Part Three
The third part begins in a hospital. Rio wakes up in bed to find all his wounds bandaged and both his hands healed. Rio wonders: where is he? Suddenly, a female doctor enters the room; Rio notices the word "Nova" written on her clothes. He quickly grabs a knife, threatens the doctor, and asks: "Where am I? And where are Lizzy and Mark?" Before the doctor can say anything, several soldiers enter, subdue Rio, and take him to Commander Jack’s office.
Jack smiles mockingly at Rio and says: "I didn’t expect to find you in such a miserable state." Rio is angered by Jack's words but asks him: "Why did you save my life?" Jack explains that the administration has changed, and therefore, some things have changed. Rio asks about the whereabouts of Lizzy and Mark. Jack says the new administration is taking good care of them, whereas the old administration used to dissect them to discover their potential. The new administration, however, has given them a new life.
Rio asks: "How did the administration change so suddenly?" Jack replies: "No need for you to know. What matters is that I am offering you the chance to join the Nova commanders." Rio says he will think about it and asks about the treatment of Lizzy and the others. Jack responds: "They already finished their treatment last week." Rio is shocked by Jack's words, realizing he had been unconscious for weeks.
Jack takes Rio to a place filled with "Super Weapons." Rio is stunned and asks: "Will I take one?" Jack laughs and says: "To become Nova, you must possess only one. The commanders have super weapons." Rio asks: "So you want me to become one of the commanders?" Jack replies: "Yes, I saw your power in controlling super weapons, so you must join." Jack continues: "You must choose the right weapon for you, because if you choose the wrong one, you will die of exhaustion."
At that moment, Rio understands why his body stopped moving when he redirected the bullet at the creature and why he couldn't move after using Jack’s spear. Jack tells Rio: "You must choose now." A "Katana" catches Rio's eye. He tests it, and the weapon is 100% compatible with him. Jack rejoices and says: "Now you are one of us." Rio shouts at Jack: "I haven't agreed yet!" Jack laughs and says: "It’s too late." Then he adds: "Now you must go and rest. Your friends will come to visit you; I have prepared a private bedroom for you."
Rio goes to his room to get some rest. The next day, Rio wakes up to the sound of the doorbell. He opens it to see Lizzy, who was very happy because he had come out of the coma, crying in a childish manner. He reassured her and said he was fine. Lizzy says: "You were the most injured person because of that creature, but that doesn’t matter anymore." Rio notices that Lizzy is wearing a school uniform. He asks her: "Are you going to school?" She says: "Yes." Rio is surprised by the existence of a school in this place, but the real shock comes when Lizzy takes Rio on a tour of the city.
Rio is stunned by the development, beauty, and massive scale of the city, to the point where one might forget they are in the apocalypse. He sees shops, markets, families, and people everywhere around him. Rio spent the whole day enjoying himself in the city.
The next day, he hears the doorbell and opens it to find Commander Jack. Jack says to Rio: "It’s your first day, did you enjoy yourself?" Rio says: "Yes." Jack says: "Today I must introduce you to the rest of the commanders and also to the Director." Jack notices that Rio hasn't changed out of his "Plague Doctor" outfit and asks: "Why are you wearing this?" Rio says: "This outfit makes me feel comfortable." Jack ignores his comment and takes him to the rest of the commanders who were in a private meeting.
Jack enters with Rio, and all the commanders turn toward them. Jack says to the current Director, "Susan": "I have a new member." He adds: "This recruit can use super weapons and I want to add him to the commanders." Suddenly, one of the commanders jumps up, stands in front of Jack, and objects to Rio entering such a high position so quickly, annoyed by Jack's childish actions. Jack replies mockingly: "Even you were a recruit and rose quickly." That commander, named Rex, gets angry, and a fight was about to break out between them, but the Director orders Zero to stop them. Zero moves and pins them both to the ground, so they calm down.
The Director looks at Rio and says: "If you want to prove yourself, enter a duel with one of the commanders." Rio tries to refuse, but Jack agrees before Rio can say anything. Jack begins training Rio on how to use his super weapon. He says: "Your weapon is a sword that has the ability to cut things from a distance. But since you are new to using weapons, you must defeat your opponent without the weapon’s special ability, using only its raw power. The weapon is strong even without abilities; your sword can cut steel easily and increase your movement speed fivefold."
Jack tells him that his opponent is a person nicknamed "Ashel," whose super weapon is very powerful gloves with the ability to emit strong electromagnetic waves. Jack says: "No need to worry, Ashel is a very complacent person. You can win against him because he never fights seriously. His weakness is that he always lets his guard down, so exploit this information."
The next day, the duel begins between Rio and Ashel. Ashel starts the attack, but Rio evades him. The battle lasted for hours. Ashel attacks, and Rio evades. Ashel did not use his weapon seriously, but he became exhausted, and even Rio was exhausted. Rio decided to attack this time. Ashel evaded the attack but found a blind spot in Rio’s defense; he attacked Rio and hit him, causing him to fall. Ashel stands before him and asks: "Can you continue?" But Ashel is shocked because he is suddenly wounded. Before he can look at Rio, he is surprised to find Rio has become very close. Rio attacks with great force; Ashel tries to evade but is hit in the stomach, falling to the ground, laughing, and saying: "That was fun, but I must fight seriously."
Rio is surprised that Ashel hadn't used his weapon throughout the fight. Ashel attacks Rio and defeats him, ending the match. Rio says to Jack: "You didn't say Ashel was this strong!" Jack replies: "That’s not important now. I am proud that you have become one of the Nova." Rio says: "But I lost." Jack responds: "Winning is not important. The Director said she approved your joining after you used the weapon's ability without training. But she added that she will assign you a mentor." Rio asks: "Who is the mentor?" Jack says: "It’s Ashel."
A week has passed since Rio and Lizzy arrived at the protected city, but this day was different from the rest. Lizzy was at school with other students; the class ended, and Lizzy left the classroom, waving goodbye to her friend, then noticed Rio's presence. She went to talk to him and said she was surprised he was there. Rio replies: "The Director says I must finish my studies, so I wanted to take a look at this school."
While they were talking, the alarm sounds throughout the city. Rio goes to see what is happening. Elsewhere, we see some mutants in the city. One of the mutants tells the others that he is going to complete his mission and they should distract the Nova. We learn that this mutant has the ability of teleportation and his name is Frank.
Frank goes to the top of a house, waiting for someone. Suddenly, Zero appears. Frank says: "I have been waiting for you for a long time." Zero is surprised by his words but attacks Frank, who teleports to another location. Zero attacks again, but Frank teleports once more.
In the place where Lizzy and Rio are, there are two mutants: one of the Super class and the other of the Manipulator class. Lizzy attacks the first one and hits it, but the second mutant turns the ground into liquid. Rio moves away from the spot, draws his sword, and cuts the mutant into pieces, while Lizzy kills the first mutant.
Rio and Lizzy go to the place where all the mutants are gathering. At Zero and Frank's location, a mutant appears and informs Frank that he has found the scientists' location. Frank gets angry for saying this in front of Zero and withdraws. Zero alerts everyone that the mutants' goal is the scientists. Indeed, Frank reaches the lab and kidnaps the lead scientist.
We return to Rio and Lizzy, where Rio notices that the mutants are taking human forms. However, the arrival of the mutants' leader catches his attention. Rio calls out to him, and the leader turns around—he is an exhausted young man in his twenties. Rio says the name of the mutants' leader: "Jeff." Both Lizzy and Jeff are shocked that Rio knows his name. Jeff asks: "How do you know my name?" Rio replies: "It seems you didn't recognize me." Rio takes off the "Plague Doctor" mask for the first time, revealing his face. Jeff is shocked and says: "It’s been a long time since we met." We see that Rio's face is full of scars, and part of his face is burned. Lizzy is shocked because this is the first time she has seen his face.
Jeff says: "It seems the world has been harsh on you, my friend."
Rio says sarcastically: "Very much so."
Flashback to Rio's past:
He was at school when the virus spread. He and Jeff were in the same class. It was a normal day, but then a student started screaming and transforming. The problem was that the class didn't know what was happening. Suddenly, all the students began screaming and killing each other. Rio and Jeff started running, but unfortunately, Jeff, Rio’s best friend, began to transform. Rio fled from the school and saw all the people outside killing each other.
Rio went home and fled with his family out of the city. A week after what happened, Rio was with his family in a refugee camp, but the shock was that his older sister, Hannah, was infected with the virus but hadn't fully transformed. His father hid her from the rest of the people, but as the days passed, the illness worsened. Rio heard his sister's voice at night; he went to see her and was shocked to find she had begun to transform, so he killed her while filled with sorrow.
In the early morning, he heard the sound of people screaming and knew the mutants had arrived. He went to his father, but before he could reach him, a mutant attacked and killed his father. Rio was shocked but composed himself and went to his mother and little sister who were hiding. The mother was injured and dying; she asked Rio to flee with his sister and protect her.
Rio took his sister and started running, but a mutant attacked them and knocked them down from a high place. Rio continued the way with his sister despite the injuries. A whole day passed as they walked until they reached an abandoned city. But suddenly, two mutants attacked them: one who could explode his body and the other with claws. Rio and his sister started running and entered an abandoned building, but the mutants followed them. The first mutant got angry and blew up half the building, which began to collapse and tilt to the left.
While Rio and his sister were falling, Rio grabbed the window and saved himself and his sister. The mutant appeared and began cutting the hand of "Lily," Rio’s sister. Rio was unable to help her, and his sister fell. At this point, Rio lost his will to live; he grabbed the mutant monster and fell with it. When he fell, the mutant hit the ground beneath Rio, absorbing the shock, and Rio did not die.
Rio fell into depression, but he remembered his mother's words that he must live. So he decided to continue his life.
End of Part Three