Chapter 166: Shoulder’s Loop
Asurik followed her lead. His magma Ikona shimmered beside him, molten light spilling onto the pod’s ruined surfaces. He lingered at the threshold, one hand sliding along the battered doorframe as he turned to Kikaru, pinned within the netting.
"Sorry, Kikaru," he said, his tone heavy with resigned pragmatism. "Looks like we’re fated to keep crossing swords."
Beyond the doorway, the corridor stretched out, dim and oppressive. The conduits glinted faintly, the distant roar of B Block’s chaos echoing in faint bursts. Cube X’s tension was almost tangible—an invisible pulse that pressed against Elias’s skin. He stepped forward, the weight of his own lies dragging with him as he followed Vira into the dark.
Elias kept his hand firm on Junjio’s shoulder, guiding him forward as the boy stumbled. His portal Ikona, once a strong ring of light, now barely glimmered at his side.
Tears cut streaks through the grime on his face, his wide, terrified eyes darting from shadow to shadow.
Dot hovered close to Elias, her steady blue glow casting fleeting, restless shadows against the curve of the corridor walls. The soft hum of her presence was the only constant, a faint anchor amid the torrent of thoughts hammering in Elias’s mind.
His shard pulsed against his chest, each faint thrum matched by the cold numbers on the system prompt floating just within view. The countdown burned in his vision, a reminder of how little time remained. Who am I supposed to save? he thought, the words spinning through his head.
Junji’s dad? The ones I left behind? Someone I haven’t even met yet?
The unspoken question carved a deep groove into his focus, yet no answers came. All that surrounded him was the corridor—its damp, metallic scent of oil and blood, its conduits arching overhead like the ribs of some immense, slumbering beast.