For the first time since this whole operation started, real confusion cracked through the Collector's voice.
"...why are they answering to you?"
Inside the crystal, the miniature Aldric Marune stood without moving. His eyes lifted, found Zekai's, held there.
His expression never shifted. Somehow, faint as a voice carried on wind through glass, Aldric's words reached him anyway.
'...Don't break it.'"
No panic in his voice. No urgency at all. Just the absolute certainty that Aldric Marune was still completely in control of himself.
The broken chain hit the ground. Pendants scattered across the ruined courtyard in every direction, ringing out that same glass chorus.
For the first time since stepping into Headquarters, the Collector's expression came apart at the seams.
The faint smile vanished. Something raw took its place.
"...Put it down." Quiet. Somehow that landed heavier than shouting ever could. "Give it back."
His emerald eye stayed locked on the pendant in Zekai's hand. For the first time, whatever sat behind that eye carried real weight — the weight of losing something that actually mattered to him.
His killing intent flooded the courtyard.
"You have no idea what you just took from me."
A sound cut through the tension from somewhere above.
WHUMP. WHUMP. WHUMP.
Rotor blades, rolling across the ruins like distant thunder, drowning out everything else.
A black helicopter broke through the smoke above the ruined Headquarters, descending fast. Steel cables dropped from its underside.
The Collector looked up.
"...Right on time."
One cable wrapped around his torso with mechanical precision. Another dropped toward the scattered pendants on the ground.
Sebastian's eyes went wide. "They're pulling him out — no!"
The side hatch slid open. A boot rested on the metal lip. A gloved hand caught the descending cable, and a woman's voice cut through the noise from inside the cabin.
"Package secured. Get him out — now."
Zekai broke into a sprint. "You're not taking him."
He pushed off the ground hard, the distance closing fast. Ten meters. Seven. Four.
The hatch slid open further. A masked operative shouldered a launcher and aimed it down at him.
"...Fire."
FWOOOSH!
A compact missile screamed toward the courtyard.
Every branching path in Zekai's mind collapsed into the same outcome: death, if he stayed where he was.
He crossed his arms over his face and threw himself backward.
BOOOOOOOM!!
The blast swallowed the exact spot he'd been standing a half-second earlier. The shockwave forced his arm harder against his eyes as dust, broken stone, and burning debris tore across the battlefield.
By the time the smoke thinned, the helicopter had already climbed well out of reach.
Sebastian had already dragged Iris further back before the missile hit — she lay pale but breathing against the corridor wall, untouched by the blast.
Sebastian watched from the corridor, blood still drying on his collar. Whatever had just moved through Zekai hadn't answered to rank, to Grave Energy, to anything the Bureau had a name for. It had simply been obeyed. His own Echo Trace still hadn't come back online since he'd tried to read the kid like a case file.
That should have worried him more than it did.
The Collector stood framed in the open hatch. Blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
He smiled anyway.
"Keep the pendant."
"I'll collect both of you later."
The hatch slid shut. The aircraft vanished into the clouds.
Silence dropped back over the courtyard. Nothing left but drifting ash.
Zekai took one step forward. His vision split into two overlapping images.
"...Tch."
Blood slid quiet from one nostril. His knees buckled slightly under him.
The crimson interface flickered back into view.
[ Limited Control Authority ]
Duration Complete
Stability Falling...
Every muscle in his body turned to lead all at once.
"...So that's the cost."
His legs barely felt like they belonged to him anymore. He forced his fist open, slow.
The pendant was still there. Inside, the miniature Aldric remained exactly as composed as before — arms folded, waiting, like this whole ordeal was simply the next item on a list he hadn't finished yet.
Zekai let out a long breath.
"...I don't know how to get you out of there yet."
He slipped the crystal into his pocket, careful.
"But until I figure it out — you're staying with me."
A chill crawled up the back of his neck the moment he'd finished the sentence.
Not cold. Something else. The unmistakable weight of being watched.
His whole body went rigid. Something stood behind him.
Not physically. Not spiritually either, exactly. Just — there, occupying a space his senses couldn't fully account for.
Not close enough to touch. Not far enough to ignore. Instinct screamed before conscious thought had time to catch up.
He turned, slow.
Nothing. Drifting ash. Fractured concrete stretching into silence.
"..."
His eyes narrowed. Nobody stood there. And still — the pressure held its ground, hovering just past his shoulder, like something had planted one foot outside the edge of reality itself and was watching him through the gap.
His heartbeat slowed to something deliberate.
"...Who's there?"
No answer. Just wind threading through broken concrete. Nothing moved.
And still he couldn't shake the sense that something stood directly behind him. Watching. Waiting. Not hostile. Not friendly either.
Just present.
Like reality itself had turned its head and noticed him standing there.
Something heavy settled into his chest, the specific weight of being recognized by something that had no business recognizing anyone.
Then—
Zzzzsup!
The crimson interface flared for less than a full second.
[ Detected ]
Unknown Devil Signature
Synchronization... Denied
Source...
Unknown
The window vanished before he'd finished reading it.
"...What?"
Far above the battlefield, the helicopter cut a straight line toward the horizon. Somewhere inside its cargo hold—
A single monitor flickered awake. A distorted voice spoke four words into the empty cabin.
"Phase One is complete."
The screen went dark. No reply came. None had been expected.
The courtyard stayed silent below. Smoke drifted through the wreckage of Bureau Headquarters, carrying the bitter smell of melted stone and scorched steel. Nobody moved.
Not because they couldn't.
Because whatever this had been, it had ended too fast for anyone to process yet.
The helicopter had already vanished into the clouds. Only the fading thump of its rotors lingered in the air above them, and then even that was gone.
✦ End of Chapter 42 — The Man in the Crystal ✦