The cold asphalt of the Manhattan street was covered in dark red blood and glowing white light.Jayden lay flat on his back. The sky above him was a nightmare of black smoke and falling grey ash. He could not breathe. His chest was completely caved in. Caelum’s bone-spiked fist had crushed his ribs and pierced his lungs.Every single time Jayden tried to take a breath, he choked on his own blood.Deep inside his ruined chest, a war was happening. The golden light of his Immortality Lock was trying to rebuild his broken bones. But Caelum’s dark, toxic purple energy was acting like poison. The purple poison burned the golden light.WARNING, the golden screens in Jayden’s mind flashed weakly.CATASTROPHIC DAMAGE DETECTED. HEALING FACTOR REDUCED."I... I have to get up," Jayden thought. His brain felt fuzzy. The pain was like a million hot needles stabbing into his heart.He slowly reached his shaking right hand up to his chest. His fingers touched the jagged holes where Caelum’s bone spi

When the next five people stepped out, they did not fall. They landed safely on the floating golden floor.Jayden hung in the air, panting, using all his energy to hold the heavy golden floor up. But Caelum had watched everything.Caelum’s fractured, multi-spectrum eyes spun rapidly. The tiny geometric shapes in his eyes calculated Jayden’s choices.Data logged, Caelum thought. Target prioritizes civilian rescue over self-defense. Target refuses area-of-effect lethal attacks. Target's movement patterns are completely restricted by empathy.Caelum’s brain changed. The System forced another mutation.NEURAL PREDICTION CAPACITY: MAXIMIZED, the Ascended System announced in Caelum’s mind.Caelum did not just adapt to Jayden’s punches anymore. He evolved to see the future.Because Jayden’s movements were perfectly tied to saving the civilians, his movements were 100% predictable. Caelum could calculate exactly where Jayden would be, milliseconds before Jayden even moved."You are so easy to

ENGAGE FULL SURVIVAL MODE? the System asked again. The word YES blinked in bright green light. The word NO blinked in dull grey.IF YOU DIE, THEY WILL DIE ANYWAY, the cold, robotic logic of the machine whispered in his mind. CAELUM WILL KILL THEM ALL. THE HOLLOWS WILL DELETE THEM ALL. THEIR LIVES ARE ALREADY FORFEIT. USE THEIR ENERGY TO SAVE YOURSELF. IT IS THE ONLY MATHEMATICAL WAY TO WIN.The logic was flawless. The machine was absolutely correct.If Jayden died right here on the roof, there would be no one left to stop Caelum. Caelum would become a dark god. He would hunt down every single normal human. He would feed the entire world to the Devourer.If Jayden took their lives now, he could kill Caelum and save the rest of the country. A thousand lives traded to save millions. It was simple math.Jayden stared at the blinking YES button.His body screamed for it. The pain in his chest was so absolute, so terrible, that he wanted to rip his own skin off. The urge to press YES and fe

The purple spikes of dark bone came down from the sky. Caelum swung his massive fist with the weight of a falling mountain. The sharp, glowing toxic spikes were aimed directly at the back of Jayden’s head. They were only one inch away. They carried enough force to shatter a steel bank vault.Jayden lay pinned under Caelum’s heavy boot on the frozen dirt of the Manhattan rooftop. He did not close his eyes. He waited for the dark. He waited for the end.But the end did not come.Suddenly, the roaring winter wind stopped.The loud, terrible sound of Caelum’s roaring voice vanished.The bright, blinding purple light coming from the spikes stopped moving.Jayden blinked. He looked at the dirty concrete near his face. A single drop of his own glowing white blood was falling from his chin.The drop of blood hung in the air. It did not hit the ground. It was completely frozen in time.Jayden tried to breathe, but his chest did not move. He tried to turn his head, but his muscles were locked

"You... you survived," Caelum growled, recovering his anger. He raised his fists. The dark purple energy flared around his dark bone armor. "It does not matter! I will just crush you again!"Caelum unleashed his massive, invisible Predation Authority field. He aimed the psychological pressure directly at Jayden’s mind, trying to crush his will to fight.Jayden’s body did not even flinch.The white light in Jayden’s eyes flared slightly.THREAT DETECTED, a robotic voice echoed, coming from Jayden’s mouth. It was Jayden’s physical voice, but it had no human inflection. It was totally flat. PSYCHOLOGICAL ATTACK INEFFECTIVE. TARGET LACKS EMOTIONAL RECEPTORS.Caelum roared in fury. He vanished, using his impossible speed. He appeared on Jayden’s left side, swinging a massive kick aimed at Jayden’s ribs.Inside his mental box, Jayden yelled. Dodge it! Jump back!His physical body ignored him.Instead of dodging, Jayden’s body simply raised his left arm.CLANG!Caelum’s heavy, armored leg sl