The ruins stretched endlessly before them, a broken labyrinth of concrete and rusted steel.
Seo-jin adjusted the straps on his gear as he surveyed the path ahead.
Beside him, Min-ji stretched her arms with a lazy grin, though the tension in her body was unmistakable.
Jae-hwan knelt a few meters ahead, poking a fragment of broken asphalt with his knife.
Ko's orders had been clear:
Find the hidden supply cache in Sector Thirteen.
Bring back everything they could carry.
Don't die.
Simple on paper.
Impossible in reality.
Lotus was bleeding supplies faster than they could replace them.
Without this mission, they wouldn't survive the next major assault.
Seo-jin tightened his gloves and moved forward, boots crunching over broken glass.
"You sure about the location?" Min-ji asked, her voice low but casual.
Jae-hwan shrugged without looking back.
"Sure enough not to get lost. Probably."
Min-ji rolled her eyes.
"Comforting."
Seo-jin allowed himself a small smile, but it faded quickly.
Every step deeper into Sector Thirteen felt wrong.
Like walking into a predator's den.
**
They moved in silence, weaving through abandoned streets.
The buildings loomed like hollow giants, windows shattered, walls scorched by old fires.
Signs of old battles littered the ground —
spent shell casings, bloodstains long since faded, scorch marks from fragment strikes.
Seo-jin felt his fragment energy stir uneasily under his skin.
A warning.
Min-ji noticed too.
Her eyes narrowed, her posture shifting subtly into a ready crouch.
Jae-hwan stopped at an intersection, raising a hand.
Seo-jin crept up beside him, peering around the corner.
There — a collapsed pharmacy.
Half-buried under debris, but recognizable.
Their target.
He glanced at Jae-hwan, who grinned.
"Told you."
Min-ji moved past them both.
"Let's get this over with."
They approached cautiously, weapons ready.
Seo-jin fractured the ground lightly, testing for traps.
Nothing triggered.
Min-ji slipped inside first, flashlight sweeping across the ruined shelves.
Jae-hwan followed, humming under his breath.
Seo-jin entered last, scanning every shadow.
The place reeked of mildew and chemical rot.
But the back room —
the storage area —
still looked intact.
**
They set to work quickly.
Seo-jin and Min-ji loaded up on medical supplies — antibiotics, painkillers, bandages.
Jae-hwan found a crate of preserved food bars under a collapsed shelf and whooped quietly.
They worked in tense silence, the weight of urgency pressing down on them.
Every noise sounded too loud.
Every second felt stolen.
Seo-jin crouched by a half-buried locker, prying it open with a fracture pulse.
Inside —
fragment cells.
Intact.
He whistled softly.
"Jackpot."
Min-ji jogged over, eyes widening.
"Enough to power the whole base for weeks," she breathed.
Jae-hwan appeared at his shoulder, grinning.
"And here I thought today would be boring."
Seo-jin's instincts screamed at him.
Too easy.
Too clean.
He looked up sharply — just as the first shot rang out.
The bullet ricocheted off the metal shelf inches from Seo-jin's head.
"Ambush!" Min-ji shouted, diving for cover.
Jae-hwan rolled behind a broken counter, already pulling out a smoke bomb from his pouch.
Seo-jin ducked behind a toppled vending machine, heart hammering in his chest.
More shots tore through the pharmacy, splintering wood and shattering old glass.
"They waited for us," Seo-jin muttered under his breath.
Min-ji fired back twice, sharp and controlled.
Jae-hwan popped the smoke bomb, thick gray mist filling the room in seconds.
"Move!" Min-ji barked.
They sprinted toward the back exit, crouching low, moving through the swirling smoke.
Seo-jin fractured the ground behind them, causing a partial collapse that bought them a few precious seconds.
Bullets whined past them, blind in the chaos.
They burst out into the open air behind the pharmacy —
only to find more figures waiting.
A full Crimson Shield patrol.
Traps.
Decoys.
A full set-up.
Seo-jin skidded to a halt, mind racing.
No cover.
No escape routes.
Fight or die.
Min-ji didn't hesitate.
She charged forward with a roar, fragment energy bursting from her fists in compressed waves.
Jae-hwan was right behind her, knife flashing.
Seo-jin followed, unleashing fractures under the enemies' feet, turning solid ground into treacherous traps.
The fight was brutal.
Seo-jin dodged a swing, countered with a fracture pulse that shattered an enemy's knee.
Min-ji moved like a storm, hammering enemies with brutal precision, ignoring the blood dripping from a cut above her eye.
Jae-hwan was a blur of movement, dodging, weaving, slicing tendons and stealing weapons mid-fight.
But there were too many.
And they were too well-prepared.
Seo-jin caught Min-ji's eye across the chaos.
She shook her head slightly.
They couldn't win this.
Not head-on.
Retreat.
Survive.
Seo-jin fractured the ground violently, throwing up a cloud of dust and rubble.
"Fall back!" he shouted.
They retreated through a narrow alley, the enemy in disarray behind them.
Min-ji cursed under her breath, clutching her side where a bullet had grazed her.
Jae-hwan tossed another smoke bomb as they ran.
They didn't stop until they collapsed behind a crumbling wall two streets away, gasping for air.
**
"We're screwed," Jae-hwan said cheerfully, wiping blood from his lip.
Seo-jin ignored him, checking Min-ji's wound.
Just a graze — painful but not lethal.
She batted his hands away impatiently.
"I'm fine. We need to move."
Seo-jin nodded grimly.
"We can't outrun them with this much gear."
They were carrying too many supplies — crates of fragment cells, medicine, food.
Necessary for Lotus.
But it made them slow.
Vulnerable.
Seo-jin's gut twisted.
They couldn't afford to lose the supplies.
But they couldn't afford to die either.
Damn it.
**
Footsteps pounded nearby —
the patrols sweeping the area.
Seo-jin thought fast.
A plan formed — reckless, dangerous.
But their only chance.
He looked at Min-ji and Jae-hwan.
"I'll draw them off."
Min-ji's face darkened immediately.
"Like hell you will."
Seo-jin shook his head.
"It's the only way. I can fracture the ground, collapse part of the street, buy you time."
Jae-hwan whistled low.
"Crazy. I like it."
Min-ji grabbed Seo-jin's arm roughly.
"You're not doing this alone."
Her voice shook slightly.
Seo-jin met her gaze.
"I'm not asking."
Silence.
Heavy.
Sharp.
Then — Min-ji let him go.
Barely.
Seo-jin smiled tightly.
"See you at Lotus."
And he ran.
Seo-jin sprinted through the ruins, heart hammering against his ribs.
He could hear them behind him — the shouts, the pounding boots, the crack of gunfire.
He didn't look back.
He fractured the ground as he ran, sending debris and obstacles crashing down behind him.
Twisted beams.
Collapsing walls.
Broken pavement.
Anything to slow them down.
His lungs burned.
His legs screamed.
But he didn't stop.
He couldn't.
He skidded around a corner, ducked into a half-collapsed building, and triggered a deeper fracture.
The ceiling groaned ominously above him.
Good.
He sprinted through the building, hearing the enemy just behind —
and at the last second, he slammed a fracture deep into the foundation.
The floor gave way.
The walls crumbled.
The world roared around him.
Seo-jin dove through a shattered window as the building collapsed, burying the pursuing patrol under tons of rubble.
He hit the ground hard, rolled, came up gasping.
Silence behind him.
For now.
He staggered to his feet, blood dripping from countless scrapes and cuts.
His vision swam.
Every breath was a knife in his chest.
But he was alive.
And Min-ji and Jae-hwan were ahead, moving fast with the supplies.
He forced his legs to move.
One step.
Then another.
Then more.
**
They regrouped three blocks away.
Min-ji practically tackled him when he caught up, punching him hard in the shoulder.
"Idiot!" she hissed, voice thick with relief and anger.
Seo-jin just grinned weakly.
"Worked, didn't it?"
Jae-hwan tossed him a water bottle, shaking his head.
"You're insane. I respect that."
Min-ji checked him over quickly, her hands rough but careful.
"You're bleeding."
"Nothing important," Seo-jin rasped.
She glared at him — but didn't argue.
They moved again, slower this time, watching every shadow.
Every sound.
The enemy wasn't far behind.
But they had gained precious minutes.
Maybe enough.
**
Hours later, Lotus came into view.
Or what was left of it.
Smoke rose from the southern perimeter.
Figures moved along the walls —
too distant to recognize.
Seo-jin tensed.
"Something's wrong."
Min-ji's face hardened.
"Stay sharp."
They approached cautiously, sticking to cover.
As they got closer, Seo-jin could make out Ko's broad silhouette at the gate —
battered, bleeding, but standing.
When Ko saw them, he barked a harsh laugh.
"About damn time!"
They staggered into the base, dropping the crates at the medic station.
Fighters rushed to unload the supplies, faces stunned and grateful.
Seo-jin sagged against a wall, finally letting the exhaustion crash over him.
Min-ji leaned beside him, her body trembling slightly with fatigue.
Jae-hwan dropped onto a crate, grinning like a maniac.
"We made it."
Seo-jin closed his eyes briefly.
Lotus wasn't safe.
Not yet.