“Brute force it?” Selia asked, scanning their surroundings. She phased in and out of sight, transitioning between transparency and translucence. Even when completely ‘invisible,’ Nil could spot her as light distorted around her body. “I don’t know the first thing about computers or overloading things.”

Nil shook his head. “We want plausible deniability. If I bash things or try to melt through them, they’ll know it was me. Could you maybe phase in and fuck things up?”

“They’ll suspect foul play and probably still have me on file. It's not a good idea if you don’t want it to look like someone tampered with things. Besides, phasing just a part of my body and grabbing stuff is still beyond me.” Selia made her left hand visible for a moment. Scars covered the fingers and knuckles. “Believe me. I tried. It's hard enough not to sink into the floor. I have to phase everything but parts of my feet. There’ve been times when I’ve fallen into the ground and almost suffocated.”

“Unnecessary information, but good to know. Thank you.”

“You don’t need to be snappy, Nil,” Selia’s tone turned cold as she spoke. “I’m here to help.”

“I’m sorry,” Nil replied. “I’m just stressed out. We need to figure out something quickly, or things are going to get ugly as hell.”

The visage stood by the Cursed Energy containment with its hands pressed against the glass. Much to Nil’s surprise, the symbiote within had extended a piece of itself and held it against the glass too. The fleshy extension shaped itself and matched the visage’s palm. The outer half of the hand didn’t form. Instead, Nil saw incomplete blood vessels with no contents and threads, which Nil guessed were nerves. The symbiote was attempting to mimic the human form. He didn’t quite understand why or how, but that was a question for later.

A possible idea came together as Nil wandered closer and studied the interaction closely. Selia didn’t follow. Energy Instinct gave him a rough sense of her position as she explored the hidden room, looking for a solution.

Bringing the woman into the plan was a last-minute decision. It placated Layla and ensured she wouldn’t force an unknown into the mission. Selia's performance in the battle royale and sixth consecutive victory in the Gauntlet of Ten made her seem competent enough for such a job. Finally, her ability and Iron-Realm sub-ability made her perfect for the mission. Nil wasn’t sure whether he could trust her—he barely knew her. However, her history with Symbiotech made her as determined to see them burn as him. So, he knew she wouldn’t work against them. The fact that the Nexus staff considered Selia trustworthy was also a point in her favor. Layla claimed the phase-shifter was intelligent and well-suited for reconnaissance and infiltration—a perfect compliment to Nil’s preferred tactics.

While Selia investigated the other containment structures and the many connector pipes in the room, Nil stood next to the visage and studied its interaction with the entity inside the column. His symbiote also quivered. He could feel it wrapping around the soul weapon seed. It wasn’t a physical entity but something ephemeral like his ‘core’ that existed in both of his arms simultaneously. The symbiote wanted the Cursed Energy within.

Nil knew what he needed to do. He inserted both arms into the slots attached to the containment pillar.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Selia demanded, racing to his side. She grabbed him and pulled, but unlike her, he had a Bronze Realm body, making him stronger and more stable. Selia almost ended up pulling herself off balance.

“The last time I was here, Shina told me that if I were to interface with this without a prepared soul weapon, the machine might overload,” Nil explained as he felt her phasing power activate. Energy Instinct had little trouble doing so while they were in contact. “That’s precisely what I’m going to do.”

“Are you mad?” She paused. Her phasing power felt ready to activate. He was glad she held off. Nil lacked the means of countering it.“Do you even know how?”

“No. But I have a hunch.”

“You don’t know what you’re messing with—”

Nil tuned her out, leaning on Energy Instinct’s gifts and his understanding of cultivation. He hadn’t tried using the energy flow techniques with Cursed Energy or tapped into the unformed soul weapon’s contents. However, Nil had successfully kept it from absorbing more of the vile magic once and attempted the opposite.

The soul weapon and the containment pillar had the same function and desires. Both simultaneously attempted to absorb the other’s Cursed Energy. Nil focused all of his efforts on ensuring the seed in his arms failed, wrapping it in Brutal Battery’s contents and forcing it down. Then he squeezed and tangled his will with the soul weapon’s contents. He snaked it through the Cursed Energy, and his skin crawled. Nausea followed, making his stomach bubble and head spin, but he pushed through it all. Nil bent his knees, standing in a horse stance, and focused on his breathing. He circulated Brutal Battery’s contents through his arms, trying to purge everything but it from his body.

Sweat beaded on Nil’s forehead and neck. His heart raced, and it wasn’t long before the exercise left his back soaked. But his plan worked. Slowly but steadily, Symbiotech’s containment pillar won. It started with a trickle. The soul weapon desperately tried to cling to the Cursed Energy as it escaped. Then, the stream turned into an unstoppable torrent, and Nil lost control. It wasn’t just Cursed Energy that gushed out of him but Brutal Battery’s contents and more. Stabbing pains plagued his heart, solar plexus, and navel. The containment pillar wanted all, and the symbiote attached to Nil disappeared into the machine.

Meanwhile, the symbiote floating in the vat bubbled and expanded, gaining biomass at an alarming rate. Human limbs, organs, and several grotesque shapes took form and dissolved in a matter of seconds. The visage disappeared and then appeared within the vat a moment later. The symbiote's flesh molded around it and appeared to consume the entity that resembled Aisha.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

A pair of delicate hands wrapped around Nil’s shoulders just as the containment pillar’s glass cracked. Selia pulled, and Nil’s arms phased out of the machine’s sockets. He collapsed onto his hands and knees as soon as she released, clutching his left side. Nil had never experienced a heart attack or seen the symptoms outside of films or television, but what he felt now seemed like one.

Selia grunted, dragging him away from the pillar and across the room as the cracks grew. Fluid leaked from the machine, and steam burst from the many connected pipes. Nil detected several arcane presences but no Cursed Energy. Instead, the black smoke and pink and purple flecks concentrated around the symbiote, flowing into the mass. It seemed to absorb the energy with ease, accelerating its growth more as the rate of consumption increased.

The vat exploded, spraying the room with several-inch-thick shards and viscous contents. The symbiote landed on the ground as a writhing mass of red and black. Up close, it looked like an ugly blend of biomass and metallic fibers, all made of hexagons of varying sizes. The symbiote attempted to adopt a humanoid shape, but without any fluid to support its weight, it failed to combat gravity. It thrashed on the ground for a few seconds before stilling.

The symbiote still contained Nil’s DNA, and he felt a sickening link to it. The artificial organism wanted him. Nil wasn’t sure how he knew, but he could tell that it wanted for him and it to be one.

Selia had dragged him halfway across the room when it sped towards him, moving using a mixture of human limbs and tentacles. Fortunately, the pair had crossed most of the room while the symbiote adjusted to its new environment. She dragged Nil through the testing room’s security door. The symbiote exploded against the shielded materials a handful of seconds later. It bashed the metal and glass but failed to damage either. A feminine face formed momentarily, adopting several alien but also a few familiar features. It glared at them. The still-active intercom carried its inhuman screeches. Then, an explosion rocked the containment room, filling it with a burst of fire. Cooling jets rained from above, and the protests of the artificial organism intensified. Several writhing appendages froze, cracked, and fell away under.

They have a freezing suppression system.

Unfortunately for Symbiotech, the measure had activated far too late. The symbiote abandoned sections of its physiology as it sped away. Shina had closed the hidden room’s doors while exiting, but somehow, the symbiote found a way out.

“What the fuck just happened?” Selia asked. She gently propped Nil up against the wall furthest from the door before checking his vitals. After half a minute, she nodded and released him, returning her attention to the containment room.

Several other glass tubs and vats exploded. Some symbiotes writhed on the ground while others merged, attacked the shielded glass, and then fled. A few assimilated the struggling or inert masses on their way out.

It took Nil a few minutes to gather himself and find his voice. The pain in his chest and left arm faded, but he still felt raw. It was almost as if something had been wrenched out of him. “I fed it the Cursed Energy in my soul weapon. Shina told me that I needed one of their soul weapons to process it for a safe transfer.”

“That doesn’t explain a whole lot,” Selia said. She sighed, shaking her head. “Fucking Symbiotech. There’s no covering this up. I bet there are emergency vehicles and lookyloos outside. There are going to be far too many witnesses when those things break free.”

“Let’s just hope they don’t harm any civilians.”

“They might. They might not. Look at how these things behaved. They want Cursed Energy. So, anyone who is straight and narrow should be safe. Besides, these things are symbiotes. Right?” Selia didn’t sound particularly confident. “That means they can’t survive without hosts, and I’ll bet they need Summoned hosts.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” Nil stated. “Not all Summoned are like us. Many just want to live quiet lives on Earth or aren’t built for mad combat like us.”

“Don’t worry about that shit now. This is why the Nexus hires people like us to work on Seed Worlds. I bet it will be our job to find and contain or destroy them.” She hesitantly looked at the inert dome hanging from a corner of the ceiling. Its usual red blinking light was off. “Unless they’re back on already. In which case, we’re probably fucked, and Layla will need to pull strings to keep us out of trouble.” Selia studied him for a moment. “You’re on your own from here. I need to get out before the security team comes in or the cameras come online again.”

“What?!” Nil raised an eyebrow, shakily rising to his feet. “Phase me out of here. This place is going to come down on my head.” He pointed beyond the shielded glass. Chunks of the ceiling had started to rain on the equipment and floor outside, and minute cracks spread across the connected wall.

“No. You wanted plausible deniability. Take a quest or use your teleport to the Nexus. Disappear for a few days and come back later, claiming you were worried the shielding wouldn’t protect you. The fuckers will struggle to pin anything on you. Either way, the lawyers will be too busy trying to cover their butts.”

“I suppose that’s not the worst idea,” Nil said. “Can you do me a favor?”

“Of course.” Selia smiled, suddenly adopting a playful—almost flirtatious tone. “Anything for you, handsome.”

“Okay, two favors. First of all, stop that. I get that you want me to ask you out. Things will, hopefully, be less crazy after this, and I will. Just give me time.” Selia’s smile broadened into a grin as she spoke. Nil couldn’t tell whether she had seen so much horror that the surrounding chaos didn’t phase her or the woman was plain old crazy. “The primary favor: check on Andrew. His signal cut out, and I’m worried Symbiotech found it and sent a team after him. Just ensure he’s alright. Please.”

“Got it.” Selia pecked him on the cheek, turned on her heel, and ran through a nearby wall, disappearing into the now trembling building..

Nil didn’t stick around for long. He followed Selia’s advice and used the weekly available teleport to the Nexus. It dropped him off at the Fountain of Pyrene, and he spent fifteen Schema Credits on its services straight away. Within seconds, he felt as right as rain. The residual discomfort from the match faded too. One thing was for sure. Something had changed besides the Cursed Energy leaving him, and the Schema interface confirmed it.

Feats:

* Armsmaster’s Disappointment

* Through Sheer Grit

* The Power Of Belief

* Primal Origins

Nil felt relieved but also empty. It wasn’t just Haunting Visage that had disappeared but Restless In Body And Mind too, and he needed to know why. More importantly, he was desperate to know Layla’s game plan going forward. If the symbiotes learned to survive on Earth, there would certainly be chaos. He doubted they’d sit inert and die. Civilian lives were likely at stake.