The wind howled through the shattered hangar windows, carrying the metallic scent of blood and oil. Zen lay on the ground, coughing violently, his ribs broken, vision swimming. Keven's boots crunched over broken glass as he approached with casual cruelty.
"Stand up," Keven growled. "Come on, Devil of 73. Show me the monster the streets fear."
Zen tried. His arms trembled. His body refused.
Rey screamed from behind the restraints, tears streaking down his dirt-covered face.
"STOP! Leave him alone! Why are you doing this?!"
His mother pulled him close with shaking hands, whispering into his ear:
"Aydren… if you can hear us… your sons need you…"
Rey froze.
Then something inside him snapped.
Keven chuckled and turned toward the boy. "What do you want, little mouse? Want to die first?"
He grabbed Rey by the collar and threw him across the floor. Rey hit the concrete and rolled, crying in pain.
"REY!!!" Zen roared.
But Keven ignored him. He raised his knife.
"I'll end this whole family. I'm done wasting time with failures."
A metallic crash echoed through the hangar.
The walls shook.
Shadows burst through the windows as masked Eclipse operatives dropped inside like ghosts.
Their leader spoke with a distorted voice:
"Hand over the energy stone. Now. Avalon's operation is exposed. This place is surrounded."
Keven snarled. "You think you can rob Avalon?"
A masked assassin—Ilpizo—landed in front of him and fired a kinetic shock that sent Keven skidding back several meters.
"ECLIPSE DOESN'T NEGOTIATE!" Ilpizo shouted.
Chaos exploded.
Avalon agents opened fire. Eclipse responded with blades, drones, and phasing tech. Sparks and shadows crashed together as the hangar became a storm of violence.
The Director tried to escape, firing her sidearm wildly. A stray blast hit the amulet case—sending the silver bracelet tumbling across the ground.
The silver bracelet hit the floor — clink — then rolled.
And rolled.
Past fallen bodies.Past burning crates.Past Zen.
It rolled until it stopped only a few centimeters from—
Rey.
Zen lifted his head, disoriented. "Rey…"
Rey stared at the bracelet.
It stared back.
Rey crawled backward—terrified, crying—yet the bracelet jumped.
The bracelet jumped into Rey's hand like a living creature.
Like a living thing awakened by a heartbeat it had been searching for.
It clamped onto Rey's wrist with a flash of blinding blue.
Every soldier, every assassin, every mercenary froze.
"…What?" Keven whispered, horrified. "That's impossible…"
Zen's eyes widened. "Rey…?"
Their mother gasped, covering her mouth. Tears poured down her face.
The bracelet pulsed once.
Then Rey screamed.
A sound not human. Not childlike.
A roar mixed with electricity, anguish, and something ancient.
Blue lightning erupted from his body.Machines melted.Concrete cracked.Air itself vibrated.
Space warped around him—the ground bending like rippling water.
Rey clutched his head, crying and screaming as the unstable power tore through him.
"STOP… PLEASE… IT HURTS!!"
The entire hangar was bathed in azure light as a pillar of power shot upward, piercing the night sky.
People across Area 73 froze in the streets as a blue beam erupted into the clouds.
Ilpizo stumbled back, terrified. "What… what IS that?! That's not Avalon tech—"
Keven shielded his eyes. "This power… this is BEYOND anything Aydren built…"
Zen crawled toward Rey, tears streaming down his face. "REY! HOLD ON! PLEASE!!"
But Rey couldn't hear him.
His voice warped into something godlike, echoing through collapsing metal beams:
"LET… US… GOOOO…"
The energy surged outward again.
The battle stopped. No one dared to move.
Because in that moment…
Everyone understood:
The bracelet had not chosen Avalon.It had not chosen the soldiers.It had not chosen the elites.
It had chosen the one person no one expected.
A boy who loved a small tree in the ruins.
Rey Deskan.
And nothing in Area 73 would ever be the same