The blinding glare of white neon lights pierced Faiz's vision as he slowly forced his eyelids open. His head throbbed violently, as if a dozen tiny hammers were desperately trying to break out of his skull. His entire body felt like it had been filled with lead; every single muscle screamed in protest as he merely tried to twitch his fingers.
"Ugh..." Faiz groaned, his voice barely a raspy whisper.
He was back in the medical bay—the exact same sterile isolation room where Saki had first "tested" him weeks ago. Only this time, he was hooked up to a terrifying amount of wires and sensors. The monitors beside his bed displayed erratic heart rates, chaotic brainwave patterns, and strings of complex biological data that Faiz was simply too exhausted to decipher.
With a soft pneumatic hiss, the heavy doors slid open. Tsubasa walked in holding a digital clipboard, followed closely by two lab assistants pushing a cart of medical supplies.
"Ah, Sleeping Beauty is finally awake," Tsubasa chimed, trying to keep his tone light despite the deep bags under his eyes. He leaned over, shining a small penlight into Faiz's eyes to check his pupillary response.
"How long... was I out?" Faiz asked, wincing at the bright light.
"Three full days," Tsubasa answered, tapping a few notes onto his clipboard. "Your body experienced extreme systemic exhaustion. Your cells were regenerating at a terrifyingly abnormal rate, but the process completely drained your biological energy reserves. Honestly, Faiz-kun... your heart actually stopped twice on the first day."
Faiz tried to sit up, but his arms trembled violently, threatening to give out. Tsubasa quickly reached down, supporting his shoulders and helping him lean back against the elevated pillows.
"Take it easy," Tsubasa warned gently. "You essentially unleashed an energy detonation equivalent to a tactical warhead. Your body needs time to reboot."
Faiz massaged his temples, fragments of memory slowly piecing themselves together. The Gargoyle. The ruined mansion. Pela being buried under the rubble. And then... the suffocating darkness. The maniacal laughter of D.Faiz. The scalding, uncontrollable rage. And finally, Pela's terrified face illuminated by the blinding flash of his own explosion.
"Pela..." Faiz gasped, his heart rate spiking on the monitor. "Is she safe?!"
"She's perfectly fine," Tsubasa assured him, gently pushing Faiz back down. "In fact, she recovered the fastest out of all of you. She's currently sitting in her isolation room, playing the Angklung and waiting for you to wake up."
Faiz let out a massive, shaky breath of relief.
But that relief was incredibly short-lived.
The doors hissed open again, much violently this time. Two men in crisp, official AHA uniforms marched into the room, their faces set in stone. Walking silently behind them was Captain Saki. Her expression was utterly unreadable—a terrifying cocktail of anger, frustration, and deep disappointment.
"Faiz Adriansah," the first officer spoke. He bore a gold insignia on his chest, marking him as high-command. His voice was loud, formal, and utterly devoid of warmth. "By order of the AHA Oversight Committee, we are here to deliver your official reprimand."
Tsubasa quietly stepped back, giving them space. Faiz stared blankly at the officer, though his hands trembled slightly under the blanket.
"The incident in the Yamate District three days ago resulted in approximately 800 million yen in property damage. Seventeen civilians in the surrounding area were hospitalized due to falling debris and uncontrolled kinetic shockwaves. Furthermore, the 5th Division lost a brand-new, fully customized tactical vehicle valued at over 50 million yen," the officer read from his tablet, not once making eye contact.
"Worse still," the second officer chimed in coldly, "no biological samples were recovered. The primary target, an A-Class Gargoyle, was completely vaporized. Not a single strand of viable DNA remained. This is an unacceptable waste of resources and a catastrophic mission failure."
Faiz clenched his trembling fists. He wanted to argue. He wanted to scream that he had been fighting to protect Pela, fighting to stop a monster that would have slaughtered thousands if it reached the city. But the words tasted like ash on his tongue. He couldn't deny the truth: he had lost control, and losing control came with a massive price tag.
"Effective immediately," the first officer concluded, snapping his tablet shut, "your operational status is suspended for two weeks. You are strictly forbidden from participating in field missions until a full physical and psychological evaluation is completed. Captain Fuse Saki will assume full responsibility for your supervision."
The two officers offered Saki a stiff, synchronized bow, turned on their heels, and marched out of the room.
A suffocating silence descended upon the medical bay. Tsubasa glanced nervously at Saki, swallowed hard, and decided self-preservation was the best policy. "I'll just... go check the centrifuge in the other room. Call me if you need anything, Faiz-kun."
Tsubasa and his assistants scurried out, leaving Faiz entirely alone with his Captain.
Saki stood by the door, glaring at Faiz with an intensity that could melt steel. For several agonizing seconds, she didn't say a word. Then, she began to walk forward, her boots clicking heavily against the sterile tiles.
"Eight hundred million yen," Saki whispered. Her voice was calm, but the suppressed rage vibrating beneath it was terrifying. "Seventeen people injured. And my brand new car... the one I bought last month... the one I personally customized with leather seats and a premium navigation system... is ASH."
She stopped right next to his bed. With a sharp flick of her wrist, she drew her heavy steel war fan.
THWACK!
The folded steel fan slammed directly onto the top of Faiz's head. It wasn't full strength, but it was hard enough to make him wince in genuine pain.
"THAT IS FOR MY CAR!" Saki yelled.
THWACK!
"THAT IS FOR EMBARRASSING THE 5TH DIVISION IN FRONT OF THE BOARD!"
THWACK!
"AND THAT IS FOR MAKING ME WORRY ABOUT YOU, YOU ABSOLUTE IDIOT!"
The final strike was noticeably softer, and her voice cracked slightly. Faiz rubbed his head, looking up in shock. Saki was glaring at him, her jaw clenched tight, but her fierce eyes were glistening with unshed tears.
"Do you know what pisses me off the most, Faiz?" Saki asked, snapping the fan shut and shoving it back into her sash. "I told you to control that power. But you just took the leash off and let it run wild. Like a toddler playing with fireworks in a gasoline factory!"
Faiz looked down at his lap. "I'm sorry, Saki. I... in that moment, Pela was going to die. The Gargoyle was too strong. If I didn't—"
"If you didn't unleash it, you both might have died. I know that," Saki interrupted, cutting him off. She grabbed a metal stool and dragged it to his bedside, sitting down heavily. "But that isn't what makes me angry. What makes me angry is that you DON'T TRUST YOUR TEAM. Hisoka, Yori, and I were already en route. We could have gotten there faster if you had just sent an SOS. But you chose to handle it alone. Again."
Saki let out a long, exhausted sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Listen to me, Faiz. You are strong. Terrifyingly strong. But power without control will only destroy you and everyone standing near you. That 'D.Faiz' entity... he is not your friend. He is a parasite waiting for your weakest moment to take the wheel permanently."
Faiz looked at his shaking hands. "I know, Saki. Believe me, I know. Every single time I let him out, I can feel him chewing away at my consciousness. But in that exact second... my fear of losing Pela completely overshadowed my fear of losing myself."
Saki stared at him for a long time. The anger slowly drained from her face, replaced by a soft, exasperated fondness. "You're a compassionate idiot. That's exactly why I can't bring myself to actually hate you."
She stood up, gently patting his shoulder. "Rest up. For the next two weeks, you are undergoing intensive mental conditioning training with me. And don't expect it to be fun. By the time I'm done with you, you'll be begging to go back and fight that Gargoyle."
She turned and walked toward the door. Just as the pneumatic hiss sounded, she paused, looking over her shoulder. "Oh, and Faiz?"
"Yeah?"
"Pela hasn't stopped asking when you're going to wake up. She completely refused to eat for two days until we practically force-fed her. So... hurry up and recover. That kid needs her tamer."
Saki stepped out, leaving Faiz alone with a whirlwind of heavy thoughts.
Three days later, Faiz's vitals had stabilized enough for him to be transferred from the medical ward back to his private quarters. His body still felt incredibly heavy, and his coordination was sluggish, but at least he could walk without collapsing every three steps.
That afternoon, Faiz sat comfortably on one of the polished bamboo chairs he had built inside Pela's isolation room.
Sitting on the floor a few feet away, Pela was enthusiastically shaking a pair of Angklung, creating a surprisingly beautiful, rhythmic melody. Resting safely in her lap was her ruined teddy bear, completely stitched back together courtesy of Osada Yuki.
"Is Faiz feeling better?" Pela asked, her dark eyes entirely focused on the bamboo instruments in her hands.
"Much better," Faiz smiled, taking a slow sip of the hot herbal tea Tsubasa had brewed for him. "I'm sorry I made you worry, Pela."
Pela instantly stopped playing. She set the instruments down gently on the mat, crawled across the floor, and stopped right at Faiz's feet. She looked up at him. Usually, those pitch-black eyes were filled with a chaotic, feral emptiness. But right now, they were filled with profound sadness.
"Pela is sorry," she whispered, her raspy voice breaking. "Pela is weak. Pela couldn't protect Faiz from the bad stone monster."
Faiz's heart ached. He set his teacup down and slid off the chair, sitting cross-legged on the floor so he was eye-level with her. "Pela, you aren't weak. You fought incredibly well."
"But..." Pela looked down, her small fingers nervously twisting the fabric of her white dress. "Pela was... scared. When Pela saw the bad stone... Pela remembered the past."
Faiz frowned slightly, his researcher instincts kicking in alongside his concern. "The past? You mean... before you became... like this?"
Pela nodded slowly. She hugged her stitched-up teddy bear tightly against her chest, as if it were a shield. "Before... Pela wasn't Pela. Pela was a tiny thing. Weak. Always getting hurt."
Faiz leaned in, giving her his absolute, undivided attention. Tsubasa had mentioned Pela was a human corpse implanted with an Akuma core. It seemed the core itself retained the traumatic memories of its past life.
"Pela was... a little Akuma," she began, her words fragmented, like a child recounting a terrible nightmare. "Pela didn't have a name. Just a tiny, hungry thing. Scavenging for scraps from the big Akuma."
Faiz listened silently, a heavy knot forming in his stomach.
"Then... the bad stone came," Pela whimpered, her shoulders trembling. "The Gargoyle... he was the king where Pela lived. He liked hurting the little ones. He said we were garbage. Just toys for him to break when he was bored."
Thick, dark tears began to well up in her black eyes, spilling down her pale cheeks. "Pela was almost eaten once. The Gargoyle... he picked Pela up like this..."
She raised her teddy bear, gently squeezing its head. "Pela's head almost went pop. Pela cried. Pela begged. But he just laughed... a really scary laugh..."
A familiar, burning anger flared in Faiz's chest. But this time, it wasn't the demonic rage of D.Faiz. It was his own, profoundly human fury at the sheer injustice inflicted upon a helpless creature.
"What happened next?" Faiz asked softly.
"Other big Akuma came. They fought. The Gargoyle threw Pela away. Pela fell down a really deep cliff. Pela's body went crunch. Pela died." She wiped her tears with the back of her sleeve. "Pela thought... finally... it won't hurt anymore."
She looked up, meeting Faiz's gaze. "But... Pela woke up again. In a new body. In a bright white room. Uncle Tsubasa said I am 'Pela' now. Pela has a name. Pela is strong. Pela doesn't have to be weak anymore."
Faiz reached out, gently resting his hand on top of her head, stroking her messy hair. "And you don't have to be alone anymore, either. You have us now. You have me."
Pela stared at him, her dark eyes shining with tears. "Pela... loves Faiz. Faiz is warm. Faiz doesn't hurt Pela. Faiz is... like the family Pela never had."
Faiz felt his throat tighten. Without a second thought, he pulled the undead girl into a tight, warm embrace. Pela, the terrifying living weapon of the 5th Division, buried her face into his chest and sobbed quietly, finally finding a safe harbor after a lifetime of suffering.
"Pela," Faiz whispered fiercely into her hair. "You will never be alone again. I promise you."
They sat together on the floor for a long time, the only sound in the room being the gentle, lingering hum of the bamboo instruments swaying in the ventilation draft.
Later that night, Faiz lay flat on his back in his own bed, staring blankly at the dark ceiling.
His muscles ached dully, but it wasn't the physical pain keeping him awake. It was a heavy, suffocating mental burden—a toxic mix of guilt, inadequacy, and sheer helplessness.
Needing a glass of water, he tried to sit up and swing his legs over the edge of the bed. But the moment his feet touched the cold floor and he tried to bear his own weight, his right knee buckled completely.
THUD.
Faiz collapsed onto the hardwood floor in a tangled heap.
"Damn it..." Faiz cursed through gritted teeth, a sharp pain shooting up his spine from the impact.
He grabbed the edge of the mattress, trying to haul himself back up, but his arms shook violently, devoid of all strength. Forcing the demonic energy out of his pores had absolutely ravaged his biological limits.
"Not quite ready for a midnight stroll, are we, Weakling?"
The raspy, mocking voice echoed through the empty room. D.Faiz materialized in his subconscious, looking down at him with a cruel, condescending smirk.
Faiz slammed his fist weakly against the floor in frustration. "Shut up. I don't need your commentary right now."
"Oh? But you desperately need my power, don't you?" D.Faiz chuckled darkly. "Look at you. Without me, you are just a pathetic, frail researcher who can't protect a single thing. Pela was crushed. The city was almost leveled. And you? You're just writhing on the floor like a crushed worm."
"I KNOW!" Faiz roared, his voice cracking in the quiet room. "I know I'm weak! I know I need your power! But I refuse to become you! I refuse to throw away my humanity for it!"
Faiz punched the floor again, harder this time, scraping the skin off his knuckles. "I am going to learn how to control you. I am going to get stronger. But I am going to do it my way. Not yours."
D.Faiz fell silent. The arrogant smirk vanished from the entity's face. When D.Faiz finally laughed again, it wasn't a mocking cackle. It was a low, quiet chuckle that sounded suspiciously like... respect?
"As stubborn as ever," D.Faiz muttered from the shadows of his mind. "Very well. Prove it to me, Faiz Adriansah. Show me that you can become a King without wearing the crown of darkness. I will be waiting right here... until the day you inevitably need me again."
The presence faded, leaving Faiz alone on the cold floor.
Slowly, agonizingly, with every muscle fiber in his body screaming in protest, Faiz dragged himself back onto the mattress. He lay there, panting heavily, cold sweat matting his hair to his forehead.
"Two weeks," Faiz whispered into the darkness. "I have two weeks to recover. And then... I'll prove it. I'll master this power. Not to become a monster... but to protect the people I care about."
In the corner of the room, barely illuminated by the moonlight filtering through the blinds, was a framed photograph. It was a group picture of the 5th Division taken just last week.
In the center, Faiz stood awkwardly, surrounded by his chaotic new life. Saki was flashing a sly, dangerous smile; Hisoka looked perfectly deadpan; Yori was laughing brightly; Yuki was cheering; and Pela was happily clinging to Faiz's arm. Even Tsubasa and Kiyoshi were smiling warmly in the background.
For the very first time since he had packed his bags and left Palu for Japan, Faiz felt like he had found something truly precious. They weren't just research subjects or military colleagues. They were his family.
And to protect that family, he had to become an apex predator. But he would do it his way.
Faiz closed his eyes, letting the crushing exhaustion finally drag him into a restless, yet incredibly determined sleep.
The war against the darkness inside his own soul had officially begun. And this time, Faiz was absolutely determined to win—not by destroying D.Faiz, but by learning to dance with the demon without losing his soul.