The road back felt wrong.
Too long.
Too empty.
Too quiet.
No one spoke inside the vehicle.
Not because they were tired.
Because everyone felt it.
Something had already happened.
The school gate stood open when they arrived.
Swinging slightly in the wind.
No guards.
No voices.
No movement.
Only silence.
And silence had become the most dangerous thing they knew.
Rani stepped out first.
Her breath caught instantly.
"…this feels bad."
Dika cracked his neck beside her.
"…good."
He looked at the broken courtyard.
"…means we still made it."
Lila didn't lift her eyes from the tablet.
"…or we didn't."
They entered.
Glass covered the ground.
Benches were overturned.
Walls were cracked.
There were no attackers.
No students.
Only what remained after panic had passed.
Tono scanned the damage slowly.
"…this wasn't a battle."
A pause.
"…this was aftermath."
Then—
a sound.
Drag.
Pause.
Drag.
Uneven.
Alive.
Lila turned sharply.
"…north hallway."
They ran.
The corridor lights flickered weakly overhead.
Each step felt heavier than the last.
The air itself pressed against them.
Rani touched her chest.
"…I can feel it."
Lila's voice dropped.
"Energy density rising."
She looked at the readings.
Then paled.
"…this isn't unstable."
A pause.
"…it's imploding."
They stopped in front of a classroom door hanging from one hinge.
Inside—
a boy stood alone.
Same age as them.
Barely upright.
The room around him was destroyed.
Desks crushed flat.
Walls fractured.
The floor broken in circles around his feet.
His body shook violently.
Not from fear.
From overload.
"…please…"
His voice cracked.
"…make it stop…"
Rani stepped forward instantly.
"We can help you."
Dika grabbed her arm.
"No."
She pulled free.
"He's not an enemy."
Tono didn't move.
"…but he's still a threat."
The boy took one step.
CRACK.
The floor split open.
Energy burst from his body in jagged waves.
"BACK!" Dika roared.
Too late.
BOOM!
The classroom exploded outward.
Wood splintered.
Windows shattered.
The shockwave threw everyone into the hall.
Tono caught Rani before she hit the wall.
Dika dug his heels into the floor, arms crossed in front of his face, still pushed backward.
"…what is he?!"
"He's us!" Rani shouted.
Dika snapped back immediately.
"Then this is what we become!"
Silence.
The boy dropped to one knee.
Still shaking.
Still conscious.
Still suffering.
Rani walked toward him again.
Slowly.
Carefully.
"I know how it feels."
The boy's eyes lifted.
Red. Wet. Desperate.
"…no…"
He coughed.
Blood hit the floor.
"…you don't."
The pressure in the room spiked.
Lila's voice shook.
"We have seconds!"
Dika stepped forward.
Decision already made.
"…move."
Rani planted herself in front of the boy.
"No."
The word was quiet.
Absolute.
"We save him."
Tono looked between them.
"…choose fast."
The walls began to crack deeper.
The ceiling groaned.
The boy reached toward Rani with a trembling hand.
"…help…"
She grabbed it.
And for one heartbeat—
everything stopped.
Then—
the energy collapsed inward.
Not outward.
Inward.
All sound vanished.
All light bent.
Then—
SNAP.
The force disappeared instantly.
The boy's body fell forward.
Limp.
Still.
Rani caught him before he hit the floor.
"…hey."
No answer.
Her hands searched for a pulse.
Weak.
Barely there.
"…he's alive."
But nobody moved.
Nobody celebrated.
Because alive was not the same as saved.
Lila lowered the tablet.
"…we were too late."
Dika looked away.
"…we hesitated."
Rani's jaw tightened.
"…we tried."
Dika met her eyes.
"…and almost died for it."
No one had a reply.
They carried the boy outside in silence.
Then Lila whispered—
"…we need to tell Arga."
At another school—
the fight had already ended.
A man sprinted across the yard carrying a fake MBG box.
He made it six steps.
Arga appeared in front of him.
No sound.
No warning.
Just there.
The man stumbled backward.
"…how—"
GRAB.
Arga seized his wrist.
TWIST.
CRACK.
The box dropped.
The man screamed.
THUD.
He hit the ground and stayed there.
Sinta froze for half a second.
"…Arga."
He didn't look at her.
Another attacker charged from the side.
Arga sidestepped.
Palm strike.
THUD.
The man crashed into a wall and slid down unconscious.
Bimo stared.
"…okay…"
A pause.
"…that was terrifying."
Arga walked past both bodies as if nothing happened.
"…we don't have time."
The communicator crackled.
Lila's voice.
"…we found one."
Static.
"…unstable."
Another pause.
"…we almost lost him."
Arga answered instantly.
Flat.
Cold.
"…almost isn't enough."
The line went dead.
Even Bimo said nothing.
They regrouped at the original school.
The moment Rani stepped out carrying the unconscious boy—
the atmosphere changed.
She looked straight at Arga.
"…we saved him."
Arga glanced at the boy once.
Then at her.
"…and he collapsed."
Rani's face hardened.
"We got there as fast as we could."
"No."
Arga stepped closer.
"You got there."
A pause.
"…then you hesitated."
Silence hit like impact.
Rani stared at him.
"…what?"
"You talked."
"You waited."
"You hoped."
Each word landed colder than the last.
"That's why he almost died."
"STOP."
Sinta moved between them instantly.
"That's enough."
Arga looked at her.
Calm.
Too calm.
"…is it?"
She held his gaze.
"…yes."
He tilted his head slightly.
"…fair doesn't matter."
A pause.
"…results do."
Bimo swallowed hard.
No jokes this time.
Rani's hands shook again.
But not from fear.
From anger.
"…we are not like them."
Arga answered before she finished breathing.
"…then we lose."
The words stunned everyone.
Rani stepped forward.
"…I'd rather lose than become monsters."
Arga's expression didn't change.
"…that's why people die around you."
The slap of those words was louder than any explosion.
Rani flinched.
Sinta's voice dropped dangerously.
"…take that back."
Arga ignored her.
His eyes stayed on Rani.
"If you can't act when it matters—move aside when someone can."
Bimo stepped back unconsciously.
Dika said nothing.
Tono looked away.
Because no one knew who was more dangerous now—
the enemy outside,
or Arga standing in front of them.
Pak Rahmat finally spoke.
One sentence.
Heavy enough to stop everyone.
"…enough."
Silence returned.
But it was different now.
Not peace.
A fracture.
Arga opened his lunch box.
The glow inside was steady.
Eight grains.
Perfectly aligned.
Cold light reflected in his eyes.
No rage.
No hesitation.
No mercy.
He closed it slowly.
Then looked at the broken school around them.
"…next time…"
A pause.
His voice was barely above a whisper.
"…I won't stop for permission."
He turned and walked away.
No one followed.
No one called his name.
Because for the first time—
they weren't sure he was still walking with them.
Far away—
inside a dark control room—
the man in the hat watched everything through a live feed.
Rani's hesitation.
Arga's brutality.
The crack inside the team.
He smiled.
Slowly.
Satisfied.
"…perfect."
He touched the screen where Arga's face remained frozen.
"…break the team…"
A new file opened.
PHASE THREE: INTERNAL COLLAPSE
Then his smile widened.
"…and he'll finish the rest for us."