One piece: Without a system, I have to survive!

The battlefield was eerily silent as we surveyed the aftermath. Zephyr's body, now lying motionless on the ground, left us wondering what we had truly defeated. Even though the physical fight was over, the weight of the unanswered questions lingered in the air.

Smoker, who had been unusually quiet, crouched beside Zephyr's body, his eyes scanning for something.

"What is it?" I asked, approaching cautiously.

Smoker didn't look up but gestured for us to come closer. "There's something off about him."

I glanced at the wreckage around us—burnt and broken. The remnants of battle still clung to the air, but the sight of Zephyr's defeated form only left me with an unsettling feeling.

Shira and Selene stood by, tense and watchful, but even they knew better than to question Smoker when he was this focused.

"We have to figure out what really happened," Smoker muttered. "Zephyr... he wasn't just a rogue admiral. He was a weapon—one that was created for something much larger than just personal revenge."

"Created?" I asked, my curiosity piqued.

"Yeah. His body isn't entirely human. Parts of it were augmented with tech—dangerous tech. I didn't get the full details, but the Navy's been involved in projects like this for a long time. Zephyr wasn't just an Admiral—he was a tool in a much bigger plan."

That sent a cold shiver down my spine. A weapon, not just a man. Zephyr's thirst for power, his cold cruelty, all of it was driven by something more sinister.

"What was his mission?" Selene asked, her voice quiet but intense.

Smoker shook his head. "I don't know, but we're going to find out. The real battle begins now."

⚔🔥🔥🔥

I looked at Zephyr's remains once more. The glowing core inside his chest—still faintly pulsing—was unlike anything I had ever seen. It was clearly advanced, even beyond the Navy's current tech. Something wasn't right.

"What do you think it does?" Shira asked, stepping closer.

"I don't know, but it's likely the source of his power," Smoker answered. "We need to get it out of there. If it's part of whatever dark project they were working on, it could still be dangerous."

"We'll take it," I said, stepping forward. "We'll destroy whatever it is. No one should have this kind of power."

Smoker looked at me, his gaze hardening. "It's not that simple. We need to find out what it is first—what it's connected to. This could be part of something much bigger."

The tension in the air grew heavier as I considered his words. If this was part of some larger plot, we couldn't just destroy it without understanding its implications.

⚔🔥🔥🔥

As we prepared to leave, Smoker pulled out a small device from his coat, activating it to collect data from Zephyr's body. "This will help us analyze the core and figure out how it works," he explained.

"Where do we go from here?" I asked, my mind racing with possibilities.

Smoker looked up, eyes narrowing. "We need to head to the Navy base. If this core is part of a larger weapon program, the answers will be there."

I felt a knot form in my stomach. Heading into the heart of enemy territory was no small decision. But we had no choice. If we were going to stop whatever Zephyr had started, we needed to find the source.

"We'll need to be careful," Selene warned. "The Navy's not going to take kindly to this. And there's no telling what else they've been hiding."

"Right," Shira added, her hand tightening around her katana. "We'll stick together. We face whatever's coming next."

⚔🔥🔥🔥

The journey to the Navy base was long and treacherous. We moved cautiously through the mountains, using every trick we knew to avoid detection. The closer we got to the base, the more on edge we became.

We had to be careful not to leave a trace. The slightest mistake could tip off the entire Navy, and we'd be facing an army instead of just a rogue admiral.

Finally, after days of travel, we arrived at the outskirts of the base. From a distance, we could see the towering walls and the heavily armed guards patrolling the perimeter.

"This is it," Smoker whispered. "Stay low and stay quiet. We're not here for a fight—we're here to gather intel."

I nodded, the weight of what was about to happen settling over me. We had no backup, no reinforcements. It was just us against the might of the Navy.

And we had no idea what we were about to uncover.