CHAPTER 1174: HAVEN TOWN (2).

The floor beneath Cain’s boots split with a sound like thunder. Lava-bright light poured from the cracks, swallowing the metal platform in a wash of heat. He threw his arm across his face as Roselle’s visor shattered from the shockwave.

The reactor was alive.

What had once been an inert power source was now reshaping itself—folding beams, swallowing debris, pulling molten steel into a pulsing mass of light and metal. It rose like a wounded heart trying to beat again, groaning under its own density.

Roselle stumbled backward, coughing through smoke. "Cain—what the hell is this?"

"The core’s using everything it touched," Cain said, his voice rough. "It’s making a body."

The reactor burst open, releasing a storm of tendrils—each made of liquid metal, each moving with purpose. They struck the ground like spears, leaving deep craters in the reinforced floor.

One tendril lashed toward Cain. He deflected it, sparks flying. Another snapped at his side. He caught that one too, {Eidwyrm} shrieking as he cut through it. Molten shards splattered across his armor, searing holes through the plating.

Roselle fired in quick bursts, her shots punching holes through the writhing limbs. But for every one that fell, two more grew back.

"Stop wasting shots!" Cain barked.

"Then do something!"

He didn’t answer—he was already moving.

He sprinted toward the core, ducking under a storm of tendrils. They struck the ground where he’d been a heartbeat earlier, sending tremors through the catwalk. Cain vaulted off the railing, landing on one of the tendrils mid-whip. It twisted, trying to throw him off, but he dug his sword into it, using the leverage to climb.

The heat grew unbearable. His skin blistered beneath the armor. Every movement felt like it peeled flesh from bone. Still, he climbed.

When he reached the core’s chest, he rammed {Eidwyrm} in to the hilt.

The air screamed.

Energy poured out—raw, untamed, endless. His vision blurred to white as the metal around him melted.

The reactor didn’t just burn; it resisted. It was conscious now, aware, and furious. Cain could feel its rage surging through the blade, the clash of wills shaking the entire structure.

Roselle’s voice cracked through the comms, barely audible. "Cain! Pull out!"

He ignored her. His teeth clenched, every muscle trembling. "Not... yet."

A shockwave hurled him backward, tearing the sword from his grasp. He slammed into the far wall, pain blooming across his ribs.

The tendrils pulled back, retreating toward the core. Then, the reactor’s surface began to shift—faces appearing, forming, then melting again in the molten light. Voices echoed from within, dozens overlapping, whispering fragments of prayers and commands.

Roselle looked up, frozen. "That’s not just energy."

"It’s the crew," Cain rasped. "Every soul that died when this station fell... it took them in."

The light flared brighter. From the core’s surface, a massive humanoid shape began to emerge—a fusion of human and machine, burning gold, its body cracking under the weight of its own power.

The newborn giant stood, molten blood dripping from its arms. Its eyes opened, twin suns staring down at them.

"Designation: Prototype Omega," a broken synthetic voice announced from the overhead system. "Directive—purge the unstable element."

Roselle gritted her teeth. "Guess that’s us."

Cain retrieved {Eidwyrm} from the ground, the blade trembling in his hand as if resisting the pull of the core.

"Stay behind me," he muttered.

The giant took a step forward—each one shaking the facility apart. Its body seethed with plasma, its veins running like rivers of light. Every breath it took distorted the air, bending gravity itself.

Cain raised the sword. Roselle readied her rifle, her armor cracked and bleeding light through the seams.

The giant lifted its arm. Energy pooled in its palm, compressing into a sphere the size of a small moon.

Cain inhaled. His mana surged in response, the floor around him fracturing from the force.

When they moved, they did so at the same time—one to destroy, the other to defy.

And the entire world split open when they collided.

The blast turned the chamber into a white void. Light consumed everything—metal, air, even sound itself. When it cleared, Cain was still standing, body scorched, armor flaking off like burnt skin. {Eidwyrm} pulsed faintly in his grip, its surface glowing with runic fractures.

Roselle wasn’t so lucky. Her armor’s left side had melted, the servos screeching as she dragged herself behind the shattered barricade. She tried to move, but the shockwave had torn through her stabilizers. Her rifle was slagged metal. Her lungs burned.

The reactor giant had barely staggered. Its golden form rippled, reconstituting the damage in seconds. When it spoke, the voice was not a single tone—it was thousands, speaking in layers.

"UNSTABLE ELEMENT DETECTED. PURIFICATION REQUIRED."

It raised its arm again. The core in its chest spun faster, the energy signatures reaching catastrophic levels.

Cain knew another direct hit would vaporize everything within miles.

"Roselle," he muttered, his voice hoarse. "Get out. Now."

She coughed a laugh. "And leave you to play hero? You must think I’m as suicidal as you are."

He didn’t argue. The floor split apart as the reactor’s energy spiraled into its palm again. Cain braced himself, legs trembling under the crushing pressure. The sheer density of power warped space around him, dragging every piece of debris into the forming sphere.

This wasn’t a fight anymore—it was survival against a living catastrophe.

Cain exhaled, tasting iron. His Ki flared violently, aura shredding through the air around him. His heartbeat was all he could hear. If I can’t outmatch it, I’ll outlast it.

He charged.

The giant fired.

The world detonated.

Cain vanished into the explosion—then burst from the other side, smoke trailing off his back like burning wings. He rammed {Eidwyrm} into the giant’s chest again, screaming through the pain as the blade sank deep.

The reactor’s body convulsed. For the first time, its voice faltered. "—Sy—stem... destabilizing..."

Roselle, bleeding and barely conscious, saw the giant stumble. "Cain... whatever you’re doing—"

"Not enough," he spat, forcing his weight behind the sword. The blade’s veins began to glow crimson, reacting to the proximity of pure Divinity.

The core’s light flickered. Its molten veins burst, spraying molten metal across the platform. The energy output went wild—too unstable to contain.

"Cain!" Roselle shouted. "It’s going critical—"

"Then it dies with me."

He ripped {Eidwyrm} free.

The core screamed.

Everything went white again—then black.

And in the silence that followed, nothing remained but the sound of something massive collapsing into the void.