Pitch dark.
No light could pass.
No light could catch the dark.
Only the echo of screams and the roar of an engulfed bus filled the air. Then came the growls. Closer. Louder. Hungrier.
"Haru. Haru—wake up. We… we have to get out of here. QUICK!"
Raito's voice tore through the chaos as he shook the unconscious Haruka.
"Raito… wait…" Haruka gasped, blood veiling his lips. His eyes fluttered open, dazed and reddened. His face was streaked in crimson.
"They're coming. Let's go."
Raito didn't hesitate. He hauled Haruka up and dragged him into a nearby pharmacy lit only by flickering flames from the distant wreckage.
"I'm… sorry… for slowing you down…"
Haruka's voice trembled, each word broken by blood and guilt.
"Mom said I gotta look after you. I'm not gonna let you die."
Raito laid him gently behind the front counter, already overrun by terrified survivors.
"Stay down. I'll find something to stop the bleeding."
He vanished behind the aisles.
Then—
POP! POP! POP!
Gunfire tore through the pharmacy like thunder.
Masked men kicked the door in, firing indiscriminately. Screams followed—but were silenced one by one, with the sickening rhythm of falling bodies.
"Go."
One of the gunmen gestured forward as another leapt over the counter—his eyes landing on Haruka's trembling form.
"We got one. A kid."
The man leaned closer. "Looks beat to hell."
And then—
Steel met flesh.
Raito exploded out of nowhere, plunging a blade into the man's side again, and again.
Again.
The attacker collapsed like a crumbling wall, blood spilling across the white tiles.
Raito grabbed the fallen man's weapon, spun, and opened fire—hitting two more. The rest fled.
Haruka could only stare.
Raito's face was unrecognizable.
Splattered with blood.
A hollow grin stretched across it. His eyes? Alive. Thrilled. Consumed.
He dropped the gun and knelt beside Haruka.
"Hehe… hope you didn't see that. We'll stay here until you're better, okay? Heh…"
Then—
A groan behind them.
POP!
---
"HARUKA!"
Alice's voice ripped through the fog. Her hands gripped his shoulders, shaking him violently.
Haruka jolted awake.
Tears streaked his face. His breath trembled. "No…" he whispered.
They weren't in a pharmacy. They were in the ashes of the Heart of Therma HQ. Charred steel. Burned papers. Soot. Silence.
"We have to search inside. For survivors—if any."
Alice's voice was cold but determined. She tugged him forward.
Haruka looked back at the crumbling walls behind him.
They were alone.
But the ghosts weren't gone.
"I can't believe Obsidian would do this," Mika said softly, her voice trembling.
The group stepped deeper into the crumbled ruins of H.O.T HQ. Every footstep crunched on glass, stone, or burnt paper—each sound whispering of the horrors that took place here.
"Is anyone here?! Anyone alive?!" Alice shouted into the blackened halls.
No response. Just the flames, crackling behind them like screams trapped in walls.
"I doubt it," Jax muttered, peering behind a blood-smeared security booth.
Eventually, they reached a large bunker door—scorched, dented, but sealed. No sign of forced entry.
"What do you think?" Rhea asked.
"Survivors," Alice replied. She stepped aside. "Leo."
Leo nodded, rushing forward. He crouched near the panel, rigging wires with swift fingers, then flicked open his laptop.
"Back up."
Everyone fell back.
BOOM!
The explosion shook the room. More of the ceiling collapsed, dust and ash raining down.
CREEEEEAAAKK.
The bunker doors opened.
Inside—an armory. A massive medical supply cache. Computers. But most of it lay in ruin from the blast.
Mika and Jax whooped as they rushed inside—
But the celebration stopped fast.
A hand grabbed Jax's ankle from under the rubble.
"Zombie!" Jax yelled, grabbing a nearby machete.
"WAIT!" Alice barked.
Jax froze mid-swing.
"A survivor," Alice confirmed, kneeling beside the injured man.
"Mika, can you save him?"
Mika rushed over. She knelt, examined him quickly.
"No... It's too late. His body's running on pure adrenaline. When it stops—he's gone."
Blood bubbled at the man's lips.
Alice gripped his hand. "Who did this?"
The man shuddered. "He... he followed... Obsidian..."
"Who followed?!"
"Rai—"
Cough. Gasp.
Silence.
The name turned the room to stone.
Jax's breath hitched.
Mika trembled.
Leo's hands shook.
Rhea slowly pulled off her hoodie, revealing her scarred scalp.
"Did I... did I hear him right?" she whispered.
"There's no way it can be him."
Then—
SLAM.
Haruka rushed in, panic on his face.
Jax was on him in seconds, slamming him into the wall and raining punches before Haruka could breathe.
"JAX! STAND DOWN!" Alice screamed.
Jax froze, hand raised, eyes wet.
"If we kill him—if we leave him here—we might still survive!"
"Ma..." Rhea stepped forward, broken. "Tell me I heard wrong. Please."
SLAP.
Alice's hand cracked across her daughter's cheek. Rhea fell. Mika followed, curling into sobs.
Alice dropped her shotgun.
Her voice was just a whisper.
"Raito."
Haruka froze.
"What?" he croaked.
"He was here," Alice said. "He's hunting us."
She dropped to her knees.
Tears hit the shotgun.
"N-no way—" Haruka began—
CRACK.
Another punch from Jax sent him to the floor, unconscious.
"Mama, we leave him. We run. He's the reason Raito came."
Jax began loading weapons, grenades, everything he could carry.
"No!" Alice barked.
"There's a reason Haruka's searching for Raito."
"That has NOTHING to do with us!" Leo shouted.
"He's a Fang," Alice said. "My child. Just like you all."
"He's weak, Ma! He nearly passed out using his powers!"
"Then we help him," Alice replied. Her voice firm now. "I will."
She lifted her shotgun. A small smile flickered.
"Mika. Snap out of it. Use Haruka's blood to help Hana. We evacuate. Therma has fallen."
She turned to the vault's shadowy exit.
"I'm coming for you, Michael."