The two men stood across from each other, tension crackling in the air like electricity before a thunderstorm.
Kaito's smirk didn't waver as he looked down the barrel of Reo's weapon. "Still so predictable, Reo," he said softly, almost pityingly. "You think you can solve everything with force. With anger."
Reo's finger tightened around the trigger. His whole body screamed to pull it — to end this betrayal with a bullet — but something deep inside him whispered caution. Not yet.
"Why?" Reo's voice was low, dangerous. "You had everything. Respect, loyalty, a future. Why throw it all away for them?"
Kaito chuckled, the sound cold and hollow. "Respect? Loyalty? Those are illusions. Empty words for people too weak to seize real power. The world doesn't run on dreams, Reo. It runs on control. On fear. The Sun Coil understands that. You... you're still chasing fairy tales."
There was a strange, bitter sadness in his voice, and for a split second, Reo glimpsed the man Kaito once had been — ambitious, brilliant, full of fire.
Then it was gone.
Kaito took a slow step forward. "You still don't get it. They were never going to let you win. No matter how hard you fought, how smart you thought you were, you were always just a piece on the board. A pawn."
Reo's jaw clenched. His mind raced through everything — the missions, the battles, the victories he thought he had earned. Was it all manipulated? Every success, every failure?
He wanted to deny it.
He wanted to believe that his choices had mattered.
But deep down, he knew: Kaito wasn't lying.
---
A Clash of Ideals
Without warning, Kaito moved.
Fast — faster than Reo remembered. His hand darted toward his belt, drawing a compact pistol from under his jacket.
Instinct took over.
Bang!
The shot rang out, deafening in the narrow space. Reo's weapon kicked back, and Kaito stumbled, clutching his side. Blood bloomed between his fingers.
But he didn't fall.
Instead, Kaito straightened, a grimace twisting his face into something feral. "Good shot," he rasped. "But not enough."
He raised his own gun, firing back.
Reo ducked, the bullet grazing past his shoulder, the heat of it slicing through his jacket. Pain flared, but he ignored it, rolling behind a console for cover.
Arisa shouted from somewhere nearby, exchanging fire with incoming enemies as alarms began to blare. The facility was coming alive, the trap springing fully into motion.
Reo peeked out, aimed carefully, and fired again. His bullet hit Kaito's pistol, sending it skittering across the floor.
Disarmed but not defeated, Kaito laughed — a raw, broken sound.
"You really think this ends with me?" he hissed. "You think killing me will change anything? They are already here, Reo. Watching. Waiting."
Reo rose from cover, gun trained on Kaito. His heart pounded in his ears.
"This isn't about you anymore," he said quietly. "It's about stopping what you helped build."
For the first time, Kaito's expression cracked — a flicker of fear, quickly buried.
He took a step back, hands raised. "Then do it," he sneered. "Shoot me. End it. And see how much good it does you."
Reo stared at him. Every instinct screamed to pull the trigger, to end the man who had betrayed him and everyone he cared about.
But another part of him — the part that had refused to give in to despair all these years — held him back.
"No," Reo said finally, lowering the gun. "You're not worth it."
Kaito's eyes widened in surprise.
And in that moment, Arisa came up behind him, striking him with the butt of her rifle. Kaito crumpled to the floor, unconscious.
Reo let out a slow breath.
It wasn't mercy. It was strategy.
He needed Kaito alive — for answers.
---
The Price of Survival
With Kaito secured, Reo and Arisa dragged him deeper into the facility. The others regrouped, battered but alive.
Every step they took deeper into the complex felt heavier, the walls seeming to close in around them. Time was running out.
Reo tapped into the facility's computer system, working fast. The Sun Coil's files were here — all of them. Names. Locations. Operations. The blueprint of a hidden empire.
If he could get this data out, he could cripple them.
Maybe not destroy them completely — but enough to level the playing field.
Enough to fight back.
But even as he downloaded the files, alarms blared louder, and Reo could feel the ground beneath them trembling.
"They're trying to destroy the facility," Arisa said grimly. "They'd rather burn it all than let us walk out of here with their secrets."
Reo nodded. "Then we move. Now."
As the team sprinted toward the exit, carrying Kaito between them, Reo felt a grim determination settle in his chest.
He had lost battles before.
He had been betrayed before.
But he was still standing.
And this time, he wasn't fighting alone.
---