(Arkgrim's POV)

  Damn, I definitely shouldn't have downed that chocolate shake in one gulp. The liquid inside me was now demanding immediate exit. While Leon, eyes wide, was listening to the deputy commander, I stealthily sidled away and slipped out into the corridor.

  I'm walking down some passageway, looking for the coveted door, when suddenly—hiss—a door in front of me slides open on its own. 'Oh,' I think, 'the service here is top-notch, even the sensors work for the needs of the guests.' I walk further—another door. And another. I'm already walking down some long, clearly non-guest corridor, and then the entrance to a spacious office opens before me.

  She was sitting behind the desk—Ari Nor.

  She looked up at me, froze for a second as if checking a picture in her head, and then that strange, soft smile of hers appeared on her face.

  "And what are we doing here?" she asked, propping her chin on her hand. "Lost? Again?"

  "Well no..." I mumbled. "The doors opened by themselves. I was just... looking for the restroom."

  "Sure, sure," she laughed quietly.

  I was about to turn around and leave, but she stood up, walked over to me, and her hands touched my head again. And that was it. System 'Arkgrim' threw a critical error. I literally felt my legs give way, and I just sank down, and she caught me and started petting me.

  It felt so freaking good. I didn't want her to stop.

  "Arkgrim, right? Is that your name?" she asked quietly, running her fingers through my hair.

  "Yes," I exhaled, closing my eyes. Resisting was useless, and I didn't want to anyway.

  "And what are you doing here?" she continued, her voice soft.

  "Just here... came with a friend."

  "With a friend?"

  "Yeah. Leon. He sleeps and dreams of joining your Corps. Thought if he saw all this mess in person, he'd change his mind. But he seems to be even more fired up."

  Ari froze for a second, her fingers gently scratching the back of my head.

  "Are you worried about him?"

  "He's just... he'll just die there on the very first day," I grumbled. "He's too much of a softie."

  "Mhm, I see," she said. "And what if he does join the ranks of the exterminators after all? What will you do?"

  "Don't know," I answered honestly, feeling myself drifting into a doze. "Maybe I'll go with him. Keep an eye on him so he doesn't get eaten by mistake."

  Ari laughed ringingly, without stopping her petting. But the idyll was interrupted by the sharp sound of an opening door.

  Mon Fun stood in the doorway. He looked at us with such surprise for a couple of seconds, and then exploded:

  "ARI NOR! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! UNAUTHORIZED PERSON IN A RESTRICTED ZONE! HAVE YOU COMPLETELY LOST YOUR MIND?!"

  "Why are you so grumpy, Mon?" Ari didn't even flinch. "Look how cute he is."

  Mon Fun shifted his gaze to me. His single eye narrowed.

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  "Young man... how did you... ahem... get in here? Get out immediately!"

  Ari finally removed her hands and stood up. I felt cold without her palms.

  "Well, Arkgrim," she winked at me. "Guess we'll see each other again in the future."

  I forced a smile and said:

  "I hope so."

  Two soldiers immediately took me by my pale little arms and politely but very quickly dragged me back to the tour group.

  Post-Scene: Commanders' Conversation

  Mon Fun walked down the corridor, practically sparking with anger.

  "ARI! HAVE YOU COMPLETELY LOST IT?!" he growled when they were alone. "Do you think if you scratch him behind the ear, you'll be able to take him into your Fourth Legion?!"

  Ari walked beside him, hands behind her head, whistling cheerfully.

  "Well, no..." she laughed. "But I would like to. Although you are right: if he wants to join the Corps, he'll come to me. We have a better atmosphere."

  "The hell he will!" Mon Fun slammed his fist into his palm. "He will go to the Third Legion! With him, I'll be able to safely send squads on any sorties without fear that they won't return. He is a guarantee of my people's lives."

  Ari smiled, but the same pragmatic thought flashed in her eyes:

  "Same for me, Mon. With him, I'll be calm for every patrol. But... you've already lost. He's more comfortable with me."

  "No, I haven't lost yet!" the old wolf grumbled. "Time will tell."

  Ari Nor's Memories: The Boy Who Gave Me the Sky

  It happened when I was thirteen. Tokyo.

  That day began like hundreds of others. I was an ordinary schoolgirl, sitting in class with my head in the clouds. My dreams? They were ridiculously simple: finish school, find a good job in a quiet office, start a family... I lived in a cocoon of safety, not even suspecting how easily it could burst.

  And then the city cracked.

  The sound of breaking concrete, screams, sirens—everything merged into one nightmare. Everyone ran, and I ran too, until I found myself in a dead end. From behind the rubble, he jumped out at me—a three-meter-tall Kaiju. An ugly carcass smelling of death. I froze, unable to even scream. This was the end of my small, short life.

  And suddenly... I saw Him.

  In the distance, on the horizon, a massive "Typhoon" level Kaiju that was trampling the city blocks exploded with an inconceivable roar. And a second later—right before my eyes—the monster that was about to eat me exploded too. I was hit by a wave of heat and bone dust.

  Amidst the smoke stood a guy. His white hair glowed against the backdrop of the ruins, and his eyes... I will never forget that look. Piercingly blue, like the very sky we had lost that day. He looked at me, smiled—so warmly and calmly, as if there was no war around—and just waved his hand at me—warmly and so sincerely, as if we had met in a blooming park, not in the graveyard of an entire city.

  At that moment, something turned upside down in my soul. I realized: I don't want an office. I want to be where he stands. I want to possess even a drop of the strength that allows one to smile in hell.

  I set foot on this path. Every day, every training session, I squeezed everything out of myself, striving to reach his power. Of course, I knew it was impossible. He is not human; he is a limit that we will not reach even in a million years. But he became my beacon. An example.

  When I joined the ranks of the Corps, he saved my life more than once in difficult operations. He was a shadow that always appeared at the most hopeless moment. And when I became the commander of the Fourth Legion, fate gave me a gift—I met him in person.

  We often sat at headquarters. Just chatting about nothing. I remember the first time I dared to touch his hair. I slowly ran my fingers through it, scratched the back of his head, and he... he fell asleep. So powerful, so terrifying to the whole world, on my lap he became just an exhausted boy. I remember every such evening. I remember the quietness of his breathing.

  Since then, Ari frequently visited the headquarters where "Subject Zero" lived. She saw him differently. Not as a god, but as an exhausted boy who had earned the right to peace. She would sit next to him, and he, trusting her instinctively, would lay his head on her lap. She would spend hours running her fingers through his white hair, feeling his frantic mana quiet down inside him. He would fall asleep, and for those moments he was just Arkgrim. Just a guy.

  Then Mira gave me the classified information. She entrusted us, the commanders, with his secret. His fate. She told us about the "Oblivion," about the ten thousand years of pain he carries through the centuries. She said he doesn't want to remember anymore. That the weight of the millennia lived is too heavy, and he chose emptiness just to remain himself.

  And you know what? Even having forgotten everything, even having lost the memory of his great deeds and endless losses, he remained a good person. Bothersome in his own way, lazy, strange—but real. His kindness is not a learned lesson; it is his very essence, which no oblivion can erase.

  He is my example. A peak that I still have a long, long way to reach. And if he decided to live these years as ordinary Arkgrim... I will be his shield while he learns to be just human.

  After all, a long time ago, he gave me my life.