Chapter 267: New quest : DeJa Vu

Words : 1458 Updated : Sep 29th, 2025

The overhead light fixture chose that exact moment to break free from its mounting, crashing down directly onto the attacker's head. The masked figure staggered, momentarily stunned. Sophie didn't waste the opportunity. She drove her elbow into what remained of the mask, feeling something crack beneath the impact. The attacker stumbled backward, tripping over the very chair Sophie had kicked earlier, which had somehow repositioned itself perfectly behind their feet. As they fell, their head struck the corner of Sophie's metal desk drawer—which had inexplicably slid open at precisely the right moment. Sophie pressed her advantage, each strike now seeming to find the exact perfect angle for maximum damage. When the attacker tried to slash at her with their remaining blade, the weapon inexplicably slipped from their fingers, clattering across the floor and sliding perfectly into Sophie's reach. She snatched it up, reversing it in one fluid motion. "My turn," she said, launching into her own offensive. The fight became brutally one-sided as Sophie's probability power worked its magic. The attacker's footing gave way on surfaces that should have provided perfect traction. Their blocks came a fraction of a second too late. When they tried to reach for a hidden weapon, the pouch somehow jammed. Within minutes, the masked figure lay beaten and barely moving on Sophie's floor, their once-pristine tactical gear torn and bloodied. Sophie herself was injured but standing, breathing heavily as she wiped blood from her nose with the back of her hand. "Let's see who you are," she muttered, reaching down to remove what remained of the cracked mask. The face beneath made her recoil in shock. It was Lila's face—or something horrifically close to it. But where Lila had blonde hair, this person's was dark brown. And the face itself... Sophie watched in horror as the features seemed to melt, like plastic held too close to flame. "What are you?" Sophie whispered. The creature wearing Lila's distorted face merely smiled, revealing teeth that were too sharp, too numerous. Then it began to laugh that same multi-layered laugh from before. Sophie stepped back, reaching for her comm unit with a shaking hand. "Kelvin," she said urgently. "We have a problem." ---- Noah's tunnel gradually widened into what appeared to be a storage area. Crates were stacked in neat rows, though many appeared untouched for some time. He moved silently between them, cataloging their contents based on the labeling. "Kelvin," he whispered into his comm. "I've found a storage depot. Mostly equipment and rations, but some of these crates contain weapons tech I don't recognize." "Can you get me a closer look?" Kelvin asked. Noah adjusted his wrist device to capture images of the markings. "Sending now." "Interesting," Kelvin mused after a moment. "Those aren't standard beast tech designations. In fact... hold on, cross-referencing with the files I retrieved... Noah, you wouldn't believe it if I told you. What you are looking at now...those are Harbinger weapon signatures." Noah froze. "Harbinger tech? Here?" "It looks like experimental adaptations, not pure Harbinger tech. Purge must be reverse-engineering captured equipment." A chill ran down Noah's spine that had nothing to do with the cool tunnel air. His encounter with Harbingers on Cannadah had nearly cost him his life, even with his full arsenal of void abilities. "Lucas needs to know about this," Noah said, already turning to head back. "I'm patching him in now," Kelvin replied. "Lucas? Lucas, come in." Only static answered. "That's strange," Kelvin said, concern evident in his voice. "His comm signal just went dark. Noah, can you—" A sudden tremor cut through the tunnel, dust raining down from the ceiling as the ground shook violently. "What was that?" Noah demanded, bracing himself against a storage rack. "Seismic activity in your sector," Kelvin reported, the sound of rapid typing accompanying his words. "Not natural. Looks like... Noah, they're collapsing the tunnels! Get out of there!" Noah was already moving, sprinting at full speed with dust particles behind him as he raced back toward the junction where he'd separated from Lucas. Another tremor, stronger than the first, sent him staggering. The ceiling began to crack, chunks of composite material breaking free. A deafening rumble filled the air as the section of tunnel behind Noah collapsed entirely, a wave of dust and debris rushing toward him. He pushed himself harder, the junction coming into view ahead. [Void Blink activated] Noah teleported the final distance, emerging at the intersection just as the tunnel he'd been in sealed itself with rubble. But Lucas's passage was already collapsed as well, no sign of the Academy's Number One student. "Kelvin! Can you locate Lucas?" Noah shouted over the continuing rumbles. "Working on it," Kelvin replied, tension evident in his voice. "His signal is faint, but... he's alive. About seventy meters north of your position, but there's no direct path anymore. The collapses have completely reconfigured the tunnel system." Noah studied the remaining viable passage—a maintenance shaft that veered downward at a steep angle. "Is there another way to reach him?" "Maybe through the lower level. But Noah, there's something else. I'm detecting multiple thermal signatures converging on both your positions. Purge knew you were coming." As if in response to Kelvin's warning, a figure appeared at the far end of the maintenance shaft. Even at a distance, Noah could sense something different about this opponent—an aura of concentrated power unlike the guards he'd faced at the facility where Kelvin had been held. Noah didn't hesitate. He fired a Void Bullet, the compressed sphere of nullifying energy shooting down the tunnel with lethal intent. To his shock, the figure simply sidestepped the attack with inhuman speed, then raised their own hand in response. A crackling sphere of red energy formed at their fingertips before launching directly at Noah—a perfect mirror of his own technique, but composed of raw, destructive chi. Noah barely managed to dive aside as the red energy bullet obliterated the section of wall behind him. "Kelvin," Noah said quietly as he rose to his feet, eyes locked on the advancing figure. "I might be a while." A notification flashed across his vision—one he hadn't seen since his desperate battles on Cannadah. [Quest Activated - SURVIVE] ---- Lucas had always prided himself on adaptability. When the tunnel around him began to collapse, he'd immediately assessed his options and made the only viable choice—forward, deeper into the unknown rather than back toward an actively collapsing section. The gamble had paid off, though perhaps not in the way he'd hoped. The passage had led him to a vast chamber that could only be the submarine dock Kelvin had mentioned. A sleek, cylindrical vessel was docked in a pool of dark water, its matte black surface absorbing light rather than reflecting it. But Lucas wasn't alone. "Academy Twelve's pride and joy," a voice echoed across the chamber. "The Number One student. I've been looking forward to meeting you." A figure stepped from the shadows near the submarine—tall, imposing, dressed in standard military commander uniform but with additional insignia that marked them as someone of importance. Lucas's commlink was dead, the signal jammed the moment he'd entered the chamber. He was on his own. "Wish I could say the same," Lucas replied coolly, electricity already beginning to dance between his fingers as he channeled his powers. "But I make it a point not to look forward to meeting terrorists." The Purge commander merely smiled. "Terrorist? Such a limited perspective. We're architects of necessary change, Mr. Grey. This system you so proudly represent is fundamentally broken." "Save the recruitment speech," Lucas said, the air around him charging with potential as his lightning intensified. "I've heard Purge does to people." Lightning arced from Lucas's outstretched hand, a blinding flash of pure electrical force— Only to be caught by the Purge commander, whose hand had that same red dark tint aura around it. He simply absorbed the energy into his own palm with a look of mild amusement. "As I said," he remarked as Lucas's lightning dissipated harmlessly around him, "I've been looking forward to this. S ranked soldier they claim you are, Mr Grey. Interesting...very interesting!!" Lucas's eyes narrowed as the commander began generating their own electrical field, but with a red hue that spoke of a fundamentally different energy source than his natural lightning. This, Lucas realized as he shifted into a combat stance, was going to be considerably more challenging than he'd anticipated.

Chapter 267: New quest : DeJa Vu

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