Chapter 22: Echo of the Dark Moon — Severed Moon’s First Strike
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We’re not here to break the trial.”
“We’re here to make it look like…
It cracked on its own.”
I stood beneath the cloak of night, outlining every detail of the operation.
Raccoon spread out the map, circling a red point.
“This is the ventilation shaft to the Lunarium.
We have ten minutes to fake the thermal readings and fool the main control room.”
“Koren and I will trigger a ‘weapon dispute’ to set off the tower alarms.”
“Amy will hack the LightGrid, cut tower-to-tower comms.”
“Tai, you lead the infiltration unit. Take me with you.”
I looked around at their faces, pushing down the churn in my chest.
“This isn’t about the trial anymore.”
“This is about our own.”
[Night of the Operation]
It started with a “violent scuffle gone wrong.”
Two teams of disguised Severed Moon members brawled in the plaza over stolen weapons.
Sirens screamed. Silverflame troops swarmed.
Just as planned.
At the same time, Amy’s virus hit the relay node.
“…Tower Four offline. Tower Five offline.”
“Peripheral posts silent.”
In the surveillance chamber, Mother’s eyes sharpened for the first time.
“This isn’t chaos. It’s choreography.”
“Deploy Backup Unit Zero. Activate Protocol A-12.”
While the chaos spread, Tai and I—along with three others—slipped into the vent shaft.
The Lunarium. Floor Nine.
The blackest pit in the Trial Grounds.
Cold stone walls.
The stench of bleach and blood.
Cameras watching everything.
“I hate this place,” Tai muttered, nose wrinkling.
“Smells like my mother’s cellar.”
“Does she fear you?” I asked quietly.
“Terrified,” he grinned. “She says I smile like a cat gutting its prey.”
“…Fair.”
Behind the sixth door—we found Kahn.
Strapped to a suspended cable-bed, bruised and bloodied.
Still managing a smirk.
“Took you long enough. I just dreamt I was jerky in an oven.”
I hurried to unhook him.
“Can you walk?”
“Barely,” he growled. “But I’ve got something you need to hear.”
We moved to extract, but Tai froze halfway down the hall.
“That room—Chuanzi’s tag.”
We followed the half-open door into a sealed observation cell.
Empty.
Except the walls—
Were plastered with experiment logs, protocol scraps, and torn memos.
One caught my eye.
“Subject B-027 reassigned to Project Z.”
“Initiate Phase Eight of Operation Zero.”
“Observation target: Daphne.”
My blood turned to ice.
“I… was the observation target?”
“From the beginning, I wasn’t a rogue.”
“I was their—designed variable?”
Kahn, leaning against the wall, barely standing, said:
“Before they locked me up…
I heard them discussing your ‘awakening index.’”
“They said you’re nearing ‘Wolf Pulse resonance.’
That if you trigger the Echo of the Dark Moon, you’ll become the true ‘Zero Heir.’”
I whispered:
“I’m not their failure.”
“I’m their backup key.”
And Mother—
She always knew.
I clenched my fists, staring at the paper.
Tai reached out to rip it down.
I stopped him.
“No.”
“Let it stay.”
“I want her to know—
I know.”
That night, Severed Moon escaped clean.
No casualties.
But outside, the fires spread.
“Trial Group Seven deserted in unison. Possible instigation detected.”
“Silverflame issues bounty for the ‘Shadow Agitator.’”
My portrait hit the main tower wall for the first time.
Daphne. Extremely Dangerous.
In the forests, beneath moon-filtered leaves, we regrouped.
“If she sees me as a key—”
“Then I’ll open every door she ever tried to lock shut.”
