Chapter 5. Acceptance

I don’t think.

I act.

My body moves before fear has time to be born.

A step forward — sharp, almost brutal.

Pain tears through my shoulder, but it doesn’t stop me.

Everything that once held me back no longer matters.

The line between the ordinary and the impossible is gone.

The world narrows to a single fighter.

The one who aimed at my knee.

One strike.

Clean.

Like an impulse.

His armor tears open across the chest.

I move like a beast ripping into prey — shattering his ribcage like thin glass.

He’s thrown back like a chunk of meat.

His body slams into the wall.

The helmet cracks.

The man collapses — no longer a fighter.

— What the hell?! — another shouts.

The second turns, reaching for a knife.

Too late.

I’m already there.

I catch his arm, twist his wrist — and drive the blade into his neck.

He drops to his knees, clutching the wound.

Blood pours through his fingers.

His movements are convulsive. Useless.

The third retreats.

— Fire! FIRE!

Nothing.

The weapon is silent.

HUD is dead.

Protocols aren’t responding.

He looks at me — and there’s no rage in his eyes.

Only realization.

— What the hell are you?.. — he rasps. — Come on… do it…

I take another step.

He drops his weapon.

His legs give out — from pain or fear.

He falls to his knees.

And suddenly it becomes heavy.

Something has just changed.

They’re down.

Silence returns.

Thick. Heavy.

I stand among them, breathing hard.

My hands are shaking — not from fear, from overload.

The biocore hums.

But it holds.

Behind me — applause.

One clap. Slow.

— A good start, — says the man with blue eyes. — Very human.

— And very dangerous.

He looks at the fallen soldiers, then at me.

— A miracle, — he snorts. — And still… that’s not the main thing.

— Will you finish them?

— Or leave them?

He nods toward the fighters.

I freeze.

But I don’t hesitate.

I raise the weapon.

And it comes alive.

PERMISSION GRANTED.

The mechanical voice is flat and indifferent.

One of the fighters lifts his head.

His eyes are red. Glassy.

He understands everything.

— Stop… — he wheezes. — I—

I feel nothing.

Not a single emotion.

A dull, sharp gunshot.

The body falls.

Motionless.

— Alright, — the man behind me says. — I’ll handle the others.

— Sorry, but you’re too slow.

— And we don’t have much time.

My mind is empty.

Ringing.

Hollow.

Time… how much has passed?

Ah… what?

Where am I?

A moment ago I was in the maintenance conduit — cold, stench, metal under my hands.

And now… a residential tier of a megablock.

The light cuts into my eyes.

The air feels чужий.

— Awake? — a voice says. — Your gaze isn’t empty anymore. That means it’s really you.

— What are you talking about?.. — the words come hard. — We were… I was just—

My thoughts tangle.

Reality refuses to form a whole.

— Simply put, — he steps closer, — the implant did everything for you.

— Your “self” changed a little. And any change has a price.

He nods toward my biocore.

— Its stability right now… isn’t in the best shape.

And at that moment everything hits at once.

The conduit. Pain. The decision. Fear.

I feel sick.

— And here I was wondering, — the blue-eyed man laughs, — whether you’re human at all.

— Why… — I barely manage. — Why did I do it?

— Who knows, — he shrugs. — Maybe you just wanted to survive.

He looks straight at me.

— From now on, you should only look forward. Everything behind you no longer matters.

— Easy for you to say… — I stand up, feeling my body tremble.

— Believe me, — he says quietly. — What you did will save you someday.

— And help you accept yourself. Eventually.

I don’t take my eyes off him.

The pain is still there, but it no longer controls me.

Something inside keeps balance — fragile, unsteady, but real.

— No, — I say hoarsely. — Enough fog.

— Who are you?

— What is the Cycle?

— And why am I still breathing? Why couldn’t KORD-7 do anything? What the hell was that?

He’s silent for a few seconds.

As if weighing how much truth I can endure.

Noise rises from below — people, crowds, transport.

Alive. Blind.

— Not here, — he finally says. — But you’re right. You’ve earned it.

He touches his wrist.

The world jerks.

Doesn’t vanish — it rearranges itself.

The noise dulls.

Colors fade.

Everything moves… but like a reflection.

A stage without an audience.

— A local perception shift, — he says. — Your biocore can already do this. I just… nudged it.

He looks me straight in the eyes.

— My name is Noa.

— You and I are somewhat alike. In installation. And in what we fight for.

A pause.

— The Cycle isn’t magic. And not exactly technology.

— It’s a process capable of returning magic.

Particles of light appear before me again.

Now I see: they flow into concrete, metal, people — and flow back out.

A circle.

The world’s breath.

— There was once a Core, — Noa continues. — It kept the Cycle stable. There was magic. And there was meaning.

— When the Core was destroyed, the world went hollow.

— Mana vanished.

— Hearts became empty.

— That’s when biocores appeared — an attempt to restore balance. At least fragments of it.

Noa’s gaze stops on my biocore.

— But it’s only self-deception, — he says quietly. — What was lost cannot be returned.

A sudden pain slices through my chest.

I cough — blood.

— Everything has a price, — Noa says. — There’s a cost to everything.

Is he killing me?..

I look at him.

— So what? — I interrupt coldly. — No water. I’m dying? Or what’s happening to me? Because I feel fucking awful.

— The biocore is incompatible with your body, — he replies calmly. — It gives you power. But it takes your life.

— Fantastic, — I squat down. — So I’m dead either way.

— Not necessarily, — Noa adds. — It’s not certain.

— Right, — I grimace. — Coughing up blood is “not certain.”

— So you choose to give up? — he asks.

— I don’t give a shit, — I exhale. — Choice is a myth.

Noa smiles.

— Your choice was made the moment you installed the biocore, — he says coldly.

He steps closer.

— Now you have only one path.

— Straight ahead.

— Against common sense.

— Toward death.

He looks me in the eyes.

— And there, we’ll see which of you wins.