The Core Synthesis God
Chapter 3: Tactical Escape and The Next Synthesis
Kael didn't waste time on gratitude or debate. The moment Anya tossed him the plasma cutter, his Discipline Core had already calculated the remaining structural integrity of the north wall and the necessary torque required to shear through the steel vent shaft.
"The air current is pulling north and east," Kael barked, his voice steady despite the raw pain still humming beneath his skin. "The subterranean line is four meters down, three meters right of this pillar's base. You create the distraction. I open the passage."
"You want me to take on three Copperhead Binders while you play mechanic?" Anya scoffed, but her eyes held a grudging respect. She was already circling, her body coiled, assessing the three remaining AetherCorp agents who were now rapidly closing the perimeter.
"You are the specialist in environmental chaos," Kael retorted, his eyes flashing with the cold blue energy of his Willpower. "They are predictable. They rely on their Restraint Cores and standard tactical formations. Disrupt the battlefield, create hard cover, and draw them to the southwest. I need sixty seconds."
Anya smirked, a flicker of genuine amusement crossing her face. "Sixty seconds. You've got style, white-hair. Don't die on me. I'm not a medic."
Before Kael could respond, she vanished.
She didn't run; she simply dissolved into the shadows.
The emergency lights cast long, distorted silhouettes from the rubble, and Anya became one with them. The air grew cold, heavy with a chaotic, non-Binder energy—the mark of her Shadow Weaver tradition.
Binder Alpha, the most experienced of the group, cursed sharply into his comms. "She's utilizing non-Binder chaotic energy. Maintain visual contact! Beta, cover the north wall!"
Anya struck instantly. Not with a direct attack, but with disruption. A sudden, impossible patch of darkness erupted directly beneath Binder Alpha's feet, not sinking him, but disorienting him completely. He staggered, and Anya used the opportunity to seize a handful of loose wiring and debris, flinging it into the faces of the other two Binders.
It was messy, confusing, and completely successful. The Binders, reliant on their regimented training and their amber Restraint Cores, were masters of ordered combat. Anya was a master of the opposite.
Kael ignored the fight. He pressed the plasma cutter to the thick steel of the ventilation shaft.
The tool whined, the white-hot energy spitting sparks against the concrete dust. His enhanced Density from the Troll Skin Core allowed him to brace his body against the cutter's powerful recoil without being thrown off balance.
Thirty seconds.
He heard the clang of metal behind him. Anya, moving faster than the eye could follow, had materialized above Binder Beta, slamming a heavy piece of shrapnel against the Binder's helmet. Beta went down, dazed, his Restraint Core sputtering.
"I need more chaos!" Kael yelled, straining against the heat of the cutter. The smell of burning steel mingled with the metallic odor of blood—Anya's or the Binders', he didn't know.
"I'm opening a rift!" Anya shouted back.
Suddenly, the floor in the center of the quadrant seemed to peel back, not breaking, but dissolving into a shimmering, abyssal field. It was pure Ephemeral Energy, a tear in local space. The remaining Binders were forced to retreat backward, their synchronized formation broken.
Perfect.
Kael finished the cut. The heavy, circular section of the vent shaft fell away with a tremendous clang.
He dropped the plasma cutter, the adrenaline lending unnatural speed to his movements. He kicked the surrounding steel inwards, creating a large, jagged opening.
Time up. Go.
"Portal open! North side!" Kael yelled, diving headfirst into the shaft.
Anya didn't hesitate. She threw a final wave of black energy, creating a solid wall of shadow that blocked the Binders' line of sight, and plunged into the hole after him.
They dropped several meters, landing hard on a bed of rusted insulation and damp, ancient air filters. Kael's Troll Skin absorbed the impact easily. Anya landed with the fluid grace of a cat, already back on her feet.
"You're a maniac," she hissed, her voice barely a whisper in the echoing darkness of the tunnel. "That level of disruption takes energy. I'm low."
"Your tactical decisions are sound, but your resource management is lacking," Kael replied, already moving forward into the tunnel. "We move low, fast, and silent. They will assume we are headed for the main line. We are not. The emergency siphon tunnel to the abandoned subway line runs directly beneath us."
For the next ten minutes, they moved through the subterranean dark. Kael's senses, amplified by his Discipline Core, were hyper-aware, picking up the groan of distant support structures and the nearly inaudible sound of the Binders breaching the vent shaft above.
He was a machine of cold, efficient analysis, leading them through the only path that offered cover and strategic advantage.
They reached the siphon tunnel—a tight, ancient passage choked with thick, oily water. It was the perfect ambush point.
"They are fifty meters back, utilizing enhanced core illumination," Kael whispered, pressing his back against the cold, damp stone. "They will move fast and assume we are desperate. We give them desperation."
"Wait. You said three Binders," Anya said, her voice dropping. "I only accounted for Alpha and Beta escaping the shadow field. Where is the third?"
Kael smiled, a cold, predatory gesture that looked unsettling on his handsome, white-haired face. "He was not part of the active pursuit. He was my trap. Beta went down hard after your shrapnel strike. He's been dragging himself along, leaking power, trying to maintain distance."
He pointed to a narrow side passage, hidden behind a collapsed pipe. "He's weak. And he's isolated. The target is a Serpent Core, if my passive sensing is correct. He is ours."
Anya stared at him, a flicker of genuine alarm in her eyes. "You calculated that? You let a wounded man follow us just to… harvest him?"
"He's a corporate asset hunting a fugitive," Kael stated simply. "He is an enemy. And his power is necessary for our mutual survival. His Serpent Core will grant enhanced agility and, more importantly, Poison Immunity. Necessary against the chemical cores AetherCorp favors."
He didn't wait for her moral approval. He pulled a dense, broken piece of rebar from the ground—a perfect, ugly weapon—and moved silently toward the passage.
The Binder was there, panting, his tactical suit torn, his amber Restraint Core sputtering weakly. He looked up, his helmet light catching Kael's stark white hair and the glowing green lines on his skin.
"The white-hair anomaly," the Binder wheezed, trying to raise his gauntlet.
Kael didn't allow him the chance.
He was fast now, unnaturally dense. He brought the rebar down with surgical precision, shattering the Binder's core-infused gauntlet. The Binder cried out as the force of the blow buckled his suit.
The fight was quick, brutal, and asymmetrical. The Binder, relying on his Restraint Core, was useless in a close-quarters melee against Kael's enhanced Troll Skin density. Kael used the rebar to dismantle the man's armor piece by piece, focusing on the power conduits.
Finally, with a heavy, sickening crunch, the Binder collapsed. The amber light of his core flickered and died.
Kael stood over him, breathing heavily, the remnants of the fight clinging to the air. Anya emerged from the shadows, her face etched with a complex mix of disgust and fascination.
"You're a monster," she whispered, her voice tight. "We don't kill the weak in my tradition. We simply leave them exposed to the dark."
"I am a survivor," Kael corrected, his voice flat. "And he is now my resource."
Kael knelt, ignoring the dead man's face. He reached into the broken armor, finding the failing, pulsing remnant of the Binder's power source. It was a slick, dark purple essence—the Serpent Core.
"Unbonded Core Identified: Serpent Scale. Grade C. Enhanced Agility. Toxin Resistance. Compatibility with Synthetic Core: 97%. Synthesis Recommended."
Kael felt the familiar, terrifying pull of the cheat.
The Troll Core had been for defense. The Serpent Core was for speed and protection against poisons. Both were crucial for a perpetual fugitive.
Anya watched, mesmerized, as Kael clutched the purple essence. "What are you doing? You'll tear your mind apart! You can't just take another one! The energies will destroy you!"
"Your understanding of core bonding is antiquated," Kael stated, the purple light already radiating through his grip. "My Discipline Core is a synthesizer. It will integrate. But it will cost."
The sheer psychic trauma of the first synthesis had been overwhelming.
The second, fusing a chaotic Troll Core with a fluid Serpent Core, would be worse—a clash of two incompatible physical forms, held together only by the razor-sharp will of his reincarnated mind.
Kael met Anya's intense gaze, his white hair stark against the gloom. "Get ready to move, Shadow Weaver. This is going to be loud."
With a grunt that was equal parts pain and iron will, Kael Rane brought the Serpent Core to his chest and slammed it into his soul.
The tunnel exploded with blinding purple and green light, the air filled with the silent, internal screaming of a man forcing his very being into a permanent, monstrous evolution.
Chapter 3 complete.