The heavy blast doors of the Zenith Reactor groaned as they slid open, hissing with pressurized steam. Beyond them lay the Lumina Core—a massive, pulsating heart of liquid starlight encased in a glass cylinder five stories tall. It was breathtaking, a swirling vortex of cerulean energy that seemed to hum at a frequency that vibrated right through my teeth.
"Keep your head on a swivel," Alex commanded, his hand already on the hilt of the Cleaver Blade. "The security grid in this sector is all-female, and they don't take kindly to trespassers."
He wasn't kidding. Before we could even reach the base of the core, a group of Zenith Enforcers dropped from the rafters. They were lean, clad in sleek black magipunk armor with glowing visors. Each carried an electrified baton that crackled with blue sparks.
"Specialist, do your thing!" Cora shouted, her brass arm whirring as she launched a physical punch that sent a shockwave through the air.
I reached for the pouch at my hip. My fingers closed around a cold, smooth sphere that pulsed with a warm red light. Fire Aether-Sphere, I thought instinctively. In the game, I'd just press 'X' and select 'Magic.' Here, I had to figure out the mechanics on the fly. I squeezed the sphere, imagining the heat of a summer sun.
"Eat this!" I yelled, hurling the sphere toward the Enforcers.
The sphere didn't just explode; it erupted into a miniature solar flare. The impact sent three guards flying backward, their armor smoking. The smell of ozone intensified, and for a second, I felt an incredible rush of power—until the recoil hit. The magical feedback nearly knocked me off the bridge.
"Watch the kickback, Rookie!" Alex caught me by the collar of my tactical vest, hauling me upright with one arm while he swung his massive blade with the other. The Cleaver Blade whistled through the air, parrying a flurry of baton strikes with a sound like a cathedral bell. "Save the big spells for the boss."
"Boss?" I squeaked, my heart hammering against my ribs. "Wait, you mean the Scorpion Sentinel?"
"The what?" Alex glanced at me, his brow furrowed. "It's a Zenith Guardian Unit, Mark IV. Why would it look like a scorpion?"
We reached the control panel at the base of the core. Cora began frantically typing into the holographic interface. "Bomb's armed! We have three minutes before this whole sector becomes a crater. Move, move, move!"
We sprinted back toward the exit, but the floor beneath us shuddered. A massive, multi-legged mechanical beast—indeed looking very much like a predatory insect, despite Alex's confusion—crashed through the ceiling. It was twice the size of the one in the game, and its tail was a glowing railgun charging up with Lumina energy.
"Alex! To the left!" I screamed.
We dove behind a crate of Lumina canisters just as a beam of pure light vaporized the bridge where we'd been standing seconds ago.
"You've got weird instincts, kid," Alex grunted, checking the charge on his blade. He looked at me, a stray lock of dark hair falling over his emerald eyes. Even in the middle of a life-or-death mechanical monster fight, he looked like he'd stepped off a high-fashion runway. "But I like 'em. Cover me while I go for the joints?"
"I've got your back," I said, already reaching for a Bolt Sphere. "Just don't get stepped on. I haven't figured out how to use a Phoenix Down yet!"