"Doctor, prisoners 22 and 23 have escaped."
The guard's voice trembled. No wonder. On the screen, two figures—a girl and a boy—had just knocked out six trained men in a matter of seconds.
"Umm, yeah, thanks for stating the obvious," replied a tired, almost bored voice.
In the monitoring room, a figure watched the screen with his arms crossed. His white coat was stained red, and his eyes, hidden behind round glasses, showed no surprise. Only a kind of disappointment.
"A Valkyria…" he murmured, watching as the blonde girl deflected a shot as if it were a mosquito. "Even though it was an abandoned place, I thought this place would last longer."
"Doctor," insisted the guard, his voice higher-pitched. "What do we do?"
The doctor didn't answer right away. His fingers drummed on the control panel, where a row of red buttons waited silently.
"Destroy all the data in this facility," he said at last. "Leave nothing behind."
"And the subjects?"
"Don't make me say it twice."
The guard swallowed hard. He nodded and left the room.
"It's a shame, though," he muttered. "I would have liked to see the boy's body. It's not every day you see a man who resists the Honkai."
"Welt Joyce," said the doctor, his voice now a whisper. "Siegfried Kaslana. Welt Yang. All the men who resist the Honkai, who master it rather than succumb to it..."
He paused. His fingers stopped drumming.
"They're pieces we can't control, aren't they, Otto?"
"Though of course," he added, lowering his gaze to his own hands. "I fall into that category too, don't I?"
"Child blessed by the Honkai," murmured the doctor. "Show me that you, too, are a free person."
He leaned over the control panel. His fingers, which had previously drummed impatiently, now moved calmly. He pressed a sequence of buttons that no one else knew. On the main screen, new text appeared, in red letters on a black background:
Protocol [ZERO] - Total release of subjects. Confirm.
"Activate Protocol [ZERO]," he said.
[Your orders, our actions.]
The metallic voice echoed in the empty, cold room. On the screens, a new window opened: a countdown. Three minutes.
The doctor stepped away from the table. He adjusted his glasses. He walked toward the exit.
He didn't look back.
On the screen, Arthur was still running. On another, Eleanor was holding off the guards trying to reach her. On a third, the subjects were pounding on the doors harder than ever.
The doctor walked through the door. His footsteps faded down the hallway, calm, unhurried.
Behind him, in the control room, the countdown continued.
Three minutes.
Throughout the laboratory, the cell doors opened with a metallic click that echoed like a symphony.
The doctor smiled.
"Free," he murmured as he climbed the stairs toward the exit. "Everyone's free."
Outside, the Siberian cold awaited him.
Behind him, the lab filled with screams.
The doctor walked away, hands in his pockets, as the snow began to fall.
Behind him, the lab burned in silence.
XXX
[2 Minutes and 48 Seconds Until Honkai Eruption]
Eruption? A metallic voice echoed throughout the place.
"Shit, this isn't the exit either," Eleanor said.
"We have to go back and look for another way out before that counter hits zero."
"Follow me."
We started running; several guards lay unconscious along the way.
Ever since that alarm went off, the Honkai energy has surged.
My whole body is screaming "danger."
"Wait."
Eleanor stopped.
There were several people up ahead, but their bodies were covered in purple lines.
"Did they let them out?"
"H-HELP ME"
"IT HURTS"
Are they talking?
"That bastard," Eleanor gritted her teeth.
"Arthur, you need to go down the hallway where the guards came from and don't look back."
"What? But you've already seen me—I can definitely help you."
"Are you capable of killing a person?"
The question hit Arthur like a bucket of cold water.
A person?
He clenched his fists. He definitely knew he wasn't the nicest person in the world.
In these past few months, he'd fought zombies, he'd knocked out guards to escape.
But that was different. The zombies weren't people anymore. The guards… well, the guards were still people, but he'd only knocked them out. He hadn't killed them.
Kill?
He definitely wasn't the kind of person who would be capable of killing someone either.
"Run, I won't say it twice."
"But—"
"Arthur," she interrupted him, and his name sounded different on her lips. "Find the exit and go to your family. I'm very strong, you know."
Arthur looked at her for a moment longer. He saw her blue eyes, shining with the same intensity as Kiana's. He saw her smile, which said, "Don't worry, I can handle this."
And he knew he wasn't going to win that argument.
"Don't be long," he said.
"I never am," she replied.
Arthur nodded. And he ran.
Left, right, straight ahead.
His mind tried to find a route, but this place was a maze. Hallways that forked, doors leading to other doors, staircases going up and down for no apparent reason. Alarms blared all around him, red lights flashing as if the building itself were having a seizure.
Where is the damn exit?
He turned another corner and found himself at a dead end. A wall of rusted metal stared back at him mockingly.
"Shit!" He punched the wall with his fist, and the metal dented slightly.
He stared at the dent. Then he looked up.
The ceiling. It wasn't very high. A couple of meters. And above that, just more metal. But if he managed to break through it…
Couldn't he just blast his way up with Caliburn?
The idea flashed through his mind like lightning, but it faded almost instantly.
But wouldn't the whole place collapse too?
"Shit," he muttered. "I should've paid attention in physics."
[1 Minute and 46 seconds until Honkai Eruption]
And the damn alarm kept ringing, piercing his ears, racing his heart. He couldn't just stand there.
Run faster.
His legs responded before his brain had finished processing the command. His core throbbed with force, sending energy to every muscle, every fiber, every inch of his body. The hallway became a blur around him. The red lights merged into a single flickering smudge.
Left.
He turned without hesitation.
Right.
Another turn. A guard appeared at the far end, confused, without even time to raise his weapon. Arthur passed him like a ghost, and the man didn't even catch a glimpse of his face.
[1 minute and 25 seconds until Honkai Eruption.]
Right.
Arthur skidded to a halt. His boots slid across the metal floor, and for a moment his balance deserted him. But it wasn't because of the speed. It was because of what he saw.
A laboratory.
The same place where he had seen all those scientists.
But his gaze had already swept across the room. And in the back, on the other side of the lab, he recognized the metal structure.
The elevator.
The same one he had used to come down. The one connecting this hell to the world above.
"That means the exit is close," he muttered.
[1 minute and 18 seconds.]
Arthur ran toward the elevator. The doors were closed, but the call button was still lit. He pressed it. Nothing.
He pressed it again. Nothing.
"Come on!" he pounded the button with his fist, and the metal dented slightly.
[1 minute and 10 seconds.]
The doors opened with a metallic screech, as if they were protesting having to work. Arthur stepped inside. He pressed the up button.
The elevator didn't move.
"No, no, no, no, no!" He pounded the walls, the ceiling—anything. "Get moving, damn it!"
[1 minute and 3 seconds.]
Nothing.
The elevator simply couldn't move. It was a miracle the doors had even opened.
[58 seconds.]
"Shit," he muttered.
He stepped away from the wall. He looked up at the elevator ceiling. The emergency hatch. Small. Rusty. But maybe…
He jumped. His fingers reached the edge of the hatch, and he pushed it aside.
The elevator shaft opened up above him. Dark. Narrow. Cables hung like dead snakes, and the air smelled of rust and dampness.
[52 seconds.]
Arthur didn't hesitate. Just as the energy from his core flooded his entire body, propelling him upward.
---!
When Honkai energy accumulates in a single place and reaches catastrophic proportions, it can generate Honkai eruptions. Depending on how much energy there is, they can create various Honkai beasts capable of destroying small cities. And then there are the Herrschers, who can be born under these conditions—and of course, their companions who accompany them.
A massive claw appeared in the elevator.
The claw was black, shiny like obsidian, with curved talons that tore through the elevator's metal as if it were paper. Each finger was the size of his torso.
No, he thought. No, no, no.
The elevator shaft began to shake.
Arthur had no time to think.
The core exploded in his chest. The energy coursed through every muscle, every fiber, every inch of his body. And he jumped.
He jumped with all his might, as if the ground beneath his feet were about to vanish at any moment.
The air whistled in his ears. The darkness of the shaft enveloped him. Below, the beast roared, and the sound echoed through the narrow space like thunder.
Arthur felt his momentum begin to fade, felt gravity pulling him downward.
Just then, as his ascent halted and the void began to swallow him, Arthur reached out.
Caliburn appeared in his fist with a golden flash. The silver blade glinted in the darkness, and Arthur drove it into the wall of the shaft with all the strength he had left.
The metal groaned. The blade pierced the wall as if it were butter, and Arthur was left suspended in the void, clinging to the hilt, his legs dangling
"Uffff," he let out a sigh, hanging from Caliburn's hilt, his legs dangling in the void.
"What the hell is this place?" he muttered under his breath, feeling the rust and sweat mix on his hands.
Now, let's hurry up and get out of here.
Just as he was about to push himself upward.
ROAR.
The sound echoed through the elevator shaft.
And then...
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM.
The Honkai beast began to leap. Its black claws dug into the walls of the shaft, propelling it upward in great strides. Each impact made everything shake.
Arthur looked down.
He saw it.
It was enormous. Its black body glowed in the dim light filtering down from above. Its golden eyes burned with fury.
No, Arthur thought. No, no, no.
Caliburn was still pinned to the wall. His hands were sweating. The beast was climbing.
"Come on!" he shouted at himself.
Arthur bent his legs over the void, his feet searching for footholds where there were none. Then, in a desperate move, he thrust himself downward.
Downward?
No. Toward Caliburn.
His feet struck the hilt of the sword embedded in the wall. The metal groaned under his weight, but the blade held firm, embedded as if it were part of the structure.
And then he jumped.
He repeated the same process over and over. Plant, push off, fly, plant again. Higher and higher, closer and closer to the exit. But his speed wasn't the same as the beast's.
10 meters.
That was the distance between them. Arthur could see it now, even without looking.
And it was going to shrink in the next few seconds.
"Damn bastard…" Arthur muttered, his teeth clenched, as he flew through the air in the elevator shaft. "You forced me to do this."
Mid-air, as momentum began to fade and gravity pulled him downward, Arthur didn't thrust himself upward.
He turned.
He hung there for a moment, face down, staring into the abyss.
And he focused all the energy his core could muster.
Heat flooded his chest. It coursed through his arms, his legs, every inch of his body. Caliburn, which until now had been just a sword, a tool, began to glow. Dimly at first. Like a lit candle in the midst of a storm.
Then brighter.
And brighter still.
Until it shone like a star.
The golden light illuminated the entire elevator shaft. The metal walls reflected the glow, and the beast, for the first time, hesitated.
"CALIBURNNNNN!"
Arthur's scream echoed through the narrow space, mingling with the beast's roar and the hum of the accumulated energy.
A torrent of golden energy shot out from Caliburn's blade.
The roar turned into a shriek. A high-pitched, piercing sound that pierced Arthur's ears and echoed throughout the laboratory.
The light blinded everything.
And then, propelled by the sheer force of his own attack, Arthur shot upward.
Like a rocket.
CRACK
The sound of the impact echoed as his back slammed into the door on the top floor. The metal gave way and shattered.
Arthur rolled across the floor, feeling every blow. Caliburn slipped from his hand, spinning through the air before landing a few meters away.
He lay on his back, gasping for breath.
"HAHAHAHAHA!" he laughed out loud like a madman.
The laughter echoed through the empty hallway.
"I beat you, you fool," he said with a stupid grin, staring at the ceiling as if the beast could hear him from the bottom of the elevator shaft.
He looked down. His hands were shaking. His palms were bloody. His clothes were torn. But he was alive. He was still alive.
"Now go to Kiana," he muttered, and the white-haired girl's name gave him strength.
He slowly sat up, propping himself up on his elbows and knees. Everything hurt. His arms, his back, his legs.
"Hmm… I wonder if Eleanor managed to escape?" he muttered, struggling to his feet. "She mentioned there was another exit."
He stood still for a moment, leaning against the wall, catching his breath. His legs were shaking, but they held firm. Caliburn lay on the floor, a couple of meters away. He took a step to pick it up.
¡---¡
His whole body screamed at him to get out of there. Move, his body told him. Move now.
But he had no energy.
[1 second until Honkai Eruption.]
And then, the world exploded.
A blinding white light flooded everything. From the deepest part of the lab all the way to the abandoned factory. From the foundation to the ceiling.
BOOOM.
The shockwave sent him flying through the air like a dry leaf. Arthur felt his body soaring, the debris hitting him, the heat enveloping him. And then, only darkness.