D-Animal
— "Either way… as I already said, this was basically a test for you."
Jasmine Xuēlóng's voice echoed through the narrow alley as she crossed her arms over her chest, adopting a posture far too relaxed for someone who had just pushed three people to the brink of collapse. Her attentive eyes swept over the small group, assessing every detail — Elara, Lucas, Rafael… and finally, Kaiser.
Her gaze lingered on the hybrid ligre, studying the reused plates, the improvised fittings, the unstable yet functional core. Genuine curiosity flickered briefly in her eyes.
Elara shrugged, too tired to be impressed.
— "Weird test," — she murmured.
Rafael, still tense, his breathing forced under control, narrowed his eyes.
— "A test for what?" — he asked bluntly.
Before Jasmine could answer, Tetsuya Tsuki stepped forward, his calm voice sharply contrasting the tension in the air.
— "To verify whether you possess real capability," — he said without embellishment. — "To be part of our organization."
Elara turned her attention to him, alert.
— "Shadow Intelligence Forces," — Tsuki added.
The name fell like an invisible weight.
Jasmine resumed speaking, taking a step forward.
— "We need strong people. Capable. Adaptable." She made a vague gesture toward the surroundings — destroyed buildings, dead streets, a world in collapse. — "And honestly? You performed better than many trained agents."
She crouched slightly and stroked Goi's metallic head. The bat answered with a low hiss, almost pleased.
— "So let's skip the long part," — she said, straightening. — "You're going to sleep now."
Elara frowned.
— "What?"
— "When you wake up," — Jasmine continued, indifferent, — "you'll be safe."
Rafael stepped forward, contained fury vibrating in every muscle.
— "We didn't agree to—"
Jasmine raised a hand.
Tsuki had already moved, positioning himself strategically behind them, blocking any escape route.
Dwol slowly opened its mouth.
From inside its metallic jaw, two speakers extended with a dry click, adjusting in the air. A low screech began to form, vibrating at frequencies never meant for human ears.
The air rippled.
Lucas was the first to fall.
The boy clutched his head, his knees buckling, and collapsed unconscious to the ground before he could even scream. His small body twitched once… then went still.
— "Lucas!" — Elara shouted, her heart racing.
Pure instinct took over. She raised her D-Armilla.
— "Fenrir, disengage! Visio, return!"
Blue light flashed, and her D-Animals vanished back into her wrist, sparing her from losing even more blood in her fragile state.
Rafael did the same.
— "Kaiser, disengage. Kaine, withdraw."
The ligre let out a low growl before dissolving into particles, returning to the modified D-Armilla.
Even so, the mental assault continued.
Elara staggered, her vision doubling, sound turning into a deafening buzz inside her skull. The wounds on her back burned, as if every nerve were being stretched to the limit.
Rafael grabbed her arm.
— "No… not now…" — he murmured, struggling to stay conscious, teeth clenched, knees shaking.
They leaned on each other, breathing with difficulty.
— "You can't do this…" — Elara forced the words out, her voice faltering. — "We don't want to go."
Jasmine rolled her eyes, clearly bored.
— "Nobody ever does," — she muttered.
Goi opened its mouth as well.
The second sonic attack joined the first.
The world collapsed.
The mental pain was overwhelming — as if invisible hands were squeezing the brain from the inside, crushing thoughts, memories, will. Rafael was the first to drop to his knees, his body too heavy to support itself.
Elara tried to take one more step.
She couldn't.
Her vision darkened at the edges, Jasmine's face the last thing she saw — impassive, professional, distant.
She fell.
Rafael fell moments later.
The alley returned to silence, broken only by the distant echo of the ruined city.
Jasmine observed the three unconscious bodies for a few seconds.
— "Confirmed," — she said at last. — "They'll do."
Tsuki nodded.
And without another word, the shadows swallowed them once more.
Tsuki's whistle cut through the heavy silence of the alley, low and slow, carrying an admiration he didn't bother to hide.
— "Impressive…" — he murmured, running a hand through his hair as he looked at the three unconscious bodies on the ground. — "Even with training, I couldn't last more than five seconds against a single sonic wave from Dwol."
He looked at Elara, lying on her side, her face still tense even in unconsciousness, then at Rafael, whose hardened expression seemed to fight the blackout until the very last moment.
— "A teenager… and a young adult…" — he continued, almost to himself. — "They resisted multiple mental waves. And still held on when a second bat joined in."
Tsuki shook his head in disbelief, genuinely impressed.
— "They'll definitely make excellent agents within the organization."
Jasmine Xuēlóng agreed with a slight nod. Her cold, attentive eyes evaluated Elara with more interest than before — not as a target, but as potential.
— "Yes," — she replied. — "More than I expected."
Without any ceremony, Jasmine approached Elara and easily grabbed her by the arm. The girl's body was slung over her right shoulder, far too light for someone who carried so much weight — physical and emotional.
She then did the same with Lucas, tossing him over her left shoulder as if he were nothing more than a sack of potatoes. The boy let out a small unconscious groan, but did not wake.
Tsuki, for his part, grabbed Rafael by the collar of his shirt and began dragging him down the alley. The sound of fabric scraping against the ground echoed sharply between the narrow walls. Airi, the white swallow, perched calmly on his shoulder, watching everything with bright, attentive eyes.
Above them, Dwol and Goi circled slowly, vigilant, their red eyes blinking in the darkness like sinister beacons.
Unhurried but without hesitation, Jasmine reached a black van discreetly parked at the end of the alley. The side door slid open with a low creak, and the three bodies were tossed inside without care.
The interior of the van was dark, lined with matte metal and insulating panels. There were no visible windows — only sensors, automatic locks, and a cold scent of ozone and synthetic oil.
The door slammed shut.
Jasmine took the front passenger seat while Tsuki moved to the driver's position. Before starting the engine, both raised their D-Armillas.
— "Dwol, Goi… deactivate." — "Airi, disengage."
The lights on the metallic bodies went dark, and the D-Animals returned to their masters' wrists in silent particles.
The van's engine purred softly.
And then it drove off.
The ruined streets of New York were left behind as the vehicle moved through secondary routes, avoiding lit areas, collapsed tunnels, and standard military patrols — paths known only to those who lived in the shadows.
Inside the van, Elara, Lucas, and Rafael remained unconscious, breathing unevenly, their bodies marked by battles they never should have faced so soon.
Up front, Jasmine watched the road with the impassive gaze of someone who had done this dozens of times.
— "Welcome to the SIF," — she murmured, almost inaudibly. — "Shadow Intelligence Forces."
An organization that did not appear in public records. That did not ask permission. That worked directly for the president, operating in the underworld, in dead zones, behind the curtain of surviving humanity.
Very few knew it existed.
And even fewer entered… without a choice.
The van vanished into the night.
And with it, the fate of the three changed forever.