Sora's group, on the other hand, had a much more peaceful time with their investigation. They went around casually, asking locals about what they needed to know. Thanks to Miko's surprisingly effective conversational skills, he managed to gather information without raising any suspicion. He'd drop in lines like, "Hey, have you heard anything about those disappearances and strange rituals lately?". Subtle enough to sound like small talk, yet direct enough to get people talking. It was a complete opposite to Seth's more straightforward method.
That being said, they actually managed to uncover some clues that might lead somewhere. All the chatter around town pointed them to a single location. A two-storey abandoned police station, covered in graffiti and dirt. The place looked as rundown as it could possibly get. Even the front doors weren't intact, hanging off their hinges.
The group stayed outside for now, following Sora's instructions. She had Miko run a scan around the building first. She wasn't about to risk the entire group by barging in without checking for threats.
Miko deployed a drone, starting with a sweep of the exterior. The area was clear, no suspicious figures or nearby threats. The drone slipped in through one of the broken windows and made its way inside. That's when it picked up something strange. Drive Core energy pulsing violently from beneath the station. There weren't any visible doors or hatches, but the signal clearly came from underground.
"Must be a basement or something. We'll probably have to head in if we want to find out more," Miko said.
Sora pressed a hand to her chin, clearly hesitating. "Hmm… Alright. But let's contact the other two first and ask them to come. I'm starting to get worried anyway."
Back at their location, Ren and Seth were still lying on the ground, relief washing over their faces. They had almost forgotten they were on a mission. Just as they were about to drift off, both of their earpieces rang in unison.
"Hey! How you guys doing?" Miko's voice chimed in.
"Well, we're still in one piece, so… I guess that counts as fine?" Seth replied dryly.
"Huh. Anyway, Sora needs you both here. We might've found something," Miko said.
"Got it. Send us your location, we'll head there now."
Miko forwarded their coordinates, and the two took the rooftops, avoiding the gang members who had arrived as backup earlier. A few minutes later, they arrived at the site and were instantly met with stunned expressions from Sora's group.
"What in the world happened to you guys?" Sora asked, wide-eyed.
"It's a long story," Seth sighed. "Anyway, what's going on? Hopefully no more dreadlocks this time."
"Dreadlocks? What?" Sora blinked, confused. "Anyway, Miko's drone picked up a strong pulse of Drive Core energy beneath the abandoned police station. There's no visible entrance, but we suspect there's some kind of underground base."
"So we're going in?" Ren asked, stretching his limbs.
"Yes," Sora nodded. "But we need a plan. Going in recklessly is too risky."
Once again, Miko deployed his drone to scout for a possible entrance. After several minutes of meticulous searching, the drone discovered a hidden pathway concealed behind a painting on the first floor of the old building.
"I think I found the entrance," Miko reported.
"Nice work," Sora nodded. "Here's the plan. Seth, I want you to keep watch of the perimeter." He pointed toward a rusted watchtower standing a few meters beside the police station. "Stay alert and let us know if anything suspicious comes up. Miko, stay with him and keep the drone on standby. Ren and Kaela, you're with me. We're going in."
Everyone gave a quick nod of understanding before the infiltration team stepped into the crumbling police station. The interior was shrouded in darkness and decay. Vines had wormed their way through cracks in the walls, and the soft sound of dripping water echoed from all directions, adding to the uneasy atmosphere as Ren instinctively tensed at every echo.
They navigated carefully to the far right corner of the first floor where the painting hung. Behind it, just as the drone had revealed, was a steel door.
Sora extended her hand and melted the door handle with a precise stream of heat from her Drive, allowing them to swing it open with ease.
"No alarms… that's suspicious," she muttered.
Beyond the door stretched a narrow, descending hallway lit only by faint orange lights. The walls were so tight the three could barely walk side by side. Silence accompanied their steps, each one heavier than the last as they moved deeper into the underground.
"I-it's kind of scary in here" Said Kaela.
"Yeah. It's eerie". Added Ren.
After several minutes, they came to a stop.
There, at the end of the corridor, was something, something strange. Something none of them could make sense of.
"Yo Miko, I think we found something strange," Sora said through the earpiece.
"What is it? Send me a visual."
Sora quickly snapped a picture with her device and forwarded it to him.
There was a moment of silence on the other end before Miko's voice returned, sharper and more urgent than before.
"Step back! All of you, get away from that thing now! If you get too close, your drives might destabilize!"
Startled, the three immediately stepped back several feet.
"What the hell is it?" Ren asked, his brows furrowed.
"I'm not completely sure," Miko replied. "But those patterns... the circular markings, they match something I came across once in the archives. They're ancient. Forbidden Core Bleed Techniques."
"Core Bleed?" Sora said, narrowing her eyes.
"Yeah," Miko continued. "They draw power directly from Drive Cores, fueling the technique with raw Drive energy. That's why I said to stay away. We don't know what kind of reaction it could cause. I might need to study and search a bit more to find out."
Sora gave a slow nod, eyes still locked on the strange symbol etched into the floor.
"Alright. We've seen enough. Let's pull out and report this to the Captain."
The three of them climbed up to the first floor, boots crunching over cracked tiles as they moved cautiously toward the exit. But before they reached the door, Miko's voice crackled urgently through their earpieces.
"Wait. Hold position. I'm picking up a Drive Core reading, high thermal output too. Someone's on the first floor," he warned. "Seth, eyes up."
"Already scanning," Seth replied, dropping to a knee as he activated his scope. Through the lens, he caught sight of a mountain of a man walking slowly near the stairwell exit. A massive figure with veins pumping over his rippling muscle. His most striking feature was a tattoo of a grinning skull inked across his shaved head.
"That's a big one, I think it's Drake." Seth muttered. "Got visual. Doesn't seem to notice me. I have a clean shot, permission to engage?"
"Drop him hard," Sora ordered through the link.
Seth steadied his breath. He charged his round, same deadly force he used back in the simulation in an attempt to take down the captain. The barrel whined as energy compressed, then he fired.
The high caliber Green Drive bullet wheezed through the air and slammed directly into Skullhead Drake's head.
"Direct hit," Seth reported, adjusting his sights as the impact kicked up a cloud of shattered concrete and smoke. "Confirming kill once it—"
The smoke cleared up as he saw that Drake was still standing.
His feet hadn't moved. His massive left hand was extended forward, his palm glowing with a vicious, pulsing orange light. The shot had hit, but he blocked it effortlessly.
"Tsk. Not a very polite hello," Drake muttered, voice deep like an avalanche. A sadistic grin stretched across his face as the orange energy pulsed violently around his fists.
Then he launched it.
A compressed blast of energy shot like a cannonball toward Seth's position, too fast to track. Seth barely managed to dive out of the way as the watchtower behind him exploded, pieces of debris ripping through the air like shrapnel.
Seth slammed hard against the ground. Rubble crashed down, pinning part of his right leg. Then his vision blurred.
"Guys! Seth's down!" Miko called out.
Skullhead Drake began to walk toward the fallen sniper, each step sending faint tremors through the cracked concrete. A slow, sinister smile spread across his face, revealing his gold-capped teeth as dark orange pulses of energy flickered and throbbed across his massive forearms. The air around him rippled with unstable force, vibrating like the prelude to an explosion.
According to the intel they'd received before the mission, this was the signature of Detonator Drive, a brutal Drive Core ability unique to Drake. By building up kinetic tension within his body, Drake could release devastating shockwaves at will either as concentrated blasts or full body detonations that turned him into a walking bomb. His muscles didn't just move, they stored force, waiting to erupt. Every punch had the potential of a grenade and every step, a buried mine.
And now, that power was aimed directly at the unconscious Seth.
Without a word, Ren dashed toward the first floor in a burst of lightning speed.
"No—wait!" Sora shouted, but Ren was already gone. All that's left was a blur of crackling energy.
He stormed through the basement corridors, weaving past fallen debris as his body surged with electricity. .
Seconds later, he reached the first floor just in time to see the towering figure of Skullhead Drake closing in on the unconscious Seth.
"Thunder Clap," Ren whispered.
In a flash, he vanished, only to reappear behind Drake in a blink, blade arching downward toward the back of the enemy's neck.
But Drake moved faster than expected.
He twisted around just in time, slamming a fist forward. A pulse of explosive energy detonated from his knuckles point-blank. Then.....
BOOM!
The shockwave sent Ren flying, his body crashing through a wall and shattering it like paper. Dust and rubble filled the air as the impact echoed through the building.
"Now, Kaela!" Sora shouted through the comms.
"Petal Cage!" Kaela responded, thrusting her arms forward.
A swirling storm of razor-sharp petals erupted around Drake, trapping him inside a glowing cage of pink petals.
Sora dashed in, grabbing the unconscious Ren as Kaela lifted the debris pinning Seth and pulled him out with a wave of her petals.
"Move!" Sora ordered.
The squad retreated fast, vanishing into the smoke and wreckage.
Just seconds later—
BOOM!
Kaela's petal cage detonated in a blast of scattered light as Drake stepped out, free once more. His massive frame loomed in the dust, untouched, except for one thing.
He looked down at his right fist. Blood dripped from a deep slash across his knuckles.
A twisted grin spread across his face.
"Oh... that stings," Drake muttered, flexing his fingers. "That lightning boy's a threat."
His smile widened into a grin.
"I'll have to kill him next time... unless he decides to join me."
He let out a low, menacing laugh that echoed through the empty halls.
The squad rushed to their car, and Sora slammed her foot on the gas. The tires screeched as they sped away from the battlefield.
Only Sora, Miko, and Kaela were conscious. In the backseat, Seth lay unconscious, his body bruised but stable.
But Ren....he was worse.
"Guys! Ren's Drive Core! It's pulsing like crazy!" Miko shouted from the back, eyes wide.
A faint, black glow throbbed from Ren's chest, each pulse more violent than the last.
"Tch! Calm down!," Sora muttered, gripping the wheel. "I'm driving as fast as I can! Call the captain!"
Miko fumbled for her earpiece. "She's not available! She's on a mission and told us to go back to the apartment!"
Kaela's voice cracked. "W-What do we do?! He's gonna...he's gonna—" Tears welled in her eyes as panic took hold.
"Kaela, breathe! We'll handle it! Just stay with me!" Sora shouted, trying to stay calm as she swerved through traffic.
They tore through the checkpoints, flying into the 1st Ward. The lights of the city barely lit as they reached their apartment building.
And standing right in front of it....
"Warden Kaien!" Sora called out in shock.
He turned sharply, eyes focused. "Where is he?"
Sora pointed toward the car.
Kaien didn't waste a second. He pulled Ren out and gently laid him on the pavement. The black light from Ren's chest was flaring wildly now, like a second heartbeat out of control.
Kaien's hand hovered over Ren's chest, his palm coated in a thin mist, crackling faintly.
He muttered something under his breath, then slammed his palm down.
WHOOM!
A burst of radiant light exploded outward like a flashbang. The others shielded their eyes as the street was swallowed in white.
When the light faded, Kaien knelt over Ren, now still, peaceful, almost. The dark pulsing had stopped.
"He's stable," Kaien said quietly, his voice heavy with something unspoken. "But this… wasn't supposed to happen yet."
Ren lay unconscious, but no longer in danger.
For now.
"What happened? I've never seen anything like that," Sora asked, still catching her breath.
Kaien glanced at Ren's unconscious form, then spoke, his voice low and steady.
"His Drive Core is unstable," he began. "This isn't the first time. The same thing happened when I first met him. He was unconscious, just like now, but then his core started surging violently. Like it was trying to consume him and his emotions. While I was carrying him back… he snapped. Completely lost it."
Sora's eyes widened while the others listened in silence.
"He went on a rampage. I'm not kidding, he was uncontrollable. Even I, struggled to stop him."
Kaien looked back at Ren, a trace of concern in his usually calm expression. "What I just did was stabilize his core and seal it temporarily. It should settle once he wakes up and regain control of his emotions."
He turned to the others, his eyes firm. "Ren doesn't have full control over his core yet. As you all saw, his Drive is powerful, dangerously so. His Drive Core reacts to his emotions. Fear, doubt, judgment, even the pain of loss. Those emotional spikes cause his core to release unstable energy. Energy he doesn't understand, let alone control."
He looked at each of them, letting the silence linger for a bit.
"But listen to me, he's a kind hearted kid. He's not a threat. He just needs time and guidance. Let me train him. If you trust me, and if you trust him. I promise, he'll become a core member of this team. One you can count on."
Seth slowly stood up, clutching his head as a dull ache pulsed through his skull. Despite the pain, his voice was firm.
"Well, I trust him," he said, glancing at Ren. "He saved me twice now. He lost control because he was trying to protect me. That says enough. I believe in him."
The others looked at one another.
Then, almost in unison, they turned to Kaien and nodded.
"We'll believe in him too."
Kaien's expression softened. A quiet smile formed on his face as he looked at these young ZEAL members, still growing, still learning, yet already bound by trust and loyalty.
"Good," he murmured to himself. "This generation might just be something special."