The Forbidden Void: Rise of the Untouchable Son-in-Law

Chapter 5

Jaxen awoke to the rhythmic, metallic drip-hiss of a leaking steam pipe. His vision was a blurred mess of flickering green emergency lights and shadows. Every muscle in his body felt as if it had been shredded and stitched back together with jagged wire.

[System Reboot: 100% Complete.] [Host Status: Critical Fatigue. Level: 55.] [Passive Regeneration Active: 0.5% HP per hour.]

"Finally," a woman’s voice echoed through the gloom. "I thought your heart had actually turned into a vacuum. It was beating so slowly I nearly used you as a footstool."

Jaxen forced himself to sit up. He was in a subterranean bunker, far cruder than the Valerius Spire but far more advanced than the Sinks. The walls were lined with monitors displaying scrolling lines of ancient, non-mana code—the kind of logic that predated the current magical empire.

His rescuer stood by a workbench, cleaning a jagged prosthetic arm. She was lithe, with hair dyed a shock of neon blue and eyes covered by a high-tech visor. She wore the rugged gear of a "Grid-Runner"—scavengers who lived in the "Dead Zones" between city sectors where the mana didn't reach.

"Who are you?" Jaxen’s voice was a dry rasp. He tried to summon a spark of Void energy, but his palms only let out a faint, pathetic puff of gray smoke.

"Easy, 'Little King.' You’ve got nothing left in the tank," she said, tossing him a pouch of nutrient sludge. "I’m Nyx. And you’re currently in the 'Zero-Node.' It’s the only place in Xylos where Lord Valerius’s Golden Eye can’t see. We’re shielded by three miles of lead and a localized dead-mana field."

Jaxen squeezed the pouch into his mouth, the bitter gel sending a rush of artificial energy through his veins. "Why did you pull me out? Nobody does anything for free in this city."

Nyx turned, her visor retracting to reveal sharp, intelligent eyes. "We didn't save you because we like you, Jaxen. We saved you because of what you did to the Blood-Core. For five minutes, the Aurelian Spires went dark. The elite were screaming in their golden beds because their 'immortality' flickered. You did more damage to the Valerius in one night than the Syndicate of the Unbound has done in a decade."

"The Syndicate," Jaxen muttered. He had heard rumors in the Academy—a group of 'Nulls' who refused to accept their status as second-class citizens. "I thought you were a myth."

"We’re very real. And we’ve been watching you since the day you rejected Seraphina Valerius on campus. Most people thought you were a prideful fool. We realized you were a weapon."

Jaxen stood up, his legs shaking but holding. He walked over to a window—not glass, but a screen showing a live feed of the city above. The Spires were red-hot, teeming with military "Interceptor" drones. The Valerius were hunting.

"My father," Jaxen said, his voice hardening. "The man in the chamber... was that a Syndicate trick?"

Nyx’s expression softened into something resembling grim respect. "That wasn't your father. Not anymore. What you fought was a Shade-Vestige. Silas was a member of the Syndicate long before you were born, Jaxen. But ten years ago, he volunteered for an experiment to bond with the 'Primordial Void'—the same power you have naturally. It consumed him. He became a husk, a puppet for the Void itself. He wasn't lying when he said he was waiting for the 'fruit' to ripen."

The realization hit Jaxen like a physical blow. His whole life—the poverty, the Academy, the "Null" status—had been a calculated setup by a father who was already gone, and a faction that needed a savior.

"So I'm just a tool for you, too?" Jaxen’s Void Heart began to throb, a dark aura leaking from his shoulders.

"In this city, everyone is a tool," Nyx replied, unfazed by his growing power. "But at least we’ll give you the chance to point yourself at the people who actually deserve to bleed. Lord Valerius has declared martial law. He’s claiming you kidnapped Seraphina and tried to sabotage the city. He’s going to execute ten people from your sector every hour until you turn yourself in."

Jaxen’s eyes flared violet. "He’s baiting me."

"And it's working," Nyx said, sliding a heavy, black-steel case across the table toward him. "If you go back out there as you are, you’ll die. But if you use this..."

Jaxen opened the case. Inside lay a cloak woven from "Null-Fibre" and a pair of gauntlets designed to stabilize high-output energy.

"The 100-day contract you signed with Seraphina? It's still active," Nyx reminded him. "The soul-bond works both ways. She’s currently the only person who can track you, but you can also use that bond to drain her from a distance. If you can reach the Central Relay, you can turn the entire city into a Void Zone."

Jaxen strapped on the gauntlets. He felt the System hum in approval.

[New Equipment Detected: Void-Stabilizers.] [Efficiency Increased by 20%.]

"I'm not going to the Relay," Jaxen said, his voice dropping to a dangerous register.

"Then where?"

"Valerius thinks he can execute my people? He thinks he's the one holding the leash?" Jaxen looked at the screen, focused on the image of the Grand Plaza where the executions were being prepared. "I'm going to show him what happens when the 'trash' decides to stop being a battery and starts being the storm."

Nyx smirked, pulling a heavy rifle from the wall. "I was hoping you'd say that. Let's go, Little King. The city is waiting for its ghost."

[System Notification: Level 55 Void Heart Stabilized.] [New Objective: The Grand Execution.]