The pounding on the warehouse door didn't stop, instead it settled into a rhythm, heavy impacts spaced just far enough apart to suggest coordination rather than chaos.
It was as though whatever remained outside was no longer simply throwing itself forward blindly, more like beginning to learn, adapt, or at the very least persist with unsettling consistency.
Arty stood a few metres back from the door, eyes fixed on the faint tremor that ran through the frame with each strike.
While the system panel hovered in his vision with quiet indifference, offering options like a menu in a world that no longer deserved that kind of simplicity.
Level: 1
Debt: 1,000,000,000
Crystals Held: 13
The numbers didn't feel abstract anymore, they felt like weight.
Behind him, Leah had moved Dale onto a low pallet stack and was tearing open a first aid kit she'd pulled from one of the shelves, her movements controlled but tight, the kind of efficiency that came from not allowing panic to take up space.
Tom was circling the interior perimeter, checking aisles, glancing up toward the rafters, confirming what they all hoped was true but none of them dared to believe it completely.
"Tell me what you're seeing," Leah said without looking at him, her voice steady but carrying that underlying edge that meant she was done being kept in the dark.
Arty exhaled slowly. "I have no idea how to explain it without sounding insane."
"Try anyway." Leah huffed.
Hesitating for only half a second, then gave up on filtering it. "There seems to be a system in my head," he said. "It's tied to the crystals; it's counting them and it's giving me options."
Leah stopped moving, for just for a moment she completely froze, then she just as quickly went back to work. "Like what kind of Options?"
"Spend them. Save them. Upgrade something. Pay off… debt." Arty rattled off what he knew so far.
"Debt, so wait your telling me that the end of the world as we know it, comes, with a mortgage?" Tom said, turning back toward them.
Arty almost smiled, "Yeah that's about how it feels." The panel shifted, as if responding to attention.
A new line expanded beneath the existing options.
Recommended Action Available
He frowned.
"Did that just—"
The text updated.
Stabilisation Protocol – Tier 1
Cost: 5 Crystals
Effect: Reinforce structure (limited)
Arty looked at the door, then at the walls, then at the roof supports with the continuing pounding, that came in relentless and measured blows.
Leah followed his gaze. "You've got something, don't you?"
"Maybe." Arty responded.
"Define maybe." Leah asked next.
"I can spend five crystals and reinforce the building." Arty replied.
Tom didn't hesitate. "Then I vote, do it."
Leah didn't speak immediately, her eyes flicked to the door, then back to Arty.
"How long does it last?"
Arty focused on the panel again, no duration listed not a whole lot of details in general. "The only thing I've got to go on… is Limited" Arty said.
"That's not good." Leah chortled.
"No… It isn't." Arty agreed.
Then as if on cue, another loud impact slammed into the door, harder this time, the metal bending inward slightly before snapping back into place.
Dale winced from the pallet. "If my vote counts for anything… I'd vote for anything that makes that stop."
Arty's hand hovered near his pocket, thirteen crystals, using five would drop that to eight, eight against one billion, that math was laughable. The situation wasn't, if the door failed, the math didn't matter at all.
He made the call. "Alright. I'm doing it." Arty focused on the panel, "Stabilisation Protocol."
The system responded instantly.
5 Crystals deducted
Something changed, nothing visible at first, no glow or light show, rather just a subtle tightening of the space, like the building itself had taken a breath and held it.
Then at the door… The next impact hit, the sound changed no longer a hollow sound, now it sounded much more solid and sturdy, and the frame barely budged.
Leah's eyes widened slightly. "It worked, that sounds completely different."
Arty nodded slowly. "Yeah… it worked." Relief tried to creep in, he wouldn't let it, he could feel it something else had changed too.
The panel updated.
Remaining Crystals: 8
And beneath it, a new line, one that hadn't been there before.
Stability Duration: 00:49:58
Then a moment later…
Stability Duration decreased: 00:04:51
"What… Why… How…" Arty thought.
System response snapped him out of his thoughts.
Number of threats increased tenfold.
Arty froze, "Of course, sadly that actually makes sense." he said under his breath.
"What?" Leah asked.
He looked at her.
"Five minutes remaining." Arty muttered.
Her expression hardened instantly. "You're kidding."
"I wish I was, we started with 50 minutes, but then there was a tenfold increase of creatures on the other side of that door."
Boom, another impact, the door was holding for now.
Tom let out a low whistle. "So, we just bought five minutes of not dying."
"Yeah," Arty said.
"Great," Tom muttered. "What happens after that?"
Arty didn't answer, the system already had, the timer continued to tick down.
Tic… tic…
00:04:41
00:04:40
00:04:39
The seconds felt louder than the impacts, Arty could feel the seconds like a ticking clock in an empty waiting room.
Leah stood slowly. "Then we can't just waste this precious time."
Arty nodded, that was the play, it had to be, he turned back to the panel, he saw Options, Spend, Upgrade & Debt, then he thought upgrade to select it.
He focused on the second line.
Convert crystals to personal progression
Another panel opened.
Level 0 → Level 1
Requirement: 100 points
He almost laughed, eight crystals, a measly eight points a whole 92 short, "That rules that one out… Not happening," he muttered.
Tic… tic… The timer dropped.
00:04:02
The pounding outside shifted, more impacts now, each impact closer together.
"They're stacking," Tom said quietly. "They're not just hitting it… they're collectively pushing."
Arty's jaw tightened, this wasn't good, he knew that much, he looked back at the panel next option.
Convert crystals to debt reduction
He selected it, the panel shifted.
8 points will be deducted from total debt
Confirm: Yes / No
He stared at the number.
1,000,000,000
Minus 8, he let out a breath that almost became a laugh, "This is insane." Arty said.
Leah stepped closer. "What's insane Arty?"
"I can spend everything I've got… and it won't matter, it can't change anything meaningful."
"Then don't," she said immediately.
He looked at her, for a moment they held each other's gaze. "Just use them to survive, not to feel better about a number." she said.
Tic… tic… The timer dropped.
00:03:21
The door barely holding up showing signs of coming apart again, the door struggled as another big hit that made the group turn their heads to pay attention.
Arty nodded once. "Yeah." That was the answer, not debt, not yet anyways, survival must come first, the rest can be future Arty's problem. Next Arty looked at the options tab on his screen and selected it.
The panel flickered again.
Emergency Option Available
His pulse kicked.
"Here we go," he murmured.
Leah's voice sharpened. "What now?"
Arty focused but said nothing yet.
The text expanded.
Forced Conversion – System Integration (Partial)
Cost: All remaining crystals
Effect: Unlock Tier 1 Ability
Warning: Irreversible
The room then went into silence, even the pounding at the door and constant ticking as the timer counted down, faded into oblivion. Arty completely focussed on that one line.
"Maybe, just maybe that could work." Arty said next.
Tom spoke first. "That sounds… important… ominous yet important."
Leah didn't look away from Arty. "What is it, do you know what it'll do?"
"It doesn't look like he knows, who knows maybe it's a hail Mary." Dale said from the pallet, voice weaker but steady.
Arty swallowed eight crystals, will be gone but the trade-off is, something unknown but permanent
Tic… tic… The timer dropped.
00:02:48
The door bent inward slightly under the next hit, this made the whole frame rattle and protest against the tide of creatures on the other side.
"They're getting through that, quicker and quicker." Tom said.
"No not yet." Leah snapped.
"Soon though." he replied.
Tic… tic… The timer kept ticking.
00:02:21
Arty looked at the panel, then he looked over at the door, then at Leah.
Leah didn't tell him what to do, she just watched him, trusting him somewhat, or at least accepted that the decision was his whether she liked it or not.
Arty stood there for a minute in quiet contemplation. He exhaled slowly, "Alright I've made my decision." he said.
Tic… tic…tic… The timer kept ticking.
00:01:21
"If this kills me though, I'm going to be very annoyed." Arty said.
"Well, that's certainly a comforting statement." Tom muttered.
Arty focused on the option. "Forced Conversion."
The system didn't hesitate.
All crystals deducted
The world snapped, not visually, and not physically, this was an internal change. Like something inside him had been waiting for permission to exist and had just been given it all at once.
Heat surged through his chest then spread throughout his body, his arms down to hands and fingers, though his spine, down his legs towards his toes, also up his spine through his head to the tip of his scalp.
His breath caught as the sensation intensified, not pain exactly, but far too close to it to be comfortable.
The panel burned brighter.
Ability Unlocked: Metal Manipulation (Tier 1)
Arty staggered slightly, falling to one knee, Leah tried to catch him, only managing to grab an arm. "Arty… Are you ok… What just happened?"
"I'm fine… Or at least I will be after a moment." he said, though his voice didn't fully agree.
Tic… tic…tic… The timer kept ticking.
00:00:47
This snapped Arty's attention back to the door, as it shuddered, this time the frame bent out of place and didn't snap back properly.
Tom stepped back. "That's not going to hold much longer."
Arty straightened up slowly with deliberate care, something inside him felt different, he wasn't sure if he was stronger, not yet but he's feels more connected with everything around him.
He looked at the door, his attention drawn towards the steel frame, the metal hinges and for the first time, he didn't just see them, no he could feel them, the structure and the weak tension points.
Leah followed his gaze. "Tell us… did you get something useful?"
Tic… tic…tic… The timer kept ticking.
00:00:32