Chapter 25: Silent Betrayal
The air inside the barracks was thick with tension. Ryo sat on the edge of his cot, wrapping fresh gauze around a bruise still bleeding through the bandages. His fight with Garo had left deep wounds—on his body, and more deeply, in his spirit.
The silence was broken by a whisper at the door.
"It's time."
Ryo looked up. It was Sera, a quiet fighter who'd joined their secret alliance days ago. She rarely spoke unless necessary—but her presence had always felt… reliable. Steady. Even comforting.
Tonight, though, something was off.
Her eyes wouldn't meet his. Her voice lacked its usual calm.
"Where's Taro?" Ryo asked, standing.
"He's already waiting. This is the move."
They had planned it for days. A covert meeting between the allied fighters, far from the surveillance zones. It was time to strategize—perhaps even to escape.
But as they moved through the darkened hallways beneath the Maw, Ryo couldn't shake the sense of something wrong. Sera's footsteps were too fast. Her silence too heavy.
Then they arrived.
A dimly lit underground corridor lined with steel doors. Ryo stepped inside first.
And that's when everything collapsed.
The door slammed shut behind him. Bolts locked.
Red lights flared.
A mechanical hiss filled the air, and from the vents above, gas began to seep down.
Ryo turned, slamming his fists into the metal door. "Sera!"
But she was gone.
Back in the control room, Sera stood beside one of the overseers of the Maw.
"He's secure?" the man asked.
Sera nodded, her face unreadable. "He won't escape that room. Not until the transformation takes full hold."
"You did well. We'll boost your standing."
But as the man walked away, Sera turned toward the screen showing Ryo trapped inside.
Her fists trembled.
"I'm sorry…" she whispered.
Inside the gas chamber, Ryo coughed violently. The air was thick with a sedative compound—meant to weaken him. To make him vulnerable.
His vision blurred.
The serum in his bloodstream reacted violently, heating, pulsing. Whispers returned—faint voices clawing at the edges of his mind.
You're alone.
They've turned on you.
Let go, Ryo. Let the Beast take control.
He dropped to one knee, fighting the haze.
"No… no, not like this…"
Flashbacks flickered—Ren's face. Garo's regret. Daigo's death.
Was it all for nothing?
And then—
A sound. Scraping.
Ryo looked up through watery eyes. The vent on the wall—someone was opening it.
A figure crawled through. Short. Small.
Taro.
He dropped down into the room, coughing as the gas touched him.
"You're—insane," Ryo rasped. "You'll—die in here."
"You're the insane one," Taro grinned. "Trusting anyone in this place."
He held out a small device—an override chip.
"Found this in the control room yesterday. In case someone tried something stupid."
He jammed it into the control panel by the door.
The lights flickered, the gas stopped, and the door bolts hissed open.
They staggered out into the hallway, Ryo leaning heavily on Taro.
"Who… set me up?" Ryo asked, coughing.
Taro hesitated.
"Sera."
Ryo froze.
The betrayal landed harder than any blow he'd taken in the arena.
"She warned me about trust," he muttered. "And I believed her…"
Back in the fighter barracks, whispers spread like wildfire.
Some said Ryo had been executed. Others claimed he'd gone rogue.
But then—he returned.
Wounded, silent, eyes colder than ice.
He walked past the others, bloodied but alive. And when he saw Sera across the corridor, their eyes met.
She flinched.
Ryo said nothing.
But he didn't have to.
The silence between them was louder than a scream.
That night, Taro sat beside Ryo, handing him a stolen ration.
"You gonna kill her?" he asked.
Ryo didn't answer immediately.
"I don't know," he finally said. "Part of me wants to."
"Because of the betrayal?"
"No," Ryo whispered. "Because she reminded me how easy it is to lose your way in this place. And how close I am to becoming something I hate."
He looked at his bandaged hands.
"I need to survive. But not at the cost of who I am."
The next morning, Sera was gone.
No one knew where she'd been taken.
But a message was left behind—scratched into the metal wall with a nail.
"I had no choice. I did what I had to do to stay alive. I'm sorry."
Ryo stared at the words, unmoving.
"Another scar," he muttered.
Taro looked at him. "You okay?"
Ryo turned, his expression hardened—but calm.
"No. But I'm learning how to live with the pain."
And with that, he walked toward the next trial.
The trust was shattered.
But the fire inside him burned hotter than ever.
The end was coming.
And Ryo was ready.