One thing that started everything

Chapter 6: Katsuaki

The lights flickered and died, casting the facility into a cold, unforgiving darkness. I noted it without surprise; I'd already registered a shift in temperature, an almost static change in the air, and the faintest ripple in the shadows at the corner of my vision. I'd spent enough time monitoring anomalies that this shifted in the environment—this outright devouring of light—barely registered as a threat. But the closing doors, the sudden, inescapable dark, had me calculating.

I waited, the pulse of my own mechanisms steady.

An eerie stillness washed over the facility, punctuated only by the sound of faint, scurrying claws echoing somewhere distant. The darkness thickened until it was nearly tactical, like the close press of a shroud. I felt them before I saw them—the Nocturnalis Imps—blending seamless with the shadows.

I stared back at them with my single, pale green eye, unblinking. The creatures seemed unfazed by my scrutiny. Black as the void, with grinning, jagged teeth, each Imp had an eye that glowed red—a diamond on one, a mechanical orb on the other, spinning with intricate designs. It was...fascinating, almost the hypnotic rhythm of the lanterns at the ends of their tails casting a sickly, lulling light through the haze.

This was no ordinary training drill. Griffin and Kaelna had not anticipated this intrusion. It was an ambush, one executed with cunning precision. I examined the situation coldly, noting every detail as the Imps started to prowl. Soon, shadows swelled around me, the darkness pressing in, shifting until I felt myself enclosed.

I was alone. The others had already been separated, swallowed by this maze. I felt the barest flicker of sensation some might call "unease" but I dismissed it as irrelevant data.

The Imps moved closer, their light-tailed shadows spinning webs of illusion that thickened the darkness around me. They were using Fear Inducement, trying to worm their way in, trying to sense some pulse of fear, some spike in my data. A waste of their energy.

I stood silent, observing. They wouldn't find what they were looking for.

Without warning, one of the Imps lunged, its claws slicing through the air. I sidestepped, shifting just enough to evade it by mere millimeters. Their intent was clear now: to trap and disorient, to coherent their prey with a concoction of fear and confusion. I observed it clinically, analyzing every move they made.

They were clever, yes. But this wasn't a game I intended to play on their terms.

My mind flickered to my options: Holo-Dive—to create my own illusions, add layers to their chaos with my own. But here, surrounded by darkness that was very real, it would be redundant. Tech Construct? I dismissed the thought as impractical; summoning physical tools would be too conspicuous and disruptive. Signal Manipulation might work to disrupt the artificial haze, but it was too blunt for this circumstance. No.

Data Sync.

I shifted my gaze, my left pale green eye narrowing as I activated it. Quietly, I let my presence reach out, extending in every direction, tapping into the subtle frequencies, sensing the digital patterns as they pulsed through the environment. I could feel the facility's systems, their rhythms pulsing like veins in the dark. There were traces of something more than just shadow—something I could understand.

Slowly, I gathered the information I needed. Even the slightest electrical current, the faintest connection in the room, began to form a map in my mind. It was intricate and layered—an invisible web, interlaced with points of entry and exit. I began isolating signals, data streaming into my consciousness, gathering in fragments.

The facility was brimming with signals, invisible threads winding through every corner. The Imps had managed to wrap it, hijacking the circuitry, embedding fear into the very air. They relied on shadow and perception, but they were tethered to the facility's own grid. I tuned into it, parsing out the essence of the illusion.

They were cunning, but they were operating on limited access points, exploiting the structure's automated systems. I honed in on the source of their influence, locating the central point in their network—the core of their manipulation.

The Imps closed in, their red eyes glinting as they sensed a change, perhaps the faintest flicker in my presence. They attempted to surround me, their tails casting that infernal yellow glow, hypnotic and pulsating, meant to seep into the mind and weaken the will. I resisted with ease, letting the signal patterns flow uninterrupted, slicing through their deception.

A low growl echoed, reverberating from all directions. The Imps, growing impatient, advanced in unison. I felt the facility's digital currents surge under my control, and with precise timing, I triggered a pulse. An invisible wave rippled through the air, overriding their influence in one swift, silent blow.

For an instant, the shadows around me dispersed, and I could see the facility as it truly was—a stark, open hall with paths stretching in each direction. The walls were bare; the lurking shadows, the creeping dead, were gone, shattered by the sudden clarity.

The Imps, momentarily thrown off, hissed and snarled, their illusions momentarily scattered. I seized the movement, moving through the cleared path with calculated precision. They wouldn't hold back long; I could already sense the shadows regrouping, forming another layer of deception around me. But now, I know their weak points.

I moved forward, silent as the dark itself, dissecting their efforts with cool calculation. Every flicker of light, every drifting shadow, was part of their design. I mapped each twist and turn, each source of distortion they'd laid across the facility.

They were relentless, closing in from all sides, but I calculated every move, every evasion with mechanical precision, slipping through their illusions and cutting deeper into their territory. Their aggression grew, their shadows tightening, but it was only data to me. The game was theirs, but I had taken control of the board.

With a final adjustment, I rerouted the facility's energy, surging a pulse through the very structure. The lights flickered again, and for a moment, every shadow receded, the darkness peeling back like a shroud.

The Nocturnalis Imps stood exposed, their twisted forms caught in the dim light, glaring at me with malevolent fury. But I didn't need to engage them further. The maze had broken, and my path was clear.

Without so much as a backward glance, I walked out of their nightmare, my steps echoing in the halls as the Imps faded back into the darkness, snarling, defeated, but still lurking somewhere, waiting.

Let them wait. I was already gone.