The patrol vessel cut through dark water without lights.
No one spoke on deck.
Rico stood near the bow, coat collar turned up against the wind. Erion and k remained beside him, hands folded loosely behind their back.
Behind them — Senior Squad 7.
Further back — the rookies.
The island rose from the horizon like a shadow refusing to dissolve.
No movement.
No sound.
Just trees.
And the faint outline of low structures swallowed by ash-colored sand.
They disembarked without ceremony.
Viran's final order still echoed in everyone's mind.
If you encounter the entity…
Do not engage.
Report first.
Then battle.
The island forest stood ahead of them like a closed mouth.
Erion spoke calmly.
"Spread out."
The teams divided immediately.The squads moved through the ruined settlement in small groups, spreading across the island exactly as ordered.
Burned houses stood along the narrow roads like blackened monuments. Roofs had collapsed long ago. Wooden beams had rotted under years of rain and salt air.
Some buildings had partially fallen into themselves, leaving only crooked walls leaning against the sky.
The fire had clearly been real.
Charred stone.
Cracked foundations.
Ash stains still embedded in the ground even after years of storms.
But something about it felt… incomplete.
Ren walked through the center street slowly, eyes scanning everything.
Nothing looked like a battlefield.
No broken barricades.
No defensive positions.
No signs people had tried to fight back.
It looked like what the official report had claimed.
A large fire.
A disaster.
Nothing more.
Hours passed.
The squads searched the forest paths, the shoreline, the ruined homes, the cliffs, and the abandoned harbor.
Every corner of the island.
Every structure still standing.
Nothing.
Not a trace of the nightmare Ren had described.
Eventually the teams regrouped near the center of the village.
Frustration hung in the air.
K broke the silence first.
"So."
He looked directly at Ren.
"This is the island."
Ren didn't answer.
K slowly turned in place, gesturing toward the quiet ruins surrounding them.
"Eight years ago an entity supposedly slaughtered an entire population."
His voice remained calm, but there was steel underneath it.
"And today…"
He spread his arms slightly.
"…it looks exactly like what the records say."
Ren's jaw tightened.
"A forest fire."
K nodded once.
"Exactly."
Akira remained silent.
K stepped closer to Ren.
"You understand why that raises questions."
Ren stared back at him.
"I told you what happened."
K tilted his head slightly.
"Did you?"
The air grew heavier.
K's voice sharpened.
"Or did a terrified child experience something he didn't fully understand?"
Ren's fists slowly tightened.
K continued.
"A burning island."
"People dying."
"Smoke everywhere."
He leaned slightly closer.
"A child's mind can turn chaos into monsters very easily."
Ren's breathing changed.
"You're saying I imagined it."
"I'm saying," K replied calmly, "that the evidence today supports the official report far more than your story."
Something snapped.
Ren moved before anyone could react.
His fist slammed into K's jaw.
The impact echoed through the empty village.
K slid back a step, eyes widening slightly.
Ren grabbed his collar instantly.
"You think I made that up?!"
K shoved him back.
"If you didn't—"
Ren swung again.
This time K blocked it.
The two clashed violently, their movements sharp and fast as trained combatants reacted on instinct.
K drove a strike toward Ren's ribs.
Ren twisted away and countered.
The tension that had been building all day finally exploded.
"Stop."
The voice wasn't loud.
But it carried absolute authority.
Both men froze instantly.
Erion stood between them.
No one had even seen him move.
His hand rested lightly against Ren's chest, holding him back with effortless control.
His eyes moved slowly between them.
"This is not why we're here."
Ren's breathing was heavy.
K wiped a small trace of blood from his lip.
Neither spoke.
Then Akira stepped forward.
"I believe Ren."
Everyone looked at him.
His voice was steady.
The Misoke twins moved beside him.
"We believe him too."
"Ren doesn't lie."
Kaito crossed his arms.
"Same here."
He looked directly at K.
"We didn't come all the way out here to give up after a few hours."
Silence settled again.
Rico exhaled slowly.
"Well."
He glanced toward Erion.
"The rookies seem committed."
Erion studied the island for a long moment.
Then he spoke.
"Continue the search."
K frowned slightly.
"You're entertaining this?"
Erion's voice remained calm.
"We came to verify."
His eyes shifted toward the forest.
"So we will verify."
Then he looked at the squads.
"One more sweep."
"Slow."
"Thorough."
Ren lowered his gaze slightly.
"…thank you."
Ren's stomach twisted.
Because he knew.
Something was here.
It hit him suddenly.
A sharp pressure behind his eyes.
Ren staggered slightly.
Akira noticed immediately.
"Ren?"
The world bent.
The island blurred.
And suddenly—
He was small again.
Smoke choked the sky.
The village burned exactly as he remembered.
Houses collapsing.
Flames crawling across wooden beams.
Screams tearing through the night.
Ren stood barefoot on cracked earth.
His hands were shaking.
In his grip—
A blade.
Heavy.
Cold.
Too real.
Across from him stood Haruto.
Terrified.
"Ren… don't."
Behind Haruto—
The shadow waited.
Tall.
Still.
A curved scythe resting against its shoulder like it had all the time in the world.
The Reaper.
Ren's throat tightened.
"I don't want to die."
The words came out broken.
Haruto didn't run.
He didn't fight.
He just stood there.
And that made it worse.
The voice behind them spoke softly.
"If you kill the one beside you…"
The scythe tilted slightly.
"…I will allow you to live."
Ren's pulse roared in his ears.
The fire crackled.
Haruto's eyes trembled.
"Ren…"
His hand tightened around the blade.
I don't want to die.
His body moved first.
The cut was clean.
Too clean.
The blade passed through Haruto's waist like air.
For one impossible second—
Haruto was still standing.
His mouth forming Ren's name.
Then gravity pulled the upper half of his body down.
Blood sprayed across the burning ground.
Ren collapsed to his knees.
The blade slipped from his hand.
"I…"
His voice shattered.
The Reaper stepped forward.
The flames bent away from it.
Bodies lay scattered across the village.
Silent.
Empty.
Ren trembled.
"You said…"
His voice barely existed.
"You said I could live."
The Reaper looked down at him.
"You will."
Ren looked up.
Tears and ash covered his face.
"Then let me go."
The Reaper was silent for a moment.
Then—
"You may leave this island."
Ren's breath hitched.
But the Reaper continued.
"I cannot."
Ren didn't understand.
The scythe slowly lowered toward the burning village.
"You will return."
Ren's body froze.
"You will bring others."
The words sank into him like poison.
"People."The Reaper's hollow voice carried no emotion.
"And I will allow you to live."
Ren's eyes widened.
The flames roared louder.
Ren couldn't breathe.
He was sixteen.
Covered in his friend's blood.
And the only thing louder than his guilt—
Was his fear.
"…Okay."
The word escaped before he could stop it.
The Reaper stepped aside.
"Leave."
The world shattered.
Wood splintering.
Water crashing.
The boat accident.
Ren gasped.
The island returned.
The ruins.
The squads.
Everyone staring at him.
Akira grabbed his shoulder.
"Ren."
Ren's breathing shook.
The memory felt wrong.
Foreign.
Like a dream he wasn't supposed to remember.
Then realization hit him.
Hard.
Cold.
The boat accident.
The missing piece.
His voice came out quietly.
"…I didn't escape."
Everyone looked at him.
Ren slowly lifted his head.
"I was sent."
The air froze.
K frowned.
"What?"
Ren looked at them.
Guilt rising like poison in his chest.
"I didn't leave the island to survive."
His hands trembled slightly.
"I left because it told me to."
Silence.
Kaito stepped forward slowly.
"What are you talking about…?"
Ren's voice cracked.
"I was supposed to bring people back."
The Misoke twins stared at him.
Akira's eyes sharpened.
Rico went completely still.
Erion's gaze turned cold.
And K finally said:
"…that's a very dangerous statement."
Ren nodded slowly.
"I know."
His voice dropped.
"I'm sorry."
The words barely left his mouth.
Then—
Something moved.
Too fast.
Too quiet.
A black arc sliced through the air.
For a fraction of a second—
No one understood what happened.
Then K's body split cleanly in half.
The scythe finished its swing.
Blood painted the silent island.
And behind Ren—
Something had finally arrived.