Leave ended too soon.
On their first day back, Echo found another black data-chip on his bunk. This one held no hologram—just coordinates and a time: Black Bazaar, Midnight.
He went alone, cloaked and armed.
The same shrouded figure awaited. "You used the shard."
"I looked at it."
"You felt its truth. The Corrupted are not monsters. They are prisoners. And the Order would rather kill prisoners than free them."
"What do you want?"
"To offer you the key to the prison." The figure placed a small, ornate device on the table—a Reality Lockpick. "This can temporarily disrupt Corrupted control at the source. Free a high-tier Corrupted, and you gain an ally who knows the Legion's secrets. Or, you can use it to destabilize a Dawn-Class entity long enough to kill it."
Echo stared at the device. "Why give this to me?"
"Because you are the only one who can wield it without being corrupted yourself. Your anomaly nature is immune to their resonance." The figure leaned closer. "The Academy plans to send you against a Dawn-Class entity next. They expect you to die. We expect you to win."
The figure vanished into the shadows, leaving the Lockpick behind.
Echo took it.
He was playing a dangerous game, balancing Order's discipline against Shadow's forbidden power.
But if it kept his bonded alive, he would walk any line.