I stumbled back from the mirror, my back slamming against the cold tile wall with a thud that reverberated through the tiny bathroom like a gunshot in the dead of night. The crimson glow in my eyes had vanished as quickly as it appeared, but the afterimage lingered, searing itself into my brain, a predatory flash that wasn't mine. "What the hell was that?" I whispered, my voice cracking, barely rising above the frantic pounding of my heart. It felt like my chest was caged in ice, each beat sending shards of cold through my veins.
Phobos's voice pierced the fog in my mind, sharp and laced with urgency. "Rei, that's not just a reflection, it's a warning. The symbiosis from Scorpio's card... it's integrating deeper than we thought. His essence is rewriting parts of you, twisting your core. We need to purge it now, before it takes root and turns you into something unrecognizable!"
Deimos's response was a low, rumbling laugh that vibrated through my skull like distant thunder. "Purge? Why squander it, sister? Feel that strength surging through him, it's like liquid fire mixed with shadows. Embrace it, kid! Imagine the havoc we could wreak, tearing through the next Rider like they're made of paper. This is power, raw and unfiltered!"
I clutched the edge of the sink, my knuckles turning white as I stared down at my trembling hands. They didn't feel like mine anymore. A subtle buzz hummed beneath my skin, a cocktail of electricity and poison coiling, waiting to strike. The scorpion data card was still in my pocket, its surface now cool to the touch, but I could sense its insidious pull, like a magnet drawing me toward darkness. Jay's words from the clock tower echoed in my head: "The power I offer is real. It'll give you regeneration, venom resistance, tools to fight the real enemy." Was this what he meant? A gift that slowly devoured its recipient from the inside out?
The boarding house suddenly felt suffocating, its walls pressing in like the jaws of a trap. I couldn't stay here, trapped with my thoughts and the warring voices in my head. Grabbing my jacket, ignoring the deep ache radiating through my muscles, I slipped out into the night. The city streets were desolate under the misty veil, streetlights casting hazy orbs that blurred at the edges of my vision. My bike leaned against the wall where I'd abandoned it earlier, but the thought of pedaling made my stomach churn; my senses were heightened to an unbearable degree, every shadow whispering phantom threats, every distant car horn slicing through my skull like a blade. I walked instead, my footsteps echoing unnaturally loud on the cracked pavement. At first, my path was aimless, driven by the need to move, to outrun the chill spreading through my body. But gradually, my feet guided me toward the old warehouse district, the site of my brutal clash with Scorpio, where this nightmare had truly begun.
"Why there, Rei?" Phobos pressed, her tone thick with suspicion. "You're not seriously considering contacting Jay, are you? This could be his endgame all along, to lure you in, turn you into one of his twisted experiments. Remember the tar abominations, the fused essences? That's what awaits if you let this corruption spread."
Deimos snorted dismissively. "Or it's our golden opportunity to demand answers. He owes us after that Aries ambush, we turned the tide with his little 'toy.' Let's see what else he's hiding in that mad scientist toolkit of his. More power, more edges, we need it all if we're going to dismantle the gods."
The warehouse loomed ahead like a skeletal giant, its shattered windows gaping like empty eye sockets, daring me to enter. The door hung ajar, creaking softly in the breeze, and a faint red glow pulsed from within, casting erratic shadows on the ground. Had Jay left something behind intentionally? Or was this another layer of his trap? I pushed inside, the air heavy with the acrid scent of charred metal, lingering chemicals, and something metallic, blood? In the center of the vast space, where the grotesque tar abominations had once writhed in agony, a holographic orb hovered mid-air. It was identical to the one Jay had toyed with in the clock tower, zodiac symbols swirling lazily inside its translucent shell: Aries charging forward, Taurus standing defiant, Gemini splitting into mirrored twins.
As I approached, the orb activated with a soft hum, projecting Jay's holographic form into the dim light. His image flickered slightly, distorted at the edges, but his voice came through clear and steady. "Rei," he said, as if he'd been expecting me. "If you're seeing this, it means you've used the card. Good, that means you're still alive. But the merge... it's not for the faint of heart. The pain, the visions, the whisper, it'll test every fiber of your being. Pass that trial, and you'll emerge stronger, unbreakable. Fail, and it'll consume you from within. When you're ready, come find me. We end this tournament together, unite the zodiac, shatter the gods' control."
The hologram faded, the orb powering down with a final click, plunging the warehouse back into silence. Whisper? What whispers? As if summoned by the word, a new voice slithered into my mind, not Phobos's maternal caution or Deimos's bloodthirsty glee, but something alien, insidious, like venom dripping slowly into an open wound. "Join us... unite the symbols... shatter the cycle..." My vision blurred, the edges tinting crimson. Flashes assaulted me: Lara engulfed in flames, her scream echoing eternally; Andi impaled on glass, her eyes glazing over as life slipped away; the gods lounging on thrones woven from stars, laughing at our mortal struggles. Rage bubbled up, hot and familiar, but twisted now with a darker hunger, a craving to fuse, to dominate, to erase everything in my path.
"No!" I growled through gritted teeth, slamming my fist into the nearest wall. The concrete cracked under the impact, spiderwebbing outward as green energy flickered along my arm, veined with ominous red. The split skin on my knuckles knit itself back together almost instantly, regeneration at work. It was exhilarating, terrifying. But at what cost? The whisper grew louder, urging me to embrace it, to let the symbiosis complete its work.
Before I could wrestle the voice into submission, the air around me thickened, swirling with greenish mist. Ophiuchus, Ophy, materialized in a haze of ethereal light, his serpentine eyes narrowing as he took in my disheveled state. "Rei," he hissed, his voice a blend of concern and accusation. "What have you done? I can smell the corruption clinging to you like rot on a corpse. Scorpio's stench permeates your essence, it's poisoning the forbidden power I granted you."
I straightened as best I could, the pendants at my neck warming faintly, Phobos and Deimos falling uncharacteristically silent, as if deferring to their master. "Ophy, I... Aries ambushed me in the underpass. His lightning was overwhelming, I was seconds from being fried alive. The card... Jay's upgrade... it was the only thing that saved me. I had no choice."
Ophy circled me slowly, his form flickering like a glitchy hologram, his gaze dissecting me layer by layer. "Saved? Or enslaved? That fool Jay Harlan plays with forces he barely comprehends, fusing essences, defying the zodiac's sacred boundaries. The gods have sensed this abomination; the tournament is stirring, quests accelerating to purge the anomaly. Look at your device."
My phone buzzed in my pocket, the Infinity OS app igniting with an urgent glow. I pulled it out, the screen displaying a new notification: "Eclipse Convergence – Confront the United One. Location: Abandoned Observatory, City Outskirts. Reward: Star Fragment x2. Penalty: Immediate Erasure." The coordinates pulsed ominously, pointing to a forgotten hilltop structure on the edge of town.
Ophy's expression darkened, his eyes gleaming like polished emeralds. "This quest isn't a coincidence. Jay's 'Eclipse Project', his mad bid to merge the zodiac symbols, has drawn their ire. The gods fear what a united force could achieve. You must go, Rei, but heed this: the whisper will intensify there, feeding on the convergence of powers. Resist it, or you'll lose yourself to the venom. Remember why you fight, not for power, but to end the senseless erasure, to honor Andi and all the forgotten."
I nodded, but doubt gnawed at me as Ophy dissolved back into mist. The whisper returned immediately, stronger, more insistent: "Unite... kill the divine... claim the throne..." Phobos broke her silence with a plea: "Rei, don't let it control you, this power is a double-edged blade." Deimos, ever the instigator, countered: "Control it first! Master the venom, and we'll be unstoppable."
The journey to the observatory was a blur of mist-shrouded streets and internal turmoil. I reclaimed my bike, pedaling furiously uphill, the cold in my veins warring with the burning urge to transform. The structure rose before me under a blood-red moon, its domed roof cracked and overgrown with vines, like a forgotten temple to the stars. Shadows twisted unnaturally around its base, coiling like scorpion tails. As I approached, the air hummed with energy, and a figure emerged from the gloom.