Chapter 127: System Integration 4 (Flashback)
Even with his senses twisted, his body paralyzed, and his mind disoriented, Alex still felt the pain.
It wasn’t like burning or stabbing, not even the sharp, blinding agony of a wound. This pain was everywhere—a boundless, unrelenting force pounding at the foundation of his very existence. It felt as though countless hammers were striking his soul, over and over, in every direction, from no direction at all.
He tried to scream—he thought he did—but sound meant nothing anymore. The sensation of movement, of voice, of breath... all gone. His mind spun in a lightless void, tethered only to the ever-rising tide of agony.
"Make it stop."
"Please... make it stop."
Time lost meaning. A second could’ve been an hour, a minute could’ve been a lifetime. All he could do was think. Trapped in a mind consumed by pain, his thoughts became the last refuge—and even they quaked under the weight of his suffering.
Outside the capsule, Nyxara was barely holding herself together.
It had been over an hour since the screams began.
His cries weren’t human anymore. They were ragged, broken, tearing through the silence of the great hall with a rawness that made even the stone walls tremble. Every sound Alex made pierced her chest like a blade. She could feel his torment, not just hear it. It was as if his agony was reaching out through the capsule, bleeding into the air, into the very ground beneath her paws.
Her claws scraped deep grooves into the marble floor. Her fur bristled with rage and helplessness. Muscles tensed beneath her sleek frame, and her tail lashed behind her in short, erratic bursts.
"End it," she thought. "Please, just end it for him..."