Lin Da'is sprinted across the fractured street, pulse hammering in his ears, breath burning in his throat. The city around him twisted in ways his mind refused to process. Buildings bent inward, becoming impossible angles. Lamp posts stretched into thin, snaking tendrils. Windows blinked like eyes tracking him.
The Core pulsed again.
Threat density increasing. Movement patterns erratic. Energy anomalies approaching.
Lin hissed, "Yeah, I noticed!"
A shadow peeled itself off the broken road ahead, rising like smoke with a human shape but no face. Its presence dragged the air colder, heavier.
Another shadow rose on his left. Then another. Then five more.
They formed a semi-circle around him.
Lin swallowed. "This… feels like a trap."
Correct.
He didn't get to react. The shadows lunged at once.
Lin jumped back, rolled, and slammed his fists into the ground. A shockwave tore across the street, ripping apart asphalt. The shadows flickered, regrouped, then lunged again.
They were faster.
Lin dodged, ducked, twisted, each movement guided by the Core's instant calculations. Every attack came from impossible directions — claws forming mid-air, limbs splitting into multiple angles, bodies twisting like vines.
"What ARE these things?!" Lin shouted.
Void bio-constructs. Low-level. Adaptive. Test units.
"Low level? You're joking."
Negative.
A claw scraped Lin's arm, tearing skin. Pain flared, sharp and electric. He staggered, gripping the wound. His blood glowed faintly blue for a split second before turning normal again.
The Core hummed.
Rapid healing initiated. Tissue integrity restored.
The skin knitted itself in seconds.
Lin glared at the closest shadow. "You picked the wrong guy tonight."
He charged.
The nearest construct lashed out, but Lin moved faster — his instincts sharpened, muscles synchronizing with the Core. He punched its chest. The creature rippled but didn't break.
It laughed — a distortion, like a corrupted audio file.
Lin clenched his fist harder. "You like that?"
He struck again. Harder. This time, the creature split cleanly in half and dissolved into smoke.
The others shrieked silently and rushed him.
Lin ducked under two, grabbed one by the neck, and slammed it into the ground hard enough to create a shallow crater. He leaped over another, kicking it mid-air, dispersing it into dust. But two shadows managed to slam into his back, sending him crashing into a crumbling wall.
He groaned. "That… hurts."
Pain tolerance threshold evaluated. Stamina declining 13%.
"Fantastic…"
One construct wrapped around his leg like a chain, pulling him down. Lin twisted, grabbed the creature's "head," and crushed it. It exploded silently.
Another grabbed him by the throat. Lin clawed at it, energy flaring. His hands glowed blue. He squeezed. The creature shattered like glass.
The remaining shadows backed away, flickering nervously.
Lin breathed heavily. "Not running? Good."
Incoming signal, the Core warned. Origin: Void Observer unit.
"What now?"
A ripple tore through the street.
Silence fell.
The air thickened like liquid.
Then it stepped forward.
A tall silhouette emerged from behind the ruined cars — thin, long-limbed, its head tilted slightly as if curious. This one was different. More solid. More defined. More horrifying.
Its body was made of shifting geometry — shapes folding inward, looping endlessly.
Lin instinctively took a defensive stance. "You're not like the others."
The figure raised its hand. Reality warped. Metal bent away from it, as if fleeing its presence.
Lin's breath caught. "You're… controlling space?"
The Core corrected him.
Incorrect. It is correcting space.
A chill stabbed his spine.
The Observer took a step forward. Cars bent. Walls slanted. Light dimmed.
Then a voice — not spoken, not heard, but felt:
"Milestars… Prototype."
Lin froze. "You can talk?"
"Designation recognized. Evolution incomplete."
Lin clenched his fists. "Why are you here? What does the Void want?"
"Observation. Measurement. Extraction."
He didn't like the sound of that.
"Extraction of what?"
The Observer didn't answer — its body distorted, expanding, twisting into a new shape. Limbs unfolded. Frames split. It became a spiraling mass of angles and void.
Lin stepped back. "Core… advice?"
Survive.
"Not helpful!"
The Observer struck first. A wave of compressed darkness shot forward, splitting the pavement. Lin jumped aside, barely avoiding being sliced in half by a cut in reality itself.
He rolled to his feet. "Fine! We're doing this!"
He sprinted toward it, Core-enhanced speed blurring his form. The Observer's limbs elongated, reaching for him like tendrils. Lin ducked, leaped, and tried to punch its center mass.
His fist hit nothing.
He fell through the creature — and straight into a swirling void of darkness.
The world vanished.
Cold. Infinite cold. Whispers. Endless whispers.
"Lin Da'is… incomplete…"
"Return…"
"Return to the design…"
The feeling of falling stretched infinitely.
Lin choked on his breath. His mind began to fracture, pulled in multiple directions. He saw flashes—himself in multiple states, multiple paths, multiple futures.
Dead. Alive. Consumed. Transformed. Unknown. Unhuman.
"I'm… not going there," he snarled.
Core override engaged, the Core said sharply.
A surge of energy exploded outward, stabilizing his form. Lin clenched his teeth, forced his mind together, and punched upward.
His fist hit something.
Light crackled.
He broke through the Void layer and burst out into reality again, crashing into the street with a roar. Dust exploded around him.
The Observer watched, unmoving.
Lin stood, gasping, eyes glowing with Milestars energy. "Round two."
The Observer didn't hesitate. It lunged with impossible speed.
Lin barely saw it.
A limb sliced a skyscraper behind him cleanly in half.
Lin rolled, the building collapsing like a dying beast. Dust choked the air. The ground shook.
"You. Are. Incomplete."
The Observer's voice resonated through the collapsing city block.
"Yeah?" Lin spat blood. "Then let me show you something incomplete can do."
He activated Level Four again. The Core synchronized to maximum capacity without crossing the destabilization threshold. Energy threads coiled along Lin's arms, crackling.
Time slowed again.
Lin dashed forward. His speed tore cracks into the ground.
The Observer struck — Lin weaved through its limbs, jumped, spun, and slammed a punch straight into its center.
The creature buckled. Space folded.
Lin hit again. And again. His fists blurred, delivering dozens of strikes per second. The Observer's form flickered violently.
But not enough.
The creature exploded outward, sending a shockwave that launched Lin across the street. He smashed through a lamp post and rolled to a stop, coughing blood.
Warning: internal damage detected. Stabilizing…
He forced himself up. "This thing… doesn't stop."
The Observer hunched, preparing another space-rending attack.
Lin's fingers curled tightly.
"I'm done playing defense."
The Core pulsed suddenly.
Emergency Override: Level Five available. Dangerous. Risk of synaptic collapse 42%.
Lin wiped blood from his mouth. "Activate it."
Confirm?
"Do it."
Silence.
Then:
Level Five initializing. Brace for destabilization.
Energy tore through Lin's body. His muscles spasmed. His vision blurred. His heartbeat became unstable. Something cracked inside his mind — not pain, but expansion.
His perception flooded.
The city lit up in a lattice of data — movements, angles, threats, trajectories. Everything was transparent. Predictable.
Lin exhaled.
Then he vanished.
He reappeared behind the Observer before the creature could react. He struck its back, tearing through the shifting geometry. The Observer buckled, its form distorting violently.
Lin moved again — faster, sharper, beyond human comprehension. Fifteen strikes landed in less than a second. Each punch destabilized the creature's shape.
The Observer shrieked — a warped, breaking sound.
Lin didn't stop.
He smashed the creature, sending it flying into a collapsing building. He followed, appearing above it mid-air, slamming both fists down into its chest. Void fragments scattered everywhere.
The Observer thrashed, limbs stretching wildly.
Lin roared and unleashed the final burst of Level Five energy — a concentrated shockwave that blasted through the Observer's core.
The creature folded in on itself.
Then imploded.
Silence swept the street.
Lin collapsed to one knee, chest burning, breath ragged.
Stabilization failing. You must rest.
"No…" Lin groaned. "Not yet."
He staggered up. His body shook violently.
A presence shifted behind him.
Lin spun, exhausted — expecting another monster.
But it wasn't a Void creature.
It was a human.
A woman stepped out of the dust — black tactical suit, short hair, mechanical eye that glowed red. She pointed a device at him.
Her voice was sharp.
"Lin Da'is. You are under containment order. Step away from the remains and surrender immediately."
Lin stared at her, barely conscious.
"You're… with the government?"
"More than that," the woman replied coldly. "We've been looking for you since the day you were born."
Lin's blood ran cold.
She snapped her fingers.
Shadows behind her shifted — but not Void shadows.
Soldiers with heavy exosuits stepped forward, aiming high-tech rifles at him.
Lin clenched his fists.
"Try it," he whispered.
The woman smirked. "Don't worry. We will."
Her mechanical eye scanned him.
And the device in her hand beeped once.
Then screamed.
Her expression changed instantly.
"…He's already awakening beyond the predicted limit."
Lin took a step back.
Soldiers tensed.
The woman drew a weapon glowing with unknown energy.
"Capture him," she ordered. "Alive if possible. Dead if necessary."
Lin's eyes widened.
Energy surged in his chest.
And the nightmare began again.