Three years had passed since the night they escaped into the forest.
Three years since monsters became more than just rumors.
Three years since the mysterious masked warrior saved countless lives while remaining the government's most wanted man.
Life in Genorex City had changed completely.
The city that was once known for its beautiful skyline was now famous across the country for something far darker. News channels called it The Cursed City. Tourists came hoping to witness the impossible, while others left as soon as they could. Those who stayed behind didn't stay because they wanted to—they stayed because they had nowhere else to go.
Monster attacks had become a part of daily life.
Emergency sirens, military patrols, evacuation drills, and reinforced buildings had become ordinary.
People had learned to continue living despite the fear.
The four friends had changed as well.
At nineteen years old, they had entered the first year of college, but behind their normal student lives, each carried responsibilities no ordinary teenager could imagine.
Chris had changed the most.
Gone was the nervous girl who once chased mysteries without thinking. Years of working beside Haru had sharpened both her mind and her emotions.
Her bedroom no longer looked like a normal college student's room.
Three computer monitors covered one side of her study table. Maps of Genorex City filled one screen while dozens of security camera feeds occupied another. The last displayed encrypted military frequencies, weather patterns, and emergency alerts.
She had learned hacking from Haru's hidden network and spent countless nights mastering surveillance systems.
Her fingers moved quickly across the keyboard.
Lines of code flashed across the monitor.
The city never truly slept.
Neither did she.
Lily's life had changed in the opposite direction.
Instead of staying away from danger, she had walked straight into it.
After graduating from school, she had officially joined the military.
To everyone else, she was an intelligent young recruit with excellent physical abilities and quick decision-making skills.
Only Haru, Chris, Henry, Twilight, and Beau knew the truth.
Lily wasn't serving the military.
She was spying on it.
Every meeting...
Every classified operation...
Every discussion involving the Masked Man...
She secretly recorded everything.
She had created her own coding system that nobody had managed to decipher.
Every notebook looked like random mathematical symbols.
Only she could read them.
Henry had fulfilled his dream of entering medical school.
He had become one of the youngest scholarship students studying MBBS.
His classmates admired him for his intelligence.
His professors praised his discipline.
None of them knew that every weekend, instead of relaxing, Henry disappeared into the forests outside Genorex City to protect the world's most wanted guardian.
Twilight had chosen architecture.
Designing buildings had always fascinated him.
Creating places where people could feel safe somehow gave him peace.
The trauma of his childhood had never truly disappeared, but over the last three years he had slowly learned to smile again.
Not because the pain was gone.
Because he had people who refused to leave him behind.
Haru's life remained almost exactly the same.
Night after night...
He hunted monsters.
Night after night...
The military hunted him.
The city still didn't know his face.
To them...
He remained a myth.
A ghost wearing a black mask.
Deep inside the forest, Haru's hidden base had grown into something much larger.
Several wooden cabins stood hidden beneath thick trees.
Storage rooms held medical supplies, weapons, food, and communication equipment.
Solar panels hidden beneath camouflage nets powered the entire place.
It was almost impossible to find unless someone already knew where it was.
Tonight, Henry and Twilight were responsible for watching over the hideout.
The two sat on the wooden porch beneath a lantern.
A deck of cards lay between them.
Henry placed another card onto the table.
"I win."
Twilight sighed dramatically.
"I think you're cheating."
Henry smirked.
"I've beaten you seven times."
"Exactly."
Twilight folded his arms.
"That's suspicious."
Henry laughed.
"No, you're just terrible."
Twilight stared at his cards.
"I refuse to accept reality."
Before Henry could answer—
A walkie-talkie crackled beside them.
Both looked toward it instantly.
Static filled the air.
Across the city...
Chris leaned closer to her monitor.
One camera suddenly flickered.
Movement.
Large movement.
Something emerged from the tree line.
Chris immediately switched camera angles.
Another monster.
No...
Several.
Her eyes narrowed.
"They're heading east..."
She enlarged the map.
A small residential district stood directly in their path.
Without wasting another second, she grabbed her walkie-talkie.
"Beau, do you copy?"
A few seconds passed.
Then the familiar young voice answered through static.
"Yes."
"Multiple monsters approaching Genorex East Town."
"Estimated arrival?"
Chris watched another camera.
"They'll reach civilians in four minutes."
"Understood."
The signal ended immediately.
Nearly twenty kilometers away...
Haru and Beau were already moving.
The moment the message reached them, Haru drew his black sword.
Without saying a single word, he sprinted forward.
Beau transformed mid-run.
His body rapidly grew larger.
Orange fur spread across his arms while claws extended from his fingers.
Within seconds, the small fox boy had become a towering fox warrior.
The two disappeared into the darkness.
Meanwhile, inside the military's temporary operations camp...
Lily sat quietly inside her tent.
A notebook rested on her knees.
Outside, officers discussed tomorrow's operation.
She listened carefully while pretending to organize paperwork.
"...Operation Black Eclipse..."
"...Capture alive..."
"...Priority target—the Masked Man..."
Every important sentence was quietly written into her notebook.
Not in normal language.
Every letter became symbols.
Every sentence became a puzzle.
Even if someone stole the notebook, they would never understand it.
Lily finished writing one final symbol before quietly closing the notebook.
She smiled to herself.
"Sorry... but you're never catching him that easily."
In East Town...
The first terrified scream echoed through the streets.
A monster crashed through a parked vehicle.
Windows exploded.
Streetlights flickered.
Residents ran in every direction.
Then—
A black figure landed silently on the road.
The monster stopped.
It recognized him.
Haru slowly rested his sword across his shoulder.
Behind him, Beau cracked his knuckles with a grin.
"Ready?"
Haru looked at the approaching monsters.
"...Let's finish this quickly."
The monsters roared.
And the battle began.