CHAPTER 1172: MURDER IN THE STREETS (2).

Hunter blew out smoke. "You’re saying it’s still growing?"

"I’m saying we didn’t kill it. We just... cut the head off a root system that runs deep."

Cain’s jaw flexed. He didn’t respond.

He’d felt it too. When he’d stabbed into the hybrid’s chest, that pulse that came through the steel—rhythmic, deliberate. Not just mechanical. Not artificial. Aware.

Roselle stood, wiping the blood off her hands. "Then what? You want us to dive back in there? That crater’s a furnace."

"We can’t leave it," Susan snapped.

Steve cut in, voice low. "We don’t even know what ’it’ is yet."

The ground rumbled faintly, as if the world wanted to underline her point. From the pit came a sound—soft, like a heartbeat muffled by earth and molten rock.

Cain’s gaze narrowed. "Gear up. We’re not done."

Roselle frowned. "You’re serious?"

"I don’t like unfinished business."

The descent took hours. They rigged thermal suits from the remains of their gear and used what was left of the service elevators. The heat below was impossible. Metal turned red under their boots.

As they reached the lower chamber, the hum became a pulse—steady, alive. The glow painted the cavern in gold.

What lay in the center wasn’t a reactor anymore. It was something else entirely.

A sphere. Half-organic, half-machine. Veins of gold light ran through black flesh. The surface expanded and contracted slowly, breathing.

Hunter let out a low whistle. "So that’s what’s been singing."

Steve scanned it. His device sparked and died instantly. "No readings. It’s disrupting everything."

Roselle took a step forward. "You said this thing was a seed. You still think that’s true?"

Susan nodded grimly. "Look at the structure. Those veins... they’re spreading outward. It’s feeding on the debris."

As if in response, one of the glowing veins twitched, crawling another meter along the floor.

Cain drew his blade, the metal gleaming dully in the gold light. "If it’s feeding, we stop the meal."

Before anyone could stop him, he leapt forward, driving the blade into the sphere.

The explosion of light threw everyone backward. The air screamed with a sound no living thing should make. Cain dug his boots into the molten ground, struggling to pull the blade free.

The sphere’s glow brightened—then turned black.

For a split second, the cavern was silent.

Then the sphere cracked open.

From within, something rose—humanoid, but wrong. Its body was molten metal and sinew, a shifting mass of blades and bones. Its head split into two jagged horns of glowing gold.

It looked straight at Cain.

"Why... do you fight rebirth?" it asked, voice both echoing and inside his skull.

Cain didn’t hesitate. "Because the dead should stay dead."

The creature lunged.

Cain met it head-on, their clash sending waves of molten rock across the chamber. Each strike sparked explosions of heat and energy.

Roselle fired into the monster’s flank; the bullets melted midair. Hunter launched a charge at its leg; the explosion only staggered it.

Susan yelled, "It’s absorbing kinetic energy! The more we hit it, the stronger it gets!"

Cain twisted, narrowly dodging a blade-arm that sliced through solid stone. "Then I’ll bleed it dry before it learns how to heal."

He drove his knee into its core, the impact cracking the surface. The creature shrieked—its molten form flickering.

The veins along the cavern walls pulsed violently, reacting to its pain. The whole place began to shift, twisting as if alive.

Steve screamed over the comms, "Cain, the core’s destabilizing again!"

"Good!" Cain roared, swinging upward. His blade cut through the creature’s neck; molten ichor splashed across his armor, burning through the metal.

The creature staggered but didn’t fall. It grabbed his throat and hurled him into the wall. The impact drove the air from his lungs.

It spoke again, more coherent now. "You cannot kill creation. You only delay it."

Cain spat blood, pushing off the wall. "Guess I’ll keep delaying."

He charged. The floor collapsed under them, sending both falling into the deeper layers of the pit.

The team screamed after him, but their voices were swallowed by the roar of molten stone and rising energy.

Down in the dark, Cain landed on another platform of twisted machinery. The creature landed opposite him, burning brighter now.

They clashed again—faster, heavier, the sound of their battle lost beneath the thunder of a world tearing itself apart.

Every strike illuminated the cavern like lightning. Every block sent shockwaves through the ruins.

And still neither gave way.

Above, Roselle and the others felt the ground tremble as the crater began to collapse inward.

Susan whispered, "If that thing reaches the surface—"

Hunter cut her off. "Then there won’t be a surface."

Roselle slammed a fresh mag into her weapon. "Then we make damn sure it doesn’t."

She leapt into the pit.

Roselle dropped through the smoke and fire, the gravity pulling her hard enough to tear at her harness. The air was molten, the pressure suffocating, but she didn’t hesitate. Below her, Cain and the creature were locked in a blur of strikes—every impact throwing molten debris into the air like shrapnel.

"Cain!" she shouted, the sound shredded by the roar of collapsing stone.

He didn’t answer. The monster’s arm lashed out, catching him across the chest and sending him sprawling. Cain hit the metal floor with a crunch that shook the platform. His blade skittered out of reach, glowing faintly in the heat.

Roselle landed hard beside him, her boots melting slightly into the surface. She aimed her rifle at the creature and fired—burst after burst of magic-primed rounds that detonated in a chain of concussive blasts. The monster staggered, roaring in distorted fury, its molten form splattering across the chamber walls before reforming again.

"Grab the blade!" she yelled.

Cain’s hand shot forward, gripping {Eidwyrm}. His armor was cracked, his breathing ragged, but his eyes burned bright through the grime.

He stood. "On three."

Roselle smirked. "You always say that."

"Then you know what comes next."

Together, they charged.