The air in the Training Sub level was a sharp contrast to the sterile, quiet halls of the medical wing. It smelled of scorched ozone, ionized metal, and the salt of old sweat the familiar scent of a fighter's gym, but amplified by the hum of massive, high voltage capacitors. This was the "Pit" of the Green Zone, but instead of blood stained sand and rusted cages, the floors were made of reactive polymers that could simulate any terrain from a jagged mountain peak to a rain slicked city street.
Malachai led Nyx into the center of a massive, circular arena. The walls were lined with heavy duty stabilizers, and at the far end, Geoffrey was frantically typing into a floating console. A dozen holographic status bars flickered in the air around him, casting a pale blue glow over his uncharacteristically grim face.
"The Council's recovery team is currently at the front gate, losing their minds," Geoffrey said, his fingers dancing across the keys. "I've looped the elevator's security feed, but we have maybe twenty minutes before someone realizes the 'loop' is too perfect. If we're doing this, Mal, we do it now. This is a one way ticket to a court-martial."
Nyx stood in the center of the ring, her bare feet gripping the cool, textured polymer. Her right shoulder throbbed with every heartbeat, a dull reminder of the injury that wouldn't heal. She looked at the strange, metallic pillars surrounding them, their surfaces etched with glowing runes of energy.
"What is this place?" she asked, her voice echoing in the vast, hollow space.
"The Gravity Chamber," Malachai replied. He began to unbutton the silver cuffs of his black dress shirt, folding them back with a slow, deliberate focus that made Nyx's pulse quicken. "Most Espers come here to push their limits to see if they can still breathe when I turn the atmosphere into lead. But for you, Nyx, the lesson is the opposite. You've spent your life shutting things out. Now, you're going to learn what happens when you let them in."
"I told you, I don't have powers," Nyx reminded him, her eyes narrowing into grey slits. "You saw me in the ring. I punch, I kick, and I survive. I don't belong in a room full of magic and light."
"That is a lie you've told yourself to stay small, to stay safe in the shadows of the Grey Zone," Malachai said, stepping into the ring with her. He stood so close she could feel the heat radiating from him. "You think you're a Zero because you can't throw fire or read minds. But what happened in the Research Wing? You didn't just 'touch' that door. You drained it of its purpose."
He looked at Geoffrey. "Level One. Increase the localized density. Isolate it to the inner ring."
Suddenly, the air in the room didn't just get heavy, it became a physical weight, a mountain of pressure pressing down on Nyx's lungs. It was the same suffocating feeling she'd had when Malachai first walked into her apartment, but concentrated, weaponized. Her knees buckled for a second, the bone deep ache in her busted shoulder screaming as the pressure shifted.
"Fight it," Malachai commanded, his own silver aura beginning to flare, making the air around him shimmer like a heat mirage. "In the Pit, you fought humans who followed the laws of physics. Out here, you're going to fight the very fabric of reality. If you can't learn to control the 'Void' inside you, the Council will turn you into a battery... or a corpse."
Nyx gasped for air, her heart hammering like a trapped bird against her ribs. She felt the "Null" inside her starting to stir not as a choice, but as a primal survival instinct. It felt like a cold, dark tide rising from the pit of her stomach, rushing toward her skin, seeking something to consume.
"I can't... breathe," she choked out, the world beginning to grey at the edges.
"Yes, you can," Malachai whispered, appearing in front of her with impossible speed. He reached out, his hand hovering inches from her face. He didn't touch her, but he allowed his S rank pressure to pour out of his palm like a waterfall of liquid lead. "Don't just endure the weight, Nyx. Eat it."
The sensory overload triggered a fragment of a memory a flash of a black sky and a sword of glass. The pain in her shoulder, the crushing gravity, and the silver eyed man standing over her acted like a key in a lock. Her grey eyes didn't just flash, the pupils expanded until her eyes were two infinite pits of smoke.
With a roar of pure defiance, Nyx reached out and grabbed Malachai's wrist with her good hand.
The effect was instantaneous and terrifying. A shockwave of absolute silence rippled through the chamber, as if the universe had held its breath. The heavy, pressurized air snapped back to normal so fast it created a vacuum. The blue lights on the gravity pillars turned a violent, warning red before shattering into a rain of sparks.
Malachai didn't move. He stood there, his wrist in her iron grip, feeling his S rank energy the very source of his god-like power being siphoned out of him like water down a storm drain. It should have been the most frightening moment of his life. Instead, a look of pure, dark fascination crossed his face.
"There it is," he whispered, his voice thick with an emotion he couldn't name. "The girl who can kill a god."
Nyx let go, stumbling back as the stolen energy surged through her veins like liquid fire. For a fleeting moment, her shoulder didn't hurt. For a moment, she felt a strength that made her time in the Pit look like child's play. But as the energy settled, the exhaustion returned twice as hard, her body unable to sustain the high rank fuel.
"You're a monster," she panted, clutching her arm, her eyes returning to their normal grey.
"In this world, Nyx, you either become the monster or you're eaten by one," Malachai said, calmly adjusting his sleeve as if he hadn't just had his soul nibbled on. "Geoffrey, how much time?"
"Three minutes!" Geoffrey shouted, his eyes wide as he looked at the shattered gravity pillars and then back at the girl.
"And Mal... the High Auditor's vehicle just breached the inner courtyard. We're out of time for 'practice.' If we're caught here, we're all dead."
Malachai looked at Nyx. She was shivering, her makeshift bandage soaked through with fresh blood, but she was standing. She was still fighting. The intrigue he felt wasn't just about her power anymore, it was about her spirit.
"Take her and the boy to the secondary safe house," Malachai ordered, turning to Geoffrey.
"The one in the Whispering Woods. It's off the grid and shielded against precog scans. If the Auditor asks, the assets escaped during the 'containment breach' and I'm currently 'pursuing' them."
"And what about you?" Nyx asked, her voice steadying despite her exhaustion.
"Why are you helping us? You're a Captain. You're one of them."
Malachai looked at her, and for the first time, the slither of emotion was evident in the way his gaze lingered on her lips. It was a flicker of something much more dangerous than duty.
"Because the world is too loud, Nyx. And I've decided I like the quiet you bring me. Now go, before I change my mind."
As Geoffrey led a stumbling Nyx toward the hidden transport, Malachai stood alone in the center of the broken arena. He looked at his wrist, where the faint, cold tingle of her touch still remained. The silence was gone, replaced by the roar of the approaching Council, but he knew one thing: he would do anything to hear that silence again.