Smoke still clung to the village when Kurogane Rei's unit received a new order. A small cluster of rebels had taken shelter in a granary on the outskirts. The intel was precise: the building was fortified, civilians trapped inside, and any hesitation would cost lives.
Rei's stomach twisted. He had just survived the streets of the last mission, but now he had to make a choice he wasn't ready for. Seraph-0 pulsed beneath his sleeve, a restless coiled thing, sensing fear and indecision. Every heartbeat, every pulse of energy reminded him that power demanded obedience.
"Rei," Ren said, voice sharp and quiet, "we move now. No hesitation. You follow, or you die."
Rei nodded, though his hands shook. There was no room for argument. He had learned that much. But as they approached the granary, the screams began. A child's scream, piercing and raw, cut through the haze of smoke. Rei froze.
Inside the building, a young girl clutched a lantern, her eyes wide with terror. Her father crouched behind a stack of barrels, trying to shield her. And in the shadows, a rebel aimed a Relic-charged blade at them, waiting for the perfect moment.
Ren moved first, precise and lethal. He struck the rebel's arm, severing it cleanly, but not before the man lashed out. A shard of energy grazed the father's shoulder. The girl screamed again, and Rei felt the pulse in Seraph-0 flare uncontrollably.
The Relic demanded action. It demanded death.
Rei's hands shook as he pushed forward. A blast of energy erupted from him, tearing through the rebel's defenses. The building shuddered, beams splintered, and debris rained down. When the dust cleared, the rebel was dead, but the lantern had toppled. Flames licked the hay.
Rei's chest tightened. The father lay pinned under a broken beam, his daughter screaming beside him. Seraph-0 pulsed violently, whispering through his mind: Use me. Fix it. Kill or save. There is no other way.
Ren's voice snapped him out of it. "Decide!"
Rei hesitated. A part of him wanted to obey, to survive, to follow the rules drilled into him since the first day. But another part—a fragment of something human left inside him—couldn't watch the girl burn. He activated Seraph-0, redirecting the energy to lift the beam and clear a path. Pain surged up his arms. His chest burned. Every nerve screamed.
The girl's father caught her and ran, dragging her toward safety. Rei stumbled, gasping, and realized immediately the cost. A memory flared—a laugh in sunlight, a river he could no longer see—and then it was gone. Every time he used the Relic like this, a piece of himself vanished. He felt emptier, older, and yet more dangerous.
Above the village, Kazumi Tatsumi watched, as serene and composed as ever. He smiled faintly, eyes glinting with satisfaction. He had orchestrated the situation so that Rei's first true choice was impossible to ignore. He had seen the boy hesitate, seen him choose humanity over obedience, and that hesitation had cost him a piece of himself—the very lesson Kazumi wanted him to learn.
The smoke cleared, but the silence that followed was heavier than any scream. Ren approached, his expression unreadable. "You lived," he said simply. "That's all that matters. Do not forget the cost."
Rei's hands shook, blood mingling with soot. He looked at the girl, now safe, and at the ruins around him. Every choice he made would leave a mark, every action had consequences, and the world would not wait for him to understand.
High above, Kazumi vanished into the shadows, a single thought lingering in his mind: The boy has learned to bleed for power. Now the real lesson begins.
And in the quiet, Rei understood something terrifying: survival was never enough. Not in this world. Not with Seraph-0 inside him. Every choice would demand a price, and he was only thirteen.