The darkness before dawn still lingered on the stone pavements of Halbern. Kai pushed himself up from the floor. His ribs ached dully. He couldn't breathe deeply. The bandages constricted his chest. Gil folded the map and placed it on the edge of the table. Lantern light caught his reddish-brown short hair. The usual light smile was gone. A small scar at the corner of his mouth simply existed there, silent and still. "[serious]I'm staying in Halbern" Kai said nothing. "[serious]I'll leak Dolg's real name and background—the story about him being a former military advisor to the Eldrane Kingdom—along with fragments of information about Veilhand to multiple black market channels. Draw the organization's attention this way" "A diversion" "[serious]Yeah. That should buy you enough time to get inside" Gil turned his green eyes toward Kai. Not calculating eyes. Just quiet eyes, simply looking at Kai. "[whispers]Be careful out there" The words were brief. That was enough. Kai fastened a short dagger to his waist. He carried nothing unnecessary. Only the map went into his pocket. He opened the door. The cold night air of Halbern hit his face. The stone pavements glowed white in moonlight. Somewhere, a horse's hooves rang out. His ribs protested with the first step. He ignored them. His feet didn't stop. --- The Old Karant Mine—60 kilometers southeast of Halbern. Four hours at a gallop. He'd left before dawn fully broke and arrived in the dead of night. The mine entrance was disguised as a collapse. Just as Gil had said. The real entrance was at the bottom of a dried-up well 300 meters away. He stepped over the well's rim and descended using a rope. His ribs screamed. The taste of iron spread across his tongue. Still, he didn't let go. His feet touched bottom. Darkness. The smell of stone. Moisture mixed with the stench of old wood. When he felt along the wall with his fingertips, he touched metal hinges. A door. He pulled. It creaked. Rust powder fell into his palm. Torchlight was visible in the distance down the mine shaft. A passage barely wide enough for two people to walk side by side. The ceiling was low. Don't let your guard down. Kai moved silently forward. --- When he turned the corner, there were three figures. Organization soldiers. Leather armor and short daggers. One held a torch. When they saw Kai's scarred appearance, their eyes relaxed for just a moment. That half-second was fatal. Kai lunged forward. First man—he slammed him against the wall, torch and all. A dull sound. The man crumpled. The second man drew his sword. Kai dropped low, slipped inside his guard, and drove his elbow into the man's jaw. A bone-jarring crack. The man fell as if his legs had given out. The third man tried to shout. Kai's hand reached his throat first. He pinned him against the wall and drove his knee into the man's abdomen. The air left his lungs. The man collapsed. All of it took less than ten seconds. Shattered ribs burned with every movement. A clot of blood fell from his mouth onto the stone floor. Kai pressed his back against the wall and steadied his breathing. Three seconds. That was all he allowed before moving again. He bound the three fallen men with rope and dragged them to the side of the passage. Deeper still. --- The entrance to the second underground level was an iron-barred door. The lock was simple. He pried it open with the hilt of his dagger. Beyond the door, a stone corridor stretched out. The smell changed. The acrid stench of chemicals mixed with the smell of blood. Light ahead. He pushed the door open. Kai stopped. In the center of the room, it was there. A chair-shaped device—Neugestalt. A metal helmet covering the head hung from chains attached to the ceiling. Leather straps were sewn to the backrest and armrests, blackened with age. Well-used leather. Countless needle marks covered the straps. Chemicals and blood had soaked into the stone floor until the color was indistinguishable. Six months. Sain had been sitting here. Kai approached the device. He reached out his hand—then stopped. Then he quietly stood before the control panel. Five levers. Three dials. He had experience with weapon mechanisms drilled into him during the civil war. The logic of this device was the same as weapons. He just needed to read the relationship between input and output. He checked each lever one by one. He traced the dial markings. Three processing routes were etched there. Memory compression, personality reconstruction, emotional core sealing— In the corner of the right end of the control panel, supplementary text was engraved. Small letters. Kai leaned in close. —Emotional core memory is sealed only. Complete erasure is mechanically impossible. Unsealing requires an activation key. Kai's hand stopped. Complete erasure was impossible. Sain still had those memories from back then. They were sealed, but not gone. The anger had no voice. It became no scream. Kai simply felt something burning quietly in the depths of his eyes. A cold, hard flame. The activation key. If he had that— "[cold]To think you would come this far" A voice. Kai turned around. A man stood at the entrance to the experimental section. He carried no light. He simply appeared from the darkness. Thin, tall frame, approaching fifty. Thinning silver hair swept back. Cold gray eyes looking at Kai. Eyes that felt nothing. Not calculating, not angry. Simply confirming facts. A black scar ran across his shoulder. The former military advisor to the Eldrane Kingdom—the third finger of Veilhand, Dolg. "[cold]So the hero of the civil war is real after all" Beside him was another figure. Sain. Standing expressionless. Both hands hung at his sides. His eyes looked at Kai, but saw nothing. Kai steadied his breathing. His ribs ached. The taste of blood still filled his mouth. His body was barely holding together, and now there were two people here. Dolg took a step forward. "[cold]You are quite damaged. To have reached here in a state of near death—I will acknowledge that. However" Dolg's gaze confirmed Kai's hands, his side, his ragged breathing, one by one. "[cold]It is over. Sit in the device quietly. Otherwise—I will burn away this man's emotional core memory right here and now" His voice was matter-of-fact. Not a threat, not anger. Simply presenting options. "[cold]Once burned, it will never return. I designed it that way" Kai looked at Sain. No emotion. Eyes like a still water surface without a ripple. But— The night of the ruins in episode four. When he shouted the name, those feet had stopped. A pause less than a second. But they had stopped. Something had wavered in the depths of those eyes. The deep night hideout in episode five. Dolg's voice had echoed in Kai's ear as he lay on the floor—that appeals to memory were useless. And the letters carved into the control panel on the way here—emotional core memory is sealed only. Complete erasure is mechanically impossible. It all connected into a single line. Dolg had lied. Sain was not completely gone. Kai slowly nodded. "[serious]I understand" He took a step toward the device. The tension drained slightly from Dolg's body. His stance relaxed, just a little. Now. Kai continued walking toward the device without turning. He directed his voice only to the side. "[serious]Sain. —'When the mist clears, let's eat again'" Silence fell. One second. No one moved. Those were words exchanged by only two people on the battlefield of the civil war. On a misty morning by the Narva River, Sain had said it. When the mist clears, let's eat again. Just those words. Meaningless to anyone else. Words that lived only in that time and place. Sain's pupils—wavered. Like a stone thrown into an ice-covered water surface, ripples spread. For just an instant, just a moment, something moved in the depths of those eyes. That was enough for Kai. In the next instant, Kai lunged at Dolg with all his strength. Broken ribs pierced his lungs. Something voiceless leaked from his mouth. Pain came later. Now there was only getting inside Dolg's guard. Dolg reacted. His arm swung up. Kai was already dropping low, slipping underneath. His hand reached Dolg's waist. A leather cord hung there with a small metal key—the activation key. He tore it away. Dolg's arm swung down. Kai rolled to the side. He crashed onto the stone floor shoulder-first. His ribs screamed. But the key was in his hand. Kai stood up. In his blood-stained hand, the metal key gleamed. "[cold]…Magnificent" Dolg's voice hadn't changed. No surprise, no urgency. Cold gray eyes simply looking at Kai. And a thin smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. "[cold]But—what will you do from here" Kai faced forward. Dolg was on the left. Sain was on the right. A battered Kai, facing an experienced Dolg and a brainwashed Sain with overwhelming power—could he reach the device while protecting the activation key? His ribs creaked. The taste of blood in his mouth was strong. But in the depths of Kai's eyes, that cold, hard flame still burned. "[serious]Don't let your guard down" The words were directed at himself. He raised his dagger.