In the evening on the eastern island, many of the Wakeen villagers gather to bring Lars inside for healing. As they tend to him, the headmasters gather and discuss Lars's origins, realizing he is one of the chosen from another tribe.
Prekayda speaks firmly, "We shall heal him because he is a chosen. But the aura he carries is sinister. Once our own chosen finishes his spirit training, he will decide what to do with this drifted chosen one."
Meanwhile, in another building, Boa sits cross-legged, deep in meditation as he connects with the spirit realm, searching for a solution to save everyone.
Elsewhere, in another house, Jen lounges as she smokes a colorful drug, its smoke flashing in many hues. A villager sitting nearby explains, "This is our mother nature plant. It will calm you down, help you think better, and most importantly, help you build a deeper connection to yourself — to your own inner soul."
Jen leans back in her seat as the drug takes hold, and the world around her begins to shift. Suddenly, she finds herself reliving her childhood memories. She sees the slums where she grew up, living with drug-addicted parents, and her older sister struggling to make enough money to survive.
Little Jen watches from the corner of the room as her parents sit dazed in the living room, the effects of the blue drug clouding their minds. When they finally sober up, anger and wild desperation consume them, driving them to do anything to chase that high again.
Her older sister, Yen, often arrives home with small bags of the blue drug, which their parents grab with frantic hands. Yen then leads Jen into the kitchen, where she feeds their parents, who are too weakened to eat by themselves. Jen quietly eats from her own small plate, watching the scene unfold.
Days pass. Jen often sneaks out of the house to see Yen working tirelessly — by day as a construction worker and by night as a sex worker in the entertainment district of the upper slums.
One evening, after peeking through high windows to see Yen in bed with another man, Jen clambers down into an alley. She accidentally bumps into a homeless man, who growls, "I want money!" But when he realizes Jen is only a little girl, his intentions darken with something far worse than anger.
Jen immediately bolts, sprinting away until she collides with a gang gathered nearby. The gang then quickly chases off the homeless man. Their leader steps forward, studying her carefully.
"You surely do look like her. You must be Jen," he says with a half-smile. "I work with your older sister. You must be brave to wander into these parts of the slums."
Jen stays silent, her small body trembling.
The leader chuckles softly and adds, "At your age, curiosity will always take hold. It's the course of life. One must adapt to their surroundings to survive — and that, young one, is exactly what you are doing, even if you don't realize it yet."
The leader then leans in closer to Jen, his voice low and sharp.
"You really want to know what your sister is actually doing?"
Jen nods silently.
He straightens up and says, "Name's Wade."
Moments later, Wade guides Jen through dim hallways until they reach a room. He slowly pushes the door open. Inside, a man lies dead on the bed, soaked in a pool of blood. Standing nearby, Yen wipes her bloodied knife with a rag.
She turns sharply, shocked to see Jen at the doorway.
Wade smirks and speaks.
"From now on, she'll work with us too. She's valuable. If you didn't even notice her following you this whole time, then she's made for this kind of job. Teach her — and I'll double your pay."
Yen pauses and after a long breath, she walks over and places the knife in Jen's small hand.
Time passes. The years roll on, and Jen grows into a teenager. She and Yen work as a deadly duo under Wade's command.
Their missions are brutal as they become low level bounty hunters. Posing as bait, as they lure wanted men to their deaths.
One evening, Jen sits across from a man at a modest restaurant in the common city. She smiles sweetly while secretly slipping poison into his drink.
At the same time, Yen walks through a crowded nightclub. Lights flash and music pulses as bodies move in rhythm. She dances close to her target, then slices his throat in a swift motion without anyone noticing.
Elsewhere, Jen chases a bleeding man through a dark alley. He stumbles, panting, trying to escape. But she's faster. When she catches up, she drives her knife into him without much thought.
At the end of every job, Wade rewards them with thick stacks of money — and small bags of the blue drug.
Back home, Jen often wonders what makes her parents so obsessed with the drugs. One day, curiosity takes over her and she tries it.
As the drug kicks in, the world becomes cloudy and surreal. Her body feels weightless. It's the happiest she has ever felt.
She raises her hand, watching it blur and leave behind flickering afterimages. A wild grin stretches across her face. She grabs a knife and swings it through the air, mesmerized as the afterimages trail behind the blade — fast, beautiful, and dangerous.
Some time later, Wade offers Jen and Yen another low-level bounty. He taps the file casually on the table in front of them.
Jen doesn't even glance at it. She looks up, eyes focused on the bounty board behind him — at the top, where the high-level targets are listed.
"I want one of those," she says, pointing firmly.
Yen then tells her with a serious voice . "We're not ready for those kinds of hunts, Jen."
Wade chuckles, leaning back in his chair. "Alright, alright. How about something in the middle, then?" He slides a mid-tier bounty file across the table to Jen. "Start with this one, if you're so confident in yourself."
He turns his gaze toward Yen, then back to Jen, his tone more serious now.
"Yen, your sister's got fire that burns bright in her eyes. She's going to be something special, I can sense it. But don't fly too close to the sun, young bird. I'd hate to lose my favorite newbies."
A grin spreads across his face.
Jen picks up the file and replies, "Like you said, it's time to adapt to my surroundings and level up my skills. I'm going to survive this — and I'll become a feared bounty hunters in the slums."
With that, she turns on her heel, and Yen follows.
Outside, the two sisters walk down a narrow street, the glow of neon signs flickering overhead. Tension hangs between them.
"You're rushing in too fast," Yen snaps. "We've only got the basics skills down. You think you're ready for a higher level target?! You're not!"
Jen doesn't slow her pace. "I have a secret skill," she says calmly. "I'll show you soon to what I've been working on."
Moments later, Yen steps into a lively bar, dressed in high fashion. Her beauty turns heads the moment she enters — confident, graceful, and calculated. She scans the crowd with sharp eyes and quickly spots their target.
The man from the bounty file — Gaze — lounges near the VIP area, flanked by two men in dark suits. Bodyguards.
Gaze notices the attention Yen is drawing. He watches as several men try and fail to approach her. Intrigued, he straightens his jacket and makes his way toward her, his guards shoving would-be suitors aside.
When he reaches her, he offers his hand.
"The name's Gaze, it would be an honor to dance with you" he says smoothly.
Yen smiles and takes his hand. " Pleasure."
They head to the dance floor, moving together in a slow, swaying rhythm under the lights.
Outside, across the street in the shadows of an alleyway, Jen observes everything.
She counts.
One... two... three...
There are eight bodyguards in total — four at the entrances, two inside with Gaze, and two roaming.
She breathes in slowly. Then takes a hit of the blue drug. Her pupils dilate. Her eyes glow electric blue.
Calmly, she pulls down her mask.
Blending in with a group of men trying to enter the club, she suddenly flicks her wrist — a knife flies cleanly through the air and lodges itself into a bodyguard's skull.
Panic erupts. People scream and scatter.
Jen bolts forward, slicing down another guard before he can react. The others pull their guns, firing wildly. Jen flips back, pushes off a wall, and hurls another knife mid-air. It sinks deep into another guard's throat.
Inside, one of Gaze's men leans in to whisper something — but before he can speak, a body slams through the front doors, crashing onto the floor.
Chaos explodes inside. The crowd screams. People run for cover.
Jen storms in like a blur, blades flashing under the strobe lights. She slashes through two more guards before they can even raise their weapons.
Gaze grabs Yen by the arm and pulls her close.
"You're safe with me," he says confidently.
But Yen doesn't answer. Her eyes are locked on her sister — on the way Jen moves with unnatural speed, each step unpredictable, each strike perfectly lethal.
She's never seen her fight like this before.
With the guards focused on Jen, Yen reaches for her knife. She plunges it into Gaze's neck.
He gasps — then collapses in a lifeless heap.
As his body hits the ground, Yen notices a red light blinking from his chest pocket. She grabs the small device — a distress signal, already activated.
Her eyes widen.
She sprints onto the dance floor and cuts down a guard charging toward Jen.
"Target's down!" she yells. "We need to leave — now! More are coming!"
They rush outside.
But the street is already swarmed. Cars block every escape route. Doors open. Armed bodyguards pour out, surrounding them in a tightening circle.
Jen stretches her arms, her twin blades gleaming in the rain-soaked light.
"This is what Wade was talking about!" she shouts, her voice echoing down the street. "We're going to survive and be well known after this! My high has only reached its peak!"
Yen loads her pistol and looks at the sea of enemies.
"Jen, we're not going to make it out of here!" she shouts. "We're outnumbered!"
But Jen doesn't listen. She laughs, wild and fearless, as raindrops begin to fall — slow and shimmering in her heightened perception.
She takes one step forward — and vanishes in a blur.
Suddenly, she's in the crowd, tearing through armed guards with a frenzy of blade swings. Limbs fly. Blood paints the pavement.
Yen stands her ground, taking calculated shots at the enemies flanking Jen's blind spots. Her bullets drop several guards, buying Jen precious seconds.
But Jen is unstoppable. She ducks under machetes, spins between gunfire, and cuts through flesh with surgical precision. Even when a bullet grazes her shoulder and a blade slices across her ribs, she doesn't slow down.
To anyone else, ten minutes has only pass.
To Jen, it feels like an endless, glorious storm of battle that lasted for hours.
She slashes down the final enemy, her breathing heavy. Knees hitting the ground, she starts laughing — breathless and blood-splattered.
"Yen! You see what I just did?!" she yells through the rain. "I'm ready! I'm so, so ready to be the best bounty hunter!"
She turns to celebrate —
But Yen isn't there.
Only silence with heavy rain drops and only bodies.
Panic rises in her chest as the high begins to fade. Her vision blurs, her heartbeat thunders in her ears. She stumbles through the wreckage of dead bodies, eyes darting from face to face.
Then she sees her.
Yen lies motionless on the wet concrete, riddled with bullet wounds. Her gun is still in hand, but her eyes are closed.
Jen collapses beside her, shaking.
"No… no, no, no… YEN!"
She lets out a broken scream, one that echoes across the streets. Rain falls harder now, washing blood into the gutters as Jen clutches Yen's body, sobbing uncontrollably.
Then, the sky hums.
Floating vehicles descend from above — sleek, ominous crafts bearing the insignia of the Noble soldiers.
Dozens of armored troops disembark, surrounding Jen.
She stays where she is, tears still streaming down her face, arms wrapped tightly around her sister's lifeless form.
Moments later, Jen is being led through the cold, metallic halls of the prison. Her wrists are bound in tight cuffs, her eyes half-lidded and hollow.
An officer stops outside a dim, narrow cell and unlocks the door.
"Get in," he mutters, shoving her inside.
Jen slumps into the corner, the heavy door slamming shut behind her.
She barely has time to breathe before her cellmate lunges — a towering woman with a scar over her eye, fists clenched with murderous intent.
Jen's instincts take over.
With a scream full of rage and grief, she fights back with her fist, blood sprays across the wall. The woman collapses, twitching, then still.
Jen breathes heavily, trembling, her eyes scanning the cell.
She spots a stash hidden under the mattress of her cellmate — small blue capsules. The same kind. The only kind that numbs the storm in her mind.
She grabs them with shaking hands, shoves them into her mouth, and curls up in the corner, letting the high crash over her like a tidal wave.
She cries silently, her tears mixing with sweat and blood, until she finally loses all sense of where she is.
Hours pass.
The cell doors slide open for free time. Jen stumbles out, her high wearing off. Her hands tremble. The pain returns.
She snaps.
Screaming, she attacks the nearest prisoner — smashing his face into the wall, tearing through his pockets, stealing his hidden stash. She does this again. And again. She takes everything she can get her hands on. Pills. Powder. Syringes. Anything to escape from this reality.
Suddenly, she's knocked flat on the ground by a young Crank — quick, wiry, and vicious. He pins her down and raises his giant fist.
Jen's body jerks as she starts foaming at the mouth. Her eyes roll back. Her limbs convulse as she is overdosing.
"She'll die sooner or later," Crank mutters coldly. "I can tell. The way she fights — she's emotionally wrecked."
He turns and walks off.
A young Boa watches from the edge of the chaos. Quiet. Focused.
He steps forward, lifts Jen's twitching body into his arms, and carries her back to her cell. Gently, he lays her on the bed. He kneels beside her, pressing his palms together and begins to pray for her.
—
Time passes.
Boa now drags a rough wooden coffin down into the dark depths of the prison mines.
His face is grim, his arms steady.
Inside the coffin, Jen lies motionless — pale, fragile, her body barely covered by a thin blanket.
Boa reaches the burial site — a pit dug deep in the earth.
He lowers the coffin into the grave and begins to shovel dirt over it, one scoop at a time.
Suddenly, an explosive crack echoes through the mine.
The wall near the burial cave erupts. A swarm of corrupted data creatures pours through — screeching, glitching, their bodies twisted and unnatural.
Prisoners scream. Chaos erupts.
Boa grips his shovel tight and charges, yelling a battle cry.
As the sounds of combat grow louder outside…
From within the coffin Jen's eyes snap open