The tunnels shook before I even saw it.
Boom.
Metal screeched against stone. Dust rained from the ceiling, clinging to my jacket like a grim reminder that nothing stayed clean down here.
Shouts cut through the chaos orders, curses, maybe screams. Hard to tell. Every faction in the Veins had finally snapped, and they were taking each other apart with no thought for strategy, no thought for me.
I pressed against a cracked wall, feeling the vibration under my boots. Step. Step. Splash. Step. Every sound measured, every breath calculated. Survival was less about strength here and more about observation.
A firefight broke out in the corridor ahead. One thug dove behind a support beam, a second went down under a hail of bullets that ricocheted in metal echoes. Sparks danced across the floor.
Bang… bang… clang…
I moved, slow, deliberate. Not fast enough to draw attention, but fast enough to stay out of the line of fire. Each skirmish revealed patterns alliances cracking, signals misread, trust evaporating in real time. Controlled chaos. I'd heard Rei's warnings, but seeing it in motion was… mesmerizing.
A crate toppled behind me, splintering wood into the air. I ducked instinctively. My fingers grazed something cold, metallic a loose ledge I could use for leverage.
Step. Splash. Step.
I counted every move, memorized every corridor, catalogued every factional misstep. Every mistake they made became my map, my cover, my escape route. I wasn't here to fight; I was here to slip through the fractures, unseen but not unseeing.
Another explosion rattled the far end of the tunnels. Flames licked walls, smoke curling toward the vents. Someone screamed a name, a curse, I didn't catch it.
Boom. Shatter.
I paused, letting the noise envelope me. In this storm, survival wasn't luck. It was timing, observation, and patience. And the Veins… the Veins were a perfect weapon if you knew how to move through them.
I pressed onward, shadows folding over me as I advanced deeper into the warring chaos. Bodies fell, alliances collapsed, and yet… I moved through the debris like a ghost. The factions might tear each other apart, but I could navigate the fractures.
If they burned each other, maybe I walked away clean.
Step. Step. Step.
And just like that, the war wasn't just around me it became mine to exploit.