A Few Minutes Earlier

  Still in the Center of Tokyo

  Sakirami Building – Rooftop

  A single person wearing a black hood could be seen sitting on one of the many horizontal iron barriers placed there to protect people from falling off the rooftop, surrounding the entire edge of the place.

  That person seemed to be talking to someone, a man, through a communicator placed inside their ear.

  [Man on the Communicator – Worried and Thoughtful Voice] ...I know you care about him, but testing his psyche this way on this mission is... —

  Their feet swayed subtly above the nearly thirty-story drop to the ground. That person showed no concern about their position, sitting at the edge of a deadly fall.

  [Man on the Communicator – Worried and Thoughtful Voice] It's something I feel to be psychologically very "heavy." Even for me... —

  If this individual were an ordinary person... but in truth, the mysterious figure was none other than a high-ranking member of the Sagittarius Corporation. They seemed to look beyond any single building toward the vast horizon of skyscrapers and lights coming from the heart of Tokyo ahead.

  [Man on the Communicator – Worried and Thoughtful Voice] The moment I saw him for the first time, I knew how promising he was, but... the death of Karl and Karla's younger sister... —

  Their eyes were fixed on the building where Karl was acting with such a sense of justice against the Oculi, an act that would end up changing his destiny mercilessly because of what he had done against so many human victims over the past months.

  [Man on the Communicator – Worried and Thoughtful Voice] It made me realize that something specific changed deep within his eyes, and I don't know how good or bad that is in the present moment... —

  As a brief, stronger breeze struck the place where the mysterious person was sitting, their hood, which had been covering their head, was thrown back, revealing that they were, in fact, a beautiful young woman.

  [Man on the Communicator – Worried and Thoughtful Voice] After so many years since that traumatic event for Karl and also for his sister, Karla, I trust your judgment and your methods, my daughter, but... —

  [Young Woman – Deeply Reflective Voice] ...But? —

  Her long hair, now uncovered, seemed to dance to the rhythm of a gentler breeze as she gazed over the city, her eyes fixed on the horizon ahead.

  Watching with attentive eyes, yet at the same time slightly detached from the present, she noticed the movement of the sky, which hinted at the possible formation of an intense storm within the next few minutes.

  [Man on the Communicator – Worried and Thoughtful Voice] But I don't want to see you regret it in the future, if "he" collapses before your eyes, my daughter... —

  Feeling the winds, which were still light across the entire city, shift for a few seconds into brief, stronger gusts, she prepared herself for what was to come.

  [Man on the Communicator – Worried and Thoughtful Voice] If he, under the pain in his heart, already covered in scars that are still open, cannot endure the cruel reality we inhabit and are forced to live in, while trying to protect humans from those damned Oculi... —

  It was clear from the expression of the young woman, as she turned her gaze back toward the building where Karl was, that she could clearly see the unfolding of the climax between Karl and the Oculi.

  [Young Woman – Hopeful and Reflective Voice] Karl may come to hate me in the future, he may curse me and scream his anger after learning what I made him go through today, as my last attempt to save him from himself, but... [Deep & slow breath] —

  In her beautiful eyes, her irises gradually vanished, giving way to a total white, without any shine and completely opaque. That indicated she was a user of Oculi abilities, and one of the few hybrid beings between human and Oculi that existed in the entire world.

  [Young Woman – Hopeful and Reflective Voice] To be able to protect humans from those Oculi who pass as us in their appearances, I... [Subtle tremor in her voice] I need someone as strong by my side as "he" was before the death of his little sister, Suzi... all those years ago, on that hospital bed. —

  The mysterious person speaking with the man through the communicator was none other than a young woman who revealed herself to be the very daughter of Yael, named Luci, leader of the elite forces of the human–Oculi hybrid agents.

  These agents were genetically modified through a process so deadly and painful that few could survive, in order to use the abilities of the Oculi in a still limited, yet extremely elevated degree.

  [Yael on the Communicator – Worried & Thoughtful Voice] Testing him this way will not change the person he has chosen to be in the present, after everything he lost that day, Luci... —

  Miss Luci was the person whom not only Karl, but also his sister Karla, respected the most within the entire Sagittarius organization. Respectfully, they regarded her as an older sister for the way she motivated both Karl and Karla to become stronger.

  [Luci – Confident & Slightly Trembling Voice] No! You're mistaken, Dad! I'm not trying to change him against his will through this last test, as painful as his current mission is. —

  After a few moments, Luci watched Karl as he looked out over the city ahead, unaware that he was being observed by her from a considerable distance. She was on another building, kilometers away, still within the center of Tokyo.

  Luci had her father Yael's permission to forcibly intervene in Karl's mission, should he lose his sanity and, consequently, control over his special abilities, as had happened a few times during moments of extreme emotional peaks.

  Karl's current mission was one of the ones most likely to cause that, since only a few minutes earlier he had discovered what that despicable Oculi man had shown him in his mind after a brief synchronization of their essences.

  Luci, even as the commander of Karl and Karla—who were, at present, the only two survivors of the genetic tests for human–Oculi hybrids—felt an instinctive older-sister bond toward them both.

  Even though Luci did not want to admit it to anyone, not even to herself, for fear that it might become a weakness to be used against her by enemies in the future.

  [Luci – Emotional Whisper & Slightly Trembling] ...I'm trying, even in the most painful way, even for myself, to make him... [Slightly faltering breath] awaken on his own before the darkness that is surrounding his heart and changing his essence with each passing day! —

  Luci knew the painful past of the siblings Karl and Karla, and what they went through during the treatment process of their little sister, Suzi. And later, the premature death of their sister before she could undergo her final surgery, after so many months confined to a hospital bed in treatment.

  Simultaneously with those months of Suzi's pain through treatments and surgeries, while still under ten years old, Karl and Karla endured harsh months of tests and training to become stronger, so that the Sagittarius Corporation would not withdraw the hospital funding for their little sister, Suzi.

  After so many months, Karl and Karla finally managed to survive all the genetic tests, which was the requirement imposed by the Sagittarius organization for their little sister to be released from the hospital where she had been admitted.

  At that time, Karl, the eldest brother, Karla, the middle sister, and Suzi, the youngest still a child, were two poor pre-teens (Karl and Karla) and one child (Suzi) who had no family to financially support them, living as street scavengers after losing their only home in a great fire.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  After so much pain and finally succeeding in the last process to become human–Oculi hybrids, Karl and Karla were still not favored by fate when it came to their beloved little sister, Suzi.

  She ended up passing away painlessly, already extremely weakened after so many post-surgical procedures, before she could finally undergo her last surgery and leave the hospital where she had spent months lying in a bed, unable to walk even once.

  Young Suzi died before the eyes of Karla and Karl, holding Karl's hand and crying in a comforting way as she remained beside her family, to whom she felt grateful even in the face of that gradual sensation of relaxation spreading through her entire body.

  Karl and Karla cried for days after Suzi's funeral. Miss Luci stayed by the siblings' side, taking care of them in case they needed to talk, even though at that time Karl and Karla were only 14 years old, and Luci was 16.

  When Mr. Yael learned of the premature death of Karl and Karla's little sister, he realized how much he would need to use all his strength so that his own daughter, Luci, would never feel a pain similar to what the two siblings had experienced when they lost Suzi.

  [Luci — Painful & Slightly Trembling Whisper] Back then, at your side, training mainly with Karl, your burning essence made me see hope on the uncertain horizon that appeared before the endless battles in the shadows against the Oculi. —

  Young Suzi was an indirect victim of a battle between the Oculi and the humans of the Sagittarius Corporation. She was struck during the "crossfire" of the clash by debris and was gravely injured in her head and body.

  In the present, sitting on the terrace, Luci, with her eyes completely white, without any trace of irises, formed a hopeful expression on her face as she observed Karl at that moment.

  [Luci — Hopeful & Slightly Emotional Whisper] Karl, after the death of your youngest little sister, Suzi, became the only remaining light for Karla, who now has you as her last safe harbor, since her entire family has been reduced to only you after Suzi's premature departure at the age of seven. —

  She chose to trust Karl's heart rather than intervene and lose the chance to see with her own eyes whether the darkness in his heart had taken him in body and soul.

  After these last three years of so many missions against the Inanis faction and their Oculi, Luci formed a hopeful smile on her lips, trying to hide her deep concern in the face of the intense pain Karl showed in his expression.

  After everything he had learned about the last victim of that Oculi, immobilized and gravely wounded on the terrace where he was at that very moment, Miss Luci, with her special abilities that granted her an extremely enhanced vision over long distances, could see it all clearly.

  [Luci — Emotional & Slightly Trembling Whisper] And I do not wish, in any way, to lose the two best friends I have within the Sagittarius organization. After everything I have discovered over these last three years, fighting against those damn Oculi hidden from most of humanity. —

  Even with Karl being almost 10 kilometers away, on the terrace of the restaurant Kogana no Douragon, where he was carrying out his current mission, his sister Karla was inside the restaurant.

  She was undertaking a more important mission due to the high-class Asian event that was taking place at that very moment. Before even thinking about moving closer, Karl felt a bad sensation tightening in his chest.

  [Luci — Whispering Emotionally & Slightly Trembling] Sagittarius is commanded by those four idiots of the great council, who are subordinate to that damned and lunatic man, Mr. Omega. —

  Karl looked downward, painfully distant, without gazing at the city in front of him on the terrace.

  [Yael's Understanding & Hopeful Sigh Through the Communicator]

  In a unique way, their hearts, even while far apart, synchronized. Luci knew, inexplicably, that Karl was thinking about things far too heavy for him.

  Her words echoed, sounding like something not from the present, but from a distant memory now being heard inside Yael's mind on the other side of the communicator line:

  — "What drives us to move forward in the face of darkness is understanding how the pain of loss in our hearts can be transformed into strength through the tears that fall from our eyes." [Deep & Comforting Sigh] —

  This made Yael realize how much time had passed, and how moments like these, which he had lived in the past, repeated themselves in a painful, yet necessary way.

  The tone of his little Luci's voice conveyed comfort and the feeling of a safe harbor in the face of the darkness he had lived through in the past.

  And yet, it resonated nostalgically with the present that Luci was now experiencing, as she worried so deeply about Karl.

  [Little Luci from the Past] Daddy... Mom always used to say that to us when we were sad, crying, or thinking about giving up, remember... Daddy? [Deep & Comforting Sigh] —

  [(Yael's Thought in the Present) Sometimes, it feels like we are always changing sides, now that it is only the two of us after that day so full of pain.]

  Miss Luci, seated at a distance, was speaking with her father, Yael, on the other end of the communicator line in her ear.

  [(Yael's Thought in the Present) With your mother no longer here to take care of our hearts, and your little sister now distant among the stars beside her, my little Luci.]

  Yael spoke in a tone that made Luci feel her body shiver in a unique way, as only her father could make her feel. He had become the only safe harbor on the entire planet.

  [Yael — Hopeful and Nostalgic Voice] "What motivates us to move forward in the face of darkness is the understanding of how the pain in our hearts..." [Deep and Comforting Sigh] —

  [Luci's Slightly Broken and Unbelieving Sigh]

  [Yael — Hopeful and Nostalgic Voice] "...Can be transformed into strength in the face of the tears that fall from our eyes." [Deep and Comforting Sigh] —

  [Luci — Broken and Slightly Trembling Whisper] Dad... —

  Those words, which she had heard so many times in the past from her mother, who had passed away so many years ago, were exactly what she needed to hear, and not from just anyone.

  [Yael — Proud and Nostalgic Voice] Daughter, I hope you haven't forgotten the phrase you said to me when you were young and not even ten years old yet. —

  But yes, it had to come from the last person remaining of her family in the present. She remembered the past, when she saw her father cry and, before hugging him, she spoke those words to try to comfort him, even without fully understanding them because she was too young.

  [Yael — Proud and Nostalgic Voice] When you saw me crying, about to lose all hope after losing your mother before my eyes in that room, where I couldn't get in in time to save her from herself. —

  [Echoing of a Single Gunshot from a Distant and Far Too Painful Past]

  Luci felt her chest tighten and her mind vividly recall her mother crying with a gun pointed at her own head inside the room, wishing to find Luci's little sister, who had been killed by the Oculi.

  [Echoing the Muffled and Emotional Words of Yael's Wife from the Past]

  She knew that her mother, even while saying those words, had lost her sanity in the face of the extreme pain of losing such a young daughter, and still could not seek justice, because the culprits were not human, but the Oculi.

  [Echoing the Muffled and Furious Cries of Yael's Wife from the Past]

  At that time, the Oculi could neither be judged nor killed, and for Yael, the situation was even more difficult, for he was the leader of the investigations for the Sagittarius organization.

  [Echoing the Muffled and Desperate Whispers of Yael's Wife from the Past]

  It was Yael who swore, on his own life, to seek justice for the daughter he had lost, but time stripped away the few remaining hopes from the heart already covered in darkness of his wife.

  [Echoing the Muffled and Painful Words of Yael's Wife from the Past]

  And so, she ended up succumbing to the darkness in the face of pain, locked in the room while Yael tried to break down the door, and his eldest daughter, Luci, still a child and without understanding, heard her last words of pain to her husband.

  [Echoing the Muffled and Anguished Screams of Yael's Wife from the Past]

  Then she pulled the trigger, silencing the world for Yael for so many consecutive minutes, until Luci embraced him hours later, bringing light to the darkness of her father's heart, after having seen her mother leave the world in such a terrifying way.

  [Yael — Proud and Slightly Emotional Voice] Today, older, I see that when you, still a child, quoted that same phrase of your mother to me in that painful moment, where only a few hours earlier, in a distant past... —

  [Luci — Broken and Slightly Trembling Whisper] Dad... —

  [Yael — Painful and Slightly Emotional Voice] ...before our eyes, we were forced to watch your beloved mother take her own life in that room, which after that seemed to steal all the sound from the world for me. —

  [Echoing from the Past — Yael's Strong, Incessant, and Desperate Banging Against the Door]

  [Yael — Painful and Slightly Emotional Voice] That was the most painful moment of my life, when... I could not get in, even using all my strength against that damned door. —

  [Yael — Painful and Slightly Emotional Voice] The door your mother had closed, separating us both outside the room. Her own darkness now filled the entire room around her as she held that gun to her head, while she cried... —

  Yael, on the other end of the communicator line, was seated in his chair, in his office, holding the photo that, to him, was the greatest treasure he had ever obtained in life.

  It was the photo of his family gathered on their first Christmas together after his youngest daughter had turned one year old, years ago, in simpler times, when there were four of them and not only Yael and Luci, as in the present.

  He could not show that he was crying, but Luci, being his daughter, knew he was, even if silently at that very moment.

  And then, Yael's last words to his daughter, before hanging up to take care of some matters, were nothing less than the confession he had made many times before.

  [Yael — Motivated and Proud Voice] I would not be strong today if I had not understood, with your help, what pain can become, my eternal little Luci. [Deep and Affectionate Sigh] —

  This time, there was a much deeper meaning behind those words, especially for Luci, as she looked at her best friend, Karl, who was so many kilometers away.

  Karl raised his gaze toward the city before him, and Luci could notice in his eyes the vast distance that showed how the pain was about to extinguish the last spark of light in his heart.

  [Echoing Painful Words of Young Karl — From the Past] Please... [Heavy, Deep Breath] —

  Luci felt her world slow down, and all the once-vibrant colors of the world lost their shine, giving her the sensation that her heart was aching and her mind became completely blank.

  [Echoing Painful Words of Young Karl — From the Past] Miss Luci... [Heavy, Deep Breath] —