Chapter 46: Green Eyes

Mio

Skinny’s palm found her mouth, raised her to eye level. Mio brought up Can but Skinny’s other hand was already at her wrist.

“Look at me.”

Mio turned. She couldn’t not.

Then those burning white eyes locked onto hers.

And went inside.

She was drowning in her own head. Every memory she’d buried floating to the surface, bloated and rotting.

Cathedral walls. Stained glass. The Entity on her throne of roots.

Rin’s boot on her wrist, grinding bone against stone.

We’ll take care of Nana.

Aoi’s hair clip in the dirt. Silver catching light through a skull split by white flowers.

She’s F-grade.

Three days of fever. Nana’s washcloth on her forehead. The hunger waking for the first time, whispering numbers about her sister’s throat.

The thumb driving into her forehead. The crack. The burning shape carved into the meat of her brain.

Make it interesting for me, Tamei Mio.

Somewhere far away, she felt Can rattling against her bones. Screaming without a voice.

Then nothing.

Mio surfaced gasping. Knees hit concrete. The world was too bright, too loud, phantom vines still wrapped around her throat.

“Neat trick.” Mio spat at the woman. “Won’t work twice.”

“Where is your decency?” Skinny wiped it away.

Somewhere above, an explosion. Then another.

A shape plummeted through the incursion’s warped ceiling and slammed into the ground beside Skinny. Fatty. His chest was smoking, the hole where his heart should be glowing orange at the edges. More holes dotted his torso where Rail Gun had punched through — they were already closing, flesh knitting over nothing.

“Bitch got me again.” He brushed debris off his shoulder like lint.

Skinny raised one hand. The air shimmered. Sound cut out—Mio could still hear her own ragged breathing, Fatty’s grunt as he straightened, but the chaos outside went silent.

Mori landed three seconds later. Thermal energy crackling around her fists. Orange light flared against the barrier. The surface rippled like water absorbing a stone. Held.

She tried again. Harder.

“Do you mind?” Fatty waved a hand. “Trying to have a conversation.”

Skinny made another gesture. The barrier went opaque.

“She Gaian’s girl?”

“Yup.”

“Then we take her. Like Master said.”

Who? The question died behind Skinny’s palm.

“Not without the sister.”

Fatty gestured at Mio like she was a prize from a vending machine. “But we have her.”

“The little one is the primary objective.”

A grunt. Acknowledgment.

Behind the barrier, rhythmic thumping. Mori knocking. Three knocks, pause, three knocks. Like someone trick-or-treating.

“This bitch is crazier than you.” Fatty was watching the barrier. “Killed me three times.”

Skinny crouched to Mio’s level. “Listen up.”

“Ca—”

Palm over her mouth. Cold skin. Wrong temperature.

“Listen.”

“Mmm-mmm.”

“Can’t hear you.”

“Mmm—”

“We’re not the bad guys, Gaian girl.”

Mio froze.

Manipulation. Had to be. She kicked at Skinny’s knee, hit boot instead. Pain shot up her shin.

“Listen.”

“Mmm.”

“We’re looking for your sister. She’s in terrible danger.”

The palm lifted.

“You fucking bitch.” Mio’s voice came out raw. “Don’t bring my sister into this. I’ll gut you from your ass to your throat. Can—”

Palm again. Colder.

“Time’s running out, Skinny.” Fatty was watching the barrier. The knocking had stopped. “Ice woman’s waking up. Fire bitch is melting through.”

“I thought the block was ash.”

“It is. But she’s a fucking Champion.”

Skinny sighed. Something almost human.

“Look.”

Those burning white eyes closed.

When they opened—

Green. Green as her father’s eyes. Green as the ones that stared back from mirrors.

“Got your attention, huh?”

How. How did it know. How did it have—

“You know where to look, yeah?”

Mio managed to shake her head no.

Skinny leaned closer. Finger to violet lips. One word:

“Nami.”

Say that name again and I’ll rip your jaw off. Kagami’s threat. And Segawa’s promise: Clear that debt. Then we can come back around. She’d cleared it. Ten minutes ago. Now some stranger was handing her the name like a key.

Who the fuck were these people?

“Out of time.”

“I know, fatso.”

Fatty was already moving. “Make it believable. Don’t want the suits thinking we’re soft.”

“Sorry, Mio.”

Skinny grabbed her shoulder and pulled.

Skin. Flesh. Then bone.

Pop.

Mio’s right arm came free from the socket. She didn’t feel it at first—nerves too shocked to register. Then she looked down at the stump, at the blood spurting in arterial rhythm, and the scream tore out of her.

Half her health. Gone. She didn’t need to check. She could feel the number dropping.

The two figures erupted in blue flames. No heat reached her. The fire consumed them from inside—flesh and bone to ash in seconds. Just vessels. Just avatars.

The barrier dissolved.

Mori stood on the other side, hands raised, thermal energy condensed to a point between her palms. Charging.

Then she saw Mio. The blood. The stump.

The energy dissipated.

“Oh.” Mori lowered her hands. “Almost killed you.”

She caught Mio before she hit the ground.

Mio was sobbing now. She couldn’t stop.

Fire gathered at Mori’s fingertips. Precise. Controlled.

“Don’t blink.”

The heat hit the stump. Mio screamed again.

Then it was over. Cauterized. The bleeding stopped.

Beyond the smell of burnt skin, she could see the Husks jumping down now. Still there. Waiting until the apex predators were gone. They fell on top of each other, piling at the base of the atrium.

Mori heaved her onto her back. Just like before. This was becoming routine, and Mio despised that too.

“You both look like shit,” a voice giggled.

Shizuka was walking down from the entrance.

“Where have you been, slag?” Mori adjusted Mio on her back. “Got lost?”

“Someone blew up the block. I was still tired.” Shizuka glanced at Mio. “Oh, Mio-san. Your arm’s gone.”

“We’ve been hit again. Avatars.”

Shizuka didn’t blink. “Take her out. Bureau’s already outside.” She rolled her shoulders. “I’ll clear the incursion.”

Before Mio lost consciousness, hundreds of ice spears began forming near Shizuka’s feet.

Shizuka yawned, then raised a finger.

They launched in waves. Ice met meat. Where more Husks came down, more spears followed.

Six seconds.

It took exactly six seconds for the screaming in the atrium to stop. To kill them all. Every single one.

Somewhere above, a spear found the core.

[Incursion Cleared]

In their duel, she had used twin spears. Here, she used hundreds. And her suit was immaculate. Not a thread out of place. Fatty had blown up an entire block and Shizuka looked like she’d just stepped out of dry cleaning.

Her Absolute Zero Field. Always active. She’d probably found a corner and napped through the whole thing.

Shizuka picked up Mio’s arm.

The last thing she remembered was the smile on Shizuka’s lips.

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