Jaune ran through the destroyed streets, following the sounds of crying children. The Tokyo Area was worse than he'd imagined. Buildings stood half-collapsed, streets cratered from past battles. Every surface bore scars from Gastrea attacks.
His danger sense was pinging constantly. Not immediate threats, but the ambient wrongness of a world on the brink of destruction.
'Post-apocalyptic hellscape. Check. Giant monsters. Check. This is fine. Everything's fine.'
He rounded a corner and nearly collided with a man in tactical gear dragging two small girls by their arms. The man had the desperate look of someone fleeing for his life.
"Move!" the man shouted at him. "The wave is coming! Get to the inner districts!"
The two girls couldn't have been older than ten. Both had distinctive red eyes. Cursed Children. The taller one had short orange-brown hair and wore a school uniform. The smaller blonde girl was more petite, but looked about the same age.
"Where's the shelter?" Jaune asked.
The man stared at him like he was insane. "You want to go TO the shelter? It's in the attack path! Civil Security already abandoned it. Those monsters are on their own!"
"How many children are there?"
"I don't know! Thirty? Forty? Who cares!" The man pulled the girls harder. "Come on, we need to move!"
"You're hurting them," Jaune said quietly.
"They're Cursed Children. They'll heal. Now get out of my way!"
Jaune's hand moved to his sword. "Let them go."
The man finally looked at him properly. Saw the weapon. Saw the expression. He released the girls and backed away.
"Fine! Die with them if you want! Stupid kid playing hero."
The man ran, disappearing around a corner. The two girls stood frozen, looking at Jaune with wide, terrified eyes.
"Hey," Jaune said gently, kneeling down to their level. "I'm not going to hurt you. Where's your shelter?"
The taller girl, the one with orange-brown hair, pointed down the street. "Three blocks. But everyone left. They said the Gastrea are coming and we're not worth saving."
Her voice was matter-of-fact. Like she'd heard it a thousand times.
'Oh. That's heartbreaking. Focus, Jaune. Job first, emotional damage later.'
"What's your name?" Jaune asked.
"Enju. She's Tina." Enju gestured to the smaller blonde girl beside her.
"I'm Jaune. And I'm here to make sure you're all safe. Can you show me where the shelter is?"
"You're going to protect us?" Tina asked, her voice barely a whisper.
"That's the plan."
"Why?"
The question hit harder than any attack. Why would someone help them? Cursed Children, discriminated against, abandoned, treated like monsters.
"Because you're kids who need help," Jaune said simply. "That's enough."
Enju's red eyes studied him carefully. Then she nodded. "This way. Hurry."
They ran together through the ruined streets. Jaune kept his danger sense active, monitoring for threats. The pinging was getting stronger. The Gastrea wave was approaching faster than the two-hour estimate.
The shelter was a reinforced building that looked like it had been a school once. Makeshift barricades surrounded it. The front door hung open, abandoned equipment scattered around.
Inside, Jaune found chaos.
Children everywhere. Most under ten years old, all with red eyes marking them as Cursed. Some were crying. Others sat in numb silence. A few older girls, maybe eleven or twelve, were trying to maintain order but were clearly overwhelmed.
"Who are you?" A girl with orange hair, maybe twelve, approached him. She held a small knife defensively. "Another Civil Security coward coming to tell us we're abandoned?"
"I'm here to help. My name's Jaune."
"Right. Sure you are." The girl's grip on the knife didn't loosen. "Everyone says that. Then the Gastrea come and suddenly we're on our own."
"I'm not leaving," Jaune said firmly. "How many children are here?"
"Thirty-eight. Ages six to twelve. All Cursed Children that nobody wants."
'Thirty-eight kids against building-sized monsters. No pressure.'
"What's your name?"
"Kayo. I run this shelter when the adults decide we're not worth their time. Which is most of the time."
Jaune looked around at the terrified faces. Thirty-eight children. Against a Gastrea wave. This was going to be brutal.
"Okay, Kayo. I need you to gather everyone in the main room. We're going to establish defenses before the attack hits."
"Defenses? Against Stage III Gastrea? You're crazy."
"Probably. But I'm also your best chance. So let's get moving."
Something in his tone made Kayo pause. She studied him carefully, then nodded slowly.
"Everyone!" she called out. "Main room! Now!"
The children gathered, a sea of red eyes and frightened faces. Jaune stood in front of them, Crocea Mors visible at his hip. Enju and Tina stood near the front, watching him intently.
"My name is Jaune Arc. I know you're scared. I know you've been abandoned. I know you've been told you're not worth saving." He met their eyes, making sure they saw he meant what he said. "But I'm here to prove all of that wrong. We have maybe an hour and a half before the Gastrea arrive. In that time, we're going to turn this shelter into a fortress."
"How?" a small voice asked. One of the younger girls, maybe seven.
"We work together. You all have abilities from the Gastrea virus. Enhanced strength, speed, senses. We're going to use those. The older girls will help me establish the outer defenses. The younger ones will prepare the fallback positions inside."
"You really think you can stop them?" Kayo asked. "The Civil Security couldn't."
"I don't plan to stop them all. I plan to hold them off long enough for reinforcements to arrive and evacuate you. Five days. That's our timeline."
"Five days?" Kayo looked incredulous. "Against a Gastrea wave?"
"Five days," Jaune repeated firmly. "Now, who knows how to fight?"
A dozen hands went up. The older girls, all between ten and twelve. Enju's hand shot up immediately. Tina raised hers more hesitantly.
"Good. You're my first line. You'll work with me on the barricades." He turned to the younger children. "The rest of you, find every piece of furniture you can move. Pile it in the hallways. Make it so anything trying to get inside has to go through a maze."
"What about food?" a small girl asked. "We only have enough for two days."
"We'll figure that out when the immediate threat is handled. Right now, survival comes first."
They moved with surprising efficiency. The Cursed Children had clearly learned to work together out of necessity. The older girls were strong, easily lifting debris that should have required multiple adults. The younger ones were fast, darting around and reorganizing the interior.
Enju worked alongside Jaune on the outer defenses, her rabbit model abilities making her incredibly fast and strong for her size. Tina stayed closer to the building, her sharp eyes scanning for threats.
"You're really strong," Enju observed, watching Jaune lift a concrete barrier that should have required machinery. "Are you a Cursed Child too?"
"No. Just trained really hard."
"Why do you care about us? Most people hate Cursed Children."
"Most people are wrong," Jaune said simply. "You're kids. That's all that matters."
Enju smiled slightly. The first genuine smile he'd seen from any of them.
Jaune supervised the outer defenses. The building had good bones. Reinforced walls, elevated positions. But the barricades were poorly constructed, more symbolic than functional.
"Kayo, can anyone here manipulate heat or metal?"
"Hina can do something with heat." She pointed to a girl with brown hair who looked about eleven.
"Hina! I need you to reinforce these metal plates. Make them harder to breach."
"I can try." The girl's hands glowed faintly red as she touched the metal. Heat manipulation, Jaune realized. A useful ability.
While Hina worked on strengthening the barriers, Jaune climbed to the roof. He needed to see the approaches, understand where the Gastrea would come from.
The view was grim. Smoke rising from multiple districts. In the distance, he could see movement. Large shapes, too big to be human. The Gastrea were already approaching the outer periphery.
His danger sense spiked sharply. They didn't have an hour and a half. They had maybe forty minutes.
'Of course they're early. Why would anything go according to plan?'
Jaune dropped back to ground level. "Kayo! Change of plans. They're coming faster than expected. Get everyone inside. Now."
The older girls moved immediately, herding the younger children into the building. Enju grabbed Tina's hand and pulled her toward the entrance. Jaune did one final check of the outer defenses. It wasn't great, but it would have to do.
Inside, the children had created a surprisingly effective maze of furniture. Anyone trying to navigate it would be slowed significantly.
"Central room!" Jaune ordered. "Everyone who can't fight, get to the back. Those of you who can fight, you're with me in the entry hall."
Thirty-eight children moved into position. Jaune stood at the front, his twelve fighters arranged behind him. Enju took position on his right, her small fists clenched. Tina stood slightly behind, a makeshift slingshot in her hands. Each girl gripped whatever weapon they'd found. Kitchen knives, metal pipes, broken furniture.
Against Stage III Gastrea, they wouldn't do much. But it was better than nothing.
"Listen carefully," Jaune said. "When they come, don't try to be heroes. Your job is to support me. I'll engage the main threats. You focus on anything that gets past me. Protect the younger children. Stay mobile. If I say run, you run. Understood?"
"Why are you doing this?" One of the girls asked. "You don't know us. You could leave right now."
"Because leaving isn't an option," Jaune said simply. "Now get ready. They're almost here."
His danger sense was screaming now. Close. Very close.
Then the ground shook.
A roar echoed through the streets. Deep, resonant, inhuman.
The children flinched. Some started crying. But none of them ran. Enju's rabbit ears, part of her model characteristics, seemed to twitch as she picked up sounds Jaune couldn't hear. Tina's owl-like eyes focused on the darkness beyond the barricades.
Jaune drew Crocea Mors. His aura flared around him, visible as a pale golden glow that lit up the entry hall.
"What is that?" Kayo whispered, staring at his aura.
"Protection. Now stay behind me."
"It's beautiful," Enju said softly, her red eyes reflecting the golden light.
"Pretty," Tina added quietly, a small smile on her face despite her fear.
Another roar. Closer. Then the sound of something massive moving through the streets. Buildings crumbling. Metal screeching.
The first Gastrea appeared at the edge of their barricade.
It was massive. Easily thirty feet tall, covered in black carapace, with multiple limbs ending in razor-sharp claws. Its face was a nightmare of teeth and compound eyes. The thing was the size of a building, its bulk blocking out the street lights behind it.
'Okay. That's way bigger than a Death Stalker. Way, way bigger.'
Stage III. Spider-type, if Jaune had to guess.
It shrieked when it saw the shelter. Then charged.
"Here we go," Jaune muttered.
The Gastrea crashed into the outer barricade. The reinforced metal held for exactly two seconds before crumpling like paper. The creature's claws tore through concrete, sending chunks of debris flying.
'Right. Building-sized monster. This is going to hurt.'
Jaune ran forward to meet it, activating his danger sense fully. The creature lashed out with multiple limbs simultaneously—four different attacks from four different angles.
He dodged two, blocked a third with his shield. The impact sent shockwaves through his arm and drove him back five feet, his aura dropping by ten percent from that single blow.
'Definitely hits harder than anything I've fought before.'
The fourth claw scraped along his side. His aura absorbed it, but he felt another eight percent drain.
Behind him, he heard the children gasp in fear.
"Stay back!" he ordered, circling the creature.
The Gastrea was smart—not animal-level smart, but predator smart. It kept trying to get around him, to reach the shelter. Jaune had to constantly reposition, using his danger sense to predict its movements.
He found an opening—a gap in the carapace near one of its leg joints. His sword drove deep. Black fluid sprayed. The Gastrea shrieked and thrashed, one massive limb catching him across the chest.
Twenty percent aura gone. That hurt even through his enhanced durability.
'Can't take many hits like that. Need to be smarter.'
"The legs!" Jaune shouted to Kayo and the older girls. "When I distract it, hit the joints!"
He charged again, this time going for the creature's eyes. His blade found purchase in one of the compound eyes. The Gastrea reared back, exposing its underbelly.
"Now!"
The Cursed Children attacked. Enhanced strength strikes hammering into the creature's leg joints. Enju moved like lightning, her rabbit-model speed letting her land three devastating kicks in rapid succession. The Gastrea's legs buckled.
Jaune leaped onto its back, driving Crocea Mors into the gap between head and thorax. His blade found something vital. The creature convulsed once, then went still, dissolving into black particles.
Jaune landed, breathing hard. His aura was at sixty-two percent. One Stage III had cost him thirty-eight percent—more than he'd hoped, but manageable.
Then his danger sense spiked again.
Two more roars from different directions.
'Of course there are more. Why would there be just one?'
Two more Gastrea emerged from the darkness. Both Stage III. One looked like a mantis-type, the other had characteristics of a wolf.
And beyond them, in the shadows, his danger sense was picking up more movement. Many more.
"Enju, you're fast. Really fast," Jaune said quickly, his mind racing through tactics. "I need you as a runner. When I call for something, you get it. Understood?"
"Yes!" She nodded eagerly.
"Tina, those eyes of yours. Can you see in the dark?"
The blonde girl nodded. "Owl model. I can see everything."
"Good. You're my spotter. Tell me when more are coming and from which direction."
"Okay." Her voice was quiet but determined.
The mantis-type lunged first. Jaune met it with his shield raised, but the impact drove him back ten feet. His aura dropped another twelve percent just from blocking.
'These things hit like trucks. Plural. Multiple trucks.'
He couldn't fight both at once—not without burning through his aura too fast. He needed to isolate them, use the terrain.
"Kayo! Get everyone inside! Seal the inner doors!"
"What about you?!"
"I'll hold them here! Go!"
The children retreated, but Enju and Tina stayed close, ready to support.
Jaune faced the two Stage IIIs, his danger sense tracking their movements. The mantis-type was faster, more aggressive. The wolf-type was circling, looking for an opening.
This was going to be a long night.
But as he glanced back at the shelter, at the faces watching from the windows, at Enju's determined expression and Tina's focused gaze, Jaune felt his resolve solidify.
Five days of this.
He could do it. He had to do it.
These children weren't going to die on his watch.