The hospital room where Karu laid in was silent.
Karu Arakizawa lay still beneath white sheets, his body bruised and bandaged, his breathing became more steady but still shallow. The Titan-0 Apex armor had been stripped away and sent for diagnostics. Now, he was just a man—no godlike presence anymore, no weapons, no status at all. Only pale skin, darkened eyes, and a shattered body that had pushed far beyond human limits ever could.
Outside of the hospital room, Emiluna stood at the viewing window, just staring. Jason leaned on the wall beside her, arms crossed. Rylen, quiet, stood at the foot of Karu's bed with a clenched jaw.
"He is still unconscious," Jason muttered.
"He'll wake up eventually," Emiluna said. "He has to right?"
Rylen didn't speak a single word. He didn't need to. The memories swirling behind his tired eyes said enough.
Eleven Years Ago — The Night Everything Changed for Karu Arakizawa
Seventeen-year-old Karu walked alone along the narrow asphalt road that snaked through the industrial outskirts of Shinjuku. It was well past midnight at this point. The only light came from the streetlamps and the pale silver moon. His hands were jammed deep in his pockets, his eyes half-lidded with exhaustion. No music in his ears to cheer him up. No friends by his side to have fun with. Just the shuffle of his sneakers and the whisper of wind.
He was on his way home from a part-time job he always hated. His mother barely looked at him anymore. His father had disappeared five years prior. Life felt like a foggy mirror—cold, blurry, and never reflecting back anything worth seeing.
That's when he saw it.
A creature in the distance. Towering. Misshapen.
He stopped walking instantly.
The figure tilted its head to the side, revealing a fungal crown of twitching spores, wide black eyes, and a gaping mouth split vertically like a rotting mushroom stem. The smell hit him first—decay, rot, the earthy stink of moldy flesh.
Then it screamed at Karu.
Karu's legs moved too slow. The monster sprinted forward, and before he could even let a scream out, its tendrils slammed into his torso, sending him skidding across the gravel. His ribs broke. Blood filled his mouth. He couldn't even breathe properly.
So this is how I die?
He watched in horror as the monster crawled toward him, its limbs pulsating with fungal veins. One more second, and it would've crushed his skull and he´d be dead.
But then—light.
A surge of red energy tore through the air like a meteor strike. A figure landed between Karu and the monster, blade drawn, armor gleaming. A woman in Nightguard black with twin plasma sabers and eyes that glowed with controlled fury.
She didn't speak. She didn't hesitate a second.
In five seconds, the monster was dead and no more then ash.
Karu blacked out.
He woke up in a hospital bed, his chest in bandages, his vision blurry. A Nightguard officer sat beside his bed.
"You're lucky," the man said. "Most don't survive first contact."
Karu didn't feel lucky. He felt hollow.
The Nightguard left after a brief interrogation. No promises, no lectures, just a warning: "Stay away from restricted zones if you wanna live. Or next time, we won't be there to save you."
One Year Later
Karu stood in front of the Nightguard Corps recruitment hall.
He didn't have a plan in mind. He didn't have dreams. All he had was a lingering image of that woman who had saved him that night—a blur of red energy, power, and fearlessness.
He signed the waiver.
He entered the Nighguard Corps Trials.
The Trials – Week 1 & 2: Nothing to Lose
Week One was Physical assessments and theory.
He passed them without doing anything.
Week Two—the Hunt—was more dangerous for Karu.
Recruits were dropped in a simulated urban combat zone. Live monsters between level 4 and 5. Real stakes. No resets.
Karu activated his Apex-0.
His armor wasn't the divine instrument it would later become, but even then, it was an early prototype: exo-skeleton assisted, reinforced limbs, Earth and water control.
He moved like death incarnate.
One clip: three monsters down without breaking a sweat.
At the end of Day 7 of week 2, he had the highest confirmed kill count in the entire field.
But something strange was happening.
A new recruit had matched his total score.
Week 3 — The Battle
The mood changed.
In Week Three, trainees fought each other in a Battle Royale. Real duels. Real pain. If you won, you got points. If you lost, you got humiliated in front of everybody.
Most were afraid of Karu. The armor. The eyes. The cold calculation. They ran away when they saw him.
But the same thing was happening to someone else.
Rylen Minazaku.
His footwork was art. His reflexes were on point. Everyone ran away.
The scorebord after 15 minutes:
Rylen: 1 point.
Karu: 1 point.
Top 5: 2–5 points.
No one wanted to fight the two deadliest recruits.
The staff didn't interfere either. The system was clear—no points, no advancement to the next week.
And there was only one match left for them.
Karu vs. Rylen.
The Battle of the Bottom Two.
Only the top five moved to the final Trial week. Number 5 had 2 points. If Karu or Rylen won, they'd tie and surpass that rank.
But a draw?
Both would be eliminated and and would go home
The arena was silent.
Steel walls towered on all sides, the soundproof glass above filled with instructors and captains watching with their eyes focussed on these 2. The rest of the recruits were also fighting for theit spot.
Karu stood at one end of the field, Apex-0 armor humming quietly around his limbs. His HUD pulsed with data: wind speed, terrain angles, Rylen's stance.
Across from him, Rylen stood with his forearms bloomed into razor‑sharp blades.
"You nervous?" Rylen asked, grinning as he cracked his neck.
"No. Not at all," Karu replied flatly.
"Good. Because I'm not holding back on you."
Then.
Rylen vanished.
Karu didn't blink—his sensors had already tracked Rylen his movements. He spun, deflecting the first blow with his forearm, but Rylen twisted midair, using the momentum to land a kick that landed on Karu's chest plate and sent him staggering back into a building.
The captains were watching closely.
This wasn't just a recruit. Rylen was something else.
They clashed again.
Karu's punches were heavy, calculated, and most of all very brutal. He enabled his wind use and he threw all the iron and metal towards him. Rylen ducked beneath one and shot himself upward, flipping over Karu's head and slamming a heel into his neck joint.
Karu stumbled. His systems recalibrated.
He surged forward.
Boom.
Their fists met midair—Karu in full armor, Rylen with his blades—and the shockwave cracked the arena floor.
Seconds blurred into minutes.
Neither gave up.
Each move was countered with pure instinct, each blow responded to with precision. Kru was stronger. Rylen was faster. But more than that…they understood each other very well. Every strike felt personal. Every dodge, a conversation.
Time dwindled.
Two minutes left on the clock.
The scoreboard hadn't moved.
They were both exhausted—bloodied, breathing unstable, muscles trembling from strain.
Then Rylen got in close.
He slammed Karu to the ground and pinned his shoulders down, locking his arms beneath a perfect hold. The countdown ticked:
"4… 3… 2…"
Karu's heart sank into thr ground. He wasn't strong enough anymore.
This was it.
But then—
Rylen let go of him.
Karu stared up at him in shock. "What… are you doing?"
Rylen exhaled, wiping blood from his mouth.
"You want this more than I do."
"What?"
"I already knew it from the start. You're not here to prove anything. You're here because you have nothing else in your liefe. That armor... that rage... it's all you've got."
He smiled—soft, genuine.
"And I don't need to win today. But you do. Don´t ya?"
Karu froze for a second.
Rylen laid back, pulling Karu's arm across his chest.
"Pin me now."
The buzzer hit zero.
Karu's vision went white.
Later That Day
He was called into the evaluation chamber.
Division 1's Captain stood there—an older man with grey hair, hawk-like eyes, and a presence that seemed to cut through the air.
"You barely made it to the top five," the Captain said.
"I know sir," Karu replied.
"But your performance in Weeks One and Two, combined with your adaptability… and that armor. Apex-0, is it?"
Karu nodded.
"Impressive suit for a recruit. But more than that—your eyes. You've seen death before. You've survived it. That matters."
A pause.
Then: "You're in. Division One. The Higher Ups already agreed."
Karu's jaw clenched.
He bowed.
"Thank you so much, sir."
But the victory was bitter.
Rylen was sent home.
He was eliminated in week 3 of the Trial.
That Night – On the Rooftop
They sat beneath the stars—Karu in his training gear, Rylen beside him with bandages wrapped around his forearm. The moon hung above like a silent witness.
"You let me win today," Karu muttered.
Rylen shrugged. "Yeahh. So?"
"You could've joined The Nightguard Corps. You could've beaten me in that moment."
"Maybe yeah. But you needed it more." He paused. "You know that, right Karu?"
Karu looked away, fists clenched.
"I owe you a big one," he said. "More than I can put into words."
Rylen laughed. "Then consider it a favor. One day, when I ask, you'll pay me back. No questions. No excuses."
Karu turned towards him. "I swear it. I will repay you."
They sat in silence for a while.
Then Rylen stood, offering his hand.
Sunlight broke over the city horizon.
Karu took it.
They shook hands, both smiling.
Flashback – after Lucien was accepted for the death trial
Lucien's eyes narrowed. "Why the hell are you always so calm around Karu?"
Rylen shrugged. "He owes me a big favor remember."
Lucien frowned. "What kind of favor?"
Rylen smirked. "The kind that gave him his future."
The memory lingered like an ember.
Rylen's hand in his. The rising sun over the rooftops. The quiet vow spoken between two rivals who had bled for the same dream they had.
Karu hadn't forgotten a second of that day.
Now, a decade later, he lay motionless in a hospital bed again—his body torn apart, battered, but not broken. Machines hummed rhythmically beside him. Tubes ran from his arms. Monitors flashed vital signs across soft-blue screens. He looked peaceful. As if sleeping.
But the storm within him was far from over.
Inside Karu his mind
He stood once again in that same arena.
Everyone vanished. So had the arena walls. The sky was endless and black, filled with stars that pulsed like memories. Karu looked down at his hands—unarmored, bloodied and broken.
"You're still here Karu," came a voice.
He turned around.
Rylen stood a few feet away, the same cocky grin on his face, wearing the same worn-out trial uniform from ten years ago.
"Am I dreaming right now?"
"More like drifting," Rylen said, looking up at the starry void. "Don't worry. You'll wake up soon."
Karu looked at him. "Why are you here Rylen?"
Rylen stepped forward and tapped Karu's chest. "Because part of you still needs to remember. Who you were. What you owe. You're not just Division One's Captain. You're the guy who was saved by someone the system threw away like he was nothing."
Karu looked away for a moment into the sky.
"I know."
"Do you, though?" Rylen asked. "You wear that armor like a your some kind of god, Karu. But back then, you were just a kid with a cracked rib and no direction at all. You became who you are… because someone else gave up his shot for greatness."
Silence fell.
"I didn't save you so you could act like a weapon," Rylen added. "I did it because I believed you'd become someone who saves others, like the day someone saved you."
Karu's fists clenched.
"I haven't forgotten."
Reality- Back in the hospital room
The sunlight filtered in through the window. Emiluna now sat at Karu's bedside, gently changing the bandages on his arm and chest.
"You're impossible, you know that?" she muttered. "Getting your whole entire chest blown out like it never existed. Did you even think about what would happen if you died?"
She paused, looking at his face.
"…I'm glad you didn't."
Jason walked in quietly, a tray of food in his hands. Rylen followed behind him, hands in his pockets.
"How's he doing Emiluna?" Jason asked.
"Vitals are pretty stable," Emiluna replied. "Still unconscious, but healing."
Rylen approached slowly, eyes fixed on Captain Karu.
"I know what this is," he murmured. "I've seen this look on his face before."
Lucien stepped in a moment later, leaning against the doorframe.
"What look?" he asked.
Rylen didn't answer right away.
Then, softly: "It's the look of someone remembering who they are."
The Rooftop – Present Day (One Week Later)
Karu stood beneath the sky again.
He'd healed enough to walk again—though the pain still lingered in every step he took. But he didn't care. He'd asked to meet Rylen somewhere quiet.
The rooftop spot hadn't changed.
Same broken vents. Same concrete ledge. Same city stretching far beneath.
Rylen arrived moments later, sipping from his tea.
"You called me?"
Karu nodded. "I remembered everything."
Rylen raised an eyebrow.
"That day… the Trials. Our fight. What you did for me back then."
Rylen looked out over the city. "Didn't expect you to forget."
"I never did Rylen," Karu said. "But I buried it. Buried him."
Rylen gave him a sideways glance. "The scared kid?"
Karu nodded.
"I'm not that kid anymore. But he's still in here somewhere. And he still owes you his life."
A long silence passed.
Then, Karu extended his hand.
"For that day. For this one. For everything."
Rylen stared at it for a moment.
Then smiled.
He shook Karu's hand.
Their grips tightened, unspoken history between their fingers.
"I might still collect that favor one day," Rylen said.
Karu smirked. "Didn´t you do that already when i helped you get Lucien into the Nightguard Corps."
'' No that was only a small part of what you have to pay me back,'' Rylen said.
Karu laughed.'' Thats fair.''
The sun dipped low on the horizon, casting the city in hues of fire and gold.
For a brief moment, there was no war in Tokyo. No monsters. No trials.
Just two friends standing where it all began.