The smile on Subject Zero's face was not human.
It was worse.
Because it recognized Arman.
THOOOOOOOM!!
The gigantic creature dragged itself forward through the burning corridor. Steel walls bent around its massive body while sparks exploded from broken wires overhead.
Dozens of red eyes opened across its flesh.
Watching.
Studying.
Hungry.
Kabir immediately stepped backward.
"...Nope."
Nobody even argued.
Because the thing crawling toward them looked like every nightmare humanity had ever tried to bury underground.
Its body was stitched together from different experiments.
Different failures.
Different children.
And somehow—
some of them were still alive inside it.
Faint screaming echoed from beneath its skin.
Maya covered her mouth in horror.
"Oh my God..."
The little children surrounding her started trembling violently.
One boy collapsed crying.
"That's where they take the broken ones..."
Ethan's entire body froze.
His cracked visor reflected the monster's burning eyes.
"They said Subject Zero was terminated..."
Director Vale calmly corrected him.
"No."
His cold smile widened proudly.
"It evolved."
BOOOOOOM!!
Subject Zero slammed one gigantic arm into the corridor wall.
The entire facility shook violently.
Emergency pipes exploded overhead, raining boiling steam across LEVEL ZERO.
Kabir grabbed Elias instantly.
"WHY DO ALL YOUR SCIENCE PROJECTS WANT TO EAT US?!"
"I DIDN'T BUILD THIS ONE!"
Arman never moved.
Because Subject Zero kept staring directly at him.
WARNING. GENETIC SYNCHRONIZATION ACTIVE.
Suddenly—
the creature spoke.
Not with one voice.
With hundreds.
"....Ar....man...."
Maya's blood turned cold.
The voices sounded like trapped children speaking together inside the monster.
Some crying.
Some begging.
Some screaming.
Arman's hands started shaking.
FLASH.
Young children dragged into dark operating rooms.
FLASH.
Scientists forcing black liquid into their veins.
FLASH.
A little boy asking young Arman—
"Will it hurt?"
FLASH END.
Arman's breathing became unstable.
"...they used them."
Vale answered emotionlessly.
"They became part of something greater."
Kabir looked ready to commit murder.
"You're actually insane."
But Vale ignored him completely.
His attention stayed on Arman like a scientist observing a final experiment.
"Do you understand now?"
He spread his arms calmly.
"Human emotion creates weakness."
He pointed toward the crying children.
"Fear."
Toward Ethan.
"Trauma."
Toward Maya.
"Attachment."
Then finally—
toward Subject Zero.
"But pain creates evolution."
Silence.
Then the little girl beside Maya whispered softly—
"No..."
Everyone looked at her.
Tiny tears rolled down her scarred face.
"My brother is inside that thing..."
The corridor went completely silent.
Even Kabir stopped talking.
The little girl slowly looked toward Subject Zero.
And somewhere deep inside the creature—
a weak human scream answered her.
Maya instantly dropped beside the child and hugged her tightly.
The girl started sobbing uncontrollably.
And for the first time—
Arman finally understood something horrifying.
This wasn't a laboratory anymore.
It was a graveyard.
A graveyard full of children turned into weapons.
His chest started burning violently.
WARNING. HADES CORE OVERDRIVE.
Black-red energy exploded around his body again.
The floor cracked beneath his feet.
Vale smiled softly.
"Yes."
"Feel it."
"Hatred is necessary."
But Maya suddenly grabbed Arman's face firmly.
Her eyes trembled emotionally.
"Don't listen to him."
Arman's unstable energy shook around them violently.
"I failed them..."
"No."
Maya's voice cracked.
"You survived."
That sentence hit harder than any weapon.
Because survivors blamed themselves.
Even when monsters created the pain.
Ethan slowly stepped beside Arman.
For the first time—
his mechanical voice was gone completely.
Only Ethan remained.
"They wanted us to become monsters."
His human voice trembled quietly.
"So prove them wrong."
The children slowly gathered behind Arman and Maya.
Terrified.
Broken.
But trusting them anyway.
Director Vale watched silently.
Then—
his expression darkened slightly.
"Disappointing."
CLICK.
Suddenly every Orion soldier in the corridor raised their weapons simultaneously.
RATATATATAT!!
Gunfire exploded everywhere.
Kabir instantly tackled two children behind cover.
Maya shielded the little girl with her own body.
Elias activated an energy barrier desperately.
But Subject Zero—
didn't attack anyone.
Instead—
the monster suddenly screamed.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!
The sound shook the entire underground city.
Its gigantic body started convulsing violently.
The red eyes across its flesh flickered uncontrollably.
Ethan realized it first.
"...it's fighting itself."
Inside Subject Zero—
the trapped children were resisting.
Vale's calm expression finally cracked.
Impossible.
The monster slammed its own head repeatedly into the wall.
BOOOOM!!
BOOOOM!!
BOOOOM!!
Steel shattered everywhere.
The corridor began collapsing.
Warning alarms screamed across the facility.
WARNING. STRUCTURAL FAILURE DETECTED.
Kabir looked around in panic.
"Fantastic." "Now the nightmare building is dying too."
Suddenly—
one enormous red eye inside Subject Zero turned blue.
Just one.
Then a weak child's voice echoed painfully from inside the monster.
"...run..."
Everyone froze.
The voice continued—
"...before... he activates... the Core..."
Elias' face turned pale instantly.
"No..."
Maya looked toward him quickly.
"What?"
Elias stared at Vale in horror.
"There's another reactor beneath LEVEL ZERO."
Kabir blinked slowly.
"Of course there is."
Elias' voice shook.
"If it overloads..."
He looked around the underground city.
"...this entire place will collapse."
The children panicked instantly.
Maya held them tightly.
"We're getting everyone out."
Vale suddenly laughed softly.
Not angry.
Not emotional.
Almost peaceful.
"You still don't understand."
His glowing eyes slowly turned toward Arman.
"The HADES Core was never meant to create soldiers."
Silence.
Then Vale whispered—
"It was meant to create a god."
THOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
Far beneath the facility—
something gigantic activated.
The walls suddenly glowed blood red.
Energy pulsed upward through the underground city like a heartbeat.
Arman's chest exploded with pain instantly.
AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!
He collapsed to one knee screaming.
WARNING. HADES CORE RESONANCE DETECTED.
Ethan looked horrified.
"No..." "He's connecting to the reactor."
Black-red energy erupted uncontrollably from Arman's body.
The children screamed.
The corridor started tearing apart around him.
And deep below LEVEL ZERO—
something ancient began waking up.
Not a machine.
Not an experiment.
Something worse.
Then—
inside the collapsing darkness—
a massive voice echoed through the underground city.
"...HOST... DETECTED..."
Kabir stared into the abyss below.
His soul almost left his body.
"...why do I feel like the basement has a basement?"
And then—
far beneath them—
an enormous black gate slowly began opening from inside the earth itself.