Pain has a voice.

I never knew that before, but I know it now. It speaks in tongues of fire and acid, in dialects of dissolving flesh and cracking bone. Right now, pain is screaming at me in a hundred different languages, and I'm learning them all at once.

The Cobradile's jaws clamp down on my torso with the inexorable force of a hydraulic press. Each serrated fang pierces my battle suit as if the supposedly military-grade armor is made of wet paper, puncturing metal and flesh alike. The pressure is beyond anything I've ever experienced—like being caught between two closing walls of needles and razors.

[CRITICAL DAMAGE ALERT]

Suit Integrity: 72% and falling

Multiple breach points detected

Pressure warning: 2,890 kg/cm²

Structural failure imminent

I try to scream, but my lungs won't cooperate. The venom from those first punctures is already racing through my system, turning my muscles to stone. Each heartbeat pumps more of the paralyzing toxin through my body, and I can feel my voluntary control slipping away one nerve ending at a time.

[Neurotoxin Analysis]

Compound: Unknown

Effect: Systemic paralysis

xSpread Rate: Accelerating

Nerve Conduction: 67%... 54%... 41%...

Warning: Total paralysis in 31 seconds

The jaws shift, grinding me deeper into that tooth-lined abyss. Something wet splashes across my legs—digestive enzymes, I realize with horror. The acid burns through the suit's outer layer instantly, and then starts on my flesh. The pain transcends anything I could have imagined. It's not just surface burning—I can feel the chemicals beginning to break down my muscle fibers, dissolving me layer by layer.

[Tissue Degradation Warning]

Acid Type: Engineered digestive compound

pH Level: 0.3

Penetration Rate: Critical

Flesh integrity: 89%... 82%... 75%...

Warning: Permanent damage threshold exceeded

My mind flashes to Mumbai, to watching Dawood, a kabab vendor, dissolve meat in lime juice to tenderize it. I remember how the acid would slowly turn the flesh translucent, breaking down the proteins hour by hour. But this is happening in seconds, and I'm alive to feel every moment of it.

The System's notifications strobe across my vision in urgent red, but they're starting to blur. The venom is affecting my eyesight now, turning the world into a kaleidoscope of pain and warning messages. But through the haze, one alert catches my attention:

[Combat Analysis]

Current Strategy: None

Survival Chance: 0.04%

Time Until Death: 47 seconds

Alternative Options: 1

Note: Sometimes the only way out is through

Through the fog of agony and creeping paralysis, something clicks in my brain. The System isn't just throwing numbers at me—it's trying to tell me something. If there's one alternative option, one way out of this literal death trap, I need to find it fast.

Another wave of acid washes over me, and this time I do scream. The sound echoes inside my helmet, raw and animal. I can feel my legs dissolving, can smell my own flesh cooking in the chemical bath. The suit's medical systems flood my bloodstream with painkillers, but they might as well be water for all the good they do against this engineered agony.

[Medical Alert]

Pain Level: Maximum

Consciousness: Fading

Shock Status: Imminent

Warning: Human tolerance exceeded

System Note: Pain is data. Use it.

Pain is data? What the hell does that mean?

Through the red haze of agony, I force myself to think. The System keeps throwing these cryptic hints at me, like it's trying to teach me something even as I'm being digested alive. There's a lesson here, if I can just see it through the pain.

I focus on the pressure points where the fangs pierce my suit. Each one burns like a white-hot needle, but they're arranged in a specific pattern. The Cobradile's jaw structure isn't random—it's engineered, just like everything else about this monster. And engineered systems have weaknesses, if you know where to look.

The next System notification confirms my suspicion:

[Structural Analysis]

Target: Cobradile Jaw Mechanism

Weak Points: Detected

Force Required: 2,400 kg TNT equivalent

Note: Standard M47 grenade yield - 2,500 kg

My heart leaps even as another wave of acid burns through my armor. The grenades on my belt—they're just barely powerful enough to break the jaw structure. If I can just reach them. If I can just move through this paralysis. If I can just stay conscious long enough to pull this off.

Big ifs. But right now, they're all I've got.

I try to flex my right hand, but my fingers might as well be carved from wood. The venom has almost complete control now. I can feel it creeping up my spine, shutting down voluntary muscle control one synapse at a time. Soon it will reach my diaphragm, and then I won't even be able to breathe.

But I'm not dead yet. And as long as I'm alive, I'm going to fight.

Through dissolving flesh and creeping paralysis, through acid burns and crushing pressure, I focus everything I have left on one simple task: making my fingers move.

Making my fingers move. Such a simple thing. I've done it a million times without thinking. But now, with venom turning my nerves to ice and acid dissolving my flesh, it feels like trying to move a mountain with my mind.

[Neural Interface Activated]

Accessing: Motor Control

Status: Critical Failure

Attempting Override...

Warning: Significant strain detected

Note: Intent shapes reality

The System's message flickers across my vision, and something shifts in my understanding. Intent shapes reality? Another cryptic hint, but this one resonates with something Aai once told me about meditation. About how the mind can control the body in ways science can't explain.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

I focus everything I have left on my right hand. Not just the physical act of moving it, but the pure intention behind the movement. The desperate need to reach those grenades before the acid reaches bone.

[Neural Pattern Detected]

Processing: Unique Brainwave Configuration

Adaptation: Beginning

Warning: Experimental Protocol

Note: Evolution through necessity

A new kind of pain explodes behind my eyes, different from the burning acid or crushing pressure. This is deeper, like someone's rewiring my brain with a rusty screwdriver. The suit's medical systems start screaming warnings about irregular neural activity, but I ignore them.

I can feel something changing. The paralysis is still there, but now there's something else too. A new way of thinking about movement, about control. What did they call it back in training camp? Haptic controls? Yes, that’s it. I’m able to think or exert the tiniest amount of mental force and put the system’s data to use.

The implications are huge. It means that the System isn't just giving me information—it's teaching me how to use it. I want to unpack that but right now, it’s a battle just to survive the next several minutes. I focus my energies on that somewhat important task.

[Skill Unlocked: Neural Override]

Level: 1

Success Rate: 12%

Energy Cost: Extreme

Warning: Significant risk of permanent damage

Effect: Limited control through paralysis

Another wave of acid splashes higher, reaching my chest now. I can feel it eating through the suit's power cables, short-circuiting systems one by one. The heads-up display flickers and dies, leaving me with just the System's notifications floating in my darkening vision.

[Damage Update]

Suit Power: 31%

Life Support: Failing

Tissue Loss: 22%

Time Until Critical: 19 seconds

I pour everything into moving my right hand. Not fighting the paralysis anymore, but working through it. Using this new neural override ability that feels like it's burning paths through my brain. My fingers twitch. Then curl. Then move.

The effort makes me taste blood, but I've done it. I have control of my right hand.

Now comes the hard part.

The grenades are clipped to my belt, just centimeters from my fingers. But with the Cobradile's fangs piercing my torso, I can barely twist my arm into position. Each movement sends fresh waves of agony through my dissolving flesh.

[Pain Threshold Exceeded]

Neural Damage: Accumulating

Consciousness: 72% and falling

Warning: System strain critical

Note: Pain strengthens neural pathways

My fingers brush the first grenade. The smooth metal of the casing has never felt so beautiful. But just touching it isn't enough—I need to pull the pin, position it perfectly, and time the detonation with...

Wait.

Through the haze of pain and fading consciousness, I notice something. The VelociTigers are still out there, still fighting their own battles with the Cobradile's other mouths. And they're not just fighting randomly anymore. They're coordinating.

[Tactical Analysis]

VelociTiger Pack Status:

- 3 units engaged with target

- Attack pattern: Synchronized

- Target: Primary nerve cluster

Note: Opportunity detected

They're not just trying to free their trapped packmate anymore. They're targeting specific points on the Cobradile's surface, places where the reaction seems strongest. They've figured out its weak points through trial and error.

Which means...

[Strategic Option Unlocked]

Compound Effect Possible:

- Grenade Damage: 2,500 kg TNT

- VelociTiger Strike Force: 1,700 kg

- Combined Impact: Sufficient

Warning: Timing critical

If I can time the grenade detonation with their next coordinated attack, the combined force might be enough to not just break the jaw, but crack this whole section of the Cobradile wide open.

A plan forms through the pain. It's desperate, probably suicidal, and definitely going to hurt. But right now, those all sound like improvements over being slowly digested.

I curl my fingers around the grenade, fighting for every millimeter of movement. The pin is stuck—probably corroded by the acid already. I'll only get one chance at this.

[Timer Activated]

VelociTiger Attack Pattern: Analyzing

Next Strike: 7 seconds

Synchronization Window: 0.3 seconds

Success Probability: 8.4%

Through dissolving eyelids, I watch the VelociTigers gather themselves for another assault. Their movements are perfectly coordinated now, like they're all parts of a single predatory machine. They're learning, adapting, evolving their strategy with each attack.

Just like I'm learning. Just like I'm adapting. Just like I'm evolving.

My fingers close around the pin.

Time to see who evolves faster.

Everything happens at once.

The VelociTigers launch their coordinated strike, their massive bodies hitting the Cobradile's surface like guided missiles. The impact sends shockwaves through the living ground, making the mouth holding me spasm. In that split second of loosened pressure, I jam the grenade deep between two of the largest fangs, right where the System's analysis showed a structural weakness.

[Action Analysis]

Placement: Optimal

Timing Window: 0.3 seconds

Warning: Blast radius includes user

Survival Chance: Calculating...

I yank the pin.

For one crystalline moment, time seems to stop. I see everything with perfect clarity: the acid eating through my legs, the VelociTigers' claws tearing into engineered flesh, the mouth's muscles starting to contract again. The System's notifications strobe across my vision like frozen lightning.

[Critical Moment]

Time Dilation Effect: Active

Sensory Enhancement: Maximum

Neural Bandwidth: 400%

Warning: Human limits exceeded

Then the grenade detonates.

The explosion hits me like a physical wall, a hammer of pressure and heat that makes the acid feel gentle by comparison. The Cobradile's jaw structure shatters exactly as predicted, but that's where "planned" ends and "chaos" begins.

[Impact Analysis]

Explosive Force: 2,500 kg TNT

Combined with VelociTiger Strike: 4,200 kg

Structural Damage: Catastrophic

Chain Reaction: Initiating

Warning: Unexpected energetic cascade

The blast doesn't just break the jaw—it triggers something deeper. The Cobradile's engineered flesh begins to react in ways the System clearly didn't expect. Waves of bio-electrical energy pulse through its tissue, making the very air crackle with accumulated charge.

[Unknown Effect Detected]

Energy Type: Non-Standard

Reaction: Self-Propagating

Warning: Reality distortion detected

Note: Evolution in progress

I'm thrown clear of the mouth as the explosion rips it apart, but "clear" is a relative term when you're on the back of a writhing mountain of angry flesh. My body cartwheels through the mist, trailing drops of acid and dissolving armor. The world becomes a blur of gray vapor and strobing energy discharges.

Through the chaos, the System keeps updating, its notifications flickering faster than I can read them:

[Status Critical]

Multiple systems failing

Structural integrity: 17%

Organ damage: Severe

Tissue loss: 31%

Neural load: Maximum

Warning: Human parameters exceeded

Note: Breakthrough imminent

The VelociTigers scatter as the chain reaction spreads. The Cobradile's surface begins to rupture in dozens of places, each breach releasing gouts of bio-electrical energy that light up the mist like sheet lightning. The creature's death throes are becoming something more than just death—something the System seems both fascinated by and worried about.

[Anomaly Alert]

Reality Matrix: Unstable

Quantum Signature: Shifting

Warning: Dimensional breach possible

Note: First convergence detected

I'm still airborne, tumbling through space in what feels like slow motion. The acid burns and paralysis venom are still there, still trying to kill me, but they feel distant now. Something is happening to my consciousness, something the System's notifications are trying to explain even as they glitch and fragment:

[Ev□lu□i□n Tr□gg□red]

Neural Pa□terns: R□c□nfiguring

DNA S□quence: Unl□cking

Wa□ning: Tr□nsformation in pr□gr□ss

N□te: F□rst st□p c□mpl□te

The notifications dissolve into static as my vision whites out. The pain reaches a crescendo that should be impossible to survive, and then...

Something breaks through.

It's like a door opening in my mind, a barrier shattering that I never knew existed. For one eternal second, I understand everything—the Cobradile's engineered biology, the VelociTigers' tactical algorithms, the System's true purpose. Knowledge floods my consciousness faster than I can process it.

Then gravity remembers I exist.