Kyle took a step back. Jin's silent, dark gaze frightened him more than any weapon ever could. To cover his terror and weakness, Kyle turned to the robotic soldiers and screamed hysterically, "Raise the torture energy to the maximum! Shock him to death! I want to see his body burn!"
The soldiers stepped forward to execute the lethal command, but suddenly, a firm and decisive female voice echoed through the room: "Stop immediately!"
It was Mika. She stepped forward with steady paces and stood between Kyle and the soldiers. "Supreme Leader Zoro's orders were clear, Kyle. He ordered his torture, not his death. If you overstep his commands, I will report you personally."
Kyle glared at her with malice and withdrew in anger. Mika wasn't just defending the rules; deep in her heart, she harbored immense loyalty and respect for Jin. Even though he was now considered a traitor, he had always been the leader who protected his team.
Back at the Central Command Tower, inside Jin's isolated suite, Julia was wiping her tears, preparing for the most dangerous decision of her life. She wouldn't stay here waiting. She had to escape.
She asked Jax—the vent rat—for help. Jax dropped down from the ceiling, bringing her a dark gray suit and a face mask identical to the uniforms worn by maintenance workers in the City of Darkness.
"The most important thing is your golden hair," Jax said, carefully hiding it under a thick hood. "In this capital, any color other than black and gray is considered a crime."
Julia put on the outfit and slipped out of the suite, walking through the cold metallic corridors. Her heart beat like war drums—a mix of mortal terror and desperate courage. Right above her, Jax crawled silently through the ventilation ducts to track and protect her.
Suddenly, the blood froze in Julia's veins.
At the end of the hallway, Kyle was marching with angry steps, returning from the Abandoned Castle. Julia lowered her head, trying to pass by him as a cleaner, but Kyle abruptly stopped right in front of her!
A terrifying silence fell. Kyle looked at her with a piercing, suspicious gaze. Her blue eyes, her figure... she looked entirely too familiar! He placed his hand on his weapon and was on the verge of exposing her, but he dismissed his doubts, brushing them off as mere hallucinations born of exhaustion.
"You! Worker!" Kyle said arrogantly. "Go immediately to Central Administration and get me the access code for Inspector Number 1's suite. Tell them it is by order of Inspector Kyle."
Julia lowered her head even more and said in a disguised, gruff voice, "Yes, sir."
As soon as Kyle walked away, Julia let out a breath of relief, feeling as though her soul had returned to her body, and hurried toward the exit.
Julia exited the massive building and stood in the main square of the capital. She was awestruck by the frightening scene: blue and red neon lights piercing the fog, towering buildings like metallic needles, and the people... the people here walked like the dead. No one laughed, no one spoke. Everyone wore armor or smart glasses, their faces devoid of any expression. They had turned into machines, slaves to technology and slaves to the System.
Julia's heart broke with sorrow for this miserable existence, and suddenly...
A masked figure grabbed her hand tightly and screamed in her face with a terrifying voice!
Julia gasped, nearly losing consciousness from terror, thinking Zoro's soldiers had caught her and that this was the end. But the masked figure pulled off his disguise and burst into hysterical laughter. It was Jax!
"Oh my god! I terrified you, didn't I? Hahaha!" Jax said, clutching his stomach.
Julia's face flushed red with anger, and she raised her hand to strike him hard, but remembered she was in the middle of the square. She swallowed her anger and sighed in utter helplessness.
Jax contacted an old friend who worked in the scrapyard and borrowed an old, beat-up hovercraft. They boarded the vehicle, and Julia said eagerly, "Hurry, Jax! We need to go to the Abandoned Castle to save Jin!"
The craft sped off, but Julia noticed something strange. The blue lights of the capital began to fade, replaced by darkness and barren plains. Her eyes widened in shock. "Jax! You're heading toward the Outcasts' land! We're going the wrong way!"
Jax looked at her with eyes full of sorrow and sadness, and said quietly, "We aren't going the wrong way, Julia. We have to escape to your village. Your mother is waiting for you."
Julia screamed in a meltdown, "What are you saying?! And Jin? How do I save him? I am the reason for all his suffering! Take me back right now!"
She began hitting Jax's shoulder, crying, "You betrayed me, Jax! I thought you were my friend and that you were going to help me!"
Jax remained silent for a few seconds, then said in a serious tone she had never heard from him before: "These are Dr. Aris's orders. He knew you were reckless, and that this recklessness of yours would lead us all to the abyss. Your presence in the capital threatens Jin's life even more. Saving yourself is saving Jin's sacrifice."
Meanwhile, back in the capital, Kyle stood before the door to Jin's suite. He entered the stolen secret code, and the metal door slid open.
Kyle smiled a demonic smile as he saw a figure lying flat on the bed, covered by a thick blanket.
"I'm here, prey," Kyle said, approaching slowly. "Today is your last day in this world. Leader Zoro has ordered me to kill you, you miserable wretch."
Kyle drew a red laser sword and, with one brutal strike, sliced the bed in half!
But... instead of blood, white wool and feathers scattered into the air!
Kyle stepped closer in disbelief, lifting the cover to find that it wasn't Julia, but merely decoy pillows arranged to look like a human body.
Kyle exploded in anger, suddenly remembering the "spider chip." He pulled out his tracking device to see what it had recorded, only to find that the chip had been completely crushed and destroyed!
"Damn it! She escaped!" Kyle screamed furiously.
He immediately sent a red alert to Central Administration, demanding troops be deployed to every inch of the capital to find her at any cost. And in that very moment, the biggest shock hit him. He remembered the female worker with the blue eyes in the hallway!
"That familiar face... it was Julia! How did I not notice her? How could I be so stupid?!"
Regret consumed his mind, and he began slamming his head hard against the metal wall. "This was my final mission! Just one step away from becoming Inspector Number 1 instead of that fool, Jin!"
Mika entered the room and stated with artificial coldness, "Sir, the soldiers are searching everywhere and have not logged any suspicious escapes. I am monitoring the camera feeds, and there is no sign of her." (In her heart, Mika was smiling, breathing a sigh of relief over the girl's escape.)
Kyle had no choice. He walked with hesitant, fearful steps toward the throne room. How would he tell the Supreme Leader of his failure?
He entered the darkened hall. Zoro was sitting on his throne like the God of Death.
"Where is the girl?" Zoro asked with a voice as terrifying as a thunderclap.
Kyle gulped, and with hesitant, stuttering words, he replied, "Sir... she... she escaped, and she hasn't been found."
In the blink of an eye, Zoro vanished from his chair and reappeared right in front of Kyle. He grabbed him by the throat and threw him with immense force until he crashed into the wall, falling to the ground coughing up blood.
"You are nothing!" Zoro roared, his eyes glowing red with rage. "You don't amount to an inch of Jin's perfection! If he hadn't betrayed me, you would have never even dreamed of replacing him, you foolish nobody! Get out of my sight before I turn you to ash!"
Kyle limped out, in agonizing pain, his black heart throbbing with spite and hatred. He swore to himself that the day would come when he would take Zoro's place and end his reign forever.
Far away from this madness, the craft arrived at the Outcasts' land.
Julia stepped out and ran toward her old village. She pushed open the door of their dilapidated wooden cabin. The place was quiet, and there in the corner, her mother, Elara, was sleeping on a simple bed, tightly clutching an old photo of herself with her murdered husband and her daughter.
Julia broke down in tears. She approached with slow steps and whispered with a trembling voice, "Mother... I've come back to you."
Her mother opened her eyes slowly, initially thinking it was a beautiful dream amidst her sorrowful ones. But when she blinked and saw the daughter she had been parted from truly standing before her, the picture fell from her hand.
The mother sat up, her eyes widening in shock, then let out a cry of joy mixed with endless tears: "Julia?! My sweetheart! My soul!"
Julia threw herself into her mother's embrace, and they held each other fiercely. They wept bitterly together, as if all the torments of the past days were melting away in this warm embrace—the embrace of a mother and daughter in a merciless world.
In the cold throne room, after driving Kyle away, Zoro sat alone in the darkness. Anger squeezed his chest, but it was an anger mingled with a strange feeling he hadn't experienced in decades... emptiness.
Zoro thought to himself: "Jin's betrayal is unforgivable... the punishment for treason is death." But, despite his absolute cruelty, he knew deep down that Jin was never just a soldier or a tool. Throughout all these years, Zoro had no right hand other than Jin. He was his spiritual son, molded by his own hands, his third eye with which he oversaw the kingdom, and his sword upon which he relied for everything. And now... what would the God of Death do without his scythe?
Zoro decided to go and see his condition for himself. And in the blink of an eye, faster than the wind, the Supreme Leader descended right into the middle of the Abandoned Castle.
Zoro walked with heavy footsteps until he reached the dark torture chamber. There, he saw his greatest soldier, his loyal and perfect operative, suspended by chains, broken, and stained with the shame of betrayal.
When Zoro looked at Jin, a powerful wave of disgust and anger swept over him. "How could you let your emotions taint you like this? How did you descend into such weakness?" Zoro asked himself with disdain.
Zoro kept staring at Jin's exhausted face, and suddenly, Jin's features transported him away... far, far away into a distant past Zoro had tried to bury. Jin had always reminded him of his own youth, reminding him of who he was before he turned into this metallic monster.
The Supreme Leader's mind traveled back to those bygone days, when the "City of Darkness" still bore its old, beautiful name: "The White Pearl". In that era, the world was fine. There were no black armors or red screens. The city radiated purity and brilliance; people laughed in the streets, love filled the homes, and tranquility reigned over hearts. No fear, no tyranny, no violence, no murder. Everyone was happy.
Even he... Zoro... had been happy in his former life. He possessed a beating heart once.
Until that incident occurred, turning the tables. Something made that innocent, vibrant young man into a tyrannical despot.
"It was all because of her..." Zoro whispered to himself, his eyes gleaming with an ancient pain.
Zoro abruptly snapped out of his memories, returning to his harsh reality. He looked at the suspended Jin, and with a decisive word and a terrifying voice, he ordered the robotic guards standing in the dark:
"Release him."
The guards stepped back, shocked by the command, but they obeyed immediately. Jin collapsed onto the cold floor, panting.
"I will end this farce today," Zoro said coldly, looking down at Jin lying at his feet.
Zoro raised his right arm, and suddenly, a screen sprang from his wrist—one entirely different from all the screens in the capital. It was neither gold nor red; it was the Royal Silver Screen, the Supreme Leader's display, used only for decisions that alter the course of history.
The silver screen illuminated Zoro's dark face. With a strict, robotic voice devoid of any mercy, the Supreme Leader uttered the command that would turn the world upside down:
"Central System... activate Order..."