Chapter 11 - 12
The facility trembled as three SSS-Rank cores collided.
Kai tasted copper—his own blood from Mio's memory assault. Across the shattered containment chamber, Lys struggled against her own frozen restraints.
And Dran?
Dran *laughed* as Mio's crimson energy slammed into him.
"*Pathetic,*" he spat through the blood dripping down his chin. "You let them turn you into a weapon *willingly*?"
Mio's glowing eyes narrowed. "Better a weapon than a *monster* like y—"
Kai *moved*.
Not toward Mio—toward the machine still tethered to her temples. His corrupted fingers *clamped* around the wires.
**SFX: CRACK-ZZT!**
The feedback shriek made Mio scream. The memory storm faltered—
—Just long enough for Lys to *shatter* her ice prison.
"*Now!*" she shouted.
Kai yanked the wires free. Mio collapsed—
—Right into Dran's waiting grip.
"*Enough.*" His brother's voice cut through the chaos. A blade of condensed shadows materialized at Mio's throat. "Phase 2's pretty little failsafe won't be triggering today."
Kai's core *roared* in protest. "Dran—!"
"*Quiet.*" Dran's gold eyes burned. "The WDO's already activated Ragnarok Protocol in three other facilities. We have *minutes* before this city becomes a crater." He jerked his chin toward the exit. "*Move.*"
Lys grabbed Kai's arm. "He's right. The whole block's about to—"
An earth-shaking *boom* cut her off. The ceiling cracked.
Mio stirred in Dran's arms, her voice barely audible:
"...Kai... the children... Sector 4-B..."
His blood ran cold.
The *orphanage wing*.
---
**Chapter 12: "The Last Light" (Season Finale)**
They ran through collapsing hallways, Dran carving a path with his shadows while Lys froze falling debris. Kai carried Mio, her weak fingers clutching his shirt.
"Left," she whispered. "The emergency vault..."
The door was reinforced steel—sealed tight.
Lys placed her palm against it. Frost spread, then *shattered* the locking mechanism.
Inside, rows of stasis pods glowed under emergency lights. Each contained a child no older than ten, their tiny cores flickering through the glass.
Mio stumbled to the control panel. "Override code... 7-2-0-4..."
Kai froze.
*His birthday.*
The pods hissed open. The children didn't wake.
Dran swore. "They're in induced comas. We can't carry them all."
Another explosion rocked the building.
Lys met Kai's eyes—and *nodded*.
He knew what she was thinking. Knew it would cost him.
Kai stepped forward and *placed his corrupted hand on the central console*.
**"Absolute Rewrite: Domain Expansion."**
Black veins *erupted* across his skin. The facility *bent*. Reality itself *groaned* as Kai's power wrapped around every pod, every child—
—And *teleported* them to the safehouse three miles away.
The backlash dropped him to his knees. His right arm *cracked* like porcelain, the corruption now reaching his shoulder.
Lys caught him before he face-planted. "*Idiot!* You could've—"
"*Go.*" Dran shoved them toward the exit. "I'll hold the collapse back."
Mio grabbed his sleeve. "Dran, you can't—!"
He smirked. "*Make sure my little brother doesn't die before I can kill him myself.*"
The last thing Kai saw before Lys dragged him into the sunlight:
Dran standing amid the ruins, shadows swirling, as the world came down around him.
---
**EPILOGUE: "DAWN BREAKS"**
*One Week Later*
Kai stared at his reflection in the diner window. The corruption had receded—mostly—but his right hand remained pitch black, fingers stiff like charcoal.
Across the booth, Mio stirred her tea. "They're calling it the 'Night of Falling Stars.' Six WDO facilities destroyed. Hundreds of test subjects freed." She glanced at Lys, who was reading a stolen WDO datapad. "And your brother?"
Lys's grip tightened. "No body recovered."
A silence. Then—
"*We're not done,*" Kai said quietly.
Mio slid a holodisk across the table. A map pulsed with red markers.
"Phase 3 locations," she said. "They're moving the remaining children here."
The image zoomed in.
A floating fortress.
*Astral Peak Academy.*
Kai's lips curled into a grin.
---
**TO BE CONTINUED IN SEASON 2: "THE CORE WAR"**
---
**Post-Credit Scene:**
*A dark cell deep beneath the academy. The scrape of chains. A chuckle.*
Dran lifted his head, golden eyes gleaming in the dark.
"*About time you showed up, Professor.*"
The door creaked open—
—Revealing Professor Solfrost... *with Lys's frostbite scars crawling up his own face.*
**"Welcome to the endgame, Subject D.V."**