🌆 Rooftop Base – Late Afternoon
Ren tightened his bandages.
The soul-tether glowed faintly under his shirt, pulsing in sync with his heartbeat. He could feel Aya — flickering at the edge of his senses like static on a radio station.
Kiyomi was doing sit-ups. Zephyr meditated on an overturned AC unit.
Then a buzz.
Zephyr's ring lit up with a priority rune.
Red. Urgent. Hidden channel.
He read the message silently, then cursed.
> "They know where we are. We need to move. Now."
🚧 Alley Ambush – 9 Minutes Later
They'd barely made it three blocks before the world went sideways.
The sky darkened instantly — not clouds, but an artificial blackout.
A barrier snapped into place.
A boy in their school uniform stepped out of a shadowed alley, whistling.
Neat hair. Polished shoes. A black badge pinned to his blazer — but warped, melted slightly at the edge like it had been near fire.
Ren blinked. "You're from the Academy?"
The boy grinned. "Sort of. Let's say I'm from… the special class."
Then he said something that froze Ren's blood.
> "Hello, Renji."
💥 What Did He Just Say?
Ren didn't breathe.
That name.
Renji.
No one alive had ever used it.
Not since the crash.
Not since…
Zephyr stepped forward, drawing a glowing sigil.
"You're marked," he said to the boy. "You've been Rift-branded. That's why you know things you shouldn't."
The boy smirked. "Or maybe I'm part of the same experiment he was. We were bot
h Kaidos once."
🧬 Flashback Fragment – Project Kaido
10 years ago.
A lab. Cold. Children screaming.
A doctor whispering:
> "We embed the Rift into them young. The brain adapts. The identity fractures. But one in ten survive."
> "This one… name him Renji."
> "If he makes it past Gate Three, the project continues."
🔥 Back to Present – Fight Breaks Out
The boy moved first — a blur of light and black steel.
Kiyomi blocked his blade with her own, but the shockwave blew her back.
Zephyr launched a binding spell — the boy snapped it in half mid-air.
Then it was just him and Ren.
"Come on, Renji," the boy grinned. "Let's see who Father liked better."
Ren exploded forward, fist glowing.
They clashed — and memory fragments spilled out with every hit.
The lab.
The crash.
Another child in the seat next to him — also bleeding.
Ren screamed. "I w
asn't the only one!"
🧠 Aya Feels It
Back in her Rift domain, Aya collapsed as pain surged through the tether.
She saw what he saw.
She felt it.
> Another child.
> Another Kaido.
> Someone they erased from his memory.
Aya gasped. "H
e's not the first."
☠ The Final Strike
The boy slammed Ren into the wall, laughing.
"You're scared because you know I'm telling the truth. You're not chosen, Renji — you're just another draft."
Ren's Mark burst with fire.
The soul-tether pulsed.
Aya's voice whispered:
> "No, Ren. You're not a copy. You're the result. The only one who survived and stayed human."
Ren's eyes burned gold.
He uppercut the boy so hard the wall cracked in a straight line up the building.
Then he whispered:
> "My name is Ren."
🧨 Aftermath – Truth Fallout
The boy vanished in smoke, laughing.
"This isn't over. Kaido Project always has backups."
Zephyr looked shaken.
Kiyomi helped Ren up.
> "Renji, huh?" she said softly.
> "That was never my name," Ren growled. "It was what they made up for me."
> "I remember now… My real name is Kaido Ren. They
just rewrote it."
🗃 Meanwhile – Inside the Academy
Principal Enzo unlocked a safe in the deepest archives.
Inside: a file labeled "Kaido Lineage – Phase 2."
A single page.
Redacted.
One line visible:
> "Subject: KAI-2-A confirmed activated. Watch closely. If Aya reawakens, initiate Phase 3."
Then a quiet voice behind him.
The teacher from earlier — still wearing a human face.
> "They've reconnected."
> "And he's
starting to remember."
End of Chapter 21
🧩 Lore Drop – Kaido Project
> A black-ops Rift experiment conducted pre-Rift War. Designed to implant Rift fragments into infants to create natural-born Seal-Bearers.
Subjects were numbered KAI-1 through KAI-9.
All declared dead… but some vanished.
KAI-2-A = Ren.
KAI-2-B = Unknown. Possibly the boy from the alley.
Aya's connection may not be a
coincidence.
🔥 Chapter 22 Teaser:
> Aya begins piecing together her role in the Kaido experiments — and it wasn't as an observer. Meanwhile, Ren and team race to break into the Academy vault before the Watcher does. But inside… something is alive. And it knows Ren's true potential better than anyone.