The blaring sirens pierced the underground sanctuary like the wail of a dying beast, echoing through the vast caverns and tunnels of Eden. Red emergency lights flickered to life, casting bloody hues over the makeshift city—hydroponic farms where workers dropped their tools in panic, residential tents where families huddled in fear, and the command center where maps and holograms buzzed with frantic updates. General Harlan slammed his prosthetic fist on the console, his face a mask of grim resolve. "Breach confirmed! Zorvathian forces at the northern entrance! Scouts report at least two platoons, heavy armor, and air support. All hands to battle stations!"John felt the familiar surge of adrenaline, the Crystal of Life pulsing warmly against his side like a second heartbeat, fueling his enhanced senses. He drew the Soulrender, its blade igniting with a crimson glow that cut through the dim light, humming with anticipation. Vera stood beside him, her hands weaving subtle enchantments, v

Night came early in the undercity. There was no real sky… just metal shutters closing over the rows of lamps as traders packed up their stalls. Eden grew tense, like a fist tightening. In the war room, everyone worked in quiet focus, the kind of silence that comes right before something explodes.Once the plan was set, they moved as one. Marcus and two others checked the explosives—timed charges held together with duct tape and scribbled notes full of curse words. Lena and Harlan slipped into the comms bay to hide their signal from scanners. Kira went over the timing again and again, her voice calm and steady:“Infiltration at 02:14. Power down at 02:17. Vera goes live at 02:20. Bay doors open at 02:25. Extraction between 02:35 and 02:40.”She memorized it all, then looked at each of them with eyes that said clearly: Don’t fail me.John tightened the straps of his pack, feeling the weight settle across his shoulders like the number of lives he had to save. He checked his gear—the me

The platform was a ruined thing, proof that the storm had ripped through without mercy. Black ichor pooled across cracked tiles in thick, oily puddles that caught the moonlight and turned it into moving shadows. Zorvathian bodies lay everywhere: limbs splayed, chests torn open to show slick, unfamiliar organs, heads hanging at strange angles with faces frozen in shocked surprise.The air tasted of metal and burned plasma, mixed with the sharp ozone of broken electronics. Shrapnel lay like spent confetti. A derailed train car sagged beneath a collapsed catwalk, its sides pocked with fresh craters; the weight of the wreck had crushed several aliens beneath it. John stood in the center of it all, breathing slow and measured, the glow of the Limit Breaker on his forehead shrinking like a dying ember. Sweat and flecks of ichor dotted his brow; his armor carried new scorched scars that still smoked faintly in the cool, underground air.For a long, heavy moment, everything was silent except

Consciousness returned to John like a tide dragging him out of a dark ocean. His mind rose sluggishly through layers of blackness until pain exploded behind his eyes. Every nerve screamed as awareness slammed back into his body. His skull felt like it was being pried open from the inside. When he tried to move, he realized he couldn’t. His arms were locked in place, suspended midair by magnetic restraints that crackled with blue light. His legs were pinned by glowing bands of energy that hummed with a low, alien frequency.When his vision finally steadied, the nightmare unfolded.He was trapped inside a containment chamber: a transparent cell made of some kind of shimmering glass-like material. Beyond it stretched a vast laboratory unlike anything built by human hands. Metallic arches curved toward the ceiling like rib bones of some great mechanical beast, each one pulsing with streams of neural light. Machinery hissed and throbbed with strange energy. Containment spheres floated over