The forest was quiet.
Not peaceful, never peaceful, not after what had happened but quiet in that breath-held way the world gets when it's waiting. The only sound was the soft rustle of leaves and the distant call of a bird that hadn't yet learned to fear the scent of fire.
Axel moved through the brush like a shadow given form, his armored footsteps muffled by the moss and dirt. On his shoulders, Kyra rode contentedly, her small hands tangled in his wild black hair. She didn't speak, just leaned forward, resting her chin on top of his head, watching the forest shift around them with sleepy gold eyes.
Behind them, Korrak followed. The young troll had washed the ash from his face, tied a strip of cloth around his cracked spear, and walked with stiff resolve, like someone trying to grow into the warrior they believed they should have been.
"Hey," he said at last, voice breaking the silence like a stone dropped in still water. "What's the plan now?"
Axel didn't answer at first.
Then he stopped walking.
Kyra perked up.
Korrak blinked, almost bumping into him.
Slowly, Axel lifted Kyra off his shoulders and set her down gently. She looked up at him with curious eyes.
He stared into the trees for a long time. As his helmet covered over his face as smooth as running water.
Then, his voice came low and cold.
"I'm going to kill every last Exterminator."
Korrak's eyes widened.
Axel's fist clenched. "Every. One. I'm not letting them touch another child. Another village. Another soul that isn't human. Not again."
His voice wasn't loud but it cracked like thunder through the trees.
Kyra stepped up beside him and gently tugged on his gauntlet.
When he looked down, she gave him the tiniest smile. "Good."
Axel stared at her for a moment… and then nodded.
Korrak stood still, stunned.
Then his fingers tightened around his broken spear.
"I want to come with you."
Axel turned to him, the glow from his visor lighting the boy's bruised face.
"I want to get stronger," Korrak said, louder now. "I want to fight beside you. I want to take my pride back. Be more than a coward hiding under broken wood."
His hands shook as he held his weapon close to his chest.
"I want to become an honorable warrior."
Axel stepped forward. Looked the boy in the eyes.
"You're already braver than most."
He held out a hand.
"You're in."
Korrak hesitated, just for a heartbeat, then grasped Axel's forearm, the old warrior's grip locking tight with the young troll's.
Kyra whooped, throwing her arms in the air and dancing in a circle of ferns.
"I'm not the only one anymore!"
Axel allowed himself the barest smile beneath the helmet.
"Let's move."
The three of them began walking again, this time together.
Korrak's steps had a new weight to them.
Kyra climbed back up on Axel's shoulders, humming a tune.
The trees opened wide around them, the sun falling in patches of warm gold.
And somewhere ahead, beyond the mist and the roots and the memories of fire…
Was the next war.
The next fight.
The next Exterminator who didn't yet know a monster was coming for them.
But not a monster born of hatred.
One born of justice.
And mercy.
And rage sharpened by love.
Meanwhile in...
Bastion – Human Capital
High above the towers of steel and smoke, The Crown Citadel loomed like a throne of war. Inside the reinforced meeting chamber of Unit 7, Black Halo, red-alert lights pulsed in steady rhythm. The walls were etched with victory, beast skulls, monster hides, broken horns. Symbols of extermination.
Vera One stood still, arms behind her back. The glow from her Seraph Frame caught on the reflective floors like a blade unsheathed. She did not move.
Before her stood the monster-slayer of men, the Warlord of the Exterminator Forces, General Solas Vire.
His armor was black and crimson, gilded in gold, covered in ceremonial etchings of every apex predator humanity had slain. A jagged scar carved down his chin. His left eye burned with furnace light. The right was artificial, cold, precise, and always watching.
The rest of Black Halo stood assembled behind Vera...
Braxton 91, flexing impatiently, his massive rotary cannon resting against his shoulder like a casual afterthought.
Syne 34, half in the shadows, unmoving, unreadable.
Reef 77, pacing, fidgeting with an invisible interface.
General Solas began speaking, voice low and grim.
"This morning, a rookie-class exterminator vessel arrived at Dock Virellia. No exterminators aboard. Only… children. Human children."
He let the words hang. There was an immediate shift in the room.
"They were malnourished. Shaken. Traumatized. When interrogated, they said they were rescued, from a troll village. Said they were going to be sold to vampires as food."
"But the one who saved them… was Axel 26."
The air went cold.
"They claim that he gave them a beacon button that they should of pressed far away from the village but they used it in the village causing the trolls to be slaughtered by Blood Reign. He returned to the ruined village. They said he called them responsible and demons. They said he nearly executed them on the spot."
Braxton narrowed his eyes. "That doesn't sound like Axel…"
"And yet," Solas interrupted, "he stopped because of a goblin child. That same goblin girl you left alive, begged him not to kill them. And he listened."
"Axel let the children go. Put them on a return ship. Then vanished."
The room was silent.
Syne's lips barely moved. "He disobeyed direct extermination protocol. If you see a Troll you should kill it no questions asked."
Reef muttered, "He erased the coordinates too, right?"
Solas nodded.
"Every trace of the mission, gone. Logs, feeds, maps, erased from the ship's systems. The vessel was running on manual lock-in coordinates. There's no way to know where it came from."
"Which is why…" Solas said, turning, "a replacement has been chosen."
He motioned toward the side door.
It hissed open.
Kaizer 89 stepped in.
Younger. Cleaner. Leaner.
He had the same black hair, the same brown eyes, sharper, colder but his armor was gleaming white, lined with faint blue energy pulses. His EXO-suit was nearly identical to Axel's, down to the wolf-shaped helm and shoulder spikes.
But it wasn't the Black Wolf.
It was White Wolf.
Solas's voice carried authority like iron.
"This is Axel's younger brother. Kaizer 89. Top marks. Unshakable. Loyal. He's everything Axel was, without the hesitation."
Then Solace left the room as the door hissed close.
The team stared.
Braxton let out a low whistle. "Damn. He looks just like him."
Reef squinted. "That's freaky. Like a rebooted version."
Kaizer stepped forward, helmet off, nodding with quiet discipline.
"I thought he died. That's what I heard."
His voice was sharp, but not angry. Not yet.
Vera didn't flinch.
"We lied. Said he fell in a ravine. That he drowned."
Kaizer's eyes narrowed.
"Why?"
Vera's voice was ice.
"Because we couldn't kill him."
Kaizer froze.
"We had him. Cornered. And we let him go."
She stepped closer.
"Next time, we won't."
Kaizer looked down. Then gave the faintest nod. "Understood."
He walked past Syne and Reef and took an empty seat at the circular table.
Syne's gaze flicked to him and back to the wall.
Reef leaned back, arms crossed. "So what now? He's gone fully rogue, but we've got nothing to track."
Vera looked at the map display flaring to life behind her, a glowing globe with dozens of blacked-out zones.
"Then we'll draw him out."
"He saved those kids. So now, we find the next ones at risk. And we watch."
Her voice dropped a pitch, sharp as Heaven Fang itself.
"And when the Black Wolf shows himself again…"
She drew her sword and set it across the table with a soft, searing hiss.
"We finish what we started."
Kaizer's gaze didn't leave the blade.
He said nothing.
But deep down, a question burned.
"Brother… why did you choose them over us?"