9:18 PM – Ridge Command Core
The floor was slick with surgical runoff.
Aiko's breath came in cold pulses. Her fingers curled involuntarily around the air, the Seal on her palm thrumming like a second heartbeat. Something in her had cracked open. Something that remembered death—before it even happened.
"They're not going to stop," she said.
"No," Ryoji replied, wiping blood from his jaw. "And neither are we."
Cut to – 9:18 PM – Division Zero Overseas Nexus // OBSERVATION DECK 7
Rows of data-screens flickered in low amber light.
An executive chamber high above sea level—silent, sterile, emotionless. Division Zero's eyes tracked every signal burst from Aiko's Seal. The holograms displayed her vitals in real-time: pulse, oxygen levels, brainwave desyncs.
One observer leaned in.
"Her resonance pattern just reached Phase 3."
Another nodded, eyes never blinking.
"The bloom's begun. Next stage will be involuntary feedback replication."
And then: the Director's voice. Calm, clean, unmerciful.
"Let the killing escalate. The real experiment is emotional resilience. Not survival."
9:19 PM – Ridge Sublevel 3 // East Tunnel Breach
The sound came first.
Not the whine of an engine, not footsteps—blades. Buzzing, singing, vibrating in joy.
A pile of motionless corpses collapsed at the eastern wall. Then the final Sister emerged—her chainsaw spinning in one hand, the other holding Aiko's scarf.
"I want her lungs," she cooed. "The rest can be archived."
She stepped forward—
And was met by Ryoji.
No gun this time.
Just a combat knife and his bare fists.
The Sister lunged. He caught her in the throat with the hilt, slammed her against the steel wall, and drove the knife into her side—not to kill, but to hold.
"You want her?" Ryoji whispered. "Then die remembering her eyes."
He snapped her neck sideways.
Hard.
9:21 PM – Ridge Upper Perimeter // Motion Detection Spike
Miura swore under her breath. "Shadow Kinetics. Three o'clock. They're phasing between trees."
Aiko turned her head slowly. "I can see them too."
"How many?"
"Too many."
The SHADOW KINETIC UNITS glided between trees like ghosts—barely visible, even to thermal. Their hover-bikes left no tracks. Their presence felt like static in the blood.
Inside the Nexus Watchtower, Division Zero observers logged each approach with cold precision.
"Initiate SK Killstream," said the Director.
"Let's see if she still protects when Ryoji's the one who bleeds."
9:23 PM – Ridge Outer Defense Line
Rail pistols snapped.
Aiko threw herself forward, using her own body as a shield. Ryoji went down with a hit to the thigh—clean, deep, too fast to react.
She screamed.
The Seal on her hand erupted in light so violent, even the SK Units faltered.
Her voice broke reality.
"Get away from him—he's mine to protect!"
An electric wave hit the treetops.
Three SK Units vaporized—not from fire, not from sound, but from information collapse. Their systems couldn't parse the frequency burst. They bled from the eyes and vanished mid-phase.
Division Zero Response
"That wasn't a standard pulse," said one observer.
"No," the Director said, eyes narrowing.
"That was autonomy."
9:24 PM – Ridge Interior Aftermath
Ryoji groaned, clutching his leg.
Aiko dragged him behind the inner wall, fingers shaking, light still flickering under her skin. "You're okay. You're okay. You're not going to die."
He grinned through blood. "You're getting good at lying."
She held his face with both hands. "Then lie with me. Lie until they're all gone."
The mountain was no longer just a battleground.
It was her crucible.
And she had begun to bloom.
To be continued in Chapter 64.....