CHAPTER 20: IMPLANT

Medical cleared him after six hours of tests, scans, prodding with devices that beeped in concerning patterns, doctors whispering to each other while looking at results that apparently didn’t make sense.

"His mana channels are normal," one doctor said to another, not bothering to lower his voice. "But the energy output we recorded during that fight was off the charts, where’s it coming from?"

"Unknown, flagged for Director Ashford’s attention."

Great, more attention from Ashford, exactly what Rin needed.

They finally let him go with instructions to rest, stay hydrated, avoid using his abilities for at least twelve hours, standard post-combat protocol.

Joy had waited the entire time, sitting in the hallway outside the medical bay, scrolling through her phone but jumping up the moment he emerged.

"Finally, I thought they were going to keep you overnight." She walked beside him. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got run over by a bus." He paused. "Wait, can’t use that phrase, I feel like absolute garbage."

"That tracks." She checked her phone. "Ashford’s office sent three more messages while you were in there, he’s getting impatient."

"Let him wait."

"Rin, he’s the Director of the Association, you can’t just ignore him."

"Watch me."

They walked through the corridors back toward the staging area where the final matches of Stage 2 were still concluding, the bracket board showed nine confirmed winners so far, one more match to determine the final spot.

Rin found his name on the qualified list.

Participant 2847: Rin Matsuda - QUALIFIED FOR STAGE 3

Below it were the other nine names, Joy’s included, along with people he’d watched fight today, the wind manipulator, the shadow guy, a girl with ice powers who’d apparently won all her matches in under three minutes.

And Fiona, her name sitting there at the top of the list because of course she qualified.

"Stage 3 is tomorrow morning," Joy said, reading from her phone. "Power assessment and ranking, they’re going to measure our abilities, assign us threat levels, determine what rank we get."

"How does that work?"

"You demonstrate your power in a controlled environment, machines measure the output, evaluators compare it to established benchmarks, then they assign you a rank from F to SS." She scrolled down. "Most people get F or E rank on their first assessment, it’s super rare to debut higher than D."

[Analysis: Standard measurement systems will not accurately assess your capabilities]

[Your fracture energy operates outside normal parameters]

[Prediction: Results will be inconsistent with demonstrated combat performance]

’So I’m going to look weird no matter what.’

[Correct]

His phone buzzed, another message from Ashford’s office, this one marked urgent.

Report to Director’s office immediately. Non-negotiable. Failure to comply will result in disciplinary action.

"I should probably go deal with this," Rin said.

"Want me to come with?"

"Nah, pretty sure he wants to yell at me privately, no need for you to witness that."

Joy looked uncertain but nodded. "Okay, but text me when you’re done, let me know you’re still alive."

"Will do."

They split up, Joy heading toward the dormitories where exam participants were being housed overnight, Rin following the signs toward the administrative wing.

Ashford’s office was on the top floor, naturally, because important people always had to be as high up as possible, Rin took the elevator, watched the floor numbers climb while his stomach did the opposite.

The elevator opened to a reception area, fancy furniture, expensive art on the walls, a secretary who looked up from her computer with an expression that said she’d been expecting him.

"Mr. Matsuda, the Director is waiting, go right in."

She gestured to a door behind her desk, solid wood with a nameplate that read "Director Ashford - Hunter Association Command."

Rin knocked once, heard a muffled "Enter" from inside, pushed the door open.

The office was huge, floor to ceiling windows showing the city skyline, a desk that could probably fit six people, bookshelves lined with reports and what looked like monster specimens in jars.

Ashford sat behind the desk, but he wasn’t alone.

Reva stood near the window, arms crossed, Deputy Director Reva whose expression suggested she wanted to be anywhere else.

And someone Rin didn’t recognize, an older woman, maybe sixty, with white hair pulled into a bun, wearing a lab coat over business attire, glasses perched on her nose.

"Mr. Matsuda," Ashford gestured to a chair. "Sit, we have much to discuss."

Rin sat, noticed all three of them were staring at him with varying levels of concern.

"This is Dr. Keiko Yumiko," Ashford said, indicating the older woman. "She conducted your initial medical evaluation, she’s also our lead researcher on anomalous awakenings."

Dr. Yumiko adjusted her glasses. "I’ve been reviewing the footage from your fights today, specifically the final match against Fiona Treacher, what you did was, concerning."

"I won."

"You demonstrated abilities that shouldn’t exist," she said flatly. "Energy absorption, conversion, projection, construct creation, all from a single awakening, most S-ranks don’t have that level of versatility."

"Maybe I’m just talented."

"Or maybe you’re something else entirely." She pulled up a tablet, showed him graphs and charts that meant nothing to him. "During your fight with Paul Thorne, you created solid platforms out of pure energy, that’s not energy manipulation, that’s reality warping."

"Is there a point to this?"

Ashford leaned forward. "The point, Mr. Matsuda, is that you’re exhibiting capabilities beyond any documented awakening, you’re either the most powerful Hunter we’ve ever seen, or you’re not actually a Hunter at all."

The words hung in the air.

[Warning: Threat assessment elevated]

[Director Ashford is building a case for detention]

[Recommend strategic disclosure]

’What do I tell them?’

[Partial truth]

[Explain fracture energy without revealing system]

[Establish yourself as controllable anomaly rather than uncontrollable threat]

Rin took a breath. "You want to know what I am, fine, I’ll tell you, but you’re not going to like it."

"Try us," Reva said.

"That thing that killed Jin and Leo, Kazriketh, it called me ’host’ remember, it said it was waiting for me." Rin met Ashford’s eyes. "During the fracture event two years ago, when the portal opened, I was at ground zero, exposed to raw fracture energy for hours before I went into the coma."

"We know this," Ashford said.

"What you don’t know is that the energy didn’t just touch me, it integrated with me, became part of my biological structure, I’m not manipulating mana like normal awakened, I’m directly controlling the same energy that creates dungeons, the same energy that tore holes in reality."

Dr. Yumiko’s eyes widened. "That’s, that would explain the inconsistencies in your scans, if your energy source is fracture-based rather than mana-based, our equipment wouldn’t register it properly."

"Exactly."

"But that also means you’re fundamentally different from every other awakened on the planet," she continued. "Your power doesn’t follow the same rules, doesn’t have the same limitations, you’re operating on a completely separate system."

"Which makes you unpredictable," Ashford said. "Potentially uncontrollable."

"I’m controlling it fine."

"Are you?" Reva pulled up footage on a large screen, showed the moment when Rin released fracture synchronization at full power, purple light erupting from his body, the arena floor disintegrating. "Because this looks like you barely contained a meltdown."

"I stopped before anyone got hurt."

"This time," Ashford stood up, walked to the window. "But what about next time, what happens when you’re fighting something stronger, something that pushes you past your limits, do you lose control, do you become a threat to everyone around you?"

[He is not wrong]

[Your power at full output is dangerous]

[Collateral damage is likely during sustained combat]

’Thanks for the vote of confidence.’

[I provide realistic assessments]

[Not comfort]

Rin stood up. "Look, I get it, I’m scary, I’m different, I don’t fit into your neat little classification system, but I’m not a threat, I’m trying to get licensed so I can hunt monsters legally, so I can get stronger in a controlled environment, isn’t that what you want?"

"What I want," Ashford turned to face him, "is assurance that you won’t become the next Chicago incident, that you won’t lose control and kill thousands of people."

"I won’t."

"How can you guarantee that?"

"I can’t," Rin admitted. "But neither can any other Hunter, anyone with powers could potentially go rogue, could potentially hurt people, but you still license them, you still let them operate, why am I different?"

"Because your power killed a building full of researchers when it first manifested," Dr. Yumiko said quietly.

Rin froze. "What?"

She pulled up another file, this one marked classified, showed photos of a collapsed structure, bodies being pulled from rubble, dated two years ago.

"The fracture event didn’t just open portals," she explained. "It caused secondary effects, energy surges, dimensional instabilities, one of those surges happened at a research facility three miles from where you were, killed forty-seven people, we traced the energy signature back to the epicenter, back to you."

"That wasn’t me, I was unconscious."

"Your body was unconscious," she corrected. "But the fracture energy inside you was active, reaching out, destabilizing reality in a three-mile radius, if Leo hadn’t been there channeling lightning to ground some of that energy, the damage would’ve been worse."

Leo had saved people, even back then, even while Rin was in a coma.

"I didn’t know."

"Of course you didn’t," Ashford said. "You were in a medically induced coma for two years while we tried to figure out what to do with you, the only reason we didn’t terminate you is because Dr. Yumiko theorized that killing you might release all that fracture energy at once."

"You considered killing me."

"We considered all options," Reva said. "Ultimately we decided to wait, see if you’d stabilize, if the energy would dissipate naturally."

"But it didn’t," Dr. Yumiko continued. "It grew stronger, integrated deeper, by the time you woke up you’d become a walking fracture point, a living portal."

[They are more informed than anticipated]

[Recommend extreme caution]

[They have contingency plans for your elimination]

Rin’s jaw clenched. "So what now, you kill me anyway, eliminate the threat?"

"No," Ashford said. "We make a new deal, you agree to enhanced monitoring, weekly evaluations become daily, you wear a tracker at all times, you submit to experimental treatments designed to stabilize your fracture energy, and in exchange, we let you live, let you get licensed, let you hunt."

"Experimental treatments?"

"Nothing invasive," Dr. Yumiko said. "Mostly energy dampening injections, neural suppressors to prevent loss of control, think of it as insurance, for everyone’s safety."

"You want to drug me."

"We want to ensure you don’t accidentally kill thousands of people," Ashford said bluntly. "This is non-negotiable, accept these terms or we classify you as an uncontrollable anomaly, which gives us legal authority to detain you indefinitely."

Rin looked between the three of them, Ashford stone-faced, Reva neutral, Dr. Yumiko actually looking sympathetic.

They had him boxed in, no escape, no negotiation, just comply or disappear.

[Analysis: Accepting their terms grants survival but limits growth]

[Refusing their terms results in detention or termination]

[Recommend: Accept now, plan alternative later]

’You want me to lie to them.’

[I want you to survive]

[Long-term strategy requires short-term compromise]

"Fine," Rin said. "I’ll do your treatments, wear your tracker, submit to your monitoring, but I still get licensed, I still get to hunt, that’s the deal."

Ashford nodded. "Agreed, Dr. Yumiko will schedule your first treatment for tomorrow after Stage 3 concludes, the tracker will be installed tonight."

"Installed?"

"It’s a subdermal implant," Dr. Yumiko explained. "Goes in your left shoulder, monitors your fracture energy levels, sends real-time data to our systems, if your power spikes beyond safe parameters, we’re alerted immediately."

"And if I try to remove it?"

"It’s designed to trigger a localized energy discharge," she said. "Non-lethal but extremely painful, also alerts us to your location, I don’t recommend attempting removal."

So basically a shock collar, great.

"When do we do this?"

"Now," Ashford gestured to Dr. Yumiko. "The procedure takes fifteen minutes, you’ll be ready for Stage 3 tomorrow."

Dr. Yumiko pulled out a small case from her bag, inside was a device that looked like a cross between a syringe and a staple gun, along with something that resembled a small metallic pill.

"Sit," she instructed.

Rin sat back down, Dr. Yumiko approached, cleaned his left shoulder with an alcohol swab.

"This will hurt," she warned.

"Everything hurts lately."

She pressed the device against his shoulder, there was a clicking sound, then pain, sharp and immediate, someone had shoved a hot nail through his skin.

Rin gritted his teeth, didn’t make a sound.

The device retracted, Dr. Yumiko checked her tablet. "Tracker is active, transmitting clearly, you’re all set."

She handed him a small bandage. "Apply pressure for five minutes, avoid excessive movement of that arm for the next six hours."

Rin pressed the bandage to his shoulder, felt something solid under the skin, the tracker embedded in his muscle.

"We’re done here," Ashford said. "Get some rest, Stage 3 begins at 0800 hours tomorrow, don’t be late."

"Can I go now?"

"Yes, but Mr. Matsuda, one more thing." Ashford’s expression hardened. "You pull anything tomorrow, anything that suggests you’re losing control, I will have S-rank Hunters on standby to put you down, understand?"

"Crystal clear."

Rin left the office, walked back to the elevator in a daze, his shoulder throbbing, his mind racing.

They knew more than he thought, had been watching him since the coma, had considered killing him multiple times.

And now they’d chipped him.

[Assessment: Situation deteriorating]

[Association views you as controlled threat]

[Recommend accelerating power development]

[You need strength beyond their ability to contain]

’So get strong enough that they can’t control me.’

[Correct]

The elevator doors opened, Rin stepped in, pressed the button for ground floor.

Tomorrow was Stage 3, power assessment, the moment they’d try to measure something that couldn’t be measured.

This was going to be interesting.