25: 06.25 – 06.40
The crimson emergency lighting in the medical ward no longer flickered.... it burned constant, drenching Ryu's pallid skin in the hue of fresh arterial blood. The sharp, clinical scent of ozone from the overloaded diagnostic arrays filled the stagnant air. On the floor, Lyra's cracked tablet still displayed the weeping eye sigil.... a symbol that, according to Vasena's redacted history, should not exist.
| 06:25:01 |
"Ryu.... you have to run," Lyra whispered. Her voice was fractured, her hand still gripping Ryu's arm, cold and slick with the sweat of pure terror. "If they are using that sigil.... they aren't coming to test you anymore. They are coming to harvest you."
Ryu did not move. His eyes were locked onto the pneumatic doors, now forcefully sealed by an external override. In his ears, the high-frequency whine of the deconstructed mainframe sounded like the scream of dying metal.
⟨ Warning: Access to Sector C-9 door systems has been rerouted. Vasena Authority: Denied. Forced Extraction Protocol: Active. ⟩
[FINALLY. DO YOU HEAR THAT, RYU? THEY ARE COMING TO TAKE WHAT THEY THINK BELONGS TO THEM. WILL YOU STAND THERE AND LET THOSE FILTHY HANDS TOUCH US AGAIN?]
'Quiet, Eon,' Ryu thought. His head throbbed, as if a white-hot spike were being driven between his temples.
⟨ Heart Rate: 112 BPM. Adrenaline Levels: Rising. Recommendation: Activate Reflexive Combat Mode in T-minus 10 seconds. ⟩
"Run where, Lyra?" Ryu asked. His voice was flat, devoid of the panic that should have consumed a thirteen-year-old. He turned toward her, and his face was a void.... an unsettling emptiness that offered no comfort. "If an Omega-level system has engaged, there isn't a single corner of the Dominion of Astryx they cannot see."
SHHHH....
A soft hiss erupted from the ventilation shafts. It wasn't the standard sedative gas used in containment breaches. This was a neuro-suppressant aerosol.
"Gas...." Lyra covered her nose with the sleeve of her medical tunic. "Ryu, don't breathe it in!"
{ 𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩, 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦.... 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵.... }
The third voice emerged, so thin it was almost swallowed by the wail of the sirens. Instantly, Ryu felt his throat constrict automatically.... a biological mechanism he had never learned, a defensive reflex triggered from a place beyond his conscious mind.
⟨ Aerosol Effect: Detected. Calculating remaining consciousness window: 120 seconds. ⟩
[ENOUGH WITH THE DEFENSE! LET ME TAKE THE REINS! I WILL RIP THAT DOOR OPEN AND TEAR THE THROAT OUT OF EVERY LIVING THING ON THE OTHER SIDE!]
Ryu stepped forward, moving away from the observation table. Each step felt heavy, as if the very gravity of the room had been intensified by the hostile override. He approached the reinforced steel door.
"Ryu! What are you doing?!" Lyra cried out, her voice weakening as the gas began to dampen her nervous system.
Ryu pressed his palm against the cold, vibrating surface of the door. He didn't look for a manual release. He searched for a frequency.
'NV, find the gap in the door's magnetic synchronization.'
⟨ Scanning.... Synchronization found at 440Hz. Required: High-voltage static surge from motor nerves. Warning: This will cause localized tissue damage to the right hand. ⟩
[DO IT! PAIN IS A CHEAP PRICE FOR FREEDOM!]
Ryu closed his eyes. He visualized every fragment of trauma, every spark of the rage he had spent years burying, and funneled it into his fingertips.
BZZZZT.... KRACK!
A surge of blue static arced from Ryu's palm, scorching the metal surface of the door. Lyra watched in horror as the veins in Ryu's hand blackened for a fleeting second, but the door.... the three-ton slab of reinforced plating.... emitted a heavy clack and slid open just a fraction.
| 06:29:45 |
Ryu drew a sharp, painful breath. His right hand shook violently, the skin blistered and raw.
"We leave now," Ryu said, not looking back.
But as the door groaned open, it wasn't a dark corridor that met them.
Standing in the hallway, framed by the drifting neuro-gas, were three figures clad in dark silver tactical armor that seemed to drink the light. Their helmets were fitted with V-shaped visors that pulsed with a dim purple glow. They carried no firearms.... only mono-molecular blades folded against their forearms.
One of them stepped forward. The voice that emerged from the helmet's modulator was distorted, sounding like the looped recording of a child's voice.
"Subject D-3. Resonance detected. Harvesting process initiated."
Ryu stood in front of the slumped, gasping Lyra. He stared at the three Omega-level harvesters, his pupils dilating until the blackness began to give way to a cold, metallic grey.
⟨ Enemy: Detected. Threat Level: Absolute. ⟩
[FINALLY.... THE REAL FEAST BEGINS.]