251 THE WRATH OF BLACK HALO
After she emerged from the subway, Isabelline searched everywhere for Mortuum—but he was nowhere to be found.
Then her eyes caught the chaos above the city. A battle in the sky had formed a perfect circle around a single mecha.
Project Hermes.
It was the same ship that had nearly blocked her and her sisters from safely returning to Liberty City. And now, it was surrounded by an entire armada.
"What's so important on that ship that the armada would risk everything to surround it?" she murmured.
"Sister," one reported, urgency in his voice, "the mecha is falling."
Isabelline closed her eyes and reached out with her perception. Two presences radiated through the chaos.
One… was dying.
The other… was Black Halo.
"I must save Black Halo," she said, determination hardening her tone. "He's too important to our cause."
Then soldiers dropped from the sky—all human this time.
"They didn't send machines with them," one soldier observed.
Isabelline nodded."Better this way. Nothing will be in our way."
The men from the armada landed among the ruins of Project Hermes and its surrounding debris. Then, a sudden weight pressed on their minds as soon as they landed.
It was Fear.
Not ordinary fear—but the deepest, darkest nightmares of their own psyches, amplified and made real.
They froze.
Even the bravest soldiers faltered.
Isabelline's eyes narrowed.
She moved forward. Her men scoured the wreckage until they found Black Halo—lying on the ground, physically unharmed… but his mind was absent.
She reached for him, but nothing worked.
Even someone as powerful as Sienna would have failed here.
"Damn I can't get him to wake up. We'll just have to bring him away", she said.
Then a soldier approached, carrying a boy. His lower body was gone, yet his chest still rose and fell—though not for long.
"He's Kail," the soldier recognized the boy and said.
"I must save him," Isabelline said immediately.
She closed her eyes and let her psychic senses sweep over him.
Then she realized.
Kail's mind was trapped. There were hallucinations layered over reality.
Someone—a psychic—had struck him."This explains it," she muttered.
"Kail's been attacked by a psychic…"
Her jaw tightened."And if we don't act fast, he won't survive."
-----
Kail knelt among dozens of fallen and burning bodies.
These were his burdens, his sins.
He wanted to save them. To atone for his mistakes.
But he was only five years old in this memory.
And he could do nothing.
Suddenly, a voice cut through the chaos.
"Kail! Wake up!""Kail! Wake up!"
He looked around frantically.
Then the voice spoke again—clearer, more urgent.
"I'll get this nightmare off you—but I can't hold her for long. Her power… it could rival Sister Sienna."
Reason returned to him.
"I… I'm in a nightmare again?" Kail murmured.
The world shifted.
He was no longer a child in flames.
He was on a stretcher.Most of his body gone.
Pain tore through him with every breath.
"Argghhh!" he screamed.
A soldier bent over him."What can we do for you? Sister Isabelline is engaged with the psychic who attacked you. She can't see you right now."
Kail's eyes flicked toward her.
Isabelline stood in a trance, her mind locked in psychic combat with his attacker.
He understood his condition.His body couldn't hold out.
Not more than a few minutes.
Desperation clawed at him. His mind scanned around him desperately.
Then he found it.
"Get me that machine," he gasped, pointing to a device near the wreckage.
The soldiers scrambled to obey.
"What do we do with it?" one asked.
Kail paused. Pain twisted his face, but his mind was steady.
"Send it back… after I take my last breath."
Moments later, Kail's chest fell still.
There was silence. Kail was dead.
Not long after, Isabelline returned from her psychic battle.
"How did it go, Sister?" a soldier asked.
She shook her head, grim."We have to move. Now. I couldn't defeat her—she's hunting my presence now."
Together, they lifted Black Halo and Kail's machine into a nearby van.
But the engine refused to start.
"Sorry, Sis. The van won't start. We'll need another ride."
Isabelline clenched her jaw."It's too late for that. Reinforcements from mothership are coming. We don't have time."
Then, without warning, the engine roared to life.
The machine Kail had insisted they bring hummed briefly, its power awakening for a fleeting moment… before settling into silence.
The van was ready.
For now.
------
[The Bridge of the mothership of the Silver City armada]
"Unbelievable…" Morana hissed as her eyes snapped open.
"That bitch dared to interrupt me."
General Ryjer turned toward her."What's wrong?"
"A psychic interfered with my attack on the Quantum Mind," Morana said coldly.
Ryjer waved a dismissive hand."Don't worry. The Quantum Mind is finished—dead or close to it. Our troops are already moving in to retrieve his body."
Moments later, the comms crackled.
"We have the boy," a soldier reported. "He's dead."
Morana's head snapped up."What?"
The feed switched on. Footage streamed across the bridge—Kail's lifeless body lying on a stretcher, broken and still.
Morana stared.
Then she understood.
"The Quantum Mind didn't survive despite breaking my psychic spell," she said quietly. "Recover the body. I'll have use for it."
Captain Zoluse hesitated before speaking up."Er… what about the group that attempted to extract the boy earlier? They're currently fleeing the area."
Morana didn't even look at him.
"Forget them," she said flatly. "We've already obtained what we came for."
The truth had never changed.
This mission was never about Black Halo.
Never about Sorrow. Neither about Liberty City.
From the very beginning—
It had always been about Kail.
-----
The van screeched to a halt.
Black Halo suddenly gasped—his body convulsing as the shadow peeled away. Dark energy folded inward, collapsing into flesh and bone until Damen lay there, his eyes wide open.
"What the hell happened while I was gone?" he demanded, turning to Isabelline beside him.
She didn't look away.
"Many things," she said quietly. "In short—after you defeated the super soldier, Project Hermes descended to retrieve you."
"Project Hermes?" Damen frowned. "Why would they do that? Don't they know how dangerous it is to fight an entire armada?" He shook his head, confused, and irritated.
Isabelline went silent.
Damen noticed something wrong immediately."…What is it?" he asked slowly. "Are you hiding something from me?"
She drew in a sharp breath.
"It was Kail," she said. "He piloted Project Hermes to save you."
Damen froze.
"And the armada…" Isabelline continued, voice tightening, "killed him."
"What?" Damen shouted, bolting upright. "That's not possible! Let me out—now!"
He moved to stand, but Isabelline hesitated.
"Damen… we don't know where to go. Sienna is gone. And Mortuum is still missing."
At the name, Damen stopped.
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"…Mortuum."
With a casual flick of his hand, something slid forward and collapsed onto the floor of the van.
It was a dead body.
Isabelline screamed."M—Mortuum?!"
"He was already dead when I found him," Damen said flatly. "Shot through the head."
He stepped out of the van.
"Go to Gensyn," he said without looking back. "We have people there taking in refugees. They'll get you out of the city."
Then he rose into the air.
Shadow poured over him once more, his form dissolving into a dark blue silhouette that blotted out the streetlights.
The sky itself seemed to recoil.
"Savor the wrath of Black Halo!" his voice thundered across the ruins.
And with that—
He vanished into the night.
------