Returning from the depths of Sector C-5 proved to be quieter than Sebastian expected. Having reached level eleven and raised his Luck to forty-two units, he began to feel a strange silence in the surrounding space. It wasn't a lack of sound; it was a feeling as if fate itself was clearing the way before him, removing minor predators even before they entered the radius of his [Mana Resonance]. However, the true threat of Heloplex always lurked not in the sewers, but on the border between the dark tunnels and the iron order of the corporations.
He had almost reached the exit to the residential block when he noticed characteristic flashes of tactical lights ahead. These weren't scavengers. The rhythmic movement of the light and the muffled hiss of radio communications gave away an Aegis patrol. Usually, the corporates didn't descend so deep into the Rotten Sector, but after the incident with the Iron-Hide Wolf, security protocols had likely been tightened.
Sebastian froze in the shadow of a rusted tank, watching three figures in gray-black armor. These were lower-level fighters, armed with standard shockers and "Watch" carbines. Above each of their heads, levels pulsed.
[Target: Aegis Security Guard (Level 12)] x2
[Target: Aegis Patrol Sergeant (Level 14)] x1
The levels were higher than his own, but Sebastian saw that their mana was artificial, boosted by stimulants, unlike his natural energy. He wanted to just pass by, but the way to the exit was only one, and the patrol had blocked it, checking the documents of a random homeless person.
"Hey, you there in the shadow! Come out with your hands up!" the sergeant shouted, whose thermal imager had likely captured Sebastian's heat trail.
Sebastian slowly stepped into the light, trying to look like an ordinary failed scavenger. His Luck had already begun its invisible work. As the sergeant took a step toward him, one of his magnetic pouches on his belt suddenly unfastened, and a heavy shocker battery fell right into a puddle of oil.
"Damn it..." the corporate muttered, distracted for a moment. "Registration number, fast! Why are you in the restricted zone after curfew?"
"I was just looking for scrap," Sebastian replied quietly, keeping his hand on his tactical belt, closer to the "Black Star."
"Looking for scrap? With a backpack like that?" the sergeant suspiciously narrowed his eyes. "Search him!"
Two guards moved toward him. Sebastian realized that if they found the hound cores and the Brute heart, he would be shot on the spot as an illegal harvester. At that moment, his Luck score of forty-two units worked proactively. One of the patrolmen, trying to grab the backpack, caught his helmet cable on a low pipe that had strangely sagged at that exact moment. His head was jerked back sharply, and he fired his shocker into the air.
The discharge hit an old distribution box on the ceiling. A short circuit caused a cascade of sparks, and total darkness fell in the tunnel.
"Contact!" the sergeant shouted, but Sebastian had already activated [Shadow Step].
He didn't intend to kill them — it would have attracted too much attention. Instead, he used the momentum of his Strength of sixteen units. In the total darkness, he saw their mana contours thanks to [Mana Resonance]. Sebastian passed the first guard, who was still trying to untangle himself from the wires, and delivered a short blow with the knife handle to the base of the second fighter's helmet.
[Target incapacitated: Aegis Security Guard]
The sergeant began to fire blindly, but every bullet somehow hit the rusted partitions without touching Sebastian. The boy rolled, and at that moment, the sergeant's foot hit the same oil puddle where the battery lay. He slipped and fell, hitting his head on his own subordinate's backpack.
Sebastian was over him, pressing the "Black Star" to the officer's throat. The purple glow of the blade was the only source of light in the tunnel.
"It was just an accident, sergeant," Sebastian whispered. "You saw nothing, and we never met. Understood?"
The corporate, feeling the cold steel and seeing the murderous glint in the boy's eyes, only nodded convulsively. Sebastian stepped back and dived into the shadows again, using the remains of his mana for a quick move to the exit.
When the patrolmen recovered a minute later and turned on the backup light, there was no one in the tunnel. They found only a few rusted bolts and an empty casing.
Sebastian emerged to the surface, breathing heavily. It wasn't a deadly fight, but he felt the taste of confronting the Aegis machine. His Luck had saved him from being shot, turning a potential slaughter into a series of senseless patrol blunders. However, he understood: next time there might be fewer blunders and more enemies.
He looked at his hands, which were still trembling from adrenaline. Level eleven was only the beginning. The real game with the corporations was just starting, and now he knew that even their technology was powerless against the one smiled upon by fate itself.