Eternity Decay

The digital timer on Axel’s right wrist flashed a menacing red within the pitch-black concrete corridor on the 50th floor of the Eternity Tower. 00 Days, 00 Hours, 03 Minutes, 14 Seconds.

Axel’s chest felt as though it had been struck by an iron sledgehammer. Chronos Decay—the biological cancer that preyed upon lifespan—was relentlessly wringing out the very last beats of his heart. His breath came in ragged, desperate gasps, leaving dark stains of blood upon the collar of his torn black tactical frock coat. The tightly buttoned, high-collared garment was now nothing more than a shroud ready to wrap his corpse.At the far end of the corridor, the heavy steel door of the main vault slid open. The rhythmic thud of combat boots echoed, shattering the freezing silence of the night.

“You’re two minutes late, Brother.”

Axel looked up through strands of hair drenched in sweat. There stood Valen. His half-brother looked immaculate in a luxurious, spotless white suit, a stark, mocking contrast to Axel, who was drenched in blood. Behind Valen, a dozen muzzles of automatic rifles held by the central elite squad locked instantly onto Axel’s head.

Axel did not flinch. His trembling left hand tossed a heavy silver cylinder onto the floor. It rolled forward, coming to a dead stop right before Valen’s boots. Within it lay pure Time Core, containing ten thousand years of human lifespan that Axel had just single-handedly wrested from a lethal infiltration into the outer district.

“Mission... accomplished,” Axel whispered, his voice hoarse as he fought the searing agony in his lungs. “Allocate that lifespan quota to the lower district clinic. As per our agreement, Valen.”

Valen stared down at the cylinder, his lips curling into a sinister smirk. Instead of picking it up, he casually ground his boot heel into it.

“Lifespan quotas for the lower district rats? You must be joking,” Valen sneered. He stepped forward, violently wrenching the Life Reaper Gun from Axel’s waist. “Father has already signed a new directive. The entirety of tonight’s haul is transferred under my name as a performance bonus. And for a traitor like you... there is no quota.”

Axel’s heart sank. Inside his mind, old memories began to spin like a damaged cassette tape. He remembered the endless, sleepless nights spent designing the blueprints for the very weapon Valen now held. He remembered starving himself, giving up his own lifespan-soup rations just so his half-brother could grow up healthy. Even the white suit Valen wore at this moment had been bought with blood money Axel earned risking his life on the battlefield.

Yet tonight, on the highest floor of the tower they had built together, the brother he had protected looked down at him like a piece of filth.

“Valen...” Axel clutched his chest, his eyes wide with disbelief. “I’m the one who dragged you out of the gutter. I’m the one who taught you how to hold a weapon!”

“And that was your greatest mistake,” a heavy, commanding voice cut through from the darkness behind the squad.

A middle-aged man carrying a suffocating aura of intimidation stepped into the light. Adrian Vance. The CEO of Eternity Corp, and the biological father who had never once acknowledged Axel's existence. On Adrian’s wrist, a digital watch glowed with a brilliant golden hue, displaying the symbol of infinity, an eternity plundered from the blood of others.

Adrian didn't even deign to look Axel in the eye. He merely cast a cold glance at the silver cylinder on the floor.

“You are far too naive to lead the Liquidator division, Axel. You possess a genius mind for creating systems, but you inherit a weak heart from your mother,” Adrian said, his tone flat and devoid of emotion. “Did you truly think I remained blind to you secretly donating your remaining seconds to that slum clinic?”

“Mother died because you drained her entire lifespan to extend the years of this godforsaken corporation!” Axel snarled, forcing himself to stand even as his knees trembled violently.

“Your mother died because she was no longer useful,” Adrian replied cruelly. He turned his back on Axel, giving a lazy wave of his hand to Valen. “Punish him on charges of dereliction of duty. Leave thirty days on his clock, and cast him down to where he belongs.”

“With pleasure, Father,” Valen grinned maliciously.

Valen aimed the lifespan extractor at Axel’s wrist. A brilliant blue light flared, forcibly siphoning Axel’s biological time through the air. The agony was excruciating. Axel let out a strangled groan as the numbers on his wrist spun violently backward, finally locking onto a terrifying countdown: 29 Days, 23 Hours, 59 Minutes, 00 Seconds.

“One month, Brother,” Valen whispered directly into Axel’s ear as two burly guards dragged his limp body toward the disposal hatch. “Let us see if your proud tactical coat can save you when the time on your wrist runs out.”The disposal hatch slammed open. Axel’s body was thrown mercilessly out of the tower, plummeting through the pitch-black night and a torrential downpour toward the slums of the lower district far below.

As he hurtled downward, Axel’s hand tightly gripped the sole object he had managed to pickpocket from Valen when they were close: a silver necklace bearing a lily emblem, the necklace of his late mother.

Axel stared up at the receding lights of the tower above. The agonizing pain in his chest vanished, replaced by a searing, cold fury that set his very soul ablaze. He would not die tonight. He had thirty days left, and he swore that every single second would be weaponized to tear down his father’s golden empire.