The moon above the Astral Legion hung motionless and pale—not white, but a sickly pearl-blue, as if even the heavens recoiled from the darkness brewing below.
Deep beneath the Legion's fortified depths—thirty levels down in cold steel corridors—Ingress trained alone. The simulation dome flickered crimson, holograms of Kazimir materializing and falling beneath his relentless strikes. Each cut was precise, vicious—but never enough.
His chest heaved, sweat slick on his skin. His blade hummed low, restless.
Footsteps echoed.
Dr. Alaric Thorne, head scientist of Project Reclamation, appeared, urgency etched on his face.
"Ingress. The lab. Now. You need to see this."
Wiping sweat from his brow, Ingress followed without hesitation.
They descended to the core labs, sterile and humming with quiet dread. Inside a containment chamber pulsed fluidic light, revealing a suspended Dynasty corpse—the very one Kazimir had obliterated in the Battle of Jahard.
Ingress's voice dropped. "…So it lived… even in death."
Dr. Corran Yurei, adjusting the life-preservation array, nodded.
"It didn't survive. But its essence did. From that, we forged this."
Thorne opened a black velvet case, revealing a blade—thin, elegant, and alive. Its edge shimmered with a blood-red resonance, vibrating against the glass like a caged beast.
"Dyne-forged. Soul-sensitive. One strike to Kazimir's nervous core, and his internal essence ruptures. Instant collapse."
Ingress took the weapon. It felt like fury incarnate—light and hungry.
Grinning, he murmured, "This… is justice."
A voice broke the cold tension.
Dr. Seraphine Vell stepped forward, hands clenched over her chest.
"This isn't justice," she said softly. "Kazimir fought to save Capriha. He protected cities when the dynasties attacked. Without him, half of us wouldn't be standing here."
Ingress turned, his smile vanishing like a severed mask.
"He's not a hero," he said coldly. "He's a lie."
"He's the only reason people still have homes. Lives."
"Truth has a cost," Ingress whispered dangerously. "You'll see. Everyone will."
Corran remained silent, eyes fixed on his console. Thorne gestured toward two vertical tanks nearby.
"We've prepared more than a blade," he said. "You'll appreciate these next subjects."
Ingress stepped closer, eyes widening then narrowing.
"…Tojo? Xavier?"
Corran nodded. "Technically, their bodies. Reconstructed with neural mimicry, enhanced with Vrasnai resonance. No souls—but every ounce of combat data preserved. Think of them as war-specters."
Ingress's voice softened, almost reverent.
"Perfect. I'll make Kazimir break before I kill him."
Seraphine staggered. "You're… using his friends against him? This is twisted! They were people!"
Ingress blurred forward faster than her breath, grabbing her by the neck and slamming her against the steel wall. It rang like a funeral bell.
Seraphine gasped, kicking desperately. Her eyes widened, terror flooding her. Tears welled instantly.
Ingress's eyes glowed with reddish-orange fury.
"You think this is wrong?" he hissed. "Monsters don't play fair."
The others—Thorne and Corran—stood silently, their quiet approval thick in the air.
"If you speak against me again," Ingress whispered close, "it'll be your lungs I collapse next. Understood?"
Seraphine trembled. A heat ran down her leg as she nodded, humiliated, tears streaming as she barely whispered, "Yes."
He released her. She collapsed, sobbing, fleeing the room.
"Clean the floor on your way out," he called after her coldly.
Silence returned, heavy as a death sentence.
Turning back to the table, Ingress commanded, "Now. Inject me."
Thorne hesitated. "This mixture hasn't stabilized. If the Imaginary Essence mutates beyond—"
"Do it," Ingress interrupted. "I'll survive. I'm not human anymore."
The needle hissed as a silver-violet serum—an impossible fusion of Dynasty tissue, vampire DNA, and echoes of Kazimir's essence—pierced his vein.
Ingress collapsed. Muscles spasmed. His skin shimmered like lightning beneath glass.
"Vitals spiking," Corran whispered, voice trembling. "Bone structure altering—he's… changing…"
Then, silence.
Ingress stood. Stronger. Smiling.
"I can feel it," he said, voice cold and hungry. "I can absorb it. This is power. This… is retribution."
He approached the containment tanks. Tojo and Xavier's eyes opened—empty, soulless. Hearts gone, but power amplified and programmed.
Hands resting on the glass, Ingress spoke softly.
"Welcome back, my friends. Perfect tools. Together, we'll bury a false god."
Outside, the blue moon did not blink. It simply watched.