On the highest floor of a fifteen-story building, behind tall floor-to-ceiling windows, a pair of white, curious eyes stared at the golden glow of the night city below—or maybe at its faint reflection.
A body neither flesh nor machine, but purely made of Null, wearing a black hood and tightly fitted grey attire that looked like thousands of tiny fabric pieces manifested by the Null itself, threaded together.
No one in the house dared approach it unless asked, except the head butler, who was used to seeing all sorts of abominations by now.
The apartment door clicked open. A staff member politely urged her to step inside.
Lucia entered, glancing around, katana fully wrapped in cloth and a gym bag containing her belongings. "Didn't expect a fancy house for someone of my tier. Feels like a waste of money."
A staff member approached, voice and posture refined to maximum efficiency.
"May I handle your belongings for you, ma'am?"
Lucia stared at him for a second and quietly handed him her katana and bag.
Another staff member approached, carrying a tray with a glass of juice.
"Refreshments? Non-alcoholic, just like you prefer."
Lucia accepted the drink.
"And how do you know about my preferences?"
"We're always informed in full about the guests we will be serving. We operate on a… zero error tolerance policy," he replied in a gentle voice. "Please, feel free to look around while your room is being prepared." The man left without another word.
Lucia went back to observing her surroundings, sipping her drink. "Feels like a little bit too much," she murmured. Her eyes wandered until they landed on the back of a familiar figure standing at the windows. She approached with a smile and without hesitation. "Hey, En! Long time no see. Remember me?"
Entity-13's head slowly turned towards her. He studied her before speaking—voice slow and deliberate, as if he had only learned to speak recently. "Lucia… Yes… I remember…"
"So, whatcha up to just staring outside like that?"
En slowly turned his head back towards the city below.
"Lucia… What is… a monster?"
"A monster, huh?" Lucia's expression turned thoughtful.
"It's… something people are afraid of and run away from on sight."
En listened intently, then let out a low groan.
"Lucia… Am I… a monster?"
"Let me think. Hmmm… Honestly? You are. But the good kind. Someone who keeps enemies at bay. So, don't be discouraged. I'm curious, though. Why do you ask?"
En tilted his head.
"I was… at the park this evening. And those tiny humans… They screamed 'monster'... and ran."
Lucia chuckled. "Aww… Is my poor En getting bullied by children?" She gestured at the sofas behind. "Let's sit down. We have a lot of catching up to do."
She led the way. En followed behind.
While the two got lost in chatter, men in long white coats moved efficiently beneath the concrete of the lowest floor two buildings behind, executing their assigned tasks.
A few stood around a table in the center while one old man sat in a chair, calibrating a small, purple orb wrapped in geometrically wired mesh—with utmost care.
"Run it," he said.
His assistant at the console nodded and typed in the start command.
The wires powered up, and a few flickers later the orb lit up, earning gasps from everyone standing.
"It's working!" one exclaimed—and two seconds in, the orb shut down again.
A collective groan followed.
"We're simply too short on resources. A tiny sample is not enough to work with."
"But we're getting close. Keep trying!" said the optimistic one.
"It's only a matter of time till we crack the correct formula."
The old man groaned.
"Back to your stations."
Everyone quickly dispersed.
He then turned to his assistant.
"Log the data."
"Yes, sir!"
WML Airbase, Lithuania, Vanguard Helicopter.
Aurora froze mid-motion. Seconds ago, she was reviewing the upcoming mission instructions. Now, her free hand was already directly over her core.
Heavy footsteps climbing the helicopter ramp reached her. She turned to look, finding Ansar and Ravynne standing at the entrance as if they had seen a digital ghost.
"Aurora…" Ansar called.
"We must tell Sire…"
Aurora's eyes briefly shifted to the floor before she turned back to her task.
"I believe he already knows. Back to work. This isn't going to change anything."
Ansar and Ravynne exchanged glances. Ravynne turned and walked away down the ramp.
Ansar lingered there for another moment, placing a hand over his pulsing core, eyes narrowing.
At the same time, at the large maintenance facility on the central island of WML Archipelago, Exo lay sound asleep on the floor while staff conducted daily maintenance and cleanup.
Exo's eyes snapped open. It lifted its head and stared towards the west.
Sure enough, its eyes narrowed, and it pushed up on all four legs.
"W-what's going on?!" the operator at the main console panicked.
The ground-level staff around Exo dropped their tasks and instantly bolted to safety.
"Is it supposed to be moving right now?!"
Exo stared at the wall blankly for thirty whole seconds, then opened its mouth and let out an ear-shattering roar.
Everyone clutched their ears as everything around them shook visibly.
"Someone, please inform Dr. Frank! Now!"
"Hey!" Morgan Thorne walked in through the entrance—fast, calm, and composed.
Exo's head turned again, eyes locking onto her.
"Go to sleep!" Morgan yelled.
Exo exhaled sharply with its nose-pipes at the command, blowing steam into the air. It turned around and walked away deeper into the facility housing.
The console operator climbed down the metal stairs and rushed to her.
"Thank you so much, Commander! We don't know what happened all of a sudden."
"No need to thank me," Morgan replied. "I'm only here for another two days due to meetings. I'll inform Lady Harukaze about this." She turned to leave. "If it misbehaves again, she'll calm it down."
The operator snapped a salute.
"Thank you once again, Commander!"
Morgan nodded and picked up stride. She pulled out her phone and opened her contact list, scrolling down until "Shane Zen" appeared.
Zen quietly sat at the kitchen table and sipped a milkshake while scrolling on his phone. In reality, he was staring at the time.
9:35 P.M.
Shiori was washing the dishes after dinner. In reality, she couldn't help but sneak worried glances at him. She wiped her hands on a towel, put away the apron, and sat across from him at the table. "Are you… feeling okay?"
"Yep," Zen replied without looking.
"Why do you ask?"
"You were… awfully quiet during dinner. W-was the food not to your liking?" she added quickly.
"It was delicious."
"...Are you sure? You can tell me if you didn't like it."
"I have no reason to lie."
"Then… Do you have a fever?"
Zen shook his head.
"No."
Shiori frowned. She got up, walked over to his side, and lightly pressed her hand against his forehead.
Zen sighed.
"Told you."
Shiori compared his temperature with hers.
"Seems okay to me. What about your arm?"
Zen lifted his left arm, showing the lines still bearing traces of corruption, but the purple glow was very dim. "Fully functional."
He finally got up from the chair and turned to leave, but paused before walking back to his room. "I was just lost in thought. There's no need to worry. Don't overthink it. Get a good sleep."
Even as he said so, worry didn't leave her face as he walked away, and she couldn't help but return to her room. She closed the door with a soft click and let out a long sigh. She stood there for a moment, pressing her back against it as her face darkened. "Why must you always hide things from us, Zen? Do you not even consider us worthy of comforting you?"
But she didn't let the thought discourage her and kept moving, slipping into her pajamas and under the blanket with everyday efficiency. "I chose to help you, and I'm not letting anything change my mind. If I'm not worthy, I will have to be."
Zen lay down on his bed and finally let out a long sigh. He palmed his face, nails digging into his skin as he stared at the clean ceiling and clenched his free hand into a fist. Eyes narrowed as every cut, every bruise, and every drop of blood and tear from that day came back rushing. "Why are you always up to no good, Black Helix? Haven't you had enough yet?"
Six years ago…
Above the cloud layers, where a beautiful sky existed, untouched by rain or storms, a silhouette of black metal engulfed by Null tore through the air at subsonic speed.
It had no thrusters, no wings, and no intention of getting caught.
Chasing behind it, propulsion from Exo's giant wing edges kept its forty-five-meter-long, fifteen-meter-tall body gliding, just slightly faster than its prey.
Sitting on its frame was a fourteen-year-old, hooded, face-masked, and fully encased in his silver-white gear with blue mechanical lines, Protocol-4.
Exo opened its jaw, energy converging in its mouth like fireflies before firing in a long, concentrated beam.
The Null anticipated the attack and banked right. Exo banked too, attempting to lock onto its target again.
The Null braced, instantly went supersonic with a jolting sonic boom, and dove beneath the clouds.
Exo stayed level to its flight path.
"Lost visual," P-04 comm'd.
"Copy," Ravynne replied, flying beneath the cloud layers. The small thrusters in her widely spread wings fired, pushing her to supersonic speeds.
Ansar flew to her left with four long, scalene triangle-shaped wingmen drones. Flaps shifted, and the thrusters on his back fired, keeping him up with Ravynne's speed.
Both pushed harder, closing in on the target as fast as possible.
Ravynne locked on to the dark silhouette. Her wings charged up, glowing bright blue before releasing a large burst of energy shards.
The shards tracked their target like missiles, immediately forcing it to break out into evasive maneuvers—bank right, pull up, spin into a dive. Each shard chased behind, exploding in a trail of consecutive blasts just short of its target.
Ansar flew in from the left with a silver metallic blade. The Null pulled out its sword and swung hard. Weapons collided with a spark as Ansar flew by fast.
He braked mid-air and dashed at the target again. The Null did too. They crossed over and over, trading blows as rapidly as they maneuvered.
Ansar's wingmen circled and relentlessly charged in from every direction like flying swords with minds of their own.
From a thousand feet below, Aurora climbed towards the clash with Ravynne's jet. The system locked on. She pressed the launch button. The jet's internal weapons bay snapped open, releasing four air-to-air missiles.
Ravynne braked mid-air and charged her wings again, pushing to maximum output. A bright, blue ball of energy converged overhead between the wings.
Missiles closed in. Ansar flew away with an instant acceleration. The Null broke into maneuvers again, dodging two missiles, slicing the third with a swing of its sword before it could even explode. The fourth connected and blew up into a fireball, covering the sky in smoke.
Ravynne aimed at the smoke and fired her energy beam at full power, blasting away the air in its path.
The attack hit like a bullet train, pushing the Null towards the ground thousands of feet below with speed increasing by the second.
The Null crashed into the ground, sending soil and debris flying.
Directly above, the jet's rear ramp opened. Tessa walked down the ramp, pulled out her twin blades, and sprinted into a jump.
As the Null got back on its feet, shadow loomed overhead, and Tessa slammed into him with long, white projections of her blades, covering the field in dust again.
A moment of stillness took over, lasting only four seconds before Tessa got thrown out of the dust like a tennis ball traveling barely a meter over the ground.
She lunged her blades into the ground, cancelling out the momentum.
Ansar and Ravynne flew in. The Null's purple eyes projected on its visor locked onto both, and with a hard swing of its sword, it sent a large, diagonal Null-infused slash straight at them.
Ansar banked away towards the left. Ravynne moved out of the way and rotated her shoulders.
The slash passed between them and went straight at the cloud layers.
As P-04 closed in, the slash suddenly sliced past the clouds straight at them.
His eyes widened. Before anyone could react, the slash slammed into the dragon's left wing, shredding away at the metal like scissors through paper.
"Exo!"
The titan let out an agonizing roar that shook the sky as it broke into an uncontrollable roll to the right. P-04 clung on until the momentum finally threw him off into free fall.
As he tore through the wind rapidly, the cloud layers engulfed him, and Exo's silhouette faded into a blur until it was nothing but mist.
Ansar and Ravynne's heads turned at the roar, and both froze for a moment.
The Null stared at the clouds, senses flaring, and the next second the entire cloud layer burst apart violently as two giant claw projections charged straight at it, right claw blue and left claw red, each with three long blades.
The Null took a stance. A large and dark sword projection snapped into existence, visibly pushing the air aside.
P-04 aimed his right claw.
"This isn't over yet!"
The Null swung to counter.
Both projections collided into a stalemate, an energy barrier keeping them inches from tearing through each other.
P-04 pushed harder, screaming desperately.
"I… I'll never forgive them for what they did to you!"
The Null groaned as a surge of energy cracked away at its metal body.
"I. Despise. You…"
P-04 breathed heavily, body weakening as strength chipped away with each second. His voice shivered, barely able to speak. "I know you don't mean it. I… will prove you wrong!"
2:02 A.M.
From the top of a tall building, Umbra-01 looked down at the city below, resting the head of his axe against the concrete.
Tessa was on a call with the East-Wing Military Airbase.
"Copy. Thank you for your service."
She cut the call and walked back to Umbra-01.
"Jet's ready to take flight again. We can start by scouting any of the neighboring cities."
Umbra-01 turned to face her.
"We still have no leads to start searching."
Tessa's expression turned thoughtful.
"That resonance signal lasted roughly one and a half seconds."
"That's not enough to trace it."
"I know. I'm trying my best to calculate the next logical steps. And it seems like we don't have a choice but to wander around until we find another trace."
"I have them, Morgan," Zen's voice echoed.
Both heads turned, spotting him standing on the opposite corner of the roof in nothing but his gear tracksuit, phone pressed against his ear. "Sire?"
"Exo has been roaring everyone's eardrums into oblivion. Aurora has explained everything to me. I've already issued permits for both Umbra and Tessa," Morgan said from the other end of the call.
"Thanks, I'll take it from here." Zen hung up and shifted his attention to them.
"So, were you two just planning to fly off without informing me?" he asked, walking over to the railing beside Umbra-01. "I had to wait for hours until Shiori was asleep."
"We didn't want to disturb you during rest, Sire," Tessa replied.
Zen glanced at the city below.
"I sense kill intent. Is it because of me?" he asked without even looking at Umbra-01.
Umbra's fingers twitched. His grip on his axe tightened, forcing it to retract into its housing unit. "Apologies."
Zen finally turned to face him. "It's not your fault. Here, let me help you with that."
He pointed his left palm directly at Umbra's chest and closed his eyes.
"Sire, what about the resonance signal?" Tessa asked, but quickly corrected herself. "My apologies. I should not be interrupting you at this moment."
"First, I've told you to quit being so formal several times by now. Second, you two aren't the only ones who felt it," Zen replied as he continued to focus on Umbra's core.
"Everyone's worried. We might just know exactly what they're trying to achieve."
"Someone out there has gotten their hands on my blood sample. We got lucky last time that Umbra hadn't reached his full potential. But if someone manages to make a rogue replica, I'm afraid the Vanguard won't be enough to stop it this time." Even as he said so, his face showed no worry about the threat. Instead, he remained still, keeping his stress from bleeding into his purification process.
Umbra-01 stood motionless as his restless core calmed, and for a moment the old image in his physical memory resurfaced.
The very first time he had lost control due to forced modifications, he found himself on one knee in front of a fourteen-year-old boy who had managed to partially purify his "heart" and re-establish the bond torn between them, with the palm of his hand and a smile on his bloodied face.
It looked the same. It felt the same.
Zen lowered his arm. "All good now?"
Pain slammed into his head again like a sonic boom, and he swayed to his left.
Tessa instantly caught him.
"Sire!"
Zen groaned.
"Not this again…"
Thankfully, this one was lighter compared to the previous ones. He quickly shook it off and reoriented himself. "You can let go now."
Tessa hesitated, but eventually let go when she was sure he could stand.
Zen lightly shook his head again.
"Back to normal. I'm getting used to this, honestly."
He turned back to the railing and took a deep breath. Tessa stood beside him.
Umbra-01 mirrored him. He glanced at him once from the corner of his eye before looking forward again. "…May I ask you something, Shane?"
"Go ahead."
"...Why did you name me 'Umbra'?"
Zen's eyes softened with a smile.
"Well, if you want me to be honest, it's because of your destructive tendencies."
Umbra remained silent.
Zen glanced at him from the corner of his eye.
"Didn't like the answer?"
Umbra tilted his head.
Zen laughed, amused.
"Let me ask you this. Why do you think Morgan named me 'Shane'?"
"…I do not know."
"Well… Ask her if you ever get the chance. That'll help you understand."
"For now, all I can give you is… you're the darkest part of me, Umbra. You're the darkest part of me that's capable of controlling itself, even if I can't," he added.
"But it's only because you help me stay contained," Umbra-01 argued.
Zen sighed long and deep. "I haven't been able to control myself even with the help of others. That's why the only way was to seal away part of my capability to feel attachment and grief. So even then, I lack the ability you have."
Umbra-01 groaned softly.
"Understood."