– ??? –

“Welcome home, big brother!” A short girl with long black hair ran up to Finn and wrapped her arms around his waist as he opened the door. That was about the tallest she could reach, but it was the thought that counted.

Subconsciously, Finn smiled and patted the head of his 6-year-old little sister.

“Thanks, Shirley. Where’s mom?”

“In the kitchen!” Shirley replied excitedly, turning around and hollering across the room. “Mom! Big brother’s back from school!”

“Oh, welcome home~” Finn’s mother said warmly, glancing behind her from the kitchen. “I’m just finishing up here, dinner should be ready in about 5 minutes. Go wash your hands and come eat!”

“Alright,” Finn replied, taking off his shoes and heading for the bathroom as his little sister went over to the dinner table to sneakily eat some of the already-prepared dishes. Finn saw this on full display, but merely chuckled and decided to let his little sister go scot-free.

This was his family — his mother and little sister. His father abandoned them for another woman around the same time his little sister was born, and since then, he pretended as if he had no father in the first place. His little sister may seem happy and giddy on the surface, but deep down, she carried that same burden.

Still, the three were happy. Although they weren’t the richest… although they weren’t the most talented… they were a happy, loving family that couldn’t be separated by anything but death.

Finn finished washing his hands and closed the door as he decided to use the bathroom. Once he was finished, he flushed the toilet and rinsed his hands once again, before wiping them dry on a towel and preparing to head out for another delicious dinner handmade by his mother.

But as he opened the door-

In a single instant, he froze. His body’s muscles contracted, he paused swallowing his saliva, and his eyes remained glued open, unable to blink or look away.

Before him, the same familiar scene he had seen once before lay. The same spine-chilling, utterly horrifying scene from that fateful evening.

His mother’s dead body lay mutilated on the ground; his little sister’s tiny frame torn cleanly in half. Blood splattered all over the walls and furniture, enveloped by an encroaching darkness that seemed to swallow everything.

Bits of ribs stuck out of his little sister’s body’s two halves on the stairs, stained with tiny pieces of flesh and gore. Her eyes, one on each half, stared lifelessly at the crimson ceiling, where drops of blood trickled down.

His mother’s face was completely eaten out on the floor, just as he had remembered. The skull and brain were both half-devoured, leaving behind a heap of flesh that could barely be called a corpse.

“No… n-no…”

Finn trembled in fear, body shaking violently as he stumbled backwards and tried to hide himself in the bathroom. But suddenly, an invisible wall appeared behind him and prevented any escape.

“TrYiNg To RuN…?” A faint, eerie whisper spoke directly into Finn’s head.

“NO…! LET ME GO! PLEASE…!”

“NoT tHiS tImE…”

To Finn’s shock and utter horror, a new face suddenly began emerging on his mother’s corpse — the face of a Phantom that he knew so well.

“Ah… AH…!”

The face contorted and spun on his mother’s body, slowly taking control and bringing it to its feet.

“YoU lEfT uS… yOu ShOuLd’Ve StAyEd… DiEd WiTh Us…”

“N-No… STAY AWAY!”

Finn looked around for any sign of a weapon, but his vision was slowly being clouded over by the darkness. The creature made of his mother’s body and a Phantom’s face slowly lumbered closer, drowning out all other sound with every step it took.

“WhY… wHy RuN aWaY…?”

Finn’s body trembled as he tried to push back against the black wall of scribbles behind him, but to no avail.

“Why… WHY-“

[——STATIC——EMERGENCY PROTOCOL———STATIC——]

Finn shot awake on his bed, drenched in sweat and panting heavily. From downstairs, he could hear an alarm that blared loud enough to reach every room in the manor.

“EMERGENCY PROTOCOL ACTIVATED — CODE: SUMMON — EMERGENCY PROTOCOL-“

Shortly after, Archon’s loud voice could be heard over the alert.

“Finn, Ivis, Octane, Storm, Fanatic, and Reaper — get up, NOW! Get your armor and weapons ready, we’re heading out!”

With no time to waste, Finn hurriedly felt around for his armor, but felt something like warm balloons instead.

“Oh my~ you’re groping that place~ mmn~”

“Tch…! I don’t know why you’re here, but… it’s really not the time, Zelestria.” Finn quickly moved his hand away and tried to look elsewhere for his armor, but his blindness really wasn’t helping.

“Yes, yes… your armor’s right here,” she said with a sigh, handing the armor set to Finn. “I was planning on testing your limits tonight too… how unfortunate~”

Finn ignored her remarks and quickly slipped on the armor set and boots, along with his two black fingerless gloves that were actually classified as gauntlets, formally speaking. Zelestria returned to the reality rift to spectate what’s to come as Finn finished getting everything ready.

Adjusting his cloak one final time and making sure his wings weren’t damaged even though he has never used them, he pushed open the door and headed downstairs, where Archon and the others had already gathered. Iris climbed onto his shoulders as usual the moment she spotted him.

“Boss, what’s going on?” Octane asked in confusion.

“An emergency situation has occurred,” Archon replied, heading for the door. “Usually, there are day patrol squadrons and night patrol squadrons, but in cases where the night patrols are overwhelmed, us day patrols must be summoned and step in — that’s what Code: Summon means. Now, follow me!”

“W-Wait!” Iris called out in a panic. “What about Heartbeat…”

“Don’t worry about that!” Archon shouted back, picking up his pace. “Rank-A Squadrons aren’t alerted in these emergency summons unless absolutely necessary!”

Finn furrowed his brows and followed the others using the sound of their rushed footsteps, an uneasy feeling in his heart. Not because he was scared, but because he was concerned about what Archon just said.

‘If the night patrol squadrons truly were overwhelmed, then… we should prepare for one hell of a fight.’