Chapter 8 - 10
The safehouse was a crumbling pre-war apartment, its windows boarded, the single bulb swinging like a pendulum.
Lys collapsed onto the moth-eaten couch. Her core flickered—gold one moment, sickly grey the next.
Kai rummaged through the medkit. "The collar did something to your energy pathways. I need to—"
"*Don't.*" She caught his hand. "Every time you use your power, the corruption spreads." Her thumb brushed his blackened veins.
He should've pulled away. He *didn't.*
"You're shaking," he noted.
"I'm *fine.*"
"Liar." Kai pressed his palm to her forehead. *Burning.* "You've got core fever."
A rare smile tugged her lips. "Scared, Valtaris?"
"Terrified." The admission slipped out.
Silence. Then—
"Idiot." Lys leaned into his touch. "I survived twelve years under *his* thumb. A fever won't—*ah!*"
She doubled over. Gold light *cracked* through her skin like porcelain.
Kai acted without thought. He *pressed their foreheads together* and *pushed* his energy into her.
Black and gold swirled. The room *warped.*
Lys gasped as the fractures in her core *knitted* shut. Kai's vision whited out—
—And suddenly *he was elsewhere.*
*A child's memory: A younger Lys, no older than six, strapped to a table. Solfrost's voice: "Again." Lightning. Pain. The scent of her own burning flesh—*
Kai *wrenched* free. They collapsed in a tangle of limbs.
Lys's pupils were blown wide. "You... *saw?*"
"Yeah." His voice was rough. "All of it."
She looked away. "Now you know why I never—"
Kai *kissed* her.
It wasn't graceful. Their teeth clashed. Lys made a sound between a gasp and a sob—
—Then *clutched* his jacket and *kissed back.*
The lightbulb *shattered.* The windows *frosted over.* Kai's corrupted veins *receded.*
When they broke apart, Lys's core burned steady.
Outside, thunder rolled. Somewhere in the city, sirens wailed.
Lys touched her lips. "That was..."
"Stupid?" Kai offered.
"*Inefficient,*" she corrected. But her eyes were brighter.
**Chapter 9: "The Brother's Gambit"**
The rain had stopped.
That was the first thing Kai noticed when he cracked open his eyes. The second was the smell of jasmine tea—a scent that didn't belong in this rotting safehouse.
He was on his feet in an instant, corrupted arm crackling with unstable energy.
A figure sat at the broken kitchen table, steam curling from a porcelain cup. White hair. A scar cutting through one eyebrow.
"Morning, little brother."
Kai's blood turned to ice.
**Dran.**
Ten years. Ten years since the labs, since the extraction, since Kai had last seen the brother he'd failed to save. And now here he was, sipping tea like he hadn't torn apart half the WDO's elite squad just to get here.
Lys was already up, her back against the wall, frost creeping along the plaster.
"You," she breathed.
Dran smirked. "Miss me, Solfrost?"
Kai stepped between them. "What do you want?"
The cup clinked as Dran set it down. "To give you a choice." He tossed something onto the table—a holographic projector. It flickered to life, showing a map of the city. Red dots pulsed at key locations.
"WDO's Core Extraction Facilities," Dran said. "They're rounding up every student with a B-rank or higher. Including your little friend—what was her name? Mio?"
Kai's stomach dropped.
Lys's voice was steel. "Why should we trust you?"
"Because I'm the only one who knows what Phase 2 really is." Dran leaned forward. "They're not just extracting Cores anymore. They're *weaponizing* them. Turning kids into living bombs."
The projector changed. A video feed: Rows of glass pods, each holding a student Kai recognized from the academy. Their Cores glowed *black* at the edges.
Kai's hands shook. "How do we stop it?"
Dran smiled. It didn't reach his eyes.
"By burning it all down."
---
**Chapter 10: "The Crimson Judge"**
The ambush was supposed to be simple.
Get in. Get Mio. Get out.
Of course, nothing was ever simple.
Kai crouched on the rooftop overlooking WDO Facility 7, Lys a silent shadow beside him. Below, guards patrolled with pulse rifles, their helmets scanning for thermal signatures.
"We go in quiet," Lys murmured.
Kai snorted. "Since when do I do quiet?"
She elbowed him. Hard.
They moved like ghosts—Lys freezing security cameras, Kai warping past motion sensors. The facility's interior was sterile white, the air thick with the scent of antiseptic and something sharper. Fear.
Then they found the holding cells.
Mio knelt in the center of a containment circle, her crimson hair dull under the harsh lights. Wires snaked from her temples to a humming machine.
Kai stepped forward—
—And the world *exploded* in pain.
Mio's eyes snapped open. *Glowing red.*
"Kai..." Her voice was wrong. Distorted. "You shouldn't have come."
The machine *shrieked*. Mio's Core flared, and Kai barely had time to raise his arm before a wave of *something* hit him like a freight train.
Memories.
*Fireworks. A pinky promise. Mio's laugh as she ruffled his hair—*
Then agony.
Kai crashed to his knees, his corrupted arm *burning*. Across the room, Lys was pinned by ice of all things—her *own* power turned against her.
Mio rose, floating inches above the ground. "They showed me the truth," she whispered. "You're the reason they took my family. You and your *monster* of a brother."
Kai forced himself up. "Mio, that's not—"
She *flicked* her wrist.
The wall behind them *vaporized*.
Alarms blared. Through the dust, Kai saw Dran standing in the wreckage, his own Core blazing.
"Right on time," Mio said.
And then everything went to hell.