A cold atmosphere covered the whole hallway. The white lights are flickering and the walls are now made out of thick concrete. There are less doors around now. The floor had only fourteen doors. No odd-numbered door was there but it might appear soon in any corner. V was sitting down while leaning backwards. Kevin was missing. V's hands were covered in black blood and his black eye was bleeding. He was fainting. Misa was laying down. A cross-shaped slash mark covered her arm. The wound looked serious and she was also bleeding from her mouth. Most importantly, Kento is missing. Kento and Kevin both were missing. V looked at Misa and slightly leans forward. "We need to go back. He won't make it." V was looking serious and troubled. His last order was to protect Kento no matter what. Misa sits up and says, "If we go back we will die. If we die then he's done for. We have to make it to the upper layer as soon as possible. If they took him there...." Misa didn't finish her sentence. V was injured but not blinded. "So what?" He asked. Misa looked at him. He looked at her. Suddenly they both draw their guns. V's gun gave a purple glow. He infused his void energy into it. Misa's gun also gave a purple glow. She crawled backwards while drawing her gun. "What's really going on here?" V didn't flinch; his finger was around the trigger. Misa looked at him. No words, no reaction. "You know what's happening, so why play dumb." V didn't give any openings; he didn't fall for the word play. "As far as I know, our intelligence team located XS in this facility. Our first strike team was sent here but they were killed by XS, but we never knew that a horseman would be here as well." V said those words with a deep and strong tone. Misa looked dead into his eyes. She puts her hand into her pockets and pulled out a bunch of dog tags. Covered in blood. They belonged to the members of the first strike team. As soon as V saw them he was stunned. Suddenly he felt an extreme surge of anger. "You bitch, how dare...." Even before finishing his words Misa yelled. "I didn't even touch them, you bastard. They were already dead when I got here." She throws all those tags to him. They all scattered around. V puts down his gun and took them one by one. He noticed a tag named Xin. V stared at it. He gripped it harder and he kept it separate from the others. Misa looked at him and stood up. "Let's go."
After everything, the moment is still confusing. How did this happen? Right after solving the doors mystery, they all crossed multiple floors and reached their way to the sixteenth floor, but that's where the tragedy took place. As they were about to cross the floor, they encountered Max. At first they all tried to stay calm, but it didn't take any longer for the chaos to start. Max draws his sword and cuts Kevin's head with one single slash. V was standing right next to him but couldn't even stop the attack. V draws his gun and tried to shoot, but within a split second Max was standing behind Misa. He grabbed her head and slammed her into the wall. V fired a couple of rounds but failed. Didn't even leave a single scratch. Kento snapped and he went out. He found a fragile opening and tried to punch Max. Even before his fist reached him, Max cut off his right arm. The cut was brutal and devastating. He was screaming and shouting but couldn't do anything. Max kicked Misa so hard that it sent her flying. V engaged him in a close-ranged combat but didn't get much opening. Between Kento and V, Max was standing and he had the upper hand. Misa grabbed V and they were forced to retreat. Even at that moment V refused, but Misa dragged him before Max had used his realized state. This was the chaos that took place minutes before the silence.
Eight doors. Floor number eight. The hallways are getting smaller and shorter as it goes up. Rez, Sho, and Martin are all inside the facility now. Only three of them entered; the others are outside guarding the whole place. Rez and his crew didn't get lost, neither separated. How did they enter then? Rez was checking the doors one by one, meanwhile Martin sits in a corner and Sho was cleaning his war hammer with a piece of cloth. "Good thing we found the hatch outside the warehouse." Martin looked at Sho while saying it. "The thing is we never got any information about that hidden hatch on the other side. The operators provided that there's no visible entrance to this facility." Martin gets up and smiles. "What?" Sho felt annoyed. Why's he smiling? "Are you thinking what I am thinking?" Martin was on to something, but Sho didn't play along. "I am thinking I should kill." Sho never approached him in a friendly way. It's almost like two different individuals are trying to kill each other but something's holding them back.
"It means there's someone inside the operators who is working with the other side." Rez came towards them while saying it. "The first strike team mission was a classified task given by the high command. Even Monica and I weren't allowed to interfere. It was a classified task." Sho throws away the cloth and puts his hammer on his back. "So you mean..." Rez looked at them. "It means the operators are leading us to a trap. They are our eyes. For years we trusted them blindly. Every information they provided we never questioned it." Martin was looking excited, as if it's a party. "Take out a person's eye and they are blind." Martin walked past them while saying it. "It means they used the first strike team as bait and brought Kento here." Rez muttered.
Martin was walking in front of them and Rez and Sho were standing there. Suddenly they all looked backwards. Their instincts kicked in. Sho jumped and Rez dodged aside. Martin pulled out his sniper rifle from his back. He ducks and fired a shot. The bullet carved the natural space and fabrics. Rez and Sho were standing clear in the corners while the bullet passed from the middle. The rifle gave a green glow when the bullet was being fired. Right across the hallway Yuki was standing, but she was invisible; but thanks to their senses they understood it was a threat. As soon as the bullet made contact, an explosion happened. It was an explosive round. Rez, Sho, and Martin got back in position. Sho pulled out his hammer and Rez looked ahead. As the smoke and ash cleared, Yuki took a few steps ahead. The explosion and the falling debris didn't leave a scratch. She started getting visible. Her hands were on smoke. She stopped the bullet with her hand and absorbed the explosion. "It was a devastating shot, I must say, but not enough." A three-on-one showdown is beginning. "Three against one, huh? My favourite kind of odds." She whispered.
The VE bunker was silent. Every soldier and personnel below captain class were ordered to stay in their cabins. The busy place went into complete pin-drop silence. The armoured cars, the helicopters, the command centre, the elevators, and everything felt awfully calm. Footsteps. The stretched-out hallway. Monica was walking towards the operators section. She wasn't in her usual dress up. Instead, she was wearing a vest and tactical gear. A firearm rested on her hip, and she was holding a box-like object. She looked furious. Her eyes gave a dead glow. She finally came in front of the command center. She pulled out her passkey and swiped it. The doors started opening, and she took a few steps back. She was alert, but her motives were unknown. She looked ahead and pulled out the gun. Long barrel, a small screen slot in the barrel. It was a C8X model which can fire void-wrapped rounds. Deadly enough to kill a void being with one shot if aimed perfectly. The doors got opened, but there was no light. The room was dark, and she didn't rush inside.
"Something's wrong. Did they figure it out?" She whispered. As she was going inside, she didn't let her guard down. She saw only one monitor was still functioning. The screen light was the only source of light in the room. She made her way inside. She looks around, but the whole operator team was missing. There were seven desks with highly functioning equipment linked with their satellite. She looked around, but no one was there. She looked at the functioning monitor but noticed nothing weird. "Bastards." She whispered. She walked towards the monitor and touched the keyboard. Suddenly a drop of blood fell from above. Her instincts kicked in. She draws her gun and points it above her head, only to get surprised. Her eyes wide opened. She was stunned. The whole operator team was dead. Not just dead, but hanged upside down. Their bodies were brutally ripped apart. A man's hand was missing; another man's both legs were missing and he was hanged by his chest. A woman's eyes were missing. A man had almost hundreds of surgical cuts on his body. Most importantly, they all were smiling. Every one of those dead men and women were smiling. A smile on their faces. Seeing this level of massacre, Monica was stunned. She couldn't move. She didn't move an inch.
Suddenly, someone was behind her. As that cold sensation crossed around her neck, she panicked. Her hand moved on its own. She pulled the trigger. The bullet went right through the ceiling and a body dropped. She quickly got a hold of that feeling and turned around. As she turned around, she pointed the gun, only to get surprised again. It was Ema standing right in front of her. Ema didn't move, didn't flinch. An awfully calm and chilling smile. Monica looked back and noticed the body. Its body was hollowed out.
Monica looked at Ema and says- "So you knew?" Ema slightly leans forward and says it playfully, "You know, I know, we all know, right?" Monica puts her gun down. She took a step backwards. Her heart is racing. "You didn't have to do it this much. How will you explain it to everyone? We would've got some information if you had kept even one of them alive." She was frustrated and frightened. Ema tilted her head. "Traitors deserve nothing but death. My judgement will always be the same no matter who it is." Monica felt furious. She stepped forward. "Then what difference does it make between you and a horseman if you let go of your humanity? Look around you. Even if they were traitors, this is too much." Ema stood there without a word. She didn't defend herself. She turns back and walked away, leaving only Monica there. The gun slipped from her hands and Monica looked above. All those lifeless corpses. As Ema was walking, she says something that didn't sound right. "Don't worry; they will get a proper burial."
Monica stood there, staring at those dead bodies. Ema exited the command room. As soon as she comes outside, Mimi was standing there. Ema looked at her. "Do it carefully, ok." Mimi looks at her and says - "Count on me." Ema walked away and Mimi entered the command room. The cleaner of death.