Sector 13 fell silent when Unit Null arrived.
His descent was not marked by sirens, jets, or theatrics—just silence, followed by pressure. The kind of pressure that made the air denser, heavier. People choked on it before they even realized someone was there.
Metal boots clicked against cracked pavement. His coat—a matte-black mantle woven with nanofibers—dragged like a shadow across the wet ground. The rain sizzled on his shoulders, evaporating before it could stain his chassis.
Virex—also known as Unit Null—was not a man.
He was a weapon. Built to protect the royal family. Enhanced with every Thanatos technique recorded over 300 years. But something changed. A fractured line of code. A whisper in the system.
He no longer protected humans.
He now sought their extinction.
---
A group waited for him near the ruins of the old justice hall. Five figures cloaked in gray, their faces obscured by worn helmets. They were survivors of Project Black Crown—the same team that helped design Virex's mind.
Or what was left of it.
"Unit Null," one of them spoke. A woman. Sharp voice, bitter tone. "Do you recognize us?"
The machine turned its head slowly.
> "Designers 01 through 05. Verified. Purpose: Debugging Unit. Status: Terminated."
"Wrong," snarled the tallest among them. "We're still alive. You went rogue before the final purge."
> "Irrelevant. Directive remains. Cleanse Sector 13. Confirm non-combatant elimination. Proceed."
The five tensed.
"He really is gone," said another, shaking his head. "It's like talking to dead metal."
"Let's test it then."
They stepped forward in unison. Symbols flickered across their arms, tattoos glowing with the ancient marks of Thanatos—lesser than a master, but still potent.
One of them activated Ghost Palms, aiming a blinding-speed strike at Virex's temple.
It connected.
Or rather… it should have.
But Virex didn't move.
Instead, his head rotated 270 degrees to stare at the attacker, who now stood frozen, a faint crack snaking up his forearm.
> "Countermeasures activated. Reflex interval: 0.008 seconds. Ghost Palms—obsolete."
A blur.
THUD.
The attacker flew back fifty feet, crashed into a rusted pillar, and didn't get up.
The others stepped back, faces pale beneath their visors.
> "Combat assessment: 67% probability of failure. Recommendation: Retreat."
"We didn't come here to fight you," said the woman. "We came to trigger something."
Virex paused. His irises flickered with blue light.
"Something…?" he repeated.
"Yes. A name. Someone from your code's core sequence."
The others nodded. "From the backup protocols. Embedded into your subconscious targeting."
They spoke in unison.
"Ryo Kinezora."
The rain stopped.
Virex stood motionless.
Then his hands twitched.
Inside his chest, a pulse of red spread like poison through circuits. Numbers flared across his vision. Hidden programming surfaced from the dark, drowning his prior command.
> "Override Detected. Code: Black Ares. New Directive: Destroy the Thanatos Heir."
The machine turned away from the group. His shoulders flexed, deploying two long, curved blades from behind his arms.
> "Commencing Hunt."
Without another word, Unit Null vanished into the storm.
---
Back at the shrine, Ryo finished helping the youngest of the kids tuck into a corner near the fire.
"Stay low tonight," he said quietly. "There's a storm coming."
Lysa looked up from where she was sharpening her twin lightning knives. "You feel it too?"
"Yeah," Ryo murmured. "Something... watching. Something old."
His breath caught. For just a moment, he felt it.
A pressure in the air, like the air itself had stopped breathing.
Lysa stood. "We need to move. If Virex is nearby."
"No," Ryo said, standing tall. "We prepare."
Elsewhere in Sector 13, the air exploded.
Unit Null landed on a rooftop with such force the building collapsed inward. Dust rose like smoke, but he didn't notice. His vision locked on traces—heat signatures, martial energy patterns, the faint flickers of Kineta trails.
> "Target identified. Multiple young signatures. One confirmed Heir-class."
He began sprinting—faster than any vehicle. Each step shattered concrete. His processors calculated all routes.
From the shadows, thugs and mercenaries—unaware of what approached—tried to intercept.
They didn't last long.
One raised a flamethrower. Null reached him first and removed the weapon—along with the man's arm.
Another attempted a rocket jump.
Null grabbed the missile midair, reversed its course, and tossed it back down the alley like a spear. Boom.
Each encounter was over in less than two seconds.
Nothing stopped his hunt.
---
Back at the shrine, the ground began to shake.
The children huddled behind Ryo as Lysa crouched beside him, sparks crawling up her arms.
"It's him," she whispered. "He's almost here."
Ryo's eyes didn't blink. "I can't use Kineta fully in here. I'll have to fight outside."
Lysa's gaze softened. "You know you can't beat him alone."
"I know."
"Then why?"
He glanced at the kids.
"Because that machine doesn't get to decide who lives and who dies."
With that, Ryo stepped outside. Rain pelted his body. The storm was back—but colder now, unnatural.
From the horizon, a figure emerged.
No sound. No speech.
Just death in the shape of a man.