The base smelled like antiseptic and smoke.
Alaric had not slept.
Empty injectors, cracked tablets, and handwritten notes covered the metal table in front of him. Old Dive schematics flickered on a wall screen, layered with new scans pulled from the crater samples and the residue Andy left behind.
"This makes no sense," he muttered.
Xin stood nearby, arm wrapped, watching without speaking. Tara leaned against the doorway, arms crossed. Rion sat on a crate, eyes closed, Kurai whispering faintly inside his skull.
Alaric finally straightened.
"Spinat regeneration isn't infinite," he said. "It just looks that way."
Tara's eyes sharpened. "Explain."
"Spinat symbols hijack the body's repair loop and lock it into overdrive," Alaric said. "Andy's version is extreme. Cardomin anchors the process and the bloom supplies raw mass. But the loop still exists."
Xin stepped closer. "You're saying it can be broken."
"Yes," Alaric replied. "Not by damage. By interference."
He pulled up a molecular model. A thin thread of light ran through a dense web.
"This is the control pathway. If we inject a counter agent that binds here, it forces regeneration to shut down instead of accelerate."
Rion opened his eyes. "An anti Spinat injection."
Alaric nodded. "Crude. Unstable. But possible."
Tara asked the question everyone was thinking. "Will it work on Andy."
Alaric hesitated. "It won't kill him. But it will make him mortal. For a window."
Xin clenched his fist. "That's enough."
A low alarm sounded.
Rion stood immediately.
"Something's coming."
The New Threat
The ground outside the base shook.
Not explosions. Footsteps.
Heavy. Deliberate.
Tara grabbed her rifle. "All units defensive."
The outer wall burst inward.
Concrete folded like cardboard.
A massive figure stepped through the dust.
He stood over eight feet tall, body plated in fused Spinat armor, skin blackened and cracked like cooled lava. A single symbol burned across his chest, pulsing slow and deep. His arms were thick as pillars. His face was scarred beyond recognition, eyes glowing dull red.
He smiled.
"Name's Magnus Kade," he said. "Dive sent me to collect the sword."
His gaze locked onto Rion.
"And whatever demon is squatting inside him."
Rion moved forward calmly.
"Tara," he said. "Protect Alaric."
Xin started to step in.
Rion raised a hand. "This one's mine."
Magnus laughed and charged.
Rion Unleashed
The impact when Magnus hit the ground cracked the floor.
Rion vanished.
Not a dodge. A burst.
He reappeared behind Magnus and struck with the flat of his blade, releasing a compressed wave of force. The shockwave slammed Magnus forward through a wall and into the courtyard.
Magnus rolled, laughed again, and ripped a steel barrier from the ground, swinging it like a bat.
Rion cut it in half mid swing.
"Berzar is not my only trick," Rion said quietly.
Magnus rushed again.
Rion met him head on.
Kurai surged.
Rion's muscles tightened, veins darkening. His speed doubled. Then doubled again. He moved in short, violent bursts, striking from impossible angles. Each hit landed with crushing force, bones cracking, armor denting.
Magnus caught him once.
A fist slammed into Rion's chest and sent him flying across the yard. He hit a wall hard enough to crater it.
Magnus stepped forward. "That all you got."
Rion stood up.
The wound in his chest closed in seconds. Flesh knit. Bone realigned.
Magnus blinked. "Regeneration."
"Kurai's gift," Rion replied.
He raised his blade.
"Now mine."
Beyond Berzar
Rion slammed the blade into the ground.
The air twisted.
Dark symbols flared around him, not written, but carved into space itself. Shadows gathered, forming spears that hovered at his back.
"Kurai Art," Rion said. "Void Bind."
The shadows launched.
They pierced Magnus from multiple angles, pinning his limbs and crushing his movement. Magnus roared and tore free, ripping chunks of shadow and flesh alike.
Rion was already there.
He struck with his fist.
Not the blade.
The punch hit with demonic force and snapped Magnus's jaw sideways. The shockwave lifted debris into the air.
Magnus staggered, bleeding for the first time.
Rion followed with a spinning slash, carving deep into Magnus's torso.
Magnus howled and swung wildly.
The blow crushed Rion's shoulder.
It healed instantly.
Rion stepped in close and whispered, "You picked the wrong hunt."
Berzar.
One final slash.
Magnus fell to his knees.
The glow in his chest flickered.
Tara raised her rifle, ready to finish it.
Rion stopped her.
"He's alive," he said. "Barely."
Magnus collapsed, unconscious, blood steaming on the ground.
Aftermath
Silence returned.
Alaric rushed out, staring at the fallen giant. "His Spinat pattern is different. Stronger than standard."
Xin looked at Rion. "You didn't even go all out."
Rion sheathed his blade. "No. Kurai warned me not to."
Tara exhaled slowly. "Then we just learned two things."
She looked at Alaric.
"One. The anti Spinat injection might work."
Then at Rion.
"Two. The Dive is escalating."
Far away, underground, Andy felt a ripple in the system.
Something new.
Something dangerous.
He smiled.
And somewhere beyond time, Selena watched the board shift again.