The night felt wrong.
The air over the ruined street trembled with leftover shockwaves from Ragna's rampage. Lights flickered. Smoke crawled along the ground like something alive. Kayden stood facing Ragna, his breath uneven, his body bruised, his mind buzzing with a warning he still didn't understand.
Ragna stepped forward—mechanical implants humming beneath his skin, the upgrades the Architect had secretly embedded into him pulsing like a second heartbeat. His grin was twisted, hungry.
"Finally showed up," he sneered, voice deep with artificial distortion. "You made me wait."
Kayden didn't answer. He couldn't. His nerves felt like burning wires. His arm tingled where the sigil glowed faintly under his sleeve.
Ragna didn't wait for words.
He lunged.
Kayden blocked, but the force threw him back. He crashed against a flipped car, breath knocked from his lungs. Pain flashed, but there was no time—Ragna was already on him, fists slamming again and again with brutal, machine-enhanced strength.
Kayden tried to stand. Tried to swing.
But he wasn't fast enough.
Not strong enough.
Not awakened enough.
Ragna's kick sent him skidding across broken concrete. The world blurred.
"You're nothing special," Ragna growled, stomping forward. "Someone like you shouldn't get to act like a hero."
Kayden struggled to rise—only to be slammed down again, a punch crashing into his jaw hard enough to rattle the streetlight behind him. His chest burned from the impact. His vision dimmed.
Ragna grabbed him by the shirt, lifting him effortlessly with one arm.
"You made my whole crew look weak," he hissed. "Tonight, I fix that."
He cocked his fist back for a final, crushing blow.
Kayden felt it coming—the end.
And then—
the sigil ignited.
His arm burned with light, spreading into his veins like molten energy. His vision sharpened. His heartbeat synced with something ancient, something deep, something overwhelmingly powerful.
A voice whispered inside his mind:
—AWAKEN—
Power erupted from him.
Ragna staggered back, shock on his face.
Kayden didn't think.
He moved.
His punch landed with impossible force, sending Ragna crashing into a street pole, denting it with the impact. Ragna groaned, struggling to rise. Kayden was already there—faster than before, stronger, eyes glowing faintly.
"What—what are you?!" Ragna shouted, wiping blood from his mouth.
Kayden didn't know.
He didn't answer.
He couldn't.
He stepped forward, energy radiating off him in waves. Every part of him trembled with this new power—wild, raw, barely controlled.
Ragna attacked again, but Kayden dodged with ease, his movements clean, sharp, instinctive. Another blow—this time from Kayden—sent Ragna sprawling across the pavement.
Far above, on the roof of a tall building—
the Architect watched.
His cloak swayed in the night wind. A silent drone hovered beside him, projecting data streams into a hologram. The Architect's mask glowed with shifting symbols as he analyzed every spike in Kayden's energy.
"So… it finally activates," he murmured. "That sigil… that power… it's even more reactive than predicted."
The deeper Kayden's energy flared, the more intense the Architect's interest became.
The drone beeped sharply.
> ENERGY LEVEL CRITICAL — TARGET RAGNA AT RISK
The Architect narrowed his eyes.
If Kayden finished the fight now… Ragna would not survive.
And that couldn't happen.
Not yet.
"Do I intervene… or risk losing my first subject?" he whispered.
But he was far away.
Too far from the street.
Reaching them would take time.
---
Back on the ground, Kayden lifted his arm—sigil blazing—aiming the final strike directly at Ragna's chest.
Ragna couldn't move.
Couldn't breathe.
He felt the end hovering inches away.
Kayden's face went blank—no anger, no emotion—just the overwhelming force urging him to destroy the threat before him.
The Architect's drone chimed again, louder now:
> TERMINATION IMMINENT
"Not yet!" the Architect hissed, sprinting to the edge of the roof as if he could will the distance shorter. "Ragna's death now ruins everything—Kayden isn't ready. The system isn't ready. I need more—much more."
Below, Kayden's fist glowed brighter.
Ragna closed his eyes.
Kayden drew back—
And then—
he stopped.
The energy fizzled out.
His eyes dimmed.
His breathing slowed.
Kayden took a shaky step back, confusion crossing his face. It was like something pulled him away from the kill—some instinct deeper than the power itself.
He turned, stumbling, and ran.
Ran without looking back.
Ran as if terrified of what he almost did.
On the rooftop, the Architect froze.
"…He spared him?"
A strange mixture of frustration and fascination twisted his voice.
"This boy… he keeps breaking predictions."
Moments later, a sleek black vehicle pulled up beside the injured Ragna. Two agents in dark suits lifted him into the car.
The Architect stepped inside.
Ragna, barely conscious, groaned, "D…did you see that? I almost—died…"
"Yes," the Architect answered calmly, adjusting the controls on his wrist. "And now that you've tasted fear, we move to the next phase."
"What… phase?" Ragna whispered.
The Architect looked at him—eyes glowing faint through the mask.
"The phase," he said softly, "where you stop being a gang leader… and become a weapon."
The doors locked automatically.
The vehicle drove into the darkness.
And that night… the Architect began planning the next dangerous step.