My Level Is 1, But My Damage Is Infinite

Isabela's Doubt

Chapter 8: Isabela's Doubt

The silence that followed the discharge was heavier than the explosion itself. Dust motes danced in the moonlight streaming through the jagged remains of the warehouse roof, settling on the charred circles where the Crimson Dawn hunters had stood seconds ago. Eka stood in the center of the ruin, his skin still radiating a faint, residual warmth that blurred the air around him.

"Is it just me, or did the world get really quiet all of a sudden?" Somchai asked, his voice barely a whisper as he climbed out from behind a toppled server rack.

"The hum is gone," Eka said, looking at his steady hands. "For the first time in six years, I don't feel like I'm about to pop."

"Yeah, well, you didn't just pop, man. You detonated the local economy," Somchai said, waving a cracked data-pad at the dark skyline outside. "Look at the high district. Half the lights are out. You didn't just break your lock; you tripped the breaker for the whole city."

"They'll be coming for us," Eka muttered. "More than twelve this time."

"Actually, they're already here."

The voice didn't come from the shadows or the street. It came from the ledge of the shattered skylight. Isabela Cruz sat there, her long trenchcoat fluttering in the wind, silhouetted against the flickering neon of the distant towers. She hopped down, landing softly on the debris without making a sound.

Somchai scrambled backward, nearly tripping over a cable. "Oh, great. The Auditor is back. Look, lady, if you're here for the bill, Eka's the one who broke the floor, not me!"

"Shut up, Somchai," Isabela said, her eyes fixed entirely on Eka. She didn't have her weapon drawn. Her hands were shoved deep into her pockets. "I'm not here for the Authority."

Eka didn't move. "Hoang told you to stand down. I heard him on your comms earlier. Why are you here, Isabela?"

"Because Hoang is a middleman, and I'm tired of taking orders from people who are afraid of the dark," she said, walking toward him until she was only a few feet away. She stopped, her gaze scanning his unmarred skin. "You look different. The pressure... it's gone."

"I discharged it," Eka said. "All of it."

"I saw," she whispered. "The drones in the sector went blind for three minutes, but I saw the flare from the transit station. You didn't just kill those Vanguards. You erased them."

"They called me property," Eka's voice turned cold. "They said I was an asset reclamation."

Isabela winced, a flicker of genuine guilt crossing her face. "That’s how Director Duc sees everyone. You’re just a line on a ledger to him. But you... you’re the first person I’ve seen who actually managed to cross out the number."

"Director Duc," Somchai chimed in, finding his courage. "That's the guy. He’s the one who put the lock on Eka. He’s been using him as a localized power plant for years. You work for a vampire, Isabela."

"I know who I work for," she snapped, though her eyes never left Eka’s. "And I know what happens next. Duc doesn't like losing investments. He’s already authorized a Level 9 containment sweep. They aren't sending hunters this time. They're sending the Purge Squads."

Eka stepped closer, the heat of his body still noticeable in the cool night air. "And you? Are you here to lead them to me?"

Isabela reached out, her fingers hovering just inches from his chest before she pulled back. "I disabled my tracker ten minutes ago. If I wanted you caught, I’d be standing outside with a megaphone and a hundred tactical units."

"Then why?" Eka asked.

"Because I want to see what happens when the bank finally breaks," she said, a small, reckless smile touching her lips. "And because I’m a Level 88 Rank A who’s never had a choice in her life. I want to see what someone with a Level 1 tag can do when they're finally free."

"We need to move," Somchai interrupted, stuffing a handful of hard drives into a backpack. "If she’s right about the Purge Squads, this warehouse is going to be a smoking crater in twenty minutes."

"I have a safehouse," Isabela said. "It's off the grid. Not even Hoang knows about it."

"Lead the way," Eka said.

The safehouse was a cramped, industrial loft overlooking the rusted docks of Sector 9. By the time they arrived, the sky had opened up, a heavy, acidic rain drumming against the corrugated metal roof. Somchai had immediately vanished into a corner, surrounded by monitors and humming hardware, trying to track the System’s recalculation of Eka’s experience points.

Eka stood by the window, watching the rain wash the grime off the glass. He felt lighter, but the hollowness in his chest was being replaced by a different kind of tension.

"You’re still vibrating," Isabela said, stepping up behind him. She had discarded her coat, wearing only a thin tactical shirt that showed the sharp lines of her shoulders.

"It's just the adrenaline," Eka lied.

"Liar," she said softly. "I can feel the heat from here. It's like standing next to a furnace."

Eka turned to face her. "Level 88. That’s what you are, right? You’ve spent your whole life climbing that ladder. Why throw it away for a porter?"

Isabela laughed, a bitter, hollow sound. "Level 88? You think those numbers mean anything? I didn't climb a ladder, Eka. I was built. Every point, every skill, every 'promotion' was handed to me by Duc to make sure I was the perfect tool. I’m just a prettier version of the lock they put on you."

"You have power," Eka said. "I've seen you move."

"It's not mine," she said, stepping into his personal space, her eyes dark with a mix of defiance and vulnerability. "None of it is. I've spent years hunting down 'glitches' like you because I was told they were a threat to the world’s balance. But the balance is a lie. It’s just a cage."

She reached out, and this time, she didn't pull back. Her hand rested flat against his chest, right over the place where a heart should have been beating. Her eyes widened as she felt the absolute stillness within him.

"You really don't have a pulse," she whispered.

"Does it scare you?"

"No," she said, her voice dropping to a breathy rasp. "It makes me jealous. You don't have a rhythm someone else can track. You're just... there. Pure energy."

Eka felt the "battery" in his gut stir, not with kinetic damage, but with something else—a slow, simmering heat that responded to her touch. The rain hammered harder against the roof, creating a wall of sound that made the small room feel like the only place left in the world.

"Isabela," Eka warned, his voice low. "I'm still unstable. I don't know what I'm becoming."

"Then let's find out together," she said. She leaned in, her forehead resting against his. "For six years, you took everything the world threw at you. You let them use you, break you, and bleed you dry. Don't you want something for yourself for once?"

Eka’s hand moved instinctively, his fingers tangling in the messy bob of her hair. He could feel her warmth, her life force, her Level 88 power humming against his skin like a live wire. It was the first time anyone had looked at him not as a tool, or a victim, or a freak, but as a man.

"I don't even know who I am without the pain," Eka admitted, his voice cracking.

"Then let me show you something else," she whispered.

She stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his.

The contact was like a short-circuit. A spark of orange light flared in the darkness of the loft, illuminating the stacks of crates and Somchai’s flickering screens. It wasn't a discharge of violence; it was a surge of connection. Eka felt the raw, unrefined energy within him reach out to her, and for a moment, the two of them were the only light in the dying city.

She pulled back just an inch, her breath hitching. "See? You didn't explode."

"Close call," Eka managed to say, his head spinning.

Isabela reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, translucent keycard. It glowed with a faint, violet hue—the mark of Administrator-level clearance. She pressed it into his palm, closing his fingers over it.

"What is this?"

"It’s the way in," she said, her expression turning serious. "That card opens the back door to the Authority's Research Sector. That's where Duc keeps the core servers. If you want to finish this, if you want to make sure nobody ever gets 'locked' again, you have to go to the source."

Eka looked at the card, then back at her. "You're coming with me?"

"I’m already a traitor, Eka," she said, a genuine smile finally reaching her eyes. "Might as well go all the way."

"Hey! Lovebirds!" Somchai yelled from the corner, his voice frantic. "I hate to ruin the moment, but we have a major problem!"

Eka and Isabela broke apart, turning toward the monitors. Somchai was pointing at a live feed from a high-altitude surveillance drone. The image was grainy, but it clearly showed the rooftop of the safehouse they were currently in.

"They found us?" Isabela asked, her hand moving toward the pistol at her hip.

"Worse," Somchai said, his face pale. "Look at the timestamp on the recording. This isn't a live feed. It was uploaded thirty seconds ago to a private server."

He flicked the image to another screen. It showed the moment of their kiss, captured in high-definition infrared. The orange glow between them was unmistakable.

"Where was it sent?" Eka asked, a cold dread settling in his stomach.

Somchai swallowed hard, his fingers trembling on the keyboard. "It didn't go to the Purge Squads. It went straight to the top floor of the Ascension Tower. Director Duc just got a front-row seat to the whole thing."

In the high district, sixty floors above the chaos, a man in a white suit sat in a darkened office. He watched the loop of the kiss on a massive holographic wall, the light reflecting off his silver-rimmed glasses. He didn't look angry. He looked fascinated.

"So that's where the overflow went," Director Duc whispered to the empty room. He tapped a command on his desk, and a red light began to blink on the Sector 9 map. "Isabela, you always did ha

ve a taste for the exotic. Let's see how much heat your new friend can handle when I turn the whole city against him."