Divine Milking System

Chapter 402: 402 | Stupid, Reckless, Incredible

Divine Overflow burned hotter, faster, consuming more of my life to fuel the golden fire spreading through my veins.

◆ WARNING: ACCELERATED CONSUMPTION DETECTED ◆

◆ LIFESPAN REMAINING: 13 days 0 hours ◆

Twelve hours evaporated in seconds. But the return on that investment was immediate and overwhelming. The power coursing through me didn’t just double or triple—it multiplied until my previous output looked like a match flame next to a wildfire.

The golden aura expanded outward until it coated my skin in a second layer, bright enough that I could see the light reflecting off the volcanic glass beneath my feet. My muscles protested with every movement, pushed far past any reasonable biological limit. My heart raced so fast that the individual beats blurred into one continuous tremor in my chest, like an engine pushed into the red zone with no intention of slowing down.

Then I moved.

The creature was still busy knitting itself back together when I closed the distance. Still repairing the hole I’d blown through its side. Still riding high on the delusion that it had weathered the worst of our assault.

I drove my fist straight through the fresh shell growth like it was paper.

Reached deep into its body cavity.

Wrapped my fingers around the core.

The heat was instant and agonizing. The dimensional energy pouring into my palm was like grabbing a live electrical wire that had been rolled in razorblades. Corruption raced up my arm in visible black tendrils, trying to worm its way into my cells, trying to rewrite my biology into something that shouldn’t exist in this plane of reality.

Divine Overflow rejected every inch of it, burning the infection out faster than it could spread.

The golden light flared so bright that everyone in the clearing had to look away. The creature’s scream reached a pitch beyond human hearing, a vibration that cracked the volcanic glass floor and sent fissures spreading toward the exit point.

I squeezed.

◆ LIFESPAN REMAINING: 11 days 18 hours ◆

◆ LIFESPAN REMAINING: 9 days 12 hours ◆

◆ LIFESPAN REMAINING: 6 days 0 hours ◆

The core cracked.

Not a surface fracture. Not some minor damage that would let this thing regenerate one more time. This was a deep, fundamental break that split the compressed energy mass straight through its center. The light inside it faltered. Stuttered. Started to fade.

The creature grabbed me with both hands.

Its claws punched through my uniform, tore into my shoulders, my chest, my back. Blood spilled hot and fast from a dozen puncture wounds. The golden aura around me flickered as Divine Overflow tried to keep up with everything at once—cellular regeneration, strength amplification, fighting off the dimensional corruption that wanted to turn my insides into something that didn’t belong in this reality.

Too much demand. Not enough power left.

I squeezed harder anyway.

The core shattered.

Light exploded outward from the creature’s chest cavity. Not the warm golden glow that had been surrounding me. Something colder. Sharper. This was raw dimensional energy released without any containment, without purpose, without anything to shape it into something that could exist safely in our world.

The creature’s body started to dissolve.

From the edges first, working inward like paper catching fire in reverse. Cells broke down as the power sustaining them disappeared completely. It released its grip on me. I dropped.

Couldn’t catch myself. Couldn’t even try. The golden aura guttered out like a candle in a strong wind. Divine Overflow shut down with a system notification I couldn’t read through all the blood in my eyes.

I hit the ground face-first.

The world went quiet.

Not silent. I could still hear things. Blair shouting something. Naomi screaming my name. Jordan’s voice, distant and urgent, saying words that didn’t parse into meaning. The dimensional seal completing its collapse with a sound like reality folding in on itself.

But quiet. Peaceful, almost. Like the moment between sleeping and waking when nothing quite feels real.

Belle.

I needed to know about Belle.

I tried to push myself up. My arms weren’t interested. Tried to turn my head. My neck said no. The only thing that still listened was my eyes, and all they could see was purple-orange sky above and the fading glow of the guardian’s dissolution.

◆ DIVINE OVERFLOW: TERMINATED ◆

◆ CELLULAR DAMAGE: SEVERE ◆

◆ LIFESPAN REMAINING: 3 days 6 hours ◆

◆ HEALTH STATUS: CRITICAL ◆

◆ RECOMMENDATION: IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ATTENTION ◆

Days of my life. Gone. Burned up in maybe two minutes.

Worth it.

Completely and absolutely worth it if everyone else made it out alive.

Someone grabbed my shoulder and rolled me onto my back. A face appeared above me. Pink and black hair had escaped the braid I’d tied that morning and now fell in tangled curtains around her features.

Naomi.

Her lips moved but I couldn’t parse the sounds. Tears ran down her cheeks and cut tracks through the dirt and ash and blood covering her face. The Gold buff had faded at some point. She looked smaller now. More breakable than anyone had a right to look after surviving what we’d just survived.

Her hands pressed against my chest and I felt pressure but not pain. That was probably bad. Pain meant nerves still worked. No pain meant damage had gone past the point where my body bothered sending signals.

She kept talking. Her mouth formed words I couldn’t quite catch through the ringing in my ears and the weird cotton-stuffed feeling in my head. Something about staying with her. Something about not giving up. Something that sounded desperate and terrified and angry all at once.

I wanted to tell her I was fine. That I’d be fine. That this was just temporary and I’d be back on my feet in an hour after my Endurance kicked in and started repairing the damage.

But that would’ve been a lie.

"...hear me? Jace! Can you hear me?"

"Belle." My voice came out as a croak. A whisper. Something barely recognizable as human speech. "Is Belle..."

"She’s alive. Jordan got her to the exit. She’s alive, Jace. We’re all alive. We’re all going to make it because of you, you stupid, reckless, incredible idiot."

Alive.

Belle was alive.

The relief hit me harder than any of the creature’s attacks had. My vision blurred with something that might have been tears or might have been blood loss or might have been the dimensional seal finally releasing its grip on reality.

"Can you walk?"

"No."

"Then I’m carrying you."

"You’re five-foot-three."

"I’m five-foot-four and I don’t give a shit."

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