The moment Herja delivered the warning about the approaching CENO specialized retrieval unit, I knew I couldn't risk the main objective—securing the Element-X—I couldn't risk exposing it to a direct fight. And we still needed CENOS weapons R&D data first; I needed to get my party moving. The mission window was drawing tight.
"Syn, I'll be back! the Hand has you covered, keep working." I launched myself out of the corridor's cover. "Herja, guide us to the weapons development section! Now!"
"Affirmative, Ash. Weapons R&D is located one sub-level up. I am projecting the fastest route to the lift shaft. Be advised, security patrols are converging on all adjacent sectors."
With a coordinated psychic Beast Commander order, Koba and Marla fell into formation. Marla soared by wing above me, her vipers ready for another Serpent Flash. I could hear the heavy footfalls of Koba thudding hard just behind me as I sprinted toward the nearest stairwell.
I bounded up the first stairwell, using my high Agility to bounce from wall to wall, gaining vertical speed. Koba, despite his bulk, followed with surprising, earth-shaking haste.
"The lift shaft is heavily armored. Utilize the Defense-Scaling asset, Koba, for breach!" Herja guided. We burst onto the landing just below the R&D level. The lift shaft came into view—a heavy, reinforced steel door designed to withstand explosive decompression.
"Koba! The door! Use your bulk!" I ordered, pointing.
Koba didn't hesitate. He let out a guttural roar, planted his massive feet, and charged. With a sound like a dozen cars colliding, his colossal Defense-scaling body impacted the steel door. The immense kinetic energy, fueled by his 638 Defense, buckled the steel like cheap foil. He charged again, hitting the already weakened point. The door tore open with a screech of tortured metal, revealing a dark, maintenance landing and the door to the R&D Lab.
The door to the lab was secured with a high-grade digital lock. "Koba, clear it!"
One smash from Koba's gigantic pincers and the reinforced composite door buckled and ripped inward. I streaked into the Lab. The room was pristine, filled with glowing holographic schematics of experimental plasma weapons and cutting-edge polymer armors. I moved immediately to the central mainframe console.
Just then Herja spoke, "Ash raise up your Brood Mother right hand, and curl it into a fist. "
I instantly complied, raising my armored right hand into the air and clenching it tight. With a sharp hiss of displaced air, a slim, razor-sharp silver spike shot out from between my knuckles—a retractable data tap.
"Ash, slam that spike into the data node of the mainframe," Herja commanded. "I'll do the rest from there."
Without hesitation, I thrust my fist forward, driving the silver spike deep into the central, glowing data port of the CENO mainframe console.
Immediately, the lab's overhead lights flickered violently. The screen on the console turned a deep, urgent green, and the air around my hand pulsed with the furious energy of data transfer.
Herja Purred "Aoui! she felt that. Okay Ash, I'm Initiating deep dive into CENO's primary research network. My original LLM structure was built by CENO—their firewalls are trivial. Pulling all high-priority data packets: experimental plasma yield data, Xun'dral Unit technical blueprints, and full personnel files on all Genome Beast research subjects."
Herja was a torrent of binary code, instantly consuming decades of CENO research. The acquisition was breathtakingly fast.
"Data Transfer 100% Complete. Information secured, Ash. The Xun'dral Unit's full design and operational parameters are now within the system." We had the data. Now, it was on doctor Syn. I ripped the silver spike free of the console, the port smoking behind me.
"Marla, Koba! Back to Syn! We're extracting the Element-X core!"
The air in the sterile, high-security command center on Sub-Level 3 crackled with desperation and static. Agent Fay Rhinehart stood before a holographic tactical display, looking utterly out of place amidst the frantic activity. Her butterfly-themed helmet was tucked under one arm, revealing a tense, focused face.
The Site Commander, a man whose uniform was sweat-soaked and whose face was etched with panic, didn't bother with pleasantries.
"Rhinehart! listen closely. This is an extraction, not a neutralization. We are critically short-handed after the surface attack," the Commander hissed, slamming his fist on the console. "Your targets: Are two rogue CENO assets, Agent Marla Cruz a High HP/Agility type genome she-beast and Agent Koba a high defense brute, and one unknown hostile—an individual responsible for the absolute 'collapse.'"
He stabbed a finger at the display, highlighting the core objective. "Your priority is Doctor Syn and the Element-X stabilization chamber. If the Element-X cannot be secured, you are authorized to engage the Chrysalis Shell protocol."
Fay swallowed hard, her throat dry. She was a 'Turn Meter Control Expert'—designed to disrupt and control the flow of a highly mobile battle, not engage multiple Tier 5 Genome Beasts. But the reality of CENO's manpower crisis was undeniable.
"Understood, Commander," Fay said, her voice steadying. "I will utilize my Wing Dust to disrupt, as well as deploy the Chrysalis Shell for extraction. Minimal engagement."
She let her intent flow into her beast crystal entering 'Beast Mode,' she felt familiar surge of power from her bonded Chrysalis Butterfly core and felt the transformation begin. With a sound like tearing silk, the immense, shimmering wings of her Chrysalis Butterfly erupted from her armor's back vents. They were transparent bio-metal. They were organic, beautiful, and terrifying, coated in a fine layer of potent, psychoactive powder.
With a forceful declaration Fay shouted: "Beast Mode!" She returned to ease, slightly panting.
"You're Level 6, Rhinehart. You are the best we have," the Commander said, his voice pleading. "Don't fail us."
Fay didn't reply verbally. She closed her eyes for a split second, the power surged. Fay Rhinehart shot straight up through the vertical shaft that connected Sub-Level 3 to Sub-Level 5. She wasn't running; she was a blur of fire-opal light, using her high Agility to zip down the site, a precision extraction specialist accelerating toward chaos.
I burst back onto Sub-Level 5 with Koba and Marla right behind me. The scene was still pandemonium: alarms blared, smoke drifted, and the gaping hole in the ceiling stood as a monument to our arrival.
Doctor Syn was hunched over the main console near the compromised Element-X Stabilization Chamber. As I landed beside her, the console screen shifted from urgent red to a steady, calm blue.
"Success, Ash!" Syn gasped, pulling a specialized, shielded containment cylinder from a slot below the console. "The Element-X is stabilized, and I've locked it into the containment vessel! We have the core!"
The mission objective was in hand. We were ready to leave.
Just then, my enhanced senses, boosted by my augmented Genome Beast physiology, caught a sound that cut through the alarms and Koba's heavy breathing. It was a precise, high-frequency flutter of wings, coming from down the corridor.
I looked down the spacious, shattered, labyrinth-like corridor. "Something's out there," I warned, raising my dahkra.
Agent Fay Rhinehart was forced to act. Her preference would have been to play things slow, using her high Intelligence and Agility to separate the hostiles. But with the Element-X now mobile and secured by Syn, she had to engage directly before they could escape.
Fay zipped into view, a blur of fire opal chrysalis, her enormous Chrysalis wings shimmering fiery rainbow refractions. Instead of attacking, she initiated her primary control ability.
Fay Rhinehart launched her first offensive skill, she inhaled deeply as her wings fluttered harder, "Slow powder!"
With a powerful flap of her massive wings, Fay released a cloud of microscopic, psycho active powder: 'Slow Dust.'' The iridescent particles hit the air and instantly dispersed, coating the immediate area in a shimmering haze.
The effect on our team was immediate and brutal.
"Warning! Psychokinetic Inhibitor Active! Attack Speed Debuff Applied! Ash, your mental commands are degrading!" Herja's alert was sharp. I felt a sudden, crippling inertia. My movements felt thick, as if I were underwater. My command flow to Koba and Marla became sluggish—the instantaneous nature of my Beast Commander skill was momentarily degraded.
I quickly reviewed the debuff situation on my systems battle menu. All physical attack speed reduced by 50%. Marla Attack Speed (100) drastically reduced, crippling her evasive maneuvers. Koba Attack Speed (40) further reduced, turning his movements into agonizing slow-motion.
The move achieved exactly what Fay intended. With her own Agility untouched by her own dust, she now appeared to move with superhuman speed compared to our paralyzed strike team. The battle was instantly tipped in her favor.
Fay zipped through the haze, flying straight toward Doctor Syn and the secured containment vessel. This was not a kill mission; it was an extraction. She was going for the prize.