The sky was quiet.
But the silence was not peace. It was the kind of quiet that came before storms. The kind that made soldiers clench their fists without knowing why. The kind that made Ayaka grip her dagger tighter, eyes scanning the horizon.
Kaizen stood alone at the edge of the ridge, looking down at the blackened ruins of Outpost G-9. Smoke curled into the sky like tendrils from a dying god's breath. Charred bodies lay scattered—some human, some Bist.
"I feel it again," he murmured.
Captain Rygar of Squad Umbra joined him. "What do you feel, Veinborn?"
Kaizen's jaw clenched. "The wrong kind of silence. Like something's watching."
Rygar didn't scoff. After Chapter 26's events—after General Krovar kneeled before Kaizen—nobody questioned his instincts anymore.
They moved cautiously into the ruins.
Blood. Burnt steel. Crushed helmets.
It wasn't just an attack—it was an execution.
"What kind of Bist does this?" asked Eryn, one of the scouts, voice trembling.
"No Bist," muttered Rygar. "This was something else."
As they searched, Kaizen's pulse began to quicken. His flame veins flickered faintly, reacting to a presence he couldn't name. Then he saw it—carved into the broken wall of the command center: a sigil glowing in dark red.
An eye, surrounded by splintered shards.
Kaizen staggered back.
That symbol—it was identical to the one he saw in his nightmare weeks ago.
Before anyone could speak, a whisper filled the air.
Low. Jagged. Inhuman.
"He watches from the fracture… The Shard King rises… but the puppet dances first."
Everyone froze.
"Who said that!?" Ayaka shouted.
Suddenly, Eryn screamed.
They turned to see her shaking, pointing toward the shadows beneath a collapsed bunker. A figure stood there, barely visible—tall, wrapped in black tendrils of mist. No face. Just a long, glistening smile.
And then—it was gone.
The mist collapsed into nothing.
Ayaka knelt by Eryn, checking her pulse. "She's alive, but unconscious. Her mind—something shattered it."
Kaizen picked up a shard of black crystal where the figure stood. It pulsed—like a heart.
Rygar snatched it from him. "We take this to HQ. Now."
As they began to leave, Kaizen turned once more toward the rubble. He could feel it.
Something had arrived.
And it wasn't here for a war. It was here for him.
---
Meanwhile… in an unknown chamber…
Dark tendrils coiled around the chamber walls. A massive, cracked mirror stood in the center. Before it knelt a figure—cloaked in shadow, his body built from fragments of stone and energy.
Nerovar.
His voice was like broken glass dragged across metal.
"So... the child glows brighter. Let the embers dance. Let the world crumble."
He looked up, and for a brief moment, his reflection showed Kaizen's face—burning. Screaming.
"Soon."