Chapter 35 · Forbidden Evolution

"Get your hands off me, you arrogant piece of shit!" Victor screamed, his voice echoing through the chrome halls of the sanctum.

I didn't let go. I had him pinned against the primary server console, my fingers digging into the synthetic skin of his throat. My knuckles were white, and my heart was hammering a rhythm that wasn't entirely mine.

*Harder, Kael,* Nyx’s voice hissed in my skull. *Squeeze until his pulse matches the flicker of these dying lights. He’s not a god. He’s just a man in a fancy suit with a god complex.*

"You think you're special?" I spat, my face inches from his. I could smell the sterile, chemical scent of his high-tier augmentations. "You sold me out like I was scrap metal. You tried to rip her out of me."

Victor let out a wet, choking laugh. He didn't even try to fight back with his hands; he was too busy grinning through the panic. "That's the beauty of it, boy. You're not a man anymore. You're a prototype. A glitch. I didn't sell you—I released you into the wild to see how long you'd last before the fusion ate you alive."

*He's lying,* Nyx whispered.