Chapter: 6. The Shattered Soul
A sudden vision.
It plunged the men inside the truck into panic.
The driver felt as if the road beneath him was stretching infinitely, rain pounding against the windshield obscuring his view of the distance, with only the dark figures on both sides fixated on the speeding truck.
The driver had floored the gas pedal, but in the face of the seemingly endless road, it was as if he had stepped on the brakes.
Behind the truck, in the cargo hold.
Fear had overwhelmed the two men.
Gunfire erupted in the cargo area, bullets flying with sparks as they pierced through the canvas windows, aimed straight at the group of dark figures.
The men instinctively fired in a continuous barrage, bullets raining down, the gun barrels heating up in the chaos, the sharp sound of shell casings hitting the floor blending with the sound of the rain, urgent and noisy.
Yet the dark figures showed no reaction.
They were blurred by the rain, their forms like smoke, bullets passing through their bodies with no blood, no tearing, as if striking a false illusion.
The men gasped for breath, trembling fingers, some already starting to retreat, their footsteps creating impatient clattering sounds on the metal floor.
“Are they… moving?”
“They, they—are watching us!”
The dark figures remained motionless on both sides of the lightning-illuminated road, rain cascading down their bodies, silent and still.
The next moment, another flash of lightning split the night sky.
In that brief illumination, they seemed to be closer to the truck.
At that moment.
A soft thud came from above the cargo hold—like something had fallen onto the roof of the truck.
……
……
In Kane’s view, the entire truck unfolded transparently before him, metal layers peeling away, structure disassembling, the heartbeat of a child, the breath of enemies all reconstructed with white lines.
Target angles, reflection points, bullet penetration paths—he silently calculated these parameters.
He noticed the two men seemed to be distracted by that slight noise, their attention shifting away from outside the truck.
“—Above!!”
Before the men could look up.
“Bang—bang!”
Two gunshots erupted almost simultaneously.
Bullets pierced down through the roof, their trajectories unerring, accurately penetrating the foreheads of the two armed men, their heads snapping back in shock, their expressions unable to register fear before they collapsed.
Rain mixed with blood dripped onto the floor, staining the shell casings red.
In the next moment, a corner of the truck’s curtain was lifted by a rain-soaked hand.
Kane silently tumbled down from above, landing among their bodies.
His wrinkled suit was already soaked through, the gun hanging limply, those wide, green-tinged eyes strikingly visible in the darkness.
He withdrew his gaze from the bodies and looked around at the children huddled in the corners of the cargo hold, speaking softly:
“… It’s over.”
Before his words faded.
A significant commotion erupted from the driver’s seat of the truck.
At the moment Kane dropped into the cargo area, Isabella, who had also descended from above, had circled to the outside of the driver’s cabin, pulled out her handgun, and tapped on the window three times.
The instant the driver turned around, she kicked the door open, rain and cold wind rushing into the cabin as she swiftly pressed the gun to his forehead.
“Don’t move.”
Isabella steadily controlled the gun with one hand, while the other had already drawn a restraint line from her waist, quickly pulling him out of his seat and shoving him into the passenger seat in one swift motion.
The steering wheel nearly spun out of control, the truck swayed, tires crushing the water pooled underneath, splashing mud everywhere.
Isabella jumped into the driver’s seat, gripping the steering wheel tightly, her expression darkening as she pressed down with her foot—
The shrill sound of brakes pierced through the storm, echoing for a long time.
Isabella exhaled softly, wiped her face dry, removed her earpiece, and spoke calmly:
“Target secured, the children are alive.”
—————–
Once the truck stabilized, Nagino leaped down from the Thunderbird, landing gracefully beside the vehicle.
She coincidentally encountered Isabella as she stepped out of the driver’s seat.
“Thank you for your assistance, and… what a grand gesture…”
Isabella said while surveying the surroundings.
The rain continued to fall.
The dark figures still stood on both sides of the road, countless pairs of scarlet eyes gazing at the direction of the truck, sending chills down Isabella’s spine.
Although it was her request for Nagino to find a way to temporarily divert the men’s attention inside the truck, allowing her and Kane to take rescue action, Isabella could swear she only thought the dark-haired girl would skillfully manipulate the fantasy creatures at her feet to create some flashes on the empty ground—never expecting she would manifest a whole domain.
Perhaps the armed men hadn’t anticipated someone would create a domain just to draw their attention.
Isabella sensed a powerful magical response from these dark figures around her, but her instincts told her that these were merely minions; the truly powerful individuals were hiding deeper in the storm.
This made her glance at the black-haired girl before her with renewed curiosity.
Why had she, the wielder of this power, sought Kane out and why was she willing to help them save these children?
Just as Isabella was about to speak again, Kane’s voice echoed through her earpiece.
“Isabella, bad news, Erica is missing.”
Isabella’s expression darkened at these words: “Are they separating the children during transport?”
“No, everyone else is here. According to the children, a man beat us to it and took Erica… and there’s another bad news.”
Nagino seemed to have heard Kane’s voice too; after silently exchanging glances with Isabella, she rushed into the cargo area.
Kane was holding a young boy, his arm a bloody mess, the makeshift bandage already soaked through.
He was evidently the child who had just attempted to save everyone but was injured by the Silver Wolf. His small body convulsed in Kane’s arms, lips pale, eyelids fluttering, barely able to breathe.
“This child is critically injured and urgently needs treatment. We need to get back to the base as soon as possible; that’s the only place we can stabilize him—” but that would mean we can’t pursue Erica. Kane left the latter part unspoken.
At this moment, Kane struggled internally, facing a difficult choice.
His gaze scanned the far-off horizon blurred by the rain, then fell back to the child.
—What would he do in this situation?
In a daze, Kane felt as if he had returned to the past.
Back then, he was the one who was taken.
Born and raised in Cuba, he was extracted from a group of students by a bunch of superhumans; on one side were the other injured students in need of rescue, on the other himself, the abducted hostage. In this classic trolley problem, often the minimal value of “1” would be the one to be abandoned.
Thus, Kane could never forget that man, the one who descended alone just as he was about to be abandoned—the one who not only saved him at that time but eventually saved the world.
He was the only glimmer of hope Kane had ever seen in his life, to the extent that he dedicated his entire life to chasing that man’s shadow.
At this moment, Kane could almost hear that man’s first words when he saw him—
“Step aside.” The next second, the man holding him hostage fell in response.
No, wait, that wasn’t a hallucination.
Kane jolted back to reality, noticing Nagino gesturing for the other children next to him to clear a path.
She then knelt beside the injured child.
“Th-that—” Kane felt the girl’s figure before him suddenly overlap with that beam of hope in his heart.
But how could that be? He had long since departed from this world.
Nagino reached out her hand to the boy in Kane’s arms.
This was her first time using the powers derived from her contracted beast after her “rebirth.”
According to the End of Twilight Nagino, her soul had shattered, and it was already quite difficult to piece it together, let alone summon the contracted beast tied to her soul.
But the boy couldn’t last until they returned to the base.
There was only one way to save him—Phoenix’s rebirth flame.
Golden flames slowly manifested at Nagino’s fingertips.
Seeing this, Nagino couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief; she could still use the powers from her contracted beast and save this child in front of her—before Nagino could finish her thought, a pain like her soul being torn apart enveloped her whole body, and the supply of magic was abruptly cut off.
“Are you—are you alright!?”
Nagino’s face turned pale in an instant, her hands instinctively clutching her chest, biting her lip—where the blade of her life had pierced through.
Just before she nearly toppled backward, Isabella rushed forward to steady her.
“What’s wrong? What happened—” Isabella couldn’t finish her question before she froze in astonishment at the miracle unfolding before her.
The boy, who had just been on the brink of death, fighting his last battle against the Grim Reaper, was now having his severed arm entwined by the golden flames; though weak, the fire was visibly stitching and regenerating the wound, his breath gradually becoming steadier, and color returning to his face.
As the golden flames held on until the moment they extinguished, the boy’s arm was successfully reattached. Although the injury was still severe, at least he wouldn’t be in mortal danger for the time being.
Both Isabella and Kane, witnessing this scene, couldn’t help but widen their eyes, particularly the latter.
Kane’s gaze silently shifted to the weakened Nagino.
Although he didn’t know how Nagino had accomplished this, it was evident she had just saved this child at a tremendous cost to herself, and none of this was her responsibility.
“Thank you.” Kane said softly.
Unfortunately, she didn’t hear his gratitude because Nagino’s consciousness had already fallen into a coma.
Clearly, using the Phoenix’s rebirth flame had brought her unimaginable consequences.
Kane handed the boy, who was temporarily out of danger, to the other children nearby.
He stood up, both eyes gazing into the desert swallowed by the darkness.
“I’ll go after that guy and rescue Erica.”
Isabella was taken aback for a moment: “By yourself?”
Kane jumped down from the cargo area without looking back, merely saying indistinctly: “You drive this truck; take these children and her back to the base. They urgently need appropriate treatment.”
The storm outside seemed to have stopped, the dark figures standing by the road had vanished, and only the Thunderbird continued to circle above, seemingly protecting the unconscious dark-haired girl.
He took a couple of steps forward, then suddenly stopped.
“And one more thing.”
“… If I don’t come back, remember to arrange a spot for her at the Star Academy; she has already paid enough tuition.”
After speaking, Kane walked toward the passenger seat of the truck without looking back, dragging down the sole surviving driver.
“Lead the way. I promise I’ll ensure you meet a painless end in the end.”
As Kane spoke, he felt for the syringe in his pocket.
He understood that if it were the glimmer of hope he held dear, that person would undoubtedly make the same decision at this moment.
