S-2878 • L8 Libeluna • D14 Irrali
"Libeluna releases the thread that weighs. Irrali radiates full light. The tide sings loud in living silver. The story weaves presence in the air."
Footsteps echoed upstairs. Fast. Hard. Sharp.
Hikaru raced up the stairs, his chest tight.
Maia lay motionless in his bed. Cold. Silent. Pale. As though she were…
Saymon's presence suffocated the room. A violent energy emanated from the mercenary. Hateful. Relentless. "What did you do to her?" His voice seethed with contempt.
Hikaru approached slowly. But stopped halfway. Fear scratched at his throat. He was afraid to touch her. What if it was too late? A deep pain spread inside him, accompanied by guilt that grew with every second.
The q-nanite–Regnante hybrid… had worked. He had tested it. Tested it countless times. So why? He could not understand. And there was no time to try. Maia needed help.
Hikaru needed to take her to the only person he believed could save her. Masaru Inoue. He left Maia in his master's care, in Tokyo.
Then returned to Netheria. He walked the shadowy streets of São Paulo's underworld as the emptiness around him resonated within.
Freedom had never seemed so distant… or so close.
Perhaps chaos was the path.
Saymon never appeared again. But his shadow remained. Like the embers of an extinguished fire, it kept burning, smoldering in Hikaru's mind.
An enigma.
Perhaps he would never be able to decipher it. Perhaps he would never want to.
Perhaps not knowing was the only possible answer.
Perhaps he only wanted to feel.