The Manaless King Of Sigma

Chapter 11: When the System Lost Control

The ground shook again before Mateo reached the barricade.

A crack raced across the road behind him, splitting the asphalt with a sound like breaking glass. Blue light spilled through the opening, illuminating the abandoned cars and the frightened faces of people gathering near the shelter entrance.

“Keep moving!” Mateo shouted. “Nobody approaches the road!”

The maintenance technician stumbled over a broken curb. Lucía caught his shoulder and helped him regain his balance.

Behind them, the damaged shop groaned.

Its front window shattered completely, scattering glass across the pavement. Something moved inside, fast enough that Mateo caught only a dark shape crossing the room.

Then the clicking began again.

Three short sounds.

A pause.

Three more.

The same pattern they had heard beneath the transit station.

Mateo forced himself to look away. The connection message still burned in his memory.

CONNECTION ESTABLISHED.

He had no idea what it meant, but one thing was clear: whatever was happening beneath the city had become more dangerous, and his anomalous trait was involved.

He couldn't afford to investigate it now.

First, he had to get everyone to safety.

“Lucía, take the technician to Marcos. Tell him to move everyone away from the eastern entrance.”

“What about you?”

“I'll make sure nobody is still outside.”

“Mateo, you're barely standing.”

“I can walk.”

“That wasn't what I asked.”

He met her gaze.

“I'll return as soon as I confirm the road is clear.”

Lucía looked as though she wanted to argue, but another tremor shook the street.

“Two minutes,” she said. “If you're not back by then, I'm coming after you.”

“Understood.”

She hurried toward the shelter with the technician.

Mateo turned toward the road.

A young man stood near the barricade, staring at the blue light beneath the asphalt. He seemed unable to move. Beyond him, an elderly woman was trying to pull a wheeled shopping bag over a broken section of pavement.

Mateo ran toward them.

“Get away from the road!”

The young man blinked as if waking from a dream.

“What is that?”

“I don't know. Move!”

Mateo grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the barricade. The young man stumbled, then finally began running on his own.

The elderly woman was slower.

Mateo reached her just as another crack appeared beneath the shopping bag. He abandoned the bag, lifted her by the arm, and helped her cross the remaining distance.

A sharp burst of blue light erupted behind them.

The road buckled.

A section of asphalt rose several centimeters before collapsing into the opening. The shopping bag disappeared beneath the broken surface.

Mateo and the woman fell against the barricade.

For several seconds, nobody moved.

Then people began shouting.

“Get inside!”

“Move the children!”

“Something is coming out of the road!”

Mateo helped the woman stand.

“Can you walk?”

She nodded shakily.

“Then go inside and stay away from the eastern entrance.”

He watched her disappear into the shelter before turning back toward the broken street.

The blue light had dimmed, but the crack remained. Beneath it, something seemed to move in the darkness.

He felt the pressure in his chest again.

This time, he refused to look directly at the opening.

He had already learned what happened when he pushed his anomalous trait too far.

Instead, he backed away and hurried toward the shelter.

The world could wait for answers.

His family could not.

Marcos had taken control of the entrance by the time Mateo returned.

Volunteers were moving supplies away from the eastern wall. Others were helping frightened residents reach the central parking area, where the ceiling was supported by thick concrete pillars.

Gabriel was carrying a box of medical supplies when he spotted his uncle.

“Mateo!”

He dropped the box onto a table and hurried over.

“What happened? We heard the road collapse.”

“I'm fine.”

Gabriel looked him up and down.

“You're covered in dust.”

“That's not an injury.”

“You're bleeding again.”

Mateo glanced at his sleeve. The scrape from the earlier fight had reopened.

“It's minor.”

“Sit down.”

“Gabriel—”

“I'm responsible for the medical supplies, remember? If you refuse treatment, I'll have to record that you ignored medical instructions.”

Mateo stared at him.

Then, despite everything happening outside, he laughed.

“Who taught you to argue like that?”

“You did.”

Gabriel led him to the first-aid station, where Sofía was already organizing bandages and antiseptic.

She examined his arm, cleaned the wound, and wrapped it tightly.

“Does it hurt?”

“A little.”

“Good. That means you can still feel it.”

“That is not how medicine works.”

“Then don't argue with the person treating you.”

Mateo shook his head.

His niece and nephew were becoming far too comfortable giving him orders.

But as he watched them work, he felt some of the tension leave his shoulders. They were frightened, just as he was, yet neither had abandoned their responsibilities.

He had spent so long trying to protect them that he had nearly forgotten they could help protect others.

A loud voice interrupted his thoughts.

“Everyone, listen!”

Marcos stood on a raised section of pavement near the central pillars.

“The eastern road is no longer safe. We don't know whether the damage will spread, so nobody approaches that side of the building. All volunteers should report to their assigned stations.”

He pointed toward the western exit.

“We'll keep that route open as an emergency escape. Anyone who isn't helping with supplies or medical care should remain in the central area. Don't wander off, and don't touch anything unusual you find outside.”

A man near the back raised his hand.

“What about the creatures? Are they responsible for the road breaking?”

“We don't know,” Marcos answered.

“Then how do we know this place is safe?”

“We don't. But we know that staying organized gives us a better chance than panicking.”

Several people began talking at once.

Mateo stood.

“Marcos is right. We don't know the cause yet, and we shouldn't pretend we do. For now, we need to keep the shelter organized, protect the exits, and make sure everyone has access to water and medical care.”

The crowd gradually quieted.

“We'll share new information as we receive it,” he continued. “Nobody benefits from rumors. If you see something unusual, report it instead of investigating it alone.”

He looked at Gabriel and Sofía.

“Especially you two.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes.

Sofía gave him a small, knowing smile.

Mateo was about to return to Lucía when a system window appeared before his eyes.

Unlike the previous notices, this one flickered several times before stabilizing.

SYSTEM NOTICE

REGIONAL MISSION STATUS: UNSTABLE

Mission: Secure the Eastern Access Road

Current status: Suspended

Reason: Regional conditions have exceeded the mission's original parameters.

WARNING

Local system readings are unreliable.

Threat classification temporarily unavailable.

Please await further instructions.

Mateo read the notice twice.

The mission had been suspended.

The system had not declared the objective failed. It had simply stopped providing reliable guidance because the situation had changed beyond what the mission could handle.

He dismissed the window and found Lucía near her research table.

She had already connected her sensor to the laptop. The screen showed several lines of fluctuating data, each representing a different energy pattern.

“You saw the system notice?” he asked.

“Yes. The mission suspension appeared on my interface too.”

“What do you make of it?”

Lucía leaned back.

“I think the system is struggling to interpret the disturbance. That doesn't mean the entire system has lost control, but whatever is happening here is outside the parameters of its current mission.”

Mateo glanced at the data.

“Can you tell whether the signals are still active?”

“All of them.”

She pointed to three peaks on the graph.

“The transit station, the residential street, and the area beneath this shelter. The signals are weaker than they were during the collapse, but they're still synchronized.”

“Beneath the shelter?”

“Yes. That is the part I don't like.”

Mateo studied the screen.

He had chosen this shelter because he remembered it as a relatively safe location during the first days of the Awakening. In his previous timeline, it had protected dozens of people from the earliest monster attacks.

But his memories had never accounted for a hidden structure beneath the city.

“Could the shelter have been built over one of these structures?” he asked.

“Possibly. But the readings don't prove that. The signal could be traveling through the ground from another location.”

“Can you narrow it down?”

“Not with the equipment I have. I need to establish a baseline first.”

Mateo looked toward the central pillars.

If something lay beneath the shelter, they might be standing directly above another unknown source of the disturbance.

He needed to warn the others, but he couldn't justify evacuating everyone based on a sensor reading he didn't fully understand.

“What would you recommend?” he asked.

“Move essential supplies toward the western side. Keep the emergency exit clear. Then we monitor the readings and watch for physical changes.”

“And the underground structure?”

“We don't go back until we know more.”

Mateo nodded.

For once, the answer did not frustrate him.

They had already learned that rushing toward an unknown threat could make things worse. There was no reason to repeat the mistake simply because they wanted answers.

An hour passed without another collapse.

The shelter gradually settled into a tense routine. Volunteers checked the barricades, distributed water, and helped residents find places to rest. Marcos remained near the entrance, coordinating the teams and keeping the more impatient survivors occupied.

Mateo used the time to inspect the western escape route.

It led through a sloping ramp toward a smaller street behind the sports center. In his previous life, the route had remained open for several days, making it useful for moving supplies when the main road became dangerous.

He checked the surrounding walls for cracks and asked the maintenance technician to inspect the ramp's supports.

The technician returned with encouraging news.

“The western route is structurally sound for now. I can't guarantee it will stay that way, but there's no obvious damage.”

“Keep checking it,” Mateo said. “If anything changes, tell Marcos immediately.”

He returned to the central area, where Gabriel was helping distribute food.

His nephew looked tired, but he was working carefully, making sure the children received their portions before the adults took additional servings.

Sofía sat nearby with Lucía, comparing notes about the system's announcements.

Mateo paused to watch them.

He had always thought of himself as the person who needed to carry the burden. In his previous life, he had made decisions alone because he believed that involving others would only expose them to danger.

Now he was beginning to see the flaw in that thinking.

Keeping people uninformed did not make them safer. It only prevented them from preparing for what might come.

He approached the research table.

“How are the readings?”

Lucía turned the laptop toward him.

“Something has changed.”

The three signal peaks were still visible, but a fourth had appeared.

It was faint and irregular, unlike the others.

“Where is that one coming from?”

“I'm not sure. It appeared about ten minutes ago, then disappeared. Now it's back.”

Sofía pointed to the graph.

“Look at the timing. The fourth signal appears shortly after the others pulse.”

Mateo leaned closer.

The interval was almost identical each time.

Three pulses.

A pause.

Then a fourth.

He remembered the strange sequence from the maintenance tunnel, the sounds near the damaged shop, and the vibration that had traveled through the road.

“Could the fourth signal be responding to the others?” he asked.

“That's one possibility,” Lucía replied. “It could also be a delayed reflection or an artifact of the equipment.”

“Can we determine which?”

“Not yet.”

Mateo stared at the graph.

The fourth signal seemed weaker than the others, but there was something familiar about its pattern. It reminded him of the strange vibration he had felt in his chest before the First Awakening began.

He placed a hand over his sternum.

Nothing happened.

Then the fourth signal pulsed again.

His chest tightened.

A blue window appeared.

ANOMALOUS TRAIT

Passive response detected.

Pattern comparison: Partial match.

Foreign signal: Active.

Synchronization stability: Low.

Warning: Uncontrolled exposure may cause temporary loss of coordination.

Mateo immediately looked away from the graph.

The pressure eased.

Lucía noticed his reaction.

“Did it happen again?”

“Yes.”

“Was it painful?”

“Not as bad as before.”

“That's not necessarily good. We don't know whether the change means you're adapting or whether the response is affecting you differently.”

Mateo nodded.

He would not mistake a reduction in pain for proof that the phenomenon was becoming safer.

“What happens if we isolate you from the signal?” he asked.

“We can't isolate you from something we haven't identified. But we can test whether distance changes your response.”

He glanced toward the western exit.

“You want me to move away from the shelter.”

“For a short distance, with someone accompanying you. If the response weakens, that would give us useful information.”

“And if it gets stronger?”

“Then we stop the test.”

Mateo considered the risk.

The shelter needed him, and the signals were still active. Yet if his condition was connected to the disturbance, understanding that relationship might help them anticipate what would happen next.

“Let's do it,” he said.

Lucía gathered the sensor.

Sofía stood.

“I want to come.”

“No,” Mateo replied automatically.

Her expression hardened.

“I'm helping Lucía analyze the data. I can record the readings while you move.”

Mateo opened his mouth, then stopped.

She was right. The task required careful observation, not combat.

“All right,” he said. “But we stay within sight of the shelter, and if anything changes, we return immediately.”

Sofía nodded and picked up her notebook.

They walked toward the western exit.

The air outside was strangely still.

The blue sky cast a pale glow over the buildings, and the distant streets were quieter than Mateo expected. Smoke rose from somewhere beyond the residential district, but there were no visible fires near the sports center.

They stopped at the foot of the western ramp.

Lucía checked her sensor.

“The signal is still present, but it's weaker here.”

Mateo concentrated on his chest.

The pressure had faded almost completely.

“That's a good sign,” he said.

“It's a useful observation,” Lucía corrected. “We need to repeat the test before drawing a conclusion.”

Sofía recorded the readings.

They moved another twenty meters down the street, keeping the shelter in view.

The signal weakened again.

Mateo could barely feel it.

Lucía smiled faintly.

“That supports the possibility that the response is linked to proximity. It doesn't prove the source is beneath the shelter, but it gives us something to work with.”

Mateo looked back at the building.

“Then we should be able to narrow down the source by moving in different directions.”

“Eventually. But not today if your condition keeps reacting.”

He was about to answer when a new sensation passed through his chest.

This time, it was not pressure.

It was recognition.

A pattern formed in his mind, too quickly for him to examine. For a fraction of a second, he saw the silver rings turning around a dark center. Thin lines extended from the rings, connecting to points scattered across a vast, unfamiliar space.

Then the vision vanished.

Mateo stumbled.

Lucía grabbed his arm.

“Stop. Sit down.”

He lowered himself onto the edge of the pavement.

His fingers tingled, and his vision blurred slightly, but the pain was manageable.

Sofía crouched beside him.

“Uncle, what did you see?”

He hesitated.

“I saw a pattern. Similar to the symbol beneath the transit station.”

“Was it the same one?”

“Not exactly. It looked like the symbol was connected to other points.”

Lucía's expression sharpened.

“Connected how?”

“I don't know. I couldn't hold the image long enough to understand it.”

“Did you recognize any of the points?”

Mateo shook his head.

“No.”

It was the truth.

The image had been too brief and too unfamiliar to provide anything useful. But it had left him with a disturbing impression: the silver rings were not isolated symbols. They were parts of a larger arrangement.

A network, perhaps.

Or a map.

Before Lucía could ask another question, the sensor emitted a loud tone.

All three of them looked down.

The readings had surged.

The fourth signal was no longer faint. It had risen above the other three, producing a steady pulse that made the sensor vibrate in Lucía's hand.

“That's impossible,” she whispered.

“What is?”

“The signal isn't getting weaker as we move away. It's getting stronger.”

Mateo stared at the display.

The pressure in his chest returned, stronger than before.

He struggled to stand.

“Then we're not moving away from it,” he said.

Lucía looked toward the shelter, then toward the street ahead.

“Or the source is moving.”

A deep vibration passed through the pavement.

Somewhere beneath the sports center, metal groaned against stone.

Mateo felt the same response in his chest.

One pulse.

Two.

Three.

Then a fourth.

The fourth signal had matched the pattern.

A new system window appeared before his eyes.

SYSTEM ALERT

UNREGISTERED SIGNAL: ACTIVE RESPONSE

Source classification: Unknown

Relationship to regional disturbance: Unresolved

Anomalous trait interaction: Confirmed

Warning: The current environment may no longer be considered stable.

Mateo looked toward the shelter.

People were still inside. Gabriel and Sofía had responsibilities there, and Marcos was coordinating the survivors. If the structure beneath the building became active, everyone could be in danger.

“We're going back,” he said.

Lucía nodded immediately.

They hurried up the ramp.

Halfway to the entrance, the signal changed again.

The fourth pulse stopped.

For a few seconds, the other three continued at their usual intervals.

Then they stopped, too.

The sudden silence was worse than the vibration.

Mateo slowed.

“What's happening?”

Lucía checked the sensor, but the display showed no new readings.

“I don't know.”

A pale blue notification appeared before Mateo's eyes.

It was different from the previous messages. There was no mission heading, no status label, and no familiar system formatting.

Only a single line.

CONNECTION INTERRUPTED.

Mateo stopped breathing for a moment.

The message remained visible for two seconds before disappearing.

Then the ground beneath the sports center shook.

A deep crack sounded from somewhere inside the shelter.

Mateo broke into a run.

He had no idea what lay beneath the building, or why the system had suspended the mission. He didn't know whether the signals were part of a network, whether the creatures were connected to it, or whether his anomalous trait had somehow made him part of the same phenomenon.

But he knew one thing.

Whatever had established a connection with him had just lost it.

And something beneath the shelter had reacted.

End of Chapter 10