Ethan's breathing went ragged in an instant.
It felt like something invisible had clamped down on his chest—every inhale burned, every exhale scraped like fire.
He forced himself to stay conscious, yanked open his system interface, and initiated a full scan on Kraken. He didn't need much—just a crack, a sliver of exploitable data.
But—
The interface flickered erratically. The analysis panel remained blank.
[Target cannot be parsed.]
[Data structure exceeds current access level.]
[Warning: Unknown energy interference detected.]
Just three lines.
But they hit Ethan like a death sentence.
For the first time, the system couldn't even provide basic data.
He froze for half a second—and that was all it took.
The air collapsed around him.
Kraken's tentacle lashed down.
