"
A harsh laugh echoed throughout the train car. Ruben straightened up, his fiery eyes locked on Shigeo.
— "Why? Because you let me die."
He paused. An almost human emotion flickered in his gaze.
— "My parents... They were torn apart by Cauchemar. Creatures from beyond this world. And no one... NO ONE came. Not even a damn camera to film our corpses."
His voice grew darker, emptier.
— "A demon reached out to me. It gave me a reason to exist. From now on... I hunt heroes. I destroy them. And tonight... I will leave my mark on this rotten city. Almeria will remember me."
And as if to underscore her words, the train cars began to literally mutate.
The remaining passengers fought or fled in panic, sometimes killing each other unintentionally in the chaos.
Zara stumbled, her shoulder slashed by Ruben's claw.
Shigeo clung to her, dragging her into a corner, ignoring the pain in his ribs.
Hold on. Just hold on... a few more seconds...
And that's when everything changed.
Hundreds of meters above, a figure floated. A woman. Her face was masked, her eyes blindfolded.
She wore the uniform of the division captain Heresy Inquisitors, a black suit with steel-like reflections, marked with a red emblem.
Her white hair fluttered in the sea air.
She extended her arm. Slowly. As though pointing at something she sensed more than saw.
— "Die."
A pure white energy shot from her finger with a high-pitched whistle.
The energy ball tore through the air, breaking the sound barrier.
It grew larger as it advanced, like a firefly darting toward its target.
---
Ruben turned his head just in time to witness his inevitable death.
No matter how many nightmares he'd survived, no matter that he was a 3-star mutant, feared by all, the difference in power was absolutely extraordinary, especially since he had been caught off guard.
The Ghost Arrow — the attack aimed at him was a basic technique known to all Inquisitor recruits, a simple arrow of light formed with white energy.
But the user of this attack had perfected it so much that she could shape it into any kind of projectile.
Such a level could only be achieved by one : Judith Crow.
Also known as The Perfectionist, despite her handicap, she was renowned for taking her skills to the maximum level.
Among criminals and rebels, there's a rule : flee the moment you feel her presence.
Anyone targeted by one of her attacks is already dead.
---
The light consumed everything, disintegrating the surroundings at an atomic level, sending a shockwave through the bay in the wake of the blast.
When Shigeo opened his eyes, Ruben was nothing but ash.
Zara coughed. Alive. They both were.
Shigeo looked up, his heart pounding in his chest.
Through the windows, he saw press helicopters, their spotlights sweeping the ruins.
And behind them... dozens of Inquisitors. Standing tall, heavy armor, oppressive aura.
It was over.
At least... for tonight.
Shigeo collapsed to his knees, his head falling onto Zara's shoulder.
Zara, however, stared at the Inquisitors with an empty look in her eyes. A sense of relief... and terror.
Spotlights cut through the mist.
Above the train, black helicopters appeared, bearing the Inquisitor's crucifix symbol.
Cables were deployed.
Figures descended, all wearing long white cloaks, opaque helmets, and silver masks.
They advanced without a word, like death angels fallen from the sky.
Zara stepped back.
— "This is bad. Really bad."
— "Are they thecleaners ?" Shigeo asked, his eyes wide.
— "Worse. Inquisitors never come before the end. They come after... to ensure nothing survives."
One of the Inquisitors approached them. He stared at them in silence.
Then his voice rose, altered by an integrated microphone :
— "Name. Age. Affiliation."
Zara answered, tense:
— "Zara Al-Makhtal. 17 years old. No official group. Defector from the G.R.I.D. program."
Shigeo hesitated.
— "Shigeo Natsuki. 18 years old. Student. Independent."
A moment of silence.
Then another Inquisitor, taller and more imposing, stepped forward.
He carried a kind of scepter adorned with rotating rings. He stopped right in front of them. The rings came to a halt.
— "The boy carries a class 5 anomaly. Mutation risk detected."
— "What?! Shigeo recoiled. I'm not... I'm fine! It's just the environment!"
But he knew. A burning heat had been building in his chest ever since he'd been struck by the tentacle...
Zara stepped in front of him.
— "Touch him, and I swear to you—"
The Inquisitor raised his hand.
A blue energy sword materialized, ready to pierce.
But another Inquisitor stopped him with a gesture.
— "Direct order from command. These two... are requisitioned. They are with Saint Beatrice Don Quixotte."
Murmurs among them. Fleeting glances.
Then, like a disciplined tide, the Inquisitors withdrew.
Two of them remained to escort Zara and Shigeo to an evacuation cable.