The world turned white.
The blast tore through the lab like a hurricane of light and static. The floor buckled, walls cracked, alarms screamed. I could barely see, barely breathe—everything was heat, noise, and chaos.
"Haruto, get down!" Celia's voice cut through the noise like a blade. She grabbed me, pulling me behind a collapsed console just as another shockwave ripped through the room.
My ears rang. My vision swam. When the light faded, Lunaris was standing in the middle of the devastation, surrounded by a storm of glowing fragments.
She looked nothing like the sleeping girl in the pod. Her eyes burned blue, her hair floating like it was underwater, and the air around her shimmered with raw energy.
The entire squad stared. No one dared move.
"Commander," Mira said quietly, scanning the readings on her wrist device, "her energy output is… absurd. I can't even quantify it."
Eira's voice shook. "That's not just magic… it's something else."
Liri hid behind my shoulder, whispering, "She's pretty scary for someone who just woke up."
Celia stepped forward cautiously, sword drawn. "Identify yourself."
Lunaris blinked slowly, her gaze shifting from Celia to me. "Identify… myself?" Her voice was soft, distant, layered with an echo that didn't sound entirely human.
"Yes," Celia said, blade steady. "State your name and purpose."
Lunaris tilted her head. "My name… was given by him." She pointed at me. "Haruto."
Everyone turned to me.
"Oh great," I muttered. "Why is it always me?"
Before I could say anything else, the ground cracked beneath Lunaris's feet. Energy surged outward, splitting the floor and knocking everyone off balance.
Celia gritted her teeth. "Mira, status!"
"Containment field's breaking apart! The entire sublevel's unstable!"
Rina slammed her fists together, grinning like a maniac. "Then we fight our way out!"
"Absolutely not!" Celia snapped. "We don't even know what she is yet!"
"Correction," Mira said flatly. "We do now. She's an Aether construct—human interface type. Experimental. Codename: Lunaris Protocol."
I froze. "She's… a weapon?"
Lunaris looked hurt for a second. "A weapon… that's all I am?"
The light in her eyes flared. Energy spiraled around her like a storm.
Celia cursed under her breath. "Everyone, fall back!"
Too late. The next blast hit like a tidal wave.
I felt the resonance again—stronger than ever before—ripping through me. My body burned, vision flickering between blue and white.
The connection between us snapped open, raw and blinding. I could feel her emotions—confusion, pain, longing. She didn't want to hurt us. She just didn't understand what was happening.
"Lunaris, stop!" I shouted. "You're losing control!"
Her head jerked toward me. "Control…? I have none to lose."
Celia dashed forward, slicing through a stream of energy before it hit me. "Focus, Private! Whatever link you have with her, use it to calm her down!"
"I'm trying!"
"Try harder!"
Rina and Mira moved in, covering Celia. Rina charged a gauntlet with flame magic, punching a fragment of energy midair. "Yo, ice queen! I'll keep her busy!"
"Do not engage recklessly!"
"Too late!" Rina launched herself forward, a roaring blaze behind her fists. She swung—only for Lunaris to raise a hand and catch the blow effortlessly.
The impact shattered the ground.
Rina was thrown back like a ragdoll, landing in a heap beside me. "Okay… she's strong. Real strong."
Mira fired precise shots from her rifle, each bolt of light deflecting fragments before they hit Celia. "Rina, restrain your enthusiasm."
"Not helping!"
Liri fluttered above us, weaving a glowing barrier around the team. "I can hold it for a bit, but she's burning through my magic faster than I can—Eek!" The shield cracked under another wave.
Celia grabbed my arm again, eyes fierce. "Haruto. Focus on the resonance. You connected with her before—do it again!"
"I don't even know how I did it the first time!"
"Then learn fast!"
Her tone cut through the panic. I forced myself to breathe, reaching for that strange pulse again. It was like standing in front of a storm and trying to listen for a single heartbeat.
And then I found it.
Her heartbeat.
I closed my eyes and spoke—not out loud, but through the connection.
Lunaris… please. It's me. Haruto. You're safe.
The storm around her flickered. Her glow dimmed slightly.
For a moment, it worked.
She turned toward me, eyes softening. "Haruto… I remember…"
Celia took a cautious step forward. "Keep going. You're getting through."
But then, the alarms blared again—mechanical, sharp, and urgent.
> "Warning. Reactor breach detected. Core instability critical."
Tsubasa's voice crackled through comms, static cutting every other word. "C-Commander! The energy surge from Lunaris—it's feeding into the base's main reactor!"
Celia's expression hardened. "Damn it. If that core goes critical—"
"Everything within ten kilometers is gone," Mira finished grimly.
Rina groaned. "So… bad news day all around, huh?"
Eira clutched her tablet. "I can try to isolate the resonance frequency! Maybe redirect it!"
Celia nodded. "Do it. Everyone else, buy her time!"
I blinked. "Wait, what do you mean buy—"
Rina was already sprinting forward again, flames trailing behind her. "Let's gooo!"
Mira sighed. "Idiocy is contagious."
Celia dashed in after them, moving like lightning, her sword cutting through raw magic. Liri boosted her with healing flares, shouting encouragements like a cheerleader at the apocalypse.
I raised my rifle, firing into the arcs of unstable energy, trying to help. The recoil slammed into my shoulder again, but adrenaline drowned out the pain.
Lunaris's voice echoed through the chaos—distorted now, fragmented.
> "Why… why am I fighting you?"
I shouted back, "Because something's controlling you!"
> "No… because you left me."
The air went cold. Her energy spiked again, slamming into the floor.
A blast hit me square in the chest, throwing me back. My vision went white. I hit the ground hard, breath knocked out of me.
Celia was there instantly, blocking another wave with her shield. "Stay down!"
"I can't… I have to reach her—"
"Not if you're dead!" she snapped.
Even then, she didn't leave my side. She stood over me, sword raised, deflecting every strike aimed our way. Sparks flew. Her arm trembled from the force, but she didn't move.
And something inside me broke.
I couldn't just watch her fight for me.
The resonance surged again, stronger, deeper—pulling me into that strange, shared space. Suddenly I was standing in that field of white flowers again, the world frozen around us.
Lunaris stood there, looking small and lost.
"Haruto," she whispered, "you promised you wouldn't forget me."
"I didn't… I just don't remember how I—"
"Then let me remind you."
She reached out, touching my chest—and everything flashed.
Images poured into my mind. A lab. Scientists. Me, years younger, standing beside her.
> "Prototype synchronization test complete. Subject Haruto Sakamaki: 98% compatibility."
"He's the key. The only one who can stabilize her."
I gasped, stumbling back. "No… I was part of this?!"
Lunaris smiled sadly. "You created me."
The world shattered again.
I snapped back to reality, energy surging out of me like a wave. My body burned, every nerve screaming. Celia shouted something, but I couldn't hear.
Light erupted around me, joining with hers.
For a split second, Lunaris's eyes cleared.
"Haruto…?"
"Stop!" I yelled. "If you keep going, you'll destroy everything!"
She hesitated. The power faltered.
Then—another explosion rocked the chamber. The ceiling cracked. The base groaned.
Mira's voice came through the comms. "Reactor at ninety-eight percent critical! We're out of time!"
Celia grabbed my hand. "We have to go!"
But Lunaris shook her head slowly. "No… I can stop it."
"What!?" I said. "You'll die!"
She smiled softly. "You gave me life once, Haruto. Let me return the favor."
Before I could reach her, she stepped into the center of the reactor conduit. Light swallowed her whole.
The explosion never came.
Instead, the energy collapsed inward—like a dying star folding into silence. The lights flickered once, then went dark.
When the dust settled, Lunaris was gone.
Celia's grip on my hand tightened, grounding me as I stared at the empty space where she'd been.
"She's… gone," I whispered.
"No," Celia said quietly. "She bought us time. That means she's somewhere inside the system."
Rina stumbled over, coughing. "Remind me… to never do that again."
Liri floated weakly above her. "Seconded…"
Mira exhaled, sitting down amidst the debris. "Reactor stabilized. Barely."
Eira looked around, voice trembling. "So… what now?"
Celia turned toward the exit, expression unreadable. "Now we find out what the Lunaris Protocol really was—and why it brought him here."
Her eyes met mine, and for the first time, I saw something behind that calm surface. Worry. Maybe even fear.
Then the intercom crackled to life again.
> "Unauthorized signal detected. Source: external. Incoming transmission—identical to the Lunaris frequency."
Celia's expression darkened. "Impossible…"
I looked up at the flickering screen—and froze.
A holographic image appeared. Faint, distorted, but unmistakable.
Lunaris.
Alive.
And behind her, shadows moved—humanoid shapes glowing blue.
> "Haruto," her voice echoed through the static, "they're coming for you."
The feed cut out.
The room went silent.
And for the first time since being drafted into this madness, I felt something colder than fear—fate catching up.
---
> To be continued in Chapter 8: "Echoes of War and the Return of the Aether Legion"