Back at the temporary shelter in the Xing Long district, a heavy blanket of quiet settled over the group. Marla was taking a much-needed nap in her room, while Vitaliya and Ruy were in Vitaliya's room, their usual sounds of cheerful banter occasionally drifting through the thin walls. Remigio, though still eating meals with the group, had been successfully avoiding all other forms of interaction for months, a silent, painful fixture in the background.

  Meanwhile, T’Jadaka and Lila, now officially a couple, were sitting awkwardly on the communal couch. A small, decades-old satellite TV was mounted high on the wall, permanently fixed to a limited selection of only ten channels. The sound was tinny and distant.

  Lila was attempting to watch a blurry cooking show, but her frustration was mounting. T’Jadaka, never truly invested in the minimal programming—especially since most channels were "garbage" save for the movie channel—was deeply engrossed in a thick, leather-bound book.

  Ugh! We’re dating now, sitting on the couch not even talking to each other. This is so boring, and I'm getting frustrated now… Lila thought, the domestic stillness feeling more like a cold shoulder than an intimate moment. But I can't really blame him either. "Being girlfriend and boyfriend wouldn't change anything," I’d said. "All you have to do was treat me like you always treated me, and we will be fine together."

  He was giving her exactly what she wanted: no pressure, no performance. But at least act a little more affectionate or something!

  Driven by a mix of boredom and need for connection, she leaned in close enough to peer over the top of his book, curious about what held his attention so completely. But what she saw made her gasp, a sound that instantly caught in her throat.

  T'Jadaka's eyes were completely different. His irises—usually dark—were now stark black, and the pupils were a glowing, startling white. The effect was hypnotic, alien, and utterly unnerving, seeming to absorb the room's light.

  "EEEP!"

  The sudden, high-pitched sound made him jump, causing him to drop the book. His eyes immediately snapped back to their normal coloration.

  "Lila! What the hell was that all about? You scared the crap out of me!" he exclaimed, genuinely startled.

  She stared at him, confused by his reaction. "Wait… you didn't know?"

  "Know what?"

  "Your eyes were a completely different color than normal!"

  Now it was his turn to be confused. "What are you on?"

  "Babe! I'm serious, your eyes were doing some weird shit. You have to believe me," she pleaded, still catching her breath.

  Feeling annoyed, T'Jadaka tossed the book aside and went into the bathroom. He retrieved a small mirror and walked back into the living room. He held the mirror up to his face, but all he saw were his familiar, dark irises and star-shaped pupils.

  "They seem fine. I have no clue what you're talking about," he said, his voice flat with impatience.

  Lila leaned forward, urgency in her tone. "Babe, I swear they were very creepy just now. They were like... pitch black with glowing white pupils."

  His confusion was genuine now. Black eyes with glowing white pupils? he thought, glancing again at the star pattern in the mirror. If they were like that when I was reading, maybe I could just simulate that same focus to see if the same result would happen?

  T'Jadaka took a deep breath, letting the chaotic energy from the morning settle, and concentrated, channeling the intense, almost mechanical focus he'd applied to his book earlier.

  As he did, a profound, internal shift occurred. The starbursts in his eyes dissolved, the color deepening until his irises became an abyss of ink-black. His pupils, meanwhile, contracted slightly and began to emit a soft, ethereal white light, subtly illuminating the delicate curve beneath his brows.

  He caught his reflection in the mirror, stunned. He kept his concentration locked down, pushing the surprising new state into stability, and instinctively reached up to rub the skin just beneath his eye, a gesture of sheer fascination.

  "See!?" Lila shouted, her voice laced with triumph and a hint of fear. "I told you!"

  "Wow," T'Jadaka murmured, his voice hushed with awe. He released the focus, and the effect vanished, his eyes snapping back to normal. He stared at his familiar reflection. "This is really weird. I've never seen this before."

  Then, the sudden, deafening sound of a massive explosion rocked the entire building, followed immediately by the terrifying screech of metal tearing and stone collapsing.

  "What the hell!?" T’Jadaka shouted, bolting upright and rushing to the nearest window.

  He peered out, his heart sinking. Old brick buildings several blocks away were being destroyed left and right, not from fire or demolition, but from immense, visible force. Dust and debris billowed into the sky, and the sound of heavy, earth-shaking blows continued to echo.

  "What’s going on out there, babe?" Lila asked, scrambling off the couch.

  T’Jadaka didn’t answer; he was already pulling a fresh, black training shirt over his head, his movements sharp and panicked. "Mom still hasn’t come back. I need to make sure she’s okay!"

  "But you don’t know how many or how strong they are!" Lila cried, grabbing his arm.

  He paused, turning to her. He gently rubbed her cheek, his eyes intense but resolute. "I know, but I need to go. If that thing is back, or if it’s something new, she needs me."

  Lila knew arguing was pointless. Instead, she rose onto her toes and pressed a quick, desperate kiss to his lips. "Be careful," she whispered against his mouth.

  He nodded once, already halfway to the door. "I will."

  He sprinted out, leaving the door ajar.

  "I love you!" Lila shouted after him, tears already blurring her vision.

  "Love you too!" his voice came back, distant, already fading as he vanished down the hall in a blur of motion.

  Back at the battlefield, Big Raga moved with the speed of a freight train, his immense hand shooting out and closing around Farrah’s face. He didn't just grab her; he snared her like a tennis ball, his fingers digging into her cheeks as he dragged her across the pavement.

  CRASH!

  He slammed her through the facade of a bakery, the impact sending flour and splintered wood flying. Without pausing, he yanked her back out and hurled her, still holding her face, straight into a reinforced concrete building.

  CRUNCH!

  The structural support groaned, metal tearing violently as she punched through the far wall and disappeared into the smoke.

  "COME ON! TURN ME UP BITCH!" Big Raga roared, pulling his arm back before flinging her crumpled form into yet another structure. "Don't tell me that's all you got? I haven't even started fighting for real—"

  He was interrupted mid-taunt. A sudden, crushing force slammed into his face. Farrah had appeared instantly, grabbing him by his cloth-covered head and driving him down into the asphalt with terrifying velocity. A deep crater exploded beneath them.

  SPLAT!

  Before the dust could clear, Farrah's blade flashed out. With a precise, blurring motion, she drew her sword and executed a sequence of cuts that reduced Big Raga’s head to a dozen rapidly separating pieces.

  But the beast was not done. Even without a head, its monstrous hand shot up, clamping around Farrah's skull. A tremendous volume of volatile, crimson shadow-fire erupted from the creature's headless neck, channeled through the hand gripping her face.

  BOOM!

  The blast obliterated the surrounding structures, liquefying stone and melting steel in a catastrophic wave of heat that sent Farrah flying back through multiple ruined buildings. She skidded to a halt in the rubble, her clothes smoking, visible burns crawling across the skin of her shoulders and neck.

  Big Raga’s headless body rose from the crater. The eight-spoked dharmachakra wheel above him spun violently, radiating a sickly yellow glow. Flesh and bone stitched themselves back together in seconds, his head reforming with a sickening, wet sound.

  "Yeah, didn't think I can eat that hoe? Bitch, I'm Big Raga, you don't want smoke with me—"

  "Oh god...!" Farrah groaned, rising from the smoke and rubble. Her eyes narrowed into slits of pure, lethal intent. "Shut the fuck..."

  She vanished.

  The next sound was a deafening crack as her augmented fist connected with his jaw, driving him down into the ground again, deepening the existing crater.

  "UP ALREADY!!" she roared, pulling her sword and cutting him into countless, itty-bitty pieces that scattered across the impact zone.

  With no time to spare, she darted past the regenerating chunks and attempted to grab the spinning dharmachakra wheel—the obvious source of his endless regeneration. But the wheel flashed, and Big Raga reformed even faster than before, instantly materializing a razor-sharp water blade in his hand.

  He lunged, aiming for her throat, but Farrah twisted, narrowly evading the attack that sliced clean through the air where her head had been. She backflipped, putting critical distance between them.

  "Yeah~ I see, you can't eat that water, huh? Guess I just need this to make you pussy," Big Raga taunted, the water blade shimmering malevolently in his grasp.

  "You talk too damn much," Farrah spat, her posture low and predatory.

  Javier stepped back from the chaos, his charcoal suit blending seamlessly with the dark silhouette of a neighboring rooftop. He adjusted his lens-less glasses, his gaze tracking Farrah's lethal dance below. The theatrical amusement was gone, replaced by sharp, cold calculation.

  Her control is terrifyingly precise, he thought, observing her flawless movement. Viltrumlight or not, her smart atom control has improved drastically since Raiken. She’s mitigating every impact, turning what should be crushing blows into mere vibrations. That last fight wasn’t a defeat; it was a brutal apprenticeship, boosting both her fighting IQ and her in-the-moment decision-making.

  His eyes narrowed as he focused on her face. He’d noticed it earlier: the irises were now stark black, the pupils a searing, unnerving white.

  And what is that? he mentally demanded. Her eyes changing black-out/white-in… is that the source of her speed? It's too clean, too potent to be a mere visual effect.

  He glanced at the General, Big Raga. The Void Beast was the perfect counter: a creature of pure adaptability, designed to download and nullify any fighting style. Raga had already adjusted to Farrah's speed and even negated the durability of her sword—no matter how sharp her weapon was, there was no simple durability negation against the General's skin.

  Raga should have her measured, Javier concluded, his hand slipping into his pocket. But her movement is still... improving. Faster in a straight line, quicker on the counter. It’s an exponential curve, and I can’t find the source of the fuel. Why is her finding getting better and better in real-time? He felt a knot of true unease tighten in his stomach. I brought a General to counter a legend, but I may have just walked a goddess into a gym to get her warmed up.

  "Come on, turn me up, little hoe," Big Raga roared, his voice thick with a guttural, arrogant challenge. "I smoked all the packs you can think of. You can't pack up Big Raga."

  Farrah didn't react to the taunt. She simply smiled, a thin, unnerving line on her face. "I see. So... I guess I have to destroy all of you in one shot just to take you down, right? Well, that can be arranged."

  Javier, still watching from the rooftop, pushed his lens-less glasses up his nose, his voice edged with skepticism. "You're bluffing. The only thing you have on your person is that sword. You can't kill Big Raga."

  "Yeah, well, I've got something to show you that'll blow your mind," she said, her smile widening.

  She then threw her head back and let out a raw, primal scream. The air around her began to crackle and distort, not with fire or wind, but with raw, blinding electricity that erupted from her body. The ground beneath her rumbled violently, shaking the surrounding buildings and sending dust and loose debris airborne. The intensity was shocking—a pure, untamed storm of energy that seemed to be tearing itself from her core.

  "Don't just fucking stand there, Raga! Kill her before she gets done!" Javier yelled, his composure finally cracking into panicked urgency.

  Big Raga needed no further prompting. He gathered the surrounding moisture, channeling it into a single, devastating attack. His mouth opened, and he unleashed a colossal water jet—a hyper-pressurized torrent so dense and wide it vaporized everything in its path. The blast carved a catastrophic, smoking trench through the city, destroying nearly twenty city blocks before it dissipated into steam and rain.

  Silence fell, broken only by the crackle of distant fires and the hiss of cooling metal. From the street level, it was impossible to see anything but a vast, empty hole where Farrah had been standing.

  "And don't you ever yell at me again, boy! On the Void, I'm not your goon!" Big Raga snapped, turning his burning gaze toward Javier's rooftop silhouette.

  "Well, if you had just hurried up and killed her, I wouldn't have to, dumbass!" Javier roared back, his voice strained and defiant.

  "Nah, I'm gonna pack you up now, boy—"

  Before the General could finish the threat, he was blasted by a massive beam of dark-blue energy that tore through the ruined landscape. The beam—pure, concentrated destructive force—didn't stop at Big Raga. It vaporized the Void Beast in an instant, continuing its path to flatten everything in a massive, unimaginable radius, taking out over six hundred city blocks before finally vanishing into the horizon.

  "No way..." Javier whispered, completely stunned.

  He stared toward the origin point of the blast—the smoking edge of the massive new crater.

  Farrah stood there, her body covered in the strange, vibrant tattoo-like marks that had appeared on T’Jadaka earlier, now glowing with a faint, cobalt intensity. Her eyes were still the unholy black-out/white-in as she glared across the chasm at Javier.

  "Mazoku... But how?" Javier muttered, his voice thick with disbelief and dawning horror.

  Years ago, minutes after Farrah and Raiken had slept together.

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  "Wait... I could do that the whole time?" Farrah asked, her voice hushed with disbelief as she looked at her fully healed body.

  Raiken, already dressed, smiled with a predatory elegance that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Yes. Chimerasylphs possess the unique agility to consume any form of biomass and seamlessly integrate it into their own bio-reserves."

  He sat down beside her, his movement fluid and noiseless. "Viltrumlights and Eidolon Ghouls share a similar trait, though the Ghouls have a vastly superior version of the ability. Ghouls are restricted to consuming only human flesh, which grants them instantaneous, high-level regeneration. Viltrumlights, conversely, can consume all versions of biomass, but the benefit is generally limited to rapidly healing minor wounds or reattaching severed limbs."

  He gently rubbed her augmented, metal arm. "However, if you consume raw flesh that is sufficiently potent—rich in raw, unrefined energy—you will gain a significant surge in overall strength, and you might even trigger a more powerful form of temporary regeneration."

  Farrah frowned, pulling away slightly. "But why would you tell me this? Why do you care what happens to me? I'm just carrying your child..."

  Raiken gently but firmly guided her gaze back to his, his smile turning feral, a hint of something ancient and terrifying in his eyes. "Because I want you to be stronger. Stronger so the next time we fight, we can both grow even more. I want us to live long enough to fight and make love until our time ultimately comes."

  He then did something shocking: he grabbed his own forearm and ripped off a piece of flesh, the action entirely casual, as if peeling an orange.

  "Ugh! That's disgusting!" Farrah exclaimed, recoiling from the sight of the raw, bleeding chunk.

  Raiken offered the flesh to her. "I am a Mazoku—the last of my dying race and the strangest type of Chimerasylph to ever exist in history. I don't know exactly what my flesh will do to your body... but please, eat it and grow strong. It is a gift." His smile softened slightly, holding a wicked challenge. "But in return, I would like a piece of you, too."

  Back in the present day, Farrah gently rubbed the missing portion of her ear, which had completely regenerated when the cobalt-glowing, tattoo-like marks had bloomed across her skin. She stared at her hands, where the raw, pulsing energy was visibly flowing just beneath the surface.

  I don't know how long I can keep this going, she thought, the sheer, intoxicating power surging through her veins. Or what it will do to my body, but I need to end this now.

  She looked across the newly formed chasm at Javier, who was staring back with a mixture of disbelief and dread.

  "I knew you would be strong, Farrah," Javier admitted, his voice rough, completely devoid of its earlier theatrical smoothness. "But I never knew you had that much power. Your time with the Mazoku… it did more than just sex."

  Javier, out of the respect I have for our partnership... I don't wish to fight you anymore. You can't beat me how I am now. Just give up and fight another day. I won't ask again."

  She said that, and it visibly surprised him.

  Javier let out a slow, deliberate breath, the theatrical mask of indifference completely gone. "I have to say, you really did change a lot from when you were younger," he admitted, his voice rough with genuine emotion. "Comes with age, I suppose. But I can see that you’re trying to change too."

  Javier reached into his charcoal suit, pulling out a tarnished, silver dog tag. Engraved on its surface was the simple, stark rank: "A/0." He stopped, no trace of a smile on his face. "I have a master now, Farrah, and he needs you dead. If I fail, I die. So even if I don't want to do this to you…" He slipped the dog tag over his neck, the metal resting against his pristine white shirt. "I have to."

  Farrah's expression softened with genuine sorrow. "I guess there’s no choice left for us, then." She dropped into a low, predatory stance, cobalt energy crackling faintly around her augmented arm, ready to execute a killing blow.

  Javier didn’t move to defend himself. Instead, he pressed a concealed button on the side of his dog tag. A sharp, mechanical whine filled the air as his body was instantly engulfed in a blinding flash of silver light. When the light dissipated, Javier was gone, replaced by a massive, hulking figure clad in a sleek, biomechanical armor—an unsettling fusion of high-tech and something terrifyingly organic, its silhouette reminiscent of a Kaiju.

  "Eidolon armor?" Farrah questioned, her gaze sharp, tracking the imposing form. "And it looks… highly advanced."

  "This isn't just armor, Farrah," Javier’s voice boomed from the suit, distorted and amplified by the internal speakers. "It’s a special prototype model—the ‘Raiken Hunter.’ It was originally designed and built for one purpose: to kill the Mazoku, Raiken. But I convinced the makers to test it out on the second-best thing…" He settled his weight, the massive, articulated fingers of the armor curling into a fist. "You."

  T'Jadaka sprinted toward the epicenter of the chaos, moving at a speed that blurred the ruined landscape. With every stride, the ground beneath him shuddered, and more buildings dissolved into dust under the impact of unseen beams.

  They must have moved the fight away from the main part of the district, he thought, his jaw clenched, tracking the trail of destruction. But how can she be this strong? I've been training relentlessly for years, I thought I surpassed her by now!

  The sheer scale of the damage—the craters, the vaporized stone—was a terrifying testament to his mother's hidden power, and for the first time, T'Jadaka felt a cold spike of doubt.

  If she's fighting something that requires this level of destruction, I might be walking into a fight I can't win. He pushed the thought aside, accelerating, his focus laser-sharp on the smoke-choked horizon.

  The moment he got close, a cataclysmic explosion erupted, a blinding, multi-colored flash that dwarfed the previous destruction, obliterating everything nearby in a silent, horrific vacuum. The shockwave hit T'Jadaka like a physical wall, an impact of pure displaced air that nearly ripped him off his feet, yet he instinctively dug his heels into the ruined earth, adrenaline and raw willpower keeping him anchored.

  "MOM!?" he roared, the sound thin against the ringing in his ears. He redoubled his speed, tearing through the shredded landscape.

  When he reached the epicenter, his frantic sprint died in his throat.

  Two figures lay amidst the still-smoking, fractured rock. He rushed to the first. It was Farrah, her combat armor shredded. Both of her organic arms were mangled, and a gaping, colossal wound had been torn across her lower abdomen, exposing a devastating sprawl of damaged tissue and organs. Her eyes were open, unfocused, but mercifully, still carrying a faint light.

  T'Jadaka froze, his mind reeling from the impossible sight. His mother, the immovable force, broken and laid bare. "Mom...?" he whispered, his voice cracking, but no response came.

  "She’s... not dead, kid," a voice rasped.

  T’Jadaka snapped his head toward the second figure: Javier, lying in a ruined heap nearby. The Raiken Hunter armor was gone, and he was back in his ruined suit, his face pale and slick with blood. A horrifying wound marked his chest—a massive puncture where the armor had been weakest, exposing his ribs and a catastrophic portion of his heart.

  T’Jadaka walked over to him, his rage a cold, absolute presence. He stared down at the dying man, his eyes burning with an unholy fury.

  Javier managed a weak, blood-flecked smile. "Damn... Didn’t know she had a kid too... This is so fucked." He locked eyes with T’Jadaka. "Ha… Letting me suffer slowly? Guess you got some Viltrumlight in you…" He began coughing up thick, dark blood.

  "You dare make jokes when you killed my mother, you piece of shit?" T’Jadaka growled, the threat in his voice absolute.

  "I didn’t…" Javier choked out.

  "What?"

  "Viltrumlights are way harder to kill than you think… Plus—" He was cut off as Farrah, with a rattling cough, spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground.

  "She’s a tough bitch…" Javier finished, his smile widening.

  T’Jadaka immediately spun around, rushing to his mother. He gently lifted her ruined body. "Don’t worry, Mom! I’ll take you back, I promise!"

  Before he could accelerate, Javier’s hand shot out, clamping onto his ankle with surprising, desperate strength.

  "LET ME GO, YOU FUCKIN’—"

  Javier ignored the threat. His other hand pulled a tarnished silver object from his neck—the dog tag. "This… will tell you everything about what I came to do… And take this…" The massive, complex Eidolon armor suddenly compressed, folding in on itself with a complex mechanical hiss until it became a palm-sized metallic cube in his hand.

  "Why?" T'Jadaka demanded, confusion overriding his rage.

  Javier coughed again, blood bubbling from his lips, his eyes suddenly filling with tears. "Please. Just take it…"

  T’Jadaka, seeing the raw, honest plea in the dying man’s eyes, snatched the dog tag and the cube, then tore free and ran, vanishing in an instantaneous blur of speed.

  Javier watched him go, a serene, final smile settling on his lips. "Espero verte en el otro mundo, viejo amigo…" (I hope to see you in the other world, old friend…)

  He closed his eyes, his breathing ceasing, finally at peace.

  Back at the hotal, hours had bled into night as the group exhausted every possible resource, securing the best medical aid available, but Farrah's life still hung precariously in the balance.

  In the communal area, a tense, silent vigil had begun. Vitaliya, Ruy, Remigio, and Marla knelt together, their voices a quiet, desperate hum of prayer for Farrah's survival.

  Lila was in a nearby room, her presence a silent anchor for T'Jadaka, who couldn't stop the deep, frantic shaking that racked his body. He sat rigidly, his hands clenching into trembling fists.

  "This is such bull shit..." he choked out, his voice raw with disbelief and grief. "I finally started to understand my mom, and now—"

  Lila reached out, covering his shaking hands with her own, her grip firm and reassuring. "Don't put that thought out into the air, T'Jadaka. She's been a fighter for years. She won't leave you like this."

  He looked at her, his eyes wild with fear. "She's the only family I have, Babe. I don't know what I'd do if I—"

  Lila didn't let him finish the sentence. She pressed her lips to his, a soft, immediate kiss that silenced the rising panic in his throat.

  "She'll make it through this. I promise," she murmured against his mouth.

  He gripped her face, pulling her closer and deepening the kiss, a moment of desperate connection that spoke more than words ever could.

  "Thanks, Lila," he whispered, resting his forehead against hers. "I needed that."

  "I know," she said, her voice gentle. "How about we go pray with the others? Being together might help."

  "Not yet," he replied, shaking his head. "But I'll come later. You go ahead."

  She nodded, squeezing his hand one last time before rising and walking toward the communal room, joining the circle of friends praying for their matriarch.

  T'Jadaka looked at the dog tag in his hand. Engraved on the tarnished silver were the words: "Name: Javier Cisneros, Age: 36, Height: 6'4, Rank: A/0."

  "Yeah, I don't know what the fuck any of this means," he muttered, turning the metal over and over in his palm. As he examined it, he noticed a faint hinge on the side. It wasn't just a tag; it was a locket.

  He forced it open. Inside, tucked into the shallow compartment, were two items: a tiny data chip and a small, folded piece of parchment.

  He pulled out the parchment first, his movements stiff with urgency, and unfolded it. As his eyes scanned the handwritten script, the color visibly drained from his face. His breath hitched—a silent, sharp intake of air.

  He immediately doubled-checked the name and the contents, his eyes racing over the lines to confirm the impossible.

  "No... No, he fucking didn't..." T'Jadaka whispered, the parchment trembling in his grasp.

  An ice-cold, absolute rage instantly flooded his system, banishing the grief and fear that had consumed him moments before. His star-shaped pupils dissolved into the unholy, mesmerizing black-out/white-in pattern that had briefly appeared in his mother’s eyes during the battle.

  "He's fucking dead..." he growled, the paper crumpling in his fist as a deep, primal tremor shook his frame. Back in the living room, a heavy, subdued atmosphere hung over the group. Vitaliya and Ruy were seated together on the couch, while Lila occupied an armchair nearby. Marla stood beside the mantle, her expression grave.

  "This is so crazy," Vitaliya murmured, leaning her head against Ruy’s shoulder. "I always knew Miss Farrah was strong, but I never thought anything could hurt her like this."

  Ruy shook his head, staring blankly at the wall. "Yeah, she always used to tell us her hardest fight was against Jadaka’s dad, Raiken. And what’s crazier is that if she almost died fighting him, what could have possibly hurt her this badly? Did they have something strong enough to kill a Mazoku?"

  "Not likely," Marla chimed in, her voice low and steady. "Mazoku are creatures of immense, raw power. They live for epochs, and legend says they gain strength exponentially with every passing day. They are this planet’s ultimate apex predators, adaptable enough to survive in any environment. They are not to be taken lightly at all."

  "If that’s true, then why do the history books say they were hunted to extinction by a massive, engineered virus we created?" Lila asked, her brow furrowed in confusion.

  "That part is true," Marla confirmed, nodding slowly. "Most of them were gone even before I was born. We only managed to almost wipe them out because we killed them rapidly, before they could evolve and adapt to the disease. It was the only window we had. However, Raiken appeared shortly after our people destroyed the weapons and the disease that killed most of his kind, to prevent them from being used on anyone else. For years, he was a true demon, killing the strongest fighters he could find… until one day, he simply stopped."

  Marla confirmed, nodding slowly. "Most of them were gone even before I was born. We only managed to almost wipe them out because we killed them rapidly, before they could evolve and adapt to the disease. It was the only window we had. However, Raiken appeared shortly after our people destroyed the weapons and the disease that killed most of his kind, to prevent them from being used on anyone else. For years, he was a true demon, killing the strongest fighters he could find… until one day, he simply stopped."

  Remigio was sitting down by himself not saying anything till Lila walked over.

  "I'm glad that you came and prayed with us," she said with a smile.

  "Yeah... That's the least I can do."

  "Are you still mad at us?"

  He didn't talk for a moment. "I was... I was even after he saved our lives... But after thinking about everything I did... I don't deserve to be around you all anymore..."

  She looked confused. "What—"

  Before she could even finish Remigio disappeared from her sight, and his face was in T'Jadaka's hand and his body was pressed against the wall, shocking everyone.

  "YOU FUCKING TRAITOR!!" T'Jadaka yelled with tears coming down his face, the dark tattoos beginning to crawl across his neck and shoulders. His eyes were the terrifying black-out/white-in, burning with a wrath that shook the room.

  T'Jadaka slammed Remigio's head into the wall again, the sickening THUD echoing through the shocked silence.

  "YOU DID THIS, YOU PLANNED THIS WHOLE SHIT!!" T'Jadaka roared, his voice thick with agony and disbelief. "YOU FUCKING KNEW WHAT THIS WAS ABOUT, AND YOU HAD THE AUDACITY TO PRAY FOR HER?! YOU MAKE ME SICK!"

  Remigio's body was limp, his eyes wide with a mixture of terror and resignation, a thin stream of blood running down his temple. The silver dog tag T'Jadaka had just looked at was pressed tightly against Remigio's chest, pinned there by T'Jadaka's grip.

  Lila screamed, stumbling backward. Ruy and Vitaliya leaped up, instinctively rushing forward to intervene, but the sheer, raw malice radiating from T'Jadaka made them freeze a few feet away.

  "J-Jadaka, stop! What are you doing!?" Ruy stammered, his hand outstretched but trembling.

  T'Jadaka didn't even glance at them, his burning gaze locked onto Remigio. He snatched the parchment he had found in the dog tag's locket and pressed it against Remigio's face, forcing him to look at the words.

  "THIS! You knew about this bastered was after my mom after she killed some CEO’s fucked up son, lead them to the store where We always get our food so they can ambush her."

  Remigio's lips barely moved, his voice a choked, broken whisper. "I... I'm sorry, Jadaka... I was still angry..."

  "Afraid? ANGRY!?" T'Jadaka snarled, the word a sound of pure hatred. "MY MOTHER IS DYING IN THE NEXT ROOM, AND YOU WERE ANGRY OVER A GIRL!?"

  "Yes, I know I fucked up, okay man... I felt really bad and tried to go back," Remigio choked out, the pain from the headlock overwhelming.

  T'Jadaka's grip tightened instantly, driving Remigio's head into the wall again. "I don't want to hear that shit!" he roared, the sound splitting the air. "I killed a lot of people growing up. They were a bunch of strangers... But since I know you, I want to kill you even more."

  This declaration—the raw, personal preference for fratricide—shook everyone in the room.

  "Yo bro! Come on, we can talk this out, right? We all been friends for years so—" Ruy started, his voice strained and desperate, but T'Jadaka cut him off with a chilling glare.

  "I literally fought a killer monster, taking a stab in the chest, to protect all of you. Everybody else was grateful besides this piece of shit..."

  "True, but he's been in his feelings and didn't know how to process them... You should—" Vitaliya tried to interject, but T'Jadaka’s fury was a wall she couldn't penetrate.

  "That still doesn't justify what he did! Doing this all over a girl is goddamn stupid. Ha!..." A small, bitter smile stretched his lips. "He calculated trying to hurt me. He knew exactly what they were going to do to my mom. He didn't think they'd actually kill her or even get close, but that's good enough for me to merck him."

  He started squeezing again, the pressure forcing a high-pitched scream of agony from Remigio. T'Jadaka's black-and-white eyes bore into him, devoid of all mercy.

  "T'Jadaka, stop!" Lila yelled, her hands flying to her mouth, tears springing to her eyes.

  "Jadaka!" she screamed, her voice breaking.

  He snapped his gaze toward her, those same terrifying eyes making her flinch and gasp. Lila, fighting her instinct to retreat, forced herself to speak through her sobs. "It's not worth it... Please, I know he hurt you really, really bad, but he did so much to protect me. If you're not going to spare him for your sake, at least do it for mine, because he did so much for me." She reached up, gently guiding his head so he looked only at her. "He's not worth it..."

  His eyes softened, locking onto hers, the terrifying black and white dissolving as his star-shaped pupils returned to normal. With a guttural sound of release and frustration—"AHHH!"—he flung Remigio aside like a broken doll. The body skidded across the floor, coming to rest near the mantle.

  T'Jadaka turned away abruptly, his shoulders still heaving with silent, monumental rage, and walked stiffly back toward his room.

  The moment he was gone, the heavy silence was broken by the sound of Ruy and Vitaliya backing away. They looked at Remigio's bruised and broken form with profound disgust and cold disdain before turning their backs and following T'Jadaka.

  Lila slowly walked over to Remigio and sat down beside him, not out of comfort, but to deliver a final, cutting message. "You should be very grateful for T'Jadaka being a good person and able to listen to reason." She stood up, her voice dropping, filled with a deep disappointment. "Even though he was angry at you... I can tell that his tears weren't just for his mother. He was crying over his mother, but he felt betrayed by you as well."

  She then turned away and walked off, leaving Remigio alone. He finally broke, collapsing onto the floor in raw, shaking sobs. Marla, whose eyes were heavy with a complicated mix of compassion and judgment, slowly approached and knelt beside him, trying to comfort the boy who had just destroyed his own family.