The "Purge-Protocol" siren wasn't just a sound; it was a physical vibration that rattled the loose teeth in ***Karys***'s skull. From the ceiling of the Hepatic-Basin, massive industrial nozzles hissed, releasing a heavy, chartreuse-colored vapor.
"Ascaris-Gas," Vrax hissed, her elongated neck retreating into her collarbones like a frightened turtle. "It's a molecular corrosive. It doesn't just suffocate; it unbinds the proteins in your lungs. We have minutes before we turn into soup."
The Marrow-Broker had already vanished, his "Skin-Cloths" fluttering like the wings of a moth as he retreated into a pressurized escape-flue. He didn't care about the Silk anymore. He only cared about his own preserved biology.
"The Silk, Vrax! Now!" ***Karys*** roared.
The Nidus was screaming. Without the Broker's neural-grip, the parasite was lash-out blindly, its filaments whipping through the air and carving deep gouges into the bone-walls of the spire. ***Karys***'s vision was flickering between the physical world and a strobe-light reality of violet nerves and pulsing arteries.
Vrax grabbed the "Synapse-Silk" from the silver vat. The translucent threads clung to her needle-fingers, glowing with a frantic, internal light.
"Lay down! If I miss the *occipital-notch*, the Silk will thread into your spine and paralyze you forever!"
***Karys*** slammed onto the surgical table. The chartreuse gas was already leaking through the cracks in the spire. He could feel it in his throat—a sensation like swallowing ground glass. His *alveoli* were starting to blister.
Vrax didn't use a needle. She used her own fingers.
She pressed the glowing Silk against the base of ***Karys***'s skull. "Integrating... now!"
The pain was unlike the "Butcher-pain" of the Nidus. This was "Digital-pain." It felt like a million microscopic needles were stitching his brain directly to a high-voltage power line. The Silk didn't just sit on the surface; it burrowed, seeking out the *medulla oblongata* and the *brachial plexus*.
***Karys***'s body went into a grand mal seizure.
His heels slammed against the table, the force shattering the bone-frame. The Nidus in his right arm reacted to the invasion, sending out counter-filaments. The two alien biologies—the Silk and the Nidus—met in his shoulder.
*SIP: 12.5%... 13.8%... 15.0%.*
*Neural Bridge: Establishing...*
"Hold him down!" Vrax screamed, though there was no one else to help. She threw her entire weight onto his chest, her needle-fingers buried deep in the back of his neck, guiding the Silk.
Outside the spire, the first "Chitin-Guard Alpha" arrived.
It wasn't a man in a suit. It was a "Centaur-Graft"—a human torso fused into a four-legged mechanical chassis. It didn't use spikes. It carried a high-frequency "Thermal-Blade" that glowed with a white-hot intensity.
The Alpha slammed into the spire door. The bone-structure groaned.
"Vrax... hurry..." ***Karys*** gasped. His lungs were seizing. He was breathing in the Ascaris-Gas, and his *trachea* was beginning to melt.
The Nidus realized the host was dying. It abandoned its defensive posture and focused entirely on survival. It used the newly established "Synapse-Silk" bridge to hijack ***Karys***'s autonomous functions.
*Emergency Protocol: Biological Hardening.*
Suddenly, ***Karys***'s skin turned a matte, charcoal grey. The Nidus forced a layer of "Siderite-Calcium" to the surface of his lungs, creating a microscopic filter. The burning in his chest subsided into a dull, cold ache.
The Silk snapped into place.
The chaos in ***Karys***'s mind vanished. The strobe-light reality stabilized into a high-definition tactical overlay. He didn't just see the room; he saw the structural weaknesses in the spire, the heat signatures of the gas, and the hydraulic pressure points in the Centaur-Guard outside.
***Karys*** sat up.
Vrax was thrown backward by the sheer force of his movement. She hit the wall, her jars of organs shattering around her.
"It's... done," she whispered, looking at ***Karys*** in horror.
He didn't look like a boy anymore. The violet veins had settled into a permanent, glowing circuit-pattern that ran from his right eye, down his neck, and across his entire right torso. His right arm was no longer just dense; it was sleek, the skin replaced by a shimmering, metallic-black chitin.
The Alpha Guard burst through the inner door.
The thermal blade hissed, the heat evaporating the Ascaris-Gas in a three-foot radius. The Centaur-Guard leveled its blade at ***Karys***'s throat.
"Biological Anomaly. You are marked for Total Liquidation."
***Karys*** didn't reach for his shiv. He didn't need it.
The Synapse-Silk allowed him to move his right arm with a speed that transcended biology. He was a blur of black and violet.
He moved inside the arc of the thermal blade. The heat scorched his hair, but he didn't flinch. He grabbed the Guard's mechanical forearm with his Nidus-Claw.
*Sub-Dermal Injection: Initiated.*
Instead of hollowing out the marrow, the Nidus sent the Synapse-Silk filaments *into* the Guard's exoskeleton.
***Karys*** wasn't eating the pilot. He was hacking the machine.
The Centaur-Guard froze. Its hydraulic legs began to twitch uncontrollably. The red visor flickered between red and violet.
"What... are you... doing?" the pilot's voice crackled through the speakers, full of mechanical static.
"Taking your hardware," ***Karys*** said.
He twisted. The reinforced steel of the Guard's arm snapped like a dry twig. ***Karys*** ripped the thermal blade out of the dead machine's grip.
As the Guard collapsed, ***Karys*** didn't stop. He turned toward the ceiling. Through the chartreuse fog, he could see the "Ventilation-Hub"—the only way out before the gas turned the entire Basin into a liquid tomb.
"Vrax, get on my back," ***Karys*** commanded.
"I... I can't..."
"Get on, or die."
The Suture-Witch scrambled onto his back, her spindly limbs wrapping around his chest. ***Karys*** looked at the hundred-foot vertical shaft.
His legs, now reinforced by the Nidus's spread, coiled. The floor beneath him cracked as he unleashed a "Neural-Jump."
He didn't climb. He flew.
Each time his feet hit the wall, the Nidus-threads anchored him for a microsecond before launching him upward again. He was a jagged bolt of violet lightning ascending through the poison.
They burst through the final grate and into the "Mid-Sector Maintenance Tunnels."
***Karys*** dropped Vrax onto the cold, clean metal floor. He stood there, the thermal blade still humming in his hand, his chest heaving.
*SIP: 18.2%.*
*Status: Stabilized. Hunger: High.*
He looked back down into the abyss of the Hepatic-Basin. The green gas was thick enough now that the lights of the Blood-Auction had vanished. Thousands had just been liquidated.
He was the only survivor.
***Karys*** looked at his right hand. The Nidus was quiet, resting against the Synapse-Silk. He had survived the first integration, but the world was getting smaller. The Company would send more than just one Alpha next time.
"Where next, Witch?" ***Karys*** asked, his eyes never leaving the dark.
Vrax coughed, spitting out a glob of green-stained bile. "The Mid-Spires. We need a 'Heart-Engine.' Because the more you grow... the more your human heart will struggle to pump that black ichor you call blood."
***Karys*** nodded. He didn't care about his heart. He only cared about the next meal.
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