The heat in the Purge Sector was like a physical weight. It did not just sit on your skin; it pushed against you.It tried to force the air out of your lungs and replace it with the taste of rusted iron and hot grease.Silas Kapito stood in the shadows of a massive, vibrating ventilation duct. His iron-grey bones felt cold, a strange contrast to the boiling air of the sector. Behind his eyes, the "Neuro-Sync Alpha" was still humming. He was living in a world that moved slower than everyone else’s. He could see the individual drips of green acid falling from a leaky pipe above. He could hear the tiny gears clicking inside the Sentry-Bots a hundred yards away.Next to him, Ren was huddled over a small, portable computer terminal. The terminal was a mess of wires and cracked glass, held together by duct tape and hope. Ren’s hands were shaking. He was using the "Mind-Lock" breathing Silas had taught him, but the fear was still there, lurking like a predator in the back of his mind."I’

Inside the vault, the world was dying. Silas Kapito stood in the center of the "Ghost Fog." He was wearing his rubber mask, his eyes narrowed behind the plastic goggles. Around him, the air was white and thick. It smelled like the cleanest hospital in the sky. It smelled of lemon-scented bleach and strong soap. To anyone else, it was a nice smell. To the Syndicate, it was the smell of a funeral. "Look," Silas whispered. His voice was muffled by the mask, but it sounded like a ghost talking in a box.Ren was standing near the door, his hand on the manual lever. He was shivering. He watched the racks of injectors. At first, nothing happened. The Berserker-7 injectors sat in their Hyper-Polymer cases, looking strong and shiny. These cases were made to survive a fall from the Spire. They were made to survive a fire. They were indestructible. But then, the "Acid Breath" gas touched them.Ssssssss. It was a very quiet sound. It sounded like a snake moving through dry leaves.A tiny drop

The Heavy Weapons range was a place of echoes and iron. It was a vast, underground hall designed to absorb the sound of explosions and the impact of shells. The walls were made of six-foot-thick reinforced concrete, scarred by thousands of practice rounds. Rows of square pillars, each as wide as a truck, marched down the center of the room to support the weight of the Spire above.Silas Kapito stood in the center of the range. He was alone. The lights overhead were dim, flickering with a sick orange glow.CLANG. The sound of the massive steel entrance doors locking was final. It was the sound of a coffin closing."Instructor Vako?" Silas asked. His voice was calm, but it carried to the edges of the room.There was no answer for a long moment. Then, the speakers on the walls crackled to life."Do you know what happens to a tool that breaks, Silas?" Vako’s voice boomed. It was not his normal voice. It was shaking, high-pitched, and full of a jagged, sharp edge. "It gets thrown away. I

The air in the Heavy Weapons Range was thick enough to chew. It was filled with a fine grey powder, the dust of crushed concrete pillars and pulverized floor tiles. The orange emergency lights flickered with a rhythmic zzzzt-zzzzt, casting long, jerky shadows across the room.Silas Kapito stood in the middle of a clearing. He was perfectly still. His chest rose and fell in a slow, deep rhythm. He was using the "Core-Breathing" he had taught the Dregs, but his version was much deeper, much more powerful.Ten feet away, the Titan-Exo stood like a yellow metal demon.Inside the cockpit, Instructor Vako was a mess. His eyes were wide and red, his hair stuck to his forehead with sweat. He was breathing in fast, shallow gulps. He looked like a man who had already died but forgot to stop moving."Why... won't... you... die?!" Vako’s voice screamed over the speakers. It was distorted by the metal, sounding like a ghost in a tin can.Vako slammed his hand onto the "Overdrive" button. The Tita

For a second, nothing happened. Silas’s small hand looked pathetic against the massive yellow leg of the mech. Vako laughed inside the cockpit, thinking he had won. But then, the sound arrived.BONGGGGGGG. It was the sound of a giant bell being hit by a hammer made of starlight.The vibration from Silas’s iron-grey bones flowed into the Titan-Exo. Because the frequencies matched perfectly, the energy did not bounce off. It was absorbed.The mech began to shake. It wasn't a normal shake. It was a violent, rhythmic shivering. The yellow paint on the mech began to flake off like dead skin. The glass in the sight-tubes shattered. The blue hydraulic fluid sprayed out in every direction."What?! What is happening?!" Vako screamed. He was being tossed around inside the cockpit like a coin in a tin box. "The controls! They’re dead!"Silas did not let go.The vibration was traveling back into him, too. He felt his teeth rattling in his skull. He felt his eyes vibrating in their sockets. A sh