The night sky over Hamaoka City was devoured by storm clouds. Rain poured in relentless sheets, flooding the cracked asphalt and turning the city's outer district into a graveyard of concrete and steel. Lightning flared across the horizon, briefly revealing the target of the night's operation — the Hamaoka Energy Research Facility, once Japan's proudest symbol of clean power innovation.
Now, it was hell incarnate.
Flames licked its outer walls, explosions echoed through the night, and the air was heavy with the stench of burning oil and ozone. The terrorist organization Kurai no Koe — The Voice of Darkness — had seized the facility three hours ago. Their motives were unclear, but satellite scans confirmed one thing: the reactor core was failing. If it melted down, it would turn half the prefecture into a wasteland.
Inside a bombed-out hangar on the facility's north side, ten soldiers crouched in the shadows, their faces illuminated only by the green glow of tactical visors. Rain dripped from their gear, pooling beneath them.
Captain Rion Arisaka, commander of SOG Unit 9, surveyed the schematic on his wrist screen, its holographic map flickering from the interference. His tone was calm, steady — the voice of a man who'd done this too many times to count.
"Reactor chambers in the eastern block," he said. "We breach from the south corridor and move fast. Neutralize hostiles, rescue survivors, and shut down that reactor. No mistakes."
Around him, his team nodded in silent synchronization.
"Ryu, overwatch," Rion ordered.
"Roger," said Ryu Takeda, the sniper — stoic, sharp-eyed, with the patience of a monk. He adjusted the scope on his suppressed rifle and grinned faintly. "Targets on the outer wall. Three sentries. Permission to drop?"
"Do it."
Three soft pops echoed through the rain. The bodies slumped soundlessly.
"Clear," Ryu murmured.
"Kaede, Shino — you're on trap detection and close defense," Rion continued.
Kaede Mori, the demolitions expert, smirked, tapping the charges strapped across her vest. "If I see a wire, I'll make sure it's the only thing that blows up tonight."
Shino Hayate, their close-quarters specialist, rolled his shoulders. "Don't jinx it. Every time you do, someone ends up losing an eyebrow."
" Yotsuba, Daigo, Tatsu — evac and containment," Rion said. "Get the civilians out once we hit the core. Hina, keep comms tight."
"Copy that," Hina Sato, the communications officer, replied. Her voice had a calm rhythm that always steadied the team.
Rion gave one last look at them — his soldiers, his family — and then raised a gloved hand. "Move out."
The storm swallowed them as they advanced through the open field. Rain hit their helmets like bullets. The facility's searchlights swept across the perimeter, but the team moved like ghosts — silent, invisible, lethal.
The first contact came at the south entrance.
"Contact, two hostiles," whispered Tatsu over comms.
"Take them," Rion said.
A muffled crack of suppressed fire. Two men dropped, their rifles clattering to the wet ground. The squad slipped inside through a blown-out security door, the darkness swallowing them whole.
Inside, the hallways were a nightmare of flickering lights and corpses. Emergency alarms blared faintly, drowned by the hum of the unstable reactor deep below.
"Smells like burnt copper and ozone," Kaede muttered, wrinkling her nose.
"Focus," Rion said, scanning the corners. "We're not sightseeing."
They pressed deeper. Red warning lights flashed across broken consoles, casting distorted shadows along the corridor. Then Kaede suddenly froze.
"Tripwire," she hissed.
Rion knelt beside her, eyes narrowing at the barely visible filament stretched across the floor. "Military-grade. They knew we'd come."
Kaede disarmed it carefully, sweat beading on her brow despite the cold. "That's not improvised tech. Someone trained set this up."
"Means we're not dealing with amateurs," Rion said grimly. "Stay sharp."
Before they could move again, a burst of gunfire erupted from ahead.
"Ambush!" shouted Shino.
Bullets tore through the walls. The squad dove for cover, returning fire with ruthless precision. Daigo's machine gun thundered, cutting through the fog and fire. Kaede lobbed a flashbang — the hallway exploded with light and screams.
"Go, go!" Rion ordered. The team surged forward, clearing the corridor with swift brutality.
When the last enemy fell, Rion checked his comms. "Hina, status on the reactor?"
Her voice crackled with static. "Core temperature's spiking! You've got maybe twelve minutes before a critical breach."
"Understood," Rion replied. "We're heading there now."
They reached the reactor control chamber — a vast, circular arena of metal and light. The air was hot, suffocating, charged with unstable energy. At its center, the experimental reactor pulsed like a beating heart, lightning arcing across its containment field.
A trembling scientist stumbled from behind a console, face pale and streaked with blood.
"Please— you have to stop it!" he gasped.
Rion stepped forward, lowering his weapon. "Doctor, talk to me. How long can you stabilize it?"
The scientist's hands shook violently. "It's already past primary containment. If someone manually regulates the coolant, we can delay the breach — but whoever does it will… they'll die before it stabilizes."
A cold silence settled over the room.
Rion didn't even blink. "Then I'll stay."
Yotsuba's voice cracked. "Captain, no! We can find another—"
"There's no time," Rion cut in sharply. His tone softened just slightly. "You all know the mission. Lives come first. That's an order."
Ryu slammed his fist against the wall. "Damn it! You always take the fall!"
Rion smirked faintly. "That's what the rank's for."
Kaede met his eyes, voice trembling. "You'd better haunt us if we make it out."
"I'll think about it," he said, trying to sound light — but his voice caught in his throat.
They split up, Rion staying with Daigo and Tatsu to cover the reactor chamber while the others evacuated the survivors. The air trembled with the reactor's rising pitch.
Then came the reinforcements.
"Multiple contacts approaching fast," Hina warned.
"Let them come," Rion muttered, reloading his rifle.
The blast doors shattered open, and dozens of armed men poured in — led by a towering figure clad in black combat armor, his scarred face lit by the reactor's glow.
"So this is the government's hound," the man sneered. "Too late to stop rebirth."
"Rebirth?" Rion scoffed. "You mean suicide."
The leader grinned and drew a curved blade. "Only through destruction can the world be pure again."
"Then you first."
The room erupted in chaos.
Gunfire thundered. Explosions rocked the floor. Rion and his men fought like a storm incarnate — every move efficient, brutal, unrelenting. Daigo's LMG mowed down enemies in torrents of fire. Tatsu vanished into the smoke, taking down foes with silent precision.
But they were outnumbered.
Daigo took a hit to the shoulder. "I'm fine— go!" he grunted, firing back one-handed.
Rion kicked over a console for cover, blind-fired, then ducked a grenade blast that shredded the wall behind him.
The leader charged, roaring like a beast. His blade clashed with Rion's combat knife. Sparks flew.
"You don't understand!" the leader spat, locking blades. "Your death changes nothing!"
Rion's muscles burned. He gritted his teeth, pushing back. "Then I'll die making it mean something."
The man swung again, grazing Rion's ribs. Pain exploded through his side. Ignoring it, Rion slammed his knee into the man's gut, twisted the knife free, and drove it deep into the terrorist's chest.
The leader gasped, blood spilling from his lips. "You… fool…"
"Yeah," Rion muttered, yanking the blade free. "Get used to it."
The man collapsed.
"Captain!" Daigo shouted, running up. "You're bleeding bad!"
Rion forced a weak smile. "Just a scratch. Get out of here."
"But—"
"That's an order, soldier."
Daigo hesitated, saluted, and ran.
Rion leaned heavily against the console, blood soaking his armor. The alarms screamed louder, red lights flashing like a heartbeat.
"Team, report," he said hoarsely.
Ryu's voice came through the static. "All civilians secure. Everyone's out. We're clear, Captain."
Rion exhaled slowly, relief flickering in his fading vision. "Good… you did well."
He turned to the reactor. The energy inside pulsed wildly, colors shifting from blue to blinding white.
He typed in the override sequence, fingers trembling. Each key felt heavier than the last. The system accepted his command. The hum deepened — then steadied.
For a moment, the world seemed to hold its breath.
Rain hammered the windows. Lightning flared outside.
Rion's eyes softened. "Guess that's it, huh…" he whispered to no one. "At least they'll live."
He thought briefly of the sea breeze back home. His mother's smile. The laughter of his younger sister, back when the world still felt simple.
I kept my promise, Aoi, he thought. I protected them.
The reactor core glowed brighter. The containment chamber trembled violently.
The light became unbearable — white, pure, all-consuming.
Rion raised his head, his final whisper barely audible through the roar.
"It's over."
Then came silence.
A blinding white engulfed everything — fire, metal, and flesh — until even the storm outside vanished into stillness.
And in that stillness, all that remained of Captain Rion Arisaka… was darkness.