Episode 5 — Pier of Screams
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Opening – Between Two Worlds
The hospital's vending machine had betrayed him again—spitting out a candy bar with the grace of a dying cough. Zack pocketed it anyway. Room 412's lights glowed down the hall like a lighthouse, but he didn't go in this time. He couldn't. His mom deserved sleep without the smell of blood and smoke in the sheets.
He pressed his forehead against the cool tile wall, whispering: "I'll bring back something worth the pain. Promise."
His HUD blinked like it overheard:
LEVEL 4
EXP: 700 / 1000
NEXT MILESTONE: Level 10 – Steel Surge (Stabilized)
MISSION: Bolthole Break (West Pier Cold Storage)
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The West Pier
The pier stank of diesel and dead gulls. Cargo containers stacked three high made shadow corridors where water dripped like metronomes. The warehouse squatted at the edge, its sign half-rusted: COLD STORAGE INC. Neon-red glyphs pulsed faintly over the doors—Marrow's fingerprints, ugly and smug.
Zack cracked his knuckles. Sparks sprayed. "Knock, knock."
He drove his fist through the steel door. It screamed open like an injured thing.
Inside was colder than a morgue. Freezer fog curled around his ankles. Rows of hanging meat swung, but not all of it was animal—human torsos with rune-brands glowed faintly through ice. Pipes hissed overhead, dripping chemical frost.
In the middle of the floor, seven Hollow Priests knelt in a circle, chanting through mouths stitched shut. Their robes crawled with bugs instead of embroidery. They didn't react when Zack stepped in—until the nearest one snapped its head up, eyes two black candles.
The HUD twitched.
Threat: Hollow Priest (x7)
Special Trait: Suicide Hex — detonation radius lethal
"Of course," Zack muttered. "Walking pipe bombs."
The first Priest's ribs cracked open like shutters. Black fire poured out, coiling toward him. Zack moved, blitzing low with a steel shoulder tackle that turned the Priest into paste.
+200 EXP
EXP: 900 / 1000
The others shrieked in unison, ripping their stitches as shadows peeled off their tongues. Glyphs carved into the walls flared bright red.
The room locked.
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The Cage Fight
The priests moved like puppets yanked by a cruel child, limbs snapping too far, joints bending backward. They rushed him as one.
Zack braced, teeth bared. He smashed his fist into the floor, sending up a shockwave of fractured concrete. The nearest two tumbled into hooks, impaled like grotesque ornaments.
A third Priest clung to his back, whispering words that itched his bones. His HUD spat alerts—
Hex Infection: 12%… 18%…
He snarled, slammed himself backward into a freezer door until the thing exploded into gore.
+150 EXP
EXP: 1050 / 1000
LEVEL UP → Level 5
BONUS: STR + SPD
Energy surged in his veins. Faster, sharper, hungrier. He turned into the fourth Priest and caved its chest with a roar. Organs painted the freezer glass.
The fifth detonated. Its body crumpled in on itself, releasing a sonic boom of cursed fire. Zack crossed his arms, steel skin flaring white-hot, absorbing most of it—but the blast still peeled strips from his flesh.
VITALITY: 42%
WARNING: System Stress
He staggered. The last two Priests laughed through shredded throats and leapt together. He met them mid-air, grabbed both skulls, and slammed them together until they burst like rotten melons.
+300 EXP
EXP: 350 / 1000 (L5)
The chanting stopped. The glyphs fizzled. The room sighed.
Zack stood in the dripping quiet, steam hissing off his steel skin, blood soaking the fog. His chest heaved, every rib singing protest.
"Mission accomplished," he rasped.
The HUD disagreed:
WARNING: Presence Detected
Threat Level: Severe
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Silas Appears
From the shadows beyond the hanging meat, a slow clap echoed.
Silas stepped out, coat dragging frost, eyes amused. His shoulder was still bandaged from Episode 3. He looked like he'd just finished a chess match with God and won.
"Well done, steelboy. Messy. But efficient."
Zack spat blood onto the floor. "You following me now?"
"Observing," Silas corrected. He crouched beside one Priest's ruined skull, plucking a wriggling bug from its robes and letting it crawl across his knuckles. "Marrow grows impatient. You're disrupting his… supply chain."
"Good." Zack wiped gore from his jaw. "Tell him he's next."
Silas smiled like a knife finding a sheath. "You mistake me for his messenger. I'm nobody's errand boy. I'm interested in you."
"Why?" Zack snapped.
"Because," Silas said, flicking the bug into his mouth and chewing, "you're the first steelblood to awaken without going mad. That makes you dangerous—or useful."
Zack's fists tightened. "Not joining your club."
Silas exhaled smoke that he hadn't lit. "I don't run clubs. I run wars. And when you Prestige—if you survive long enough—you'll choose a side."
"Not yours."
Silas's grin widened. "That's what makes you interesting."
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The Collapse
Before Zack could swing, the ground buckled. The freezer units groaned, glyphs reactivating on the walls. The corpses of the Priests twitched, black worms knitting them into a single body—a hulking mass of bone, robes, and mouths.
The HUD screamed:
BOSS EMERGENCE: THE HOLLOW MASS
Threat: Extreme (Lvl 15 Equivalent)
Zack's eyes widened. "Fuck."
Silas stepped back, almost bored. "Lesson two. You can't punch everything."
The Hollow Mass roared, spraying teeth and bile. Zack clenched his steel fists, HUD blaring red, and whispered to himself:
"Prestige or die."