The atmosphere inside the high-security containment chamber of Site Zero was no longer just cold; it was suffocating. The very molecules of oxygen seemed to be warped by the unstable energy bleeding from the Mk-II Sovereign Unit. This wasn't a laboratory anymore—it was an altar of failed science. Shin Van Croft stood at the center of this chaos, his long black coat untouched by the frost forming on the walls.
Across the room, the prototype groaned. It was a terrifying mixture of jagged chrome and exposed synthetic muscle, its chest cavity housing a core that flickered with a sickly green luminescence—a forced imitation of the Void. This was the "Dual Core" project in its rawest, most dangerous form.
"Kill him! Now!" Dr. Vane's voice shrieked through the overhead speakers, echoing with a desperation that bordered on madness. "He is an anomaly! A mistake in our calculations! Erase him from existence!"
[The Tactical Analysis]
Shin didn't flinch. His #HIGHIQ mind was already dissecting the scene. To a normal observer, the machine was moving too fast to track. To Shin, the world had slowed to a crawl. He could see the micro-vibrations in the Mk-II's hydraulic joints and the erratic pulse of its artificial heart.
The machine lunged. Its right arm shifted, metallic plates sliding over one another to form a massive, high-frequency energy blade. It swung with enough force to cleave a tank in two. Shin simply tilted his upper body back by a fraction of an inch. The blade hissed as it passed his face, the heat singeing the air between them.
"Superiority is not measured by the strength of your cage, Doctor," Shin said, his voice terrifyingly calm as he stood in the middle of a lethal strike zone. "But by the freedom of the predator within it."
[The First Clash: Void vs. Machine]
The Mk-II roared—a synthesized, metallic sound that vibrated the glass observation decks. It unleashed a barrage of strikes, each one faster than the last. Shin danced through the storm of green energy with an eerie, ghost-like grace. He wasn't just dodging; he was studying. Every miss by the machine was a data point for his next move.
Suddenly, Shin stopped moving. He reached out with his bare left hand, catching the machine's energy-charged wrist mid-swing. The impact created a shockwave that shattered the floor beneath them, but Shin didn't budge.
"Is this it?" Shin asked, his grey eyes turning into deep pools of violet light. "Thirty years of stolen life and billions of credits... for a puppet that can't even touch me?"
A surge of Black Lightning traveled from Shin's palm into the machine's arm. The prototype's internal cooling systems failed instantly. Steam hissed from its vents as its artificial flesh began to char and melt under the absolute power of the true Void.
[The Sovereignty Manifested]
Dr. Vane's breathing was audible over the comms—heavy, ragged, and terrified. "No... the shielding is lead-lined! It should be immune to energy feedback!"
"I am not energy, Vane," Shin whispered, finally reaching for the hilt of The Fractured Monarch. "I am the absence of it."
As the blade left its sheath, the entire laboratory went pitch black. The emergency lights didn't just go out; they were consumed. The only light remaining was the pulsing violet vein running down the center of Shin's sword. The air pressure dropped so sharply that the scientists in the observation deck began to gasp for breath.
Shin moved—not with speed, but with a total mastery of space. He appeared behind the Mk-II unit, his sword's tip tracing a line in the air that remained as a lingering scar of purple fire.
[The Final Erasure]
The prototype turned, its sensors blind, swinging wildly. Shin didn't even look back. He swung the Fractured Monarch in one clean, horizontal arc.
There was no sound of metal breaking. There was only the sound of a sigh—the sound of reality closing a gap. The Mk-II Sovereign Unit froze. Then, slowly, it began to dissolve into fine, black ash, starting from the point where the blade had passed through its core. Its "Dual Core" was swallowed whole by Shin's blade, its energy integrated into his own reservoir.
[The Message to the Council]
Shin stood amidst the settling ash, looking directly into the primary security camera. He knew Vane was watching. He knew the Council was watching.
"You wanted to see the power of the Void," Shin said, his voice echoing through every speaker in Site Zero. "But the Void is not a weapon you can hold. It is a hunger that cannot be satisfied. You've fed me your best technology... and I am still starving."
He raised his hand, and a wave of purple energy washed over the room, melting the cameras and erasing every digital backup of the project. In the distance, the alarms of the facility began to wail, signaling the final meltdown.
Shin Van Croft walked out of the room as the walls began to crumble, a King leaving a graveyard of his own making.