Cain hissed, writhing in the air on his multi-jointed manipulators. His scalpels flashed, leaving deep gouges across my chest and shoulders. "Will to Live" had turned my body into a biochemical furnace—I just plowed forward, ignoring the strikes.
I caught him mid-leap.
One of Cain's mechanical joints dug into my left shoulder, trying to reach an artery, but my right hand locked in a death grip around his throat. His thin needle-fingers clawed helplessly at my steel palm, striking sparks.
"The container..." he rasped, pointing at his belt.
I ripped the antidote container free with such force that I tore it away along with a piece of his coat fabric and a chunk of his pelvic armor. Then, without looking, I hurled the surgeon's body toward the massive panoramic window. Cain smashed into the glass, leaving a thick bloody smear, and slid to the floor.
I dropped to my knees next to Ephraim. His face had already taken on an ashen hue, his lips were turning blue, and his gaze was beginning to cloud, fixed on something past me.
"Ephraim! Old man, look at me! Don't you even think about..."
A jab straight to the heart. The plunger drove all the way down.
Ephraim's body jerked. His chest expanded in a ragged gasp.
"Iron..." he whispered. His eyes cleared for a moment. "Kid... you've done... enough. Now... let me finish my job," he said, slowly getting up.
"Remember..." blood trickled from his mouth. "I told you about my magic. Well..."
"No... no, no, you mustn't!" I shouted.
"I told you, let... me... finish my job," he said with a smirk.
"Tira! Zeno!" he yelled. "Fall back! To the airlock, move!"
"Ephraim, don't!" Tira rushed toward us, her face wet with tears.
Sif's signal faltered for a fraction of a second, disrupted by the interference from my system's thermal overload. Zeno grabbed Tira around the waist and dragged her back toward the exit.
[PRIORITY: ALLY SAFETY]
I grabbed Ephraim's shoulder. But the old man shoved me away hard.
"Go, Iron. Stay human... for both of us."
Ephraim braced himself and spoke:
"Gaze into the abyss of the Source, for it is hungry. I call upon chaos. Take their breath, take their blood, turn their strength into my triumph. Let the White Noise consume you..."
The shockwave launched me, throwing me across the entire hall straight into the wreckage of the lab tables.
Everything turned into an inferno of fire and sparks. A blindingly white flame engulfed the center of the room. Sif, who was hovering in the air trying to regain control over the station's neural network, took the brunt of the blast. Her anti-gravity platform detonated, exploding into a fan of red-hot shrapnel. The cascade of her wire-hair instantly caught fire. She was hurled violently to the side; her body smashed into a massive pillar and went limp, wreathed in sparks and bluish smoke.
Valerius's armored chair flipped over, shards of glass and metal shredding his face and shoulders. He crashed to the floor, his white coat scorched and soaked in blood. Coughing, he tried to push himself up, clinging to a shattered control console.
I lay on the floor, feeling tears stream down my face, evaporating instantly against the heat of my skin. Where Ephraim had stood, there was nothing left but a black, melted crater.
Afterward, the only sounds were the hissing of the fire suppression systems and the crackle of exposed wiring.
And then came the heavy, measured grind of metal against metal.
Sif's connection was completely severed the second the explosion destroyed her control module. Slowly, damaged joints creaking, Zeno walked over to where Sif lay.
"Intruding into my code... was a mistake," Zeno's voice now sounded clear, free of static.
He raised his massive leg and, with a hydraulic crunch, brought it down squarely on Sif's head. Her mirrored visor shattered. A brief shriek, a shower of electrical discharges.
I slowly got to my feet.
Tira sat by the entrance, her back pressed against the wall, her face buried in her hands. Her shoulders were trembling.
Valerius was already on his feet, leaning against the edge of his shattered desk. His face was split by a deep gash, blood dripping onto the mirrored tile, leaving a trail. He was breathing heavily, but when he looked up and met my eyes, that insane, terrifying smile reappeared on his lips.
"Do you see it, Iron?" he rasped, wiping blood from his chin. "The old man died... so you could make your choice. Anger, loss... they are the best teachers. Now you are finally free from the chains of human weakness. You are ready to become... the pinnacle of creation."
"You don't understand anything, Valerius," my voice was quiet. "Ephraim died so that I could end you."
"Zeno, Tira... Leave him to me."
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter