(The Fall of the Red Smoke Bandits)
The Burning Sky Guardian
Alarms screamed through the corridors of the floating government facility. Emergency lights painted the walls in alternating strobes of white and crimson, each flash illuminating chaos: civilians pressed against barricades, smoke filling the ventilation ducts, mercenaries fleeing as their own bombs misfired.
Akio sprinted through it all, his lungs searing. His white coat trailed like a banner, torn and smeared with blood — not all of it his own. His satchel clinked with the last of his chemical vials, hastily mixed weapons and antidotes.
Behind him, Raka limped, clutching her swollen arm but refusing to be left behind. Hikata and Rumane supported her, while Riki staggered, his left arm bleeding where the bullet had grazed him.
But Akio had no time to look back.
Matahiko was ahead, dragging the Automated Pharmacy Core toward the escape pods. If he launched it, the Bandits would have control of a system that could produce infinite strains of Crimson Sleep. Humanity itself would drown in silence.
Akio muttered under his breath, Kaede's name ghosting his lips like a prayer.
Not again. Not another lab. Not another ghost.
The Red Smoke Bandits' Last Stand
At the junction leading to the hangar, four mercenaries blocked the corridor. Their faces were painted with streaks of scarlet, eyes burning with fanatical devotion. Each bore scars — chemical burns, shrapnel wounds — proof they'd survived the Scarlet Helix's legacy and worshiped it as gospel.
"None shall pass," one growled, brandishing a serrated machete still dripping with someone else's blood.
Akio didn't slow. His hand shot into his satchel, hurling a vial of pale green powder. It shattered at their feet, exploding into a cloud of stinging ammonia. The mercenaries coughed, blinded, but charged anyway, slashing wildly through the haze.
Akio darted between them. He snatched another vial — cobalt liquid — and smashed it against a mercenary's mask. The liquid ignited on contact with oxygen, flames devouring the man's face. He fell screaming, clawing at his own burning skin as the smell of roasted flesh filled the corridor.
Another lunged with his machete. Akio caught the blade on the strap of his satchel, twisting it aside, then jammed a syringe into the gaurds throat. The plunger depressed. A paralytic agent surged into his veins. His scream cut off as his muscles froze mid-motion, his body toppling like a puppet with cut strings.
The third mercenary raised his rifle. Akio hurled a vial of resinous fluid, which splattered across the weapon, fusing its bolt shut. The gaurd yanked the trigger — nothing. In desperation, he swung the rifle as a club.
Akio ducked, then slammed a glass flask into the gaurds temple. Bone cracked. The gaurd collapsed, blood pooling beneath him.
The last mercenary staggered, blinded by chemical burns. Akio shoved him against the wall, pressing a shard of broken glass against his throat. His voice was steel.
"Where is Matahiko?"
The gaurd gurgled through bloodied teeth. "Already... gone... escape bay..."
Akio sliced his throat in one merciless motion.
Blood sprayed across his coat. He didn't flinch. He whispered Kaede's name again and ran.
The Hangar of Shadows
The hangar was a cathedral of steel and flame. Fires licked the walls, emergency sirens keening. The ocean stretched endlessly beneath the facility, black waves illuminated by the red strobe of warning beacons.
At the far end, Matahiko stood poised at an open escape hatch. The Automated Pharmacy Core glowed faintly behind him, secured in a capsule already loaded into the pod. His silhouette, framed against the storming sea, looked almost regal.
"Matahiko!" Akio's voice broke like thunder.
The man turned, his expression almost serene, as though he'd expected this moment all along.
"Ah, the pharmacist arrives. Tell me, Akio — how many bodies now line the path you've walked tonight? Ten? Twenty? How many did you kill with your precious vials of mercy?"
Akio's stomach heaved. "Enough to stop you."
Matahiko chuckled, pulling free a slender blade from his coat — its edge coated in dried black resin. "I've seen people kill for money, for faith, for vengeance. But you... you kill for healing. Isn't that a contradiction?"
He spread his arms, as though welcoming Akio into an embrace.
"Tonight, we end it. One pharmacist against one prophet."
The Duel Begins
The clash was immediate and brutal.
Matahiko lunged, his blade flashing. Akio dodged, swinging a vial like a flail. It burst against Matahiko's sleeve, releasing a spray of corrosive acid. The fabric sizzled, skin blistering. Matahiko snarled but didn't falter.
He countered with lightning strikes, the blade tracing arcs of silver through the smoke. Akio barely parried, deflecting with the metal frame of his satchel. Sparks flew.
Matahiko's strikes were elegant, calculated — the training of a swordsman fused with his strange blend of chemical warfare. Each slash released droplets of resin that hissed as they hit the floor, burning holes in the steel.
Akio, in contrast, fought like a desperate craftsman. He smashed vials at his feet, turning the battlefield into a minefield of smoke and slick surfaces. His hands were quick, always reaching into his coat, pulling powders, sprays, liquids — improvising with every second.
Matahiko slashed at his throat. Akio ducked, then hurled a syringe filled with bright orange serum. It shattered against Matahiko's gut, searing pain coursing through him as the stimulant overloaded his nervous system. He convulsed but turned the spasm into momentum, driving his blade forward and cutting a shallow gash across Akio's cheek.
Blood dripped into Akio's mouth. Metallic. Bitter. He spat, eyes burning with fury.
The Breaking Point
The fight dragged across the hangar.
Matahiko kicked Akio into a wall, the impact cracking his ribs. Akio coughed blood but forced himself up, throwing a flask of pressurized gas. It detonated, blasting Matahiko back, his blade skittering across the floor.
They both staggered, panting, covered in burns and cuts. The world seemed to narrow until only the two of them existed: healer and executioner, bound by the Scarlet Helix's shadow.
Matahiko grinned through bloodied teeth.
"You know why I hate you, Hukitaske? Because you still believe in saving people. I've seen the truth — humanity doesn't want salvation. It wants chains. And I'll be the one to bind them."
Akio's reply was a roar.
"Then I'll break every chain you forge!"
The Death of Matahiko
In a final surge, Matahiko tackled Akio toward the open escape hatch. The two enemys struggled, their bodies outlined by the storm raging below. Lightning flashed, illuminating their blood-smeared faces locked inches apart.
Matahiko raised a hidden dagger, plunging down toward Akio's stomach.
Akio, with his last strength, rammed a syringe into Matahiko's neck and slammed the plunger.
The Crimson Sleep.
Matahiko froze, eyes wide. His lips trembled. "You... you had it..."
His veins blackened instantly, spreading like a spiderweb across his face. He choked, foam bubbling from his mouth. His body convulsed violently, his blade clattering uselessly against the steel floor.
Akio held him tight as he thrashed, whispering through clenched teeth:
"I only carried it for one reason. To end you."
Matahiko's final scream tore through the hangar — a sound both human and monstrous — before his body went limp. His corpse slipped from Akio's arms, tumbling into the stormy ocean below.
The Red Smoke Bandits' prophet was dead.
Silence After the Storm
Akio collapsed to his knees, heart heaving, blood dripping from every wound. The Automated Pharmacy Core hummed quietly beside him, untouched.
Raka, Hikata, Riki, stumbled into the hangar just in time to see him slumped against the pod door. Their eyes widened at the sight of Matahiko's absence — and the blood staining Akio's hands.
Raka whispered, tears streaming down her face.
"You did it..."
Akio looked at her, his expression unreadable. Then he let out a bitter, broken laugh.
"No. I only did what I always do. I stopped the poison. But the scars... remain."
The storm outside raged on, but within the hangar there was only silence.
The Scarlet Helix had been stopped.
But Akio knew, in his bones, that shadows never die. They only wait.
🔻 End of Act IV (Part 4) — Final Confrontation 🔻