The air in the laboratory thick with smoke and panic.
Screams echoed through the collapsing corridors while the once pristine laboratory burned and the white walls were cracking under the force of the explosion. Sirens blared overhead and the sharp wails were mixing with the chaos of shattering glass and the groan of failing metal beams.
Gen'emon's only thought was his family.
"Tane! Shuuji! Stay behind me!" he shouted over the noise.
His voice was hoarse as he dragged them away from a corridor that was already half-swallowed by flames.
Tane clutched Shuuji tightly in her arms. Her heart was pounding against her ribs. The boy buried his face against her shoulder with one hand gripping her sleeve as the acrid smoke stung his eyes.
They tried heading toward the main entrance but the way was impossible. A crowd of visitors and researchers had already gathered there. They were shoving, shouting at each other and desperate to escape. Glass doors had shattered inward. The flames were licking the walls near the ceiling.
"Gen'emon!" Tane gasped after coughing from the smoke. "We can't go that way!"
He scanned the area swiftly. The air shimmered from heat and the ceiling groaned above them.
"Let's go back! We will find another exit!"
Through the haze, a familiar voice called out.
"Gen'emon, this way!"
Dr. Minoru appeared from the smoke. His white lab coat was torn and smeared with ash. His glasses were cracked but his eyes were focused.
"There's an underground basement here. It was built for emergencies like this. Follow me!"
For a brief moment, their earlier argument didn't matter. Gen'emon didn't hesitate. He knew Minoru wouldn't lie about something like this.
"Go!" Gen'emon urged his wife. "Stay close!"
They followed Minoru through a side corridor and dodging the falling small debris as the floor trembled beneath their feet. Tane held Shuuji close. Her lungs were burning from the thick smoke. The other terrified visitors around them ran in every direction. But the researchers who were working with Minoru seemed gripped by a different kind of fear.
Their shouts weren't about escaping.
"Secure the Arahabaki project!" one voice cried.
"Get the containment files!" another shouted.
"If the energy source leaks, we're all—"
The rest was drowned out by the crash of another explosion from above.
Shuuji lifted his head slightly from his mother's shoulder. Hi sharp eyes were catching glimpses through the smoke. The researchers were carrying metal cases marked with strange emblems and their faces were pale but determined. He couldn't hear everything clearly. But he caught one word that made his young mind freeze.
Arahabaki.
He didn't know what it meant. But he could tell by the way they said that project wasn't just a simple research. It was something dangerous.
"Down here!" Minoru called while pushing open a reinforced metal door leading to a stairwell. "It's not far!"
They hurried down the narrow stairs. The air was growing colder and heavier. But just as Minoru reached the lower platform, a massive beam from the ceiling cracked loose.
"Minoru!" Gen'emon shouted.
The doctor turned just as the debris fell. The sound was deafening. The beam slammed into the floor and crushing the metal steps beneath him. Dust and sparks filled the stairwell.
Tane stumbled back as Gen'emon instinctively moved forward. He reached toward the fallen beam and shouting the man's name again.
"Minoru!"
The doctor lay pinned beneath the debris with blood pooling near his side. His hand twitched once then went still.
Before Gen'emon could react, a low creak echoed above them.
Another beam was giving way. This one was falling directly toward Tane and Shuuji.
Gen'emon's body moved before his mind did.
He turned around and ran toward them.
"Tane!"
He grabbed his wife's arm and yanked her forward. Then he shielded both her and their son as the beam crashed down behind them. It sent a wave of dust and heat through the corridor.
"Tane, are you hurt?" he quickly asked.
"I'm fine!" she gasped while moving Shuuji in his arms. "But we have to move!"
Gen'emon nodded sharply and used his special ability. He concentrated and took a deep breath as he tried to manipulate the air around them. He wanted to thicken the air and make it dense enough to push back the heat and falling debris.
But nothing happened.
His eyes widened. He tried again. The air around him remained still.
It was lifeless.
"What...? I can't use it?"
Tane stared at him. Her shock was flashing through her eyes.
"Gen'emon?"
He tried again and focus through the chaos. But the result was still the same. No response. It was as if the air itself refused to move for him. As if the ability that had always answered his will was suddenly gone.
"I don't understand..." he murmured. His expression was flickering with disbelief. "I can't use my ability."
"Gen'emon, please!" Tane cried while tugging his arm. "We'll figure it out later. We need to move now!"
He clenched his jaw and shoving down the panic.
"Right."
They ran.
The ground rumbled beneath them with smoke curling like black serpents along the walls. The faint emergency lights flickered red and casting the hallway in an eerie and pulsating glow.
Finally, they reached the basement door. It was thick and reinforced with steel.
Gen'emon forced it open with his shoulder while ushering Tane and Shuuji inside. The room was too small. It was not enough for all of them. The room was lined with metal storage cases and emergency supplies. It was sturdy and built for protection although it was suffocatingly cramped.
"This is it." Gen'emon said between breath.
He turned to his son who was clinging to his sleeve but not crying. He was just watching everything with those sharp and unblinking eyes. Gen'emon carefully put his son down. Then he knelt and placed his both hands on his son's shoulders.
"Shuuji..." he quietly said. "You are safe here. Don't be afraid. Your mommy and I will protect you."
The boy's lip trembled but he nodded.
Tane crouched beside them. Her face was pale but gentle. She tucked a strand of hair behind Shuuji's ear and gave him a soft but trembling smile.
"Sweetheart..." she whispered. "Listen to me, okay? Whatever happens... You should take care of yourself and your sister. Always look after Mariko. Promise me that."
The little boy looked shaken now.
"But... Mom..."
She placed a finger against his lips before shaking her head.
"No tears, my love. You are strong. I know you are."
Gen'emon's gaze lingered on them both. A quiet dread settled in his chest. It was the kind that told him he wouldn't be able to protect everyone this time. He pressed a kiss to Shuuji's forehead and breathing in the faint scent of his son's hair as if trying to memorize it.
Then, he gently guided the boy into the narrow space behind the supply crates.
Tane's hands lingered on Shuuji's cheeks.
"We love you." she whispered. "Always."
Before the boy could protest, Gen'emon closed the inner hatch and locking his son inside the basement.
"Father!" Shuuji's muffled voice echoed from behind the barrier. His small fists pounded against the metal. "Wait, don't—"
Gen'emon turned around with a grim expression on his face. He tried using his special ability again. His desperation was bleeding through his focus.
"Come on... Come on..."
And suddenly, it answered him.
The air around him shifted and trembling visibly as it condensed into an invisible shield. It was distorting the smoke and pressure around them. He exhaled shakily. His relief and dread were mixing in equal measure.
"Gen'emon..." Tane whispered as she realized what he intended to do.
He looked at her. His eyes were fierce yet tender.
"It will keep the basement safe as long as I can. We have to—"
But before he could finish, the laboratory above them gave a loud and terrible groan.
Then the ceiling ruptured.
A wave of fire and debris roared down through the corridor and swallowing everything in an instant. The floor cracked. The walls buckled. The world itself seemed to cave in.
"Gen'emon!" Tane screamed as he threw up his arm and forcing his ability outward one last time. The air was thickening and hardening into a barrier as the inferno crashed down upon them.
The sound was deafening.
The heat unbearable.
Inside the storage hatch, Shuuji could only listened while the whole laboratory was now filled with fire and smoke.
He screamed their names until his voice broke.
But the flames drowned out everything.
And when the smoke finally began to settle,
there was only silence.