Chapter 5: The Siberian Blueprint
1. The Cost of the Breach
The armored submersible, now operating as a high-altitude transport, was gliding silently across the North Pacific. In the rear cabin, the light was dim, colored only by the emergency warnings on the console.
Jax, the x30 Defense, was on the floor, breathing heavily. His x30 density had absorbed the x40 blast, but the overload had left his muscles seizing. Sam, their x2 Technician, worked with frantic, precise movements, applying low-frequency kinetic massage to Jax's chest.
"Your core density field is recovering, Jax, but slowly," Sam muttered, his x2 healing ability focusing on tissue repair. He looked terrified, running his x130 dampener calculations in his head while fixing a burnt-out comm unit. "You can't just shrug off a concentrated x40 impact like that. It stressed your system to the breaking point."
"I'm fine," Jax rasped, though his lie lacked conviction. He sat up, pushing Sam away gently. "The shield held. That's what matters. Now, show me what we almost died for, Elara."
2. The Classified Lie
Elara, the x12 Digital Specialist, didn't need to be asked twice. The raw GSI data pulsed on the holographic projector. Her face was grim.
"The conspiracy is worse than we thought, Kael," she stated, bypassing the complex algorithms. "The Power Level system—the x1 Baseline, the x10 Assassin, the x30 Enforcer—it's all a carefully constructed cage."
She projected a global map. An entire quadrant of the Siberian Arctic was just a blank white space.
"The 100-Year Lie is two-fold. First, the GSI didn't just mask the x130 Titan. They scrubbed this entire region from public record, erased every satellite image, every civilian report. Second, the Power Multiplier system isn't an evolution. It's a deterrent."
Kael leaned closer, his x10 focus unwavering. "A deterrent against what?"
"Against reaching the true Apex," Elara explained, zooming in on a single, buried file: the original technical specification for the Power Multipliers. "The system is designed with an internal biological block. It prevents anyone from stably exceeding x100—the so-called Apex Cap. It keeps the masses controllable. It keeps the Global Council safe."
"So, the x125 killer is a breach of the Council's own system," Jax realized, his eyes widening. "Someone achieved the impossible."
3. The Titan's True Name
Kael took the data chip from Elara, his hand wrapping around the raw information. "But the killer isn't the true Apex. We need to find the name of the x130 Titan who was there one hundred years ago. The one who made the Council invent the cage."
He activated The Touch directly on the raw data file.
The vision was overwhelming. Kael didn't just feel numbers; he felt origin. He saw the birth of the Power Paradox: not a smooth evolution, but a violent, artificial Flare of energy that instantly birthed a single, uncontrollable force. The raw, primal signature of x130.
He saw the Titan's face—a young scientist—and felt the devastating power of the ability: not strength or speed, but Total Kinetic Nullification—the power to instantly stop all motion in a kilometer radius. An absolute god.
The file wasn't tagged with a name, but with a horrifying codename the GSI used internally: "NOCTIS."
Kael pulled back, breathing deeply. "The Titan has a name: Noctis."
4. Site-ZERO: The Source
Elara cross-referenced the coordinates with the Noctis file. "Site-ZERO wasn't a prison for Noctis; it was the containment field for the original energy source—the artifact that created The Flare a century ago. The artifact still exists deep inside the facility."
Kael looked at the navigation screen, where the barren white of the Arctic approached rapidly.
"The x125 killer isn't trying to erase the truth," Kael concluded, his eyes cold. "They are going to Site-ZERO to retrieve the original power source—the one thing strong enough to finish what Noctis started."
"We're heading toward the origin of power, Boss," Jax said, pulling himself up, his x30 defense returning. "And we're running into a killer who operates at an impossible level."
Kael nodded. "Then we'll have to rely on what they can't measure. We have three abilities they can't track: The Touch, x20 Logic, and x30 Defense. Let's see how well they handle the unexpected."
The team braced for impact as the transport began its final descent into the frozen, silent wasteland of Site-ZERO.