When Garret's ice claws plunged into the void-core vat, Raine's scar burned—the fluorescent slime swirling with 298 clone carcasses, each forehead branded 「III」 like grave markers.
"My turn to shine?" Garret's voice split into dual frequencies: the Inquisitor's mechanical coldness over his own rasp. Slime crawled up his spine, forming counter-clock gears on his skin.
(The lab's dome quantum-collapsed, revealing the shattered lunar surface. Garret's right arm swelled kilometer-long, ice claws morphing into six interlocking gears that crushed moonrock into coral-shaped void-crystals.)
Ellen's starlight chips flashed crimson alerts: 「Genetic contamination critical... Maternal Protocol override...」 Her metal fingers ripped out pulsating nerves: "He's being overwritten by the Inquisitor..."
Misha's specter emerged from the slime sea, her prosthetic's 「III」 brand projecting holograms—child Garret strapped to a pod, the Inquisitor injecting void-fluid into his temples: "Candidate 003, your purpose is to calibrate all time anchors..."
(Gills spasming, Cycle 198's memory stabbed Raine's mind—)
Child Garret smashing pod glass, slime splashing the adjacent 「Raine 001」 clone: "We're even programmed to feel pain?"The Inquisitor's metal fingers welding the 「III」 brand into his bones: "Not a weapon... A wrench for time itself..."Lyria's song distorting as embryos burst, slime forming a broken counter-gear.
"Reclamation: 99%... Calibrator synced..." Garret's pupils split triple-layered—Inquisitor's crimson outermost, Misha's mechanical blue mid-layer, Raine's scar-gold at the core. His body kept expanding, the slime-beast's ribcage cradling the First Dragon's skull oozing Lyria's tear-crystals.
Serena's asphalt wings ignited, claws tearing at Garret's spine: "Wake up... you programmed sludge!" Her fangs sank into the 「III」 brand, only for his slime to reverse-corrode her—asphalt blood spelling 「Maternal Protocol v3.14 Final Stage」 across the beast.
The moon lost a third of its mass. Garret's gear-claws ground lunar fragments into 299 holograms—each showing Raine's death across cycles, with Garret always recording in the background.
"Next cycle..." Garret's voice fully mechanized, the Inquisitor's consciousness seeping from the beast's throat: "Tell mother... her calibrator rebelled..."
Submerged Currents
Void-core surveillance showed the Inquisitor's mask reassembling, codes blinking 「Calibrator Awakened」—as live footage revealed fetal Lyria's hands grasping moon fragments...