Slipping through the ancient stone corridors of the castle was almost too easy.
Gamma moved like a phantom, his cloaking device rendering him nearly invisible to the primitive sentries patrolling the hallways. He had faced infrared scanners, motion detection drones, and full-spectrum surveillance systems in past warzones—these medieval warriors had none of that. They relied on torchlight and their own limited senses, both of which failed them against someone like him.
Their armor clinked as they passed, oblivious. To them, he was nothing more than a whisper of wind, a passing shadow in the dim light.
He kept moving, silent and methodical.
Up ahead, a pair of guards stood at an intersection, speaking in hushed voices.
"So, did you hear what the general said?"
"Yeah. They say angels fell from the sky and turned the tide of the Ironspire Bastion siege."
"Can you believe it? Actual divine beings, fighting alongside us?"
Gamma's steps faltered for a fraction of a second.
Angels.
Were they talking about actual celestial beings from this world’s mythology? Or was this something else? Something more... familiar?
His gut told him the truth was something worse. It always was.
"The heroes will have those angels as their guardians, can you imagine?"
"Guardian angels. With their help, we’re definitely winning this war."
War.
It never changed. No matter the planet, no matter the species, war always found a way to thrive.
Gamma clenched his fists and moved on, tracking Gia’s location. His PDA pulsed softly, guiding him through the labyrinthine structure. The air inside was damp, heavy with the scent of old wood, burning oil, and something faintly metallic—blood.
Then, he found it.
A heavy wooden door stood at the end of the corridor.
He reached for the handle—only to find it wouldn’t budge. Locked.
Gamma exhaled sharply, raising his sidearm. He pressed the silencer against the lock and fired. The muffled pop wasn’t loud enough to raise an alarm, but the metal knob shattered into splinters. The door creaked open, revealing the room beyond.
And what he saw made his blood run cold.
Gia was there.
But not as he had hoped.
She lay on the bed, bound at the wrists and ankles, her barely clothed body covered in bruises and scratches. Her antennae twitched weakly, her chest rising and falling in shallow, pained breaths.
Gamma's fingers tightened around his pistol. A cold fury shot through his veins, burning away any trace of hesitation.
"Gia!"
A faint, pained groan escaped her lips. Her eyes fluttered open for a brief moment, glassy and unfocused.
Then—
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A sound from behind.
Gamma spun, weapon raised.
A man stood in the doorway. Not a knight. Not a soldier.
A survivor.
A fellow crew member.
"Frank?"
The human in the worn jumpsuit took a hesitant step forward. His eyes flickered between Gamma’s armored form and Gia’s limp body.
"Who are you?"
Gamma frowned beneath his helmet.
"It’s me. Gamma."
Frank’s face remained blank.
"Who?"
Gamma clenched his jaw.
"The Altian who kept the cargo. You survived?"
Frank hesitated, then slowly nodded.
"Barely."
Gamma’s mind raced. Frank had been part of the Perseus crew, just like Gia. If he survived… did that mean others had too?
"What the hell happened to Gia?"
Frank opened his mouth, but before he could answer, Gamma cut him off.
"Never mind. We need to move. Get her untied—I’ll cover us. We need to get out imme—"
A gunshot.
The sharp crack of a pistol echoed through the room.
For a moment, nothing moved.
Then, pain bloomed in the back of Gamma’s skull.
His vision blurred, darkness creeping at the edges. His limbs trembled. His knees buckled.
He fell.
Gia lay motionless beside him.
And that’s when he realized—
She wasn’t breathing.
Not because of the gunshot.
She had been dead for minutes.
Monsters in Human Skin
Gamma’s breath came in ragged gasps.
"Frank… what did you do?"
Frank took a slow step back, his pistol still trembling in his hand.
"You’re… still alive?"
Gamma pushed himself up, his enhanced armor struggling to compensate for the impact. His vision swam, the pain still hammering at the back of his head. But he didn’t care.
His fingers curled into fists.
"How dare you."
His voice was barely a whisper. But it was filled with pure, unfiltered rage.
Frank swallowed hard.
"It was an order."
Gamma’s eyes darkened.
"From who?"
Frank hesitated. Then, softly:
"Hiro."
The name hit Gamma like a fist to the gut.
"Why?"
Frank took a shuddering breath.
"We’ve been here for a week, Gamma. Hiro said we had to... ‘clean up.’ Any non-human survivors? Had to be eliminated."
Gamma’s entire body trembled with anger. He grabbed Frank by the throat and slammed him against the stone wall.
"Why?!"
Frank gasped, clawing at Gamma’s grip.
"The people here… the locals… they think you’re demons."
Gamma’s fingers tightened around Frank’s neck.
"And you? What do they call you?"
Frank coughed, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Angels."
Gamma stared at him.
The rage in his chest burned hotter than any battlefield he had ever stood on.
Slowly, he looked down at Gia’s lifeless form.
Her once vibrant eyes were now dull. Empty.
His friend. His comrade. His family.
Murdered.
Because she wasn’t human.
"Traitor."
The word left his lips as barely a whisper.
Then, without hesitation, he pulled back his armored fist—
—and crushed Frank’s skull in one devastating blow.
Gamma fell to his knees beside Gia’s body.
His breath was shaky. His mind was a storm of emotions he couldn’t control.
Betrayal.
Anger.
Sorrow.
He barely noticed the movement outside the room. The muffled footsteps. The quiet murmurs.
When he finally looked up, he saw them.
A crowd of knights.
Their weapons drawn.
Their leader, a knight clad in blackened steel, took a slow step forward. His cold, expressionless eyes locked onto Gamma.
Then, with a silent command—
He lunged forward, sword raised high.
Gamma barely had time to react before the blade came down.
The world went black.
A war between humans and demons.
And he was already in the middle of it.
