Chapter 21: Man in the tunnel
The service tunnel entrance was gone, sealed by a surging wave of dark, petrified material. Standing before it was the Aetherium agent in polished black armor, perfectly still and utterly lethal.
"You cannot escape this fort, little kids," the agent said, his voice calm and utterly devoid of emotion. "You're Captain must have sent you here to die."
We were trapped between a growing wall of corrupt energy and the Authority patrols rapidly descending the tower.
"We don't have time for this," Jorah growled, his mechanized arm rising. "Lyna, find a seam in that wall. Kenji, keep him busy."
"He's too solid," Kenji protested, his breathing shallow from the earlier exertion. "My energy won't break that stuff."
The Aetherium agent took a slow, deliberate step forward. The air pressure around us dropped sharply, a familiar sign of high-level spiritual suppression.
"I'll buy the time," I bit out, pushing past Kenji. I felt the familiar, dangerous surge in this dark energy. It felt so destructive, like it was designed to kill. "Lyna, when the wall is cracked, get Kenji and Reiyo out. Don't wait." Jorah command us as he ran and went to go figh the agent, but not even a minute later you could see at the ground directly beneath his feet There he was Jorah lifeless body. It was a wild, and i was filled with rage and I tried and tried to cut the mans head off, and he just dodged every single swing. I still tried to disintegrate the stability of the foundation beneath the agent's heavy armor. But then Jorah body started to glow and suddenly the ground exploded. And I watch as me and the agent stared deep into each other's eye. The concrete floor instantly became a churning vortex of dust and vapor, giving way to the blackness of the service tunnels below.
The Aetherium agent didn't fall. He simply hovered for a moment, a look of mild disgust and emotionless on his face, before dropping smoothly into the dark hole he had created.
"Now!" I screamed, turning the wall.
"Too slow!" Kenji yelled, already there.
He slammed his arm into the newly petrified barrier. It cracked and it shuddered. The kinetic force of his strike, combined with the residual flowing energy he had just unleashed, found the material's structural weakness. A fissure opened in the center, not wide enough to walk through, but enough to slip through.
"Hurry up and go!" Rana ordered. Shee grabbed Kenji and threw him through the gap.
Lyna scrambled through instantly, pulling Kenji to safety on the other side. We paused, grabbing the heavy thermal pack containing the drone core. And I suddenly what Jorah said before his death "Let the great God Anima bless me Kid," That's what Jorah had said to me, right before he exploded his body. "Captain We have retrieve the asset,Rana reported."
Rana then shoved the thermal pack into my hands and then, with a final burst of adrenaline, We threw ourselves through the crack. As I tumbled onto the other side, I heard a terrible, ripping sound and a primal, metallic scream like someone flesh was being ripped off. The tunnel behind us was immediately sealed again,by a collapsing cascade of concrete and rubble we had to run fast.
"No!" Kenji yelled, stumbling back toward the rubble, his face white with fresh horror. "Jorah!"
"He bought us the time!" Lyna hissed, grabbing Kenji's arm with startling strength. "We need to get a move! The Authority will be here in 3 minutes and sixty seconds."
We sprinted through the service tunnel, the heavy thermal pack secured in my hands. The cost of our success was clear: we had the drones core, but we had lost the mission leader. I looked at Kenji's pale, traumatized face, but I knew that the price of a mission was always going to be like that. But will it ever be me.