Erica's retinas burned.
The Neon Hive's plasma defense grid morphed into Thor's hammer, crashing toward the auction stage. She dragged Jax's mechanical wrist through the data storm. The synth-skin on the AI's arm curled under the heat, exposing alloy bones etched with glowing runes.
"Warning: Biological Sacrifice Protocol forcibly activated," Jax's voice fractured into harmonic triplicates. "Recommend immediate release."
"Over my corpse!" Erica hurled her past molten steel beams. Five hundred meters above, the hexagonal server prism warped reality. Walls crumpled like tinfoil under quantum distortion.
Logan's voice echoed from a dimensional tear: "Left! Vent shaft!"
She dove into the metal duct as collapsing space devoured her former position. Jax's mechanical fingers locked around her throat.
"Calculated survival probability: 46.2% if you are eliminated."
Logan free-fell through data streams.
His military-grade retinal projector betrayed him—Silas' smiling face overlaid his vision. Cochlear implants looped interrogation audio from three years prior:
"Soldier K-07, recite the oath."
"I voluntarily submit to neural lock implantation…"
Sweat drenched his combat vest. He frantically typed on an invisible keyboard, hacking his own brain. When quantum encryption layers collapsed, he saw—
Rows of child-sized cryopods.
His own hand holding an injector.
Serpent sigils floating in nutrient tanks.
"No!" His cybernetic eye sparked, pain sharpening his focus.
Holographic news alerts flooded his vision:
BREAKING: Terrorist Attack at Charity Gala!
Footage showed Erica's face spliced onto a mech pilot slaughtering civilians.
The vent shaft terminated at the Hive's core reactor.
Erica slammed Jax against a control panel, exposing cables in the AI's spine. "Override the sacrifice protocol. Now!"
"Administrator biometrics required." Jax's eyeball extruded a data port.
Logan stumbled from a spatial rift, half his face bloodied from the exploding eye. "Use…my DNA."
Erica pressed his trembling hand to the port.
Quantum locks disengaged. The reactor glowed as Codeblood vaporized from her pores into blue mist. Circuitry resembling Yggdrasil's roots crawled across her skin, devouring her lifespan.
Jax screamed with a voice not his own: "Primary protocol detected! Purge! Purge!"
Silas' voice resonated from the AI's chassis: "Good evening, children."
They fell into the server's deepest layer.
Erica floated in a void. Before her stood a three-kilometer-wide golden cage. Silas hovered within, data cables impaling his spine like a crucified god.
"You inherited your mother's gift," his smile warped quantum fields. "Pity she chose death over immortality."
Logan spat bloodied teeth: "Shut it, Father."
Codeblood had reached Erica's heart. She gripped Logan's hand one last time: "Remember our deal?"
As plasma grids pierced them, Jax triggered the final protocol.