— Where Loyalty Turns to Ash
The night stood still, like water frozen mid-ripple. The last remnants of starlight flickered faintly behind a veil of smog, barely holding their place in the sky.
Shawn could still hear Don's voice echoing in his earpiece—a low, grim warning:
"They're already on their way."
He looked up toward the far end of the alley.
Figures began to take shape in the darkness—phantoms born of nightfall, or perhaps the long-brewing echoes of a nightmare finally stepping into form.
LOA. The Legion of Awareness—CP-HUB's enforcers of consciousness control.
Their uniforms were a clinical gray-black. Neural suppression rigs pulsed blue on their chests, emitting waves that disrupted thought.
Lindsay moved like lightning, her body a shield between Shawn and the legionnaires.
Shawn spoke in a whisper. "This isn't a drill anymore, is it?"
Lindsay nodded, her expression hard as frost. "They're serious this time."
The legionnaires had them surrounded. One soldier raised a quantum warning beacon, and a cold synthetic female voice cut through the air:
"Subjects S-1127 and L-520, you are suspected of disrupting the consciousness order and unauthorized activation of a cognitive interference core. Surrender the Guiding Artifact immediately or you will be treated as hostile entities."
Shawn's chest tightened. The Guiding Artifact—They were referring to the Meta Band on his wrist. He felt it warm slightly against his skin, as if responding to the tension with a sentient awareness.
He opened his mouth to speak, but Lindsay silenced him with a glance. Calmly, she stepped forward, facing the commanding officer at the front of the squad.
"Under Article 17 of the Perception Interference Treaty, the Meta-Phenomena Research Center holds autonomous rights to deploy Class-A consciousness resources during the prototype testing phase. Your intervention is in violation."
She produced an ID sigil. A virtual seal spun into the air, casting a rotating blue insignia for all to see.
The soldiers hesitated. But before anyone could reply, the heavy, metallic thump of boots echoed from behind.
It was a sound like iron scraping glass.
Gary.
He emerged from the back line of the legion, expressionless, sweeping his gaze over Shawn with a hint of a familiar smirk.
"Well, well. Been a while, Shawn," he drawled. "Last time I saw you, wasn't it the Eastern Shanghai skirmish? You really have a knack for showing up where you shouldn't."
Shawn's brows furrowed. "You're leading the Legion now? Or still hiding behind your mind-rewriting protocols?"
Gary shrugged. "Call it brainwashing or regulation—as long as it keeps the world in order, it's worth it."
His eyes slid to Lindsay, and his voice turned sharp. "But you—I didn't expect this. The obedient little student who once snapped to attention at every order, now daring to defy me in public?"
Lindsay didn't flinch. Her voice was like a blade. "If the order is wrong, defiance is duty. You once told me loyalty isn't obedience—it's standing for the truth when it matters."
Gary gave a cold chuckle. "You remembered that, huh? Shame this isn't a classroom."
He flicked his wrist, opening a high-clearance command interface. A red directive flared into the air.
"This is a Prime Directive. Any element that could compromise the launch of the Vision Ark is to be eliminated—immediately."
His gaze locked on theMeta Band at Shawn's wrist
"Be it object... or person."
Before the first shot was fired, the mindscape exploded.
The legionnaires moved like clockwork, forming a tactical net. Neural interference pulses burst outward in waves. The air itself rippled—sharp, invisible razors slicing through the boundaries of thought.
Lindsay spun, activating a psychic shield. Threads of blue-white energy surged around her and Shawn, forming a temporary haven.
"Close your eyes. Don't think. Nothing," she shouted. "They're tracking us through emotional fluctuations!"
Shawn tried to focus, but the pressure was relentless. He could feel fragments of thought being torn from him—memories of childhood humiliation, a summer day in the wheat fields with his father, and an unanswered question that had haunted him forever:
What exactly is hidden inside me?
"Too strong..." he muttered through clenched teeth.
Lindsay lashed out with a thought-warp blade, knocking one of the attackers off their feet. But more were closing in.
Gary watched coldly from behind the line. He didn't move. Just raised a hand and ordered:
"Deploy the Nocturne Protocol."
Instantly, several elite legionnaires activated a black mindfield matrix. The light around them collapsed, plunging the alley into a nightmare zone. Every motion became sluggish. The ground felt like thick swampwater, dragging at their will.
"Don't stop! Break through!" Lindsay screamed. "They've only got eighty seconds of matrix charge!"
They sprinted, dodging shrapnel of thought and memory. At the corner,Shawn raised his wrist —his Meta Band ignited with a pulse of blue light, sending a shockwave that hurled the enemies backward.
.
"You really have changed," Lindsay said, glancing sideways at him. "You triggered deep-layer resonance?"
Shawn panted. "Wasn't me. It... woke up on its own."
Just as they were about to be cornered again, a thunderous boom erupted from the far side of the school wall. An energy barrier shattered—and through the night mist charged a fully armed squad.
O.S.S. soldiers.
Midnight-blue armor, identification wings on their backs, and precision disruptors humming with power—these weren't opponents the Legion could handle lightly.
"Secure the assets! Deploy Tier-Two defensive field!" their commander barked.
Chaos erupted— A heartbeat of silence— Then the world exploded.
Consciousness blasts met gunfire in a storm of heat and fury.
Shawn stared at the familiar insignia and markings of the O.S.S. An ironic twist burned in his mind—those he had once fought as enemies now stood as his last shield.
Then a nearby O.S.S. officer tackled a legionnaire and shouted toward him:
"Shawn! If you want to live, come with us! We don't trust them anymore either!"
Lindsay stared in shock at the sudden arrival. "Why would you—?"
"No time!" the soldier cut her off. "You're the key to exposing the truth!"
They turned to flee with the O.S.S. cover fire behind them.
But then—
another presence descended.
Like a gale ripping through the sky, a figure burst through the flames and smoke. Her cloak whipped up the dust as she stepped into the fray, her voice tearing through the madness:
"Girl—come with me!"
Shawn froze in confusion.
But Lindsay stopped dead in her tracks, as if struck by lightning.
Her eyes welled with emotion—shock, pain, and finally a trembling trace of relief.
Her lips parted, and in a whisper that was almost a cry, she said:
"…Grandmother?"