The maintenance tunnel smelled of rust and standing water. Following Reyes's map, Adrian navigated a claustrophobic quarter-mile of forgotten infrastructure until the air suddenly shifted—growing hot, thick, and heavy with the metallic tang of cursed energy.
It was close.
He activated his Six Eyes. The tunnel opened into a vast underground chamber, and the sight below killed what little composure he had left.
Directly beneath the old manhole cover lay a coiled, pulsing mass of raw cursed energy given physical form. It was a dense, furnace-hot presence radiating heat so intense the ancient brick walls bled moisture and cracked. Across its shifting surface, dozens of half-formed faces slept in a quiet, terrifying mass.
[WARNING: SPECIAL GRADE SIGNATURE CONFIRMED. PROXIMITY: EXTREME RISK.]
Yeah. I gathered.
Adrian crouched on a narrow ledge near the vault ceiling, gathering cursed energy defensively. High above, muffled through layers of earth, the mechanical whine of heavy drills echoed.
Voss's team was setting up. Completely oblivious.
Please be careful.
They weren't.
The drill bit punched into the bedrock with sudden, jarring violence.
The mass below snapped awake instantly.
A shockwave of furious heat surged upward. Dozens of molten eyes ignited across the entity's surface, locking onto the ceiling with three months of suppressed rage.
[ALERT: PRIMARY DISTURBANCE EVENT DETECTED. CONTAINMENT INTEGRITY: DEGRADING RAPIDLY.]
The mass surged, cracking through feet of earth toward the drilling crew above.
Adrian didn't hesitate. He leaped straight into the path of the surging energy.
Slamming both palms against the crumbling boundary stone, he activated the inverted Straw Doll resonance technique he had spent ten days refining.
He wasn't attacking the creature. He was holding the seal together.
Pain exploded through his nervous system.
Channeling that volume of energy felt like swallowing liquid fire. Veins bulged along his arms as he forced stability back into the fracturing wall. The entity's sheer weight slammed against his makeshift reinforcement, testing his resolve.
[WARNING: CURSED ENERGY RESERVES CRITICAL. RISKS PERMANENT NEUROLOGICAL DAMAGE.]
I'll deal with brain damage if I survive the next minute.
Above him, sirens blared as sensor arrays spiked into impossible ranges. The drill finally cut off, but the damage was done.
The entity lunged again, harder.
Adrian gritted his teeth, screaming as white-hot pain tore through his muscles. Come home. Sophia's voice echoed in his mind.
He pushed deeper, reaching past his limit. Reaching for the inverted resonance, he forced a deeper connection—weaving his own cursed energy signature directly into the ancient barrier stone, binding his soul to the seal like a living effigy.
The connection locked in with a wrenching finality.
His energy became part of the barrier itself. The surging mass slammed against the freshly reinforced wall, stalled, and buckled backward.
[CONTAINMENT STABILIZED.]
[WARNING: BINDING IS PERMANENT. HOST IS STRUCTURALLY LINKED TO CONTAINMENT INTEGRITY.]
Permanent.
The creature's molten eyes glared at him through the barrier, thrumming with silent, trapped fury. But the window had passed. The breach was closed.
[ +140 EXP ]
[LEVEL UP!]
[HOST IS NOW: LEVEL 9 (GRADE 2 SORCERER)]
Adrian slumped against the damp tunnel wall, his vision swimming with dark spots. Blood dripped from his nose and ears, but as darkness took him, a cold sense of relief settled into his chest.
It held.
He woke up three days later in his own bed.
Sophia sat in a chair beside him, her eyes heavy with exhaustion. The moment he blinked, her gaze snapped to his—relief and anger fighting across her face.
"You're an idiot," she said, her voice raspy. "A genuine idiot."
"Three thousand people almost died at a vigil once," Adrian rasped out, his voice rough. "This thing would have wiped out the borough."
Sophia gripped his hand, hard enough to bruise. "I know just don't make me sit through three days of wondering if you'll wake up again. Please."
"I won't," Adrian promised gently.
Reyes stopped by later to brief him. The DODC had completely scrapped the operation. The catastrophic sensor spikes and "structural collapse" frightened Director Voss enough to reclassify Anomaly Zero as a permanent, off-limits hazard zone.
Three months of preparation, and this is where it led.
He was bound to a monster's cage now—a human lock on an ancient door. He didn't know what it would cost him down the road, or how long his reinforcement would hold if something tested it again.
But for today, the city sleeps.
Adrian squeezed Sophia's hand, closing his eyes as exhaustion pulled him under once more.
One day at a time.