Beyond the reinforced threshold, the battle reached a fever pitch. Leo had no idea who this Paragon was or what level of power allowed a human to distort reality so violently, but he was done being a spectator in Hye-na's torment.
He did not know the exit conditions for this nightmare, and he did not care. He set the girl down momentarily, bracing himself against a 150-kilo piece of lab equipment. With a guttural growl, he heaved the machine aside to reveal the tunnel entrance.
'Good, my innate strength was still there.' Leo thought, testing the grip of his fingers.
He reached for Hye-na, but a concussive force exploded through the room, pinning him against a structural pillar. The impact turned his vision white. He slid to the floor, his spine screaming in protest. As the lab began to disintegrate under the external pressure, he scrambled back to Hye-na's side.
She was limp, blood trickling from a fresh wound on her brow. Her pulse was a faint, sluggish rhythm. He slung her over his shoulder, determined to reach the tunnel, but the vault door was suddenly sheared in half as if by an invisible blade.
A man stepped through the wreckage. He wore a blue coat, his hair pulled back in a sharp ponytail. His presence was a void that sucked the light out of the room.
Baek Tae-jin, the Paragon of Singularity, stood before them with eyes like frozen glass.
'This is not a man you talk to,' Leo realized, his heart hammering against his ribs.
''Release her,'' the Paragon commanded. The gravity in the chamber intensified, turning the air into liquid lead.
''Wait—'' Leo began, but the gravitational sheer caught his outstretched arm. The bone snapped with a wet crunch.
''Ngh—Aah!'' Leo's breath hitched, his muscles twitching as the agony flared.
''I will not repeat myself. Put her down,'' Tae-jin said, his voice a low, lethal vibration.
'What kind of hellish nightmare is this?' Leo cursed, his gaze darting to the girl on his shoulder. He knew the logic of this world: if he surrendered her now, he was conceding to the nightmare.
Gritting his teeth until they threatened to shatter, Leo grabbed his mangled forearm and yanked. A sharp, sickening click echoed as the bone reset.
Tae-jin's eyes narrowed, the coldness in them deepening into something predatory. He raised a hand to crush the intruder once and for all, but the ceiling chose that moment to succumb to the chaos.
RUMBLE
The laboratory gave its final, tortured groan. Huge slabs of the ceiling tore free, descending like the blades of a guillotine. The impact sent a wall of pulverized stone and insulation through the air, creating a momentary shroud of grey.
Tae-jin's violet eyes flickered toward the falling mass. For a fraction of a heartbeat, his focus shifted from his prey to the collapsing environment. His hand twitched, gravity beginning to warp around the falling debris to prevent it from crushing his daughter.
Leo saw the window. It was the only opening he would get.
'Now or never,' his instincts screamed.
He didn't run; he launched himself. Using the raw momentum of his Progenitor-enhanced legs, he cleared the distance to the ventilation shaft in a single, desperate bound. He pulled Hye-na beneath him, shielding her small, bruised frame with his own body as they slid into the jagged metal mouth of the tunnel.
The world behind them vanished in a roar of settling stone and the high-pitched hum of a singularity.
Tae-jin's breath rattled in his chest as he strained to hold the massive slabs of the ceiling aloft. ''Soul Serpent... hunt him down,'' he wheezed. Behind him, a rift in space tore open, and a serpent with a shimmering silver hide and predatory yellow slits surged into the shaft. With a final grunt, Tae-jin released his gravitational grip. The ruins came crashing down, sealing the tunnel and locking Leo in the darkness with the summon.
Leo continued his frantic descent, his back raw from the friction against the metal vents. The shrieking of the metal was the only sound until a low, rhythmic slithering vibrated through the shaft above. He glanced back, and two needles of yellow light pierced the gloom.
'Is there no end to this?' Leo wondered, his heart hammering against his ribs. The silver predator gained on them with impossible speed. As the distance closed, the serpent unleashed a jagged hiss that wasn't a sound, but a direct assault on his soul.
Leo's limbs grew heavy, his muscles feeling as though they were being dragged into deep, shifting sand. The world began to tilt into a grey haze as his consciousness flickered. But deep within his veins, the Primordial blood roared in protest, overriding the exhaustion with a primal directive. His vision flooded with red as his eyes burned a lethal, glowing crimson.
The serpent lunged, driven by the failure of its soul-strike, but Leo met it with a cold, predatory roar that vibrated through the metal shaft. ''ENOUGH!'' he commanded.
The creature's yellow slits dilated in pure terror as it looked into Leo's burning crimson gaze. It felt as though it were staring into the eyes of the Apex predator alive. Its silver blood ran cold, and it recoiled with a submissive hiss, vanishing back into the gloom.
Leo surged forward, and the suffocating, clinical atmosphere of the laboratory finally began to dissolve. The chemical stench of the basement was replaced by the sweet, earthy fragrance of rain-dampened grass. It was the scent of a brewing storm in a place he finally recognized.
Hye-na's weight in his arms shifted, her small frame becoming light and easy to carry as her labored breathing smoothed into a peaceful rhythm.
The darkness of the tunnel shattered, and they spilled out onto a bed of lush green grass. Above them, an ancient oak tree spread its canopy against a sunset that painted the horizon in vivid oranges and deep pinks.
Leo scrambled to his feet, checking the tunnel entrance, but the beast did not emerge. He collapsed to his knees, a shaky breath of relief escaping his lungs.
Hye-na stirred, her face catching the cool, fresh breeze. She coughed away the lingering dust of the lab as her eyes fluttered open. Through the haze of her vision, she saw a man she did not recognize laughing with pure, idiotic joy. As the fog in her mind cleared, a single name anchored her to reality. ''Leo,'' she whispered.
Leo went still, his expression a mask of shock. ''How do you know?'' he asked, his voice trembling.
There was no logical way for her to recognize him, especially since she had been out cold when he arrived.
Hye-na looked at him, her mind struggling to reconcile why her scrawny childhood rival had suddenly grown so tall and striking. A faint, genuine smile touched her lips. ''Monkey,'' she chuckled weakly.
Leo felt a sharp, physical pain in his chest. Having witnessed the systematic destruction of her spirit in the lab, he had feared she would be a hollow shell forever. To see her smile now was a miracle he felt he did not deserve. '
"I am sorry," he whispered, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the grass, haunted by the guilt that he wasn't able to stop her pain.