My Shard Bearer System - Elias's Legacy
Chapter 165: Funding Pain

Chapter 165: Funding Pain

In the corridor beyond, the conduits sparked once. Faint light flashed across the walls.

Elias pushed himself upright, His shard pulsed in his chest, heavy. The prompt still hovered, timer burning bright. 24 minutes left.

He looked at Vira. Her serpent Ikona coiled tighter, red glow dulling slightly in the dim light. Asurik stood just behind her, magma lines flickering faint along his Ikona’s arms.

"You’re not killing anyone else," Elias said. His voice didn’t rise—but it carried. "Locking the door’s enough. There’s a software flaw in the panel. It’s how we got out. Without me, they can’t open it again."

The shard behind his eyes flared. Darkness bled through his sclera, one point of red light burning in his iris. He scanned the group—his perception ability kicking in—marking the weak spots across their torsos, tracking breathing, pressure, posture.

The pod’s screens buzzed and flickered. Light reflected off the glass—casting warped glimpses of the others:

Kikaru’s eyes wide in disbelief.

Faye, shaking, her lips parted but silent.

Tidwell still bleeding, fighting to stay conscious.

Paul, hands clenched over crystal.

Junjio, crying.

Wes, unreadable.

Cube X’s hum pressed in around them, faint but steady.

Elias clapped his hands, shard pulsing faintly. "Dot, binding launcher—non-lethal nets to hold them." Dot’s glow intensified, her hum filling the small pod. The sleek device materialized in her grip, its barrel vibrating softly as coiled nets settled inside.

"We’ll lock down A Block and keep you safe," Elias said, his tone steady. He turned to Vira, whose serpent Ikona coiled around her legs. Asurik’s magma Ikona simmered nearby, its faint heat rising in the recycled air. "Dot’s creations will keep them contained. Without it, they’d already be out."

Elias’s perception sharpened—his irises darkened, a single red point gleaming as he scanned their torsos. He caught the faint glow of control nodes, almost like targets. His lips pressed thin. He could see exactly where the system held them.

"You think you can just chain us up and walk off?" Kikaru’s voice sliced through the pod’s hum. Her orb Ikona flickered violently. "We’ve bled for this, Elias. How is this freedom if you’re locking us down?"

The nets constricted tighter, their woven strands creaking against the pod’s flooring. Kikaru’s shadow stretched long, her breath sharp and labored. Beside her, Faye’s trembling Ikona gave off an unsteady light. "We trusted you to lead us," Faye said, her voice cracking. "Now you’re just doing what she wants. What happens when she turns on you, too?"

Paul’s crystal Ikona refracted the dim overhead light, casting faint sparks onto the walls. His voice was low, the weight of his words cutting through the rising tension. "You’re breaking everything we built."

Tidwell groaned, shifting under the tightening bonds. His voice was ragged, full of betrayal. "You’re a coward, Elias. Trading us for her lies."

The pod’s atmosphere grew heavier, the hum of Ikonas mingling with the strained breathing of those bound. Elias stood firm, gaze locked on the faint glow of control points. His pulse steadied as he clenched his fists, still silent.

Junjio’s voice trembled, tears spilling down his cheeks. "You promised we’d save my dad, not hurt them. Why are you doing this?" His portal Ikona flickered weakly, his shaking hands clutching at the air. The flickering lights overhead reflected the fear in his wide, pleading eyes.

Wes spoke next, his tone steady but sharp. "You’re betting our lives on her word, Elias. If this is your choice, own it—tell us why it’s worth throwing us away." His Ikona pulsed faintly at his side, and the faint hum of the nets filled the silence. The corridor’s pipes and the pod’s dim lights bore silent witness, Cube X’s tension weighing heavy in the air.

Elias drew a steadying breath, his shard pulsing faintly under his skin. "This is about survival," he said firmly, meeting their eyes one by one. "About getting Junjio’s dad, about breaking free from Cube X’s chains. You’ll be safe here—locked up, not dead. Trust me, it’s the only way forward." The words tasted like iron on his tongue, the lie cutting deeper with each syllable.

Elias glanced back at Junjio, whose trembling hands clutched the fraying edges of his jacket. The faint, flickering ring of his portal Ikona hovered at his shoulder like a dying ember, the glow threatening to fade entirely.

"Let’s get out, kid," Elias said. He kept his voice steady, masking the storm inside—a churning guilt that coiled tighter with each step he took, every lie he’d just fed the others cutting deeper into him.

Behind him, Kikaru, Faye, Tidwell, Paul, and Wes lay trapped, their defiant words still ringing in his ears, heavy with betrayal.

The pod quarters of Cube X’s A Block looked more like a battlefield than a place of refuge. Blood, thick and coppery, lingered in the air, most of it Tidwell’s, seeping from his wounds in slow, steady pools. Shards of broken glass and jagged metal littered the floor alongside crumpled guards, their rifles scattered and silent.

Each step crunched faintly underfoot, the weight of his deception mirrored by the wreckage around him. His shard pulsed faintly in his chest, its glow a muted blue that seeped through his damp sleepwear.

Above, the system prompt hovered in stark white: "Save a life, 24 minutes remaining." The words pressed against his conscience, unrelenting. His shoulder ached from Vira’s earlier attack—not bleeding, but bruised, the pain gnawing at him as persistently as the guilt.

Vira’s serpent Ikona slithered toward the open door, its scales catching the flickering light of the pod. Blood dripped steadily from its fangs, dotting the floor in a crimson trail. "Perfect," Vira said, her voice smooth, sharp-edged.

A smirk played at her lips as she stepped into the corridor beyond. Her red shard pulsed, its sickly glow washing across the cracked screens and conduit-lined walls. The air around her seemed to shift—thickening, pressing.

It wasn’t just her zeal; it was something more, something that mirrored the Epics’ rebellion that had sparked this entire escape.

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