Chapter 9 Rank A

CHAPTER 9: Rank A

"Rank A," Lyra said quietly, not moving from the window. "Alone. Out here."

"That's not normal," Kane said.

"No. It isn't."

Below them, Seran waited with his hands still raised, patient, like he had nowhere else to be tonight.

"Let him up," Kane said.

Her head snapped toward him. "You're joking."

"He could've called in a squad already if he wanted us dead. Instead he's standing there with his hands up."

"That doesn't mean we trust him."

"Didn't say trust. Said let him up. We can change our minds after."

She held his gaze a long moment, jaw tight, before turning back to the window.

"Come up," she called down. "Slowly. Hands where I can see them."

Seran climbed the tower steps at an easy pace, and the moment he stepped into the room, his eyes went straight to Kane's panel.

NAME: SERAN VALE. CLASS: SOVEREIGN KNIGHT RANK A. AGE: 24. STATUS: ACTIVE REGISTRY AUTHORITY.

Kane read it clean, no fragments this time, and kept his face neutral even as his pulse spiked.

Seran's gaze drifted just past Kane's shoulder, unfocused, the way someone looks when trying to see something that keeps slipping.

"I can't see you clearly," he said. "My detection is one of the best activities in the Registry. That shouldn't be possible."

"I'm Kane." He stepped directly into the man's line of sight. "I'm Null. You said you need to talk."

Something sharpened in Seran's expression the moment Kane placed himself in front of him, quick and clinical, gone as fast as it came.

"An anomaly was logged twelve hours ago," Seran said. "An unregistered entity absorbed a skill remnant. I've never seen a notification like that in my life."

"That was me."

"I assumed."

"Thoughtful of you," Kane said, "coming all this way to ask."

"I'm practical," Seran said, missing the dry edge completely. "What you did shouldn't be possible. That makes you interesting to me."

Lyra stepped forward, sword still loose in her hand. "What does the Registry Authority actually know?"

"About him specifically, the anomaly log. And a ghost report from the hunter who ran west. He logged it as a self-termination."

"He lied," Kane said.

"He covered his own failure. Not loyalty. Fear."

Kane glanced at Lyra. Neither of those things bought them much time, but it bought something.

"How do you two know each other?" Kane asked, watching how stiff they'd both gone in the same room.

"We don't," Lyra said.

"We trained under the same Registry program," Seran said, almost the same instant.

They looked at each other. Her jaw tightened.

"Ancient history," she said.

Seran didn't argue with that, though something behind his eyes said the history wasn't nearly as ancient as she wanted it to sound.

Kane filed it away and didn't push. Not yet.

"What do you actually want?" he said.

"I'll guide you to the northern gate. Force an exemption on the lockdown. In exchange, I want to observe you. How you interact with the System."

"You want to study with me."

"Yes."

"And if what you learn makes you turn me in."

Seran met his eyes without flinching. "Then you'll have made a mistake trusting me."

Kane almost laughed. It wasn't the reassurance he wanted, but the honesty landed better than a lie would have.

"Deal," he said.

Lyra shot him a look. "Kane."

"We need the gate open. He's the only one here who can do that."

She didn't look happy, but she didn't argue either. She sheathed her sword, hand still close to the hilt.

"I'll take the first watch," Seran said, already moving toward the window.

"I have my first watch," Lyra said.

"You're injured. I'm not." His tone left no room for it. "I'll wake you if anything changes."

She opened her mouth, closed it, exhaustion winning out over pride. She sat down near Kane, sword across her knees, and within minutes her breathing slowed into something close to real sleep.

Kane stayed up longer, watching Seran's still shape at the window.

"You're not sleeping," Seran said, without turning.

"Neither are you."

"I don't need much."

Kane sat with that a moment. "Why help us? Really."

Seran was quiet long enough that Kane thought he wouldn't answer at all.

"Something's been wrong with the Registry for a long time," he said finally. "I've never had proof of it. You might be the first proof I've ever seen."

Kane didn't know what to say to that, so he said nothing, and his eyes closed on their own not long after.

He woke to Seran's voice cutting through the dark, low and sharp.

"Up."

Kane's eyes snapped open. Lyra was already moving, sword in hand.

"What is it?" she said.

Seran stood rigid at the window, eyes fixed on something far off.

"The purge squad. All six of them."

Kane's stomach dropped. "Six."

"Two kilometers south. Moving fast."

"Not the same two from before," Lyra said, already checking her blade.

"No." For the first time since walking into the tower, real concern crept into Seran's voice. "Your timer was flagged. They know you're alive now."

Kane's mouth went dry. "How do you know that?"

Seran turned from the window, and his face gave the answer before he said it out loud.

"Because last time," he said, "two wasn't enough. So this time, they sent all six."