The smoke had not yet settled when the first siren began to wail.
Kaede's ears rang as she stumbled out of the collapsing shaft, dragging Reiji's half-conscious body across the shattered bridge. Flames roared behind them, consuming the remains of the Forge of Echoes. The sky above the Dominion's industrial district was no longer gray — it pulsed with deep crimson, like a wound torn open across the heavens.
> "Reiji—stay with me!" Kaede shouted, slapping his face lightly.
He groaned, coughing up blood that steamed in the cold air. His pulse flickered under her touch, faint but stubborn. When his eyes opened, they no longer reflected the quiet blue of resolve — they shimmered faintly with traces of shifting silver, remnants of the Echoes he had absorbed.
> "They're… loud," he rasped. "Too many voices."
Kaede pulled him upright. "Then we keep moving before the Dominion hears them too."
In the distance, a low rumble answered her — not thunder, not machines, but the synchronized march of steel boots. Searchlights cut through the smoke, sweeping the ruins. The Dominion's retrieval squads were already here.
The Iron Howl had begun.
A name whispered among resistance circles — the Dominion's fastest response unit, known for moving like wolves through the dark. They didn't just hunt enemies; they erased evidence. And now they were coming for the Forge.
Kaede crouched low, dragging Reiji behind a fallen beam. Through the haze, she could see them — figures clad in matte-black armor, their visors glowing faintly red. The insignia of a wolf's jaw was etched across their shoulders. One of them knelt by the crater where the Forge once stood, touching the scorched metal.
> "Sector Three destroyed," the soldier reported into his comm. "But something's off. There's residue—energy signatures consistent with the Shadow Codex."
Kaede's breath caught. They knew.
Reiji's hand gripped her arm weakly.
> "We can't fight them. Not yet," he whispered.
"Then what do we do?"
"Listen."
The Iron Howl spread out in formation, their movements precise and silent. They carried rifles that hummed with energy resonance — prototypes meant to disrupt neural frequencies. Against someone carrying the Echoes, a single shot could tear Reiji's mind apart.
Kaede studied their leader. A tall figure with a fur-lined collar, his armor older but heavier, customized. His presence alone silenced the others. When he removed his helmet, the breath caught in her throat.
He was human — scarred, gray-eyed, with a voice like cracked steel.
> "Spread out," he ordered. "Find the survivors. The Codex moves again."
Reiji's expression darkened.
> "That's Commander Volkner," he said quietly. "He trained me."
Kaede blinked. "You know him?"
> "He's the one who told me to surrender the Codex to the Dominion. The one who said it would end the war."
The words cut through the noise like a blade. Reiji's hands trembled, his memories flashing — Volkner in the old Shadow Command hall, the promise of peace, the handshake that sealed betrayal. He had been young then, still believing that compromise could end bloodshed.
Now, that same man led the pack hunting him.
The Iron Howl began to advance. Kaede and Reiji crawled toward the service tunnels beneath the platform, but the ground trembled again. From the smoke, Dominion drones descended — their wings slicing through the air with mechanical precision.
Kaede fired twice, her bullets sparking off the armor of one drone. Reiji stumbled beside her, clutching his head as the whispers grew louder inside him.
> "Reiji!" Kaede shouted. "Focus—block them out!"
He drew his blade, the edge still pulsing faintly from the Forge. When the nearest drone dived, he sliced upward. The blade's arc left a faint shimmer — not of light, but of sound, a reverberating hum that cut through the drone's frame like a scream.
The explosion lit the sky.
The sound that followed was not mechanical — it was alive, a roar that reverberated across the ruins.
The Iron Howl turned instantly. Volkner's voice thundered:
> "He's here! The Shadow lives!"
Kaede grabbed Reiji's wrist. "We need to run—now!"
They dashed through the broken alleyways as bullets shattered the walls around them. Every explosion sent shockwaves through Reiji's mind, the Echoes screaming louder. Each voice begged for vengeance, for release, for absolution. He stumbled, gripping his temples.
> "Stop!" he gasped. "If I lose control—"
"Then don't," Kaede barked. "You're still you, damn it!"
They ducked into the underground tunnels, where the echoes of battle grew faint. But as they reached the junction, a metallic clang echoed behind them — the sound of boots descending the ladder.
Reiji turned, his sword trembling in his hand.
> "They're tracking the resonance," he said. "My presence draws them."
Kaede pointed ahead. "Then we move faster."
They ran through the labyrinth of pipes and steam until they reached a wide chamber. The tunnel ended at a sealed bulkhead — a Dominion checkpoint long abandoned. The power flickered weakly, its old security system still alive.
Kaede tried the console, but it rejected her ID instantly.
> "Locked," she hissed. "They must've rerouted—"
> "Let me," Reiji said.
He pressed his hand to the scanner. The console hesitated, then glitched violently. For a moment, the screen displayed both the Dominion crest and the symbol of the old Shadow Legion. The door shuddered, then opened.
They stepped inside — into an ancient command hub. Dust-covered monitors flickered to life, revealing maps of the Dominion's territories, coded messages, even troop movements.
But at the center of the room, under layers of cables, lay something far more important: a sealed black case marked Codex Fragment 02.
Kaede exhaled sharply.
> "That's—"
"One of the pieces," Reiji finished. "They split the Codex after the war."
He knelt beside it, his fingers brushing the seal. His reflection looked back at him through the black glass — fractured, uncertain. The voices inside him quieted for a moment.
Then Volkner's voice thundered from above.
> "Shinomiya Reiji! You think you can run from what you made?"
The ceiling exploded. Steel debris rained down as the Iron Howl descended through the breach, rifles drawn, red visors glowing like predator eyes. Volkner landed first, his gauntlet crackling with energy.
> "I told you once," Volkner said coldly. "Peace was never something you earn. It's something you enforce."
Reiji raised his blade, the edge singing softly — a whisper, then a howl.
> "You turned peace into a weapon," he said. "And now you'll hear it break."
The room erupted in chaos.
Blades clashed with energy rifles. Sparks painted the darkness in shades of orange and white. Kaede moved like a shadow, weaving between columns, firing precise bursts. Reiji met Volkner head-on, their blades colliding with a sound that split the air — metal screaming against metal.
Every strike echoed like thunder.
Every impact tore at what little humanity remained between them.
Volkner's voice was low, almost mournful.
> "You could've been the Dominion's greatest commander."
"I was," Reiji said. "And that's why I left."
He twisted his blade, shattering Volkner's guard. Sparks cascaded across the floor. The commander staggered, his visor cracking — and for the first time, Reiji saw the man's eyes again. Not cruel, but tired. Broken.
> "You think destroying this will save them?" Volkner hissed. "The Codex has already spread. You can't silence what's eternal."
Reiji stepped closer, the light of the burning consoles reflecting in his eyes.
> "Then I'll burn eternity itself."
He drove his sword through the Codex fragment.
The explosion tore through the chamber like a second sunrise.
Kaede was thrown backward, her vision engulfed in white. For a moment, all she could hear was the same sound that had haunted her since the Forge — a distant, inhuman howl echoing across the Dominion skies.
When the light faded, Reiji stood alone amidst the wreckage. Volkner was gone — consumed by the blast. The Codex fragment lay shattered, its energy dispersing like ash. Kaede staggered toward him, coughing, eyes wide.
> "Reiji… what have you done?"
He didn't look at her. The wind carried the faint echo of the howl once more — mechanical, mournful, endless.
"I set the war in motion," he said quietly. "Now it's coming for us all."
And far beyond the ruins, across the metal horizon of the Dominion, towers began to awaken — their lights flaring one by one. The Iron Howl was only the beginning.