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For a moment, no one moved.
The synthetic hybrids stood between the group and the Archive's exit, their bodies humming with mechanical pulses. Each one looked vaguely human—yet eerily off. Their eyes glowed red. Metal fused with flesh. And their expressions were blank.
Like dolls.
Then, in an instant, they attacked.
"Scatter!" San shouted, yanking Hyme into his arms.
One hybrid lunged straight at them—only to be intercepted midair by a flash of gold. Lyra spun with supernatural grace, her claws glowing as they slashed across the creature's face. Sparks flew. The hybrid hissed, then reeled back.
Kai drew a pair of short batons and joined her, fending off another attacker. "These things aren't normal—they're mixing magic with tech!"
Lys stood in the center of the room, frozen. His fists clenched at his sides. His pupils dilated. Then slowly, he raised one hand, and the air around him seemed to crack.
San noticed. "Lys…?"
"I didn't want to use it again," Lys whispered.
But the synthetic hybrids didn't wait. One launched itself toward him.
And that's when Lys moved.
The air shimmered—then ruptured.
With a sound like thunder, a wave of silvery energy blasted out from Lys's body, hurling the synthetic creature backward into the Archive wall. The entire chamber trembled.
Lys's cloak fell away, revealing glowing veins beneath his pale skin. His eyes blazed like silver suns.
"I am Eden Two," he said softly, voice echoing unnaturally. "I am the prototype you failed to erase."
The hybrids turned toward him as one. For the first time, they hesitated.
San held Hyme tightly, ducking behind one of the consoles. "Hyme—are you okay?"
Hyme's eyes were wide with awe and confusion. "What is he…?"
"He's what they made before you," San whispered. "And he didn't die. He just got angrier."
Lys moved like a ghost, flickering between the hybrids. Each touch of his hand caused their circuits to short, their limbs to fail. Within minutes, half of them were down.
But the remaining ones weren't idle.
One managed to pierce Kai's shoulder. He cried out and collapsed, blood pooling beneath him. Lyra screamed and threw herself between him and the next blow, barely managing to push it back with a blast of wind magic.
"We need to retreat!" Lyra shouted.
Lys turned his glowing gaze toward San. "Take the records. Run."
San didn't argue. He grabbed the data core from the console and lifted Hyme again.
Kai, clutching his wounded arm, nodded at Lyra. "Go, I'm fine—just bleeding internally."
"You idiot," she hissed but helped him up.
Together, the team sprinted toward the Archive entrance.
Behind them, Lys raised both hands and summoned another pulse of raw energy. "You want to complete Eden?" he murmured. "Then die with it."
The explosion rocked the underground vault.
San barely made it out before the entire corridor behind them caved in, sealing Lys on the other side.
"Lys!" Hyme screamed, twisting in San's arms.
"I don't see his signal," Kai whispered, checking his device.
"Did he—?" Lyra's voice broke off.
San turned back. Through the smoke and falling debris, for a split second, he saw Lys—standing with his back to them, facing the darkness.
Then he vanished.
--