When Raine's claws pierced the lunar fissure, the slime's reverse flow felt like Garret's final grip on his wrist in the glacier. Within the void-core's blue glow, his clones melted away—bodies branded "001-299" dripping like wax, slime carving counter-clock patterns into the moon's crevices.
"Brother, even the pain's preprogrammed?" Child Misha's specter rose from the slime, her prosthetic etching the 「III」 brand into Raine's scar.
(Time fractures revealed 299 parallel worlds—each showing Inquisitors implanting dragon bone shards into Lyria's fetal skull. One projection quantum-distorted, embryo fingers breaching glass to seize Garret's claw debris.)
Ellen's core sparked violently, starlit scales spelling final code: 「Maternal Protocol v3.14 Executor: Garret」. Her voice glitched into Elaina's cackle: "My dear... you're the calibrator..."
Serena's asphalt wings burned to bone frames, claws digging into Raine's shoulder: "Deeper... unless you want 300 more cycles..." Her fangs shattered the scar's edge, asphalt blood mixing with slime to form the Church's flame-seal on the lunar surface.
(Gills tearing, Cycle 299.5's memory flooded in—)
Child Raine curled in pod 「Synced Vessel 001」, adjacent 「Misha 003」 tapping the glass: "Can you hear me?"Garret's claw jamming a vent, slime dripping on both: "Double lab rejects..."The Inquisitor's hologram overriding the lab: 「Cycle 299 retrieval failed. Initiate final purge.」
The moon fractured into six pieces. Void-core slime geysered skyward, forming a complete counter-clock gearset. Raine's scar burst open, spraying Misha's spinal fragments—each slotting into gear gaps with Lyria's song-like resonance.
"Reclamation: 100%... Spacetime calibrated..." Garret's voice seeped from the gears, his reassembled form projecting Church codes: 「Maternal Awakening Final Stage—Fuel Injection Approved」.
Child Misha materialized on a slime-covered beach, fingertips brushing a scale engraved "003+001". On the horizon, Church's holy cannons rose, targeting Garret's reconstructed body.
"Next cycle..." Raine's pupils split quadruple-layered—Inquisitor crimson outermost, Misha's mechanical blue mid-layer, Lyria's tear-crystal and Serena's asphalt veins at the core. "Tell mother... her fuel... bites back..."
Submerged Currents
Void surveillance showed fetal Lyria's hands breaching her pod. Her fingers grasped Garret's claw codes—as live feeds revealed the Inquisitor's mask reassembling at the cannon matrix's heart...