Kara's fading pulse trembled on the brink of extinction as the slab's shattered edge ground her brain into fragments, the molten rock sealing her skull in a fiery vise, its heat liquefying her thoughts into a chaotic inferno of agony. The neural clamp's prongs, embedded in her spinal core, pulsed with a frenzied siphon, draining her brother's laugh into a howling void, the feedback loop incinerating her synapses, her body convulsing in a final, violent spasm. The chasm's fused walls vibrated with the mechanical arm's drill, its blade slicing through her neck, severing her carotid with a gush of blood that sizzled on the molten flood, the air a suffocating shroud of ash and vapor. Her heartbeat, a solitary throb, teetered on collapse.
The molten rock surged, engulfing her face, burning through her remaining eye, the pain a supernova exploding as it fused her jaw to the stone, silencing her last defiant gasp. The mechanical arm's claw, jammed and sparking, unleashed a micro-explosion, blasting a molten shard into her chest, piercing her heart, the rhythm faltering as blood and lava mingled in a grotesque dance. The clamp's siphon hit 99.999%, a glitch preserving a sliver of her will—her brother's whisper—but the prongs plunged deeper, targeting her soul's final ember, the cold void spreading like a glacial tide. The enforcer's melted knife, lodged in her thigh, twisted further, slicing her femoral artery, the gush weakening her to a whisper of life.
A cataclysmic tremor rocked the chasm, a buried fusion core detonating, unleashing a shockwave that shattered the slab overhead, its jagged edge hurtling toward her head, grazing her scalp, shearing off her ear, blood spraying as the pain drowned her senses. The fireball's remnants roared, igniting the molten flood, the flames consuming her shoulders, reducing her collarbone to ash, the heat blistering her lungs as they collapsed. The mechanical arm's laser fired again, its beam slicing her spine in two, the sizzle deafening as her lower body went numb, the blade poised to decapitate. The drill's hum peaked, a second arm extending, its claw snapping at her throat, missing by a hair but gashing her windpipe, air whistling through the wound.
Marcus's voice, a spectral echo through the rubble, rasped, "Kara… light…"—but a final cave-in crushed the sound, burying him in eternal silence. The clamp's prongs struck her soul's core, a black hole devouring her identity, her vision fracturing into a kaleidoscope of torment—Lena's triumph, her brother's fading plea—merging as the siphon neared absolute erasure. The molten rock rose to her brain, burning through her skull, fusing her mind to the stone, the heat melting her thoughts, her pulse a solitary beat against the encroaching dark. The mechanical arm's claw jammed again, sparking a feedback blast that hurled debris into her face, blinding her with molten fragments, her scream choked by the blood-filled windpipe.
The chasm's walls pulsed, a final seal tightening, the slab tilting to crush her head fully, the molten flood sealing her nostrils, suffocating her as her heart stuttered. The clamp's hum crescendoed, the siphon at 99.9999%, a microscopic spark of her defiance jamming it, but the prongs readjusted, plunging toward her soul's last flicker. The mechanical arm's blade descended, the drill whirring for a final sever, and the chasm's silence roared—her final pulse a defiant ember against the eternal void.