The console reacted immediately.
Lines of text appeared, steady and clinical:
CHIMERA PROGRAM — PHASE X
ACTIVE LOGS:
— Liquid Metal Assimilator Type-4
— Abyss Demon Hybrid Type-7
— Void Construct Alpha-3
— Dragon-Core Fusion Unit (In Progress)
— Infinite Spine Prototype (Failure)
PRIMARY SUBJECT: ACTIVE
STATUS: AWAITING RELEASE
Asher stopped reading.
"…Active. Great."
He looked toward the far wall.
A huge containment slab waited there—bigger than anything else in the room. Thick chains wrapped across it in dozens of layers. Every one of them was rattling. The suppressing runes carved into the stone flickered like dying lights.
Something inside the slab was awake.
Something strong enough that the chamber felt slightly wrong, like the air was bending around it.
The Knight took a step closer, raising its sword, posture firm and steady.
