Silas's shop wasn't a shop at all but a repurposed smokestack, its rusted metal walls lined with jars of floating flesh. Lucas squinted at the nearest one - a human tongue, suspended in murky fluid, with a tiny branded number burned into its surface.
"Don't stare," Nyra muttered, elbowing him. "He takes it as interest."
The broker himself perched on a stool of fused bone fragments, milky eyes tracking their movement despite obvious blindness. "Dain." His voice crackled like fire over wet wood. "What a pleasant surprise. Who are your friends here?"
Vex bristled but Dain stepped forward, stone knuckles cracking against the counter. "We need Voidmark's last message."
Lucas was surprised about Dain's straightforwardness.
Silas laughed, a wet sound that turned into a cough. He spat something black into a jar before responding. "And I need my original liver. But we bargain with what we have." His gnarled fingers tapped a specific jar labeled in flaking red paint - 1147.
Vex growled at Silas, looking him dead in the eye. "We don't have time for games."
"Calm down, tough guy." He looked over to Dain. "For you, old friend... a trade. Steal Magistrate Hull's prototype Ocularimplant from the Relay Tower. It can decrypt System data-chips - including the ones that store executed prisoners' final memories."
Vex's growl vibrated through Lucas's aching bones. "It's impossible-"
"Not for him." Silas pointed a yellowed nail at Lucas. "That artifact in his chest? It'll scramble their scanners. Briefly."
Nyra's ears flattened against her skull. "How'd you know about the artifact?"
The broker's grin showed needle-thin teeth, ignoring her question. "The implant's guarded by a new Hound variant. Doesn't track magic—but fear." His blind eyes somehow found Lucas's. "And you, boy, don't stink of it."
Lucas's mouth went dry. The artifact pulsed in response, sending a wave of unnatural calm through him. His breath steadied even as his mind raced.
Dain coughed again, amber light sputtering between his fingers. "How long does the scrambling last?"
"Three minutes. Maybe four." Silas shrugged. "After that, every drone in the sector comes for him."
He opened a box, took out an oddly-looking pellet and handed it to Lucas. "Swallow this."
Nyra turned to Lucas, her dark eyes reflecting the jarred tongues' faint glow. "Your choice."
Lucas collected the pellet and gulped it. The artifact throbbed again, harder this time. Lucas felt something unlock in his chest - not pain, but potential. Like a door cracking open just enough to glimpse what lay beyond.
[SYSTEM INTERFERENCE DETECTED]
[ADAPTIVE RESPONSE INITIATED]
[TEMPORARY SKILL: PHANTOM STEP]
[DURATION: 5 seconds per activation]
[Allows short-range teleportation]
[WARNING: Spatial dislocation risk]
Lucas blinked. The knowledge settled into his muscles like he'd always possessed it. He looked at Silas. "Okay, I'll do it."
Vex threw up his hands. "Of course he will. Martyr complex."
Silas slid a vial of inky liquid across the counter. "Drink this too. Suppresses vital signs. Makes you... uninteresting to the Sniffer."
The liquid burned like swallowing lit gasoline. Lucas's vision swam, then fractured - he could suddenly see the heat signatures of his companions, the cold spots where the building's supports had rusted through. His heartbeat slowed to a mechanical, steady rhythm.
[TEMPORARY SKILL: PREDATOR'S APATHY]
[DURATION: 12 minutes after activation]
[Suppresses emotion]
Nyra pressed a stolen clerk's badge into his hand. "Relay Tower's west entrance has the lightest patrols. You'll have to-"
"I know," Lucas interrupted. And he did. The artifact whispered paths to him now, overlaying possible routes across his vision in faint blue lines. He shook his head, trying to clear the invasive knowledge. "I mean... I'll figure it out."
Dain caught his arm as he turned to leave. The stone-skinned man's grip was weaker than it should be. "That implant's keyed to Hull's biometrics. You'll need..." He coughed, amber light spilling over his lips. "Need to trick the scanner."
Silas chuckled and slid another item across the counter - a glass eye swimming in preservatives. "On loan."
Lucas pocketed it, trying not to think about its origin. The artifact's hum grew louder in his chest, drowning out his revulsion.
The streets outside were unnaturally quiet. Lucas moved through the shadows, his new skills itching beneath his skin. He tested it between two crumbling walls - focusing on the patch of darkness ahead and feeling the world lurch sickeningly as he appeared there instantly.
[PHANTOM STEP: 4.5 SECONDS]
[Spatial stress: 12%]
His stomach rebelled but the emotional suppressor kept him from vomiting. The Relay Tower loomed ahead, its surface crawling with scanner drones. Lucas took a steadying breath and stepped into the open.
The lobby was a nightmare of light and sound. Clerks in System uniforms moved between glowing terminals, their faces obscured by flickering holographic masks. Lucas kept his stolen badge visible and walked with purpose, following the artifact's pulsing guidance toward a service elevator.
Then he saw it.
The Sniffer moved differently than other Hounds - a sleek, almost organic machine with no visible eyes or mouth. It wove between clerks, its smooth head tilting occasionally as if tasting the air. Lucas's suppressed emotions spiked despite the chemical dampener, and the creature froze.
Its featureless face turned toward him.
Lucas ducked behind a terminal bank as the Sniffer's clicking footsteps grew closer. His breath fogged in the suddenly frigid air - Frostbite responding to his panic. He clenched his fists, focusing instead on the new skill.
The shadow beneath a nearby data console looked deep enough. Lucas exhaled and stepped into it.
[PHANTOM STEP: 5 SECONDS]
[Spatial stress: 27%]
The world twisted. Lucas stumbled into being behind the Sniffer, his head swimming. The creature whipped around, but he was already moving, slipping into the service elevator just as the doors closed.
Hull's office was colder than the lobby. The implant sat in a clear case on the Magistrate's desk, its surface crawling with microscopic System runes. Lucas approached cautiously, Silas's stolen eye in hand.
The biometric scanner flared red. Lucas held his breath and pressed the glass eye against it.
The Sniffer's shriek echoed through the vents.
Lucas didn't hesitate. He slammed his artifact-embedded fist into the case. Frostbite surged, but this time the ice formed in precise, crackling lines - shattering only the glass. The implant was freezing cold in his hand, its surface immediately fusing to his palm like living metal.
{WARNING: SYSTEM TRACKING DETECTED}
{COUNTERMEASURE UNAVAILABLE}
The office door exploded inward. The Sniffer filled the doorway, its smooth head splitting vertically to reveal rows of rotating teeth. Lucas backpedaled, his boot heels scraping against the suddenly brittle floor.
He wanted to use PhantomStep again - but the spatial stress warning flashed crimson.
[SPATIAL STRESS: 89%]
[RISK: MOLECULAR DISSOCIATION]
The Sniffer lunged.
Lucas did the only thing he could think of - he grabbed the frozen shards of the display case and threw. Frostbite surged through his fingertips, transforming the glass into deadly projectiles. They struck the Sniffer's open maw, ice spreading rapidly across its surface.
The creature staggered but didn't stop. Lucas's back hit the window - reinforced polymer, unbreakable under normal circumstances. The artifact in his chest flared white-hot.
[PHANTOM STEP: 5 SECONDS]
[EMERGENCY OVERRIDE ACCEPTED]
The world exploded in light and pain as Lucas's body dissolved into shadow, reforming outside on a lower balcony. He collapsed, blood streaming from his nose. The implant burned in his hand, its tendrils now buried deep in his flesh.
[PHANTOM STEP CRITICAL USE]
[SPATIAL STRESS: 97%]
Lucas didn't have time to process the warnings. The Sniffer's shrieks echoed above him. He rolled off the balcony, catching a drainage pipe on the way down. His shoulder screamed in protest but held.
Nyra's voice crackled through the stolen earpiece: "East alley! Now!"
He ran, the implant's tendrils writhing beneath his skin. Behind him, the Relay Tower's alarms wailed to life, joined by a new, more ominous sound - the deep, resonant horn of a System Purge Team.
Silas's den was in chaos when Lucas stumbled back in. The broker was on his feet, his milky eyes wide with something like fear. "You triggered a Purge? Foolish boy!"
Nyra grabbed Lucas's arm, her claws pricking his skin. "What did you do?"
Lucas couldn't answer.
Vex's claws unsheathed with a metallic hiss. "Run or fight?"
Lucas looked at his hands - one fused with stolen System tech, the other still faintly blue from Frostbite. The artifact in his chest hummed in anticipation.
"I don't know." He said, panted endlessly.
The horn's echo still trembled in Lucas's bones when Silas moved. He didn't lunge for them but went for the rusted wall panel instead. His gnarled fingers punched a sequence into hidden controls.
"Give it to me." Silas's voice left no room for negotiation, his outstretched palm gleaming with oily sweat.
Lucas clutched the implant tighter. "After you give us Voidmark's location."
The broker's milky eyes flicked to the shuddering ceiling as another Purge horn blared, closer this time. "Foolish boy," he spat, "that data's worthless if you're scrapcode." With shocking strength, he yanked Lucas forward and pried the implant free. The tendrils tore from Lucas's flesh with a wet snap, sending white-hot pain up his arm.
"Out!" Silas hurled a smoke grenade at their feet. "Meet me in the Valley if you survive the night."
The shop filled with acrid smoke in seconds. Nyra hooked an arm around Lucas's waist, dragging him backward as Vex kicked open a hidden grate. "Move!"
They plunged into the bowels of the Gutter Markets just as the ceiling caved in behind them, the Purge Team's arrival shaking the foundations like an earthquake.
The stench of rancid clung to the team as they fled through the Gutter Markets. Their boots splashed through thin streams of sewage water. A rat the size of a boot skittered across their path, dragging a half-chewed lottery ticket — the kind no one had used since the last three winners were found skinned.
Lucas's artifact burned like a branding iron against his sternum, its pulse syncing with his frantic heartbeat as the screech of tearing metal erupted behind them.
Nyra's ears snapped flat against her skull. She threw out an arm, her claws glinting in the neon glow of floating vendor stalls. "Hold up!"
Three figures materialized at the far end of the rickety bridge, their forms flickering like corrupted holograms before solidifying. The lead figure stood a full head taller than the others, its obsidian armor etched with pulsating crimson runes. Where its face should have been, a smooth visor displayed scrolling text:
[NAME: NULL]
[LEVEL: ERROR]
[WEAPON: [REDACTED]]
A low, mechanical hum bled into the air, like a server farm breathing.
Vex's claws slid free with a metallic snick. "Well, fuck."
The Annihilator raised its weapon - a jagged shard sword of fractured light that warped the air around it. When it swung, reality itself seemed to stutter. Nyra's fingers spasmed open against her will, her favorite dagger clattering to the cobblestones as if her muscles had forgotten their purpose. Nearby, the intricate knots holding up a fruit stall unraveled midair, sending baskets of rancid moonmelons crashing onto the street.
Lucas stumbled back, his vision swimming with urgent system warnings:
[WARNING: CONCEPTUAL WEAPON DETECTED]
[ADAPTIVE RESPONSE: INITIATING...]
[ERROR: INSUFFICIENT DATA]
Dain didn't hesitate. The massive brawler charged forward, his stone-encrusted fists already raised. The amber cracks that had been creeping up his arms glowed brighter with each pounding step, pulsing like molten lava beneath his skin. He brought his hands together in a thunderous clap that sent visible shockwaves rippling through the bridge's foundation.
The explosion of sound shattered Lucas's eardrums. Wood splintered. Ropes snapped like gunshots. For one suspended moment, the entire walkway listed sideways before collapsing in a cacophony of screams and splintering timber.
Vex grabbed Dain's arm as the big man staggered back, his breath coming in ragged gasps. "You absolute idiot!" Vex snarled, though his voice cracked with something alarmingly close to panic. The glowing cracks had reached Dain's shoulders now, tendrils of amber light creeping toward his neck. "You're turning to stone!"
Dain grinned, though his jaw was already beginning to stiffen. "Better than turning into ones and zeroes."
Lucas didn't know how to react, neither did Nyra. Their reprieve lasted exactly fourteen seconds.
Two Hound Primes cleared the gap with unnatural grace, their sleek metallic forms moving like liquid shadow. Up close, Lucas could see the horror inside their glass chest compartments - human eyes floating in viscous fluid, pupils dilating in terror as the machines hunted.
He felt a both fear and disgust, instinctraising his hands, summoning Frostbite, but the cold energy reflected off the Hound's glass surface and nearly encased Nyra in ice. She barely twisted away in time, shooting him a glare that could melt steel. "Watch your damn angles, hotshot!"
A high-pitched voice cut through the chaos. "Hey, morons! Down here unless you wanna be System kibble!"
Lucas whirled to see a grimy face peering from a drainage pipe barely wider than his shoulders. Nyra's eyes glittered with something between amusement and impatience as she waved them over.
They didn't need convincing.
As Lucas ducked into the pipe's foul darkness, he chanced one final glance back. The Annihilator stood motionless at the ruined bridge's edge.
"I'm coming for you, Lucas Kane."
Its blank visor now displaying a new message that turned his blood to ice:
[DIRECTIVE: PRESERVE SUBJECT [LUCAS KANE]]
[FOR [VOIDMARK] ASSIMILATION]
Then the sewer grate slammed shut, plunging them into darkness thick with the scent of mildew and standing water. Their helper's whisper slithered through the black: "This way."
The tunnel's darkness pressed against them like a living thing. Lucas's boots slipped on the moss-slick stones, his right hand - the one that had held the implant - twitching uncontrollably. Every few steps, his pinky finger would glitch into static, the artifact in his chest pulsing in time with the distortion.
"Would you stop that?" Nyra hissed ahead of him, her ears swiveling like radar dishes. "Your hand's making enough noise to wake the dead."
Lucas clenched his fist, but the static only worsened. Ahead, their small guide moved with unnatural surety, bare feet finding purchase where the others slipped. The child paused beneath a rusted grate where faint light filtered through, illuminating a sign half-buried in sludge: Maintenance Sector 7-B - Authorized Personnel Only.
Vex sniffed the air, his wolfish nostrils flaring. "Smells like piss, gunpowder, and alot bad decisions. Home sweet home." He smiled sarcastically.
The tunnel opened abruptly into a cavernous chamber where time seemed to have stopped. Massive filtration gears stood frozen mid-rotation, their teeth casting shadows. Between them hung dozens of makeshift hammocks fashioned from System patrol uniforms and Warden banners. The air carried the acrid tang of recycled air and something darker - the ozone scent of glitch energy.
"Welcome to Rat Town," their guide announced, spreading grimy arms. A light shone, revealing their guide to be a little girl.
Lucas's breath caught. The walls were covered in carvings - not random graffiti, but precise System runes dug deep into the metal. They pulsed with faint amber light, forming a phrase that repeated like a chant:
CLAVEM TENET VOIDMARK
VOIDMARK SYSTEMA FRANGET
VOIDMARK HIC FUIT
It was scratched deep into the metal, some half-buried under grime, others glowing faint amber like the system itself is trying to erase them but can't.
Nyra's claws dug into his arm. "These markings... they're the same as the ones I saw in the Warren's hidden tunnels." Her voice held something Lucas had never heard before - recognition. Fear.
Dain staggered against a gear, his stone skin cracking audibly. Amber light leaked from his joints like molten solder. "We need to—"
A metallic clang cut him off. From the shadows between two massive gears, a familiar figure emerged - Celine, her stolen Magistrate coat now streaked with fresh blood that couldn't possibly all be hers. In one hand she held a smoking shock-pistol; in the other, a Hound's severed optic sensor that still twitched.
"Celine?" Vex's voice was barely more than a breath.
The years between them collapsed in an instant, and for a heartbeat, the noise of the world fell away. Vex's claws curled against his palms, unsure whether to reach for her or the blade at his belt.
"You're late," she said, tossing the sensor aside.
Behind her, three more children emerged - one with Warden-brand cybernetics, another with Hound claws grafted to their fingers, the last with skin that flickered like a bad hologram. All carried weapons too large for their small frames.
Celine wiped her bloody hands on her coat, leaving rust-colored streaks. "Now that you've seen the welcome mat," she said, her voice suddenly much older than her years. She looked straight into Lucas's eyes. "Let's talk about how you're going to help me kill a god."