January 1st, 2021

“Sven…! What is wrong with you?” Keln’s eyes widened as she watched him, her pale hands grasping at his chest; Sven thrust away her hands, his azure eyes glinting with a sudden anger.

“Get off me, you disgusting human!” Sven thus began to walk forward, his azure eyes staring directly forward. “Don’t you ever lay a finger on me...You disgusting disgraceful creation of God!” Keln’s eyes widened as she was thrust away by him, her heart skipping a beat for a mere moment, her muddy brown eyes staring at him in complete surprise.

“Why do you do this, Sven...? Why do you kill, why do you create such destruction?”

“Oh…you want to know…human…why I want to destroy Kingston Plaza… Do you know…do you know how they created me? Huh…? I didn’t think so… I’ll explain to you…slowly…so that your feeble human mind will understand… On the eve of my Valentines Dance, I was taken hostage by these people, saying that they will be able to create a new world for me…something no one would ever be able to see but me… They experimented on my body, destroyed it, and re-created it…time and time again. My Soul was removed from my body and they stashed it away so that I could be an empty husk of what I was…hollow shell of a human. I was then taken to be experimented on more, still half alive…where they removed my own brain, beginning their wiring of it, and I could feel every inch of wiring that they put into my God damn head…and once that was done…I had finally reached my point of no return…and then I was finally dead…where I could still feel them experimenting on them… My Soul kept my nervous system running…in that Cube, where they stored it, I could watch them do their little deeds on my body…transforming it into a husk that could destroy the world, if needed…they just need to only give the command. I’m…” In that moment, his eyes widened, his azure corneas of color becoming relinquished of all hue, becoming as white as a plain piece of printing paper. His vision became completely blank, nothing but blackness while despair welled up inside of his body, causing him to shake and crumble to his knees.

In seconds, his H.U.D. system activated itself, his bones within his body relinquishing themselves from underneath his skin and melting, the metallic surface spreading to take form of armor-plating, the shoulder guards over his shoulders covering his upper-arms, where they soon spread into black wing-like spikes. His chest slunk behind a vast, sleek and completely flawless plate of metal, which then hugged his clothes and body instantly; his hands lost all feeling underneath their sensitive nerves, the feeling of the metallic plates causing his eyes to widen. As his head rose, it wasn’t cloaked behind the veil of a helmet, however, and in moments, his eyes began to moisturize as tears began to fall down his cheeks, the evident pain almost making him writhe. Within the corneas of his eyes, the pupil began to break itself apart, regaining its normal sphere-like shape distorting itself as the parts of the pupil suddenly began to rotate around the circle; in seconds, the pupil had created a barrier-like shape around itself, half-moons connecting each section to fit exactly around the pupil.

The armor that his body had created vanished, but the H.U.D. system blinked into existence, a small circle waving from left to right as it signaled an G.M.S., which in giant red text, said: Ghost Motion Sensor online, potential hostiles tiled in black, civilians in blue. And on his upper-right, was a meter, one red, and one yellow. He raised his right arm, and the yellow meter slowly began to diminish, and he lifted his left arm, while the red meter diminished itself sloth like as well.

I see…I can only use both of my arms for a certain amount of time…and the right one I can use for some purposes for longer times…while the left seems weaker. I must bypass this if I am to survive, and to survive anything is what my instincts beg for me. There must be a way around this…I’ll find out soon enough.

“Sven…! You can’t just start killing people…you have to find your Ghost partner…! The one whom was selected to be with you while you’re in your Ghost state…” Keln muttered the last bit, her eyes drooping as she lowered her gaze to the ground.

“Ghost partner…?”

“Yes…the one who has Concepts compatible with yours…and she doesn’t match your speed, but matches you in brain power; I’ve read it in my resume`, and had to study it further for me to even think about getting this job. Ghosts are meant to work in pairs…but the test is that they release two, one first, the other sometime later. You, being the first successful Ghost, has to have a harder time to find your own partner, and she will be looking for you also. Ghosts in pairs are more or less better than one, and will often generate more power for each other that way. Each of your Concepts will increase in quality once you’re around her, and if she is to die, then you can uplink yourself to her brain, and absorb her Concepts. After which, you may take the illusion of your partner’s body, but your own will create a whole different identity for the switch. And, this is set up so that they can test if Ghosts can actually…”

“Actually…what...?”

“Breed with one another.”

Sven bit down on his bottom lip, his mind racing for a few moments for possible locations for whoever his partner may be. In a succession of three somersaults backwards, he leaped from his position and off the cliff-side, leaving Keln behind to merely watch him. A screen slung itself into his line of sight, a holographic-like map of the city appearing in front of him. Thousands upon thousands of dots blinked into view, all in light blue, which stood out from the red walls and the black background. As he fell, he spread out his arms, slowing his plummet towards the ground, a bright yellow dot suddenly being brought to his attention with an almost deafening beep! A string of the color yellow was pushed out from it, and it spread itself out into a box; the box read in black, fine print: Subject Nina, Ghost partner detected. In that instant, a loud explosion was heard, shrieks echoing over the horizon, smoke rising into the heavens above. The screen shut itself, and in a string of black color, was thrust to the right side of his vision. Sven then leaned forward, his arms and legs plastering themselves to his body, beginning at a dive towards the ground. As he neared the terrain, he spread himself out again, drawing the katana from its scabbard, and stabbing it into the soil below.

The ground gave away to the blade, his shoes planting themselves directly onto the ground, skidding against the dry soil, dust kicking into the air in large clouds. Within moments, he leaped into the air, propelling himself forward as the momentum carried him onto a building, the wing gushing to meet him. After a moment, he listened, holding the Japanese blade in his right hand, his azure eyes glancing around in all directions as his head turned to and fro. A rush of air met him as a figure suddenly burst from below the over-hanging, the strawberry blonde hair flailing about as the figure’s own katana met his as he parried, gazing fully up at the person who struck. In an instant, the figure pushed off, landing gracefully on her feet, her glowing magenta eyes narrowing to focus on him for a moment.

Over her face was a mask, covering most of her features except for her hair and her eyes, which burrowed directly through him, as if she could peer directly into his own soul. For a moment, she remained still, her almost skin-tight outfit hugging her hips as she placed her right hand on it, puckering her lips as she stared.

“Huh…I believe I’ve…seen you before. What’s your name?” The woman called, tossing her head to the right, beginning to encircle him, her gaze moving up and down.

“Sven…” An image flashed over his eyesight: a face, porcelain, soft and caring, but it dissipated in an instant as he caught glimpse of it, the familiar magenta eyes peering at him.

“You’re Sven…but you look like someone I know…” The woman’s gaze softened as a small smile graced over her lips, finally standing in front of him.

“Well…what’s your name…?”

“My name is Nina.” At the instant her soft, pleasant voice breathed the word: Nina, his azure eyes widened, his katana dropping to the ground as he stared wide-eyed at her, shaking his head.

“Y-You…you can’t be…”

“Please…don’t forget me…”

“How can I not be? I’m staring directly at you, and I’m in the flesh.” Nina replied, raising an eyebrow.

“Nina…no...! Don’t die!”

“I…I saw you… I saw you die…you died in my arms.”

“Goodbye…Sven… I-I…I…love you…”

“I…I remember that too…” She then took hold of the mask that covered her face with her middle and index fingers, pulling down on it slowly. Porcelain, flawless skin let off a slight glow in the setting sun behind them, the cityscape being taken by the night. Her magenta eyes radiated, their color shining in the now present darkness as she glanced away from his gaze. She bit down on her moist and full bottom lip, lowering her head towards the ground. The wind began to gust in between them before she let out an evident sigh, her eyes darting towards him. “…I remembered seeing you…seeing your face. I couldn’t believe that I was going to die, right there, in front of all those faces… You were too late to getting to me, but you were close enough to catch me…I smiled before I died, remember…? The cold embrace of Death had me for awhile, but for what seemed an eternity, all I could do was think of your smiling face…the face that belonged to the one that cared so much for me… Oh, Sven…I’m sorry that it had to happen to you…”

“N-Nina…!” She had crossed the gap between them by taking a few steps with her petite, delicate feet, curling her arms around his neck with great care, as if he’d break if she forced it. In that instant, his eyes widened, an image casting itself over his line of vision.

“And…to die now…would mean…that I gave up…” Nina whispered, burying her face into his shoulder. “…on you…”