Kayo's trembling fingers clutched the manila folder, its edges crumpling under his desperate grip. The Soviet-era classified document lay open on his desk, the yellowed pages filled with descriptions and warnings that made his blood freeze in his veins.
"What... the... fuck?" His voice emerged as a strangled whisper, barely audible even in the silence of his bedroom.
The Seller stood motionless, watching the horror spread across Kayo's face like a dark stain.
"THAT THING IS STALKING ME?!" Kayo's voice cracked as he shot to his feet, knocking his chair backward with a loud clatter. His shadow hand manifested involuntarily, writhing with agitation beneath his sleeve.
"I did say the information was worth ten percent of your soul," The Seller replied with a shrug that seemed grotesquely casual given the circumstances.
Kayo's eyes darted frantically around his room, suddenly seeing threats in every shadow. The corner by his closet seemed darker than it should be. Was that movement behind his curtains? The descriptions in the file flashed through his mind—the Warden's ability to hide in shadows, to watch through darkness, to reach across dimensions with grasping limbs that weren't quite solid, weren't quite gas.
"This can't—" Kayo's breathing accelerated, coming in sharp, painful gasps. "This isn't—"
"Oh, it's very real," The Seller interrupted, his unsettling smile returning. "And now you know. Which means you can prepare."
Kayo stumbled to his desk, grabbing his cell phone with shaking hands. He fumbled twice before managing to unlock it, then jabbed at Goto's contact with such force that his knuckle turned white.
The phone rang once. Twice. Three times.
"Pick up, pick up, pick up," Kayo muttered, eyes still scanning the room's shadows.
When he glanced back at the spot where The Seller had been standing, he found only empty air. The Seller had vanished as suddenly as he'd appeared, leaving behind only the damning files and the cold void where another piece of Kayo's soul had been.
Finally, the ringing stopped.
"Hello? Kinoshita?" Goto's voice came through the speaker, professional and measured.
"YOU HAVE TO COME PICK ME UP!" Kayo half-shouted into the phone, his voice cracking with panic. "RIGHT NOW!"
There was a brief pause. "Kayo? What's happening?" Goto's tone shifted immediately to high alert.
"I CAN'T—" Kayo took a ragged breath, forcing himself to lower his voice. "I can't talk about it over the phone. Just come. Please. It's coming for me."
"What's coming?" Goto's voice sharpened. "Kayo, I need more information. Are you in immediate danger?"
Kayo's gaze fixed on the shadowed corner of his room. Had it just... moved? "Maybe. I don't know. I just—please, you need to get here now."
"Give me a reason, Kayo," Goto insisted. "Code word protocol. Is this Alpha, Beta, or Sigma?"
Kayo wracked his brain, trying to remember the emergency classifications Director Tanaka had briefed him on. Alpha was immediate physical danger. Beta was supernatural manifestation. And Sigma was...
"Sigma," he whispered. "It's Sigma."
There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line. "Unknown high-level entity. Understood. Lock your doors, stay in light, don't speak to anyone. I'm seven minutes out."
The line went dead. Kayo immediately turned on every light in his room, hands shaking so badly he could barely manage the switches. The Smiler's presence surged forward, responding to his terror.
"This is bad," The Smiler's voice echoed in his mind, unusually somber. "Very bad. That thing is... old. Older than me. And hungry in ways even I can't comprehend."
"What does it want with me?" Kayo whispered, backing himself against a wall so nothing could approach him from behind.
"Us," The Smiler corrected. "It wants us. Together we're something new. Something it hasn't seen before."
The minutes crawled by like hours. Kayo found himself counting his own heartbeats, each thud in his chest a reminder that he was still alive, still here, still himself. His shadow hand kept shifting between solid and vapor, responding to his chaotic emotional state.
When his phone buzzed with a text message, he nearly dropped it.
[Outside your house. Come out immediately. Do not wake your family.] - Goto
Kayo grabbed the manila folders and stuffed them into his school bag. He crept down the stairs, wincing at every creak of the old wooden steps. His mother's gentle snoring came from her bedroom—blissfully unaware that her son was fleeing from a supernatural horror.
At the front door, Kayo hesitated. The street outside was dark, illuminated only by sparse streetlights that created pools of sickly yellow glow separated by stretches of absolute darkness. His hand trembled on the doorknob.
"Do not hesitate!" The Smiler hissed in his mind. "Run! NOW!"
Kayo flung the door open and sprinted toward the black sedan idling at the curb, its engine a low, reassuring rumble. Before he'd taken three steps, the rear passenger door swung open.
He practically dove inside, gasping, "GO! DRIVE!"
Goto sat in the back beside him, dressed in tactical gear rather than his usual professional attire. A holstered sidearm was visible beneath his open jacket. His eyes were sharp, alert, scanning Kayo for injuries.
"What happened?" he demanded as the car pulled away from the curb, accelerating smoothly into the night.
Kayo's hands were still shaking as he pulled the file from his bag and thrust it at Goto. "The Warden," he managed, voice cracking. "It's stalking me. Hunting me."
Goto's eyes widened as he saw the file's label, visible even in the dim light of the car's interior. His professional composure cracked for just an instant, revealing something Kayo had never expected to see on the agent's face—pure, unadulterated fear.
"How did you get access to this file?" Goto's voice had dropped to a tense whisper, as if afraid that speaking the entity's name too loudly might summon it.
"The Seller," Kayo explained, still breathless. "He appeared in my room. Told me it was stalking me. Sold me the information for ten percent of my soul."
"The Seller?" Goto's grip tightened on the file. "The entity that started all this? He's still contacting you?"
Kayo nodded frantically. "But that's not important right now! Did you read what's in there? That thing—The Warden—it can travel through shadows. It can reach across dimensions. It—"
"I know what it is," Goto interrupted, his voice tight. He pulled out his phone and pressed a single button, bypassing any normal call protocol. "This is Agent Goto. Code Sigma-Obsidian. I repeat, Sigma-Obsidian. Subject Kinoshita is with me, en route to the facility. ETA twelve minutes. Full containment protocols."
He listened for a moment, then added, "Yes, sir. The Warden." Another pause. "No sir, positive identification hasn't been established, but the intelligence comes from a Class-A informant."
As Goto continued his terse conversation, Kayo stared out the window at the passing streets. Every shadow, every dark alley, every unlit window now seemed to harbor potential doom. His reflection in the glass looked haggard, eyes wide with panic, skin pale with fear.
"We're going to be okay," he whispered to himself, uncertain if he was trying to reassure The Smiler or his human self. Neither seemed convinced.
Goto ended his call and turned to Kayo, his expression deadly serious. "I need to know exactly what The Seller told you. Word for word if possible."
Kayo closed his eyes, trying to steady his breathing. "He said The Warden is stalking me. That he doesn't know if Death-13 sent it or if it's just hunting me for fun. He said I need to get stronger because there's no guarantee when it will strike."
"And the file? Did he explain where he got it?"
Kayo shook his head. "No. He just... produced it. Out of nowhere."
"Soviet-era documentation," Goto muttered, flipping through the pages. "Some of this is information even Division 8 doesn't have access to."
The car swerved suddenly, taking a sharp turn onto an unfamiliar road that led away from the industrial district where Unit-4800 was located.
"Where are we going?" Kayo asked, anxiety spiking. "I thought we were heading to the facility?"
"Change of plans," Goto replied tersely. "If The Warden is truly hunting you, Unit-4800 might already be compromised. We're going to a secondary location. Director Tanaka will meet us there."
The driver, who had been silent until now, spoke up. "Sir, I'm detecting unusual electromagnetic fluctuations in the vicinity. Pattern matches Warden signatures from the Kyoto incident."
Goto's hand moved to his sidearm. "Speed up. Take route Epsilon."
The car accelerated sharply, pressing Kayo back into his seat. They were now on a highway, speeding past the sparse late-night traffic.
"What's happening?" Kayo demanded, fear climbing up his throat like bile. "Is it here? Now?"
"Stay calm," Goto ordered, though his own tension was palpable. "The Warden doesn't typically attack moving vehicles. Too much light, too much motion. It prefers isolated, stationary targets."
"Typically?" Kayo repeated, latching onto the qualifier. "You mean sometimes it does?"
Goto didn't answer, instead scanning the roadway ahead with laser focus. The driver took another sudden turn, this time onto a smaller road that wound through a forested area.
"We're five minutes out," the driver announced.
Kayo clutched his bag tightly against his chest, trying to control his breathing. The Smiler's presence felt agitated, churning within him like a storm.
"It's near," The Smiler whispered in his mind. "I can feel it. Like a void in reality."
"Goto," Kayo said, his voice trembling, "The Smiler says it's close."
Goto exchanged a look with the driver. "Increase speed. Protocol Zeta."
The car's engine roared as they accelerated further, the trees outside becoming a dark blur. Kayo could feel his heart hammering against his ribs, each beat a desperate affirmation of life in the face of encroaching darkness.
Suddenly, the dashboard lights flickered. Once, twice, then went out completely. The engine sputtered and died. The car coasted to a stop in the middle of the deserted forest road, headlights fading like dying stars.
"No, no, no," the driver muttered, frantically trying to restart the engine. It turned over weakly, then fell silent.
In the abrupt quiet, Kayo could hear everyone's breathing—his own rapid and shallow, Goto's controlled but audible, the driver's increasingly panicked.
"Electromagnetic disruption," Goto stated, his voice unnaturally calm. "Classic Warden signature."
"What do we do?" Kayo whispered, afraid that speaking too loudly might attract attention from whatever lurked beyond the car's windows.
Goto pulled out his sidearm and checked it with practiced movements. "We run. The secondary facility is less than a kilometer from here. We can make it on foot." He turned to the driver. "Tamura, light flares. Create a perimeter. Buy us time."
The driver nodded grimly, reaching under his seat to retrieve what looked like specialized flares.
"Kayo," Goto continued, "stay between Tamura and me. Whatever happens, keep moving. Don't look back. Don't hesitate. Understand?"
Kayo nodded, his mouth too dry to speak.
"Remember your training," Goto added. "Your shadow hand might be our best defense if it comes to that."
As they prepared to exit the vehicle, Kayo felt something cold and ancient brush against his consciousness—a presence so vast and hungry it made The Smiler seem like a mischievous child by comparison.
"It's here," The Smiler hissed in his mind, a note of genuine terror in its usually smug voice.
Outside the car windows, the darkness between the trees seemed to deepen, to thicken like coalescing ink. The shadows began to move against the wind, flowing toward the stranded vehicle like a tide of liquid night.
Goto's voice cut through Kayo's rising panic: "NOW! RUN!"
The car doors flew open as they burst into the night, flares igniting with blinding brilliance as Tamura threw them in a wide arc around their position. The sudden light carved a path through the darkness, revealing a narrow trail leading deeper into the forest.
As Kayo ran, following Goto's lead with Tamura bringing up the rear, he could feel the forest watching him. Every shadow seemed to reach for him with grasping fingers of void. The wind carried whispers that sounded almost like words—ancient, hungry words in no human language.
Behind them, something moved in the darkness. Something massive and patient and impossibly old.
The Warden had found its prey.
"DIRECTOR!" Goto shouted as they broke through the tree line into a small clearing where a concrete bunker emerged from the hillside. "DIRECTOR TANAKA! WARDEN CONTACT! OPEN THE DOOR!"
The bunker's steel door slid open with a hydraulic hiss, revealing Director Tanaka herself, flanked by heavily armed agents. Her usually composed face showed lines of tension as she waved them frantically inside.
"Get in! Quickly!"
Kayo sprinted the final distance, lungs burning, legs aching. As he crossed the threshold into the bunker's harsh fluorescent lighting, he risked a single glance behind them.
The forest edge was alive with writhing darkness, shadows detaching from trees and ground to form a massive, shifting entity that seemed to devour the very light from Tamura's flares. At its center, barely visible in the churning void, was something like a face—ancient, patient, and hungry beyond human comprehension.
Then the bunker door slammed shut, sealing them inside with a series of heavy metallic clanks as multiple locks engaged.
"Is everyone alright?" Director Tanaka demanded, her eyes scanning each of them for injuries.
Goto nodded tersely. "No physical contact. Just electromagnetic disruption."
Director Tanaka turned to Kayo, who stood trembling, adrenaline still coursing through his system. "Kinoshita-san, I need you to tell me everything. How did you learn about The Warden?"
Kayo swallowed hard, his throat raw from exertion and fear. "I... The Seller came to my room. Told me it was hunting me. Gave me this." He pulled the manila folder from his bag, now crumpled and sweat-stained.
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Director Tanaka took the file, her expression darkening as she skimmed its contents. "This is highly classified Soviet intelligence. Information even we don't have full access to."
"Is it... Is it really after me?" Kayo asked, voice small in the bunker's stark interior.
Director Tanaka met his gaze directly, her expression grave. "The Warden is not like other entities we monitor, Kinoshita-san. It's not simply dangerous or malevolent. It's... primordial. A hunger that predates human civilization. And yes, based on what we just witnessed, it appears to be hunting you specifically."
"But why?" Kayo's voice cracked. "What does it want?"
"The Smiler," Director Tanaka replied simply. "Or rather, your unique symbiosis with it. Nothing like your condition has been documented before. You represent something new. And The Warden... it feeds on the new, the unique, the unprecedented."
Goto stepped forward. "Director, we need to implement full Obsidian protocols. If The Warden has targeted Kinoshita, his family could be at risk."
"Agreed," Director Tanaka nodded. "I want every operative armed and ready for combat. Put the base on complete lockdown. NOW!"
As agents rushed to carry out her orders, Kayo sank to the floor, the full weight of his situation finally hitting him. He wasn't just dealing with school stress or even the challenge of controlling The Smiler anymore. He was being hunted by something ancient and unstoppable, something that had the hardened professionals of Division 8 implementing their highest emergency protocols.
"What happens now?" he asked, voice barely above a whisper.
Director Tanaka knelt beside him, her expression softening slightly. "Now, Kinoshita-san, we prepare. We protect you. And we teach you to protect yourself. Because if The Warden has chosen you as its prey, this is only the beginning."
Outside the bunker, shadows gathered and thickened, pressing against the walls like a living tide. Within those shadows, patient and eternal, The Warden waited.
The bunker rattled as another impact struck the reinforced doors. Director Tanaka's face remained calm despite the trembling walls, but the slight twitch of her eyebrow betrayed her concern.
"Status report," she demanded, her voice carrying across the command center where agents frantically worked at monitoring stations.
A young operative wearing headphones pressed a finger to his ear. "Perimeter sensors are going haywire, Director. The Warden's electromagnetic signature is... evolving. It's unlike anything we've recorded before."
Goto stood beside Kayo, his hand resting casually on his holstered weapon, though Kayo noticed the agent's knuckles had gone white from the tension.
"What exactly is this thing?" Kayo asked, his voice barely above a whisper. The Smiler churned within him, unusually quiet but restless, like an animal sensing a predator nearby.
Goto's eyes never left the reinforced door as he spoke. "The Warden is a product of Soviet bioengineering gone horribly wrong," he explained. "Before World War II, Soviet scientists created a human with extraordinary strength and regenerative abilities. They deployed this subject in combat throughout the war."
"A super soldier?" Kayo asked.
"That was just the beginning," Director Tanaka interjected, joining their conversation. "After the war, Death-13 – the Soviet supernatural research division – continued their experiments. They injected the subject with something... ancient. Something that existed long before humanity."
Goto nodded grimly. "They combined this entity with various bioengineered compounds and implanted an experimental endoskeleton. When the subject escaped during the Chernobyl disaster, the radiation exposure triggered further mutations."
The bunker shook again, dust filtering down from the ceiling. The fluorescent lights flickered ominously.
"The radiation didn't harm it," Director Tanaka continued, her voice dropping lower. "Instead, it became part of the entity. The Warden absorbs radiation, uses it to fuel its abilities. That's why conventional weapons are useless against it."
Kayo's mouth went dry. "And... it's hunting me specifically? Why?"
Director Tanaka's eyes met his, unflinching. "You and The Smiler represent something unique – a symbiotic relationship between human and supernatural entity that's never been documented before. The Warden is drawn to anomalies, to unique supernatural phenomena. It... consumes them."
"Consumes?" Kayo repeated weakly.
"Not physically," Goto clarified, though his clarification offered little comfort. "It absorbs the essence, the power, the very nature of what makes something unique. If it were to capture you, it would separate you from The Smiler and absorb its power, leaving you..." He trailed off.
"An empty shell," Director Tanaka finished bluntly. "Or worse."
The lights flickered again, longer this time, plunging the bunker into momentary darkness before emergency generators kicked in, bathing everything in a sickly red glow.
"Director!" an operative called out, his voice tight with urgency. "We're detecting multiple heat signatures approaching from the west. They're not ours!"
Director Tanaka's expression hardened. "Show me."
The main screen flickered to life, displaying thermal imaging of the forest surrounding the bunker. A dozen human-shaped heat signatures moved through the trees with practiced precision, clearly a tactical unit of some kind.
"Who are they?" Kayo asked.
"Unknown," Goto replied, drawing his weapon. "But they're heading straight for the Warden's position."
"Suicide," Director Tanaka muttered. "No conventional force can—"
Her words cut short as a blinding flash erupted on the screen. The thermal imaging momentarily overloaded, showing only white before recalibrating. When the image cleared, the operators gasped.
The massive cold spot that represented the Warden's presence had pulled back, retreating from the advancing heat signatures.
"Impossible," Goto whispered.
The bunker's communications system crackled to life as one of their perimeter agents radioed in: "Director Tanaka, this is Operative Shimizu. Unknown forces have engaged the Warden with... I can't explain it, ma'am. They're using weapons I've never seen before. The Warden is retreating!"
Director Tanaka leaned forward, her composed mask slipping for the first time. "What kind of weapons? Describe them!"
"They look like... conventional firearms, but they're firing some kind of energy pulse. It's hurting the Warden, ma'am. I can hear it screaming."
As if on cue, an inhuman howl echoed through the forest, so loud it penetrated the bunker's reinforced walls. The sound made Kayo's blood turn to ice—a sound of rage and pain that seemed to come from multiple throats simultaneously, from no throat at all, from everywhere and nowhere.
The Smiler stirred violently within him, suddenly alert and afraid. "That's not good," it whispered in his mind. "That's very not good. If they can hurt it..."
"Director," Goto said urgently, "we need to evacuate Kinoshita now. If these unknown forces can repel the Warden, they might be—"
Another agent cut him off. "Multiple unidentified combatants approaching the bunker entrance! They've breached the outer perimeter!"
Director Tanaka's voice shifted to steel. "All agents, defensive positions. Priority one is protecting Kinoshita. Goto, take him to the secondary escape tunnel."
Before anyone could move, the radio crackled again with Operative Shimizu's voice, now panicked: "Director, they're not engaging! The Warden is retreating and they're heading straight for the bunker! They're—"
The transmission cut to static, followed by the unmistakable sound of gunfire.
"Shimizu? Shimizu!" Director Tanaka barked into the comm.
Only static responded.
Then, with a deafening screech of tearing metal, the bunker's reinforced door was ripped from its frame.
Agents scrambled into defensive positions, weapons trained on the doorway now filled with swirling dust. Through the haze, a massive silhouette emerged—a hulking figure that stood at least eight feet tall, its broad shoulders nearly touching both sides of the frame.
As the dust settled, Kayo stared in disbelief at what could only be described as a mountain of muscle wrapped in human form. The giant wore a worn leather biker jacket with "RELIC" emblazoned across the back in faded red letters. A bandana covered his head, decorated with the unsettling image of a skeleton devouring a man in a business suit.
The giant stepped inside, followed by several operatives in black tactical gear, each bearing the same "RELIC" patch. Their weapons—which appeared oddly outdated, like something from the 1960s—were pointed directly at Director Tanaka and Goto.
"Nobody move!" one of the RELIC operatives shouted, his voice carrying an American accent. "Weapons down or the big guy starts breaking things!"
Director Tanaka's face contorted with fury. "Lower your weapons," she ordered her agents, though each word seemed to physically pain her.
"RELIC," she spat, like the word itself was poison. "I should have known."
The RELIC operatives spread throughout the command center with practiced efficiency, securing Division 8 agents and confiscating their weapons. They moved with the confidence of professionals who had done this many times before.
A new figure appeared in the doorway. Unlike the others, he wore no tactical gear or uniform. His worn leather jacket and faded jeans gave him the appearance of a drifter rather than a soldier. A strange mechanical device was attached to his right forearm, glowing with a soft blue light. Deep scars marked the left side of his face, and his eyes held a haunted intensity that made Kayo instinctively shrink back.
"Hello," the man said with an American drawl, casually stepping into the room as if he'd been invited. "My name is Agent Kross. If you don't mind, I'll be taking young Kayo here off your hands."
Director Tanaka took a step forward, only to freeze as multiple weapons swiveled toward her. "You have no authority here, Kross. This is sovereign Japanese territory."
Kross smiled, but the expression didn't reach his eyes. "Authority? That's a funny concept coming from a black site that doesn't officially exist." He turned his attention to Kayo, his expression softening slightly. "Kid, you're in danger here. Not just from that thing in the forest, but from these people too."
"Don't listen to him, Kinoshita," Goto said sharply. "RELIC is a terrorist organization with—"
"A terrorist organization?" Kross interrupted, his voice dangerously quiet. "Is that what they're telling people now?" He held up his right arm, the strange device glowing brighter. "This is what happened the last time I trusted government 'containment specialists' with a supernatural entity."
The device on his arm pulsed, and suddenly the air around him seemed to distort, like heat waves rising from hot pavement.
Kayo felt The Smiler recoil within him. "He's like us," it whispered, a note of wonder in its mental voice. "Connected to something... but different."
One of the RELIC operatives approached Kayo, carrying what looked like a simple cloth bag. "Sorry about this, kid. Just a precaution."
Goto moved to intervene, but froze as the giant in the biker jacket stepped between them, cracking his knuckles with a sound like splintering wood.
"Don't," Kross warned. "Ajax here isn't very gentle when he's upset."
The operative placed the bag over Kayo's head, plunging him into darkness. Strong hands gripped his arms, guiding him forward.
"W-what's happening?" Kayo stammered, heart racing. "Where are you taking me?"
"Somewhere safe," Kross's voice replied near his ear. "Somewhere the Warden can't find you. And somewhere these government types can't use you as a weapon."
As they led him out of the bunker, Kayo could hear Director Tanaka's voice, tight with suppressed fury: "This isn't over, Kross. You can't protect him from what's coming."
"Maybe not," Kross replied, his voice fading as they moved away. "But at least I won't sacrifice him to save my own skin when it arrives."
The cool night air hit Kayo's skin as they emerged from the bunker. Even through the bag, he could hear the rhythmic thump-thump-thump of helicopter rotors—not the smooth whine of modern aircraft, but the heavier, more mechanical sound of older technology.
"Up you go," Kross said, helping him climb into what felt like a military helicopter. The vibration of decades-old machinery rumbled through the floor as Kayo was guided to a seat and strapped in.
The bag was finally removed from his head, allowing him to see the interior of what appeared to be a Vietnam-era Huey helicopter, modified with equipment that seemed both outdated and strangely advanced at the same time. The RELIC operatives efficiently secured the doors and prepared for takeoff, while the giant—Ajax—squeezed his massive frame into a reinforced seat that still looked too small for him.
Kross sat directly across from Kayo, studying him with undisguised interest. "Sorry about the dramatic extraction," he said, raising his voice to be heard over the engines. "But we've been tracking the Warden for months, and when it started hunting you, we had to move fast."
"Who are you people?" Kayo demanded, his fear gradually giving way to anger. "What's RELIC? And how did you fight off that... thing?"
Kross leaned forward, his scarred face thrown into sharp relief by the helicopter's dim interior lighting. "RELIC stands for Reactive Espionage and Logistics for Interdimensional Containment. We're the good guys, kid—or at least, we're trying to be."
"You don't look like good guys," Kayo replied, eyeing the heavily armed operatives.
Kross barked a laugh. "Yeah, well, fighting monsters tends to leave marks, inside and out." He tapped the device on his forearm. "As for the Warden—we can't kill it, not really. But we've found ways to hurt it enough to make it retreat. Temporary solutions, but sometimes temporary is all you need."
The helicopter lurched as it lifted off, banking sharply to the east.
"Where are you taking me?" Kayo asked, gripping his seat as the aircraft shuddered through turbulence.
"Somewhere the Warden can't track you," Kross replied. "Somewhere we can talk properly about what you're carrying inside you, and what it means for both of us." He gestured to his arm device. "Because believe it or not, kid, you and I have a lot in common."
Kayo stared at the strange man, at the device on his arm, at the haunted look in his eyes that somehow mirrored what Kayo saw in his own reflection every morning.
"The Smiler," Kayo said quietly, though the helicopter's noise should have drowned out his words. "You know about The Smiler."
Kross nodded slowly. "More than Division 8 does. More than you do, probably." His expression darkened. "And I know what the Warden will do if it catches you. Which is why you're coming with us."
As the helicopter gained altitude, Kayo looked out the window at the shrinking bunker below, at the forest where somewhere, hidden in the shadows, the Warden lurked. He thought of Director Tanaka and Goto, of the training they'd only just begun, of his home and family now left behind.
"What about my mother?" he asked suddenly, turning back to Kross. "If this thing is hunting me, could it go after her?"
Kross exchanged a look with one of his operatives. "We've got people watching your house. Your mother will be safe."
"How can you promise that?"
"Because," Kross said, the device on his arm pulsing with blue light, "the Warden doesn't want her. It wants what's inside you. And now that you're moving, it'll follow us, not her."
The helicopter banked again, heading out over the sea. Below, the lights of Japan's coastline twinkled like fallen stars.
"Get some rest if you can," Kross advised, leaning back in his seat. "We've got a long flight ahead of us, and once we arrive..." He trailed off, his eyes distant. "Once we arrive, you'll need your strength. Because the Warden isn't the only thing hunting you now."
As if to punctuate his words, the helicopter's radio crackled with an incoming transmission. The pilot responded in rapid-fire English that Kayo couldn't quite follow, but the tension that spread across Kross's face told him everything he needed to know.
"What is it?" Kayo asked.
Kross's jaw tightened. "Division 8 isn't the only government agency with an interest in you. And not all of them are as... restrained... as your Japanese friends."
The implication hung in the air between them as the helicopter pushed further out over the darkness of the open sea, carrying Kayo away from everything he'd ever known and toward a future suddenly filled with shadows deeper and more dangerous than he could have imagined.
The Smiler stirred within him, its presence both a comfort and a curse. "This is going to be interesting," it whispered in his mind. "Very interesting indeed."
Kayo closed his eyes, trying to calm his racing thoughts. Whatever was coming—the Warden, RELIC, government agencies, or something else entirely—he had a feeling his life had just changed irrevocably. The normal high school student he'd once been now seemed like a character from someone else's story, a past life that was rapidly fading from memory.
As the helicopter carried him into the night, Kayo couldn't help but wonder if he would ever find his way back to that life again—or if, like the Warden itself, he had crossed a threshold from which there was no return.
████████████████████
СОВЕРШЕННО СЕКРЕТНО [TOP SECRET]
КГБ СССР - ОТДЕЛ 13 [KGB USSR - DEPARTMENT 13]
ПРОЕКТ: "СТРАЖ БЕЗДНЫ" [PROJECT: "GUARDIAN ABYSS"]
ОБЪЕКТ: "НАДЗИРАТЕЛЬ" ["THE WARDEN"]
████████████████████
Containment failure at Pripyat Underground Facility "Объект-7" beneath Reactor #4 has resulted in escape of experimental subject "НАДЗИРАТЕЛЬ" (designation: Seraphus Prime). The subsequent ████████████ of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant was direct result of containment breach and facility self-destruct protocols. Subject was exposed to extreme levels of ████████████, potentially altering its biological structure.
ALERT: SUBJECT REMAINS AT LARGE
Subject approximates 3 meters in height with biological and technological components integrated into singular form. Original human base no longer recognizable following ████████████ procedures.
External Structure: Dark metallic exoskeleton fused with ████████████ recovered from ████████████ site. Surface demonstrates unusual properties including ████████████ when exposed to standard detection equipment.
Cranial Features: ████████████ with no visible eyes in conventional sense. Subject perceives environment through unknown means. Facial structure contains extendable jaw mechanism capable of ████████████.
Limb Configuration: Asymmetrical design with elongated upper appendages. Locomotion characterized by irregular movement patterns that demonstrate unexpected efficiency. Terminal digits contain ████████████ capable of penetrating standard armored barriers.
Post-Incident Mutations: Subject has incorporated ████████████ into biological systems. Transformation ongoing. Current capabilities cannot be predicted based on original design parameters.
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Superior Intelligence: Subject intelligence quotient estimated at ████████████. Strategic reasoning capabilities exceed human limitations. Can exploit psychological weaknesses in personnel through ████████████.
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████████████ Manipulation: Can control ambient ████████████ within effective radius of 50 meters. Prolonged exposure results in ████████████ to human tissue.
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Gravitational Distortion: Subject generates localized alterations in gravitational fields. Effects include ████████████ and creation of ████████████ capable of immobilizing targets or ████████████.
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Biological Adaptation: Rapid cellular reconstruction observed even after sustaining critical damage. Can reconfigure biological components for ████████████.
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████████████ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
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████████████ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
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████████████ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
Initiated: 1967, under directive ████████████ from Politburo special committee. Original purpose: development of specialized asset for acquisition and containment of supernatural phenomena encountered during Operation ████████████.
Research team led by Professor ████████████ combined advanced Soviet biotechnology with artifacts recovered from archaeological site ████████████. Biological foundation derived from ████████████, enhanced with technological components developed at Institute ████████████.
- 1967-1970: Biological framework establishment and preliminary testing
- 1971-1975: Integration of ████████████ and prototype field tests
- 1976-1980: ████████████ enhancement and capability expansion
- 1981-1986: Final modifications including ████████████ incorporation from ████████████
During final phase testing, subject demonstrated previously unobserved ████████████ capabilities, compromising electromagnetic containment systems. Subject deliberately triggered ████████████ systems, resulting in reactor destabilization. Evidence suggests incident was calculated escape strategy.
Subject location unknown. Tracking systems ineffective due to ████████████. Last confirmed direction of movement: southwest from Pripyat facility. Radiation trail becomes untraceable after ████████ kilometers.
- DO NOT ATTEMPT DIRECT ENGAGEMENT
- If visual confirmation occurs, maintain distance of minimum ████████ meters
- Deploy specialized ████████████ equipment before attempting containment
- Team composition must include minimum ████ operatives with ████████████ training
- Use only weapons equipped with ████████████ ammunition
- In event of engagement failure, initiate Protocol ████████████
- ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
- ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
- ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
Document prepared by: Colonel ████████████ Department: KGB Special Division ████████████ Date: 28.04.1986
Approved by: ████████████ ████████████████
WARNING: Unauthorized possession of this document is punishable by execution under Soviet State Security Act, Article ████
[THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION VITAL TO STATE SECURITY OF USSR]