Night settled over the city like a heavy cloak, and deep within the abandoned industrial zone, the Vex Crew gathered around their leader. Ragna stood at the center—bandaged, furious, shaking with the memory of the rooftop defeat. His pride had taken more damage than his body.
That was when the shadows at the far end of the warehouse bent and shifted…
and the Architect stepped out.
Tall. Mechanical veins glowing faint silver. Eyes like they were carved from frost.
Ragna stiffened.
The rest of the Vex Crew fell silent instantly.
The Architect's voice echoed like it didn't belong in this world.
"Ragna."
Ragna clenched his fists.
"What the hell do you want?"
The Architect tilted his head slightly, like he was studying an insect.
"Revenge."
One word.
But it hit Ragna harder than a punch.
"You lost to the boy," the Architect continued, calm, cold. "But you don't have to stay weak. I can rebuild you. Enhance you. Make you more than human. The boy who humiliated you—Kayden—will kneel."
Ragna swallowed.
A mix of anger and temptation twisted inside him.
"Why me?"
A metallic smile touched the Architect's lips.
"Because you're useful."
And just like that, the Architect signaled. A mechanical pod opened behind him, glowing deep crimson. Metallic tendrils curled out, waiting.
"Step inside," the Architect said. "And I will give you the power to break him."
Ragna didn't hesitate.
He stepped forward, the crew cheering him on like fools hyped for a storm they didn't understand.
What none of them noticed—
what none of them could notice—
was the way the Architect's eyes glowed with silent calculation.
The Vex Crew thought they were being uplifted.
But the truth?
They were just tools.
Batteries.
Pieces on a board the Architect wasn't planning to keep alive.
And Ragna—rage-blind and desperate—walked into the machine without seeing the trap tightening around him.
---
Meanwhile — Kayden
Kayden sat on the edge of his bed, clutching his left wrist.
The sigil was glowing again.
Not bright… but pulsing, like a heartbeat.
He squeezed his eyes shut.
And the voice came again.
A cold whisper drilling into his skull:
"YOU DON'T BELONG HERE…"
Kayden jerked upright, almost falling off the bed.
"What the—? Who's there?!" he hissed.
But his room was empty.
The voice didn't stop.
"YOU ARE A MISTAKE."
"YOU WERE NOT MEANT TO SURVIVE."
"YOU… WERE SUPPOSED TO BE ERASED."
"Shut up—just shut up!" Kayden snapped, gripping his head.
The sigil burned hot for a moment, then dimmed again.
Kayden breathed hard, fear and confusion twisting through him.
Why was this happening?
Why did the sigil feel like it was waking up?
Why did it feel… angry?
Something was coming.
Something he wasn't ready for.
And deep inside, the sigil felt like it was trying to warn him—or destroy him.
He didn't even know which.
---
At the Architect's Domain
Far below the city, deep in the Architect's underground fortress, two figures stood before a massive cylindrical machine, glowing with eerie white energy. Its core pulsed like a giant mechanical heart.
The Second—tall, masked, and loyal only to the Architect—spoke first.
"Master… should we activate the conduit? We have two options. We can use Kayden… or we can use the Vex leader. His hatred toward the boy is strong. It might amplify the extraction."
The Architect didn't look up from the screen.
"Kayden won't agree," the Second continued. "He's… unpredictable. But Ragna? He's stupid enough to walk straight into whatever we ask of him."
A slow nod from the Architect.
"Yes. Rage makes mortals easy to manipulate."
The Architect tapped a glowing panel.
Images of Kayden flashed—his sigil glowing, his strange energy signature burning like a beacon.
"We need the boy's power," the Architect murmured. "The sigil is the key to awakening the machine."
"But," the Second added with a dark grin, "we can't get to him yet."
"Then we use Ragna," the Architect said. "Give him strength. Let him chase his pathetic revenge. When he reaches the boy, the sigil will react. The energy will rise. And the moment it peaks—"
The Architect's eyes hardened like steel.
"We take everything."
The Second folded his arms.
"Then Ragna will die."
The Architect shrugged.
"Of course. He's a tool. Tools break."
They both turned toward the massive machine as its energy swirled and intensified.
White sparks snapped across the surface.
Pipes shook.
The floor trembled.
The Architect whispered:
"Let the Game begins
Back in the warehouse, the machine Ragna had stepped into erupted with light.
The Vex Crew backed away, shouting.
Ragna screamed—not in pain, but in something deeper.
Transformation.
Corruption.
Power ripping through every nerve.
Metal fused with flesh.
His eyes turned molten red.
And then—
Everything went dead silent.
The pod hissed open.
Smoke poured out.
And Ragna stepped forward, his voice deeper, distorted, crackling with mechanical fury.
"Kayden…"
His new arm—half metallic, half organic—tightened into a fist.
"I'm coming for you, motherf—"
The lights in the warehouse exploded before he could finish the curse.
The whole city flickered.
Far away, Kayden's sigil burned white-hot.
The Architect's machine roared to life.
And somewhere deep below, the Architect whispered:
"…the boy has no idea what's coming."