"Relax. I know what I'm doing," Radit replied, his fingers deft and focused.
Felicia tensed suddenly. Her instincts flared.
"Hurry. Time's running out."
In the shadowed main hall, Raphael stood at the center of a silent crowd. His voice was calm, yet carried undeniable authority. The eyes of the young recruits were empty, hollow vessels drained of will.
Kaivan slipped inside, his steps soundless. But Raphael turned, as if sensing his presence, a faint, knowing smile touching his lips. "Kaivan. I didn't think you'd come back."
"We have to leave. They're using you. I have proof, this isn't training. It's terrorism."
A heavy silence fell. Raphael studied Kaivan quietly, then exhaled softly.
"Then I'll go with you."
In the stifling, dimly lit storage room, Radit, Felicia, and Ethan worked in tense silence. Sweat dripped down Radit's face as he pieced together wires and small circuits, following the glowing instructions from the Tome Omnicent on his phone. Felicia stood by the door, her body rigid, eyes scanning for danger. Ethan's hands trembled, but he continued to assist, one cable at a time.
"Done," Radit whispered, wiping the sweat from his brow. But before relief could settle in, footsteps echoed from the hallway.
Felicia reacted instantly. The iron rod in her grip swung up, her body tensed yet controlled. Radit and Ethan froze, their eyes communicating the same word: danger.
The door creaked open. A man with a gun stepped inside. But Felicia was faster. In one swift motion, her rod struck his neck. The sound of bone cracking filled the air as the man crumpled to the floor, unconscious.
Ethan's eyes widened. "You... you're fast."
"We have to move. I'm worried about Kaivan," Felicia replied, her tone calm but firm.
Radit grabbed the bag of assembled explosives. "Let's go," he said, leading them out. Three shadows slipped into the dark corridor, heading toward their target, the heart of the building.
Meanwhile, Kaivan and Raphael moved through a narrow passage. Kaivan's eyes swept the dim walls, alert for movement. Raphael followed behind him, silent but uneasy.
Then, Raphael stopped. A thin smile appeared on his lips, his gaze turning cold. A glint of metal flashed from under his coat.
"Kaivan," he whispered.
Before Kaivan could react, the blade pierced his side. Blood spilled, dark and warm. Kaivan staggered back, eyes wide in shock.
"Raphael... what are you doing?" His voice trembled, confusion and pain mingling.
Raphael's expression hardened with resentment. "You always interfere. Always the hero. Always ruining everything I've worked for. I'm sick of it."
Kaivan fell to one knee, blood pooling beneath him, but his grip on the Tome Omnicent remained unshaken. "I was trying to save everyone, to stop this madness."
"You don't understand," Raphael hissed. "I don't need saving. I want to be seen. I want them to finally see me. You took that from me."
The Tome began to glow faintly. Words shimmered across its pages, forming a memory: a young boy sitting alone in an empty room, staring at a door that never opened.
"Raphael's parents... council members. Too busy to notice their own son," the Tome revealed in quiet light.
Kaivan's breath hitched. The wound in his side ached, but his heart ached more. "So you'll destroy everything, just to make them look at you?"
Raphael clenched his fists, his eyes burning. "They never had time for me. I tried everything, but they never looked. If I make the world remember me... if I die for it... maybe they'll regret it."
Silence followed, heavy, painful. Raphael's voice trembled, cracking under the weight of his own words. Kaivan, though weak, slowly reached behind him, gripping the hidden karambit. With a deep, ragged breath, he pulled out the knife still embedded in his back. Blood dripped to the floor, but what he wanted to free wasn't just himself, it was Raphael's heart, chained by grief.
Raphael stood still, eyes flickering. In that fragile moment, Kaivan gave a faint, weary smile. "If they finally stop being busy, but you're already gone... who will you make proud then? All this talk about revenge, it's just a lonely kid crying for attention."
The words hit like a blade. Raphael froze. His jaw tightened, chest rising and falling as if he were holding back a storm. Kaivan gripped the knife lodged in his side, yanked it free, and hurled it against the wall. The metallic clang split the air.
"Sometimes, I feel the same," Kaivan said softly, his voice cutting through the tension. "No one reaches out, no one calls your name. But truth stays the same, even when the world refuses to see it. That's why I keep walking."
Raphael trembled. His hand darted to his belt, pulling out a smoke grenade. He threw it to the ground. A burst of thick smoke spread, cloaking the room in a gray haze.
"You have friends. People who care," Raphael muttered, his voice cracking. "You'll never understand."
Kaivan reacted on instinct. Despite the wound, he leapt aside as the smoke flooded the hall, turning it into a maze of shadow and silence. His breath grew heavy. Somewhere in the fog, Raphael's voice drifted out, low, broken.
"Sometimes doing good only makes you invisible. Like you were never there."
The words struck deep, stirring old memories Kaivan didn't want to revisit. But there was no time to hesitate. He moved slowly, eyes narrowed, searching for Raphael's silhouette in the fog.
A flash of steel. Raphael lunged. The knife sliced through the air, Kaivan twisted, barely dodging, but the blade still grazed his arm. Blood spilled, warm and fast.