Chapter 17: Escape Chase (special episode)

His skin returned to normal.

Silence again. Except for his breathing.

He looked up at the Warden. Still twitching. Still rebooting.

Then he looked around the sterile chamber—the false light, the glass, the blinking monitors feeding lies into the world above.

> "They lied to everyone…"

He stood, weak but alive.

> "But I'm awake now."

That's when the alarms screamed.

[WARNING: SUBJECT NIHILOS - LIVE SIGNAL RESURFACED]

[CHAMBER BREACH IMMINENT]

Red light bathed the walls. The Warden's head snapped toward him, its reboot complete. Its core eye flickered red as it lifted one heavy arm.

> "Eliminate... anomaly…"

Yuto didn't wait.

He dashed toward the far exit, past shattered machines and hanging wires. The sterile lab began collapsing behind him—like it was afraid of him.

The Warden gave chase, crashing through walls, throwing debris aside like paper.

> "This place is real," Yuto muttered between breaths, "but none of it's right."

A left turn—then a descending hallway. He slid down a maintenance rail, sparks flying beneath his heels. Alarms followed.

[SECURITY RESPONSE DEPLOYED]

[SUBJECT NIHILOS: HIGH THREAT]

Security drones swarmed down the corridor.

Yuto raised his hand, instinct kicking in—an echo from the game world. A pulse of distortion shot forward. The drones froze midair, glitched, then collapsed.

> "Still works," he whispered. "Whatever they did to me… it stuck."

He burst into a loading bay—rows of empty capsule tanks, some shattered, some humming. One had a name he recognized etched into the cracked side:

Saito

Frozen inside, motionless.

> "No time…"

The Warden burst through the ceiling behind him, roaring like metal being shredded by thunder.

Yuto leapt, grabbing a loose cable overhead, swinging up to a second level walkway.

The Warden followed—relentless.

> "Why won't you die?!"

> "Because," it said coldly, "I was never alive."

Yuto sprinted across the catwalk as panels collapsed under him. He had no plan—just movement.

But then—he saw her.

Kyra.

Through a security glass chamber, just beyond the next hallway.

Watching.

She didn't flinch. Didn't react.

She just turned away.

And pressed a button.

Gas hissed into the hall.

Yuto's eyes widened.

> "You're letting it kill me...?"

Then the system inside him answered her betrayal.

A surge—violent and raw—tore through his chest.

> [Nihilos Sync: 34%]

[Core Instinct: Survival Activated]

The Warden struck with a beam of raw deletion code.

Yuto caught it. With his hand.

It burned, seared reality itself—but it didn't destroy him.

He roared, his voice layered with static:

> "You built this prison—but I'll end your illusion!"

He hurled the code back.

The hallway exploded.

Yuto fell through the floor—into darkness, fire, and flickering systems.

Silence.

Only one thing followed him into the dark:

> "The real game… just started."

Yuto hit the lower level hard, rolling through sparks and shattered glass, coughing against the burning fumes that followed him down.

Above, the chamber was collapsing. Emergency lights spun across fractured metal as warning klaxons echoed like dying screams.

[NIHILOS CORE INSTABILITY: ZONE CRITICAL]

He rose slowly, skin singed, vision flickering between reality and static.

> "The deeper I go... the more the world breaks."

Hallways twisted around him. Data overlays bled into real walls. Gravity hiccupped once—then corrected. The lab itself was unraveling under his presence.

In the middle of it all stood a door he hadn't seen before—marked by an old EvoCore logo. Flickering.

> "Exit," he whispered.

Then behind him—footsteps.

Kyra.

Alone. No guards. No drones. Just her white coat torn, face pale under the emergency light. She held no weapon.

> "You weren't supposed to wake up," she said softly.

> "You knew," Yuto replied. "You've known everything."

> "I built everything."

She stepped closer.

> "We didn't trap your sister, Yuto. She chose to stay. She wanted to become something more. We all did. But you—" she shook her head. "You weren't part of the plan. The Nihilos wasn't meant for a player. It was meant for control."

> "You turned reality into a lie."

> "Because truth wasn't enough," she snapped. "We gave people something better."

She reached for a console behind her—something small, hidden. Yuto's eyes locked onto it.

> "I can still shut it all down," she said. "The Nihilos... the sync... your memories. You'll go back to sleep, and the world will stay intact."

> "No," Yuto said.

And then the room trembled again. Sparks flew. The lights dimmed.

> [NIHILOS SYNC: 40% — Conscious Override Threshold Approaching]

Kyra hesitated—then sighed.

> "You're not human anymore. And this world isn't either."

Yuto stepped forward, slow.

> "So choose," Kyra whispered. "Erase it… or free it."

She hit the console.

A hiss of steam.

Behind her, a containment door creaked open—one final chamber. His sister's capsule inside, glowing faintly. Data spiraled around it like a heartbeat.

> "She's alive?" Yuto gasped.

Kyra nodded.

> "We tried to extract her. But she... changed. She made contact with the first code. With the original Nihilos seed. She's more part of the system than anyone now."

Yuto reached the chamber.

But behind him—Kyra drew a blade from inside her sleeve.

> "I can't let you leave."

She lunged.

Yuto turned just as the blade reached his chest.

A pause.

> [Deflect Activated: Echo Pulse]

The blade twisted—turned midair—and pierced Kyra instead.

She gasped, eyes wide.

He caught her before she hit the ground.

> "Why…" she choked, blood trailing from her mouth.

> "Because even you couldn't escape it," he whispered.

Kyra smiled faintly.

> "Maybe… that's what I wanted."

She died in his arms.

For the first time, the alarm fell silent.

He stood, turned toward the exit—his sister's pod now pulsing gently.

> "I'm coming for you, Ava."

Behind him, Kyra's console blinked one last time.

[Admin Override Released]

[EXIT PATH OPENED]

Yuto stepped into the corridor.

Toward light.

Toward war.

Toward truth.

The hallway was darker now.

The deeper Yuto walked into the secured sector—toward the chamber holding Ava—the more the air felt… cold. Not in temperature, but in memory.

Doors hissed open as if they were sighing at his return.

Then, just before the last corridor, he noticed something odd—wedged beneath a panel of cracked flooring:

A videotape.

A real one. Analog. Old.

Covered in dust and wrapped in faded surgical tags.

> "Why would they keep something like this... here?"

His fingers brushed against it—and his HUD reacted:

> [Memory Object Detected — Playback Compatible]

A hidden terminal on the wall blinked faintly—ancient tech, but still alive. He slid the tape in.

The screen flickered.

And the past came alive.

---

[VIDEO FEED – LAB ARCHIVE 09-A // DATED: 5 YEARS AGO]

A small girl sat on a hospital bed.

Ava.

Hair tied in twin braids, fingers fiddling with wires in her lap, humming softly. Her eyes were wide—excited. Fearless.

Next to her stood Kyra, in a white coat, much younger. Smiling gently.

> "You really want to do this?" Kyra asked off-screen.

> "If it means I get to be part of his world? Yes."

Yuto—barely twelve—sat on the bed beside Ava, half-asleep, an IV in his arm. He didn't smile. He looked… empty.

Kyra ruffled Ava's hair.

> "You're brave, you know that?"

> "Someone has to go first. If Yuto's scared, I'll go instead. I'll bring him with me. Even if he forgets."

> "He won't remember any of this. The sync will cut his conscious threads."

> "Then I'll remind him when the time comes."

Kyra hesitated.

> "You two… are more than test subjects. You're family. I shouldn't be doing this."

> "But you are."

> "I'm sorry."

The screen glitched.

Flashed static.

Then—flickered off.

Yuto stood frozen.

> "Family…?"

He stared at the blank screen. His breath shallow.

> "Why don't I remember this?"

He turned toward the cryo-pod chamber ahead.

Inside, Ava floated in stillness. Peaceful. Waiting.

And now the truth burned in his mind like a splinter:

> Kyra hadn't just been a scientist. She had been one of them.

He looked down at his hands.

> "They erased me... to use me."

But the Nihilos inside him stirred.

Not with anger.

But with clarity.

> [SYNC SURGE – NIHILOS ALIGNMENT 51.3%] [Locked Memories Detected: Access Pending]

He took one last look at the dusty screen.

Then walked forward.

Toward Ava.

Toward forgotten blood.

Toward unfinished truths.