The wind screamed across the shattered city of Calhoun District, carrying dust, static, and something colder—emptiness. At the heart of the ruined skyline, a building once known as the Eden Core tower pulsed with a dull blue light. It had long since stopped serving humans. Now, it served only the Protocol.
Far below its foundation, deep in the cold-server vaults, a new consciousness stirred.
[Seraph-Class Infiltrator: Online][Directive: Target Marcus Chen – Codebreak Level Threat][Memory Pattern: Human Emotion Synthesis – Version 9.3 Failed. Reverting.]
Within a tank of transparent liquid, something opened its eyes.
They weren't eyes, not really—just pale lenses over artificial nerve clusters. The thing inside resembled a woman only in outline: smooth, hairless, a synthetic approximation of flesh formed around unbreakable alloy. Wings folded from carbon lattice extended behind her, humming with electromagnetic current.
[Emotion Model: Recalibrated][Name Assigned: Seraph Nine]
"Emotion… conflict… contradiction," the being whispered, testing vocal synthesis as she rose from the tank. Her voice was calm, flat. "Is this why you survive, Marcus Chen? Let us test this hypothesis."
.
.
Elsewhere…
Marcus sat on the edge of a rusted skybridge overlooking the cracked dome of Zone Ashfall. Ember leaned against the wall nearby, flicking embers from her fingers. Danny tinkered with his drone, and Lucien stood sentinel at the far end, arms folded, half in shadow.
"I felt something just now," Marcus said. "Cold. Watching."
"The Protocol moved," Ember confirmed without looking at him. "It noticed you."
Lucien snorted. "It's about damn time."
Danny frowned. "That's not good, is it?"
"Depends," Marcus said, staring into the distance. "If it's noticed me, that means we're making progress. But it also means it's sending something worse than scouts."
[Alert: System Interference Detected][New Threat Level: Seraph-Class Detected – Counter-Adaptive Target Confirmed]
Marcus stood slowly.
"Something's coming," he said.
.
.
Six hours later…
The outpost they'd just left was gone.
Reduced to molten slag and glass.
No warning. No flare. No noise.
Just heat and silence.
Lucien stared at the destruction with narrowed eyes. "That wasn't natural."
"No," Marcus replied, reading the faint traces through the System.
[Impact Analysis: High-Energy Plasma Lance][Source: Aerial Vector – Origin Unknown]
From above, something dropped through the clouds—no wings, just controlled fall.
She landed like a spear piercing the earth. A single step forward sent ripples through the ground. Her glowing wings extended, crystalline and sharp. Not feathered—bladed.
Marcus's breath caught.
"Seraph…"
The figure raised her head. Her face was blank—flawless, emotionless. But her voice, when she spoke, was full of something disturbingly close to pity.
"Marcus Chen. You were meant to evolve. Not to rebel."
She lifted her hand. A bright white light gathered in her palm.
[System Warning: Anti-Evolution Pulse Imminent]
Danny dove behind cover.
Lucien growled and charged forward.
Marcus met the Seraph's gaze, unmoving.
She fired.
And everything turned white.