The air was blood.
Thick, metallic, suffocating. It coated my tongue, burned my lungs, and clung to my skin in a sticky film. The walls around us pulsed and writhed like veins alive with their own heartbeat, squeezing closer with every second.
We had crawled deep into the Devourer, past teeth, past bile, past the choking dark, and still the silver glow of Lysander's blade was the only light cutting through.
He pressed forward without hesitation, blade slashing open walls that closed behind us seconds later. His breath came ragged but steady, his shoulders unshaken even as the thing's innards tried to crush us into paste.
The bond tethered us like a lifeline.
Every surge of his heartbeat pumped into my veins. Every slash of his blade pulled me forward, crowbar striking in rhythm. The static was gone now, replaced by a dangerous clarity that made the edges of the world burn sharp.
[ Bond Integrity: 55% → 61% ]
[ Shared State: Stable ]
The deeper we went, the louder the sound became—not just the creature's roar of pain, but something else. A pulsing, rhythmic thrum, like a war drum pounding beneath the flesh.
The heart.
And it was waiting for us.
"We're close," Lysander said, voice low, the words vibrating through the bond as much as through sound.
"Close enough to die," I muttered, jamming the crowbar into another wall of muscle. It split wetly, ichor spraying in hot waves.
[ Aberration Stability: 59% → 52% ]
The whole body convulsed, walls slamming together, nearly pinning us. I shoved my shoulder into Lysander's back, driving us both forward through the gap before it could seal shut.
The space beyond widened into a grotesque chamber. Flesh walls slick and alive pulsed in time with the heavy drumbeat.
At its center, suspended in a cocoon of throbbing tissue, was the core.
It wasn't a heart as I'd imagined. Not human. Not animal. A crystalline mass of pulsing black-red, veined with silver threads like scars barely containing it. The sound was deafening now, vibrating through bone, making my teeth ache.
The Devourer had a soul. And it was ugly.
"Hit it," I breathed.
Lysander didn't hesitate. His blade blazed brighter, silver light cutting through the tendrils shielding the core. They shrieked as they were severed, the chamber spasming in violent rejection.
I lunged forward, crowbar raised, and slammed it against the crystal. The impact rang through my bones, sparks flying where metal met unnatural stone. A faint crack spread across the surface—but not enough.
[ Core Integrity: 97% ]
The walls screamed. Flesh split open above us, disgorging spiked tendrils that lashed like whips. One slammed into my arm, ripping skin open to the bone. I cried out, blood spraying, but forced the crowbar up again, smashing down harder.
[ Vitality: -19. Severe Trauma ]
[ Bleeding: Critical ]
My vision blurred. My grip faltered.
Then his hand steadied mine.
Through the bond, his will surged into me like a flood breaking through. His fury, his refusal to yield, the fire that burned too bright to extinguish—it bled into my veins.
I lifted the crowbar again.
Together, we struck.
His blade slashed, mine smashed. Sparks and ichor flew as the core began to splinter. The walls buckled, bile poured down, the entire body of the Devourer shaking apart.
[ Core Integrity: 97% → 84% → 72% ]
[ Aberration Stability: 52% → 38% ]
The thing roared—not with sound, but inside our skulls. A psychic scream rattled my thoughts loose, tearing at my mind. I staggered, clutching my head, blood spilling from my nose.
[ Mind Integrity: 61% → 43% ]
"Stay with me," Lysander barked, grabbing me before I collapsed. His voice cut through the static, grounding me. "Don't let it in. You're mine, not its."
The bond flared, burning the infection out like fire through dry grass. His heartbeat thundered into me, drowning out the psychic shriek. My hand steadied again, crowbar rising.
We hit the core again.
Cracks spread wider, glowing red fractures spidering across the surface. The chamber went berserk—walls slamming together, bile flooding in waves, spines erupting from every angle. One tore through my leg, pinning me to the wall. Pain screamed through every nerve, blood cascading down.
[ Vitality: -34. Critical State ]
[ Mobility Severely Compromised ]
I tried to pull free, but the spike dug deeper. My vision tunneled, breaths short and ragged.
"Go," I gasped, shoving him weakly. "Finish it—"
His eyes blazed. "Shut up."
The bond roared. His hand crushed mine, bones grinding together.
[ Shared State Overdrive Triggered ]
[ Emergency Fusion Level 1 Initiated ]
For a heartbeat, it felt like drowning in fire. His thoughts crashed into mine—his fury, his fear, his refusal to let me go. My body was his, his strength was mine. The line between us shattered.
I ripped the spike from my leg, screaming. But it wasn't just me. He screamed too, his voice echoing in my chest. The pain was shared, but so was the strength.
Together, we surged forward.
His blade and my crowbar struck in unison, silver and iron slamming into black crystal. The chamber erupted in light and gore as the core shattered, fragments flying like shrapnel. The sound was deafening, like the world cracking apart.
[ Core Integrity: 0% ]
[ Aberration Terminated ]
The Devourer shrieked its death cry, walls convulsing violently, collapsing inward. Flesh tore apart, bile flooding the chamber as the entire body tried to consume us in its final act.
"Move!" Lysander roared.
We ran—or half-dragged each other—through collapsing tunnels, bile rising to our waists, ceilings caving in. Every step was agony, my blood trailing in rivers, leg screaming with fire, but the bond drove me onward. His will became mine.
[ Vitality: 9%. Warning: Critical Failure Imminent ]
The last wall split ahead, light spilling through. Not sunlight—station lights. Real, clean air.
We dove.
The world exploded behind us, the Devourer collapsing in on itself, its grotesque body disintegrating into black sludge that reeked of iron and ash. The ground shook, then stilled.
Silence.
I lay gasping on cold stone, lungs burning for air that wasn't poisoned. Bile and blood soaked into my skin. Beside me, Lysander knelt with his blade planted in the ground, chest heaving. His face was pale beneath streaks of blood and ichor, but his eyes still burned.
[ Aberration Eliminated ]
[ Bond Synchronization: 68% ]
[ Level Up: +2 ]
[ New Trait Acquired: Emergency Fusion I ]
The System's voice was distant, faint. My body was beyond exhaustion, nerves burned to ash, bones screaming in protest.
But when I turned my head, his hand was still gripping mine. Even trembling, even covered in blood, he hadn't let go.
I tried to smile through the pain. "Told you I'd come for you."
His mouth twitched, half-smirk, half-grimace. "Idiot."
The bond pulsed once more. Steady. Alive.
The Devourer was dead.
But the war was only beginning.