Ash's eyes lingered on the final word glowing on the screen.
Love you.
Evy's voice rose in his mind, bright and certain, the way she always said it. She had once told him to answer every time. To say it back. No matter what.
But the words stayed trapped in his throat, even now.
Evy had always been family. Not by blood, but closer than any sister he could have imagined. They had grown side by side until her smile felt like home. Yet he was never blind to the truth. She liked him. Not the way he liked her.
His chest pulled tight. He forced himself to breathe, to let the warmth linger for just a moment longer before it slipped away.
A fingertip brushed the glass. The chat collapsed, the words fading with it.
The interface shifted. A new feed unfolded.
He almost dismissed it, until he saw her.
Blue hair, cut to frame her face. Glasses that belonged there. A beauty that didn't ask for notice. Even the lab coat couldn't bury it. He knew that coat. He knew her.
The headline followed.
[The Daughter of the Ice King, Selena Frost, Abandons Her Work to Join Team Vortex on Their Space Mission]
Ash's mouth bent into a faint grin.
"So people really post things like this. Probably the academy's way of letting off steam. Max is going to love it… she stole his place after all."
His gaze slid to the subtext. She had been buried in the Frostspire Engine, a device meant to freeze entire cities, first to preserve life during disasters, and second to repel what threatened it. Three years of work. A project that could rewrite survival itself. And then, without a word, she left it all. Packed up. Signed on with Team Vortex.
Ash stopped reading. The rest was noise. He knew her better than headlines. Selena had always been family too. Not by blood, but close enough that it never mattered.
The feed shifted again.
A new headline burned across the screen.
[Flame's Big Decision – Is This the Right Idea for His Kid?]
Ash's expression flattened.
His thumb hovered, then pressed. The video opened.
Two men sat across from one another at a polished table. One wore a black coat sharp enough to belong on a magazine cover. The other, older, with a trimmed gray beard, looked plain in comparison—his coat the kind favored by teachers who valued order more than presence.
The younger leaned in, voice cutting through the quiet hum of the broadcast.
"Team Vortex is taking on another space mission, and their leader made a surprising call. So, what's your take on Flame adding Ashley Burns to the roster? Everyone knows about the kid's… problem with his Soul Stage. What do you think?"
The older man straightened, fingers brushing his collar before he answered.
"I think it's a mistake. The sons of Flame are strong, yes. But the youngest? He's too young. Fifteen, isn't he?"
Ash muttered under his breath.
"Sixteen."
"At the very least," the man continued, "he should join the proper way. Finish the Academy. Compete in the tournament. Earn the place like everyone else. Instead, Flame places him directly. It's unfair."
The host leaned closer, eyes sharp with curiosity.
"Maybe you don't know this, but I've heard from other students that Ashley hasn't been himself. He hasn't been attending classes. As a lecturer, can you tell us why? Surely it has nothing to do with the death of his mother… right?"
Ash's jaw tightened.
The older man drew a long, measured breath.
"Sadly, it does. After she died, he stopped showing up. I even brought it to the head of the Academy. He told me to give the boy more time. That Ash had endured something painful."
"Well," the younger man said lightly, "it looks like he did."
But Lucard didn't stop.
"Time… pity… it all runs out. Days turn to months, months into two years. Everyone loses someone. I lost my mother too—you don't see me locking myself away. His fool of a father—"
"Mm, okay, Mr. Lucard, maybe we should—"
But Lucard pressed forward, voice tightening.
"Flame hides behind lies. He claims the boy is training in private. I don't buy it."
"Mr. Lucard—"
"Ashley Burns," he said, looking directly into the lens. "I don't care who you are, or what blood runs in you. You are a failure to the Acade…"
The feed cut. Headlines spilled across the bottom of the screen.
Ash watched the glow linger on the glass.
"…Not surprised. That man always hated the Burns family."
A small laugh left him, bitter and low.
"Kael must've really done a number on his house."
A sharp, echoing beep filled the cabin. Ash didn't move. He already knew what it meant, arrival, or a summons to the front.
He rose slowly, the wakizashi brushing against his knee as he stood. His breath left him in a single thread.
"If only they knew… me leaving the city was best for all of them. They wouldn't call me a failure. They wouldn't want me back. Not if they knew what's buried in my soulroots."
He slipped the band from his wrist and set it on the chair. He always did this before missions. Better to leave it behind than see it cracked or burned in whatever chaos waited ahead.
Crossing the cabin, he touched the iron door. It slid open with a hiss.
The sight beyond made his breath catch.
A vast viewport stretched across the wall, showing the abyss outside. Shattered fragments drifted through the black, pale starlight cutting sharp edges along their tumbling paths. Asteroid clusters wheeled slowly, glinting like broken glass under distant suns.
But none of it mattered.
The fleet did.
An armada of ships filled the void, their hulks bristling with weapon arrays, every gun fixed on his vessel.
Ash stepped closer, gaze drawn past them. Beyond the fleet, a giant asteroid hung in the dark like a sleeping titan. Its surface was jagged and split with glowing fissures, each pulse crawling like veins of fire beneath stone. Even from here it dwarfed the surrounding debris. No wonder Apex wanted it.
At the forward station, Kael stood grinning, his reflection sharp in the glass. The sight of so many weapons trained on them only seemed to stoke his hunger.
Ash eyes shifted to the pilot's seat.
"So. Max. What now?"
Max swiveled around. His black hair fell over eyes lined with exhaustion, the kind carved by too many sleepless nights. His armor gleamed with segmented plates, cables and faint light strips running along the seams into the collar where a respirator and comms unit pulsed. A suit built for survival in places where men weren't meant to breathe.
"We're here," he said flatly. "So we go for it. Forget the stealth plan."
Kael barked a laugh, sharp and eager.
"Haha! I knew you were gonna ditch that coward plan."
Ash's eyes narrowed.
"Max. Let's turn back. This looks too dangerous."
Max glanced at Ash's face, reading the worry carved there. He opened his mouth, but Kael spoke first.
"Turn back? But the fun's only begun. Didn't you say you wanted to die? This is the perfect chance."
Max sighed.
"Don't listen to him, Ash. You know how stupid he gets when a fight's right in front of him. You don't need to worry. Just like you, we haven't filled our soulroots yet. That makes us basically immortal. Isn't that why you joined Team Vortex and left the city in the first place?"
He studied Ash again. The boy's expression hadn't changed. The worry clung to him like a shadow. Max turned back to the viewport, his voice lower now.
"Besides… I don't think we can outrun them. If I turn this ship around and they fire, we're finished. Our only option is to fight through and find a way to land on the asteroid. Once we're there, we'll figure out the rest."
Ash's gaze shifted between his brothers. He hated to admit it, but Max was right. They were trapped. Turning back meant death. The soulroots protected them from dying, yes—but Ash knew his own was different. His soulroot felt like a curse, one that carried death for anyone too close. Far superior, and far more dangerous.
Then Kael's eyes narrowed, his grin slipping into curiosity.
"Huh. What's that?"
He pointed at the screen. A jagged pulse crawled across the feed, a signal rising and falling too fast to follow.
Max leaned forward, confusion etching his face.
"It's a soundwave coming from the asteroid. But… strange. It's detecting countless hammering strikes. Almost like…"
His voice faltered.
"Almost like people mining it."