The dropship roared through the night sky, its engines carving a violent path through the darkness as it descended toward the surface, the hull trembling under the force of its own momentum.
Inside, the world was steel, noise, and discipline. Two rows of soldiers stood locked in place along the interior, boots planted firmly against the vibrating floor, rifles held tight against their chests as red emergency lights pulsed overhead, casting a harsh, rhythmic glow across armour plating and reinforced visors.
The speakers crackled to life, the distortion cutting sharply through the mechanical hum.
'Final approach confirmed. Prepare for deployment.'
The voice was clipped and mechanical, stripped of anything human.
At the front of the formation, Nishihara stood unmoving. The weight of the past days clung to him, not in any obvious weakness, but in the details, his shoulders held just a fraction too rigid, faint shadows lingering beneath his eyes, his gaze never settling on any single point for long. The odachi rested across his back, its long hilt angled over his shoulder, a constant presence even in stillness.
The YNS frame fitted over him hummed softly, its internal systems alive beneath the surface, reinforcing muscle, sharpening response, refining every motion into something more efficient, more controlled. It didn't erase his humanity, but it pressed against it, narrowing the distance between human and something else.
He glanced once to the side.
Sakaguchi sat near the rear bulkhead with one knee raised, arms resting loosely as if this were just another routine operation rather than a live deployment. His own YNS frame mirrored Nishihara's in function, but none of the same weight showed in his posture. He looked relaxed, almost careless, in a way that felt out of place against the tension in the air.
The speakers cut in again. 'Landing in ten seconds. All units ready.'
The ship jolted, then dropped.
The rear doors blew open with a violent hiss, night air rushing inward as the outside world revealed itself in fractured glimpses of dim light and shadow. A voice cut through the noise immediately, sharp and commanding.
'Move, move, move!'
The formation broke without hesitation. Boots slammed against metal as the soldiers surged forward, pouring out of the dropship and into the darkness, their movements tight and efficient. Behind them, the engines howled as the ship held position just long enough to deploy the full squad before pulling back into the sky.
Silence followed, not complete, but close enough to feel unnatural.
The village lay ahead, dim lights flickering between low, tightly packed structures whose uneven shapes blurred against the terrain. It was quiet in the way places became quiet when something was wrong, voices subdued, movement restrained, the air itself thick with unease.
Nishihara moved first, and the squad followed.
They advanced without unnecessary noise, spreading slightly as they entered the outer edge of the settlement, weapons raised but not yet fired. Villagers lingered at the edges of doorways and narrow streets, watching with wide, uncertain eyes as the soldiers passed through.
Fear travelled faster than sound.
Nishihara walked through it without acknowledging it, his gaze scanning constantly, searching not for resistance or immediate threat, but for something more specific, something he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to find.
He reached the centre of the village, a small open space between buildings that barely qualified as a square, and came to a stop.
His eyes swept across the surrounding structures once–
then caught it.
Movement, brief and sharp.
A flicker above.
A hooded figure darted across the rooftops, fast and light, barely more than a shadow slipping between shadows.
Nishihara's expression hardened immediately. 'Contact!'
The squad reacted in an instant. Rifles snapped upward as voices overlapped in controlled urgency, calling out the target's position while bursts of gunfire cracked through the night, rounds tearing toward the fleeing figure. The sound shattered the fragile stillness, sending villagers scattering in panic.
Orders followed just as quickly, sharp and direct, clearing the area and forcing civilians back as the engagement escalated.
The figure didn't stop.
It ran.
Nishihara moved.
The YNS engaged without delay, power surging through his limbs as he launched upward, clearing the distance to the rooftops in a single, fluid motion. His boots struck tile and wood with controlled force, barely slowing him as he pushed forward.
Ahead, the figure faltered slightly under the pressure of incoming fire, shifting direction in an attempt to break line of sight, to create distance, to escape.
It didn't matter, Nishihara was faster.
He closed the distance step by step, each movement precise, controlled, leaving no wasted motion, no hesitation. The chase cut across the village in seconds, momentum building until there was nowhere left for it to go.
It ended at the edge of a narrow rooftop.
The figure landed hard and turned sharply, realizing too late that escape had already closed behind them.
Nishihara stepped forward, slow and deliberate.
His hand moved to the hilt of his odachi, drawing it in one smooth motion as the blade caught what little light there was, long and unforgiving in its clarity.
The hooded figure froze, breathing hard, trapped.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Then Nishihara spoke.
'Take it off.'
His voice was low, not raised, but absolute in its finality.
The figure hesitated, tension visible even in stillness, then slowly raised a hand and pulled the hood back.
Nishihara's expression shifted.
Not dramatically, but enough to register, disappointment settling in, something heavier beneath it.
The figure wasn't who he had hoped for, or feared.
It was just another Chimera, young, panicked, still alive in a way that made the moment stretch a fraction too long.
Nishihara's grip tightened.
The Chimera reacted on instinct, their hand moving toward their body, toward the point where their weapon would emerge, the faint distortion of phasing just beginning to form.
It was too slow.
Nishihara moved first.
The odachi cut cleanly, a single decisive strike that passed through with brutal precision, ending the motion before it could fully exist.
The Chimera collapsed, blood pooling over the roof, dripping down the wall below.
The weapon never formed.
Silence returned to the rooftop.
Below, the village remained in chaos, voices raised, movement scattered, fear still spreading, but up here, it had gone still again.
Nishihara stood over the body for a moment, then looked away.
Boots thudded across the rooftops seconds later as the squad moved in, fast, controlled, practiced. Two soldiers secured the perimeter immediately, rifles sweeping across surrounding buildings, while others climbed up from below and formed a tight circle around the fallen Chimera.
No one spoke, but there was no need to.
One of them knelt beside the body, checking for any sign of movement out of habit rather than expectation, while another pulled a containment sheet from his pack and unfolded it with a quiet snap. The process was efficient, detached, routine, the kind of repetition that came from doing this too many times to question it.
Nishihara stepped back, the edge of his blade lowering slightly as the sharpness of the moment dulled into something heavier. He didn't look at the body again. His attention had already moved past it, out across the village, over the rooftops, searching for something that wasn't there.
Footsteps approached from behind.
Sakaguchi.
He didn't enter the circle with the others, instead stopping just short of it, tilting his head slightly as he took in the scene.
'That makes nine,' he said, his tone calm, almost conversational.
Nishihara didn't respond immediately.
Sakaguchi's gaze dropped briefly to the body as it was wrapped and lifted, then shifted back toward him.
'Nine rogues in the last stretch of deployments,' he continued, 'different regions, different circumstances, same result.'
A brief pause followed.
'None of them him.'
That was enough to draw a reaction, subtle, but there.
Nishihara's jaw tightened as he turned away, stepping toward the far edge of the rooftop. Sakaguchi followed without being asked, falling into step beside him.
Below them, the village remained in motion, soldiers directing civilians, voices raised, the aftermath of disruption settling into an uneasy order. Up here, the air felt quieter, more contained.
'We'll find him,' Nishihara said.
There was no hope in it, no uncertainty, just a statement.
Sakaguchi studied him for a moment, then exhaled lightly through his nose.
'You're still thinking like he's within reach,' he said, 'like he's just another target on a map.'
Nishihara didn't look at him. 'He is.'
'No,' Sakaguchi replied evenly, 'he was.'
That pulled Nishihara's gaze sideways.
Sakaguchi's expression hadn't changed.
'He disappeared months ago,' he went on. 'No confirmed sightings, no reliable intel. Every lead we've chased has ended like this.' He gestured faintly back toward where the body had been. 'Cold.'
Nishihara's grip on his odachi tightened slightly. 'Then we keep looking.'
Sakaguchi was quiet for a moment before speaking again.
'We can't.'
The words carried more weight than anything else.
Nishihara's eyes sharpened. 'What do you mean?'
Sakaguchi leaned back slightly, resting his weight against the low edge of the rooftop as he looked out over the village. 'Word came down before deployment,' he said, 'they're already considering escalation. Special forces units, dedicated search teams, the kind they don't send unless they're done waiting.'
He paused briefly before continuing. 'They think he's gone to ground too deep for standard units to handle.'
Nishihara's expression darkened, irritation surfacing, frustration tightening beneath it.
'So what?' he said. 'We just stop?'
'That's not what I said.'
'It's what you're implying.'
Sakaguchi didn't react. 'What I'm saying is that the situation's changing, fast, and when it does, we don't get a say in how it's handled.'
Nishihara turned fully toward him. 'Then they're wrong.'
Sakaguchi's brow lifted slightly. 'About what?'
Nishihara's voice dropped.
'About him.'
For a moment, the noise from below seemed distant.
'He's not just another rogue,' Nishihara continued, 'not just another name to cross off and forget.'
His grip tightened further.
'Something happened in that cave.'
Sakaguchi watched him closely now. 'You're still on that.'
'Because it doesn't add up,' Nishihara snapped. 'None of it does. The reports, the timing, the way he just disappeared after that night.'
He drew in a controlled breath, tension still evident beneath it.
'And until I know why,' he added more quietly, 'I'm not stopping.'
Sakaguchi remained silent for a long second before pushing off from the edge of the rooftop and stepping closer.
'You're chasing answers,' he said.
Nishihara didn't deny it.
Sakaguchi studied him a moment longer, then gave a faint shrug. 'Just don't confuse that with chasing him.'
Nishihara's gaze didn't waver. 'I won't.'
Below them, the squad finished securing the scene, orders called out as movement resumed and the mission continued.
Nishihara didn't move right away.
He stood there a moment longer, his gaze fixed somewhere far beyond the village, somewhere unseen, still searching.
Chapter 78 – end