The silence inside the Resonance Hall was deafening. Kairo stood at the edge of the chamber, facing the wide entrance with his name recently called over the intercom. Every step he took across the polished, obsidian floor echoed through the vast circular room, each footfall swallowed slowly by the tension in the air. Rows of candidates seated outside the main observation gallery fell into hushed whispers. A few craned their necks to get one last glimpse of him before the doors closed behind him with a magnetic hiss, sealing him in. The Orb of Resonance waited at the center, cradled in a lattice of metallic coils and crystalline lenses. It pulsed with a soft, internal glow—neither warm nor cold, but aware. Suspended above a circular platform etched with glowing Etheron channels, it exuded a gravity that tugged at Kairo's bones. The air hummed, thick with static, as if the chamber itself were holding its breath. He stepped closer, and the Orb's inner pulse quickened, its whisper vibrating through the soles of his boots. An agent beside a transparent console gave a curt nod, her eyes flicking between Kairo and the readouts. "Step onto the induction ring," she said, voice clipped. "Breathe naturally. Don't force anything. The Resonance will read your innate current. Let it find you." Kairo nodded, though his throat had gone dry. He moved onto the center of the ring. The moment he entered, a thin light scanned over his body from head to toe. The lights in the room dimmed, and the Orb awakened with a sudden ripple of energy. A low, thrumming resonance began to vibrate through the chamber's floor, syncing to his heartbeat—too loud, too fast. He raised his hand. Hesitated. His fingers hovered over the Orb, the shard in his pocket burning against his thigh. Then he pressed his palm to the sphere.——And everything collapsed.
The chamber vanished. The floor, the agent, the platform—gone. Kairo floated in an abyss, endless and silent as the void between stars. No gravity, no time, only the thud of his heart—if it was even still beating. The darkness was absolute, pressing against his eyes, his thoughts, his self. — just nothingness "Where…?" His voice didn't echo. It didn't travel. Swallowed by the nothing—It barely even existed here. A shimmer of light blinked into the void beside him. Then another. Then eight more. Eight tiny motes of glowing energy—each no larger than a marble—began to appear around him, drifting through the airless dark like fireflies under water. Each glowed with a different color. Fiery red. Serene blue. Electric green. Bright white. Dusky violet. Rich golden amber. Faint silver. Inky Violet Black. as if merging two elemental forces into one. They danced gently around Kairo, drawn to him like iron to a magnet. A strange warmth filled his chest as he gazed at them. Then, the flickering stopped. He reached out, and the motes swirled faster, forming fleeting shapes—rings of stone, a black monolith, The motes trembled, their colors flickering like broken signals. Then, something spoke. Not a voice—a frequency, a concept, deeper than sound, reminded him of his dreams—but it was clearer now, shaking the marrow of his thoughts.
"Anomaly… located. Thread… analyzed."
The void twitched, glitching like a corrupted screen. Cracks of light split the darkness, jagged and raw. "A hollow frame… built to house echoes. You are not what they seek. You are what they fear." Kairo's breath caught. The motes spiraled inward, collapsing into his chest. Pain—sharp, electric—lanced through him, not from his body but his core, the place where Etheron lived.
"Codex: Activated."
A grid of light flared in his vision, translucent, like a heads-up display. Symbols—dark, mathematical—scrolled across it, forming words: [Codex: Initialized. Host: Fractureborn.] The void cracked wider, light pouring through. The voice thundered again, final and absolute:
"Welcome, Fractureborn."
Kairo screamed—not from pain, but from the weight of being seen, stripped bare by something beyond comprehension.
He clutched at nothing, gasping, trying to anchor himself. The motes slowed, their colors dimming. He focused, willing his heart to steady, his Etheron to coil inward. The void shuddered—and spat him out. And just like that, he was back.
Kairo stumbled back, collapsing to one knee. The chamber snapped back into focus, harsh and real. An agent caught his shoulder, steadying him. "Are you alright? You blacked out for eight seconds." He blinked, vision swimming. His hands trembled, black-violet sparks coiling around his fingers before fading. A metallic taste coated his tongue. "Y-yeah," he muttered. "I… think I'm fine." But everyone's attention had already shifted. The Orb was glowing. But the room was chaos. The Orb pulsed with an inky black core, threaded with deep violet and blue, like a collapsing star. It didn't just glow—it absorbed light, bending the air into a hazy vortex. The platform's channels sparked, cracking with faint fractures. Nearby monitors hissed with static, their screens glitching into nonsense. Technonodes orbiting the Orb wobbled, some short-circuiting with pops of sparks. The agent at the console stared, frozen. "That… can't be right." He tapped the screen, then slammed it. "No match in classification. No rank parameters. This signature's… corrupted? No—it's not recorded." One of the other agents turned to a side panel and tapped a secure alert channel. "Calling Overseer Zairen. We've got a deviation in Chamber 3." Kairo stood, legs unsteady. Through the security glass, candidates whispered, their faces a blur. Mira's eyes were wide, curious, not afraid. Tarek's were narrowed, his jaw tight with something like rage. Inside Kairo's chest, his core trembled. He clenched his fists, willing the sparks to fade. The shard pulsed in his pocket, warm, alive. What are you? he thought, not sure if he meant the shard, the Codex, or himself.
The atmosphere inside the chamber was thick with unease. The orb still shimmered with that unplaceable, almost impossible hue—an obsidian black with streaks of dark violet-blue threading through it like veins of shattered starlight. Kairo stood there, still shaken from what he had just experienced. The voice still echoed faintly in his memory, he didn't know what it meant—FractureBorn? Codex? The agents monitoring the orb had already begun scrambling behind their transparent consoles. One of them, a wiry man with a trembling jawline, kept flicking through readings that refused to stabilize. Another whispered to a colleague, something about interference, something about corrupted data streams. But it wasn't interference. It was him.
Zairen Kael arrived within moments. His long stride carved through the tension like a blade through silk, Unlike the others, he wasn't panicking. He didn't even blink when he saw the orb's color still pulsing—dark, unreadable. He stepped beside the main console and glanced at the readings. Static. Noise. Feedback loops. All their instruments, all C.E.L.E.N tech—built to process the energy signatures of Etherborn—was blind to Kairo. still standing silently, finally found his voice. "What… what does this mean?" Zairen turned his gaze toward him. The man's expression was unreadable, but not unkind. "It means you're going to be just fine," he said in a tone too measured to be a lie. "None of us have the full picture yet. But you're standing, you're breathing, and the orb didn't shatter. That's already more than we can say for some experiments in the past." Kairo looked down, unconvinced. "But it's not normal, is it?"
Zairen's gaze softened, just a fraction. "Normal's overrated." He turned to the agents. "Reset the chamber. Lock out external observers. Copy the data, scrub the feed."
One of the agents hesitated. "Sir, should we notify—?"
"No," Zairen cut in. "No one else. Not yet. He placed a hand on Kairo's shoulder. "We're going to run it again. Privately. Come with me." The secure chamber was a tomb of steel and shadow, buried deep below the Resonance Hall. Its walls were etched with containment runes, pulsing faintly to suppress Etheron leaks. A smaller Orb sat on a metal pedestal, its glow dormant but intense, like a caged star. Two senior agents flanked the room, one clutching a failsafe device, the other avoiding Kairo's eyes. No spectators. No broadcasting. Just Zairen, Kairo, and a pair of senior agents who looked like they'd rather be anywhere else. "Touch it again," Zairen said. Kairo's hand hovered. The shard burned hotter, its pulse syncing with his heartbeat. "What if it… happens again?" Zairen's eyes narrowed faintly. "Then we'll be watching." Kairo raised his hand and rested it against the orb. Nothing happened—relieved from not facing that terror again, the sphere still swallowed the light again with its unique inky black-violet color and unrecognized data that meant nothing, at least to C.E.L.E.N's tech. Zairen stepped forward. "Same result," one of the agents muttered. "We can't risk exposure," the other added. "The public is already watching the results. If this gets out—" . "It won't, we're not dumb enough to broadcast this event live—we've set a delay of 30mins to the livefeed. This hasn't seen by the public yet." Zairen said firmly. "Call the broadcasting sector, cut this part with commercials and proceed with the rest of the trials like nothing happened, this stays here." He looked at Kairo for a long time. "We don't know what this is. We've never seen an orb respond this way. You're not on any registry. No records of this type, no known power signature. But whatever this is… you're stable. And thats what matters." , "What happens now?" Kairo asked. "You go back out there," Zairen said. "You continue the trials. As far as the others are concerned, your data was just… inconclusive. It happens sometimes with rare types. We'll keep an eye on you, but the rest of your path proceeds as normal." Kairo blinked. "You're just going to pretend it didn't happen?" Zairen almost smiled. "No. We're going to act like it didn't happen. That's different." The agents reset the internal systems. The orb dimmed. The silence lingered. Zairen turned and placed a hand on the exit door. "Kairo," he said without looking back. "Whatever this is… it chose you. Don't be afraid of it. Just try not to let the others know you're different—until you understand what that difference means."
Kairo nodded, hesitant but resolute. He stepped out. The corridor was bright. Too bright after the strange dark. The other candidates were still being processed. He was quietly shuffled back into the line, given a nod from an unfamiliar agent, and told to proceed to the next phase of the trials with the others. He scanned the crowd. Mira stood ahead, speaking to another candidate, her indigo-lined suit catching the light. She glanced back, catching his eye with a sly smile, as if she knew something he didn't. Tarek loomed nearby, his glare cutting through the crowd, his fists wrapped in black cloth. Others whispered, speculating about Kairo's lack of announcement. Inconclusive, Zairen had said. But Kairo felt their stares, sharp as blades. His hands tingled, the shard's warmth a constant reminder. The Codex's grid lingered at the edge of his vision, dormant but waiting. He didn't know what was coming, but something had begun.
Far from the Dome, in a salt-eaten warehouse by the coast, Varric stood before a cracked holoscreen, its feed hacked into the Trials' broadcast bypassing the delay and fake commercial cut. Kairo's resonance flickered on the display— His masked allies flanked him, their bone masks gleaming under dim light.
"The boy's awakened," the woman who sliced her hands last week said, the broad man grunted. "Too soon." Varric's jaw tightened. "It's not about ready. It's about him." He tapped a red Etheron device, its glyphs pulsing. "The shard's active. The Codex has him. We wait." The young man with the alieny box smirked. "And if C.E.L.E.N. locks him down?" Varric's eyes burned. "They won't. Suspecting us —"red traces"—doesn't mean they figured it out. They're still clueless about it all. And i doubt they'll connect this with other events nor take any actions based on speculation." The screen flickered, Kairo's face vanishing into the crowd. Varric turned, coat snapping in the wind. "Prepare the rift. The convergence is close."
The candidates were herded into a massive atrium, its glass dome revealing the Trial arena below—a sprawling battlefield of shifting terrains. Crumbled skyscrapers jutted from flooded streets, lava craters glowed red, and anti-gravity zones shimmered like heat haze. Etheron storms crackled in the distance, their violet arcs lighting the ruins.
Zairen stood on a raised platform as drones broadcast his image across the atrium. "Candidates," he began, voice booming, "the Resonance Hall was your first step. You officially unlocked your full potential. Now, you face the Proving Ground—a test of strength, strategy, and will." The holoscreen behind him flared, showing the arena's layout: urban ruins, lava flows, gravity zones, and more. "All one hundred and twenty of you will compete simultaneously," Zairen said. "Your objective: earn points to advance. Defeat simulated Veilspawn—1 point for Omega-class (E-rank), 3 for Delta-class (D-rank), 10 for Gamma-class (C-rank). Rescue civilian drones for 5 points each. Solve tactical puzzles—rerouting Etheron flows, disarming traps—for 2 to 10 points. Endure stress fields to prove your mental resilience, earning bonus points."
Murmurs rippled through the crowd. Kairo glanced at Mira, who nodded slightly, her eyes sharp with focus. Tarek cracked his knuckles, already scanning the arena like a predator.
"The Proving Ground test spans sixty minutes," Zairen declared, his voice a blade cutting through the atrium's hum. "This is your trial, but not a solitary one. Forge alliances to conquer high-tier Veilspawn or tackle perilous rescues. Points earned in teamwork—whether shattering a Gamma-class or saving civilians—count fully for each of you, as if you faced the challenge alone." , "Points determine who advances to the final rounds. Automated systems and examiners will watch. Cheat, and you're banned for life. Fail, and you walk away. Succeed… and you're one step closer to Etherborn." The holoscreen shifted, showing robotic Veilspawn—Omega-class with glowing claws, Delta-class with obsidian armor and Gamma-class towering like living fortresses. Civilian drones blinked with distress signals, scattered across the terrain. "Prepare yourselves," Zairen said, his voice a blade. "The world is watching." Candidates were ushered to drop-pods lining the atrium's edge. Kairo stepped into his, the shard pulsing in his pocket. The Codex flared:
[Warning: Host power unstable. Objective: Survive Proving Ground. Recommended: Prioritize rescue, tactical points.]
Mira's pod was nearby. She flashed a grin. "Don't blow up the arena, alright?" Kairo managed a weak smile, remembering his mom saying the same thing this morning. "No promises." Tarek's pod sealed shut, his glare lingering on Kairo. The pods hummed, ready to launch. Kairo gripped the shard, its warmth grounding him.
The drop-pod's engines roared, hurling Kairo toward the Proving Ground like a comet. His stomach churned, the Resonance Hall's accident still clawing at his mind, relentless, drowning out the pod's hum. His hands trembled, slick with sweat. The pod slammed into the arena's flooded district, the impact jarring his bones. Water surged around the hull, cold and murky, as the door hissed open. Kairo stumbled out, boots sinking into mud, the battlefield's roar swallowing him whole. The Proving Ground was a living nightmare—crumbled skyscrapers loomed, their steel skeletons wreathed in violet Etheron fog. Lava craters pulsed red, casting a hellish glow across flooded streets. Anti-gravity zones shimmered, suspending debris like frozen stars. Etheron storms cracked the sky, their violet arcs screaming with power, each bolt shaking the ground. Kairo's breath hitched, his vision blurring. The arena's scale crushed him—explosions rocked distant ruins, candidates' shouts mixed with Veilspawn roars, and drones buzzed overhead, their lenses broadcasting to the world. His legs felt like lead, the shard's heat a constant burn. I'm not ready. I can't— His thoughts spiraled, then— An Omega-class Veilspawn scuttled out from a flooded alley. It looked like a nightmare—part insect, part machine. About the size of a large dog, its black, shiny shell shimmered with glowing blue lines that pulsed with each step, casting eerie light across the walls. In the middle of its chest, a bright orb flickered like a star trapped in glass. Its claws were long and curved like scythes, sharp enough to slice steel. A barbed tail whipped behind it, slicing the air with a high whistle, dripping with dirty floodwater. Its many eyes glowed like pinpricks in the dark. It locked onto Kairo and let out a hiss—high-pitched and metallic, like steam escaping a broken pipe. Kairo's heart jumped. "Shit" he shouted, stumbling backward, slipping in the mud. Panic tried to take over, but his training flickered in the back of his mind. He jumped just as the Omega slashed dodging its claw that ended up slicing through a nearby lamppost like paper, the pole crashing into the water with a splash, but the tail whipped around and clipped kairo's arm. Pain flared—just a cut, but enough to make him wince. Blood soaked into his sleeve. Kairo scrambled behind a concrete slab, its surface rough and rusted. His Etheron flickered to life—black and violet, unsteady like a flame in the wind. The Omega circled, claws scraping against the slab, throwing sparks into the air. Kairo took a shaky breath. He remembered Selena's voice: Focus on your core. Feel it. Don't force it. He threw out his hands. A burst of power shot forward, wild and unfocused, but it grazed the creature's side and scorched the glowing veins. The Veilspawn screeched, the sound sharp and painful, and lunged at him. Kairo rolled to the side, mud splashing into his face. The Omega's tail struck his ribs again—hard. He cried out, the breath knocked from his lungs, pain blooming under his suit. Gasping, he fired another burst—but it missed, too weak to hit the core. The Omega charged again. Kairo scrambled up and dove over a rusted car just as the claws raked across the hood, peeling it open like foil. He gritted his teeth, focused, and gathered his Etheron into a sharp, jagged bolt. This time, the shot was true. It struck the core. The Omega burst apart in a flash of dark blue sparks and shattered black armor. Its tail twitched once, then dropped still. Kairo collapsed behind the car, clutching his ribs. His arm bled freely now, and each breath hurt. But he was alive. The drones overhead zoomed in. Somewhere, the crowd cheered. It felt distant.
His Etheron flickered low, and the shard in his chest pulsed hot, like it was burning him from the inside. And before he could recover his breath, another Omega skittered into view, faster and more aggressive. This one had jagged red fins like coral sticking out from its back, and its core glowed a fierce red. It crawled over a half-submerged car, water splashing beneath its claws. It let out a guttural roar and rushed toward him. Kairo cursed and forced himself to stand, mud clinging to his suit. He ducked behind a broken wall as the creature lunged. Its fins scraped the concrete, sending chunks flying. He dodged just in time, but the edge of one of them struck his cheek, opening a thin cut. He pressed a hand to it, blood smearing his fingers. The Omega jumped. Kairo reacted on instinct, firing a blast mid-air. It struck the Veilspawn's side, knocking it off course—but not enough. It recovered quickly and slashed across his thigh. Pain exploded. He screamed and fell, floodwater washing over his legs. "I can't—" he started, but Aveline's voice from this morning echoed in his head: "show them who you are" Gritting his teeth, Kairo pushed through the pain. His Etheron flared, burning brighter now. The Omega came again. He moved—just fast enough. The claw scraped his shoulder, ripping fabric, but missed skin. He spun, firing a bolt straight into the red core. The Omega burst apart, sparks flying across the flooded street. Kairo dropped to one knee, breathing hard. His thigh bled. His ribs ached. His cheek stung. The drones circled, catching every second of it. He felt like he was falling apart. And then the fog parted. A Delta-tier Veilspawn stepped forward. It towered over him—more than seven feet tall, its body like a statue carved from black rock, glowing with cracks of molten orange. Heat rolled off it in waves, turning the floodwater to steam. Its fists were massive, lined with sharp crystals that looked like melted glass. Glowing runes pulsed across its armor. Every step cracked the pavement, sending ripples through the water. It roared—a deep, low quake that made Kairo's bones shake. Too big. He spotted a blinking distress drone nearby. Trapped civilians.
Can barely run, he sprinted to a half-sunk truck for cover. The Delta followed. Its punch crushed the truck into scrap, metal groaning. Kairo dove, He staggered, dizzy, barely standing. Focus! He thought. He fired a shot at the core—but it bounced off the armor. The Delta roared and swung again. Kairo ducked, the punch grazing his side. Another bruise. He backed away, his boots slipping in the floodwater, mud sucking at his soles. His chest heaved, each breath a ragged gasp, the shard's heat searing his thigh like a molten blade. "I can't—I can barely handle an Omega!" he choked out, voice cracking, his slate-gray eyes wide with terror. "God—I don't even know what type I am—some Etherborn freak with no type, just… raw Etheron energy with no purpose like most humans. What the hell am I supposed to do? I can't die here—not like this!" The Delta roared and charged, swinging its massive fist with crushing force. A concrete pillar shattered like glass, sending debris flying in all directions. A sharp piece slammed into Kairo's shoulder with a heavy thud. "Argh!" he cried out, stumbling back as pain tore through him. His shoulder throbbed, his knees gave out, and blood ran down his cheek, mixing with mud. The fog around him twisted like smoke, and the Delta's glowing core burned through the mist. It stepped closer, its huge fists ready to end the fight. Kairo's mind spiraled. This is it. I'm finished. Then, without warning, the Codex grid showed up—[Host: Fractureborn. Stability: 34%. Fatigue: 27%. Critical Threat Detected.]
He froze, breath catching. "What…?" he muttered, his voice barely a whisper. The screen pulsed in time with the heat in his chest, right where the shard burned. A voice echoed in his mind—metallic, emotionless. The Codex. He looked up just as the Delta raised its fist again, runes glowing brighter, ready to smash him into the ground. [Threat Level: Extreme. Ability Unlocked: Fracture Pulse. Temporary Boost – Assassin Type.]
Suddenly, black-violet Etheron burst out from his core like a lightning strike. His muscles tensed, not from his own will but as if something else had taken over. His body moved on its own. The floodwater hissed and boiled beneath him. Everything slowed. Sounds faded. His eyes locked on the Delta's core, his heartbeat steady now, focused. The massive fist came down. Kairo moved. He dashed through the water like a blur, feet barely touching the surface. Energy surged through him, twisting into a jagged pulse in his palm, ready to fire. The rookie hesitation was gone—his body knew exactly what to do.
Kairo's hands glowed, black-violet energy coalescing into twin daggers—sleek, jagged blades of crackling Etheron, their edges pulsing like miniature storms. Each dagger was a foot long, their surfaces rippling with violet sparks, sharp enough to rend steel. Kairo's fear melted into instinct, the Codex guiding his limbs with assassin-like precision. He dashed forward, a blur of black-violet light, his boots skimming the floodwater, leaving ripples in his wake. The Delta's fist slammed down, cracking the pavement, but Kairo was already gone, sliding beneath the colossus in a spray of mud and water. He twisted, daggers flashing, and slashed upward, carving into the Delta's underbelly. The blades bit deep, slicing through its rune-etched armor, molten orange veins spitting sparks. The Delta roared, a bone-rattling bellow, its core flaring brighter. Kairo's strike drew a gash, black blood oozing, but it wasn't enough—the armor was too thick, the core untouched. The Delta swung its other fist, a crystalline-spiked hammer, and Kairo rolled, barely dodging, the impact sending a shockwave that splashed water into his face.
Not enough! Kairo's mind raced, the Codex's grid pulsing: [Host Stability: 32%. Damage to Target: 15%. Objective: Neutralize Core.]
The Delta's head turned, its featureless face revealing a single, glowing eye—a crimson orb nested in its rune-etched skull, pulsing like a second core. Kairo's eyes narrowed, an idea sparking. He gripped one dagger, its Etheron humming, and hurled it with all his strength. The blade spun, a streak of black-violet light, and struck the Delta's eye with a wet crunch. The dagger lodged deep, crimson ichor spurting, the construct's roar twisting into a shriek of agony. The eye dimmed, ichor streaming like blood, pooling in the floodwater.
Kairo seized the moment, the Codex's power pushing him beyond even experience ranked Etherborns. He sprinted, a black-violet blur, too fast for the drones lenses to track, a streak of lightning against the violet fog. The Delta thrashed, tentacles of molten energy lashing from its core, but Kairo was untouchable, his speed a phantom dance. He leaped, grabbing the embedded dagger's hilt, his boots braced against the Delta's face. Using it as leverage, he swung, his second dagger slashing across the construct's skull. Sparks flew, runes cracking under his blades, ichor spraying. The Delta's screams shook the ruins, its massive fists flailing, shattering a nearby car into scrap.
Kairo's arms burned, each slash draining him, the Codex's boost fraying his rookie body. He hacked again, carving gashes across the Delta's face, the dagger in its eye twisting deeper, blood gushing. The construct staggered, its core flickering, but it wasn't down. A crystalline fist swung, grazing Kairo's side, the impact knocking him off. He hit the floodwater, pain exploding, a new bruise blooming, his breath stolen. The Codex flared:
[Host Stability: 21%. Fatigue: 29%. Target Damage: 60%. Action: Strike Core.]
Kairo rolled, mud and water soaking him, and staggered to his feet, daggers still clutched, their Etheron flickering. The Delta charged, its core exposed, runes dimming, ichor streaming from its ruined eye. Kairo's vision blurred, but the Codex's grid highlighted the core—a blazing target. He sprinted, dodging a tentacle that gouged the pavement, and leaped, both daggers dissolving as he channeled his remaining Etheron into a final burst. Black-violet lightning surged, a jagged lance that screamed through the air, striking the Delta's core.
The impact was cataclysmic—a shockwave rippled, sending floodwater surging, shattering nearby windows. The core cracked, light pouring out, and the Delta froze, its molten veins dimming. Kairo landed, sliding through the mud, and fired again, a torrent of lightning that tore through the core. The construct exploded, a supernova of sparks, ichor, and molten shards, its armor collapsing into the flood with a deafening crash.
Kairo collapsed, gasping, his vision swimming, the Codex's grid fading. His body was a map of pain—cuts on his arm, thigh, and cheek; bruises on his shoulder, ribs, and side; blood and mud caking his suit. The drones swarmed, their lenses capturing the wreckage, the crowd's roar a distant thunder. His total was now 8 points (4 Omegas = 4, 1 Delta = 3, 1 rescue = 1), but victory felt hollow. The Codex's power had saved him, but it wasn't his—a force he didn't understand, not just yet.
And before he could process, The Codex grid showed up again; [Host: Fractureborn. Delta-tier Veilspawn Neutralized. Level Up: Combat Proficiency Increased. Host Stability: 29%. Fatigue: 35%. Reward Available: Full Restoration Protocol. Option: Activate now or reserve for later use. Confirm selection.] Kairo's breath hitched, his eyes wide as the Codex grid pulsed, its alien symbols flickering in sync with the shard's searing heat. "Level up?" he rasped, voice cracking, disbelief gripping his mind. The offer of healing was a miracle—cuts burned, blood drenched his suit, bruises pulsed with every twitch. This can't be real. But his body begged for release, pain drowning caution. With a trembling hand, he willed the Codex to activate. Light enveloped him, wounds sealing, bruises fading, fatigue vanishing like mist. He stood, renewed, mud dripping, drones watching, the arena's chaos roaring on. Then the Codex continued, its voice cutting through his disbelief [Abilities Unlocked: Assassin Dash – Enhanced mobility, rapid-short-range bursts—minimal Etheron cost. Power Surge – Temporary Etheron output amplification, increased attack potency by 50%. Cooldown: 60 seconds. Recommendation: Utilize abilities to optimize survival.]
Kairo's heart pounded, the grid's glow reflecting in his wide eyes. "Assassin Dash… Power Surge?" he muttered, clueless.