The streets were silent.
Not empty.
Watching.
Even the wind felt wrong.
Arga stepped out of the vehicle first.
No hesitation.
No pause.
Sinta followed.
Bimo behind her.
The school stood ahead in darkness.
Gate broken.
Windows cracked.
Lights flickering like dying signals.
"…I hate this already," Bimo muttered.
Arga didn't answer.
He could feel it.
That pressure.
Closer than ever.
Stronger than before.
Lila's voice came through the comms.
"Energy spike confirmed."
A pause.
"…directly ahead."
They entered the yard.
And froze.
A student stood in the center of the courtyard.
Shaking violently.
Breathing in broken gasps.
Around him—
three bodies lay scattered across the ground.
Still.
Silent.
Wrong.
Bimo's throat tightened.
"…no…"
Sinta stepped forward slowly.
"…we're late."
The boy lifted his head.
His eyes glowed white.
Unfocused.
Tears mixed with blood down his face.
"…they wouldn't stop…"
His voice trembled.
"…I told them to run…"
Silence crashed over the yard.
Arga didn't move.
Not yet.
The energy pouring from the boy's body distorted the air itself.
Visible.
Violent.
Unstable.
Bimo whispered,
"…did he do this?"
Nobody answered.
Because everyone knew.
The boy took one step.
The pavement split open beneath him.
CRACK.
"…stay back."
Then—
he vanished.
BOOM!
He appeared in front of them with enough force to crater the ground.
The shockwave blasted outward.
Bimo flew backward.
"WHY IS IT ALWAYS ME?!"
Sinta skidded across broken concrete, barely keeping balance.
"…he's beyond unstable!"
Arga stepped forward.
Cold.
Certain.
"…he's gone."
Sinta moved instantly, blocking his path.
"No."
Her voice was sharp.
"We stabilize him."
Arga's eyes never left the boy.
"…you can't stabilize a corpse waiting to happen."
Silence.
Even Bimo stopped breathing.
"…Arga," Sinta said quietly.
"…we do not kill."
He didn't answer.
That silence was worse than shouting.
The boy screamed.
Not in rage.
In pain.
Then charged again.
Wild.
Broken.
Pure destruction.
Arga met him head-on.
BOOM!
Their collision shattered nearby windows.
The ground split in jagged lines.
Bimo staggered up.
"THIS IS GETTING STUPID!"
The boy attacked again.
Faster.
Arga countered.
Cleaner.
Every movement sharper than before.
No wasted motion.
No mercy.
Sinta's eyes widened.
"…he's overpowering him."
Then she noticed it.
Something worse.
Arga's breathing changed.
Short.
Sharp.
Predatory.
The energy around him wasn't stabilizing anymore.
It was condensing.
Hungry.
Violent.
Cold.
"…Arga."
No response.
She stepped closer.
"ARGA!"
Nothing.
His eyes had changed.
Focused.
Empty.
Then he spoke.
Low.
Almost unfamiliar.
"…so this is the feeling."
Another strike.
Harder.
"…this is what they chose."
The boy lunged one last time.
Arga moved first.
Not to block.
To end it.
BOOM!
The impact was monstrous.
The unstable student flew across the courtyard and slammed into a concrete wall.
CRACK.
The wall shattered.
Then silence.
The body slid down slowly.
And didn't move.
Didn't breathe.
Didn't rise.
Sinta ran.
Dropped beside him.
Hands shaking.
"…hey…"
No response.
She checked his pulse.
Nothing.
"…HEY!"
Still nothing.
Bimo stopped several steps away.
For the first time—
he was afraid to move closer.
"…Arga…"
Arga stood where he was.
Breathing steady.
Watching the body like a completed task.
"…I stopped him."
Sinta turned so fast it looked like she might strike him herself.
"You didn't stop him!"
Her voice cracked.
"You killed him!"
"He already killed three people."
Arga's tone stayed flat.
"…I prevented four."
That sentence hit harder than the battle.
Bimo looked sick.
Sinta slowly stood.
Eyes burning.
"…you don't get to decide that."
Arga stepped closer.
"…someone has to."
The air between them became unbearable.
Bimo whispered,
"…please stop…"
Neither of them heard him.
The comms crackled.
Lila's voice.
Shaken.
"Team Two report…"
Static.
Then—
"…target stabilized."
A pause.
"…alive."
Everything went still.
Bimo looked down immediately.
Sinta closed her eyes.
Because that hurt more than death.
Proof.
There had been another way.
Arga said nothing.
For the first time—
he had no answer.
Then he buried it.
Coldly.
"…good for them."
Sinta stared at him in disbelief.
"That's all you have to say?"
He met her gaze.
"No."
A pause.
"…next time they won't be faster than me."
Bimo stepped back.
Rani wasn't here.
But if she had been—
she would've broken.
Sinta's voice dropped to a whisper.
"…we don't fight like that again."
Arga answered instantly.
"…then don't fight with me."
Silence.
Real silence.
The kind that ends things.
No one moved.
No one knew what to say.
Because the team was still standing together—
but something inside it had already split.
Arga opened his lunch box.
Nine grains.
Brighter than ever.
Perfectly aligned.
But the glow felt colder now.
He closed it.
Slowly.
Then walked past them.
No apology.
No hesitation.
No regret.
Bimo watched him go.
"…I don't know him anymore."
Sinta didn't answer.
Because she wasn't sure she ever did.
Far away—
inside a dark control room—
the man in the hat replayed the footage.
The kill.
The argument.
The fracture.
He smiled.
Slowly.
Satisfied.
"…excellent."
He enlarged Arga's image on the screen.
"…push him a little further…"
A new file opened.
PHASE THREE: CORRUPTION
The smile widened.
"…and he'll destroy everything for us."