Chapter 11: The Man in Black
The Riftborn camp was quieter than usual when they returned.
No cheers this time. No slaps on the back.
Just tense faces and whispers, eyes tracking Kaito as he carried the salvaged crate toward the tech bay.
Everyone had seen what happened.
Everyone had seen him.
Aya slammed her fist into the steel wall once they were inside, the sound echoing across the tunnels.
"Dammit," she hissed. "They sent a Specter."
Kaito turned sharply. "A what?"
Mira stalked over, pulling off her cracked helmet. Her hair clung to her forehead with sweat.
"Specters," she said bitterly. "AegisCorp's elite enforcers. Not fully human anymore. They're... augmented with Rift energies. Weapons in human skin."
Jax leaned against the doorframe, cleaning his shotgun with slow, deliberate movements.
"First time we've seen one this close to the lower sectors," he muttered. "They're supposed to stay topside, hunting bigger targets."
Aya looked at Kaito, her jaw tight.
"But now they're here."
And it was clear without anyone saying it — the Specter wasn't after the Neuro-shards.
It was after him.
Kaito sat heavily on a workbench, feeling the weight of it settle over him.
"I don't understand," he said. "Why me?"
Dr. Shiro appeared from the shadows, holding a datapad, his face pale and lined with worry.
"Because of the Shadowseed," he said quietly.
He turned the screen to show Kaito a spinning 3D model — the device embedded in his belt, humming with unfamiliar symbols.
"It's not just a hacking tool," Shiro said. "It's... a living interface. A bridge between human thought and Rift energies. Something AegisCorp has been trying to perfect for years."
Mira crossed her arms. "And somehow, you bonded with it naturally."
Kaito stared at the screen, heart thundering.
He hadn't asked for this.
He hadn't wanted it.
But now — he was the prize.
Aya knelt in front of him, her eyes fierce.
"You have power now, Kaito. Real power. But if you don't learn to control it — they'll rip it out of you."
Jax grunted. "Or worse. Turn you into one of them."
A long, heavy silence followed.
Finally, Kaito stood, squaring his shoulders.
"Then teach me," he said. "I'm not running."
Aya smiled — a real smile this time, thin but proud.
"Good," she said. "Because training starts now."
---
Later that night, Kaito couldn't sleep again.
The camp was restless, filled with the low hum of frightened conversation. Even the veterans kept glancing toward the tunnels, half-expecting the Specter to come tearing through at any moment.
Kaito wandered to the old observation deck — an open platform looking out over the dead city above.
The neon storm still churned overhead, lightning dancing between the broken towers.
And there — across the ruins — he saw him again.
The Man in Black.
Standing alone atop a collapsed skyscraper, his dark armor gleaming faintly, as if daring Kaito to come find him.
Their eyes met across the impossible distance.
Kaito's heart skipped a beat.
He wasn't just being hunted.
He was being watched.
The Specter raised one gloved hand — two fingers — and slowly tapped them against the side of his helmet in a mocking salute.
Then he turned and vanished into the mist.
Kaito stood frozen for a long time, the Shadowseed humming against his side, hotter than ever.
The war had come to him.
And next time...
There would be no running.
---
[End of Chapter 11]