The air felt like fine dust coating every pore. Damang slowly opened his eyes. His vision was blurred, yet accustomed to the darkness that had once enveloped him in the forest. He could only see flashes of light. Sharp light. Extremely sharp. He was lying down. Not on the ground. Not among tree roots. Not inside a cave. Inside a cylindrical glass tube. There was no sound. No unfamiliar scent. Total silence. Isolated from the sounds of nature, from the wind, from the whispers of the river. This was not his home. It was a prison.Slowly, Damang felt every muscle in his body stiffen, refusing to move. It was not like the soreness after a long run. It was as though every fiber of his flesh was being denied its biological function. The harder he tried to move his fingers, the greater the tension he felt at that point. Something invisible was imposing a frequency upon him. Or rather, holding him at a constant frequency that could not be resisted. It was like being trapped in a clear liquid

Cold black mud coated Damang's skin. The foul stench of Black Mercury still lingered heavily in the air, mixed with the sharp scent of sea salt that stung his nostrils. His body felt shattered, with barely any strength left. After being tossed about on the vast ocean for how long, he could not say he had been cast ashore on a remote coast of Kalimantan. The shoreline was unfamiliar, unlike the beaches of Baram. This was clearly one of the outermost regions of Borneo, where human influence had only slightly eroded the purity of nature.As he struggled to rise, focusing the last remnants of his strength to sense the Heart of the Earth around him, a piercing sound rang out—one he immediately recognized.A military warning siren.His eyes widened at the sight of flashing red lights.Soldiers.Standing in neat formation atop the sand dunes.Wearing the same dark gray uniforms he had seen in Leviathan Prison. Anti-organic armor coated with herbicides, weapons designed to kill every form of

Fine gray ash blanketed the site of the grenade explosion. From within the swirling cloud of dust, a gigantic silhouette limped forward. Marcus Thorne, the CEO of Aethelgard, stood inside his shattered Colossus armor. The black metal plating peeled away like the scorched skin of a reptile, dripping thick crimson fluid from the severely cracked Black Mercury tank mounted on his back."Y-you... BASTARD!" Marcus screamed. His voice was hoarse, distorted by the armor's damaged speakers. Behind the fractured visor, his eyes burned with pure madness. "You think you can stop me with a cheap trick like this, huh?!"Damang stood tall before him. His breathing was heavy, but his gaze was as deep as an abyss."It's over, Marcus," Damang said, his voice heavy and calm. "Nature no longer accepts you. Surrender.""Surrender? To a dirt rat like you?!" Marcus howled. "I am progress! I am the future!"With the roar of a wild beast, Marcus launched himself forward recklessly. His black titanium arm ign

"Liling! Let go of that device! Your hand is burning!"Sali shouted, her hoarse voice cutting through the silence of the Baram Forest. Her aged legs forced their way through thorny undergrowth, but she was too late."I... can't, Grandma..." Liling whimpered. Her voice trembled violently, swallowed by the deafening mechanical hum.The red device embedded in the roots of the gigantic ulin tree—the core of Damang's 'body'—was now vibrating violently. Bursts of silver light surged from its core, gushing forth like a flood, forcefully injecting life into the worn metal and crystal. The skin on Liling's palms blistered, releasing a scorched stench before the girl let out a short scream and collapsed."Liling!" Sali threw herself forward, trying to reach her granddaughter.But before Sali's fingers could touch Liling's clothing, the girl's body stiffened. Her closed eyes suddenly flew open. Sali recoiled in shock and fell backward onto the dry ground.No. Those were not Liling's eyes.The ir

"Hold the shield, Damang! Just a little longer! Sali and the others are doing everything they can down below!"The steady voice of Isabella's Oracle version echoed through Damang's digital consciousness, vibrating amid the noisy distortions of code. In the real world, Damang's body, fused with the ancient ulin tree, continued to convulse. The thermal beam from the Artemis satellite high above Baram kept striking relentlessly, cutting through the ozone layer and burning away the protective mist he had created."I... don't know how much longer I can hold on, Isabella," Damang growled. His soul, suspended within the digital Mindscape, trembled violently. Every inch of mist torn apart in the real world felt like his own skin being flayed alive. "The Heart of the Earth energy within me is running out. This forest... I can hear them screaming as they turn to ash.""Don't give up now! Look in front of you," Isabella replied, her holographic projection flickering unstably. "He has arrived. Th