The alarms still echoed in the school corridors, and the emergency lights flashed intermittently between the smoke and rubble. The Unity team advanced without hesitation, crossing collapsed hallways and doors forced open, as if the building itself breathed chaos.
The digital creatures—a blend of metal, code, and pure hostility—emerged from every corner. Some were robots armed with outdated but still lethal technology; others, specters projected by corrupted systems, capable of physically impacting their surroundings. The combat was constant.
Astra led from the front with tactical precision. Her plasma spear cut through the air like a sharp lightning bolt, dismantling enemies one by one. At her side, Gerard Leaf glided between debris with agility, executing calculated movements and firing electromagnetic bursts from his gauntlets. Each impact was a choreography of technique and restrained fury.
Blue, in the rear, alternated between direct combat and digital assistance, interfering with the robots’ cores to slow their advance. Her eyes glowed with encoded information as she transmitted coordinates to Lumina, who channeled her luminous energy to generate protective fields in strategic points.
Specter dematerialized into shadows, becoming visible only to strike with his energy dagger, as precise as time itself. Chrono, on the other hand, manipulated time-slowing fields in the nearby space, giving his allies a lethal advantage in brief moments that changed the course of battle.
And, at the back of the scene… someone watched.
Through the eyes of the defeated enemies, through hidden cameras in the sensors of the active holograms, an artificial consciousness analyzed the combat. Thousands of data per second. A faceless figure, dressed in white and shadow. The Architect—although his name had not yet been spoken, his cold gaze said it all.
It was as if every move by the Unity team was being recorded, dissected… archived.
The battle ceased.
One of the creatures emitted a sharp beep before self-destructing, and the rest began disconnecting like abandoned pieces on a board. Silence returned to the school, and immediately, the group dispersed to check on the students’ safety.
—Children secured in the basement, Lumina reported with a relieved voice.
—Injured, but alive, added Astra.
Meanwhile, Gerard approached Titan, the most muscular member of the team, who was removing rubble with one hand.
—Doesn’t this seem strange to you? Gerard asked, lowering his voice. There have been several attacks with these kinds of patterns… physical holograms, enemies that are and aren’t real.
Titan looked at him intrigued, and Gerard continued:
—During my time in the rebellion, we met a guy. He was quiet, brilliant… kind of obsessed with creating holograms capable of interacting with the physical world. A dreamer with dangerous ideas. But I don’t remember his name…
Titan crossed his arms.
—You think he’s related to all this?
—I don’t know… but every battle makes it seem more evident.
Elsewhere in the school, Astra approached Lumina, her expression serious.
—You’ve been different since we saw that robot. You haven’t stopped looking at its fragments.
Lumina looked away, visibly disturbed.
—I’ve seen these designs before, she replied in a low voice. But not now… before. As if they were memories of a life I never lived. Or that I forgot.
Astra frowned but said nothing more. She just placed a hand on her shoulder, a silent gesture of trust.
Meanwhile, Blue walked among the remains of a broken projector, her gaze fixed on something only she seemed to notice. Through a faint blue flicker, a shadow vanished at the end of the hallway.
—What was that…? she murmured.
Without thinking twice, she followed the figure. Her steps were silent but firm. Although protocols required her to stay with the team, something in her core pushed her to follow that anomaly.
In another part of the city, the brothers Specter and Chrono rested on the school’s rooftop, gazing at the moon peeking between gray clouds.
—Did you ever wonder why we agreed to join Unity? asked Chrono, breaking the silence.
—I did it for the stories. The thrill of feeling that this existence can be more than just surviving, replied Specter. And you… you did it for the answers.
Chrono smiled, almost melancholically.
—And I still don’t have them.
They both remained in silence, observing the city that was starting to return to normal, at least on the outside.
Back at the base, the team was greeted with brief cheers by the technicians and doctors. Another victory… at least for now.
Gerard removed his gloves, his expression pensive. He looked around for Blue and found her by the command room window, observing the sky with her usual apparent calm.
—What are you thinking about? he asked as he approached.
Blue didn’t respond immediately. Her cybernetic eyes remained fixed on the darkness outside.
—About what’s coming, she finally said. And whether we’re ready to face it.
The central screen blinked red. A new anomaly had been detected.
And out there, somewhere between corrupted networks and lines of code, he kept watching. Learning. Designing. Waiting.
Story by Gerard Leaf and Blue
