First Light of a New Age

Chapter 197: Complete and Utter Chaos

Second Civilization Zone, North America, North America Empire, California, Site-19.

4th Year of a New Age, Friday, 3rd Week, 10th Month of the Father.

Inside Site-91, the alarms had not stopped.

Even hours after the initial explosion at the main gate, the red emergency lights were still flashing in endless rotation and emergency crews were moving through the hallways and ruptured bulkheads, stepping over debris and dried blood as they hauled bodies onto stretchers, sealed breaches with quick-hardening panels, and shouted clipped updates through the comms.

Commander White appeared outside the dorm room door, having already double-checked and confirmed twice with the surveillance department that showed no movement beyond the threshold from the cameras or any signs of escape. That meant 682 had not left the room.

He glanced at the two recruits beside him, Elizabeth and Annabelle. Both young, talented, and dangerous in their own right. Both had been personally assigned to assist him in the hunt for Subject 682, a responsibility far above what their years of service suggested.

"You both stay out. I'll scout ahead."

Elizabeth frowned immediately. "Commander, protocol requires—"

"I said remain here," he cut her off flatly.

Annabelle tilted her head slightly, studying him. "You expect resistance?"

White's eyes narrowed just a fraction. "I expect nothing."

That was a lie, and all three of them knew it.

According to his projections, the moment he stepped inside, the first thing he would see would be corpses.

He had already requested still images from surveillance beforehand, so he knew exactly what the dorm's occupants looked like from their builds to their faces, even what they had been wearing earlier in the day. He had memorized the details.

Not that it mattered since anyone inside that room would be incapacitated on sight.

The only reason he insisted on entering first wasn't just to "keep the recruits safe." It was to secure the artifact that shapeshifted, and the weapon that had cut through immortality like paper.

He had witnessed 682's path of destruction from the lab to this facility. He had seen fallen personnel, men and women blessed with the power of a god, fail to rise and flesh that should have reformed simply continued burning in ways that made no sense within known parameters.

Which meant it wasn't ordinary.

To White's eyes, it wasn't just a weapon. It was an anomaly worth owning, a treasure, and he needed to get his hands on it at all costs.

The closer he got to it, the greedier he became.

That greed was the real reason he hadn't immediately recaptured 682 when he first had the chance. The same could be said about the current situation. Had he been a more rational person, Subject 682 would likely already be back in containment.

But White was not in a rational state.

All he could think about was the immortal-killing weapon that had bypassed Apophis' blessing, the same divine safeguard granted by Apophis that should have made everyone in Endless Night functionally untouchable in this world.

Power like that didn't belong to a runaway experiment.

It belonged to him.

Clink.

He slid his key card from his coat and scanned it. The reader blinked green and the lock disengaged with a heavy mechanical click.

Without wasting time, he pushed the door open and the first thing he saw was an individual standing in the middle of the room holding a weapon covered in emerald flames which is none other than the green-bladed halberd he mostly wants.