The scream clawed its way out of my throat, but it was already too late.
The Devourer's chest-mouth snapped shut around Lysander, his silver blade vanishing with him in a crunch of teeth and flesh. The sound tore through the station, shaking the air itself. My knees hit the cracked concrete. My hands scraped raw as I reached forward, fingers closing on nothing but empty space.
He was gone.
[ Warning: Bond Link Distorted. ]
[ Shared State: Unstable. ]
[ Integrity: 62% → 41%. ]
The sudden emptiness struck like a gut-punch. A moment ago his steadiness had been there, holding me together. Now there was only static, a screeching in my skull that made me want to rip my head apart. My chest ached as though someone had torn out a piece of me and left the cavity collapsing in on itself.
The Devourer reared back, ichor dripping between its teeth. Dozens of its eyes blinked toward me. All of them.
I staggered upright, forcing my shaking legs to move. My crowbar lay yards away where I'd dropped it. Too far. My weapon was gone.
"Give him back," I croaked, voice breaking against the silence.
The creature shifted, its limbs twitching, chest expanding with a wet rattle. Then, as if mocking me, it opened its maw again.
Not to spit him out.
To show me.
A faint silver glow flickered inside the cavern of its chest-mouth. The light of his blade. Buried deep, still thrashing. Still fighting.
He was alive.
Hope and horror collided in my veins.
[ New Objective: Retrieve Bonded Entity. ]
[ Optional Condition: Survive. ]
"Damn it." My body braced on instinct. There was no choice.
The Devourer lunged.
I rolled hard to the side. Its claw slammed down where I had been, gouging the stone like wet clay. Dust exploded around me, stinging my eyes, but I pushed forward. My crowbar glinted faintly ahead.
Its tail, or what passed for one, whipped sideways. It caught me in the ribs and hurled me against a support pillar. The air ripped out of my lungs. Pain lit up my chest in white fire. I slid down the cracked surface, gasping, every breath raw agony.
[ Vitality: -23. ]
[ Condition: Internal Fractures Detected. ]
"Not... done," I rasped.
I forced myself upright, swaying but standing. The bond still tugged faintly in my chest. Chaotic. Unstable. But there. He was alive. If I let it snap, he wouldn't be for long.
The Devourer slithered closer. Eyes rippled across its body, each one locking on me. Its maw opened again, teeth glistening. From within came the muffled clang of steel striking bone.
"Hold on," I whispered.
I dove for the crowbar. My fingers closed around the handle just as one of its claws swept down. I rolled, metal shrieking as it scraped the floor inches from me. The air stank of bile and rot.
[ Shared State: Flickering. ]
[ Bond Integrity: 37% → 29%. ]
The static in my skull sharpened. Snippets of his voice broke through—the grit of his teeth, the thundering rhythm of his heart against mine. He was still fighting, hacking his way through the dark. But the bond faltered, his presence slipping away like sand through open fingers.
I bared my teeth. Then I ran straight at the monster.
It wasn't bravery. It was madness.
But hesitation would mean death.
The Devourer lunged to meet me. Its chest-mouth gaped wide, rows of jagged teeth glinting with the faint silver buried inside. Its breath washed over me, rancid and heavy, as if the air itself was rotting.
Every instinct screamed at me to stop. To turn. To live.
But the bond burned hotter.
[ Emergency Synchronization Triggered. ]
[ Shared State: Overdrive. ]
The world snapped into clarity. My vision tunneled, fixed on the glow of his blade deep within. My body moved without thought, fueled by something deeper than instinct.
I sprinted straight into its mouth.
The teeth scraped my shoulders as I dove. I rammed the crowbar into the roof of its maw. The impact echoed like a bell. The Devourer shrieked, the roar rattling through my bones, but I clung to the bar and forced myself deeper.
Heat. Slime. Suffocating dark. The walls of its body pulsed like a living labyrinth. I shoved forward, crowbar wedged against slick flesh for leverage.
Silver flickered ahead. Lysander's blade.
I dragged myself toward it. The air choked me, searing my lungs with rot. Pain ripped through my ribs, but I crawled anyway. Inch by inch.
The bond pulsed clearer. His heartbeat slammed into mine. Furious. Alive.
"Keep fighting," I gasped. "I'm coming."
The Devourer convulsed, muscle crushing in from all sides. The walls squeezed against my chest, forcing air out of me. I jammed the crowbar outward, forcing space, scraping flesh just enough to keep moving.
[ Vitality: -15. ]
[ Condition: Oxygen Deprivation Detected. ]
The silver glow blazed brighter. A shape carved through the dark ahead—an arm, a blade tearing through flesh.
Lysander.
He was alive.
"Lysander!" My voice cracked.
His head snapped toward me, eyes wide, gleaming faintly in silver light. Blood streaked his face, uniform shredded, ichor dripping. But he was still standing. Still fighting.
"You idiot," he growled, voice raw. "Why did you—"
The Devourer shrieked again. The sound rattled through its body, hurling us apart. My back slammed into the pulsing wall. My crowbar almost slipped from my grip.
[ Bond Synchronization Restored: 42%. ]
The static vanished. His presence blazed back, heartbeat pounding with mine, instincts aligning. The bond tethered us even in the choking dark.
We weren't alone anymore.
His blade carved silver fire through the flesh. I lunged to his side, crowbar raised. Together we struck—his steel slicing deep, my iron tearing tissue apart.
The Devourer roared, convulsing in agony. Bile surged around us. The walls writhed as though trying to vomit us out.
[ Aberration Stability: 71% → 59%. ]
"We can kill it from inside," I gasped.
"Then don't stop." His voice was a growl, a promise.
The bond pulled tighter, syncing us in rhythm. Blade and crowbar cut as one. Strike after strike. Flesh ripping. The System pulsed with damage alerts.
But the Devourer adapted. Flesh reformed. Spikes erupted from its walls. Tendrils lashed. One pierced my side, tearing skin. I screamed and smashed it apart with the crowbar.
[ Vitality: -12. ]
[ Condition: Laceration. Severe Bleeding. ]
Blood poured hot down my side, mixing with ichor. My vision blurred, but the bond steadied me. His presence anchored me like steel.
"We finish this," he said, steady even now. "Together."
The glow of his blade flared, silver light burning through the dark. I raised my crowbar, grip unshaken despite the pain.
For the first time, I didn't doubt.
Together we pushed deeper into the nightmare, toward its heart.
The System pulsed.
[ Objective Updated: Terminate Devourer Core. ]
[ Bond Integrity: 42% → 55%. ]
The world drowned in blood and light.