All Chapters of Seconds To Zero : Chapter 91
- Chapter 100
104 chapters
CHAPTER 91
The iron cage shook. It groaned as it went down, deeper and deeper into the belly of the city. Evan leaned his head against the cold, wet bars. His body felt like it was made of lead. His bones ached. His skin felt too tight for his muscles.He was twenty years old again, but his mind felt a thousand years old. The white hair on his head was gone, turned back to dark brown, but the memories of being an old man stayed. He could still feel the phantom weight of eighty years in his knees.The purple fire in his blood was quiet now. It was not a roar anymore. It was a low hum, like a distant engine.Next to him, Marco sat on the floor of the cage. The grifter was pale. His blue jacket was torn and stained with blood and gray dust. He was holding the silver coin in his hand, but he wasn't spinning it. He was just staring at it."We are alive," Marco whispered. His voice was small. it sounded like a secret.Evan looked at him. "Are we? Or are we just waiting for the next game?"Marco didn't
CHAPTER 92
"It's okay," Marco said. He sounded sleepy now. "I’m tired of counting anyway. I’ve spent my whole life looking for the next hour. I just want to... stop... for a minute."Marco’s breathing became slow and shallow.Evan sat up on his bunk. He gripped the metal frame so hard it bent. He felt a wave of pure, cold rage. Not the hot rage of the fight, but the cold rage of a man who realized he was being played by a master.The Architect. Viper. Julian. They weren't just playing a game. They were building a cage where even a god was a slave.Suddenly, the lights in the barracks flickered. The prisoners moaned. Some hid under their thin blankets.A giant hologram appeared in the center of the room. It was the face of Viper. He looked perfect. His emerald suit was clean. His yellow eyes were bright."Greetings, gladiators," Viper said. His voice was loud. It filled the cavern. "I hope you are enjoying your rest. You earned it. The First Round was... spectacular. The ratings in the High Zone
CHAPTER 93
The white light of the 25th Hour did not last forever. It pulled away like a cold tide, leaving Evan standing on a ledge of rusted iron.Evan blinked. His eyes burned. He looked down at his right hand. It was empty. The boy on the blue bicycle was gone. The white void was gone. He was back in the dark, back in the damp, and back in the Tournament of Rust.But he was not in the arena of sand anymore.He was standing on a narrow metal walkway high above a giant pit. The air here was different. It did not smell like dry rust. It smelled sharp. It smelled like vinegar and burnt plastic. It made Evan’s eyes water and his throat feel like he had swallowed needles.Below the walkway, fifty feet down, was a lake. But it was not a lake of water. It was a lake of neon-green acid. It bubbled and hissed. Thick, yellow fumes rose from the liquid, swirling in the air like ghostly snakes."Sunshine?"Evan turned his head. Marco was there.Evan’s heart gave a violent leap. Marco was alive. He was sta
CHAPTER 94
Evan looked at the first tile.[NOTICE: CHRONOS PERCEPTION ACTIVE]The gold numbers exploded into his vision.[TILE 4: SOLID][PROBABILITY OF TRUTH: 100%][COUNTDOWN: 02:00]"The System sees it," Evan said."The System sees the first step," the Overseer countered. "But as you move deeper, the equations will become... personal.""Jump!" Evan roared.He leaped from the walkway. He landed on Tile 4. It felt solid, like cold glass.Sarah jumped next. She landed behind him, gasping. The other eight followed. They were like a line of ants.As soon as the last person landed on Tile 4, the walkway they had just left vanished. It didn't fall; it simply stopped existing."Row Two!" Evan shouted.His eyes scanned the next ten squares.[CALCULATING...][TILE 7: SOLID][TILE 7: STABILITY 99%]Evan jumped.Row three.Row four.Row five.They were moving fast. Evan was a blur of gray and purple. He didn't even wait for the numbers to stop spinning. He was reading the movement of the light. He was se
CHAPTER 95
Evan stopped. He looked at the eight people behind him. The fathers. The old men. The boys."If you go to the golden door, you get to the Spire. You save your father. You keep your infinity balance," the Overseer explained. "But the others fall into the acid. There is no math that saves everyone."Evan looked at the island on the left. The Golden Door. He looked at the island on the right. The Vent."The vent... where does it lead?" Evan asked."To the slums," the Overseer said. "Back to the mud. Back to the zeros. They will live, but they will be poor. And you... you will be trapped in the sewers forever."The eight survivors looked at Evan. They didn't say anything. They didn't beg. They just stood there, their 1,000-year balances glowing in the dark. They knew the choice.Evan looked at his wrist.[TIME REMAINING: 00:02:00]The red timer was almost done. If he didn't get to the Spire, his heart would stop."Sunshine," Marco whispered.Evan turned to his friend. Marco was flickering
CHAPTER 96
The library was gone. The books made of glass had shattered into a million sharp pieces. The woman who looked like Evan’s mother had vanished into a cloud of white smoke. Evan felt a cold, metallic hand tighten around his throat.The Clock-Man, the thing that used to be Julian Vox—held him high in the air. Inside Julian’s helmet, there was no skin. There were no eyes. There was only a giant, circular clock face. The hands moved at a terrifying speed. Tick. Tick. Tick. Each tick sounded like a bone snapping.Evan looked at his wrist. The infinity sign was no longer still. It was spinning backward.[∞ - 5,000][∞ - 10,000]"The House... is taking... the interest," the Clock-Man said. His voice was a mix of a thousand ticking watches.Evan struggled. His green, translucent skin glowed with a sick light. He was filled with the green acid—the spent time of the world. He was heavy. He was the Debt. He raised his hand and slammed it into Julian’s chest.A wave of green energy exploded. The C
CHAPTER 97
Marco ran after him. The five survivors followed, their eyes closed, screaming in terror.They reached the middle of the pit. Julian Vox was screaming—a sound of grinding gears. He flew at them, his black blade raised high."YOU... WILL... NOT... ESCAPE... THE... LEDGER!"Evan turned. He didn't use the Spark. He used the Debt.He grabbed the black blade with his bare hand. The black time of the blade tried to delete Evan's arm, but Evan was filled with the green waste. You cannot delete what is already dead.Evan pulled Julian closer. He looked into the clock-face."The House always collects, Julian," Evan whispered. "But the Debt is the one who knocks on the door."Evan opened his mouth.A stream of thick, green acid poured out of Evan’s throat and into Julian’s helmet.The Clock-Man shrieked. The golden gears inside his head began to melt. The glass face cracked. The white armor turned black and started to crumble."FATHER!" Julian cried out.But the Architect was gone. He had disso
CHAPTER 98
The fake world of London, with its green trees and fresh air, did not fade away slowly. It broke like a mirror hit by a heavy stone. One second, Evan was looking at a silver coin in the hand of a normal boy. The next second, the sky turned into black rock. The smell of grass turned into the sharp, stinging scent of acid. The sound of the bicycle bell was replaced by the deep, rhythmic throb of the High Spire’s machinery.Thump-thump. Thump-thump.Evan was back. He was standing on a narrow metal walkway. It was cold and wet. His boots felt heavy. He looked down and saw his hands. They were young again, but they were covered in a thin layer of glowing purple sweat. His Shroud Suit was torn and stained with the green residue of the "Spent Time" he had absorbed.Below the walkway, the giant pit of green acid bubbled. It looked like a boiling ocean of poison. The fumes rose in thick, yellow clouds, making it hard to see the other side of the chamber."Sunshine? You went away again," Mar
CHAPTER 99
The next row of tiles appeared. They were further apart. The gaps between them were five feet wide.Evan’s eyes scanned the squares.Tile 1: [0.00s] - Red.Tile 5: [0.00s] - Red.Tile 8: [22.00s] - Gold."Tile 8!" Evan shouted.They jumped.Row after row, they moved. Evan was no longer hesitant. He was a machine. He didn't look at the equations. He didn't listen to the Overseer’s mocking voice. He only looked for the Gold.Clack. Clack. Clack.They were moving so fast the survivors were struggling to keep up."Wait! Slow down!" the old woman cried. She was out of breath. Her legs were thin and shaking.Evan stopped on Row Fifteen. He looked back at her. Her balance was low. He could see the timer above her head.[BIOLOGICAL STABILITY: 12 MINUTES]The acid fumes were eating her lungs. The "Tournament of Rust" was designed to kill you even if you didn't fall. The air itself was a weapon."We can't slow down," Evan said. His voice was cold. "The tiles behind us are deleting. If we stop,
CHAPTER 100
Evan didn't wait for them to decide. He used the Endless power to create a wave of purple energy. He didn't use it to fight. He used it as a net.He swept the five survivors off their tiles. He grabbed Marco. And he dived straight into the green boiling lake.They hit the liquid.The survivors screamed, waiting for their skin to melt. Waiting for the ten-year-per-second decay. But the pain didn't come.Evan was holding them in a bubble of "Spent Time." Because he was filled with the acid energy from the earlier rounds, he was immune to the poison. He was a filter. He was absorbing the decay before it could touch the others.[WARNING: BIOLOGICAL DEGRADATION INITIATED][LIFESPAN DEDUCTION: 500 YEARS PER SECOND]Evan didn't care. He had infinity.They sank through the green darkness. It was quiet here. The screaming of the Overseer was a muffled hum.Evan saw the blue light of the drain. It was a heavy iron wheel. He reached out and grabbed it. “System. Override.”[AUTHORITY: THE ENDLESS