The dying scream of Node Gamma-7 was a physical thing – a deep, grating shriek of tortured metal and failing energy that vibrated through the floor plates and up Kai's spine, harmonizing sickeningly with the planetary alert sirens now wailing far above in the city levels. The chamber plunged into stuttering darkness, illuminated only by frantic emergency lumen-strips and the dying blue-white flicker of the node's core. Acrid smoke, thick with the smell of burnt insulation and vaporized coolant, stung Kai's eyes and throat.
**>USER: Kai Aris**
**>LEVEL: 1 (0/200 EXP to Next Level)**
**>DESTRUCTION CAPACITY: 12 Units (Node Gamma-7)**
The crimson interface burned in his vision, a stark, unwelcome companion to the chaos he'd unleashed. *Twelve Units.* A cold quantification of treason. The Custodian, momentarily blinded by the failing lights and the smoke, stumbled back, coughing. His stun-baton still crackled, a beacon in the gloom.
"Analyze," Kai thought, desperation overriding horror. The crimson text shifted instantly.
**>ANALYZE: Human Custodian (Standard Issue Armor) - Threat Level: Moderate**
**>SHATTERPOINTS: Joint Seals (Knees/Elbows), Helmet Visor Seal, Power Pack Connector.**
The knowledge flooded him, cold and precise. He saw the faint red outlines on the Custodian's armor, pulsing with the rhythm of the System. Not just weaknesses, but *how* to exploit them. The Custodian regained his footing, visor scanning the smoke. "Target acquired! Surrender now, saboteur!"
Surrender meant execution. Or worse, interrogation that would reveal the Destroyer System. Kai had no illusions about mercy. He lunged, not at the Custodian, but sideways, towards a bank of sparking control consoles knocked askew by the node's death throes. He grabbed a heavy, loose piece of plating – not a weapon, just debris.
The Custodian charged, baton raised for a disabling strike. Kai focused on the Shatterpoint glowing red on the Custodian's leading knee joint. He didn't need strength; he needed precision. As the baton came down, Kai dropped low and shoved the jagged edge of the plating hard into the seam of the knee armor, right where the flexible joint met the rigid thigh plate.
*CRUNCH-SPARK!* It wasn't a killing blow, but it was perfectly targeted. The Custodian cried out, more in surprise than pain, as his leg buckled. The armor wasn't pierced, but the joint mechanism jammed, sending him stumbling past Kai, his swing going wide. The stun-baton discharged harmlessly into the floor.
**>TARGET NEUTRALIZED (TEMPORARY). EXP GAINED: +5.**
**>LEVEL 1 (5/200 EXP)**
*EXP.* Experience. The System fed on destruction, on disruption, on overcoming obstacles. Neutralizing a threat, even non-lethally, counted. The cold logic of it chilled Kai more than the smoke.
He didn't wait. He scrambled over the fallen consoles, ignoring the Custodian's furious shouts. The System helpfully overlaid his vision with a pulsing red exit vector – a secondary maintenance duct hidden behind a panel rattled loose by the node's collapse. He wrenched it open, the metal groaning in protest, and plunged into the cramped, pitch-black tunnel just as more booted feet pounded into the chamber behind him.
The duct was hot, filled with the reek of ozone and fear. Kai crawled blindly, guided only by the System's unwavering waypoint arrow. Distant alarms echoed down the metal tube, merging with the pounding of his own heart. He could hear the Custodians shouting, organizing a pursuit. He'd bought seconds, not freedom.
He emerged into a wider, hotter service corridor – Sector 9's primary coolant runoff channel. Steam hissed from leaking pipes overhead. The waypoint arrow pointed down the corridor, then flickered, highlighting a cluster of ceiling-mounted surveillance cameras ahead.
**>SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: DISABLE SURVEILLANCE.**
**>REWARD: +10 EXP PER UNIT DESTROYED.**
The System wasn't done giving orders. Disabling cameras wasn't sabotage on the scale of the Shield Node, but it was still destruction. Still risk. Kai spotted a loose length of pipe leaning against a wall. He hefted it. It felt heavy, real. A tool of the Destroyer.
He moved quickly, staying low. The first camera was mounted above a dripping valve assembly. He swung the pipe like a crude bat. *CRACK!* The lens and housing shattered in a shower of plastic and sparks. The red light on its side died instantly.
**>SURVEILLANCE UNIT DESTROYED. EXP GAINED: +10.**
**>LEVEL 1 (15/200 EXP)**
The satisfaction was immediate, visceral, and utterly terrifying. He *wanted* the EXP. He needed the next level, the promise of more power locked behind it. He smashed the next camera, then the one after that, moving down the corridor like a vandalizing ghost. *CRACK! +10 EXP. CRACK! +10 EXP.* Each notification was a hit of adrenaline, a step away from being the helpless Null.
**>LEVEL 1 (35/200 EXP)**
He heard shouts echoing from a side tunnel – the pursuit was closing in. The main waypoint arrow pulsed urgently ahead, pointing towards a heavy, rusted blast door marked **SUB-LEVEL DELTA ACCESS - AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY**. It was partially open, jammed by fallen debris from the tremors caused by Gamma-7's failure. Kai squeezed through the gap.
Beyond was chaos. Sub-Level Delta was older, less maintained. The Shield instability had triggered cascading failures. Lights flickered wildly. Pipes had burst, spraying hot water and steam. Panicked Undercity workers in grimy coveralls ran in all directions, shouting about "Shield failure" and "Ender probes." The air was thick with panic.
The System ignored the human drama. Its waypoint arrow sliced through the steam and confusion, pointing towards a crumbling section of wall where a major coolant line had ruptured, spewing scalding fluid and weakening the structural integrity. The arrow pulsed insistently at a specific stress point in the ferrocrete.
**>PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: INDUCE STRUCTURAL FAILURE.**
**>TARGET: LOAD-BEARING SUPPORT COLUMN (WEAKENED).**
**>REWARD: +50 EXP.**
**>WARNING: COLLAPSE WILL BLOCK PURSUIT.**
Fifty EXP. Halfway to Level 2. And it would block the Custodians hot on his heels. Kai looked at the column. It was massive, but the Shatterpoint overlay showed deep cracks radiating from where the superheated coolant had hit it. It wouldn't take much. But beyond the column was a wider tunnel… where panicked workers were still scrambling to get clear.
"It'll collapse the tunnel… people…" he breathed, the horror cutting through the System's cold directives.
**>OBJECTIVE PRIORITY: USER SURVIVAL.**
**>EXPEDITE ACTION.**
The words were a command, not a suggestion. He heard the clatter of armored footsteps squeezing through the jammed blast door behind him. They were here. He had seconds. The promise of power warred with the image of people buried under rubble. But the Custodians would shoot first, ask questions never. Survival. It was the only currency the Undercity truly respected.
With a guttural cry that was part rage, part despair, Kai hefted the pipe. He didn't aim for the column itself. He aimed for the Shatterpoint glowing fiercely red – a critical junction where a fractured support beam met the column. He put all his weight, all his fear, all his burgeoning destructive power into the swing.
*CLANG-THWUNK!* The impact jarred his arms. The metal beam screamed. The cracks in the column widened visibly with an audible *SNAP*. He swung again. *CRACK!* Chunks of ferrocrete spalled off.
**>STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY CRITICAL.**
**>EVACUATE.**
The System's warning coincided with shouts from the Custodians entering the chamber. "HALT! FREEZE!"
Kai dropped the pipe and dove sideways, scrambling behind a pile of collapsed ductwork as the Custodians opened fire. Neural-dampener pulses sizzled through the air where he'd been standing. He covered his head.
With a groan that shook the entire sub-level, the load-bearing column gave way. It didn't just collapse; it *pulled* a section of the ceiling and the weakened wall down with it in a roaring avalanche of ferrocrete, twisted rebar, and billowing dust. The explosion of debris filled the access tunnel Kai had just come through, completely burying the entrance and cutting off the pursuing Custodians. Their shouts were instantly muffled, then silenced by the settling rubble.
The dust was choking. Kai coughed, peering through the haze. The tunnel he was in was partially blocked, but passable. The way beyond the collapse was clear… for now. Workers further down screamed, scrambling away from the new danger.
**>OBJECTIVE COMPLETE. STRUCTURAL FAILURE INDUCED. EXP GAINED: +50.**
**>LEVEL 1 (85/200 EXP)**
Eighty-five EXP. He could almost taste Level 2. But the cost was written in the settling dust, the muffled cries from the other side of the rubble, the terrified faces of the workers staring at the new collapse. He hadn't killed anyone. The System confirmed no kills. But he'd endangered lives. He'd destroyed infrastructure. He'd become a force of chaos.
He pushed himself up, his body aching, his knuckles bloody. The System's interface remained, a constant crimson reminder. **LEVEL 1 (85/200 EXP)**. The path was clear: more destruction. More disruption. More EXP. The Shield sirens still wailed far above, a planetary scream born partly from his own actions. He was no longer just hunted by Custodians; he was hunted by the consequences of the power he craved.
Kai Aris turned and ran deeper into the chaotic, crumbling depths of the Undercity. The hunt for EXP had begun, and the Destroyer System hungered. Level 2 beckoned, a mere 115 units of destruction away. He didn't look back at the rubble. He couldn't afford to. The Null was gone, buried under the weight of his first, terrible steps towards becoming something else entirely. The Destroyer was learning to walk.