"Everyone quick,find the source of that video!"
Brains scread inside a room full of engineers, veins bulging out of his neck like he was carrying the weight of an entire city on his shoulders.
The room was in complete chaos, as busy as a custor care office on its launch day. Scientists slamd fingers against glowing screens while others rapidly exchanged details with one another, radar-like systems flashing across their faces in waves of cold light.
"Sir, the video was a live stream and not just a package!"
One of the female engineers inford Brains, who kept pacing all over the room, shouting so fiercely that the entire work area felt suffocatingly urgent.
Brains’ eyes widened in shock, completely blown away by the update.
That ans Jamie is still here... I don’t know if he’s just stupid or daring, but if we catch him, the tide of this battle will change forever.
"I want all hands on deck! I don’t care if your fingers get bruised or chopped off. Find Jamie no matter the cost!"
......
" So your saying the souls turn into energy... what the heck?!"
A small miniature icon of a blue car toy robot appeared on the screen.
At first, its re appearance made Jamie stare in confusion, but after seeing it smile and wave—even though it was just a software program—he finally realized it was only an AI helper Castor had built into the system, in case it was ever used by soone who knew nothing about technology.
A guide.
Sothing simple enough to explain impossible things.
[Midgard and Midworld have an underground system that collects all souls that have died, then converts the soul energy into electrical energy... Rember, energy is not destroyed nor created. It only changes forms.]
The AI spoke like a mascot in a children’s tutorial, designed to keep whoever was watching at ease—a technique marketers had discovered long ago. People would rather be told what to do by a toy than by another person.
"Wait, wait... if what the system is saying is right, then... all the souls of people that are dead are not actually gone, but just in an electrical energy state?"
[Not precisely. The soul’s shape has been disfigured. Only the energy is left.]
Jamie’s mind flooded in an instant with thousands of thoughts, like soone had opened a tap and let all the water of confusion pour directly into his head.
These were people’s souls the AI was talking about.
Even if they were now just a giant mass of energy, that didn’t an there wasn’t still so kind of spiritual essence buried in them.
And from the storm of emotions tearing through his body, one rose above all the others, screaming so loudly in his mind that it almost felt spoken aloud.
I NEED TO SAVE THEM.
Even if it ant shutting down the entire power grid of Midgard, the reason for what he was about to do was far too powerful for him to ignore.
"Tell where the device is located."
[..ncing location protocols.] [Looking at the power grid web and searching where it intersects..... position found, calculating coordinates.]
[The device is underground the Grid Lions HQ.]
A cold chill swept through the air, as if every particle in the room had frozen at once.
Jamie’s curiosity shattered all over the place like candy exploding out of a piñata after it had been smashed open.
Out of all the places the degrading device could have been hidden, the goddess had decided to put that machine under the Grid Lions HQ—the most secretive clan in the whole of Midworld.
But on second thought... it made sense.
Maybe that was why the clan had chosen secrecy over the public-driven style most other clans used. Maybe they were never trying to stay hidden.
Maybe they were trying to keep this hidden.
My mission here is already over. If I go ho now, then the third stage will start. But if I stay here... I can save them all. Lora, Emily, and Charlotte. I can give them the rest they deserve.
Their smiling faces printed themselves across his mind like flyers pasted onto a wall, calling him toward them.
But on the other side of his consciousness, darkness spread in the form of doubt, slithering with perfect precision like a cobra moving silently beneath glass, creeping straight toward its prey.
Still...
A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.
So Jamie stood up firmly and took a deep breath, letting the fresh air run through his mouth, chest, and heart. A cool, fresh sensation hit his lungs and skin.
"Turn off all the systems. I’m going to take care of—"
BOOOOM!!!!
A massive explosion erupted inside the bunker, violent surges of fire tearing through everything in a single hit.
Jamie was struck with overwhelming force, wounded instantly, and sent flying into the wall like his body had no weight at all.
The sll of dark smoke swallowed the atmosphere, so polluted it could kill an elephant in just a few breaths, eating through cells faster than any virus ever could.
What remained after the explosion was nothing but burned chunks of shattered objects—pathetic leftovers that only proved sothing had once existed there.
Then suddenly, a figure appeared.
A masculine fra.
Tight gloves cut halfway at the fingers.
And a voice dripping with satisfaction.
"What a wonderful surprise. You really are here... Brains is smarter than I give him credit for."
It was Eva.
Her eyes glowed red with pure bloodlust.
Her fists burned with fire that seed ready to consu anything they touched.
She slowly walked toward the side Jamie had fallen to, even though his body was almost completely hidden beneath black ash.
And in that mont, she could already taste victory on her tongue.
"Don’t tell that attack killed you."
Cough. Cough.
Jamie coughed, clutching at his chest in the process.
But instead of coughing out air and a little saliva, he coughed out ash.
The sa dark ash that covered almost eighty percent of the floor.
His senses still hadn’t fully returned, but that didn’t matter.
He needed to defend himself.
Slowly, with a sharp sting spreading through his chest, he tried to push himself back to his feet—
—but just as he was about to rise, a violent surge of pain ripped up his spine like soone was sawing through it with a chainsaw.
Shit... the pain from yesterday is back. The explosion must’ve reopened the internal wounds. This is bad.
Jamie dropped to his knees, his right hand pressing against his back where the pain scread the loudest.
He tried to stand again.
And failed.
Is he faking it... or does he have another plan? ...No matter. If he was able to beat Captain Fiona, I can’t underestimate his potential.
Eva stared at Jamie closely, like he was so infected patient she needed to inspect no matter what.
"Fucking stand up, you little shit!"
Veins bulged all over her neck like her head was about to explode.
You could feel the rage in her voice.
The impatience,the hatred.
Every muscle in her body scread at her to rip him apart limb by limb.
And Jamie felt all of it.
The bloodlust was thickening by the second.
The longer he delayed, the stronger her urge for revenge beca.
So, with a painful struggle, he pushed himself upward, every muscle in his body contracting at once—but not enough to make it obvious to Eva that he was in terrible condition.
"You all talk about Greg like he was a saint... he attacked first. If I didn’t protect myself, I would’ve been dead by now."
"Don’t ntion his na with your fucking mouth. You don’t deserve to say his na any more than you deserve to still be standing here alive... I’m going to end this now."
[KING’S FORTRESS > LEVEL 10]
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