Reality snapped back with the force of a guillotine drop.
The storage room's air clung thick with the smell of ozone and rotting time. Rows of Chrono-Wheels lined the vaulted chamber—white, green, blue—their holographic tiers casting jagged shadows on walls lined with glass cases.
WHITE (1 year) | GREEN (10 years) | BLUE (100 years) | Purple (100 years) | Orange (1,000 years)
Laney gagged. "They're…alive."
"Not anymore." Jake's Vorpal Edge trembled in his grip, the blade's golden veins now snaking up to his collarbone. His lifespan counter flickered: 68 YEARS.
A green-tier wheel hummed to their left, fractal light glinting off its emerald surface. Jake didn't hesitate.
SPIN.
The wheel blurred.
[1. WHISPERING SHROUD (Common) ]
[2. DEATH MOTH SWARM (Negative: Enemy Mobs) ]
[3. RUSTED LOCKET (Trash) ]
[4. Plasma Handgun (Uncommon) ]
[5. 50-YEAR LIFESPAN (Epic) ]
Jake's power flared. Blood streamed from his nostrils as he tore through the wheel's code. The 50-year slot pulsed—a fractured glimmer in the chaos. His mind hooked into the rhythm, bending probability until the wheel stuttered.
Click.
Golden light erupted. The pill hit his palm like a molten coin.
[ LIFESPAN INCREASED: +50 YEARS ]
[ CURRENT VITALITY: 117 YEARS, 2 DAYS ]
"Another jackpot?" Laney stared. "How?"
"Patterns." Jake crushed the pill between his teeth. Sweetness flooded his mouth, vitality rushing through decayed veins. The Vorpal Edge's decay slowed—barely.
A clang reverberated through the vault.
"They're breaching!" Laney pointed at the blast doors. Syndicate enforcers were cutting through with plasma torches, their silhouettes monstrous in the green-tier glow.
Jake lunged to the next green wheel.
SPIN.
The blade's edge sliced the console.
[1. BROKEN MIRROR (TRAP) ]
[2. VOID NECKLACE (INSTANT DEATH) ]
[3. 30-YEAR LIFESPAN (RARE) ]
[4. RAT KING'S CROWN (CURSE, Debuff) ]
[5. GLITCHED WHEEL (REROLL) ]
Jake's vision split. The 30-year slot blazed like a supernova. He shoved mental tendrils into the wheel's core, overriding its defenses with a surge of borrowed time.
Snap.
The pill seared his hand.
[ +30 YEARS ]
[ CURRENT VITALITY: 146 YEARS, 2 DAYS ]
"Faster," Laney urged, watching the doors groan.
Jake spun again.
And again.
Each wheel bled years into his dwindling counter, the Vorpal Edge's decay biting deeper even as he fed it stolen time:
[ +45 YEARS ]
[ -6 YEARS (BLADE DRAIN) ]
[ +32 YEARS ]
[ -10 YEARS (BLADE DRAIN) ]
The Syndicate's hounds swarmed—gen-modified beasts with fractal fangs. The Vorpal Edge howled as Jake carved through them, their corpses decaying mid-leap.
"The Blue tier!" Laney ducked a sniper round. "Before you bleed out!"
143 YEARS. 142.
Jake sprinted toward the central dais where the Blue-tier wheel thrummed, its options etched in sapphire:
1. 100-YEAR LIFESPAN (LEGENDARY)
2. ELYSIUM'S WRATH (SYSTEM Overload)
…
8. DIMENSIONAL BREACH: ABYSSAL HIVE (Negative: Tier-3 Enemy Mobs)
His dagger shrieked—a sound that liquefied two enforcers' eardrums.
One spin. All or nothing.
The console demanded 100 YEARS. Jake's finger hovered—
"Deactivate."
The voice ripped through his skull.
Elena hadn't aged a day. Black silk robes hugged her figure, hair coiled in a knife-sharp bun. Gold lenses covered her eyes—the same ones Jake had designed for their late-night lab sessions. Now they glowed with stolen fractal code.
Syndicate enforcers fanned out behind her, rifles raised. Chris emerged from the pack, face still bleeding from their earlier fight. "Told you he'd crack."
"Drop. The. Blade."
Her voice was a velvet whip.
The Vorpal Edge clattered to the floor, its hunger silenced.
[ WARNING: VORPAL EDGE INACTIVE ]
[ LIFESPAN DRAIN HALTED ]
Her power. The Voice.
Elena smiled. "Still respond to my voice codes, I see."
Jake's throat tightened. Memories detonated—her lips on his in the lab's supply closet, hands sliding the neural restraint chip into his neck. "For safety," she'd said.
"You…stole the formula." Jake rasped.
"You did not deserve it." Elena wrinkled her nose. "You want charity for parasites. I saved us."
Laney edged toward the blue-tier wheel.
Elena's lenses flashed. A pulse rifle barked.
BANG.
Laney collapsed, clutching her stomach. Blood pooled between her fingers.
"Laney!" Jake caught her as she fell.
Elena tutted. "Still collecting strays." She snapped her fingers. A dozen rifle sights lit Jake's chest. "Where's the fun in killing you? I'll spin your corpse. Milk every second."
Jake's hand crept toward the Blue-tier console.
"Still." Elena's Voice cracked his ribs.
Laney coughed blood onto his shirt. "Jake…the wheel…"
Elena rolled her eyes. "Execute her."
Crack.
Laney's head snapped back, a hole blossoming between her eyes.
Jake's roar blended with the Edge's resurgence as his bleeding palm slapped the Blue-tier lever.
The wheel spun.
[ 100 YEARS DEDUCTED ]
Elena's Voice tore at him. "STOP—"
Too late.
The hologram landed on #8 as Jake's mind screamed: ABYSSAL HIVE.
The vault shook.
A portal tore open above them, oozing black ichor. From its depths poured a swarm of chitinous horrors—six-legged abominations with serrated mandibles and stingers dripping temporal venom.
"Retreat!" Elena's composure shattered.
Chaos erupted. A beetle the size of a hovercar snapped an enforcer in half. Acid sprayed, melting gold and marble alike. Jake grabbed the dormant Vorpal Edge and ran, Elena's screams trailing behind him.
[ VORPAL EDGE REACTIVATED ]
[ LIFESPAN DRAIN RESUMED: -1 YEAR/MINUTE ]
[ CURRENT VITALITY: 46 YEARS, 2 DAYS ]
The blade's corruption reignited, eating another year as Jake carved a path through panicking elites. The Abyssal Hive's shrieks shook the vault, their stingers erasing chunks of time from those they struck. A guard aged to dust mid-scream.
Jake reached a service elevator, its doors already closing. He jammed the dagger into the mechanism, reality rippling. The doors shuddered—and opened to a nightmare.
The lower garage was overrun. Parasites fought enforcers amidst the swarm. Chris stood atop a burning food cart, blasting beetles with a stolen plasma cannon. His gaze met Jake's.
"Yi!"
Jake ignored him, slicing the elevator cables. The car plummeted into darkness.