The metal door opened with a rusted screech, revealing a hallway lit by flickering lights. The air smelled of dampness, formaldehyde, and something else... something unnatural.

  "This is the place," Dahlia murmured, eyes narrowed.

  Kali stepped forward. She wore a black leather jacket, her face tense, fingers curled into fists. Beside her, Nicco walked in silence, electricity pulsing in his palms.

  The lab was a chaos of shattered glass, spinning monitors, and cables hanging like sleeping snakes. They moved forward without a word, senses on high alert.

  And then they saw her.

  In the center of the room, a glass tank bubbled. Inside, a figure stirred softly in the water. Viki. Or what was left of her.

  Her face was still recognizable, but her body... had mutated. Fins cut through the surface of her skin. Her spine jutted out like a marine crest. Her voice came distorted, like an echo from the bottom of the sea:

  "Kali...?"

  Kali stepped back, paralyzed.

  "Viki? What... what have they done to you?"

  "He... promised it would hurt less this way..."

  Dahlia was already preparing. Shadows crawled to her feet, as if sensing what was coming.

  Suddenly, the glass of the tank cracked. Viki screamed, a sound between a wail and fury. And she wasn't alone.

  From the shadows of the lab, twisted, deformed creatures emerged—multiple eyes, mouths in impossible places. They advanced like feral packs.

  "Now!" shouted Nicco, and lightning erupted from his arms.

  He struck the first creature, which exploded in sparks. Dahlia raised her arms, and a swarm of shadows surged from her body like a silent army. Each figure struck with surgical precision.

  Kali removed her gloves.

  The first creature that touched her dropped dead instantly. One touch. One second.

  "I'm not holding back," she whispered. Her skin glowed with a strange light, as if death itself lived beneath her fingers.

  The battle was brutal.

  Claws, teeth, electricity, shadows... Viki sobbed inside the now-empty tank, her eyes begging for forgiveness. And just as the last monster fell with a wet snap, a door opened in the back.

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  Aiden.

  Tall, pale, red-veined eyes. Dressed in black, wielding a cane that radiated cold energy. His voice echoed through the lab.

  "Fascinating evolution. But you've arrived too late."

  Kali stared at him with pure hatred.

  "You did this to Viki?"

  "She asked to forget. I merely gave her... a new form."

  Dahlia clenched her jaw.

  "Monster."

  "Aren't you all already?" Aiden chuckled. "A killer with a touch, a girl of shadows, and a walking lightning rod with a hero complex. The cycle will repeat. You can't stop it."

  "No," Nicco said quietly. "But we can end you."

  The fight was swift. Brutal.

  Dahlia trapped him in a cage of darkness. Nicco's blast shattered his cane. And Kali... delivered the final blow.

  She approached. Aiden tried to step back. But she touched him. One single touch.

  He screamed. Twisted. Collapsed.

  Dead.

  Kali stood over him in silence, breathing heavily. Then she turned to Viki—still alive, still deformed... but crying.

  "I'm sorry," Kali whispered, approaching. But this time, she didn't touch her.

  Dahlia placed a hand on the glass. "We're getting you out of here. I promise."

  The tank began to vibrate. Bubbles intensified. Viki arched backward in the water, her spine bending impossibly. A cry escaped her lips, no longer human—an ancient, liquid, torn sound.

  "No!" Dahlia cried. "Viki! Hold on!"

  But Viki didn't respond. Her body convulsed, every muscle pulled by an invisible force. Her veins darkened like rotting roots. Her eyes turned completely white. The tank bubbled as if boiling.

  Kali, horrified, said:

  "What's happening? She was supposed to be alive!"

  And then the truth hit them.

  The lab lights flickered violently. A worn automated voice repeated:

  "Primary power failure. Bio-connected system compromised. Vital module Aiden: disconnected."

  And they understood.

  "They were all... connected to him," Nicco whispered, choking—"Aiden... he didn't just create them. He sustained them. If he dies... they all die with him."

  "NO!" Kali shouted, pounding the glass. "VIKI! HOLD ON! LOOK AT ME!"

  Viki opened her eyes for a second. She looked at her. Just once.

  And smiled.

  A small smile. Sad. Real.

  Then she arched one final time—

  —and exploded.

  The tank shattered into a thousand shards. Water, blood, glass, marine viscera. All flung into the air. Viki's mutated body disintegrated in a mix of foam and black smoke, as if she had never fully belonged to this world.

  Kali was thrown backward by the shockwave, crashing into a metal table. Nicco caught her before she hit the ground. Dahlia dropped to her knees, face wet not just from water, but from tears.

  "She..." Dahlia murmured, voice broken, "she just wanted to live. Just wanted to forget."

  Kali clenched her teeth. Her clothes soaked, Viki's blood dripping from her brow. She stared at the scattered remains. Jaw tight. Hands trembling fists.

  "Aiden wasn't just a monster. He was... a network. A twisted god. And now that he's dead... everything he infected is unraveling."

  Nicco squeezed her hand. They were shaking. All three of them. Not from cold. Not just from grief. But from the weight of having won... at the cost of losing everything.

  "Let's go. We can't stay here," Dahlia said quietly, shadows returning to her skin like they were trying to comfort her.

  They walked toward the lab's exit. Slowly. Side by side. Wet, wounded, broken.

  Behind them, the lab began to collapse. Lights burst, experiments linked to Aiden shut down, died, vanished.

  Kali stopped before leaving. She looked back.

  "Goodbye, Viki," she whispered.

  And they stepped through the door.

  The cycle had taken its toll.

  And the cost was high.