Triple X System

Argos’s head finished reattaching with a wet crunch. He grinned through bloodied teeth, red glow pulsing in his palms like a second heartbeat.

"Your unhinged satire won’t save you from what’s about to come. We’ll see how well you fare against your missing partners."

Kyle didn’t answer. He was watching the way the glow moved. It wasn’t natural. It crawled under Argos’s skin like worms made of light, feeding everything back together.

[This isn’t regeneration,] Snow said in his head, voice low. [It’s replacement. Vladimir’s blood is rebuilding him from scratch every time you kill him.]

’So I’m fighting a marionette.’

[Exactly. Cut the strings or you’re here all night.]

Kyle shifted his weight, shadow katana dragging a line through the dirt. "Guess we find the strings then."

Argos lunged.

The ground split under his charge. Kyle met him mid-stride, ducking low and carving upward. The katana opened Argos from sternum to throat.

Blood sprayed.

Argos didn’t stop. He grabbed Kyle by the collar and drove his knee into Kyle’s gut.

[DAMAGE SUSTAINED: MODERATE]

[SUIT ENERGY CORE: 58%]

Kyle coughed, vision blurring for half a second. He drove the katana through Argos’s shoulder and used it as leverage to flip over the beast’s back.

They separated, both breathing hard.

Argos’s wound was already closing. Skin knitting, bone grinding back into place.

"Still holding back?" Argos laughed, flexing his newly healed arm. "Your master taught you better than this."

’Master.’ Kyle’s jaw tightened. "Shut up."

[He’s baiting you,] Snow said. [Don’t take it.]

’I’m not.’ Kyle wiped blood from his mouth. ’I’m thinking.’

The suit was the problem.

Aegis-V was built for humans. It regulated oxygen, temperature, pressure. All things Kyle didn’t need anymore. But it was still draining 20% of his energy per minute just to run.

Against a normal opponent, fine.

Against something that didn’t die? Stupid.

’Drop it,’ Kyle decided.

[You sure?]

’If I don’t, I’ll be dry before I figure out how to kill him. And Elara dies if that happens.’

Kyle exhaled and killed the suit.

The armor dissolved into light, sinking back into his skin. The sudden lack of weight made him feel faster. Lighter.

Also exposed.

Black veins flickered under his skin, faint and pulsing. Demonic energy hummed through him, quiet and cold. No more HUD. No more warnings. Just him and the power he’d been suppressing.

Argos stopped mid-step, nose flaring.

"What is this?" He sniffed the air. "You smell older. Wrong."

Kyle rolled his shoulders. "Feels better."

Argos roared and charged again.

Kyle didn’t block.

He slid under the swing, let Argos overextend, and drove the katana up through his jaw. The blade split bone and brain.

Argos dropped.

Three seconds later, he was standing again.

[It’s not working,] Snow said, frustration bleeding into her voice. [Every time you kill him, Vladimir’s blood rebuilds him.]

’Then I stop aiming for his body.’

’What?’

Kyle flexed his hands. The black veins flared.

He’d felt this before. That cold, hungry thing under his skin that didn’t burn like fire. It consumed.

Dark Flames.

The skill had been locked since he got it. "Requirements not met."

But the system had been silent since the fight started. Too silent.

’System,’ Kyle called out internally. ’Status.’

Nothing.

’System, I said status!’

Still nothing.

[The connection’s down,] Snow said slowly. [Vladimir’s interference. It’s blocking the system link.]

’Then how am I using Shadow Craft?’

[Because that’s yours. The system registered it. It doesn’t control it.]

Kyle stared at his hands.

If the system wasn’t controlling his skills...

What was stopping him from using Dark Flames?

Argos regenerated again, roaring as he charged.

Kyle didn’t move.

He closed his eyes and reached for that cold, hungry feeling.

It answered immediately.

Black flames erupted around his hands. Silent. Weightless. They didn’t give off heat. They drank it. The air around him dropped ten degrees in a second.

Argos skidded to a halt.

"What... what is that?"

Kyle opened his eyes. His irises were black, ringed with crimson fire.

"Something you should’ve been afraid of."

He thrust his hand forward.

The Dark Flames shot out, engulfing Argos’s chest.

The beast screamed. Not from pain. From something deeper. Like his soul was being scraped raw.

The flames didn’t burn skin. They burned the connection.

Kyle could see it now. Thin red threads running from Argos’s chest, disappearing into the air. Leading back to Vladimir.

’There.’

He pushed more power into the flames.

The threads started to fray.

Argos staggered back, clawing at his chest. "Stop! Stop it!"

Kyle didn’t stop.

The threads snapped.

Argos collapsed, clutching his chest, gasping for air that wasn’t there.

For a moment, everything was quiet.

Then his body started to regenerate again. Slower this time. Sluggish. Like the source was running dry.

[It’s working,] Snow breathed. [The connection’s weakening. Keep going.]

Kyle took a step forward.

A system notification blared in his head, so sudden it made him flinch.

[SYSTEM CONNECTION REESTABLISHED]

[SKILL RESTRICTIONS LIFTED]

[DARK FLAMES LV.3 → LV.5]

[NEW SUB-SKILLS UNLOCKED: DIVERGENCE FLAME, HEALING FLAME]

Kyle stopped walking.

’What the hell?’

[The connection to Vladimir was suppressing your system access,] Snow realized. [Once you cut it, the system came back online.]

’And I levelled up just from that?’

[Looks like it. Check the sub-skills.]

Kyle focused on the notification. Two new entries appeared under Dark Flames.

**Divergence Flame**: Burn a target with Dark Flames and extract a fragment of their skill. Create a random specific skill from that fragment. 50 attempts per fragment.

**Healing Flame**: A variant of Dark Flames that heals the user only. Cannot be used on others.

Kyle stared at it.

’Copy skills? Seriously?’

[Seems like it. But 50 attempts per fragment. You’re gonna be grinding.]

’And healing flame only works on me. Typical.’

Argos was still on the ground, twitching. The red glow in his hands was almost gone now.

Kyle walked toward him slowly.

"Done running your mouth?"

Argos looked up at him, fear in his eyes for the first time.

"You’re... you’re not a slave," he whispered. "You’re something else."

Kyle raised his hand. Black flames danced between his fingers.

"Never was."

He slammed his palm onto Argos’s chest.

Divergence Flame activated.

The Dark Flames didn’t burn this time. They sank into Argos’s skin, searching, pulling.

Kyle felt something rip free. A fragment. A memory of a skill.

[SKILL FRAGMENT ACQUIRED: BLOOD RAGE LV.1]

[ATTEMPTS REMAINING: 50]

Argos let out one last gurgle and went still.

This time, he didn’t get back up.

The red glow in his hands died out completely.

[The connection’s severed,] Snow said. [Vladimir can’t reach him anymore.]

Kyle stood up, chest heaving. The Dark Flames around his hands died down, leaving only a faint smolder.

He looked at his hands.

’Healing Flame,’ he thought.

A soft black flame appeared over his palm. It didn’t hurt. It felt warm. Like sunlight after a cold night.

He pressed it to the cut on his arm.

The wound stitched itself closed in seconds.

[Only works on you for now,] Snow noted. [But it’s something.]

Kyle nodded. He turned toward Elara.

She was still unconscious, but breathing steady.

He walked over and knelt beside her, pressing Healing Flame to her forehead.

Nothing happened.

’Right. Only works on me.’

He cursed under his breath and scooped her up instead.

[What now?] Snow asked.

Kyle looked back at Argos’s corpse. The body was starting to dissolve into ash, the blood evaporating into the air.

’Now we move,’ Kyle said. ’Before Vladimir sends another one.’

He started walking, Elara in his arms, the black veins under his skin slowly fading back to normal.

Behind him, the last of Argos’s body turned to dust and scattered on the wind.

[SYSTEM UPDATE]

[DARK FLAMES LV.5]

- Divergence Flame: 1/50 attempts used

- Healing Flame: Active

Kyle didn’t look back.

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