Kairo lunged.
The heated metallic chain whistled through the air toward Rin—but she cut it clean in mid-swing, sparks flashing as metal split apart. Kairo responded instantly, black gas bursting from his coat and flooding the room.
Useless.
Every one of them had gas masks on now.
Snarling, Kairo switched tactics. Small knives flew from his hand in rapid succession. Rin twisted aside from the first, then met the next three with her blade—sharp, precise parries that sent the knives clattering across the floor.
She vanished.
Light-green particles flickered—and Rin reappeared directly in front of him.
Her sword carved across his right collarbone, slicing through and across his upper back. Kairo staggered as blood sprayed, his breath hitching once before rage overtook pain.
He spun wildly, movements erratic and violent, swinging a newly formed heated chain in a brutal arc. Rin blocked again and again—above her head, at her side, low near her legs—each impact ringing through the room. She twisted into a wide backspin and teleported away—
—but Kairo was already there.
It was as if he blinked into place above her, chain crashing down. Rin caught it with her sword at the last possible moment. The blade flared, and the chain finally snapped in two.
Still, Kairo didn't stop.
He lunged forward, striking twice toward her midsection. The black gas thickened, blurring vision—but Rin read the movement, blocking both blows cleanly.
Kairo retreated to the far side of the room.
At that exact moment, the massive double doors burst open.
Guards poured in.
Axel and Goro—free now, though still wearing power-blocking collars—opened fire with pulse rifles, dropping soldiers as they rushed forward. The room erupted into chaos.
Veyron stayed crouched in the corner with Akari, arms wrapped around her, hands covering her ears as shots rang out.
Goro ran over, breath sharp. "We're getting her out," he said to Veyron fast. "Closest storage room near the exit elevator. Big containers. Hide there."
Veyron shook his head instantly. "No. I'm not letting her go—"
"Let me go, big brother," Akari said softly, tears trembling in her voice. She held onto his sleeve. "I'll be okay."
Veyron opened his mouth to argue—but then he saw it.
Kairo on one side of the room. Rin on the other.
This place was anything but safe.
"…Okay," Veyron said, jaw tight. "Go. Hide. We're there in ten minutes."
Goro fired a few more shots to clear space, then grabbed Akari's hand and sprinted down the opposite hallway, disappearing into the lab.
Axel stayed with Veyron.
They turned their weapons on Kairo.
Shots flew. Kairo dodged some, took others—but even bleeding, he didn't slow. It was like the damage barely registered.
And he was still smiling.
Kairo reached into his coat and pulled out a small light gray remote. It was packed with buttons—but one stood out. A large red one.
His eyes were wild. Unblinking. He was milliseconds away.
Rin vanished.
Light-green particles flashed—and suddenly she was right beside him.
The remote clattered to the floor.
Kairo screamed as his hand spasmed, the pain finally breaking through his fury. Blood streamed down his arm, but the sound that came out of him wasn't fear—it was rage. Pure, unfiltered rage. Adrenaline drowned everything else.
He swung his injured hand at Rin, smearing blood across her face.
She didn't flinch.
Instead, Rin placed her glowing green blade gently against his neck and held it there, steady.
"This can end in a second," she said coldly. "Don't test me."
Kairo only smirked. He didn't say a word. There was something wrong with his eyes—like he was enjoying this, the pain, the chaos, the loss.
Before Rin could move again, guards stormed into the room from multiple angles. Electric webbing fired out, wrapping around Veyron and Axel before either could react. Both cried out as the current surged through them, muscles locking.
Rin disappeared.
Again.
Again.
Again.
She moved so fast it barely registered—green flashes snapping across the room. One moment guards were charging in, the next they were collapsing. Those outside the doors froze, terror spreading instantly. Some dropped their weapons. Others ran, screaming.
To them, Rin wasn't human anymore.
She was a green-eyed nightmare.
Kairo collapsed to the floor.
The world blurred. Sound dulled. His strength drained all at once, the adrenaline finally crashing. The floor beneath him was slick, his vision fading in and out as he stared at his own trembling arms.
And then—
He wasn't alone.
His grandfather stood in front of him, just as he remembered. Calm. Warm. Real.
"Everything's going to be okay, my boy," the old man said softly. "We'll meet soon."
Kairo shook his head weakly. "N-no… no… NO—"
He slammed his injured hand against the floor in a desperate, furious motion, snarling through tears and breath.
"You ASSHOLES won't win this fight!"
With everything he had left, Kairo pushed himself up and staggered toward Veyron.
A single shot rang out.
Axel's pulse round struck him square in the forehead.
Kairo dropped instantly, hitting the ground hard—motionless, but still barely clinging to life.
In his fading vision, his grandfather reached out once more. Then the image dissolved into drifting clouds, the room filling with light.
Rin moved to free Veyron and Axel as alarms screamed in the distance. Everyone turned toward the massive double doors and started running—
They were only a few steps away.
The doors slammed shut.
Violently. Without warning.
Metal groaned as the locks engaged.
Behind them, Kairo's eyes snapped open.
Blood began to leak from them as he smiled.
The black gas in the room began to thin.
Not disappearing—retreating.
It peeled away from the walls, the ceiling, the corners of the room, all of it being dragged back toward one place.
Kairo.
The gas streamed into what was left of his body like it was being inhaled by something far worse than lungs.
Rin didn't hesitate.
She vanished.
A flash of light-green.
She reappeared behind Kairo—her blade slicing clean through his remaining healthy arm. It fell away, useless, hitting the floor with a dull sound.
Another flash.
She was in front of him now.
Her sword moved once.
Kairo's head separated from his body and struck the ground, rolling to a stop.
Silence.
Axel and Veyron just stared.
Then reality slammed back in.
They rushed the door—punching it, kicking it, firing pulse rounds into the reinforced metal. Nothing. The door didn't even shake.
Rin turned, breathing hard, stepping back into a stance. Green fire wrapped tighter around her sword as she prepared to cut through the door herself.
That's when something huge hit her.
A massive arm—thick, distorted, made entirely of black gas—slammed her against the door with terrifying force, pinning her there. The impact echoed through the room.
"No way…" Veyron muttered.
He turned.
Kairo's body was standing again.
Headless. Mutilated. Impossible.
Black gas poured upward from his neck, shaping itself into something grotesque—a new head, formed of smoke and shadow. Two red lights burned where eyes should be, and a wide, unnatural smile stretched across it.
Rin strained against the pressure holding her. "You're—"
"Dead?" the thing finished for her.
The gas shifted again, molding itself where Kairo's missing arm had been. It twisted and hardened into a massive, insect-like limb—long, bent, wrong. It flexed as if testing its strength.
Kairo laughed.
Not a human laugh anymore.
"Finally," he said, voice echoing and layered, like it came from multiple throats at once. "FINALLY."
Axel swallowed hard.
"He awakened," he said quietly.
No one argued.
They stood there in disbelief, staring at what Kairo had become—a corpse held upright by living shadow, a black-gas phantom wearing the remains of a human body.
And it was smiling at them.