“I’m detecting increased security in the building.”

Andrew’s voice was loud in Nil’s ear as he arrived at the Symbiotech headquarters. The aether-tech-savvy scrapyard owner had whipped together a communication device that was barely a quarter of an inch across and comfortably fit just inside Nil’s ear. Someone would have to stick a finger in to discover it.

“Maintain radio silence until it's time.”

“Right. I’m the talkative one of the two of us.” Nil didn’t mean to sound short or sarcastic. The day to sabotage Symbiotech had finally come, and he couldn’t help but feel anxious. He had little trouble maintaining a cool exterior, but on the inside, he was a nervous wreck. It wasn’t like on Summoned quests, where the threats were of a defined threat level. All managers of dangers possibly awaited Nil if things went wrong. There was also the chance of him getting caught during his illegal activities. Then, his friends and family would face trouble too. “Just ensure the kids get clear.”

“You got it.”

Before stepping onto the premises, Nil took a deep breath in and slowly exhaled. He glanced at the visage. Even though they knew where everything was and where he needed to go, he couldn’t afford to ignore it. The visage had far superior sensitivity to Cursed Energy. If anything changed or things got dangerous, he’d need it to succeed.

Hopefully, you’ll be gone soon.

The visage had almost soured all the good memories he had of Aisha. Nil often needed to remind himself that it wasn’t her fault. It was the Cursed Energy and Symbiotech’s twisted projects that almost drove him to a nervous break and put him through seven years of torment. Aisha had nothing to do with it. She was a victim of Shina’s mad science project.

The sabotage would, hopefully, ruin Symbiotech’s work and raise questions regarding the safety and validity of their work. Katherine had used her ability and connection to gather a plethora of buried evidence and testimonials. Since using it correctly with the Metropolitan Police Force’s resources hadn’t worked, she turned to other sources, and things would go live once Nil finished his quest. Katherine kept her side of the quest separate from Nil’s and didn’t tell him much about it, the same way he kept things from her—given her abilities, he was almost sure she had figured things out. It was likely she got her intelligence agency job offer during the related endeavors.

Nil’s job was to disrupt and hopefully end Symbiotech’s nefarious activities. Meanwhile, her responsibilities involved ruining the company’s reputation and ensuring their secrets came to light. He trusted her to complete her end of the quest. Despite how it had disrupted her life and ambitions, Katherine seemed determined to see things through. The woman appeared determined to finish everything she started, and he respected her for it. Katherine had helped him get past several demons too, and learn to enjoy his life despite the visage’s presence, and he’d forever be thankful for that.

I’ll miss her.

Nil and Katherine had long run their course. They had a lot of fun together, and he’d miss their activities, but he agreed that they had run their course and that ending things was the right thing to do. It was one of the harder things he’d need to do in life. Giving up something fun and enjoyable is never easy to do.

“It's nice to see you again, Mr Roy,” the receptionist said when he signed in. “How are you today?”

“As fine as one can be,” Nil replied, glancing around the lobby. Several workmen toiled in a far corner. They were tinkering with the CCTV cameras and fiddling with the wiring. Andrew had said it was the perfect day for their plan. He guessed they were the reason why.

“I’m sorry about your loss.” The receptionist broke eye contact as she continued. “I saw it on Festus the Curator’s channel. It was so close! Another minute, and you would’ve had her. It’s a shame—” She stopped midsentence and glanced behind her. The older man who manned the lobby stood glaring at her. Nil had never spoken to him and guessed from the outfit that he worked in security. “I apologize. That was unprofessional of me. Do you know where to go, or should I summon an escort?”

“Stress tests and samples. I get it.”

“Not just yet,” Shina said, surprising Nil. She rarely met him at reception. “I’m sorry for your recent loss.” Shina took one of his hands in both of hers and gave it a reassuring squeeze. She led him out of the lounge and into a side corridor. They passed a couple of wards, and Nil couldn’t help but notice that the number of children in them was less than what he and Andrew had seen on the security feeds. “I can’t help but feel partially responsible for your recent loss. You’ve been nothing short of an excellent partner, and we’ve failed you. Perhaps your chances of victory would’ve been higher if we didn’t take so long with your symbiote.”

“It's alright.” Nil sighed. “The fault is nobody’s but mine. And, I suppose the arena construct’s to some extent. It was a seriously unbalanced matchup, and I also misjudged my opponent’s ability. A symbiote wouldn’t have changed that. However, a soul weapon might’ve just done the job.”

Shina grinned. “We’ll get to that. The symbiote is the first step. Once it's bonded to you and adapted to your ability—which shouldn’t take long—we can integrate it with your developing soul weapon. The assimilation might take a few months, but if you’re patient, we’ll have you steamrolling through the Gauntlet of Ten and dominating the Bronze Gauntlet in no time. I’m sorry it's taken us so long to get started.”

“I get it. Studying my power and the development takes time.”

“It's not that,” Shina continued. “You can’t believe how much red tape we have to deal with. The Nexus is hoarding all of its resources and knowledge. The arse-kissers in Parliament aren’t making our lives any easier. I’m really sorry. If we did more, perhaps you wouldn’t be starting the Gauntlet of Ten from scratch.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“That’s good to hear. Still, don’t blame yourself. I know I lost, but it was still a decent experience. I got the necessary ranks to get my body to Bronze Realm.”

“This, in turn, will make assimilating with the symbiote and soul weapon upgrades easier.”

After entering the symbiote lab, Shina didn’t lead him to the usual testing room. Instead, they passed through the secret door into the containment room. Nil hadn’t noticed during his previous visit, but it had secured side rooms also. Nil’s soul weapon symbiote wasn’t in the same glass column as last time. It floated in the primary Cursed Energy containment instead.

“We almost have it prepared for the integration,” Shina explained, guiding him into a side room. An identical symbiote sat in a secured glass case. “We grew this sample from the soul weapon symbiote. It will adapt to your body and ability, making the eventual assimilation easier, resulting in a higher synchronization rate.”

“Synchronization rate?” Nil raised an eyebrow, studying the black and red symbiote closely. It had little hexagonal bits, just like Fatima’s soul weapon used to.

“It's our metric for the bond between the symbiote, modified soul weapon, and the human partner,” Shina explained. “We’ve been taking all the samples from you and went through so many prototypes to ensure you start with a high synchro-rate. It significantly lowers the chances of you suffering a break, like what happened to Fatima. She was one of our earliest subjects and had a synchro-rate in the sixties. The Cursed Energy containment wasn’t ideal, and it may have adversely affected her personality. Fortunately, your modded soul weapon seed doesn’t carry any such faults. We have high hopes as a result.”

“Amazing,” Nil mumbled, studying the squirming symbiote closely. It was a grotesque but fascinating entity. He sensed no Cursed Energy radiating from the version in front of him. “Let's get started. I can’t wait to try it out.”

“I’m glad to hear that. The case will unlock once I leave the room. It might lunge at you at first and might seem to be attacking, but that’s not the case. The symbiote was grown using biomaterial we extracted from you, so it considers you a part of itself. Everyone else might be deemed a threat.”

After a quarter-hour of explanations, numbers, and aethertech jargon, Shina finally retreated from the testing room. She stood behind the shielded glass and hit a button on her tablet. The case housing the symbiote opened with a hiss. It lunged at Nil, making an almost screeching sound. Meatball didn’t react in his core when they made contact, confirming his suspicions that the version contained no Cursed Energy. It immediately molded along his spine, and he could feel the entity forcefully trying to connect to his soul weapon seed and the Cursed Energy within. For a moment, it felt like the symbiote was trying to take control of his body and manipulate him like a puppet. It sapped Brutal Battery’s contents and his energy. Nil’s left leg gave out, and he fell to his knees as he struggled to tame the fleshy mass.

“You ready, Sunny-boi?”

“Are you fine?” Shina asked through the speaker.

“Yes,” Nil answered to both.

“Are you sure? I can disperse the liquid nitrogen if it is too much, and we can revisit—”

Shina didn’t get to finish her sentence. The fire alarm blared through the building. Danger lights flashed all around the containment room. Metal barriers half rose around the central Cursed Energy pillar outside. It faltered halfway up the glass and then retreated back into the ground.

“What the fuck?” Shina swore, frowning and turning her back to Nil. “Fucking security. What the fuck did they do?”

The plan had always been to use a fire alarm or security risk to force a building evacuation. They’d been waiting for weeks for the opportunity. The security team and electricians upgraded the network at the perfect time for the operation. Any fires, failures, or alarms could be written off as their mistake.

“I’m sorry, Nil. I’ll need to go check this out.” Shina angrily tapped her tablet. “The security feeds and comms are down, and I need to make sure this is just a false alarm.

“You’re not going to leave me in here, are you?” He demanded, struggling to his feet. The symbiote covered his shoulders and arms but hadn’t yet spread to the rest of his body. “What if it's a real fire?”

“This room has fire suppression, and you’re extra secure in there,” Shina said, not sounding particularly convincing. “This place could blow up, but you’d be fine. The testing rooms might as well be bunkers.”

“Just get me the fuck out of here, Shina!” He yelled as she sped away.

“I’m sorry!” She yelled over her shoulder. “I can’t! The building is going into lockdown. The door won’t open.”

Then, she was gone, leaving Nil alone with none but Andrew in his ear for company.

“You were right. She is a heartless bitch. I really didn’t think she’d abandon you in there.”

“Really? I knew for a fact that she would. Now get me out of here so I can get started.”

“I’m trying. These bastards have identified my breach. They’re fighting me and are probably tracking my signal.”

“Fuck! Do you have Susan with you?”

It took Andrew a moment to respond.

“I just realized you can’t see me nodding. She’s watching the parking lot. I’ll pull the bus out of here if they find me and send a team. Dammit. I just lost my door control.”

“Do you still have CCTV access? Can you tell if it's safe for me to try melt the glass?”

“Yes. No one is near you. They’re too busy carting out the kids. Shina is in her office gathering hard drives.”

“Aren’t you glad you called for backup?” Selia asked, emerging through the wall. She had a strange translucence about her. It helped her almost blend into her surroundings.

“I am,” Nil replied as the woman took him by the wrist and pulled him through the testing room’s door. The symbiote tensed under her touch. He could feel its desire to unravel and wrap around her hand. The bond wasn’t like what he felt to Meatball, but something more visceral. It felt like an appendage with a mind of its own.

“What now, handsome?” Selia asked once they were through. She shimmered before turning completely invisible. The woman said her ascension to Irom Realm came with a stealth ability but avoided details.

“I’m going to overload the Cursed Energy containment,” Nil answered. “Then we run.”

“All the children are out. Some staff are still in the building, and security is trying to convince Shina to leave. It's now or never, Sunny-boi.”

“Okay. Tell me what to do.”

“Get to the terminal and hold your—”

“Andy?” Nil held a finger to the device in his ear. No sound came through. “Shina? Are you listening in?”

“What’s wrong?” Selia asked.

“I think Symbiotech found his signal,” Nil replied, heart and temples pounding.