Lloyd and Mizuno entered through the gate…
It wasn't a castle, nor a gang headquarters as they had expected.
It was more like a dead city underground.
Ruined stone houses… Children's toys frozen in place… Ancient lamps still lit despite the passage of time.
"This… was inhabited," Mizuno said, surprised.
Seiko's voice came from behind them, quiet but heavy:
"It wasn't just a place… it was a home."
He stepped forward slowly, running his hand along a cracked wall, as if touching a memory.
"Three hundred years ago…
This wasn't a village of predators.
It was a scientific center."
Lloyd looked at him without interrupting.
Seiko continued:
"The world at that time feared the monsters that lived beyond the ice mountains. So the scientists decided… to create a human who could face them."
Mizuno's expression froze.
"Experiments?"
Seiko nodded.
"They didn't choose the soldiers…
They chose the villagers themselves."
Silence fell.
"They told them the gas would protect them…
Make them stronger… Give them the ability to survive."
His voice dropped.
"But they didn't tell them the truth."
He stopped in front of a wide square, in the center of which stood a broken statue of a woman holding a child.
"The gas wasn't a cure…
It was an unfinished experiment."
The walls bore the marks of ancient claws…
And broken doors from within.
"On the first night… No one died."
"On the second night… People began to change."
"And on the third night… No one knew who was human… Who was a beast."
His words lacked emotion, which only made the pain worse.
"So… You are not the result of a curse… but of betrayal," Mizuno said softly.
Seko looked directly at them for the first time.
"The world forgot them."
"It closed the mountains… and left them here."
"They live… they fight… and they pass this transformation down from generation to generation."
Then he pointed to their chests.
"We weren't born predators."
"We were forced to adapt… so we wouldn't go extinct."
He looked specifically at Lloyd:
"That's why I sent you the invitation."
"You're not from here… and yet you transformed."
"You're proof that what happened to us… can happen anywhere."
Lloyd slowly clenched his fist.
Everything he'd been through… hadn't been a coincidence.
Seko said:
"We're not looking for power to dominate."
"We're looking for the truth."
"Who did this to us… and are there still people repeating the experiment?"
A cold wind blew through the tunnels, as if the past itself were breathing.
He added:
"And this... is the real reason for our organization's existence."
Seko stared at Lloyd for a long few seconds…
As if trying to make sure what he'd heard wasn't just fleeting enthusiasm.
"I accept your invitation," Lloyd said firmly. "And now we share a common goal…
To capture whoever caused this disaster."
His eyes were different this time.
Not the look of a predator seeking a fight… but the look of someone who had found a reason to fight.
For the first time, a genuine smile spread across Seko's face, a faint but relieved smile.
"Heh… so the deal's done," he said, exhaling slowly.
He extended his hand toward Lloyd, not as a leader, but as someone declaring a partnership in war.
Lloyd shook it without hesitation.
"For years… we've been searching for a lead to them," Seko said. "But every trace vanished, as if whoever did this… was still watching us."
Mizuno interjected, "That means we're not just chasing the past…
but an enemy that's still around."
Seiko nodded.
"Exactly.
And that's what makes it even more dangerous."
He pointed to a deep passageway inside the base.
"We have something you need to see."
The three of them walked down the passageway until they reached an old chamber. In the center was a massive machine encased in tubes and frosted glass.
Inside one of the cylinders lay the remains of a black, petrified substance.
"This… is the last remaining sample of the gas that changed everything," Seiko said.
Lloyd approached it, and as soon as he touched the glass…
His body suddenly shuddered.
Those blue and white marks on his arm reappeared, glowing erratically.
"The energy… is reacting with you!" Mizuno recoiled in surprise.
"Just as I suspected… the thing sealed inside you isn't just a transformation," Seiko whispered gravely.
He looked up at Lloyd and said,
"You're not just a victim of this experiment… You might be the key to finding whoever created it."
There was a moment of silence before Lloyd said in a low but sharp voice,
"Then we won't wait for them."
He raised his head, his eyes gleaming with chilling determination.
"We'll go after them."
Lloyd and Mizuno emerged from their underground headquarters to begin a new mission: tracking the northern and western regions, far from their southern home.
They agreed to split up to cover a larger area; Lloyd headed north, while Mizuno took the west.
The first track was long and arduous; the roads were harsher, and the cold more intense than they were used to.
After days of travel, Lloyd reached a village in the north and decided to stay for a while to rest before continuing his mission.
On his first night, a storm raged, and the snow fell heavily.
A villager took him in at his humble home, where they sat near the fireplace, seeking shelter from the bitter cold.
Lloyd approached the window and looked out at the merciless wind. He whispered, "What's this? The snow and the storm are much stronger here than in the south."
The villager turned to him, his voice trembling, and asked hesitantly, "You...are you from the south?" Lloyd replied calmly, "Yes, I'm from there. Don't worry, relax… I'm not going to eat you; I'm not a savage."
Then he gave a soft laugh to lighten the mood.
The villager breathed a sigh of relief and said with a worried smile, "Thank God…" as if he had feared his guest might be one of those predators the stories tell.