Anna's breath quickened. Her hands trembled around the trigger of her gun. Every fiber of her being screamed that they were being hunted—stalked by something not alive, yet very aware.
Without thinking, she fired into the empty space ahead. A sharp crack echoed through the corridor, followed by a metallic squeal—thin and high-pitched, like rusted metal being torn apart.
Then everything happened at once.
A freezing touch brushed her side.
Before she could scream, she was yanked back violently—her body thrown off balance as a sharp, cold presence surged toward her.
But before it could reach her, a brilliant flash of light erupted—an aether burst from Nova.
The pressure of it shoved the darkness away, illuminating a grotesque mass of broken machinery, wires, rusted limbs, and mechanical tendrils clinging together in a warped shape of barely coherent anatomy.
Anna gasped.
The abomination shrieked—if it could be called that—pressing against the shimmering sphere of Nova's aether shield.
Sparks flew as claws scraped against the barrier, and Anna instinctively clung to Nova's arm, eyes wide in horror.
Then the light faded.
Darkness slammed back into the corridor like a closing door. But now, it wasn't silent anymore.
All around them—clicks, creaks, and low screeches echoed. Like teeth grinding. Like metal crying.
Anna shut her eyes tight, the fear clawing down her spine.
"When does this end…"
Nova didn't answer her.
Because he was still watching.
Unlike Anna, Nova didn't need the light. In the perfect dark, his vision remained clear—crisp.
And what he saw made him grim.
The machine was still moving—barely. Its limbs twisted, reconstructing themselves, dragging the abomination across the floor toward them with uncanny coordination.
It was a God of Death's machine—one of many automated exterminators spread through derelict ships like this.
He'd heard of them before. Machines built to keep secrets hidden. Designed to ensure that anything that didn't belong would not make it out alive.
It had zero interest in dialogue.
Only in elimination.
As it surged again, Nova reacted first. Aether built around his palm, condensed into a sphere so dense it whined from the pressure.
He launched it straight into the heart of the mechanical mass.
The resulting explosion tore the corridor open with a sharp boom—metal screeched as the abomination was blasted back, its limbs flung in all directions like broken dolls.
Light flooded the space again for one, brief second.
Anna shielded her face.
When it cleared, she looked up and breathed.
"Is it over?"
Nova's expression didn't change.
"No. Not yet."
"What—?"
Click.
From the walls, the floor, the ceiling—more sounds. Shifting metal. Activation.
Nova stepped forward, eyes still fixed ahead.
"They'll be swarming this section. The first one was a probe. A warning."
He turned to Anna.
"Get ready to run."
"But—"
"Now."
Another mechanical shriek burst from down the corridor, and something sharp clanged to the floor. Then another. Then dozens.
Anna's breath caught in her throat as faint red lights flickered from the far end—like eyes opening.
"Go!"
Nova barked.
She didn't argue. She ran.
Nova followed, staying behind her as metal feet clanged behind them, closing in.
"We're not going to make it back this way!"
Anna yelled.
"I'll make a new path."
With a roar, Nova clenched his hand and blasted an aether beam straight through a sealed bulkhead to their right. The wall crumpled inward and exploded open.
"Left!"
Anna ducked through the gap, followed instantly by Nova. The second they were through, he dropped another aether pulse, sealing the gap with melted metal.
For a few seconds, everything went quiet again.
Anna collapsed to her knees, panting.
"What… were those?"
Nova stood above her, gaze focused down the new corridor.
"Kill programs. Autonomous. Programmed to terminate anything that doesn't belong."
Anna wiped sweat from her brow.
"How many of them are on this ship?"
Nova didn't blink.
"Too many."
"Then what do we do?"
"We keep moving. And we don't stop until we find a way out."
He held out his hand to her.
She took it.
The corridor in front of them was darker than anything behind.
But they ran toward it anyway.
Because behind them—death was catching up.
The new corridor twisted sharply, the walls tighter, the ceiling lower.
Jagged wires hung like webs from the broken lights, and every step echoed too loudly, too slowly—like it was counting down.
Behind them, the sound of metal grew louder. Louder. The abominations were adapting.
Anna paused to catch her breath, but Nova didn't stop. He scanned the walls, muttering,
"They're learning our route."
"What do you mean?"
"They're changing formation. Closing gaps. Surrounding us."
Nova extended his hand. Thin strands of aether formed a sphere around his palm before flattening into a glowing disc.
He tossed it into the air—it floated above his shoulder, spinning slowly like a radar.
From the corner of his vision, flickers appeared—dozens of red dots converging.
"They'll cut us off in three minutes."
He stopped suddenly.
The floor beneath him hissed.
Without warning, the tiles folded open—and three mechanical arms launched up. Each limb ended in a spinning blade. Anna screamed, and Nova didn't hesitate.
He ducked under the first swipe, drew his blade, and slashed. Aether coated the weapon, letting it slice straight through the hardened alloy like paper.
One limb hit the ground twitching. The second blade came for his chest—but Nova caught it between his fingers, aura flaring.
The energy sparked from his hand like a flashbang as he crushed the rotating edge.
The third tried to pierce his side—Nova pivoted, slammed his elbow down, and jammed the blade into the ground with enough force to split the floor.
The machine tried to pull away.
Nova grabbed its wrist and discharged raw aether directly into it.
BOOM.
The floor shattered in a ripple as the machine exploded beneath their feet.
Anna coughed from the smoke.
"Y-you didn't even—how did you—?"
"I counted its movements."
Nova said, already moving again.
They ran.
But the machines weren't giving up.
From the walls now came crawling drones—spider-like creatures made of blades and camera-lenses. Six of them.
Nova stopped. He turned.
Anna raised her gun, but Nova put a hand in front of her.
"Save your ammo. Watch."
His eyes narrowed, tracking the drones. They were fast—skittering across the ceiling in overlapping circles, aiming to confuse. But their timing was off. Barely.
He stepped forward, kicked off the wall, flipped over the center, and threw five aether knives mid-spin.
CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG.
All five drones dropped.
The sixth leapt at his back—but Nova didn't land.
He hovered, twisting his body in the air with a light aether burst from his feet. His hand snapped up, caught the last drone by the leg, and smashed it down into the corridor's wall.
It sparked twice—and died.
Anna's jaw dropped.
"That was…"
"Sloppy. Too slow."
Nova muttered.
He landed gently, the smoke from the drone's body still drifting in the stale air.
"But effective."
They kept going. More machines came. Wall-mounted turrets. Collapsing ceilings. Disguised traps.
None of them mattered.
Nova moved like he had done this a thousand times. Because he had. He ducked, flipped, and redirected every trap's energy back into itself.
At one point, when a sealed room suddenly launched electrified tendrils toward him, he simply exhaled—and created a pulse field so dense that the wires overloaded and burst into sparks before even reaching him.
Anna couldn't keep up. Not with his rhythm. Not with his precision.
And yet, she didn't need to. He cleared the path ahead like a storm dressed in shadow.
Finally, after cutting down one last floor-mounted spike trap, Nova paused. The corridor had ended.
Before them stood a huge circular door, glowing faintly—its edges marked with an unfamiliar sigil.
Nova exhaled.
"Looks like the central chamber."
Anna wiped sweat from her forehead.
"And what's inside?"
Nova didn't answer immediately. He turned, watching the corridor behind them seal off slowly as if the ship itself was realizing it had lost this fight.
"…The heart of the system. Where the source of this ship's defense AI is likely housed."
Nova said finally"
He pressed a palm to the door.
"Let's finish this."