The sky was clear, a soft blue stretching endlessly above. From the crest of a grassy hill, Aesthetic City shimmered in the distance, its towers catching the sunlight like glass shards. A warm breeze rolled past, rustling the tree that stood watch at the hilltop.
Beneath its shade, a boy sat. Haruka—smaller, younger—his knees drawn up as he stared blankly at the city below. Beside him sat a man in a white lab coat. His face was obscured, blurred as if the light itself refused to let it be seen.
A single leaf fell, caught by the breeze, and landed lightly on Haruka's head. The man plucked it away with care.
Haruka tilted his head up, squinting against the light. The word slipped out before he could stop himself.
"...Father?"
The man smiled—warm, reassuring, the kind of smile that made the world feel safe.
"The wind is warm," he said softly, "yet it cools you down."
Haruka's gaze drifted beyond the hill. In the fields below, two figures played—his younger brother, Raito, only a child, chasing after their mother through the tall grass. Their laughter carried faintly on the wind, silhouettes blurred by distance, yet painfully familiar.
Haruka sighed heavily. His shoulders slumped.
The man turned to him. "What's wrong?"
"I'm afraid," Haruka whispered.
"Afraid of what?"
Haruka hesitated. His throat tightened before the words finally escaped.
"...Of Raito."
For a moment, silence. Then the man's arm settled gently around his shoulders, drawing him close into a firm embrace. His voice was steady, soothing.
"It's okay to be afraid. Just close your eyes… and wait for the storm to pass."
Haruka closed his eyes, leaning into the warmth. Sleep tugged at him, pulling him deeper and deeper into stillness—
---
"Haruka? Haruka!"
The voices were faint at first, distant echoes that grew louder.
"What's going on?!"
"Come on! Wake up!"
Haruka's eyes shot open. The dream shattered. Reality came rushing back in jagged pieces.
The mask was strangling him.
Its plates constricted around his face, the hexagonal panels snapping open and shut violently, cutting off his air. His lungs burned. He clawed at it, fingers slipping against the surface.
He staggered to his feet, crashing against the walls, slamming his head and mask into anything solid in a desperate attempt to rip it off. Each breath came shorter, ragged, until his legs gave out beneath him.
He collapsed to the floor. His vision blurred, swimming with fragments of light. Through it, he saw Hana, Alice, and Jax rushing to him, their faces pale with panic.
"Haruka! Stay with us!" Hana's voice cracked as she grabbed his head, forcing his eyes open.
Alice dropped to her knees beside him, pressing against his chest, beginning frantic compressions.
"Come on, come on—breathe!"
Jax shoved her aside, gripping the mask with both hands, trying to yank it free. "I'll rip the damn thing off!"
But the mask wouldn't budge. It pulsed and hissed, locking tighter.
Across the room, Mika, Leo, and Rhea stood frozen in shock, unable to move.
"Leo!" Hana snapped, voice trembling. "You know about the mask—why isn't he waking up?! What do we do?!"
Leo's lips parted, but no words came.
The door slid open.
Shan entered, flanked by Eda and Rosemary. His expression was calm, unreadable, as the chaos unfolded before him. He walked forward, placing a hand gently on Jax's shoulder.
"Move," Shan said quietly.
Jax hesitated, then released Haruka and stepped back.
Shan knelt beside Haruka. His voice cut through the panic—firm, steady, like a guide in the storm.
"Take a deep breath. Dance with a rhythm. And she'll follow you."
Haruka's body trembled as he tried to obey. His chest heaved, then steadied. Slowly, painfully, the hexagonal panels of the mask began to shift. The chaotic clashing softened into a synchronized pattern—expanding with each inhale, folding inward with each exhale. Like the tide, like a calm wave instead of a crashing storm.
The room grew silent. Only the sound of Haruka's breathing filled the air.
Hana fell to her knees, sobbing in relief. Alice leaned back against the wall, wiping sweat from her brow. Jax exhaled sharply, his arms shaking.
Haruka stared weakly at Shan. The calm in Shan's gaze was unshakable.
"His mask changed," Shan said at last, straightening to his feet. "Perfect timing."
He glanced at Eda and Rosemary. Without a word, they moved to Haruka's sides, lifting him carefully from the floor.
Shan turned to Leo. "Come with me. Please."
Leo nodded numbly, glancing once more at Haruka as they carried him out. Alice pushed herself off the wall and followed.
The door slid shut behind them, leaving the room in heavy silence.
Jax sat down hard, exhaustion catching up to him. He glanced at Hana, still shaking with tears, then at Mika and Rhea, who hovered uncertainly.
Alice's words hung in the air before she left, trembling and unsettled.
"This… this isn't normal."
Jax gave a hollow laugh. "Nothing is normal."
Mika shifted closer to Hana, resting a hand on her shoulder. "You know… this might be the perfect time to ask about Michael."
Alice was already gone. Jax sighed, dragging a hand down his face, then turned to Mika.
"Where's Rhea?"
---
The elevator doors opened with a hiss. Shan led the way, flanked by Eda and Rosemary as they carried Haruka's unconscious body. Leo and Alice followed, the tension between them unspoken.
The descent ended in silence.
The doors parted, revealing a vast underground lab. The walls were sleek and dark, illuminated by cool blue lines of light. Metal tables were scattered with scraps of tech, half-finished machines, and intricate tools. Along the far wall, massive devices hummed faintly, towering like sentinels.
In the center stood a wide metallic table.
Eda and Rosemary set Haruka down gently upon it, immediately attaching wires and patches across his body, pinning his muscles with small spikes that flickered with light. Above him, a large oval-shaped machine descended, locking into position around his mask.
Shan shrugged off his hanfu. Eda took it swiftly, while Rosemary draped a long white coat over his shoulders. The gesture was practiced, like a ritual.
He reached for Haruka's katana, lifting it from where it rested against the table. He studied the blade with care, running his eyes from hilt to tip. With a sharp swing, he tested its balance, the metal whispering through the air. Then he set it upon the table.
A machine hovered above the weapon, casting it in a grid of red light as Shan tapped at a keyboard.
"You," Shan said suddenly, without looking up. His eyes flicked to Leo. "I saw your book. Leo, right?"
Leo stepped forward cautiously. Alice shadowed him, her gaze fixed on Haruka's unmoving body.
"It's missing information," Shan continued. "Valuable information."
Leo frowned. "Like what?"
Shan turned, pointing the katana's tip directly at Leo's face. His voice was calm, deliberate.
"What I'm about to tell you… will be unbelievable."
Leo's breath caught. Alice stiffened, instinctively reaching for her weapon.
Shan's expression didn't waver.
"I'm Thorne's best friend."
The words struck the room like a blade.
Alice's body tensed, her grip tightening. Leo's eyes widened, disbelief written plain across his face.
Shan lowered the sword and turned back to Haruka. His voice softened.
"Relax, Alice… If I meant harm, I wouldn't be here. Think—why would Haruka bring me to Obsidian, knowing his head would be cut off at sight?"
He nodded at Rosemary.
With a flip of a switch, the oval machine around Haruka's mask activated. A low hum filled the room. Energy coursed from the mask into the machine, the panels glowing faintly as a cloud of strange bubbles began to form, clouding the chamber.
Shan glanced back at Leo, his eyes sharp but steady.
"Leo… I entrust you with the truth I'm about to share."
Shan's fingers traced the katana's edge as the steel sank into the pool of bubbling liquid. The blade's darkness shimmered, then slowly dissolved, replaced by a faint blue glow that pulsed with every inch it sank.
"Thorne and I…" Shan began, his voice low, as if speaking more to himself than the room. "We've been friends since high school. Always had each other's backs."
The glow from the katana spread, casting soft ripples of light across his face. He pulled the blade out, its black sheen now gone, replaced with a gentle milk-white glow.
"He told me about the masks. At first I laughed—thought it was nothing but myth, urban legend. But then he dragged me on one of his stakeouts. That night, we caught sight of a hitman working for the cartel. And he…he wore one." Shan's jaw clenched. "I watched him use it. Saw what it did. That was the moment I became a believer."
Rosemary and Eda exchanged a glance. Even they, hardened as they were, leaned closer to the screens as if Shan's words carried weight through the years.
"Thorne and I captured the man alive. That's when the cracks started. Thorne wanted him dead. I wanted answers." Shan's hand tightened on the katana. "How it worked. Why it chose who it chose. What it wanted. Where it came from. Thorne didn't care. He saw only a weapon."
He slid the blade from the pool again. Its surface shone blinding white. Eda stepped closer, eyes wide, as Shan held the blade steady. She whispered, almost to herself:
"It's…responding."
Shan ignored her, continuing his confession. "I begged Thorne. Promised him—the next two masks we found would be his. No questions asked. He agreed. I thought…what are the odds he'd ever find another? But I was wrong."
He moved to the workbench. Eda pressed keys rapidly, data streams racing across the monitor. Rosemary placed a hand on the katana's hilt to steady it as Shan produced a shard of obsidian, purple and jagged. He scraped it slowly along the whitened blade, the sound sharp and grating.
"A few years later, I had built machines that could siphon the mask's energy, convert it to power. That's how Obsidian was born. And then Thorne returned from his hunt—with heads of the users still fresh. He demanded the prisoner's death so he could claim the mask. By then…" Shan's voice faltered, just once. "…by then, I knew who Thorne truly was. His past. His hunger."
The machine above the workbench beeped sharply. Rosemary wrapped the blade in a thick leather cloth, steam rising where steel met air. Shan wiped his hands and continued.
"Obsidian grew into a giant. Billions. Prestige. Me? I retired with a smile plastered on my face, pretending we were still brothers." His gaze drifted, heavy with memory. "Then came the Fracture. Two flashes lit the sky at the same time. I ran to the nearest one."
Shan turned, his eyes falling on Haruka's unconscious form. His tone softened.
"And I found him."
Leo and Alice leaned closer, their breath caught.
"From what I've learned, the mask chooses when the last light of hope goes out. It offers two paths: vengeance or redemption. When I first saw Haruka…he was nothing but a bag of broken flesh. No words. No sleep. No spark in his eyes. Just meat that refused to die."
"Poor kid…" Alice whispered, almost without meaning to.
Shan sheathed the katana, sliding it gently back into the bubbling pool. "Then, years later, Thorne came to me again. And with him…Raito. Small, hollow-eyed. And a girl—young, quiet. Haruka caught a glimpse of her. I didn't. But she mattered to him."
The katana hissed as Shan drew it from the pool once more. Rosemary rushed forward, wrapping it quickly before the heat burned through her gloves.
"The mask reacts to emotion," Shan said. "The more a user runs from their pain, the more it suffocates them. It doesn't let you bury sorrow. It drags you back into it, kicking and screaming. Why? I wish I knew. But Thorne—he knows. The origin, the purpose, how to break it. And now he has three masks. Four, counting Raito."
Shan looked at them all. His voice, steady but grim, carried the weight of inevitability.
"He's planning something…something that could split the world in half."
Silence. Only the machine hummed. Then Shan turned toward the elevator. "That's enough for now."
Leo and Alice followed him out.
The doors opened, and Rhea stumbled toward them, chest heaving.
"Obsidian—they're coming. A convoy. Right now."
Panic cracked across Alice's face. Leo froze. Shan simply pulled his hanfu across his shoulders, unshaken.
"Unplanned. Means they're rushing. They won't have time to search." His eyes narrowed. "But we will."
Jax, Mika, and Hana came sprinting down the hall, joining them just as the elevator doors closed. Shan stood at the front, calm as stone.
"Call Rosemary and Eda," he ordered.
The elevator descended. The gates of the mansion creaked open as a massive armored truck rolled to a stop, its hull a gleaming midnight purple.
Rosemary and Eda arrived, standing shoulder to shoulder with Shan. The air felt thick, charged.
And then—
BAM!
The truck's doors exploded outward, darkness swallowing the entrance.