Night covered Novaris City beneath endless rain.
Military aircraft roared through the skies above while emergency sirens echoed faintly across distant districts. The war never truly slept anymore. Somewhere beyond the city walls, artillery continued firing toward the Northern Front while entire battalions vanished into darkness every single hour.
And deep beneath Dominion Military Command—
Kaien Veyr prepared for a mission nobody expected him to survive.
The underground armory stretched endlessly beneath reinforced steel corridors illuminated by cold white lights. Massive weapon racks lined the walls while automated defense systems tracked every movement carefully. Combat drones floated silently overhead monitoring equipment distribution while military technicians hurried between storage sectors preparing emergency supplies for active war deployments.
The atmosphere felt tense tonight.
Too tense.
Even the soldiers inside the armory looked exhausted now.
Because everyone understood the same truth already.
The war was reaching its breaking point.
Kaien walked quietly beside Elias through the secured equipment sectors while several officers followed behind carrying mission data tablets and authorization clearances.
No one spoke much.
The mission details had already been finalized.
Infiltrate hostile territory.
Retrieve the twin girls alive.
Return unnoticed.
Simple instructions.
Impossible execution.
One of the armory officers eventually stopped near an equipment platform afterward before activating the weapon racks surrounding them. Advanced combat gear unfolded automatically from reinforced storage compartments while digital displays listed equipment specifications across holographic interfaces.
"Standard infiltration gear."
Pulse sidearms emerged first.
Energy knives.
Tactical cloaking devices.
Adaptive combat armor.
Everything designed for covert operations inside active warzones.
The officer continued speaking professionally while technicians prepared the equipment.
"You'll be operating without squad support."
Kaien already expected that.
"Communication systems will remain restricted to encrypted emergency channels only."
Meaning no constant contact either.
If something went wrong—
he truly would be alone.
Elias silently watched the preparations afterward while Kaien equipped the combat armor piece by piece. The dark tactical coat settled naturally over his frame afterward while hidden weapon systems locked into place beneath reinforced fabric layers.
At sixteen years old, he no longer looked remotely like a normal teenager.
Not in this world.
Not after growing up surrounded by war.
One of the technicians handed him an advanced pulse rifle afterward.
Kaien inspected it briefly.
Then placed it aside.
The technician blinked.
"…is something wrong with the weapon?"
"It's fine."
"Then why aren't you taking it?"
Kaien stared quietly toward the countless weapons surrounding the armory afterward.
"…I don't really like guns."
That answer confused nearly everyone nearby immediately.
Because in this era, guns were humanity's primary language.
Every soldier carried one.
Every battlefield revolved around them.
Refusing firearms made no sense.
But Kaien himself didn't fully understand it either.
Something about holding guns always felt unnatural to him deep inside.
Not weak.
Just wrong.
As though his soul remembered fighting differently.
Elias eventually sighed quietly afterward.
"You still need ranged weapons."
Kaien nodded once before finally taking a smaller pulse sidearm instead.
The officers exchanged confused looks afterward but said nothing further.
Then suddenly—
something changed.
Kaien stopped moving completely.
A strange pressure spread faintly through the armory afterward.
Not dangerous.
Familiar.
His eyes slowly shifted toward one of the deeper restricted sectors of the underground facility.
And there—
behind multiple reinforced blast doors and thick glass containment walls—
something glowed.
Golden light.
Faint.
Ancient.
Alive.
Kaien's breathing paused slightly afterward.
The moment he saw it—
his soul reacted violently.
Fragments of countless memories surged through him instantly.
Battlefields beneath burning skies.
Divine flames.
The feeling of a weapon resting naturally in his hands across lifetimes.
His body moved before he consciously decided to.
"Kaien?"
Elias frowned immediately afterward watching him walk directly toward the restricted containment sector.
Several officers immediately stepped forward.
"That area is off-limits."
Kaien ignored them completely.
His heartbeat had started accelerating strangely now while the golden glow behind the containment walls intensified with every step he took closer.
Something inside him already knew.
Before he even fully saw it—
he knew.
The containment chamber finally came fully into view afterward.
Massive reinforced glass walls surrounded a circular vault-like room guarded by automated weapon systems and military seals. Warning symbols covered nearly every surface nearby.
And at the center of the chamber—
stood a spear.
Not futuristic.
Not mechanical.
Ancient.
Completely out of place inside a world filled with plasma rifles and military drones.
The spear radiated golden-black energy faintly while strange symbols drifted across its surface like living fire. The weapon itself looked impossibly beautiful and terrifying at the same time.
And the moment Kaien saw it completely—
his memories exploded.
Vijaya.
Not as a bow.
Not as a staff.
A spear.
His breathing stopped briefly afterward.
Impossible.
In his previous life, recovering Vijaya took endless struggle. Fragments scattered across worlds and battlefields.
And now—
it stood whole directly in front of him.
The officers nearby immediately noticed his expression afterward.
One older technician sighed nervously.
"…you can feel it too, huh."
Kaien slowly looked toward him.
"What is that?"
The technician hesitated briefly afterward before answering carefully.
"We don't know."
Another officer stepped forward afterward.
"The weapon was discovered nearly twenty years ago during excavation beneath an abandoned Hollow zone."
"It wasn't damaged," the technician added quietly.
"It was complete already."
Kaien stared toward Vijaya silently afterward while the spear's glow intensified slightly.
Like it recognized him too.
The officer continued explaining.
"We've analyzed every possible material composition."
"Nothing matches known elements."
"No energy source."
"No manufacturing origin."
The technician's expression darkened slightly afterward.
"And everyone who tried touching it died."
Silence filled the armory afterward.
"Instant neural collapse," another officer explained grimly.
"Some literally disintegrated."
Kaien's eyes never left the spear.
The officer folded his arms afterward.
"We believe the weapon rejects incompatible users somehow."
Another technician quietly added,
"It's almost like the spear itself chooses."
Those words echoed strangely inside Kaien's mind afterward.
Because deep within his soul—
he already knew the truth.
Vijaya always chose him.
Across every life.
Every world.
No matter what form it took.
Elias immediately noticed the direction Kaien's thoughts were moving afterward.
"No."
The answer came instantly.
Kaien finally looked toward him afterward.
"You don't understand."
"I understand enough." Elias stepped closer immediately.
"That thing has killed trained soldiers and researchers."
One of the officers nodded sharply afterward.
"Stay away from the containment area."
Another added coldly,
"That's a direct command."
Kaien slowly turned back toward the spear afterward.
And for the first time in years—
something inside him felt complete again.
Not fully.
But enough to awaken memories buried deep within his soul.
Kurukshetra.
The war against the Entity.
The final battlefield beneath Brahmashirastra.
Vijaya existed beside all those memories.
Always.
The spear glowed brighter afterward.
Almost calling to him now.
Elias stepped directly in front of him afterward.
"Kaien."
His voice became firm now.
"You are not touching that weapon."
Several armed guards moved closer immediately afterward too.
The entire containment sector had become tense now.
Because somehow—
everyone present instinctively felt something important was happening.
Kaien quietly stared toward the containment chamber afterward.
Then calmly answered,
"…I have to."
Before anyone could stop him—
he moved.
The guards reacted instantly.
Too slowly.
Kaien slipped past them effortlessly before reaching the containment console directly. Alarm systems immediately activated throughout the armory afterward while red emergency lights flooded the underground corridors.
"STOP HIM!"
Elias immediately moved forward afterward.
"Kaien!"
But he ignored every voice completely now.
Something deeper than thought guided him.
The containment chamber opened slowly afterward with heavy mechanical sounds echoing throughout the armory.
The moment the glass walls separated—
golden-black energy exploded outward violently.
Several officers staggered backward instantly from the pressure released by the spear alone. Warning alarms screamed endlessly across the underground facility while containment systems attempted emergency lockdown procedures automatically.
And through all that chaos—
Kaien walked directly toward Vijaya.
The weapon floated slightly above the chamber floor now surrounded by spiraling golden energy.
Everyone watching expected death.
Disintegration.
Collapse.
Another corpse beside the cursed spear.
Kaien finally reached out afterward.
And touched it.
Silence followed instantly.
The golden energy stopped spiraling violently.
The pressure vanished.
The alarms suddenly died.
And there—
inside the containment chamber—
Kaien stood completely unharmed.
Vijaya rested calmly in his hand.
Perfectly stable.
As though it had always belonged there.
Shock consumed the armory immediately afterward.
Nobody moved.
Nobody even breathed properly.
Because the impossible stood directly in front of them now.
The spear no one could survive touching—
rested peacefully in a sixteen-year-old boy's hand.
Golden-black energy moved softly around Kaien afterward while ancient symbols briefly ignited across the weapon's surface.
And deep inside his soul—
something awakened completely.
Not memory.
Instinct.
The feeling of finally reclaiming something stolen across lifetimes.
Elias stared at him in complete disbelief afterward.
"…how…"
Kaien slowly looked down toward the spear in his hand afterward.
Then quietly—
almost naturally—
he spoke.
"I'll be taking this with me."
Silence deepened further throughout the armory afterward.
Kaien finally lifted his gaze toward the officers surrounding him.
And for the first time since entering the Institute—
his presence truly felt ancient.
Dangerous.
Like something far older than the world around him had briefly awakened behind his eyes.
Then calmly—
"This belongs to me now."