Chapter 10: Change Of Plans
The smoke hadn't even settled.
And then—
CRAWL! CRAWL! CRAWL!
They came.
From rooftops.
From shattered windows.
From sewer grates and broken ventilation shafts.
Freakers.
Dozens.
Then hundreds.
Then—
Too many to count.
Sakumo clicked his blades into reverse grip.
Daito's stance lowered, calm and lethal.
Tasao cracked his neck.
Zumi whispered, "Trap."
No panic.
Just confirmation.
This wasn't defense.
This was extermination.
Through comms, the Boss' voice cut in sharp and cold:
"Extraction point Delta-7. Three klicks east. Move. Kill anything that is not human."
No debate.
No discussion.
Simple.
Brutal.
Clear.
The First Wave
The Freakers weren't like the Enhanced one earlier.
These were feral.
Distorted limbs.
Veins glowing faint violet.
Teeth too long for their own mouths.
They charged in a tidal surge.
"Gwaa!"
"Shroooar!"
"Grrraaa!"
Sakumo and Daito moved in perfect synchronization without speaking.
Left flank collapse.
Right flank suppression.
Sakumo spun through the front line—dual arcs carving space like twin moons.
Daito followed behind him, cutting clean lines through any that slipped past.
Their rhythm was frightening.
SLASH—STEP—PIVOT—THRUST!
SPIN —PARRY —DECAPITATE —ADVANCE!
No wasted movement.
No wasted breath.
BANG! BOOM! BANG!
Zumi fired controlled bursts from elevated cover.
BOOM!
CRASH!
Tasao detonated two pressure mines, collapsing a cluster.
But the Freakers didn't slow down.
They climbed over their own dead.
More emerged from alleyways.
"This is impossible…" one Dreamer muttered.
Daito's jaw tightened.
"This was never about the Chancellor," Sakumo said.
"It was about numbers."
A purge attempt.
If they died here—
No witnesses.
No questions about the Chancellor's words.
About:
NBA
and
Reverent Nicolas Mirage
The truth buried in flesh and smoke.
The swarm broke their line.
A Freaker tackled one of the Dreamers, "Siana Wolf," off a balcony.
More poured through the gap.
SLASH—SLASH—SLASH!
Daito cut through three in one motion and grabbed the fallen operative, pulling them upright.
"Move!" he shouted.
They began pushing east.
Not retreating.
Advancing toward survival.
They reached the main industrial bridge leading toward Delta-7.
And froze.
The street ahead—
Flooded.
An ocean of Freakers.
Thousands.
Waiting.
Not charging.
Waiting.
This wasn't feral chaos.
It was command.
Somewhere in the smoke—
The Chancellor was smiling.
KA-BOOM!
BRRMM!
BOOM!
Explosions detonated behind them.
Rear flank collapsing.
They were surrounded.
Tasao checked his ammo.
Zumi's rifle clicked empty.
Sakumo and Daito stood back-to-back.
Then—
One of the Dreamers stepped forward.
Fretty Kusakabe.
Youngest of the unit.
Quiet. Observant.
He pulled a detonator from his belt.
"No," Daito said immediately.
Fretty smiled faintly.
"They're not human."
SWOOSH!
He sprinted toward the center of the bridge.
Freakers swarmed him instantly.
CLICK!
He jammed the detonator into the bridge's structural charge grid.
Looked back once.
"Tell the Boss… it was worth it."
Click.
KA-BOOM!
BRRMM!
SWOOSH!
The bridge erupted.
Steel screamed.
Concrete shattered.
A firestorm swallowed hundreds of Freakers in a single violent breath.
CRASH!
FALL!
The structure collapsed into the industrial canal below, taking thousands with it.
SWOOSH! FWOOSH!
Shockwaves blasted outward.
Sakumo grabbed Daito and pulled him clear as debris rained down.
Silence followed.
Smoke. Fire. Falling ash.
The path east was open.
Extraction
THUD—THUD—THUD!
They didn't speak as they ran.
They didn't look back.
The aircraft arrived low and fast.
They boarded.
Doors sealed.
Engines roared.
Armagoth shrank beneath them.
Burning.
Still alive.
The Boss stood in the command room.
Arms folded.
Face unreadable.
"Casualties?"
"One," the Woman in White replied softly.
Silence.
Daito removed his blade and set it down slowly.
Sakumo stood beside him.
Neither looked at the other.
Both thinking the same thing.
This wasn't over.
The Chancellor escaped.
The Freakers were coordinated.
The name Reverent Nicolas Mirage echoed like a curse.
And someone—
Somewhere—
Was preparing for a bigger war.
In the darkness of Armagoth's underground tunnels—
The Chancellor stepped through smoke into a hidden chamber.
His expression calm.
"Phase two," he murmured.
Behind him—
GLOW! LIGHT!
Rows of Freaker pods lit up.
* * *
The jet doors were still closing.
Smoke still clung to their armor.
Fretty's absence sat heavy in the air.
No one spoke.
Until Sakumo did.
He stepped toward Daito.
Eyes cold.
"You hesitated."
Daito didn't answer.
"You froze when Kusakabe ran."
Still silence.
And that silence—
Was enough.
"You made him think he had to," Sakumo said.
Daito's eyes lifted slowly.
"That was his choice."
"No," Sakumo snapped.
"That was your weakness."
GURRTLE!
The jet shook through turbulence.
Tension ignited.
Zumi stepped forward. "Not now."
But Sakumo had already decided.
His grief needed a direction.
And he chose Daito.
It happened fast.
Too fast.
SWOOSH!
POW!
Sakumo grabbed Daito's collar, pivoted, and—
Kicked.
The rear hatch had not fully sealed.
The impact sent Daito backward—
FWOO!
Through the half-closed opening—
Into empty air.
Gasps erupted.
"What the hell did you just do?!" Tasao roared.
Sakumo didn't move.
He watched.
As Daito fell.
The lights shrank above him.
Wind tore at his face.
The broken bridge was gone—
Only a massive jagged hole remained where steel once stood.
Below it—
Darkness.
Water.
And movement.
The Freakers that fell.
Still alive.
Still crawling.
Still hungry.
As he plummeted—
Time slowed.
FWOOSH!
Memories flickered.
His uncle standing in the doorway years ago.
Blood on the floor.
Final words burned into his mind:
"Don't trust anyone… for it will be the death of you."
Daito's eyes widened.
Not in fear.
In realization.
Trust.
Kusakabe.
Sakumo.
The NBA.
The Chancellor.
Everyone carried something hidden.
Wind swallowed him.
He disappeared into the abyss.
The splash echoed faintly below.
Then—
Silence.
No resurfacing.
No sign.
Only darkness reclaiming him.
The crew stared at Sakumo.
Horror.
Disbelief.
"You killed him," Zumi said flatly.
Sakumo finally spoke.
"He was compromised."
"Compromised?!" Tasao barked.
"He hesitated twice tonight. Kusakabe died. We don't carry weakness into war."
The words sounded logical.
But grief bled through them.
No one responded.
Because part of them—
Understood the fear behind it.
They left.
* * *
TWISS!
The jet doors opened violently.
Sakumo walked straight into command.
The Boss stood waiting.
"Where is Daito?" he asked.
Silence answered.
Sakumo didn't bow.
"I eliminated the liability."
The room went cold.
"What did you say?"
"He hesitated. Fretty died because of it. I won't allow that again."
For three seconds—
The Boss did not move.
Then—
SWOOSH!
He flipped the command table over.
CRASH! BRRTLE!
It smashed through the reinforced glass wall and shattered against the courtyard below.
"NOOO!!!"
The roar echoed through the base.
Staff froze.
Screens flickered.
The Woman in White stepped back slightly.
"You don't get to decide who lives!" the Boss thundered.
Sakumo stood firm.
"I made the decision before the enemy could."
The Boss' breathing was heavy.
Fury. Regret. Fear.
"You better pray he's dead," the Boss growled.
"Because if he survives…"
He didn't finish.
He didn't need to.
* * *
The Abyss
Far below Armagoth—
In the canal of broken steel—
Bubbles rose.
Freakers clawed at floating debris.
Some tried climbing the shattered support beams.
Then—
SPLASH!
The water stirred violently.
Something moved beneath them.
A blade flashed underwater.
SLASH!
SPLATT!
One Freaker's body split clean in two.
Another sank headless.
A figure rose slowly.
Blood mixing with black water.
Daito.
Alive.
Breathing.
Eyes different.
Colder.
Something inside him had shifted.
He looked upward toward the sky.
No anger.
No panic.
Only one thought echoing with his uncle's voice:
"Don't trust anyone."
In the darkness beneath the ruined bridge—
Daito stood alone among corpses.
Not as part of a team.
Not as a Dreamer.
Not as a soldier.
But as something else.
to be continued.....