The old "Zone-G" collector was one of the few places in the sector even patrol drones avoided.
It smelled of ozone, burnt insulation, and stagnant water that had been seeping through cracks in the concrete for decades. Dim emergency lights barely pushed back the darkness, casting long shadows across rusted pipes and mold-covered walls.
Astra sat on the cold floor, legs crossed, staring intently at her palms.
Something moved beneath her skin — not muscle, not blood. It was density itself, reality compressed and woven into her body. At times, violet sparks flickered through her veins, as if liquid cosmos flowed inside her.
Kai stood nearby, nervously gripping an old diagnostic tablet. The screen flickered with red warnings.
"Astra, look at me," he said quietly, stepping closer.
"Your pupils… they don't react to light. And your skin… it feels like cold marble. What happened down there? Tell me. Please."
She slowly raised her gaze. Her left eye still glowed faint violet.
"I don't know, Kai. I just… don't feel the weight anymore. Not gravity. Not fatigue. Not even hunger the way I used to. It's like everything that tied me to this world became… optional. I can breathe. I can move. But I don't have to. It's… freedom. And it scares me."
Kai reached out and gently touched her cheek. His fingers trembled.
"You're cold. Too cold. Like life is leaving you… or something else is taking its place."
Astra was about to respond—
—but the heavy metal door of the collector exploded off its hinges with a deafening crash.
Massive silhouettes filled the doorway.
The "Steel Hounds."
A gang of raider-cyborgs the Corporation used as unofficial cleaners when it didn't want to dirty the Enforcers' hands. Half-human, half-machine, covered in improvised armor and scavenged implants. Their eyes glowed red, and the air filled instantly with the scent of machine oil and cheap adrenaline boosters.
The gang leader — a massive brute nearly two and a half meters tall — stepped forward. His right arm had been replaced with a heavy hydraulic press, stained with dried blood and rust. His scarred, metal-plated face twisted into a predatory grin.
"Well, look what we've got here… rats," he growled, voice distorted by a vocoder.
"The Corporation's offering ten thousand shards for that defective girl's head. Alive or dead — the System doesn't care. Just bring proof."
Kai reacted instantly, reaching for a crude homemade pistol assembled from drone scraps.
But the leader didn't give him a chance.
One swing of the press—
Kai was thrown into the wall with a sickening crack of ribs. He slid down, choking, coughing blood.
Astra heard the sound.
And something inside her ignited.
Kill him, Thanatos rumbled, the voice flooding her entire being. There was no anger in it — only cold, eager anticipation.
Feel how easily their prized steel breaks. Taste how fragile their order is when it meets true void.
Astra didn't run.
She didn't scream.
She simply… appeared beside the leader.
The speed was so extreme the air howled like a wounded beast. One moment she stood by the wall — the next, she was already face-to-face with him. The raider didn't even have time to raise his press.
Astra grabbed his metal forearm.
Her fingers tightened.
The sound that followed would haunt Kai forever.
Like crushing a tin can — only scaled up to something monstrous. Reinforced titanium-chrome alloy, layered with ceramic plating, crumpled with a shriek and crunch. The metal folded like foil under her grip. Hydraulic fluid burst from ruptured lines, mixing with blood.
The raider screamed — high, animalistic. He stared at what remained of his arm: a twisted mass of mangled metal and flesh.
But Astra couldn't stop anymore.
The Abyss burned within her, demanding release.
She struck his chest.
Her fist passed through heavy armor plating, ribs, and internal mechanisms as if through wet paper. When she pulled her arm back, a spray of sparks and violet flame erupted from the wound. The edges instantly charred, sealing themselves — as if flesh and metal had simply decided they no longer wished to exist in that form.
The giant body swayed… then collapsed like an empty sack.
His eyes went dark.
The remaining Steel Hounds froze in horror. Their weapons trembled in their hands.
Astra slowly turned toward them.
A mixture of blood, oil, and violet smoke dripped from her fingers. Her left eye burned brighter.
"Who's next?" she asked.
Her voice vibrated, layered with Thanatos' low, glacial laughter. Two tones — human and something far beyond — fused into one that made the raiders' hair stand on end.
One of them still tried to fire.
A plasma shot burst from the weapon—
—and dissolved in the air half a meter from Astra, doing nothing.
She smiled.
And in that smile… almost nothing of the old Astra remained.
Only the Abyss—
finally beginning to savor the taste of steel.