The skyline of the city sprawled beneath him, silver towers glowing faintly in the moonlight, the streets veined with flickering lights like a still-beating heart. Reiden Vale stood tall, not in front of the live broadcast, but turned deliberately away from it, as if the carnage unfolding on-screen was already old news.

His eyes were fixed beyond the glass, a king gazing out over his kingdom, wine glass balanced effortlessly in his fingers.

"Hahahahahahahaha…"

The laughter started low, almost inaudible, but slowly built until it filled the entire office, bouncing off the marble walls like a hymn of corruption.

"Marvellous, Velza. Truly… Magnificent. Not only did you retrieve the Siren, but that boy, Kentaro Takamiya…"

He let the name linger, rolling it on his tongue like a bitter treat.

"Dead. And by your hand no less. Though his powers would have been useful but not essential, his death just means one less thing to worry about."

He tilted the wine glass and took a slow, indulgent sip. Crimson liquid slid down his throat as the soft hum of operatic music began to play from the corner speaker system, his curated ambience.

The moonlight caught the edge of his sharp smile as he stepped closer to the floor-length windows, his silhouette casting a long shadow across the spotless floor.

Then, a knock. Soft. Unhurried.

The thick metal doors to his office creaked open, and a female Spire operative stepped in, perfectly composed in her dark-pressed uniform. She saluted smartly.

"Sir. Miss Velza Cain is en route. She's secured the Siren. Only one Alberline, but… The boy, Kentaro Takamiya, is presumed dead. No vitals retrieved after her final strike."

Reiden didn't turn around. He simply raised his glass in the air, the wine glinting like blood under the artificial lights.

"Good. Very good."

He swirled the liquid gently.

"Then all that remains is preparation. Set the chamber. Make sure the Siren is brought directly to Processing Room Zero. Use the black restraints."

His voice lowered into something silkier.

"And have the extractor calibrated. The Absorber as well. We'll begin the trial immediately."

"Yes, sir."

The woman turned, heel clicking sharply as she left, no panic, no flurry. Everything was now proceeding according to his script.

The doors clicked closed.

Reiden finally turned, walking slowly back toward the monitor. The live feed still displayed the aftermath, smoke curling, bodies strewn, the rooftop where Kentaro had fallen now reduced to static.

He reached down and tapped the frame of the monitor.

"Such conviction," he murmured, almost to himself.

"You had them all convinced. That you were some sort of… Saviour. A protector."

He took another sip, then leaned in slightly, eyes gleaming with quiet menace.

"But this… Was never your story to finish, boy. You were just the first crack in the mirror."

He set the glass down, wiped the rim with a white silk cloth, and walked across the room toward the adjacent hallway, his long coat swaying gently behind him like a shadow.

As he passed through the threshold, his voice echoed behind him, soft but dripping with certainty.

"Let's begin the new age, shall we?"

*

Just ten minutes before Aria was taken…

The battlefield was chaos incarnate. Burnt debris, flickering smoke, and scattered corpses marked the city's rooftop, as if a bomb had detonated and frozen the moment in mid-collapse. Kira stood among it, silent, eyes scanning the broken skyline.

Her heart was pounding.

She didn't care about the Cradle operatives. She didn't care about the Spire grunts or the unknown Alberline. She didn't even flinch as a stray bullet ricocheted past her cheek.

All she cared about was Kentaro.

Where was he?

Her eyes darted left to right, then locked. There. Just beyond the clearing.

His hand gripped tightly in Aria's.

Kira's heart dropped.

"Siren…" She whispered, her fists clenching.

But before she could move toward them, the air shifted.

Not a sound. No sonic boom. Just a soft pulse, as if gravity warped for a moment.

Then Velza descended.

Elegant. Precise. Terrifying.

"VELZA, YOU SCUM!" Kira roared, drawing her blade in pure instinct.

Velza hovered effortlessly, a smirk dancing across her lips as if she were watching children play. The glowing white of her A.A.S. suit pulsed against the city's smoke-stained sky, a radiant predator among shadows.

She was already moving toward Kentaro's direction, clearly intent on ending the chase, but Kira's sudden charge blocked her path. Velza paused.

Her Dark purple eyes flicked downward at the scene.

Three Alberlines. One cradle agent. Dozens of corpses. No threats.

"Tch. The soldiers were a waste," she muttered, shaking her head. Then she addressed them directly, her voice calm, almost amused.

"Very well. I'll clean up the rest myself."

She raised her long blade, Ashlock, and pointed it at them, its pale light humming like it was alive.

Kira gritted her teeth, shifting into her stance. "I won't let you lay a finger on him."

Velza didn't flinch.

"Then prepare yourself, Kira Mizuno. I'll show you what it means to face an elite."

But before her feet could leave the rooftop, a light, sharp and deliberate flash flashed past her cheek.

VOOM.

A single bullet grazed the air. Not wild. Not a warning. A statement.

Velza's smirk widened.

On the lower rooftop edge, Rin stood poised, twin pistols, Lilium and Noctis, glinting in her hands. Her long hair drifted in the wind as she tilted her head with mocking elegance.

"Picking on children, are we? Really, darling. You Spire types have no class."

Velza's eyes flicked to her, not angry. Amused.

"Another plaything for Reiden's experiments, are you? If you behave, I'll break only a few bones."

Then she moved.

Clash.

Velza shot forward like a bullet made of light. Rin's eyes narrowed as she opened fire mid-flip, each shot expertly placed, but none landed. Velza's sword danced, parrying bullet after bullet with disgusting ease.

Kira surged from the side, timing her strike for when Velza's focus shifted. Her blade arced down toward Velza's back.

CLANG!

Velza turned mid-air, caught the sword on her vambrace, and kicked Kira straight through a steel pillar.

"AGH!" Kira hit the ground hard, rolling through concrete dust and shattered tile.

Rin leapt backwards to create distance, but Velza was already behind her.

SLASH!

Rin barely twisted out of range, one of her sleeves slicing clean off from the near miss.

"NGH!" Rin spun, unloading another volley, but Velza disappeared.

Down below, Serica and Yura had just finished off the last remaining operatives. Their breath was ragged. Blood dripped from Yura's jaw, and Serica's arm was grazed.

But both of their eyes rose at the same time.

Velza was winning. Effortlessly.

Even Rin, graceful, calculating Rin, was being pressed back.

Serica turned to Yura. Their Sublimation Frames were still active, aura flickering like torn ribbons of colour.

They didn't speak. They just flew.

Both shot upward in tandem, Serica's ice blade at the ready, Yura's violet energy coiling around her palm like a bullet ready to be released.

Kira rejoined mid-air, wiping blood from her lip. The four of them now stood against Velza, forming a half-circle around her. Rin, battered but smirking, returned to position.

Velza hovered in the centre, not even winded.

"Four against one?" she mused, her voice dripping with mock disappointment.

"Well then. Let's make it educational."

The clash was chaos.

Yura dived in first, teleporting behind her with a domain switch, her fists aiming for Velza's head.

Counter.

Velza grabbed her wrist mid-motion and spun, hurling her into Serica mid-flight.

Boom.

The two slammed into each other and tumbled across a rooftop fan unit.

Rin opened fire with bullets in precise rhythm, aiming to lock her in place, but Velza moved like water, every shot grazing only air.

Kira tried again to flank, slicing horizontally, but Velza didn't block.

She caught the blade with two fingers, then twisted it, sending Kira stumbling before backhanding her across the rooftop.

Each attack felt like a whisper against a thunderstorm.

They tried.

They pushed.

But to Velza… It was training.

She parried Yura's return charge without looking. Deflected Serica's ice shards with her sword's flat. She dodged Rin's bullets by tilting her head a centimetre.

They were moving at full power.

Velza was bored.

But her expression never changed. Always that same condescending smile. That same overwhelming calm.

Serica and Yura skidded to a stop, both panting hard, steam rising from their limbs.

"Yura…" Serica gasped, clutching her side.

"Yeah?" Yura wheezed, hands glowing faintly.

"I have an idea. But I need you to move. Create space. Distract her."

Yura glanced sideways. Her lip was bleeding.

"Just say when."

Serica looked ahead. Velza stood, pristine, untouched, unmoved.

The mountain they had to climb.

Yura nodded after hearing Serica's plan.

"Very well. This might actually work. Okay, I'll head in now."

Serica gritted her teeth, tightening her grip on her ice-forged blade as she watched Yura rush forward. Across the rooftop, Velza had just sent Kira flying across the debris-strewn concrete with a single blow. She turned, casually wiping non-existent dust from her blade.

She noticed Yura approaching.

"Hmph. From what I've seen, you're more of a long-range type. So why are you charging at me like this?" Velza lifted Ashlock slowly, lazily, as if preparing to swat a fly.

Yura didn't respond.

She increased speed.

Lightning crackled faintly behind her. Her eyes narrowed.

Then.

"DOMAIN!" Yura roared.

"SWITCH!"

A blinding violet flash.

SLASH!

Velza's eyes shot wide open.

Blood.

Her blood.

It splattered midair, streaking her white armour. She stumbled backwards, hand to her abdomen. A shallow but sharp diagonal cut traced across her stomach, crimson soaking the fabric beneath her plated frame.

The rooftop fell into silence.

Not a breath. Not a sound.

Velza stared at her fingers, wet with blood.

The same blood that had not spilt since her fight with Akio.

Her lips trembled, but not with fear. With fury.

"YOU... BASTARD!!!" She screamed, voice shaking the entire rooftop.

With one hand, she grabbed Serica's sword mid-swing, ripping it from her grasp, and hurled Serica backwards with bone-cracking force. Serica smashed into Yura midair, and the two went crashing into the concrete, tumbling over shattered glass and rebar.

Kira and Rin both tensed.

They saw it.

The rage. The fire in her eyes.

Velza was no longer amused.

She was humiliated.

Even in her exhausted state, Rin smiled bitterly.

"Guess we got her… Hehehe…" She chuckled, voice lightheaded.

But then Velza turned.

That gaze. That murderous gaze.

"RIGHT. YOU'RE NEXT!"

And in the next instant, she was upon them.

CRACK!

Her kick sent Rin flying backwards into a rooftop vent, crumpling the metal.

SLASH!

Her blade caught Kira across the ribs, sending her skidding to the edge of the rooftop.

Neither could stand.

Neither could speak.

They were done.

Velza exhaled slowly, her face unreadable, rage giving way to eerie stillness.

Then she turned her gaze toward the only target that still mattered.

Across the battlefield, barely within reach...

Kentaro and Aria.

Velza rose into the air, gliding toward them like a moonlit executioner.

Serica saw her first. She screamed, scrambling to her feet, hand outstretched.

"KENTARO!!"

Her voice tore through the wind, laced with desperation. Her sword was gone. Her strength nearly spent. But she ran anyway.

Yura followed. Then Kira. Then Rin. Even Shogo, battered and burned, forced his legs into motion.

They all ran.

But no matter how fast they moved…

No matter how loud they screamed…

They were too slow.

Too far.

Too broken.

Serica's vision blurred as she ran. Her limbs went numb. The only thing she could see was him, Kentaro, standing tall and vulnerable, just within reach...

And then...

Darkness.

Her body shut down.

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