I stood across from Victor, anticipating and preparing for another ruthless ugly Neogen battle. Jasper stumbled forward, his boots scuffing the concrete, until the sight of his family among the dead broke him. He dropped to his knees, as tears streamed down his dirt-streaked face, his hands clawing uselessly at the cold floor.
Alessandra emerged from behind him, her frail form swaying as she walked toward me. She was pale as a ghost, haggard, her clothes hanging loose from days of captivity and starvation.
Her eyes, wide with exhaustion, locked onto Victor, and she lurched to my side with what little strength remained. She tripped, her legs giving out, but I caught her before she hit the ground, her thin frame trembling in my arms. “Please,” she whispered, her voice a ragged plea against my ear, “get me out of here. I want to go home. Please...”
Victor stepped closer, “Alessandra! I came to rescue you from these brutes. Are you okay?” His tone carried a tenderness that clashed with the carnage around us, his eyes fixed on her with an intensity that unnerved me.
She shrank back, pressing herself tighter against me. “It’s him! He kidnapped me! Get away from me!” She screamed sharp with terror. Was it a one sided romance. I was under belief that she was Victors girlfriend. But the fear in her eyes was raw, undeniable.
My mind raced in confusion. Victor’s face softened with concern, his brow furrowing as he reached out a hand. “I didn’t mean to take you by force,” he said, his voice low, almost pleading. “I just wanted to save your life. Alessandra, you know I love you. These people—they’re the ones who took you away from me.”
“You’re crazy!” she cried, her voice cracking with desperation. “Please, sir, get me out of here! I want to go home!” Her pleas clawed at me, urgent and piercing, as she gripped my arm like a lifeline.
Wild thoughts swirled in my mind—I needed the truth. “Tell me what happened. What did he do?”
Her gaze darted to Victor, then back to me. “He stalked me at night. I told him I didn’t want anything to do with him, but he wouldn’t listen. He drugged me—something on a cloth, I don’t know what. I lost consciousness, and when I woke up, I was tied up in a suitcase. They brought me here against my will.”
I turned to Victor, my stomach knotting. “Victor, is this true? Did you really kidnap her?”
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He stood silent, his jaw tight, but his eyes flickered with a mix of guilt and defiance. For a moment, I wondered if his feelings for her were genuine, just mangled by some desperate, misguided intent.
“I said I like you!” he repeated, his voice rising. “I did it to save you. For years, I’ve had a crush on you. To me, you’re the only thing that makes sense in this world. I’m sorry if what I did wasn’t done correctly. I can’t lose you—let me help you...”
“Get away from me!” she screamed, her voice shrill with panic. “You killed all these people didn’t you? You’re insane—crazy! No wonder your mother killed herself after giving birth to a monster like you!”
The words struck like a thunderclap. Victor’s face twisted, rage and anguish flaring in his eyes, now glowing an ominous crimson. Similar to my Solid-state but crimson red in color.
I realized the situation was about to turn for the worse. Why did she have to anger an unstable person further? Even I winced at the cruelty, though I understood her fear—it was a lashing out born of survival. She grabbed my hand. “Please, get me away from this psychopath.”
Before I could react, Victor moved in a blur, seizing her by the throat and lifting her off the ground. I lunged, slamming my fists into his arm, but it was like pounding steel—unyielding, immovable. His grip tightened, her gasps choking in the air as his red eyes burned with a malevolent fury, a dark echo of my own Solid State. And then I sensed something else, a primal energy pulsed from him—rage, destruction, something evil and unrestrained. I knew then that brute force wouldn’t stop him.
“Victor, calm down!” I shouted. “Let her go! Don’t let the power take control of your heart. Remember what we’re fighting for!”
He didn’t waver, his gaze fixed on her struggling form. That’s when Yukio and Dmitry burst through the splintered doorway, their faces blanching at the scene. Yukio’s hand shot to his sword, unsheathing it with a metallic hiss. “What’s going on? Victor, let go of that young woman!” he yelled, stepping forward. I threw out an arm to block him—any sudden move, and Victor could kill us all in an instant.
There was only one option left.
I dropped to my knees, pressing my forehead to the blood-stained floor. “Victor, you said your entire childhood was hell,” I said, my voice raw with desperation. “I understand how you feel. I’ve been bullied for half my life—mocked, hated. I know the urge to make them pay. But killing her won’t change anything. I made that mistake once, and it haunts me. It’ll just prove them right. Please—I beg you! Spare her.”
The silence stretched, heavy and suffocating. Then, with a shuddering breath, Victor released her. She collapsed into my arms, coughing and gasping, and in that same heartbeat, he vanished, Even my Hyper-vision couldn’t track him; he’d fused with speed itself, his power fully awakened.
My mind raced, grappling with the mystery of our abilities. I’d once thought rage triggered my Solid State, as it had during my fight with Randy. But that didn’t hold—Randy and Gwendowson had raged without awakening anything. What was I missing?
Then it clicked: fear. Fear was the key—the biological brake on our instincts, the line between humanity and chaos. Fear of consequences—death, punishment, loss—kept us in check. But the serum, ELB, frayed that line. For me, it had been the fear of losing my family, of failing my father’s legacy, that first pushed me beyond limits. Logic had taken over in battle, guiding me to protect those I loved, not raw emotion. Yet at Fort Vanguard, among comrades, I’d begun to fear for others—to care again. That fear anchored me.
Victor had no anchor. His fear had twisted into obsession, his crush on Alessandra morphing into a need to possess her. The serum stripped his restraint, amplifying his darkest impulses into a force of destruction. Looking on the bodies littering the floor, I felt a chill. If ELB spread unchecked—into soldiers fueled by hatred, trauma, or greed—it wouldn’t save us from the Vodocks. It would turn us into monsters, enemies of the world.
By 9 a.m., we’d tended to the survivors.
“Cipher, what now?” Yukio asked me, noticing my worry posed in silence
“We need to get Alessandra and the others to safety,” I said, helping her stand. “But I have to stop the general. He’s about to inject more soldiers with ELB. If they turn like Victor...”
Yukio’s eyes widened. “You think the serum did this to him?”
“It amplifies what’s inside—rage, pain, obsession. We can’t risk it. Can you handle things here?”
He nodded. “Do what you need to. But hurry—they sent word yesterday the injections resume today.”
I glanced at Alessandra, her face pale but resolute. “You’ll be safe with Yukio,” I promised her.
Then I bolted, sprinting toward Fort Vanguard, the wind roaring in my ears as I raced to stop a catastrophe.