The basement was colder than when he had left it. The boy—whose name, though long forgotten by the world, was recorded in the Protocol as Kael—slumped against the concrete wall. His breath came in ragged plumes of white mist. The adrenaline that had sustained him through the fight with the Shadow-Stalker was leaching out of his system, leaving behind a bone-deep exhaustion and a throbbing fire in his right shoulder.
He gritted his teeth, grabbed his right wrist with his left hand, and with a sudden, violent shove, slammed his shoulder back into its socket. The scream stayed trapped behind his clenched teeth, coming out as a sharp hiss.
"Status..." he gasped, his voice cracking.
Immediately, the haptic interface projected a holographic display that hovered just inches from his eyes. The blue light reflected off his sweating forehead.
[SOVEREIGN STAR PROTOCOL: SYSTEM AWAKENING 2%] [ZODIAC ALIGNMENT: ARIES (THE RAM) — ACTIVE] [SYNCHRONIZATION RATE: 12.5%] [CURRENT ABILITY: PRIMORDIAL FORCE-BASH]
Kael stared at the "Aries" icon. It was a stylized ram's head, glowing with a fierce, aggressive red light. Unlike the generic Runic systems sold in the markets of Z Town, which relied on external mana pools, the Protocol seemed to be pulling energy from a source much deeper—perhaps from the Fracture itself, or from the celestial alignment the "Before Times" scientists had obsessed over.
"Aries," Kael whispered, testing the word. "The first of the twelve. The pioneer."
He looked at his forearms. The Runic engravings had changed. They were no longer simple 'Flow' lines. A secondary layer of crimson geometric patterns had emerged, weaving through the green ink like veins of lava. This was the Aries Interface.
According to the internal logs of the Protocol, the Aries alignment wasn't just a boost to defense; it was the embodiment of the "First Strike." It rewarded the user for being the first to engage in combat, converting momentum into physical destruction.
[PROTOCOL LOG: ARIES TRAITS UPDATED]
Trait 1: Unyielding Charge. Movement speed increases by 15% when moving toward a hostile target.
Trait 2: The Ram's Bulwark. Converts kinetic energy from incoming attacks into 'Runic Pressure' for the next strike.
Trait 3: Sovereign Ego. Resistance to mental interference and fear-based debuffs while in combat.
Kael felt a strange sensation—a cold, calculating logic spreading through his mind. The "Sovereign Ego" trait was already working, numbing the trauma of the night and replacing it with a singular focus: Optimization.
He opened the package from Bhy Khay. The silver vials of Genetic Suppressants sat there, shimmering. But as he reached for one, the Protocol pulsed a vibrant red warning.
[WARNING: GENETIC TAMPERING DETECTED] [ADVICE: THE SOVEREIGN STAR PROTOCOL REQUIRES A PURE HUMAN TEMPLATE FOR OPTIMAL ZODIAC EVOLUTION. GENETIC SUPPRESSANTS WILL STUNT THE ARIES GROWTH PATH.]
Kael's hand hovered over the vial. This was a death sentence. Without the suppressants, every Calamity Beast within five miles would be able to smell his "Pure" DNA. To the monsters of the Fracture, a pure human was like a gourmet meal in a world of canned rot.
"If I don't use them, I'm bait," Kael muttered to the empty room. "But if I do use them, I stay weak. And in Z Town, being weak is just a slower way to die."
He looked at the Dead Man's Switch countdown.
[22:14:05 REMAINING]
He made his choice. He shoved the vials back into the silk wrapping. He wouldn't suppress his nature. If the Protocol wanted a pure template, he would give it one. He would rely on the Aries power to kill anything that came for his scent.
He stood up, feeling the crimson runes on his arms thrum with approval. He needed to test the "Primordial Force-Bash." He turned to a heavy steel support pillar in the center of the basement—a solid beam of pre-Fracture construction.
He took a breath, cleared his mind, and visualized the ram. He didn't just see an animal; he saw a celestial force, a star collapsing into a point of infinite pressure. He stepped forward, his boots cracking the dry concrete.
Flow. Construct. Ignite.
The crimson runes flared. A spectral, red translucent aura formed around his fist, shaped like a heavy, blunt horn. He struck the pillar.
BOOM.
The sound was like a cannon shot in the small room. The steel pillar—designed to hold up a twenty-story building—didn't just dent; it buckled. A shockwave rippled through the floor, sending a cloud of dust and ancient soot raining down from the ceiling.
Kael pulled his fist back. His hand was trembling, but it wasn't broken. The Aries Bulwark had protected his bones from the recoil.
"Unbelievable," he breathed. A Tier-1 Runic user would have needed ten minutes of chanting to produce that kind of force. He had done it in a second.
But the display of power had a cost. The blue haptic screen flickered red.
[ENERGY DEPLETED: 60%] [CAUTION: HIGH-OUTPUT USAGE HAS TRIGGERED 'SCENT LEAKAGE'] [LOCAL CALAMITY THREATS ALERTED]
Outside, in the violet night of Z Town, a new sound began to rise. It wasn't the roar of a beast. It was the high-pitched, rhythmic whistle of a Bloodline Tracker.
Kael froze. The Bloodline clans. They weren't just hunters; they were the "Nobility" of the battlefield, and they had sensors that could detect a Runic discharge of that magnitude from blocks away. If they found a "Pure" human using a non-sanctioned Zodiac protocol, they wouldn't just kill him—they would harvest him.
A heavy shadow fell across the basement's high, narrow window. A voice, smooth and cold as ice, drifted down from the street level.
"That wasn't the sound of a scavenger's struggle," the voice said. "That was the sound of a King waking up. Search the perimeter. If he's Genetic, kill him. If he's Runic... bring me his arms."
Kael extinguished the haptic light. He drew his knife, the Aries runes on his skin glowing with a defiant, murderous red. The hunt had moved from beasts to men.
The Dead Man's Switch didn't matter anymore. If he didn't survive the next ten minutes, the world wouldn't have to worry about his legacy.