The drones came down like a rain of knives.Blades spun, surgical arms snapping open, red lights pulsing like demonic pupils searching for flesh.Jin screamed, “WHY DO THEY ALL HAVE SO MANY LIMBS?!”“MOVE!” Lira shoved him aside as a drone’s rotating bone saw carved a line across the floor where his head had been.Raymond didn’t run.He walked forward.Calm.Eyes glowing silver-white.His voice was quiet, but it carried through the chaos:“Lira. Jin. Stay behind me.”Jin yelled, “BRO THIS IS NOT A GOOD TIME TO BE DRAMATIC.”A drone lunged for Raymond’s throat and he vanished.A blur. A streak of silver cutting through the air.The drone split cleanly in half, both pieces hitting the floor with a wet metallic clang.Lira whispered, “He’s faster… again.”Raymond landed in a crouch, breath steady, eyes locked on Verrick.Verrick watched with fascination bordering on religious joy.“Yes… that’s it, Raymond. Let the System breathe. Let it show you what you were born to become.”Raymond ign

The platform Verrick stood on rose higher, humming with a deep metallic resonance. The lights in the chamber dimmed, everything funneling attention to the man smiling down at them like a prophet basking in the arrival of his god.Raymond wiped the blood trailing from his jaw. “What is Phase Five?”Verrick grinned wider. “You.”The floor beneath Raymond pulsed, once, then again, like it was syncing to a heartbeat not his own.Lira stepped closer, blade drawn. “Ray, move!”Raymond tried. His legs didn’t respond.The System’s voice cut in, frantic, distorted: « Host: Neural override detected. External access, attempting block.»Then it glitched violently.« ERR⧙R»Raymond stiffened as an invisible force latched onto his spine.Jin gasped. “He’s being hacked!”Verrick spread his hands. “Not hacked. Activated. Raymond Briggs, prototype of the Briggs Line, your true function is finally online.”Raymond clenched his teeth. “I was never yours to control.”Verrick laughed softly. “But you were

Wind howled like a living thing.The three of them plunged through the neon-stained morning sky, the ruins of the spire collapsing behind them in a thunderous metallic avalanche. Steel girders spiraled past. Fire clouds blossomed below. Gravity tore at their faces.Jin screamed first.“WE’RE GOING TO DIE!”Raymond tightened his grip on both of them, eyes narrowed against the rushing air.“No. We’re not.”The System’s voice hissed against his skull, italicized and glitching: « Host—trajectory fatal.Stabilization output insufficient for tri-load drop. Recommend release auxiliary weights. »“Not happening,” Raymond muttered.Lira yelled over the wind, “Ray, focus! Do you have a plan?!”“Yes!”“…Is it a good one?!”“Absolutely not!”The ground rushed closer, tower fragments crashing down ahead like meteors.Raymond thrust one hand downward.A shockwave of white light erupted, slowing their descent for a fraction of a second before sputtering out.Jin screamed again. “DID YOU JUST TRY SOM

Rain hammered the fractured neon skyline as Raymond sprinted across the suspended transit bridge, boots slamming metal.Beneath him, through the grid slats, Zenith City burned in vertical layers, sirens spiraling, drones chasing ghosts, every billboard screaming warnings about an “unregistered medical anomaly.” They mean you, the System whispered, silk-soft and predatory. They mean us.“Ray, STOP!” Lira shouted behind him.“I can’t, he’s close! I feel him!” Raymond didn’t slow. His pulse synced with the System’s cold hum.Kai.Down below, a shockwave rippled through the underbelly streets, thick red mist blooming between the buildings like an arterial spray stretching across the city’s veins.“Dammit…” Lira caught up and grabbed his arm. “That’s not natural. That’s someone using a healer system. Someone with output levels close to yours.”Raymond’s jaw clenched. “It’s him.”“Or a trap.”He didn’t care, Raymond ripped free and ran again.A drone dropped from above, spotlight snapping o

The elevator doors slammed open with a metallic shudder, dust raining from the ceiling as Raymond, Lira, and Jin stumbled inside.Jin mashed the panel. “Down,” he panted. “We need to go down.”The elevator didn’t move.Lira groaned. “Oh perfect, Kai’s already hijacked the transit grid.”Raymond stepped forward, placed his palm flat on the panel.His veins flared white.A harsh chime sounded. The elevator lurched violently, then began to descend, cutting deeper and deeper into the forbidden strata beneath Zenith.Jin swallowed hard. “Ray… did you just override a city elevator with your bloodstream?”Raymond didn’t blink. “I don’t want to talk about it.”Lira eyed him. “You good?”“No.”She nodded once. “Good. Because I’m not either.”The elevator plummeted, old rails screeching.Halfway down, alarms began howling.Jin stared at the flashing red lights. “This is fine. We’re fine. No one’s dying today. Definitely a normal Tuesday.”The elevator shuddered.Stopped.Lights flickered out, l