Chap 161: The Takedown

Tee was usually the first on her team to rise, waiting for Kie before the two of them roamed Primus ahead of breakfast.

But that day, the second she stepped through the archway leading to the kitchen, her instincts screamed.

Her enhanced senses heightened by whatever darkness lingered in her blood registered a flash of danger. Too late.

A blinding surge of blue Ultramana energy screamed toward her chest. Reflex nearly failed her. It missed her heart by inches, but the force was devastating. The impact hurled her backward, her body slamming into the stone wall with enough velocity to crack it, a jagged line forming behind her like a violent signature.

The breath fled her lungs. Before she could recover, another blast was already incoming. Tee hastily conjured a thin, shimmering shield of dark energy, but it wasn’t enough. The attack collided directly. She was launched through the corridor, smashing through multiple walls like a ragdoll tossed by fate itself. Dust filled the air in choking clouds.

“You thought we were fools, didn’t you?” Saeda’s voice echoed through the rubble, cold and unforgiving as she stepped into view, following the carnage Tee left behind.

Miko reached the collapsed hallway first, gasping as she skidded to a stop. “She’s gone.”

Tee, meanwhile, lay amidst shattered stone and twisted beams, head spinning. Her mind whirled with disbelief. That couldn’t be real. It felt like some fevered hallucination. But the pain—searing and raw—grounded her in a horrifying reality.

What the hell was going on? 

Was that some type of training? 

But it wasn’t even training time. 

Crap. Had she just used her dark energy shield… in front of them? Her heart pounded. She hadn’t meant to. It had been instinct, a reflex of survival. But had they seen? If they had… Her thoughts scrambled. Why were they attacking her? 

She tried to lift herself, but the sound of movement snapped her head up. Three familiar figures emerged from the haze — Zod, Miko, and Saeda, all donned in full training gear. Their summoning gloves pulsed with energy, prepared for battle.

Tee wasn’t wearing hers. They weren’t even supposed to start training yet. That wasn’t a match. That was an ambush.

“There!” Zod shouted, locking eyes on her.

Panic surged through her veins. She raised a trembling hand, releasing a burst of dark mana that clashed violently with Zod’s Ultramana blast. The explosion sent them both soaring—Tee over the pool, past the courtyard, over the railing—and she plummeted from sight.

She fell several stories, smashing onto the hard ground below in the outer compound, bones jarring, skin scraping. The taste of iron filled her mouth.

Back above, Miko’s face twisted in fury. “Zod!” she screamed for her teammate who was blasted through multiple walls.

“I’m fine,” Zod’s voice came, strained but alive.

Saeda, swords glowing in both hands, didn’t wait. “Let’s finish this.” She leapt down, racing after the fleeing witch.

Tee clutched her ribs and forced herself to move. Using her foreseeing vision—Saeda was gaining fast. But behind her… Miko.

She reacted instinctively, flinging two heavy stones at Miko and bolting. Miko effortlessly cleaved the rocks with her glowing blade.

There was no time to breathe. From a high perch, Zod unleashed another beam of blue energy. Tee dodged left just in time. The blast seared past her, destroying a chunk of the compound’s wall.

Saeda had landed nearby and was now closing the distance. Tee darted into the nearest building, her heart hammering.

Zod's energy tore through the structure seconds later like a divine blade, windows shattering, statues exploding into dust, pipes bursting. Water sprayed across the corridor as Tee barely escaped through the debris.

But her luck ended there. Something struck her—what, she wasn’t sure—and she was flung out of the building like a broken doll, crashing through the center of a decorative fountain. Freezing morning water soaked her instantly, chilling her bruised body to the bone. Her hair came undone, white strands plastering her bloody face.

She struggled to rise. Her shield flickered—then failed. And there they were, standing far across the courtyard, staring at her. Their eyes burned with conviction.

“There’s the proof. Dark energy,” Zod said, his voice hollow with betrayal.

Tee’s blood ran cold. How could she explain?

With no time for pleading, they attacked again—ten glowing swords whirled toward her like razors. She screamed, a piercing sonic blast tearing through her throat, repelling the blades.

Saeda countered fast, summoning a force dome meant to trap Tee and crush her inside it. But her scream shattered the shield, scattering the shards like starlight.

From her shaking hands, long metal claws burst forth, steaming with dark energy. Her body trembled, but they kept coming—her teammates, her friends.

Miko snarled, “You’re right, Tee. Why wound the bad guys? It’s better to kill them. End them.” She flash stepped and struck a brutal punch to Tee’s face that cracked bone.

Pain bloomed at her jaw. She staggered.

Zod’s fury was volcanic. “The elders made a mistake. Where’s the real Tee?” He blasted her  into her chest, sending her flying.

Blood gushed from her lips.

Saeda stood back, trembling with barely contained rage. “I saw it. That vision — you at the end of the world. That was you—the monster.”

Tee reeled. What were they saying?

She tried to speak, but Miko roared, “Look at you! White hair. Black eyes. Like him. Like Sade. You’re one of them! You don’t belong here!”

Tee’s heart fractured. Where did she belong?

Zod yelled, “You were sent to destroy us from the inside. An imposter.”

“We treated you like family!” Miko cried. “And you—you had a knife behind your back the whole time!”

Saeda, “My aura sense doesn’t even work when you’re around. You’ve corrupted everything. Eliminating you is the only way!”

Zod, “But first, tell us what you’ve done with the real Tee!”

Tee collapsed, forcing up one last shield—flickering, weak, doomed to break. 

Her vision blurred. Her ears rang. She barely registered the sound of her shield shattering. Then—a burning impact at her stomach. Agony. Then darkness.

She crashed, tumbled, rolled. Her body sizzled with pain. Black patterns spread along her skin—the cursemark awakening. Her horn pushed through her forehead. Her fangs elongated. Her eyes turned pitch black.

Saeda stood above her, sword ready, gaze hard.

“Look at you,” she spat. “The real you.”

Tee clutched her bleeding abdomen, horrified. She swore she could see her intestines.

“You’re transforming. Finally showing your true Harbinger form,” Zod said, sword glowing. “You should’ve dyed your hair, and done something about your eyes. You might’ve fooled us a little longer.”

“Let’s just end her,” Saeda hissed with rage.

The three raised their blades, Ultramana energy glowing fiercely.

But then—a pillar of blue flame erupted between them, scattering them like dolls. Even Tee was flung back.

Kie had arrived, pure Ultramana sword drawn, eyes blazing.

He had followed the chaos from the breakfast hall, saw the cracks, the destruction, and the soldiers swarming. And there he was—standing between them and a dying girl.

He looked at Tee—barely conscious, bloodied, broken. If he hadn’t come…

His rage pulsed. His sword glowed brighter. His power surged.

“She’s moving,” Zod hissed. “Kie, move!”

But Kie didn’t budge. “What the hell is wrong with you?! You were going to kill her!”

Zod shouted, “She’s a Harbinger!”

“She’s a Xeno-victim, you idiots!” Kie barked. “What if she mutated? She’s a hybrid!”

Saeda laughed bitterly. “So that’s what she told you? To explain the claws, the black eyes? She’s brainwashed you!”

“OPEN YOUR EYES!” Kie exploded. “You’ll regret killing your teammate—”

“No. She’s a Harbinger!” Miko screamed. “She wants to destroy the world.”

Tee, barely conscious, heard it all. Every word. Was it true? Was she truly a Harbinger? Had her memories been altered?

Voices whispered in her mind. 

You are the vessel. On that side you are to remain.

Then the memories began flooding back—not in full, but as jagged fragments, flashing through her mind like electrical shocks.

She remembered that abandoned Vergant village. How she alone couldn’t pass through the barrier, how Zod had once explained it was designed to keep out dark, corrupted spirits.

Then the time she walked straight through a swarm of them. How the spirits had roared and clawed at her teammates, but hadn’t laid a single finger on her. They had parted for her… as if recognizing one of their own.

She recalled standing in front of a mirror after their visit to Sky-Line Park, catching a glimpse of something in her reflection—something in her eyes, her posture, her energy. Something that looked far too much like Lilith.

The voices in her head—always whispering, always waiting.

The twisted Vergant warrior, cursed and broken, muttering to voices only she could hear… the same kind of voices that lived inside her.

Her prior encounters with Sade in her district before arriving at Primus. 

And Lilith’s cryptic warning—“You’re not ready.”

Not ready for what?

Maybe... maybe she was one of them.

Black mana swirled in her palm. If she was dying, she’d take someone with her.

She fired—straight at Zod.

But Saeda blocked it with her shield.

Kie turned, livid. “What did you just do?!”

Tee rose slowly, body trembling, blood dripping. One arm gone. Hair in her face. Eyes dark as night.

“I am…” she gasped, “a Harbinger.”

Kie’s face hardened. He flash-stepped then slapped her, hard, across the face.

Before anything else could happen—a loud boom. Both Tee and Kie were struck down by a coordinated blast.

Primus soldiers surrounded them, energy barriers rising. But the shields weren’t for Zod, Miko, or Saeda.

the Commander stepped through, his coat flapping in the wind, hands in his pockets.

“She didn’t mutate,” he said softly.

The trio froze.

“What?” Miko asked in disbelief.

The Commander looked skyward, almost in prayer. “Cadets... you want an explanation. One only Tee can give.” His eyes narrowed. “When she wakes up.”

Tee’s eyelids fluttered open to the sterile white ceiling of the medical bay, the scent of disinfectant sharp in her nostrils. The ache in her body was dull but ever-present, as if her nerves were waking up slower than the rest of her. Every breath she drew felt heavier than the last.

She shifted slightly—enough to feel the stiffness in her limbs—and turned her head.

Her heart stopped.

Kie.

He was sitting on the edge of the bed beside hers, elbows resting on his knees, gaze unreadable. She didn’t know how long he’d been there, but from the shadows under his eyes and the untouched food on the tray in his hand, she guessed a while.

She sat up straighter, her body screaming in protest as memories crashed over her like a tidal wave—the fight, the betrayal, the moment he had stepped between her and death. He had saved her. Why? By then, surely he knew what she was, so why had he done it?

Did it mean he would treat her as something other than a Xeno-victim, instead of scorning her? And had she been wrong to keep the truth from him—and from her teammates—all along?

Without a word, Kie stood and extended the tray toward her. “Here,” he said flatly. “I brought you a patty.”

Tee blinked at it before slowly taking it. It was cold—stone cold. She stared at it for a second, realizing what that meant.

He had waited.

But before she could say anything, he took a step closer. His dark red eyes met hers—deep, mysterious, unreadable, like twin eclipses. Her heart skipped again.

Without asking, he slipped an arm beneath her legs and the other behind her back and lifted her off the bed. She gasped softly but didn’t resist. There was something strangely romantic about the gesture, even if he was ice-cold.

He gently placed her in the nearby wheelchair, his movements careful, practiced. She felt her breath catch in her throat.

“Eat,” he commanded, standing just behind her.

“It’s... cold,” she muttered, not daring to meet his eyes.

“I know,” he said, his tone deadpan. “I don’t care.”

Those three words cut her deeper than any burn mark on her body. 

He stepped around to face her. “You’re going to need your strength to start talking. The little act you’ve been putting on is over.”

Her hands trembled around the cold patty. “Wait, what? W-Where are you taking me?” she asked, her voice cracking.

Panic surged in her chest. She was still too weak to fight, too broken to crawl away. And deep down she knew they would come for her eventually–her so-called teammates. But she wasn’t ready. She would never be ready.

As Kie began wheeling her down the corridor, the silence stretched between them like a taut wire. She could hear the low hum of the building around her, the click of the wheels on the tiled floor, the soft echo of her own heart in her ears.

Tee could barely look at him. If he hadn’t been so... calm, she might’ve tried to throw herself out of the chair. But instead, she sat in silence, letting him guide her toward what felt like an execution chamber.

When they were both sealed away by metal walls of the elevator, he spoke. Not to her, but to the air. 

“Why did you pretend to like me when you clearly didn't?” His voice hardened, “Why did you keep it up if you never planned to spend your life with me?”

 Tee glimpsed up at him, then back to stare at their reflections in the elevator. 

Coldly she said, “I was just playing with you. I feel nothing for you. But it's over now.”

Kie knitted his brows and clenched his jaw so tight it bulged. He made the words sink in. 

“Then you're just the same.” He gulped. “Like all the sluts you just wanted to sleep with me, and you succeeded. You're nothing but a dead-hearted whore. You're worse than Karen.”

Tee blinked her emotionless eyes. She told herself she didn’t care what he said. Now that her secret was out, she knew worse was coming. All because she’s a Xeno-victim. That Xenogenist!

They arrived at a long, sterile white room with a metallic table dominating the center. Four figures sat waiting, each more emotionally charged than the last.

Zod.

Miko.

Saeda.

And the Commander.

Tee felt the coldness rush through her veins. That was it.

As Kie wheeled her forward, the tension in the room turned suffocating. No one said a word. Kie parked her at the head of the table and calmly took the seat beside her. He leaned in slightly, his voice dropping to a whisper.

“Start talking.”

Her heart skipped again. But before she could find warmth in that, his expression darkened.

“Any crap out of your mouth and I slap you again.”

The phantom sting of the slap he had delivered earlier flashed across her cheek. Her stomach twisted. Of course he would treat her that way, she was a Xeno-victim.

The Commander’s voice broke the silence. “Let’s have a good, old-fashioned heart-to-heart, shall we?” he said, lounging with his hands clasped on the table. “You’ve been out for a while recovering but I've left the explanation mostly for you to fill in.”

Every pair of eyes in the room locked on her.

She couldn’t run. She couldn’t hide. She stared down at the long silver table, gathering her thoughts, her courage—what little of it remained. She swore to not let them break her!

Saeda crossed her arms, expression sharp. “You better have one hell of an explanation.”

Zod leaned forward. “Yeah. Start talking.”

Miko gave a slight nod, her jaw clenched.

Tee swallowed. Her voice was barely above a whisper.

“Fine. Since everyone likes a good story.” She let out a low, sinister chuckle, her hair curtaining her face and leaving it mostly in shadow.

Her low, sinister chuckle crawled through the room, and the mood shifted instantly. Shoulders stiffened, expressions tightened, and a hush fell as unease settled over everyone present.

“My guardian, Tetra... She wasn’t just a scientist. She worked with a covert organization called C.U.R.E.X. — the Covert Unit for Research and Eradication of the Xenogene.”

Zod let out a disbelieving laugh and looked away, one hand covering his mouth. The story already sounded too insane to be true.

But Tee pressed on.

“There were people like Tetra... and then there were people like me. The test subjects. The throwaways. Xeno-victims used to collect data, to test experimental treatments. I was one of them.”

She paused, voice tightening with emotion. “My life was perfect once. I had friends. A future. A sense of belonging. I was covert before I knew what the term even meant. Tetra made a concealer to hide the mark on my neck.”

Tee reached for her neck, and unlike the other times she had woken in the infirmary, she felt bare skin. She knew what that meant—the mark of her demon lay exposed. The Vergant medics hadn’t concealed it.

Something shattered inside her, and her hand fell lifelessly into her lap. She kept talking, eager to get it over with.

“Then I came here only to learn I'm not just a Xeno-victim but a hybrid. The elders had told me. After the jet crash on our first day here, the chemical wash... it burned off the concealer hiding the cursemark on my neck. The nurses noticed. They reported it. I was summoned to the elders’ sanctum. That was the first time I was told the truth.”

Her voice turned hollow. “I’m not just a Xeno-victim. I’m something worse. Something... apocalyptic.”

The air shifted. The trio flinched at the word. All eyes flicked to the Commander, but he remained silent, listening.

She echoed the words Lilith had once said to her. “A god of destruction... that’s what they called me. I’m a hybrid. A constant battle of Ultramana and Xenogene inside me. The more I resist, the stronger it gets. It’s affecting my powers. That's why I look like... this.”

“I kept it hidden for a reason,” she continued. “I knew if you all found out, you’d hate me. I'd get treated just like all the Xenoids and Xen-freaks of this world.”

“Let’s keep things on track here,” the Commander said, his tone firm.

Tee inhaled slowly.

“It’s reached a point where I feel like I’m losing control of my Ultramana side.”

Miko suddenly interrupted. “Yeah. You seemed pretty in control and enjoying killing those Leaks,” avoiding looking at Tee.

“I still can’t believe the rest of Primus knew,” Zod muttered.

The Commander nodded. “Yes. The Elders, the Vergants, the instructors. Everyone knew. But we agreed to give her the choice to tell you four herself. She... didn't. So now, here we are.”

Tee looked down at her trembling hands. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

She didn’t say for what. But she meant for existing.

The room stood still. Then, slowly, each of her teammates stood up. Silent. Emotionless.

“Use this time to vote on your new team leader,” the Commander added before walking out.

Tee’s eyes widened. She saw Kie leave trailing behind the Commander. 

The others remained behind, glaring at Tee. She felt the weight of their betrayal, their confusion.

But one last truth needed air.

“Saeda,” she said softly. “I killed Snickers... But it was an accident.”

Something inside Saeda snapped. The room ignited.

Saeda’s scream cracked through the silence as she lunged. Zod and Miko barely held her back.

“You heartless witch—!” Zod hissed, eyes filled with rage.

The trio dragged Saeda toward the exit, Miko’s stare colder than ice.

And then they were gone.

Tee sat alone. In a wheelchair. In silence. Her heart was pounding like a drum in an empty hall.

Was it over?

She didn’t know. But she felt like something inside her had caught fire—and it wouldn’t stop burning.