Caius' POV
The moment I planted the bomb on the control room door, I went back the way I came to the emergency exit and jumped into the vertical shaft, my hands gripping the bars sticking out of the wall.
While I was going down, a strong explosion boomed behind me. I didn't care whether everyone inside lived or died... what mattered was that the room had been destroyed and they wouldn't be able to follow what's going to happen.
I moved at top speed toward the lowest level there was, specifically the floor that holds the reactor.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity in this dark shaft, with the sound of my shoe hitting the metal steps echoing, I reached the end.
I stood in front of a round armored door, weighing tons of special steel, behind it was the reactor's core.
I grabbed the huge wheel and turned it, with a sharp metallic scream, the door opened, I pushed it and its hinges ground against each other before I went in.
The moment my foot crossed the threshold, a strange feeling swept over me, like the essence in the air was losing control, and reacting in invisible storms around the reactor's core.
Right in front of me, in the middle of a room coated with silver alloys on every centimeter, was the reactor core.
It looked like a huge metal ball, hanging between two pillars, one coming down from the ceiling, and the other rising from the floor.
Inside it, the density of the essence was overwhelming enough to make my head spin.
Ignoring the feeling of nausea, I walked toward it, and pulled out the last bomb I had left... it was a day full of explosions.
I calculated the time needed to reach the gate and deal with any obstacles on the way, then set the timer to forty minutes.
I attached it right onto the surface of the core, and took a deep breath... now either I escape, or I evaporate with this place.
And of course I want the first.
With one last look at the massive reactor core, I pressed the activation button and turned around again, running at my top speed.
...
Near the teleportation gate, Mike and 02 stood waiting for Caius, while the others gathered along the corridors leading here.
02 leaned against the cold wall at the end of the corridor, her sword resting at her side, and her thoughts wandering far from this place.
'What is he doing? Does he really intend to escape?' These thoughts made her feel a heaviness in her gray eyes, so she closed them, warmth spreading over her lashes as she sank into her memories.
Memories going back several years after 01 gave her food that one time.
They were taken out of that room, but that doesn't mean their lives got better or the pain eased.
Every day became a hell, they went through harsh experiments and procedures that changed the very structure of their bodies.
They were forced to fight to the death against each other, anyone who refused to kill the loser was tortured for a whole week.
One day, her turn came to fight against 01... she fought with everything she had, she didn't hold anything back.
In the end, she lost miserably. Even now, the cold feeling of 01's sword on her neck stayed alive in her mind.
Still, that time, he refused to kill her. What followed was disappearing for a whole week... and it wasn't the first time or the last.
He wasn't like the others. He didn't kill most of his opponents. Out of ten fights, he'd only kill two... then endure the torture quietly.
Nobody could understand his strange behavior.
One day, after another fight... this time against a monster and not a human, 02 sat beside him.
Sitting close to each other, their shoulders pressed together, and their backs against the cold wall. She asked.
"Why are you like this?"
01 raised his eyebrow. "What do you mean by 'like this'?"
She smiled lightly, like the blood and the corpses lying meters away didn't exist. "You're kind, 01."
She didn't get any answer. As usual, he ignored her.
Especially since they weren't allowed to talk or form relationships... not that they could really do that.
...
02 opened her eyes heavily, looking toward the place where the others had gathered.
'Most of them lived because of him... but now they'll die by his hand.'
A moment later, the sound of metal clashing with metal echoed, a sign that the battle had started somewhere.
...
30 minutes until the explosion.
I was tracking the time in my head as I made my way toward the gate, ten minutes after planting the bomb, I'd already reached the floor it's on... there were only a few corridors left between me and my target.
And with the monitoring room destroyed, they wouldn't know I'd planted a bomb in the reactor's core, which guarantees the explosion won't fail.
While running through these quiet corridors, many familiar presences entered the range of my sense, I recognized every one of them.
To me, every soul was distinct from the other, like symbols I could read instinctively without even trying.
These souls belonged to people I'd spent years with here.
In the past, I didn't spare them out of pity or good will... I didn't care about that, the pain didn't mean anything to me anymore; I'd gotten used to it a long time ago... so what does it matter whether I get tortured or not.
I pulled my swords out of the ring and gripped them tightly... I was just delaying their deaths with that.
I turned at the corner, that's when I saw them... eleven people, roughly my age.
I slowed down my running and started walking toward them with steady steps that echoed off the walls, when they noticed me, they pulled out their weapons without delay and the clatter of metal spread through the corridor.
I smiled as I tilted my head a little. "Won't you step aside? I'll consider this all your debts paid."
A tall young man with a big build stepped forward, holding a spear, he was taller than me by at least two heads. "You know this isn't an option, 01." His voice didn't carry any emotion... no anger, no desire... nothing.
Most of them had lost that a long time ago, turned into killing tools that carry out every order.
"You want to die?" I said calmly. "Then come to me."
They hesitated... they stayed in their places. But I didn't have time to wait. "If you won't come to me... then I'll come to you."
The essence flowed through my body, flooding every corner while I sharpened my senses to their furthest limits, then I stepped forward.
The next moment, I was right in front of the spear holder. He didn't freeze, he twisted his body and thrust his spear at me fast.
I put my blade in the path of the strike and tilted it a little. Metal rang out as the spear was deflected, which threw off his balance for a moment.
They didn't give me any time. Two others rushed in from both sides, hemming in every move I made.
I moved away from one of their swords as it passed in front of me, blocked the other with my second sword, then twisted my body and kicked his ribs. I heard bones shatter before he flew several meters away.
I went back to the person whose sword I'd dodged, he was already cutting at me again. This time, I didn't dodge.
My left hand moved, pushing his weapon aside for a fraction of a second, more than enough for my other blade to pass through his neck. I felt the skin open before his head touched the ground.
It only took a moment.
Then the spear holder and two others came at me again. My advantage was that no more than three could attack me at the same time... I moved between them, my swords blocking their strikes and redirecting them.
The spear pierced my thigh, and the blood spilled freely, but in exchange the spear holder's head rolled across the ground.
Through my senses, I felt something tearing the essence-filled air, rushing at me at a terrifying speed... like an arrow.
I turned and kicked the person right in front of me. The arrow pierced his back. It didn't kill him, but my sword did the next moment... another body dropped.
I felt an attack coming from behind. I tried to get myself away, but I failed. A knife tore my side, and opened another wound. But it didn't slow me down.
The fight went on and every time one of them fell, another took his place... until they stopped coming and silence fell over the area.
The only sound left was my heavy breathing.
I stood there, drenched in blood from my head to the soles of my feet, some of it mine, and most of it theirs.
I looked at the corpses of those I'd spent years with. Torn limbs and heads lying on the ground, pools of blood reflecting the lights from the ceiling, and walls painted crimson... I didn't feel anything. Not even a trace of pity.
A moment later, I ignored the horrific scene and moved on to another matter.
15 minutes left.
Finally, I reached my destination, at the end of the corridor, a vast room of white tiles stretched out with dim lighting.
There was a huge metal frame shaped like a narrow arch standing in the middle. At its center a wall of distorted light shone... the teleportation gate, my way out of this place.
But there were two people standing between me and freedom.
One of them was a man giving off an oppressive pressure, and the other was a girl leaning against the wall with her long black hair hiding her features from this angle... I recognized her. It was 02.
The man stepped forward, passing her. "01, it ends here. Come, 02."
He signaled for her to get ready to fight, and she obeyed and raised her sword.
I started circulating the essence in my body, getting ready for another battle, when something strange caught my attention, when her hair fell down her back revealing her face.
She was smiling.
A smile I can't describe. It looked sad and happy at the same time... like someone who'd finally found her comfort.
02 came closer from behind the guard, in a single moment, before the chip in her head could respond.
She raised her sword, the steel blade pierced the guard's back in a moment and burst out of his chest, the blood poured from his mouth in an involuntary cough. "How...?"
Those were his last words before his torn heart stopped working, and his body collapsed on the ground lifeless, a pool of blood forming near 02's feet.
02 stayed standing, looking at me with the same smile, her eyes shining with a faint light, her face pale while the blood dripped from her nose... proof that the chip in her head had done its job.
I opened my mouth, in a moment I was in front of her gritting my teeth, I raised my hand and grabbed the collar of her armor.
"Why did you do that? Why didn't you fight me, you stupid idiot?" I screamed, I didn't know I could scream with all this resentment.
Our eyes met. She tilted her head a little, and her smile deepened into something that can't be explained.
"Because I wanted to."