The fortress gates opened with a groan that echoed through Kaiden's joints. Snow caked the floor. His boots tracked blood inside.
No one saluted. No one spoke. His squad peeled off toward the barracks like they couldn't wait to forget the mission. Sylen lingered—watching again—but said nothing.
Kaiden slowed his pace. "You got a problem with me, tracker?"
Sylen shrugged, stepping beside him. "Just wondering what goes on in that rusted skull of yours."
"Nothing useful," Kaiden replied.
Another soldier—Rav, the youngest in the group—called out as he passed, "We still getting drinks tonight, Commander?"
Kaiden arched a brow. "Thought you all hated me."
"We did," Sylen said. "Still might. But you didn't shoot us in the back, and you let civvies go. That's more spine than most commanders we've had."
Rav laughed, a short bark of sound. "You're still creepy as hell, though."
Another squadmate, a broad-shouldered brute named Kess, grunted. "Yeah. You glow in the dark and hiss when you're hit. Makes me nervous."
Kaiden didn't answer, but something in his shoulder eased just a little.
As they reached the division hall, Sylen held out a ration bar.
"You're leaking oil again. Eat before you seize up."
Kaiden took it without thanks. Sylen didn't seem to expect one.
"Still think I'm a tool?" Kaiden asked.
Sylen gave a sideways smirk. "Nah. You're worse. You're starting to think."
Rav chimed in from behind, "Starting to sulk, too. Like a real person."
Kaiden glanced back. "You lot planning to mock me all night?"
Kess shrugged. "Better than fearing you. Besides, if you're gonna be our officer, we'd rather think you've still got some meat left in there."
"I do," Kaiden muttered.
"Then prove it next time we're out there," Sylen said. "You're not a walking forge anymore. You're something else. Might even be one of us... eventually."
Kaiden said nothing, but he didn't stop them from walking beside him.
The war chamber doors slid open.
The demon commander stood alone in the frost-lit room, a tall shadow against rune-covered stone. Eyes like dimmed embers, tail flicking once in irritation.
"You disobeyed," he said.
Kaiden stood stiff. "I completed the mission."
"You interpreted it."
Silence.
The sigil on Kaiden's arm sparked briefly, like a reprimand he couldn't hear. The commander stepped forward, claws tapping on stone.
"Tools don't think. They function."
"I'm not a tool," Kaiden said flatly.
The commander tilted his head. "No? Then why is your core still running on demon power? Why haven't you ripped it out yet?"
Kaiden didn't answer. He didn't know.
The commander waved a hand. A screen of smoky projection flickered to life—images of his mission, from above. The moment Kaiden let the survivors flee. The quick executions. The blood left behind.
"They're watching," the commander said. "And they're not pleased. But…"
He tapped the screen, rewinding to Kaiden's words: 'This is a leadership test, right?'
"…they're also intrigued."
Kaiden felt his spine tighten.
"You're being reassigned," the commander said. "Temporarily."
Kaiden frowned. "To where?"
The screen shifted again. A new map. Forest. Mountain. Near the border of neutral territory.
"A rogue mage has been sighted disrupting the eastern leyline currents. One of the humans." The commander's voice dropped. "Possibly one of yours."
Kaiden's jaw twitched.
"You'll take a reduced unit. Observe. Engage if necessary. And report back. Your actions will determine if you're promoted… or decommissioned."
Kaiden turned to leave, but the commander spoke one last time.
"You want freedom?" he said. "Then prove you're worth unchaining."
Later that night
Kaiden sat in his tent again, staring at the flickering rune lamp.
The snow hadn't stopped.
His blade lay across his lap, still faintly stained.
He could still see the old man crawling. Hear the wind rushing past his ears. Feel the hollow pulse of the demon core in his chest.
Was this freedom?
He clenched his jaw and turned his core off. Just for a moment. Cold flooded in instantly. His limbs went stiff. His vision dimmed. Pain surged behind his temple.
He let it last five seconds.
Then he powered back on.
Breathing hard, he whispered to no one:
"I remember what it felt like… to be human."
Outside the tent, muffled laughter rose and fell.
Squadmates were drinking. They hadn't invited him. But they hadn't locked him out either.
That was enough