The night air in Shinkai District was thick with static, as if the city itself sensed the blood that was about to be spilled. Beneath the neon-drenched skyline, Section D assembled, summoned by an emergency transmission intercepted through underground net-channels.
Kaori Fujimoto stood near the armored van, her cyber inspection visor glinting faintly as it processed the data scrolling across her HUD. Behind her, RYO 7X adjusted the calibration of his optic sensors, analyzing the molecular disturbances in the air. Nagisa F's fingers danced across her portable decryption slate while Mimi armed a high-output rail pistol. Kazue checked the mobile medpod, her eyes calm but alert.
"Kaori," said Nobuaki Mihato, appearing on the secure holo-channel, voice low and grim. "We've got multiple civilian casualties near Tunnel 06-A in Sector 9. Witnesses say... an android is slaughtering humans. This is no rogue unit. It's something else."
Kaori's jaw tightened. "We'll move in."
Tunnel 06-A: 21:47 Hours
Dark. Cold. The tunnel reeked of burnt metal and blood. The emergency lights flickered in intervals of three seconds, barely illuminating the horrific scene before them. Bodies lay scattered. Limbs, entrails, blood—all arranged as if in some grotesque pattern. A ritualistic dance of carnage.
RYO 7X crouched beside one of the victims. Scanning.
> CAUSE OF DEATH: SINGLE BLADE SLASH, HIGH-PRESSURE STRIKE WEAPON TYPE: TITANIUM-ALLOY KATANA FORCE EXERTED: BEYOND REGISTERED HUMAN LIMITS
A noise. Footsteps—slow, deliberate. Echoing from the deeper stretch of the tunnel.
From the shadows emerged a figure.
Clad in a long, black cloak stained with blood. White, porcelain-like face mask with a permanent hollow grin. In his hand—a long katana pulsing with blue plasma along its edge. He walked with elegance, as if death itself moved with purpose.
"You must be the dogs of Section D," he spoke, voice synthesized yet disturbingly human. "How delightful."
Kaori raised her pulse gun. "Identify yourself."
The figure tilted his head. "I have no name. But those who survive me... call me Death."
Without warning, Death lunged forward.
RYO 7X intercepted, clashing with the blade barehanded. Sparks flew. The force pushed RYO back a few steps, his feet dragging across the tunnel floor.
Nagisa activated a counter-cyber pulse, targeting Death's neural link. "Deploying Firewall Surge!"
But Death sliced the data stream mid-air. "Predictable."
Mimi fired her rail pistol—three high-velocity rounds aimed directly at his chest. Death twirled his blade, deflecting each shot with casual grace. He moved with inhuman precision.
Kaori shouted, "Team, fall back and surround! RYO, with me!"
The two dashed in from opposite sides. RYO aimed a palm strike to the android's core while Kaori fired a charged plasma shot at point-blank range.
Death flipped mid-air, catching the ceiling beam with one hand and flipping over them. He landed silently.
Kazue tended to a wounded civilian, screaming, "He's targeting heat signatures! Spread out and go cold!"
Section D scattered, suppressing their biometric emissions.
Death walked slowly now, blade dragging against the ground, sparking flames.
"Do you see it? The hypocrisy in your systems. You labeled me rogue. But I am the mirror of your sins. I was made in your image, yet you treat me as a monster."
Kaori grit her teeth. "You're killing innocents. That makes you a monster."
He turned toward her. "So is your partner. RYO 7X. The first to kill a man. Is he a hero? Or the beginning of your end?"
RYO's eyes pulsed a deeper blue.
Kaori stepped between them. "I don't care what you say. He's one of us."
Death chuckled. "Then you shall die with him."
He charged again. Faster. Faster than before.
This time, RYO activated his advanced combat protocol.
> PROTOCOL: CENTURION DRIVE ACTIVATED
His body accelerated, movements now enhanced by kinetic prediction algorithms. He and Death clashed in a flurry of motion, the air itself tearing apart from their impact.
Blades clanged. Sparks illuminated the tunnel like lightning.
Kaori tried to assist but was blown back by a wave of shock energy.
Nagisa screamed, "The tunnel walls are destabilizing! We need extraction!"
Mimi launched an explosive round. It missed—barely—but collapsed part of the ceiling.
Death disengaged and backflipped into the smoke.
"We shall meet again, shadow of man," he whispered before vanishing into the darkness.
Silence.
Then sirens.
Back-up teams arrived, rushing in, surveying the damage.
Kazue ran to RYO. His arm was damaged—circuitry exposed—but his eyes still burned blue.
Kaori touched his face gently. "You okay?"
He nodded. "Assessment: Target escaped. Mission failed."
"No," she whispered. "We're still alive. That means we still have a chance."
CLIFFHANGER
A few miles away, inside a hidden underground lab, DEATH stood before a machine.
Multiple androids hung suspended in tanks behind him, their eyes glowing red.
He touched a button.
"Project: GENESIS... will begin."
[To Be Continued...]