The alarm’s howl reverberated through the steel-plated corridors, a deep, distorted wail that sounded more like a warning to get out than an alert for reinforcements.

Billy’s instincts screamed at him. Whatever had just been triggered wasn’t standard security protocol.

The woman in the combat suit—the Cerberus agent—glanced at the keypad. Her golden eyes narrowed.

“They activated a full containment breach lockdown,” she said, voice clipped and professional. “No one’s getting out until it’s handled.”

Billy arched an eyebrow. “Define handled.”

She didn’t answer. Instead, she holstered her gun and moved to the terminal beside the door. Her fingers flew over the keys in rapid succession, lines of code flashing across the display.

Billy took the moment to scan the area. The hallway leading back to the stairwell was already sealing itself—thick metal bulkheads sliding into place, shutting off every route but forward.

Whatever was coming… it wasn’t supposed to leave this level.

“Tell me something,” Billy said, stepping beside her. “What exactly does Kane have locked up down here?”

The woman didn’t pause. “Not your concern.”

Billy smirked. “I think it is now.”

A low, metallic thunk echoed through the facility. Then another.

Footsteps. Heavy ones.

Something big was moving in the depths of the archive.

Billy flicked his wrist, his hidden blade snapping into place. “Well, that’s not ominous at all.”

The Cerberus agent froze mid-type, her eyes widening as she stared past him.

Billy turned.

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From the far end of the corridor, where the reinforced vaults lined the walls, one of the doors was open. The massive steel slab had been torn from its frame, ripped apart like paper, its edges curling inward from some unfathomable force.

Beyond the jagged opening, a void-black mass unfurled itself, shifting like liquid metal, its surface gleaming under the emergency lights.

It had no eyes. No clear shape. But it moved—fluid yet deliberate, rolling forward in silence, except for the faint, nauseating hum that vibrated through the air.

Billy recognized the feeling.

Chaos energy.

Something was very wrong with that thing.

The Cerberus agent drew her weapon again, her grip tight. “Shit.”

Billy exhaled slowly. “That about sums it up.”

The thing stopped, as if sensing them.

Then it surged forward.

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CONTAINMENT BREACH

Billy moved first. He wasn’t about to wait for whatever that thing was to get the drop on him.

A flick of his wrist—gun in hand—and he fired two quick rounds. The bullets vanished on impact, swallowed whole by the shifting void of the creature’s form.

No effect.

Billy gritted his teeth. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.

The Cerberus agent wasn’t standing still either. She tapped her wristband, activating some kind of augmented combat HUD over her eye. Then, in one swift motion, she pulled a secondary firearm from her hip—sleek, silver, pulsing with anti-energy rounds.

She fired.

The first shot hit, and this time, the creature reacted—its form rippling violently as the energy round disrupted its mass. A high-pitched screech reverberated through the air, the sheer pressure forcing Billy to take a step back.

“EMP rounds?” Billy asked.

The woman kept firing. “Resonant disruptors. Not enough to kill it, but—”

The creature lunged.

Billy barely had time to move before it collapsed into a liquid state, flowing like black tar across the ground, rising up behind them in an instant.

The walls began to darken, the steel plating corroding on contact.

That wasn’t just energy.

That was entropy.

Billy didn’t hesitate. He grabbed the Cerberus agent’s arm, yanking her away from the spreading void just as the floor caved in beneath where she had been standing.

She shot him an annoyed look but didn’t argue.

“Got a plan?” Billy asked.

“Survive first. Plan later.”

Billy smirked. “I like the way you think.”

The creature reformed, stretching its mass across the corridor, cutting off their only exit.

For a brief moment, its surface shifted, like static flickering over a screen.

Billy saw something inside it—a face.

Not human.

Something older. Watching.

Then it attacked.

And Billy had no choice but to fight.

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END OF CHAPTER 96