Cason pointed his blade toward the advancing horde.
"Not only are they disgusting, they're annoyingly persistent."
Another impact rocked the shield.
Cason's expression hardened.
Two minutes.
They weren't going to survive.
Not like this.
His hand tightened around his weapon.
There was one option left.
The Stargem.
He had been saving it for the final approach.
The Tower crystal was supposed to be their objective. Cason had intended to use the Stargem only when they reached the crystal chamber floor, when whatever guardian waited there could be erased long enough for them to secure the prize.
That had been the plan.
Plans were apparently another thing the Tower enjoyed killing.
Cason's eyes lowered.
Beneath the armor interface, a tiny sealed icon waited.
STARGEM — CLASSIFIED
He had one.
One chance.
And after that?
Nothing.
He closed his eyes.
For one brief moment, everything became quiet.
The screams disappeared.
The buzzing disappeared.
The alarms disappeared.
He remembered his father's face.
Cold.
Unyielding.
That damned bet.
Complete the Tower mission.
Prove you can lead.
Then we'll talk about your freedom.
Cason had accepted because he thought it would be simple.
He had been arrogant enough to believe that strength could solve everything.
Now he was standing inside a dying defensive perimeter with his entire squad behind him, and strength wasn't enough.
His eyes opened.
Fine.
If strength wasn't enough—
He would use more.
"Fuck it. Conrad."
Conrad looked toward him. "Yes, Captain?"
"Release the Stargem. And unseal the limiter."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Then—
"Captain?"
"You heard me."
Conrad's voice became tense.
"Captain, you can't be serious."
"Very."
Trevor immediately cut in.
"That's our last-resort weapon."
"I know."
"We only get one."
"I know."
"Once we deploy it, it's gone."
Cason turned toward the squad.
"I'm aware of how the Stargem works, Trevor."
"Then why—"
"Because we're out of time."
His words cut through the channel.
Cason looked at the shield.
Twenty-six percent.
The Vorax were getting closer.
"We use Stargem now, we get ten minutes of protection."
"Exactly," Trevor said. "Ten minutes."
"And then?"
Trevor went silent.
"And then," Cason continued, "we die."
Conrad's voice lowered.
"Captain, we can still hold."
"No."
"We can."
"No, we can't."
Cason's gaze swept across them.
He could see the exhaustion in their movements.
The slight tremors.
The slower reaction times.
The way everyone kept checking their energy reserves when they thought nobody was watching.
They weren't soldiers standing on the verge of victory.
They were people standing on the edge of collapse.
"Stargem gives us ten minutes," Cason said. "That's ten minutes to recover enough energy to keep moving."
Conrad shook his head.
"You said this was supposed to be our last resort."
"It is."
"Then why are you requesting to unseal the limiter?"
Cason looked at him.
"Because the Stargem isn't enough."
The words landed heavily.
Conrad understood first.
His voice became almost a whisper.
"No."
Cason turned toward him.
"Contact MOD."
"Captain—"
"Request approval to remove my limiter."
Trevor stepped forward.
"Absolutely not."
Cason's eyes narrowed.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
"You're refusing a direct order?"
"I'm trying to keep you alive."
"I don't need you to keep me alive."
"Yes, you do!"
Trevor's voice cracked through the channel.
"You've been fighting nonstop since we entered this damned section. Look at yourself!"
Cason glanced down.
His armor was damaged.
His breathing was ragged.
His hands were shaking.
He hated that Trevor was right.
Conrad joined in.
"Captain, you know what happens when the limit is removed."
"I know."
"Your body isn't ready."
"I know."
"The seal exists for a reason."
"I know!"
His shout echoed through the ruined corridor.
The Vorax screamed outside the shield.
Cason pointed toward them.
"Then tell me what you'd prefer."
Nobody answered.
"Do we wait four minutes?"
The shield flickered.
Twenty percent.
"Do we activate Stargem and pretend ten minutes magically solves everything?"
No answer.
"Or do we stop pretending this mission is still operating under normal conditions?"
Cason's voice dropped.
"If we fail here, we don't walk out."
He looked at every member of the squad.
"If even one of you dies before we reach the crystal, the mission is compromised. Heck, if we fail the tower's bootcamp mission, we all die."
His jaw tightened.
"And I'm not failing this mission. Nor do I want to die. I'm still young."
Conrad stared at him.
The captain was a proud young man. He always resorted to jokes whenever worry crept in. It was his way of masking the fear he refused to show.
"Are you sure it's not because of that bet you made with the Lord Commander?" Trevor cut in.
Cason didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
Conrad sighed.
"You're impossible."
"I've been told."
Conrad looked toward Trevor.
They exchanged a glance.
The kind of glance soldiers developed after spending too much time together.
A silent conversation.
He's going to do it.
Of course he's going to do it.
We can't stop him.
Trevor finally exhaled.
"Fine."
Cason nodded.
"Good."
"But if you die, I'm telling your father you were an idiot."
Cason smirked.
"Make sure you tell him I looked cool doing it."
"That part will be difficult."
Conrad sighed.
"We'll comply."
"That's more like it."
Cason turned back toward the Vorax.
Then Conrad spoke.
"Captain?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't make me regret obeying you."
Cason's expression softened for half a second.
"I won't."
He hoped that was true.
"Release the Stargem."
Conrad tapped the communicator on his wrist.
A small object emerged.
It looked almost absurdly insignificant.
Five centimeters.
A marble-sized orb.
Bright orange-red.
It glowed with such intensity that the surrounding armor reflected its light.
The Stargem.
One of the MODs' most valuable defensive assets.
Produced through GAIA's technological infrastructure, it had three functions.
Protection.
Destruction.
Restoration.
Once activated, it generated a five-hundred-meter field.
Anything outside that has contact with the stargem field was disintegrated.
Not damaged.
Not burned.
Disintegrated.
Rank didn't matter.
Level didn't matter.
The Stargem simply erased matter.
Inside the field, allied personnel also received a slow restoration of five percent energy over its operational duration.
Ten minutes.
That was all.
And once used—
It was gone.
Conrad held it between his fingers.
"Ready?"
Cason raised his scythe.
"Do it."
Conrad crushed the orb.
The world turned red.
A burst of crimson light exploded outward.
It expanded violently, engulfing the desert, the battlefield, and everything within five hundred meters.
The Vorax charged.
One crossed the boundary.
It disappeared.
No scream.
No explosion.
One instant it existed.
The next, there was nothing.
Another Vorax slammed into the field.
Gone.
Another.
Gone.
The swarm recoiled.
For the first time, Cason saw hesitation.
He smiled.
"That's right."
He deactivated his weapon.
"Keep coming. Come on." His voice dripped with amusement. "Who's the Reaper now, huh? Come on, you filthy bugs."
The Stargem pulsed.
His energy reserves began climbing.
Slowly.
Five percent.
Not much.
But after what they'd endured, it felt like someone had poured cold water directly into his veins.
Conrad exhaled.
"It's working."
Cason nodded.
Then looked toward the enormous swarm.
Ten minutes.
He turned toward Trevor.
"Contact MOD."
Trevor's face fell.
"Already doing it."
****************
MODs Base of Operations — Tower Mission Control
The control room never slept.
Hundreds of monitors illuminated the vast chamber, each displaying a different portion of the Tower.
Squads.
Vital signs.
Threat levels.
Energy reserves.
Mission progression.
Every life inside the Tower existed somewhere on those screens as a collection of numbers.
To most people, it was data.
To Commander Gareth Linus, it was something else.
Responsibility.
He stood at the center of the room, hands clasped behind his back.
His gaze moved from screen to screen.
Then stopped.
One screen showed mostly red.
Gareth frowned.
"What's happening there?"
The technician beside him glanced at the screen.
"Sir?"
"That feed."
The technician looked.
A battlefield filled the display.
Red desert.
Crimson Vorax.
A single red glowing sphere.
Gareth's expression tightened.
"Zoom in."
The image magnified.
There was Cason.
His son.
Still standing.
Barely.
Gareth's jaw tightened.
He didn't allow himself to react.
Not here.
Not in front of his command staff.
"Update me on Cason's situation."
The officer beside him immediately turned toward the nearest terminal.
"Yes, Commander."
Before he could move, another technician spoke.
"Sir."
Gareth looked over.
The technician had gone pale.
"G.O.D Squad has requested authorization to unseal Captain Cason's combat limiter."
Gareth's expression became unreadable.
"How bad?"
The technician swallowed.
"Lifespan projections are at ten percent."
The room went quiet.
"And the Vorax?"
"Eighty-seven percent combat capacity remains."
Gareth's eyes narrowed.
"What's the probability of the squad's survival?"
The technician hesitated.
"After Stargem activation exhausted…"
He looked down at his console.
"Thirteen percent."
Gareth stared at the battlefield.
Thirteen percent.
He had seen worse odds.
He had also seen people die with better.
"Commander…"
The officer beside him waited.
Gareth folded his arms.
"Approve it."
The technician's hands moved toward the authorization console.
"Commander, which restriction should we release?"
Gareth didn't answer immediately.
His gaze remained fixed on Cason.
His son was standing in a wasteland that wasn't supposed to be survivable, surrounded by monsters that had already chewed through most of his squad's resources.
He had requested permission to remove his limiter.
Which meant Cason had finally reached the point where pride had lost its argument with survival.
Gareth knew what removing that seal could mean.
Power wasn't free.
The limit existed for a reason.
A sealed output protected the user's body from destroying itself.
Unsealing it could turn a soldier into something considerably more dangerous.
It could also turn him into a corpse.
Gareth's fingers tightened slightly against his sleeve.
"Wait."
The technician stopped.
Gareth stared at the authorization screen.
"Unseal only one."
The officer blinked.
"Commander?"
"One."
"But which limiter?"
Gareth's eyes remained on the screen.
"Let him choose."
The technician hesitated.
Gareth finally looked away from the monitor.
His expression was calm.
Too calm.
"Give him the choice."
The technician nodded.
"Understood."
The authorization protocol initiated.