The air in the medical depot didn't just feel cold anymore; it felt static.
Kaelen stood in the center of the wreckage, his breath coming in steady, rhythmic cycles. The red "Stagnation" fog that usually claimed the Drained had vanished, replaced by a terrifyingly clear vision. Every grain of dust floating in the emergency red lights was visible. Every spark from the shattered Enforcer armor sounded like a thunderclap.
He looked at the floating white text in front of his eyes.
[CURRENT FLUX: 101.2%]
[STATUS: OVERFLOW]
[WARNING: VESSEL CRITICAL. DISCHARGE REQUIRED.]
"Discharge?" Kaelen whispered. His voice echoed off the steel walls, vibrating with a resonance that wasn't there before.
"Kael! Talk to me!" Jax's voice was screaming in his ear now. "The bio-scanners in Sector 4 just tripped a Level 9 alert. They think a High-Tier Hero has gone rogue in the slums. They're sending the Hounds, Kael! Get out of there!"
"I'm coming, Jax," Kaelen said.
He reached for the medical crate. Usually, lifting this 50kg box required a focused burst of 0.5% Flux just to stabilize his spine. He touched the metal handle.
[SKILL TRIGGERED: KINETIC ANCHOR (PASSIVE)]
[WEIGHT NULLIFIED]
The crate felt like it was made of hollow plastic. Kaelen swung it onto his back with one hand.
Clang-Clang-Clang!
The sound of heavy, mechanized footsteps rang out from the loading dock. Three "Flux-Hounds"—four-legged combat drones powered by compressed energy—skidded into the room. Their optical sensors glowed a predatory red as they locked onto Kaelen's glowing silhouette.
"Target identified," a synthesized voice chimed. "Biological anomaly detected. Authorized for lethal termination."
The lead Hound lunged. It was a blur of chrome and hydraulic hiss, its titanium claws extended to shred Kaelen's chest.
In the old world—the world of 4.2%—Kaelen would have been dead before he could blink.
In this new world, he saw the Hound's trajectory as a glowing vector line. He saw the tension in its spring-loaded joints.
[NEW SKILL: IMPACT MIRROR (ACTIVE)]
[DESCRIPTION: ABSORB 100% OF INCOMING KINETIC FORCE. REFLECT 200% UPON CONTACT.]
Kaelen didn't dodge. He stepped into the strike.
The Hound's claws slammed into Kaelen's shoulder. There was no pain. Instead, Kaelen felt a massive surge of energy pour into him, like a dam breaking. His wrist-gauge didn't go down. It went up.
[FLUX: 101.5%... 102.1%!]
"My turn," Kaelen growled.
He grabbed the Hound by its metal throat. The energy he had just absorbed flowed from his shoulder, through his heart, and exploded out of his fist.
BOOM.
The drone didn't just break; it disintegrated. A shockwave of reflected force turned the 300kg machine into a cloud of shrapnel that shredded the other two Hounds behind it. The explosion blew out the remaining windows of the depot, sending a pillar of white light into the dark Under-Grid sky.
Kaelen stood in the center of the crater, his skin humming with a white-gold radiance.
"Kaelen... what was that?" Jax's voice was a trembling whisper. "I'm looking at the energy readings on my deck. You... you just outputted more kilojoules than a Spires Power Station."
"I don't know," Kaelen said, looking at the glowing interface. "But I don't think I'm 'Static' anymore, Jax."
[MISSION UPDATED: THE HEALER'S TAX]
[OBJECTIVE: DELIVER STABILIZERS TO SECTOR 4 CLINIC.]
[TIME REMAINING: 08:42]
[REWARD: PERMANENT CAPACITY INCREASE +2%]
Kaelen looked at the exit. A wall of Enforcer shields was already forming a block away. Searchlights from hovering gunships began to criss-cross the alleyway.
"They want to treat me like a battery?" Kaelen tightened his grip on the medical crate, his eyes glowing with the intensity of a dying star. "Let's see if they can handle the voltage."
He didn't run. He ignited.
With a single step, the asphalt beneath his boots liquefied from the sheer friction. Kaelen shot forward like a railgun slug, leaving a trail of white fire in the soot-stained streets of the Under-Grid.