The floor was cold—real, concrete cold. Akash stumbled out of his pod, his legs feeling like lead. For years, he had been a God leaping through clouds, but now, gravity felt like an enemy. Every muscle in his body screamed in protest.
Clang.
Across the dark laboratory, a heavy steel door began to vibrate. The Developer wasn't dead, and he wasn't going to let his "best project" just walk out.
"Meera... wake up!" Akash staggered to the next pod. He smashed the glass with a nearby metal tray. The girl inside gasped, her eyes snapping open. They weren't glowing with blue flames anymore; they were a deep, human brown, filled with terror.
"Akash?" she whispered, her voice trembling. "Where is the sky? Where is the Academy?"
"The Academy was a dream, Meera," Akash said, pulling her out of the pod. "This is the nightmare."
[ALERT: EMERGENCY POWER ACTIVATED]
[FACILITY LOCKDOWN: IN PROGRESS]
Suddenly, the red lights stopped spinning and turned into a steady, predatory crimson. A voice boomed over the intercom—not the Developer's, but a cold, feminine AI.
"Subject 001 and Subject 004 have breached containment. Security Team Beta, initiate 'Physical Asset Recovery.' Lethal force authorized for Subject 001."
"We have to move," Akash growled. He looked around for a weapon. There was no Sovereign's Rebirth here, just a heavy fire axe hanging on the wall. He grabbed it. It was heavy, awkward, and lacked any violet aura.
Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.
The sound of heavy tactical boots echoed down the hallway. The "Sentinels" were no longer drones; they were real men in black combat gear, carrying assault rifles.
"Akash, look!" Meera pointed at a screen that was still flickering.
It wasn't a game map. It was a floor plan of an underground bunker located somewhere in the Himalayan mountains. They were miles beneath the earth, in a facility owned by the Aethelgard Corporation.
"The exit is three levels up," Akash said, his eyes narrowing. He felt a strange sensation in the back of his brain—a lingering ghost of the System.
[REBORN_PROTOCOL: RESIDUAL DATA DETECTED]
[SKILL: COMBAT REFLEXES (10% RETAINED)]
It wasn't much, but it was enough. As the first security guard rounded the corner, Akash didn't think—he moved. His body remembered the thousands of battles in Valeria even if his muscles were weak.
He swung the axe, catching the guard's rifle and kicking him in the chest.
"Meera, stay behind me!"
But Meera didn't stay back. She grabbed a shard of the broken pod glass, her eyes hardening. "I might not have my flames, Akash, but I haven't forgotten how to fight for my life."
They dashed into the dark corridor, two ghosts from a digital world trying to find their way in a reality that wanted them dead.
At the end of the hall, a massive holographic projection of the Developer appeared. He looked furious. "You think you won, Akash? You destroyed a multi-billion dollar server. You're not a Sovereign here. You're just a broken boy in a basement. You won't make it to the surface."
Akash looked at the hologram, then at the axe in his hand.
"I've spent a lifetime killing Gods," Akash said, his voice cold as ice. "A few men in suits don't scare me."The first corridor was a narrow throat of white tile and flickering fluorescent tubes. Akash could hear the guards communicating through their radios—not the booming system announcements he was used to, but the frantic, messy whispers of humans.
"Contact! Subject 001 is armed! Level 4, Sector B!"
Two guards swung around the corner, their tactical lights blinding Akash for a split second.
[REBORN_PROTOCOL: PREDICTIVE ANALYSIS (LOW BATTERY)]
A faint violet grid flashed across Akash's vision—a ghost of the system. It showed him the trajectory of the guards' barrels. He didn't think; he lunged. He shoved Meera into a side alcove just as a hail of bullets shredded the wall where they had been standing.
"Go!" Akash roared.
He didn't use a spell. He used momentum. He threw the fire axe. It didn't spin with magical energy, but it hit the first guard's shoulder with a sickening thud. As the second guard tried to reload, Akash was already on him. He grabbed the barrel of the rifle and slammed his forehead into the man's nose.
Crack.
The guard went down. Akash snatched the rifle and a couple of magazines. It felt heavy—dead weight compared to a spirit sword—but it was power.
"Can you use this?" Akash asked, handing a sidearm to Meera.
Meera took the pistol, her hands shaking slightly, but her grip was firm. "I've commanded armies in Valeria, Akash. I think I can pull a trigger."
They reached the elevator lobby, but the doors were welded shut by the lockdown.
"The stairs," Meera pointed to a heavy iron door labeled LEVEL 3 – RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT.
As they pushed through, the temperature dropped. This level was filled with rows of servers, half of them smoking from the crash Akash had caused. But in the center of the room, someone was waiting.
It wasn't a guard. It was the Developer's chief enforcer—a man named Kovacs. He wasn't in a pod; he was augmented. His right arm was a hydraulic piston, and his eyes were glowing with a familiar, synthetic blue light.
"You really messed up the project, kid," Kovacs said, cracking his mechanical knuckles. "The boss wants you alive, but he didn't say anything about keeping your legs attached."
[ALERT: CYBERNETIC ENEMY DETECTED]
[ESTIMATED STRENGTH: BEYOND HUMAN LIMITS]
"Meera, find the override for the ventilation shafts," Akash whispered, stepping forward with the rifle. "I'll handle the tin man."
Kovacs laughed, a metallic, grating sound. "No 'Sovereign' magic to save you now, boy. Just meat and bone."
Kovacs charged. He was faster than a human should be. His metal fist slammed into a server rack, crushing it like paper. Akash rolled, the 10% combat reflexes being the only thing keeping him from being turned into a red smear.
He fired the rifle, but the bullets sparked harmlessly off Kovacs' armored chest.
"My turn," Kovacs growled.