Engines hummed under Ren's boots, vibration rolling through the carrier floor like a heartbeat made of steel. Outside, wild world blurred past — broken highway swallowed by creeping vines, skyscraper bones jutting like gods had crushed them with bored hands.
New Babel was a distant memory behind them.
Ahead — the unknown.
Inside the carrier, everyone stayed strapped in. Weapons loaded. Visors half-lowered. Med kits clipped to belts. This was not a sightseeing bus — this was a spear moving through enemy territory.
Ren exhaled shakily. "Okay. So… traveling. Super chill. No panic."
Akira didn't look up from his sword maintenance.
"Your voice is panicking."
"My voice panics when the rest of me is trying not to cry!"
Riku, wiring sigils into a drone battery, snickered. "We'll use your tears to refill the coolant system."
Mei didn't look up from calibrating seal tablets. "Technically water is—"
"No!" Ren cut her off. "We are NOT weaponizing my emotional breakdowns."
Akira smirked dryly. "Not yet."
Even Aya cracked a smile at that.
Across from them, Kenta stood — didn't sit — feet planted, hand gripping a stabilization strap.
He didn't sway with the bumps.
He didn't react to anything.
He simply was, like a mountain riding on wheels.
"Ren," he said.
Ren snapped to attention so fast his seatbelt tried to strangle him.
"Yes sir?"
"Channel MSE. Controlled. You train while we move."
Ren blinked. "Now? In here?"
"Better in here than dead out there."
Point made. Ren shut up and obeyed.
He closed his eyes. Breath in slow. Let fear exist, but not rule. He searched for the spark inside — the pulsing warmth sitting under his ribcage like a sleeping star.
Silver aura flickered across his knuckles.
Akira watched, serious now.
"Don't force it. Guide it. Let your breath carry it."
Ren exhaled, aura shimmering a little brighter.
Mei glanced at the glow. "Better stability than yesterday."
Ren grinned. "Right? I haven't exploded once!"
Riku mumbled, "Low bar but proud of you."
Kenta nodded once — the highest praise possible from him.
"Again."
Ren breathed. Aura steadied.
Then the convoy lurched. Hard.
Ren flew sideways. Akira caught him by the collar.
"Focus later."
A violent roar thundered from outside — deep, metallic, wrong.
Kenta slammed open the carrier viewport. Soldiers shouted from the escort vehicles.
"CONTACT! RIGHT FLANK!"
Something slammed into the side armor — metal screamed. The carrier spun slightly, stabilizers kicking.
Aya braced her staff. Elder Shun whispered a ward that snapped into place around the carrier like a translucent shell.
Ren's heart hammered. "Not again not again NOT AG—"
Akira shoved a blade hilt into his hands. "If you scream you waste oxygen. Stand by the door. We fight if they breach."
Ren clutched the weapon, knuckles white.
Through the viewport, something massive skittered — a spider-serpent hybrid, bone plating and rusted armor fused into sinew. Dozens of burning eyes. Jaws unhinged like a nightmare trying to swallow the world sideways.
Ares had sent it.
The rage aura leaking off it proved that.
The escort truck to their left fired rail-lances — streaks of blue energy slamming into the beast's carapace. It screeched, tail lashing concrete to dust.
Kenta barked, "Maintain forward momentum! We do not stop!"
Convoy engines roared harder.
The monster leapt — claws smashing pavement, sending chunks of street flying past windows. It lunged at the lead hover truck.
Aya slammed her staff, shouting:
"SPIRIT BASTION!"
A shockwave burst outward — a radiant barrier appeared mid-air. The beast hit it, snarling, scraping, cracks spiderwebbing across the barrier like glass.
Riku shouted from the turret, "It's breaching!"
Elder Shun lifted his palm, voice calm despite the chaos.
"Sutra of Severance — Chain Binding!"
Golden glyph-chains burst from the earth itself, wrapping the beast's limbs. It roared, struggling.
Kenta turned toward the rear door.
"Akira. Ren. With me."
Ren froze.
"… Sir? I have deeply reconsidered life choices."
Akira shoved him forward. "Welcome to reality."
Carrier door slammed open. Wind exploded in. Ren squinted into blast air.
Down the convoy line, the beast thrashed, dragging chains like screaming souls. The road cracked under its weight.
Kenta leapt first — earth shattering where he landed. He dragged his prosthetic arm across the ground, charging it with violet lumina lines.
Akira jumped second, sword trailing thin aura like moonlight sharpened.
Ren hesitated half a breath — fear choking his throat.
Then he jumped.
He hit pavement and almost pancaked, rolling awkwardly.
Akira caught his arm before he face-planted again.
"Stop landing like a sack of potatoes."
"I AM a sack of potatoes emotionally!"
"Fix it."
The beast burst free from the chains with a roar — pieces of glowing spirit-iron flying. It charged again.
Kenta met it head-on.
His fist slammed into its skull. BOOM — shockwave. Pavement erupted under both of them. Monster skidded but didn't fall.
Ren swallowed. "We can… run, right?"
Akira pointed his blade forward. "We can live. Fight."
Ren forced breath. Aura flared shaky on fists.
Okay. Stand. Don't kneel.
The beast lunged toward them, jaws splitting open like a screaming gate.
Akira surged first — a blur cutting across its side, gash glowing white. Ren followed, yelling louder than his power warranted, punching with MSE-reinforced strike.
Silver burst. Jaw snapped sideways slightly.
Ren blinked. "…I did something!"
The monster turned its dozens of eyes toward him. It did not look impressed.
Ren squeaked. "I regret doing something."
The tail whipped toward him — he ducked, barely. Akira parried, sparks flying.
Kenta kicked the beast's shoulder with enough force to create a crater. Before it recovered he grabbed Ren by his collar and threw him backward.
Ren spun midair, landed in a crouch he definitely didn't plan.
Kenta's voice boomed:
"You are not here to DIE. You are here to GROW. If you break now, you were never meant to stand."
Ren's heart roared louder than the creature.
He pushed forward again.
Not brave — but refusing to collapse.
Punch.
Punch again.
Aura sputtered — then steadied.
Akira sliced limb tendon. Aya's blast followed. The beast staggered.
Elder Shun's sutra chains wrapped its neck.
Kenta drove his glowing prosthetic arm straight through its skull.
A shockwave swallowed the street.
Monster twitched.
Collapsed.
Silence — except Ren's gasping lungs.
He collapsed to his knees.
"…Did… we win?"
Akira sheathed his blade. "You didn't die. That's enough today."
Riku waved from turret. "Nice teamwork. And Ren didn't explode! Love that for us."
Mei leaned out with her notebook. "He tripped three times though."
Ren pointed weakly. "Document my victories too."
Kenta walked over. Towering. Quiet. Judgment in every step — but not cruel judgment.
"Stand."
Ren staggered upright.
Kenta nodded once.
"Good. Fear remained. But you moved. That is foundation."
Ren blinked back stinging eyes.
"…Thank you, sir."
Kenta's prosthetic clicked as it powered down. "You are not strong yet. But you are stubborn. Stubbornness keeps heroes breathing longer than talent."
Akira muttered, half-smile tugging at his lip, "Terrifyingly accurate."
Ren laughed — shaky, exhausted, but real.
The convoy restarted full speed.
No cheering.
No speeches.
Just controlled breathing.
Metal humming.
Road stretching toward doom.
And one thought in Ren's mind, fierce as fire in soaked wood