The Hunter Headquarters never truly slept.
Deep beneath the shattered surface of Earth, the underground facility hummed with artificial life—low mechanical vibrations, flickering holograms, and the quiet murmur of voices that had learned to speak softly in a dying world. Blue-white light washed over reinforced steel walls, casting long shadows that stretched like ghosts across the floor.
Kairo Renji stood near the edge of the command room, his posture rigid.
Fresh bandages wrapped his torso beneath his suit, hidden but not forgotten. Every breath still sent a dull ache through his ribs. He ignored it.
Pain was familiar.
What unsettled him was the silence.
Around the central table, new faces gathered—hunters summoned after the Sub-Leader's appearance forced command to escalate operations. The war was changing. Everyone in the room felt it.
Dr. Aris Veylan stood at the head of the table, eyes scanning the assembled team.
"We've confirmed increased Xeythrian nest activity beneath the city," Aris said, his voice calm but tight. "Subway tunnels. Old transit systems. They're building something down there."
A hologram ignited above the table, revealing a three-dimensional map of the underground rail network. Red clusters pulsed like infected veins.
"That's where we go," Aris continued. "We hit the nest. We learn what they're planning."
A sharp laugh cut through the room.
"So this is him?"
Kairo didn't turn.
Dante leaned back in his chair, boots propped casually on the table, a massive man built like a walking weapon. His armor was scarred and heavy, reinforced with additional plating to support the oversized minigun resting beside him. A crooked grin spread across his face as he looked at Kairo.
"Heard you got tossed around by the big bug," Dante said. "Not so invincible, huh?"
A few hunters shifted uncomfortably.
Kairo remained still.
"…When I kill it," he said quietly, "you'll be the first to know."
Dante barked a laugh. "I like him already."
Across the table, a woman said nothing.
Reika sat upright, rifle resting against her shoulder, her presence sharp and contained like a drawn blade. Her eyes were cold, calculating, scanning the hologram and the people around her with equal precision. She didn't smile. She didn't frown.
She simply observed.
"Focus," Aris snapped. "This isn't a contest."
Reika's gaze flicked briefly to Kairo. For a fraction of a second, something unreadable passed through her eyes.
Then she spoke.
"Subway nests are never empty," she said softly. "If it looks quiet… it's bait."
The subway entrance yawned open like a mouth.
Cracked stairs descended into darkness, swallowed by fog and stagnant air. Flickering emergency lights cast weak illumination along the tunnel walls, revealing layers of grime, rust, and something else—something organic.
Slimy alien pods pulsed faintly along the concrete, fused into the structure as if the tunnels themselves were being digested. Veins of blue light crawled through them, spreading deeper into the earth.
The team moved in formation.
Reika took point above, rifle raised, her scope scanning ahead with mechanical patience. Dante followed, minigun spinning softly as it warmed. Kairo moved last, katana resting against his back, every sense tuned to the darkness.
The air felt wrong.
Too still.
"Too quiet…" Reika whispered.
The scanner in Kairo's hand flickered erratically.
Then the tunnel screamed.
The walls burst open.
Xeythrians poured from hidden alcoves and ceiling vents, shrieking as they fell upon the team from every direction. The ground shook as dozens—no, hundreds—of claws scraped against concrete.
"It's a trap!" Dante roared.
His minigun came alive.
The tunnel erupted in thunder as streams of heavy fire tore through the swarm, alien bodies exploding into black mist under the relentless barrage. Reika fired in precise bursts, each shot finding a weak point, dropping enemies mid-leap.
Kairo moved into the chaos.
His katana flashed, carving arcs of silver-blue light through the darkness. He cut through the swarm with brutal efficiency, each strike deliberate, controlled. Bodies fell. Mist rose. The floor became slick with alien residue.
But they kept coming.
"Too many!" Dante shouted, backing up as the tunnel behind them collapsed inward.
The scanners screamed warnings.
They were surrounded.
Kairo saw it then—the pattern. The way the swarm moved. Not random.
Controlled.
"They're herding us," he said.
A massive shape shifted deeper in the tunnel.
Not the Sub-Leader—but something watching.
Waiting.
"Fall back!" Reika ordered.
The tunnel behind them detonated as alien growths sealed the exit. The team was trapped.
Kairo's mind raced.
If they stayed together, they'd be overwhelmed.
If someone broke their formation—
"I'll draw them off," he said.
Reika turned sharply. "No."
Already, Kairo was moving.
He sprinted forward, firing a flare down a branching tunnel and slashing through the swarm, deliberately making noise—making himself visible.
"Hey!" he shouted. "Over here!"
The aliens reacted instantly, screeching as they shifted toward him in a living tide.
Dante cursed. "That idiot—!"
"Kairo!" Reika shouted.
He didn't look back.
Pain flared as a claw ripped across his side, tearing through already-damaged flesh. Blood soaked his shirt, hot and slick. He staggered but kept running, cutting, firing, luring the swarm away from the others.
The tunnel narrowed.
He felt his strength slipping.
"Just a little longer," he thought. "Just get them out."
An explosion rocked the tunnel behind him.
The swarm hesitated.
Then pulled back.
The survivors regrouped and fled through a secondary exit, alarms blaring as the nest partially collapsed.
Kairo collapsed with it.
The world tilted.
Darkness crept in at the edges of his vision.
He felt arms catch him before he hit the ground.
Reika.
She dragged him through the smoke and debris, her expression tight with something dangerously close to fear.
"…Reckless idiot," she murmured as she hauled him upward.
Kairo tried to smile.
Failed.
As consciousness slipped away, he felt the faint hum of the Orionite blade against his back—vibrating, reacting.
Watching.
And somewhere deep in the dark beneath Earth, something else stirred.
Something that remembered his name.