The outer sector was already sealed off when Lia and Kairo arrived.
Security drones floated around the blast zone—scanning, repairing, deleting evidence. Civilians had been cleared. The air was thick with static and burning metal.
"Who triggered the lockdown this fast?" Kairo asked, crouching beside a twisted piece of scorched alloy.
Lia picked up a charred fragment, her eyes scanning the circuitry. "No city alert. No distress call." She turned it over. The pattern etched on the edge wasn't city-made.
It was Genesis code.
Kairo froze. "That's impossible."
"No." Lia's voice was low. "That's Echo."
They stepped through the wreckage carefully, until Lia's scanner beeped—soft but steady.
She followed the pulse to a shattered vent panel.
Inside was a pod—small, cylindrical, covered in dust and old biometrics. It was humming. Slowly powering up.
Kairo reached out. "Should we shut it d—"
The pod opened.
And inside was a figure—small, humanoid, unconscious.
A child.
Its eyes fluttered open—glowing softly with Subject 00's signature light.
Not red. Not violet.
Pure white.
Lia stumbled back. "That's not a weapon. That's a... host."
Suddenly, the pod emitted a sharp tone.
Data flashed across the scanner:
ECHO SEED ACTIVATED.
And somewhere across the city, deep within the Black Ark's hidden network...
Zeyren watched it happen.
He smiled beneath his mask.
"Phase two begins."