The sun had barely begun its descent when the vehicle rolled to a stop just outside the quarantine perimeter of the city center. The once-bustling metropolis now sat in eerie silence. The towering skyscrapers stood like silent sentinels, their glass facades catching the dying light of day, reflecting back a fractured skyline. A thick haze hung in the air—part smoke, part dust—making everything feel just slightly unreal, like a scene from a half-remembered dream.
Zane stepped out first, his boots crunching against the broken asphalt. The others followed in tense silence, their gazes scanning the surrounding area. Akuma preparing for upcoming battle, Akashi adjusted the straps of his lightning gear, eyes narrowed at the distant shadows that flickered between buildings.
"This place feels wrong," Akira muttered, her voice low but firm. "There's no sign of civilians, no traffic, no noise. Just… nothing."
"Like a ghost town," Zane added, instinctively resting his hand near the hilt of the weapon holstered at his side. "Whatever hit this place, it emptied out fast."
Mr. Shawn telling them to. "Split into pairs. We'll cover more ground that way. Zane, with Akashi. Akuma with shane The rest, hold perimeter and scan for movement."
Akuma gave a sharp nod, already moving. The moment the teams separated, Zane felt the temperature drop, as if the deeper they went into the city, the more the environment rejected them.
The deeper they moved into the city, the more apparent it became that something—or someone—had orchestrated this. Power lines had been severed with surgical precision. Traffic lights were frozen mid-cycle. Entire sections of buildings looked like they'd been carved out rather than destroyed.
"This wasn't chaos," Zane murmured, voice barely above a whisper. "This was methodical."
Akashi stopped, holding up a hand. His eyes flicked toward a glowing screen embedded in a nearby wall—an emergency system, still somehow operational. A message scrolled in red across the surface.
Zane exchanged a look with him. "Do you think this is connected to the alien threat?"
Akashi shook his head slowly. "No. This feels… human. But twisted."
Before they could speculate further, static crackled through Zane's comm.
Akira's voice came through, tight with urgency."Zane, Akashi—we've got movement. Building 7C, west side of the plaza. There's something… someone here."
Zane's pulse quickened. "On our way."
The two took off, moving quickly but cautiously through the maze of debris and silence, weaving between overturned cars and fallen signage. When they reached Building 7C, they found Akira and Kei crouched behind cover, weapons drawn and eyes fixed on the darkened doorway of the high-rise.
Inside, something moved.
Zane peered through the broken glass—and caught a glimpse of it.
A silhouette. Humanoid. But flickering, as though not entirely anchored to reality. Its movements were erratic, jerky, almost like a glitch in a video feed. As it turned toward the window, its face came into partial view—and Akashi froze.
Its eyes glowed with a deep violet hue.
"That's not tech from this world," Zane whispered, his tone grim. "But it's not alien either."
Before they could decide on a course of action, the figure vanished in a flicker—then reappeared atop a nearby building, watching them with an eerie stillness.
"Is it scanning us?" Kei muttered, tightening his grip on his weapon.
Akira's voice was tense. "No... it's studying us."
Suddenly, the comms buzzed again—this time with static and a voice layered with distortion.
"You shouldn't have come. The world is no longer yours to protect."
Then silence.
Zane looked at Akashi. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
But Akashi didn't answer. His jaw was tight, and his eyes still locked on the rooftop where the figure had stood. Only now, it was gone.
Back at PNHS Command
Mr. Carter watched the live feed through clenched fists. The data readings from the field team's trackers made no sense. Shifts in the electromagnetic field. Bio-signatures with no physical presence. And that message—the one intercepted through an encrypted signal meant only for the PNHS elite network.
Someone was inside their systems.
And whoever this new faction was, they weren't just operating from the shadows anymore—they were announcing themselves.
"This is worse than we thought," Carter muttered under his breath, turning to a fellow technician. "Bring in Project Helix. We may need to initiate Phase Zero."
The technician paled. "Sir, that protocol was decommissioned—"
"Not anymore," Carter snapped. "If they've returned… if the Forgotten are active again… then we're already behind."
Back in the City
Zane and the others gathered back at the transport, adrenaline still pulsing in their veins.
"We have to tell them," Zane said, pacing. "Whoever—whatever—that was, they've got access to systems even PNHS can't trace. They're inside already."
Akashi nodded. "We can't let this spread."
As they climbed back into the vehicle, Akira looked back at the now-distant city center. Her voice was quiet, but resolute.
"This isn't the end. It's the opening move."
Zane stared out the window as they began the drive back, the city slowly vanishing behind them, consumed once more by smoke and silence. A new enemy had risen from the ashes.
And this time, they weren't just fighting for survival.
They were fighting to remember who their real enemy was.
And then the Mayor of the city of mandaue announce that the mandaue city well temporarily closed because of what happen.