Outside BAYADNA Port—
Fog crawled from the sea like a white serpent,
spreading across the ground, hiding footsteps…
but not intentions.
The dim port lights swayed with the wind,
looking like the eyes of ancient beasts watching every intruder.
Along the harbor dock,
ZAKI advanced first—
His back was low, breathing measured,
as if he had lived here a thousand times before.
MESNAS walked behind him with heavier steps,
veins rising from tension, though he tried to control them.
MAYNO was last… silent as a shadow,
watching the sky more than the ground.
In a whisper barely audible, ZAKI said:
"Remember… after the metal fence, there's a 12-meter exposed zone.
Move fast—you die.
Move slow—you die."
MESNAS muttered:
"Great… I always loved your optimism."
MAYNO didn't comment.
His eyes tracked the guards' movement on top of the warehouses.
ZAKI pointed with a single finger.
No words.
He cut the wire in three seconds.
A hole barely wide enough to slip through.
ZAKI went first.
Then MESNAS.
Then—
The air froze.
A sound… not footsteps.
Not an engine.
Not a scream.
But the sound of an arrow slicing through the air.
FSSSHH— TNK!
The arrow struck the ground right in front of MAYNO's foot.
Everyone stopped.
From atop a container…
A man sat as if watching a calm sunset.
BOW.
His black bow is shaped like a bone.
In a voice so quiet it was almost soothing, he said:
"The first person to move…
I'll take his eye before he blinks."
MESNAS whispered to ZAKI:
"They found us?"
But that wasn't the worst part.
The air behind them changed.
Heavy steps…
Feet hitting the ground with the confidence of someone who feared nothing.
AXE.
A massive body—
the kind not born, but forged.
Carrying a battle-axe that didn't look like a weapon…
but a severed piece of a mountain.
He stood behind them, raising a single eyebrow:
"Oh… the little wolves walked into the cage on their own."
ZAKI didn't look back.
Didn't flinch.
"If we're in a cage…
Then it means the door is about to break."
MESNAS tightened his fist.
MAYNO… pulled his pistol.
BOW smiled from above:
"Good… you haven't lost your spirit yet."
AXE rested his massive axe on his shoulder:
"But spirit alone doesn't save flesh… from iron."
Then—
ZAKI stepped forward…
and reached behind his back.
He pulled out his hammer.
A hammer unlike any other—
Its head is forged from nano-TECH, scarred with countless impacts,
It's handle long, wrapped in dark leather.
So heavy that the air around it twisted when lifted.
AXE laughed—
the laugh of a man who had seen many fall before him:
"A hammer? You serious?
That's not a weapon… that's a grave-digging tool."
ZAKI gripped it with both hands.
No smile.
No comment.
The air froze.
Then—
Both at the same time:
"RAISE LEVEL."
AXE brought his axe down from above,
a strike meant to split ZAKI in half.
ZAKI lifted the hammer horizontally.
The collision was like an explosion.
BOOOOM!!
Sparks erupted between the metals,
and the ground cracked beneath them from the pressure.
MESNAS and MAYNO staggered back from the shock alone.
AXE, in a deep voice with no mockery this time:
"…Heavy."
ZAKI replied:
"And you?"
He spun the hammer in a wide arc.
Air compressed around it, forming a shockwave that launched forward
before the hammer even reached AXE.
AXE rolled back a step—
The strike sliced past his chest by a hair
and obliterating a full metal container behind him.
KRASHHH!!
Steel flew like paper scraps.
AXE smiled.
A smile of acknowledgment.
"Good… finally, an opponent who doesn't break in one hit."
"ZAKI, be careful!" MESNAS shouted from behind,
still watching the clash with wide eyes.
Then—
in the blink of an eye—
Another arrow flew from BOW straight toward MAYNO.
BOOOOM—!
The explosion shook the dock.
ZAKI looked back in shock—
Only for AXE to kick him aside, sending him crashing through containers.
"Never take your eyes off your enemy…
It's insulting." AXE laughed.
ZAKI rose from the wreckage,
unbothered by the damage,
checking whether the other two were safe.
As the smoke cleared…
Several nano-wires wrapped tightly around MAYNO,
shielding him from the explosion.
"It seems it's time to get serious."
MESNAS said—
His eyes were glowing green.
He stepped forward slowly toward BOW,
his tone colder than usual:
"ZAKI, that ball of meat is yours…
MAYNO, go find SHOUTNA. Support will follow."
AXE turned, insulted:
"Ball of meat? Who are you calling—"
"Stop. He's mine." BOW snapped.
MESNAS lifted his gaze toward him—
two cold, lifeless eyes.
Meanwhile, SIGMA and BETA transmitted all the information to ADEL and GHAZLANE at the factory.
GHAZLANE whispered:
"Will they be okay?"
ADEL stayed silent for a moment.
On screen, MESNAS's wires tightened like serpents.
GHAZLANE whispered again, worried:
"What is that weapon…?"
ADEL finally spoke—
his voice low, serious:
"That… is DROGON."
He zoomed in on the image.
"Advanced nano-fibers capable of forming anything he imagines…
cutting anything that stands in their way.
They come directly from tubes implanted inside MESNAS's arm
and branching into his fingers."
GHAZLANE's eyes widened with awe and fear.
"That's… incredible."
But ADEL remained tense.
"MESNAS isn't someone you want to anger…
Once upon a time, he was one of the organization's strongest weapons."
GHAZLANE froze.
ADEL continued quietly:
"The mission he was given… was to assassinate SHOTNA himself."
GHAZLAN gasped.
ADEL added:
"He may act goofy and carefree…
But when it comes to combat—
He is among the deadliest beings I've ever seen."
A shadow of a sad smile crossed his face.
"They called him… THE MAD PRINCE."
**********
At the heart of the battlefield,
BOW leaped between the scattered containers
like a frightened shadow.
His frantic breaths mixed with the sound of exploding arrows—
each one aimed at MESNAS…
all useless.
MESNAS stood at the center of the chaos,
surrounded by swirling nano-fibers like a colossal spiderweb.
Every arrow exploded on impact,
but the nano-shield devoured every blast.
BOW snarled:
"RAISE LEVEL… 50 of 50!"
He pulled out a crimson bow—
one no one had ever seen.
Carved like a demonic skull.
"I'll admit… you're strong enough to force me to use this."
He whispered:
"This is the end…"
But MESNAS didn't move.
Didn't flinch.
His eyes observed the incoming bow
as if watching a butterfly fly.
His lips curved slightly.
"Raise level…"
He didn't finish the sentence.
Because—
A massive explosion swallowed the entire dock.
Containers, concrete, steel—
Everything vanished in a blast a hundred meters wide.
A column of smoke and dust climbed into the sky,
hiding everything within it.