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Chapter 32 - The One Before All

The air turned cold the moment Subject 00 opened its eyes.

No alarms. No warnings.

Just silence.

Then… it moved.

Not like a person. Not like a machine. But like a force that had been waiting—caged, watching—for too long.

Its body was pale and laced with pulsing silver veins. No emotion. No hesitation. Just purpose.

Lia felt it instantly.

"He's not like us," she whispered.

Kairo stepped in front of her, already charging a blast. "No. He's what Genesis wanted us to be."

Subject 00 looked at them—head tilting slightly. Studying.

And then, in a blink, he was gone.

Before Lia could react, she was slammed into the wall.

Kairo barely had time to shield himself before the air cracked open from the force of a psychic pulse. He hit the ground hard, coughing blood.

Lia stood again—burning, furious—and launched every ounce of her energy in a desperate arc of violet fury.

Subject 00 caught it.

Not absorbed.

Not deflected.

Caught it.

And then crushed it in his hand like it was nothing.

He spoke for the first time, voice layered with static and calm malice. "You are fragments. I am the whole."

He lifted a single finger.

Lia screamed as her body locked up—every nerve sparking with pain. Kairo tried to reach her—but Subject 00 turned his gaze and froze him mid-air, locking him in a grip so strong it fractured bone.

They were powerful.

But they were never meant to win.

---

And then—through the shattered wall of the vault—came a hiss.

Smoke.

A blur of red silk.

Ada Wong.

And beside her, coat flaring, eyes cold, weapon charged—

You.

Subject 00 paused.

Recognition.

His voice dropped lower. "The prototypes. The anomaly and the spy."

You stepped forward, standing between him and the kids.

"They're not prototypes anymore," you said.

Ada smirked, gun in one hand, knife in the other. "And we don't miss twice."

Subject 00 launched toward you.

And this time… he didn't land a hit.

Because you caught him—a perfect counter-strike that sent him skidding backward, the first time he had ever been overpowered.

Ada moved like lightning, slicing through his outer layer with surgical precision, forcing him to adapt to an enemy he hadn't been built to defeat.

Lia collapsed to her knees, watching in shock as you and Ada fought like legends—like two shadows from a forgotten war.

Kairo, barely able to stand, looked at her and whispered, "That's your mom and dad?"

She nodded, fire returning to her eyes. "Yeah."

And finally, with strength reigniting inside her, she rose again.

You, Ada, Lia, and Kairo—together—facing the ultimate weapon.

The family they never expected.

The fight they never predicted.

And the war they were finally ready to end.

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