D-Animal
The wind cut through the ruined streets of New York like a constant lament, carrying soot, the smell of burned metal, and something denser — the bittersweet odor of recent death. Fenrir ran close to the cracked asphalt, weaving around craters, overturned cars, and chunks of concrete still smoking. Kaiser came right behind, heavy yet tireless, every stride of the Ligre making the ground vibrate beneath metallic paws.
Elara kept her eyes sharp, even with the persistent pain in her back. Then instinct spoke louder.
A shiver climbed her spine, cold and immediate.
At the edge of her vision, between two towers mutilated by fire, she saw the silhouette.
A woman.
Standing atop a partially collapsed building, as if the chaos could not reach her. The wind stirred something around her — not clothing, but wings. Two shapes circled her body, slicing the air with irregular, unnatural movements.
Bats.
Not flesh.
Metal, black ribbing, incandescent red veins pulsing beneath the carapace.
Elara swallowed hard.
— "Rafael…" — she said, not taking her eyes off it. — "There's someone there."
Rafael lifted his head at once, following her gaze. It took a single second for his blood to run cold. His eyes narrowed, jaw locking.
— "Shit…" — he muttered.
The bats turned their heads at the same time.
Red eyes flared in the night, like sensors locking onto something specific.
— "Run," — Rafael said, without raising his voice. — "Now."
Fenrir answered before Elara could consciously react. The black wolf accelerated, gears howling low as it cut through a corridor of collapsing buildings. Kaiser did the same, Kaine's spiders retracting against the Ligre's body to reduce drag.
Lucas felt the shift in speed and pressed himself tighter against Rafael.
— "What is it?!" — he asked, alarmed.
Rafael kept his eyes forward, voice tense, urgent.
— "Those bats… they're not common D-Animals."
The sound changed.
A deep hum, almost imperceptible at first, began to vibrate through the air. It didn't come from the buildings or the ground — it came from above. Elara felt a strange pressure behind her eyes, as if invisible fingers were squeezing her mind.
— "Rafa…" — she growled low. — "I'm feeling—"
— "Mentalis," — he cut in, dry. — "Secret Hidden Class."
Lucas's eyes went wide.
— "What?!"
The bats beat their wings harder. The hum intensified, turning into waves that made the air tremble. Glass that still clung to facades shattered in sequence, tlim—crash—crash, like a chain reaction.
Fenrir let out a metallic whine, his body automatically adjusting internal dampeners to compensate for the instability. Elara leaned forward, gripping tight.
— "They attack the mind," — Rafael continued, voice steady despite the urgency. — "Directed sound waves. Confusion, neural pain, loss of coordination… in extreme cases—"
He didn't finish.
One of the bats dove, skimming past the group. Elara felt a spike lance through her skull, like an electric needle. The world wavered for a second, colors blurring.
— "Fenrir, left!" — she shouted.
The wolf obeyed, leaping over a toppled bus and plunging into a side street. Kaiser followed, tearing chunks of asphalt as he landed.
The hum diminished — not gone, but distant.
Lucas was breathing fast.
— "You said Secret Hidden Class…" — he said, trying to understand. — "What are they?"
Rafael hesitated for half a second. Then decided.
— "SHC," — he said. — "There are six. Forbidden, controlled, or simply erased from public records."
He raised his voice just enough to be heard over the running.
— "Ager — D-Animals focused on planting and environmental regeneration. Common in rural zones. They don't look dangerous, but they sustain entire federations."
A building collapsed to the left, throwing up a cloud of hot dust.
— "Obiex — they create magnetic fields. Defend, imprison, reflect attacks. Uncommon. Extremely strategic."
Another hum echoed in the distance. Elara kept her focus forward.
— "Mentalis," — Rafael continued, his tone hardening. — "Those ones. Mental attacks via sound waves. Practically nonexistent… because almost no one survives the training."
Lucas swallowed.
— "Dux — absolute orientation. They can guide anyone, anywhere. Small, fragile, rare."
Kaiser turned another corner, dodging a pile of inert Uthos, metallic carcasses twisted like dead animals at the roadside.
— "Affinitas," — Rafael took a breath. — "Legendary. Capable of preventing Depletio Affinitatis. They transfer a D-Animal into the D-Armilla of someone living… at the cost of blood. A lot of blood."
Elara felt a chill.
— "And Vectura," — he concluded. — "They transport people inside themselves. Usually giant fliers. Uncommon."
Lucas fell silent for a few seconds.
— "And that woman?" — he asked, voice low. — "She has Mentalis…"
Rafael nodded, eyes dark.
— "And that means she shouldn't exist outside a lab or a black government unit."
Elara glanced over her shoulder.
On the rooftops, the bats were still following — not attacking, watching.
— "So we run," — she said, firm. — "And don't look back."
Fenrir let out a metallic howl and accelerated once more.
Behind them, atop the ruined building, the woman tilted her head slightly — curious.
Like someone who had just found something… interesting.
The alley looked like an open wound in the city.
Narrow, deep, suffocated by the tall concrete of buildings that still stood — not by strength, but by sheer stubbornness. Moonlight barely reached down there. The ground was damp, slick with oil, dirty water, and crushed glass that grated under any movement. The smell was heavy — rust, mold, old gunpowder, and something metallic that recalled dried blood.
Fenrir stopped without question.
Elara slid carefully from his back, her body complaining in silence, and set her feet on the cold alley floor. For a moment, she only breathed deeply, feeling the air tear through her lungs, before resting her hand on the metallic head of the black wolf.
The touch was familiar.
Not like a machine.
Like a presence.
— "Become one with the shadows," — she murmured, her voice firm despite the tension. — "And eliminate the bats."
Fenrir answered with a deep, almost imperceptible purr. The bluish lines beneath his carapace went dark one by one, like stars going out. The metal plates adjusted with soft clicks, absorbing the surrounding light instead of reflecting it. The outline of his body began to blur, merging with the darkness of the alley.
And then… he was no longer there.
Rafael felt a chill crawl up his arms.
— "I always forget how terrifying that is," — he murmured softly.
Kaiser stopped behind them, too large to enter the alley completely. The Ligre remained still, alert, Kaine's spiders retracted against his carapace, ready to act. Rafael and Lucas dismounted quickly, pressing their backs to the cold wall, shoulders tense.
Elara crouched near the mouth of the alley, eyes fixed on the sliver of sky between the buildings.
The hum returned.
Closer now.
The bats appeared above the rooftops, their wings slicing the air in erratic motions, leaving almost imperceptible trails of sonic distortion. The attack hadn't come yet — they were hunting, tuning frequencies, testing the environment.
Lucas raised a hand to his head.
— "It… it hurts," — he whispered.
Elara clenched her fists.
— "Don't look up," — she said firmly. — "Don't think about them."
Rafael squeezed the boy's shoulder.
— "Focus on my voice."
One of the bats dipped lower, hovering between the buildings. Its red eyes pulsed, and an invisible sound wave spread through the air. Broken bottles on the ground vibrated, crushed cans began to roll on their own.
Then—
— CLANG.
Something struck the bat from below.
The sound was sharp, violent.
The metallic body was hurled into the side of a building, smashing against the wall with a grotesque crack of breaking gears. Before it could react, shadows moved.
Fenrir emerged from nothing.
The black wolf seemed to tear the darkness apart, claws piercing the bat's body with surgical precision. There was no roar — only the muffled sound of metal being shredded. The bat tried to emit one last sonic pulse, but Fenrir drove his fangs into the vibratory core, crushing it.
The hum ceased abruptly.
The second bat reacted instantly, beating its wings hard, climbing fast, red eyes flashing in alarm. A stronger pulse was released — the air trembled, and Elara felt the impact like a hammer behind her eyes.
She clenched her teeth.
— "Now," — she murmured.
Fenrir vanished again, becoming a shadow in motion. The bat spun in the air, trying to track something that simply did not exist to its sensors. The Mentalis attack spread chaotically, slamming into walls, poles, already shattered shop windows — everything except the target.
Then the shadow came from above.
Fenrir dropped onto the bat like a silent projectile. His claws locked onto the wings, arresting their movement. The bat screeched — a distorted, broken sound — as Fenrir twisted his body and slammed it into the alley floor.
The impact was brutal.
Before the D-Animal could rise again, Fenrir sank his fangs into the central core, ripping it out with a sharp pull. The bat's body convulsed once… and went still.
Silence.
The kind of heavy silence that follows violence.
Fenrir stepped away from the wreckage, slowly reappearing as the bluish lines reignited beneath his carapace. He returned to Elara and lowered his head, as if asking for confirmation.
She placed her hand on his metallic brow.
— "Good boy," — she said softly.
Rafael let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
— "Concealment class…" — he murmured. — "But executed like an Assassin."
Lucas was breathing hard, but the hum in his head had stopped.
— "They… died?" — he asked.
Elara nodded.
— "These ones, yes."
She lifted her gaze to the sky between the buildings.
The female silhouette was no longer there.
Which, for some reason, unsettled her even more.
— "That wasn't a random patrol," — Rafael said seriously. — "She was testing."
Elara agreed in silence.
Fenrir growled low, smoke slipping between the plates of his muzzle.
— "Then we keep moving," — she said, climbing back onto his back. — "Before she decides to come back… with more."
— "Too late…"
The female voice cut through the alley like a cold blade.
The sound of high heels echoed—sharp, rhythmic—shattering the heavy silence that had settled after the bats fell. The click of metal against dirty concrete was deliberate, confident, almost provocative.
Elara turned her head slowly.
From the depths of the alley, between dense shadows and cracked walls, the woman advanced with steady steps. Long black hair, smooth like spilled ink, swayed behind her with each movement. Straight bangs framed a pale face with sharply defined Eastern features, and light-brown, slightly slanted eyes analyzed everything with clinical coldness.
She wore an asymmetrical black top, tight against her body, with a cutout at the collarbone held by a small metal buckle at the neck, exposing skin in a strategic way. A structured black high-waisted short, with straps and gold metallic details fastened at the sides, fit her legs with military precision. A leather holster wrapped around one thigh, secured with firm straps. On her feet, black high-heeled ankle boots with front lacing and thin heels turned every step into a declaration of dominance.
She stopped just a few meters from them.
Elara did not retreat.
Beside her, Rafael's muscles tensed instantly, jaw locked. Kaiser growled low, the plates along his neck adjusting with a metallic snap as Kaine's spiders spread discreetly across his carapace. Lucas felt his stomach drop.
— "Who are you?" — Elara asked, her voice firm, without a trace of fear.
The woman tilted her head slightly, appraising her.
— "Jasmine Xuēlóng," — she replied calmly. — "Officer of the Shadow Intelligence Forces."
The name weighed on the air.
— "I receive direct orders from the president."
Elara frowned.
— "Then why did you attack us?"
Jasmine raised an eyebrow, as if the question were almost naïve.
— "Because I needed to see," — she said. — "I've been watching you since the death of one of yours."
The silence that followed was painful.
— "Seung-Woo," — she added, without emotion.
Lucas felt his chest tighten. Rafael clenched his fists.
— "You survived situations that would have wiped out entire squads," — Jasmine continued, walking slowly in a semicircle. — "Ferus. Deletio. Human losses. Rapid decisions." She stopped in front of Elara. — "I needed to confirm whether it was luck… or competence."
— "And the bats?" — Elara asked flatly.
Jasmine smiled faintly.
— "Dwol and Goi." She lifted her hand slightly. — "Mentalis class. A test."
Before anyone could react, a second presence manifested.
On the opposite side of the alley, almost too silent to be noticed, a man emerged from the shadows, cutting off the escape route.
Straight black hair, bangs covering the left side of his face. Dark-brown attentive eyes, pale skin, a posture far too calm for that setting.
— "Tetsuya Tsuki," — Jasmine introduced without looking at him.
Tsuki gave a slight nod and raised his D-Armilla.
— "Airi."
A white swallow emerged in a soft glow, the contrast almost ethereal against the dark alley. Her small wings beat delicately as she landed beside one of the shattered bats.
With quick, precise movements, Airi began to work.
Her small talons touched the cracked core of the bat, emitting a gentle glow, almost spiritual. Gears that had been broken reorganized, energy lines reconnected. The Mentalis hum returned—weak at first… then steady.
The second bat received the same treatment.
Within seconds, both rose again, wings spread, red eyes reigniting. They flew to Jasmine and positioned themselves behind her, like obedient shadows.
Airi fluttered her wings one last time and perched on Tsuki's shoulder.
Rafael ground his teeth.
— "Spiritual…" — he murmured. — "She's reversing structural damage."
Jasmine crossed her arms.
— "Now that the test is over," — she said calmly, — "we can talk."
She looked directly at Elara.
— "You are not an ordinary student." Her gaze slid briefly to Fenrir… and lingered a second longer than necessary. — "And you are not alone."
The air in the alley grew heavy, dense like the moment before a storm.
Fenrir growled low.
Elara did not move.
— "Then talk," — she said. — "What do you want?"
Jasmine smiled.
— "To see whether you'll survive what comes next."
And for the first time since she appeared, there was something in her voice that wasn't arrogance.
It was… expectation.