Chapter 102: The Vision of the Otherworld
The heavy blast doors groaned as they slid open, revealing a hangar bathed in a low, ultraviolet hum. Ren stepped inside, his breath hitching in his chest. Standing before him, like silent metal gods, were two Knightmare Frames. One was a deep, royal purple with gold trim, its armor sleek and aerodynamic. The other was a menacing, blood-red beast, built with heavy plating and jagged edges meant for front-line devastation.
Ren stared up at them, feeling smaller than he ever had in his life. He walked toward the red one, his hand reaching out to touch the cold, reinforced steel of its leg. He didn't even reach the machine's knee.
"What... what are these doing here?" Ren whispered, his voice echoing in the vast space. "Athelgard doesn't have technology like this."
Mina walked up beside him, her reflection shimmering in the polished purple armor of the second frame. "They don't. These are ghosts from the north. My grandfather brought them back from the Onyx Reach years ago. He was a high-ranking Army Commander and incredibly wealthy. He knew that the Vane had its limits, so he invested in the future."
Ren ran his fingers over a hydraulic line. "They look... unstoppable."
"They are," Mina replied. "But they require a pilot who can handle the mental strain. My grandfather kept them hidden because the King would have seized them as weapons of war."
Mina turned away and walked toward a metal workbench in the corner. On it sat a sleek, silver suitcase. Ren followed her, his curiosity piqued.
"Ren," Mina said, her voice suddenly dropping to a serious, almost intimate whisper. She looked him directly in his one good eye. "Do you trust me?"
Ren blinked, caught off guard by the intensity in her gaze. "What kind of question is that? You broke me out of a death row cell. Of course, I trust you."
"A simple 'yes' or 'no' will do," she pressed. "Do you trust me with your life?"
"Yes," Ren said firmly.
"Then close your eyes."
Ren hesitated for a fraction of a second before lowering his eyelid. He felt Mina step closer, the scent of antiseptic and cold metal surrounding her. He heard the click of the suitcase opening.
Mina reached inside and pulled out an object that looked like a sphere of polished glass and intricate micro-circuitry. It looked like a human eye, but far too perfect. She reached out, her fingers warm against Ren's scarred face.
With surgical precision, she pressed the device into Ren's empty left socket. There was a sharp, electric sting—like a needle made of lightning—as the optical nerves fused with the synthetic interface.
"Open them," Mina whispered, stepping back.
Ren's eye snapped open. For a second, his vision was a chaotic mess of static and digital code, but then, it cleared. He could see. Not just with his right eye, but with the left. The vision was sharper, with a slight blue tint that highlighted heat signatures and structural weaknesses in the room.
"How... how is this possible?" Ren rushed to a nearby mirror. He looked normal. The eye matched his original one perfectly, but when he focused, the pupil dilated with a mechanical whir. "A gift... thank you, Mina. I don't know what to say."
Mina stood in the shadows, a strange, dark smile playing on her lips. "Don't thank me yet. You might recognize the craftsmanship. It belonged to Thomas. You've read his books, haven't you? The ones that talk about a place where magic doesn't exist... a 'Real World'."
Ren froze. The blood drained from his face as he stared at her. The air in the room suddenly felt freezing.
"After all," Mina continued, her smile turning predatory and cold. "You aren't really from around here, are you, Ren? You're from that 'Real World' too."
Ren's heart hammered against his ribs. The secret he had kept buried since the moment he arrived in this world had just been torn open. Before he could utter a word, the lights in the hangar flickered, leaving the room in a suffocating suspense.
The Kimo Estate: A House of Shadows
While the secrets of the bunker were being revealed, the Kimo household was falling into ruins. Lai stood in the middle of the living room, his phone pressed tightly to his ear. His hands were shaking, and his eyes were red from a lack of sleep and sheer panic.
The phone picked up. "Dad? Dad, is that you?"
"Lai? What is it? I'm busy at the Academy," Kimo's voice came through, sounding strained and distant.
"It's Mina! She's gone, Dad! I've looked everywhere—the Academy, the park, her friends' houses. Her window was open and her gear is missing. She's not coming back!" Lai's voice broke into a sob. "And Mom... she's collapsed. The stress, the news about Ren... the doctors say her heart is failing. You need to come home right now!"
There was a long, chilling silence on the other end of the line. Kimo, standing over the lifeless body of Master Kara in the darkened office, felt the weight of his sins finally crashing down.
"I'm coming, Lai," Kimo said, his voice hollow and dead. "I'm coming home now."
He hung up the phone and looked at his blood-stained hands. He had traded his soul for gold to save his family's future, but in the process, he had lost his daughter and was about to lose his wife.
The Master Instructor turned toward the exit, the shadows of the Academy swallowing him whole.