The world came back in jagged pieces.
Heat.
Metal.
Screams.
Smoke.
I was on my knees, Lira's arms around my shoulders, her forehead pressed to mine, her breath short and terrified.
"K-17… hey… hey—stay with me—"
I tried.
I failed.
The fractures across my ribs ignited, glowing through the plating like molten rivers.
My vision blurred into gold.
My shadow stretched across the corridor, limbs branching in directions no humanoid form should have.
Rave's voice cut through the chaos:
"Lira! Get back! He's not stable—"
Kai cried from behind her, "BRO'S SHADOW HAS TEETH—LIKE TEETH—"
Lira didn't move.
She held me tighter.
"Don't you do this," she whispered hoarsely.
"You don't get to disappear again."
The Beast didn't care.
Tezcatle's last whisper echoed through my skull—
"Swear.
Or break."
The fractures spread like cracks in a sun-shattered egg.
I felt something pulling up through my spine—
a jagged, hungry surge of power,
a force that wasn't mine.
My breath turned molten.
Lira saw it.
"K-17—your eyes—look at me—"
I did.
For one second.
And that second was enough to break me.
The Beast lunged forward from my shadow—
not fully, not physically,
but through my body.
A shockwave blasted outward.
Steam exploded from nearby pipes.
Lights shattered.
The corridor trembled.
Rave dove behind a collapsed railing with Kai.
Lira was the only one who didn't move.
She stood her ground.
Right in front of me.
My hand shot up—
but it wasn't my movement.
The Beast used my arm like a weapon.
Lira barely dodged as my clawed shadow-swipe carved through the wall behind her, slicing metal like hot butter.
She gasped.
"K-17—STOP—"
Her voice only made the Beast hungrier.
It pulled at my muscles.
At my throat.
At every instinct I had left.
My mouth opened—
—but the growl that came out wasn't mine.
It was a jaguar's.
Low.
Ancient.
Starving.
Lira stumbled back a step.
Not from fear—
from the pressure vibrating the air.
"K-17… listen to me.
You're fighting it. I know you are.
Keep fighting—"
The Beast twisted my spine.
My body jerked toward her.
She raised her arms, bracing herself—
But the Beast didn't attack.
It measured her.
Like prey.
Her breath hitched.
The first time I'd ever heard fear in her voice.
"K-17… don't you dare."
Heat detonated outward from my chest.
My armor plating cracked.
Golden light bled through in jagged streaks.
My arms shook violently as the god's power pushed to the surface.
I felt my hands morph—
fingers stretching, curling, sharpening.
Kai screamed, "LIRA—MOVE—MOVE—HE'S GOING FULL JAGUAR—"
Rave shouted, "NO! If she moves, he'll pounce!"
The Beast leaned forward—
using my bones like stepping stones.
My vision flickered.
Gold.
Black.
Gold.
Blood.
Then—
A roar.
Tezcatle's voice tore through my skull:
"SWEAR.
NOW."
My control shattered.
The Beast sprang forward—
Lira didn't dodge.
She stepped INTO me.
Right into the golden blast.
"K-17!" she screamed, grabbing my face with both hands.
"LOOK AT ME—NOT AT IT—ME!"
The impact hit her like a freight train.
Her boots dragged across the floor.
Her coat ignited at the edges.
Her skin burned red from the heat.
She screamed—but didn't let go.
My glowing claws rose—
Right above her throat.
Rave screamed, "LIRA!"
Kai sobbed, "NO—NO—NO—"
But she didn't move.
She pressed her forehead to mine again—
just like in the Spine collapse.
"K-17…
Come back."
The Beast froze.
Not because it wanted to.
Because I did.
Something cut through the haze—
her voice
her smell
her heartbeat
the way she said my name
like it mattered
like I mattered
My claw hovered at her neck.
A single inch.
A breath.
A kill.
Her voice cracked—soft, broken, furious:
"You don't get to kill me.
I'm not dying for a god in your head.
I'm staying for YOU."
My body trembled.
Tezcatle roared again:
"SWEAR!"
Lira pressed closer, voice almost a whisper:
"Don't.
You.
Dare."
Something inside me tore.
Something ancient screamed.
The Beast lunged at her throat—
But I grabbed my own arm mid-strike, forcing it down with everything I had left.
My shadow convulsed.
Claws raked across the floor, missing Lira by a hair.
The whole corridor shook.
My fractures dimmed—
slowly
painfully
violently.
My monster breath turned into choking gasps.
And then—
Silence.
Lira collapsed against me, shaking.
My arms wrapped around her automatically.
Rave and Kai ran toward us.
"Oh thank god—" Kai sobbed.
"He almost—he almost—"
Rave exhaled like she'd been stabbed.
"Lira… you're insane."
Lira didn't respond.
She just clung to me, jaw tight, forehead pressed to my shoulder.
After a long moment, she whispered:
"…Don't scare me like that again."
I swallowed hard.
"I…
I didn't choose him."
She nodded against my chest.
"I know."
My shadow finally stilled.
The Beast retreated.
But before it sank fully back into the cracks of my mind,
I heard one last whisper:
"You will swear.
When she dies."
I shuddered.
Lira felt it instantly.
"K-17… what did you hear?"
I shook my head.
"Nothing you need to fear."
Lie.
But I couldn't tell her.
Not yet.
Because the god inside me had just chosen her death
as the price for my loyalty.
And I wasn't letting that happen.
Not ever.