The stealth transport disappeared into the storm without a sound.
Rain swallowed the aircraft completely while black clouds stretched endlessly across the ruined skies beyond Novaris City. Lightning occasionally illuminated the devastated landscape below for brief moments—destroyed highways, collapsed industrial sectors, abandoned military outposts overtaken by darkness and rust.
Kaien Veyr sat silently inside the transport cabin while the automated systems guided him toward the Northern Frontier.
Alone.
No squad.
No backup.
No support.
Exactly the kind of mission this world forced onto children now.
The dim red emergency lights inside the aircraft reflected across his calm expression while Vijaya rested against the wall beside him secured beneath reinforced restraints. Even restrained, the spear radiated faint golden-black energy through the darkness.
Kaien quietly stared toward it for several moments afterward.
Ever since reclaiming Vijaya inside the armory, his mind had become strangely clearer.
The memories inside him felt more stable now.
Not complete.
Not fully awakened.
But steadier somehow.
Fragments no longer crashed into him randomly like before. Instead, they lingered calmly beneath the surface of his thoughts.
Karna's battle instincts.
Arin's understanding of distorted spaces.
Aditya's mastery over spatial manipulation.
All of it existed quietly within him now.
And because of that—
the battlefield ahead no longer frightened him.
The aircraft's AI suddenly activated.
"Approaching deployment zone."
A holographic map appeared across the cabin immediately afterward showing the ruined territory ahead.
Sector Nine.
One of the deadliest regions remaining along the Northern Frontier.
Originally an industrial megacity decades earlier. Now it existed as little more than a war-torn graveyard swallowed by both military conflict and Hollow infestations.
The Vesper Union controlled most of the territory officially.
Unofficially—
nobody truly controlled Sector Nine anymore.
Not humans.
Not monsters.
Only chaos remained there.
Kaien studied the tactical map silently afterward while infiltration routes highlighted across the projection.
The girls were being held deep inside the central ruined district beneath a former military transit hub converted into a temporary black-site prison.
Enemy patrols surrounded every route leading there.
Heavy surveillance.
Armed checkpoints.
Autonomous drones.
And beyond all that—
Hollows roamed the ruined streets endlessly at night.
A suicide mission for most soldiers.
Kaien calmly stood afterward while securing Vijaya across his back properly.
The moment his hand touched the spear again, faint golden energy flickered briefly beneath the restraints.
Like the weapon itself anticipated battle.
The transport slowed afterward while rear deployment doors gradually opened revealing endless darkness and rain beyond.
Cold wind rushed violently into the cabin immediately afterward.
Below him stretched the Northern Frontier.
Ruined skyscrapers.
Burning highways.
Abandoned warzones illuminated by distant artillery fire.
A world completely destroyed by human greed and endless conflict.
Kaien stepped toward the edge of the aircraft calmly afterward.
Then jumped.
The rain hit like needles.
Kaien descended rapidly through darkness while ruined city sectors expanded beneath him. His tactical cloak activated midair immediately afterward reducing visibility signatures while small propulsion systems adjusted his landing trajectory precisely.
Then—
impact.
He landed silently atop the remains of a collapsed transport tower overlooking Sector Nine.
The city below looked dead.
Entire districts remained submerged in darkness except for occasional military floodlights scanning ruined streets far below. Smoke rose endlessly from distant battle zones while broken holographic advertisements flickered weakly across shattered skyscrapers.
The sound of distant gunfire echoed constantly somewhere far away.
War never stopped here.
Kaien immediately crouched low afterward while surveying the surrounding sectors carefully through enhanced tactical lenses integrated into his combat visor.
Enemy patrols everywhere.
Vesper reconnaissance drones moved systematically between ruined buildings while armored patrol squads guarded major intersections below.
Direct infiltration through ground routes would be impossible.
Too exposed.
Kaien quietly exhaled afterward before moving.
He leapt across the ruined tower effortlessly before disappearing into the darkness between collapsed buildings below.
Hours passed slowly afterward.
Kaien moved through Sector Nine like a ghost.
Silent.
Careful.
Precise.
Everything he learned throughout this life combined naturally now with instincts carried across previous ones.
Enemy patrol routes became predictable quickly.
Drone scanning patterns revealed blind spots.
Ruined infrastructure created hidden traversal paths above and beneath the city sectors.
He adapted constantly while moving deeper into hostile territory.
Several times he narrowly avoided direct encounters entirely by manipulating small portions of surrounding space instinctively.
Tiny distortions.
Barely noticeable.
Enough to alter sound direction slightly.
Enough to hide movement shadows briefly.
The same spatial abilities he carried from his life as Aditya still existed within him.
Much weaker now.
But still there.
Kaien moved silently through a partially collapsed transit tunnel afterward while distant Hollow screams echoed somewhere deeper underground.
His tactical display warned of nearby biological signatures immediately afterward.
Three Hollows approaching fast.
Kaien instantly extinguished nearby light reflections from his gear before stepping silently behind broken support pillars.
Seconds later—
the creatures emerged.
Distorted humanoid monsters with elongated limbs and glowing hollow-white eyes crawled across the ruined tunnel walls unnaturally fast while searching for movement nearby. Their bodies looked partially melted together with strange black crystalline growths spreading across exposed flesh.
Kaien remained perfectly still.
The Hollows paused nearby afterward.
One tilted its head sharply toward his direction.
Then suddenly—
Vijaya pulsed faintly behind him.
The creatures froze instantly.
A strange fear entered their movements afterward.
Slowly—
the Hollows backed away.
Then disappeared deeper into the tunnels completely.
Kaien frowned slightly afterward.
That was unusual.
Hollows normally attacked anything human immediately.
Yet they reacted to Vijaya almost instinctively.
Like prey sensing something far more dangerous nearby.
Kaien quietly continued moving afterward.
The deeper he traveled into Sector Nine, the worse the destruction became.
Entire skyscrapers split apart.
Ruined military convoys buried beneath debris.
Abandoned streets covered in old bloodstains and Hollow nests.
Sometimes he saw corpses too.
Soldiers from both factions left unburied where they fell.
This world truly had forgotten peace.
Eventually Kaien reached the outer perimeter of the prison sector shortly before dawn.
And immediately understood why previous extraction teams failed.
The entire district had transformed into a fortress.
Massive automated defense towers surrounded the ruined transit hub while Vesper patrol units guarded every visible entrance heavily. Surveillance drones crossed the skies continuously while sniper positions covered elevated sectors surrounding the prison zone completely.
Even underground access points appeared sealed or mined.
Kaien quietly observed from the roof of a collapsed skyscraper several kilometers away afterward while rain continued pouring endlessly around him.
Too many guards.
A direct assault would fail immediately.
Even for him.
He studied the patrol patterns carefully afterward.
Every movement.
Every rotation timing.
Every surveillance blind spot.
Then eventually—
he noticed something.
A maintenance route beneath the eastern drainage sectors.
Old infrastructure tunnels partially hidden beneath collapsed highways.
Most likely ignored because Hollows infested the underground systems heavily.
Kaien immediately understood.
That was his path inside.
The drainage tunnels smelled like death.
Dark water flowed endlessly through broken infrastructure systems beneath Sector Nine while distant Hollow sounds echoed throughout the underground network constantly.
Kaien moved carefully through knee-deep water afterward while keeping one hand near Vijaya's restraints instinctively.
His visor displayed dozens of Hollow signatures nearby already.
Too many.
But he continued anyway.
The tunnels gradually narrowed deeper inside the prison perimeter while strange black crystalline growths covered parts of the walls and ceiling now. Signs of prolonged Hollow infestation.
Then suddenly—
movement.
Kaien reacted instantly.
A Hollow lunged directly from the darkness toward him with terrifying speed.
He moved before conscious thought even formed.
One step sideways.
One hand forward.
Space distorted briefly.
The creature's momentum shifted unnaturally midair before smashing violently into the tunnel wall instead.
Kaien immediately drew a combat knife afterward and finished it silently before the creature could recover.
Black blood splattered across the flooded tunnel floor.
Then more screams echoed deeper underground afterward.
The others noticed.
Kaien clicked his tongue softly afterward.
So much for stealth.
Dozens of Hollow signatures began converging rapidly through the underground network immediately afterward.
Fast.
Too fast.
Kaien instantly moved deeper into the tunnels while distorted creatures pursued him relentlessly through darkness and floodwater.
The underground corridors became a blur afterward.
Sharp turns.
Collapsing pathways.
Narrow maintenance shafts.
Kaien navigated all of it while using small spatial distortions repeatedly to slow pursuit.
But the Hollows kept coming.
Then finally—
dead end.
Kaien stopped abruptly afterward inside a massive underground maintenance chamber partially collapsed beneath the prison district itself.
And the Hollows surrounded him moments later.
At least twenty.
Their glowing eyes reflected through darkness while distorted screeches filled the chamber completely.
Kaien slowly exhaled afterward.
Then his hand reached toward Vijaya.
The restraints released instantly.
Golden-black energy exploded softly through the chamber afterward the moment he grabbed the spear fully.
The Hollows froze immediately.
Fear.
Real fear entered their movements now.
Kaien quietly lowered the spear afterward while ancient instincts awakened naturally inside him once more.
For a brief moment—
he no longer looked like a teenager trapped in endless war.
He looked like something far older.
Something born for battle itself.
Then he moved.
The first Hollow died instantly.
Not from strength alone.
Precision.
Vijaya moved through darkness like living lightning while Kaien's body flowed naturally with impossible efficiency. Every movement felt ancient. Perfect.
The chamber erupted into chaos afterward.
Hollows attacked from every direction simultaneously while Kaien fought silently among them beneath flashing emergency lights and rising floodwater.
And somewhere above that battlefield—
two imprisoned girls unknowingly waited for the boy fate had dragged across lifetimes to find them once again.