⚔️ MECHANIZED BLOOD BLADE. CHAPTER 4 — MEMORY FRAGMENT ZERO
630 Words
Red targeting beams cut through the smoke, converging on Kazuro’s chest like a constellation of death.
Twelve attack drones hovered above him—sleek, predatory, humming with lethal energy. Their cannons charged with a high-pitched whine that made the air vibrate.
Kazuro lifted the Blood Blade.
“Zero Core,” he whispered, “tell me what I am.”
The weapon’s pulse deepened—
slow, steady, ancient.
“Survive this wave.”
“And I will show you your beginning.”
The first drone fired.
A beam of blue plasma screamed toward him—
Kazuro leapt, slicing downward.
The air cracked as the blade unleashed a shockwave of red light, splitting the plasma beam and cutting the drone cleanly in half.
The others attacked at once.
Kazuro’s world became a storm of fire and steel.
He moved on instinct—no, more than instinct.
His body reacted faster than he could think, every strike guided as if the sword knew where the drones would be before they moved.
One drone slashed.
He twisted beneath it, carving its underside open.
Another targeted his back.
He spun, blade flashing, and the drone exploded into shards of burning metal.
Within seconds, the sky was raining wreckage.
Kazuro dropped to one knee, breathing hard—steam rising from his vents.
“What… what did you unlock?” he muttered.
Zero Core’s voice came softly, almost like a whisper inside his pulse.
“You unlocked nothing.”
“This is what you were always capable of.”
Kazuro clenched his jaw.
“Stop speaking in riddles.
Show me.”
The world around him flickered.
His HUD glitched, tearing open like a cracked mirror.
[MEMORY FRAGMENT ZERO — INITIATING]
WARNING: This file was erased by Central Core Authority.
Manual override detected.
Red light consumed Kazuro’s vision.
Then—
He was somewhere else.
A sterile white room.
A single glass pod in the center.
Doctors in hazmat suits.
A symbol on the wall: ZERO DIVISION.
Inside the pod…
floated a body.
His body.
But younger.
Eyes closed.
Chest cut open.
Mechanical implants not yet fused to bone.
Kazuro staggered forward.
“No… that’s not me. That can’t be—”
The memory continued.
A woman entered the room.
Black coat.
Cold expression.
A datapad glowing in her hand.
“Subject KZ-07,” she said, voice clinical.
“Proceed with consciousness extraction. Prepare the Zero Core.”
Kazuro’s blood ran cold.
Another figure wheeled in a containment case.
Inside it—
A crystal-like core pulsing with violent red energy.
Alive. Ancient.
The Zero Core.
The woman leaned close to Kazuro’s unconscious self.
“Let’s see if your mind can withstand a god.”
Kazuro’s present self gasped.
The memory cracked—fracturing—collapsing.
Too loud.
Too bright.
Too real.
He tore out of the vision with a scream, clutching the Blood Blade as the world snapped back into focus.
He was back on the battlefield.
Alone.
Steam hissing from every part of his armor.
Zero Core spoke again, voice softer than before.
“Now you understand.”
“You were not created to obey.”
“You were created to contain me.”
Kazuro’s hands trembled.
“I… I was a prisoner?”
For the first time, Zero Core hesitated.
“You were more than that.”
“And they killed you once already.”
Kazuro froze.
“What did you just say?”
But before Zero Core could answer, a shadow fell over him.
A massive dropship descended from the clouds—
black, armored, humming with red energy sigils.
Its loudspeaker boomed:
“KZ-07. You are surrounded.”
“Stand down and surrender your weapon.”
Kazuro tightened his grip on the Blood Blade.
His voice was cold.
“Come take it.”
To be continued…
- Writer
