The gladiator ring had never held two specimens at once.
Nana stood in the center of the concrete floor, her body still trembling from the adrenaline of the escape attempt and the desperate fight to reach Zayne. Beside her, Zayne swayed slightly on his feet—the transformation was still ongoing, his body caught between what he had been and what they were forcing him to become.
Frost spread from his boots in uneven patterns, the ice manifestation no longer fully under his control. His breathing was labored, each exhale visible in the suddenly frigid air. The dampening field in the containment cell had slowed the transformation but not stopped it. His cellular structure was still restructuring. Still changing.
Still turning him into something like her.
The soldiers had dragged them both here twenty minutes ago—pulled them from the containment cell despite Nana's violent resistance, despite Zayne's barely conscious protests. They'd been restrained, separated, and finally thrown into the ring together like animals being prepared for spectacle.
Above them, in the observation platforms that ringed the arena, the scientists gathered.
Nana's parents sat in the front row. Her mother with her ever-present tablet. Her father with his hands clasped, his expression focused and analytical. Around them, dozens of researchers and doctors and technicians—all of them watching with the same clinical fascination they might bring to any experiment.
Waiting to see what would happen when you put two enhanced specimens in a ring together and tested their limits.
The lead scientist's voice crackled through the speaker system mounted in the ceiling. "Specimen 21. Subject Li. You have been selected for paired combat analysis. We will be releasing creatures of escalating difficulty to assess your combined combat capabilities and your emotional response patterns under shared threat scenarios."
"Don't do this," Nana said, looking up at the observation platforms. At her parents. At Captain Jenna, who stood near the back with an expression that might have been regret. "He's still transforming. He can't fight like this. He'll—"
"The transformation is 67% complete," her mother's voice cut in, calm and measured. "Subject Li's enhanced physiology is already active in several key areas. His skeletal reinforcement has begun. His ice evol output has increased by a factor of four since the injection. He is combat-capable."
"He's in PAIN!"
"Pain is a variable we need to measure." Her mother made a note on her tablet. "How does acute physical distress affect combat performance? How does the presence of an emotional attachment modify response patterns? These are essential data points for the next generation of specimen development."
Nana felt something dark and violent coil in her chest. She turned to look at Zayne—at the man she loved, who was barely staying upright, whose hands were shaking as frost continued to spread from his fingertips in waves he couldn't control.
"Can you fight?" she asked quietly.
Zayne's hazel eyes met hers. They were still red-rimmed, still bloodshot from the transformation, but conscious. Aware.
"I don't know," he admitted. His voice was rough, scraped raw from screaming. "Everything feels wrong. My body doesn't—I can't control the ice. Every time I try to stop it, it just—"
The first hatch opened.
A vampire emerged from the floor. Not one of the preserved versions from the cylinders—this was fresh. Active. Its red eyes locked onto the two humans in the ring with predatory focus.
Nana moved immediately, positioning herself between the vampire and Zayne. "Stay behind me. Let me—"
"No." Zayne's hand caught her shoulder. His grip was stronger than it should have been—the enhancement already working, already changing him. "We fight together."
The vampire lunged before either of them could say anything else.
Nana met it head-on—no weapons, just her body and the combat training that had been burned into her through nine months of Avalon and twenty-one years of genetic modification. Her fist connected with the creature's jaw and it staggered, surprised by the force.
She followed up with a kick that sent it flying backward into the arena wall. It hit hard enough to crack the concrete but recovered immediately, already coming at her again.
Behind her, she heard Zayne moving. Heard the sharp crack of ice forming.
A blade materialized in his hand—not formed from moisture in the air like the arrows he'd made in the forest. This was different. Solid. Sharp enough to catch the harsh fluorescent lighting and throw it back in crystalline reflections.
An ice sword. Formed from nothing but his evol and his desperate need for a weapon.
The vampire changed targets—sensing the weaker prey, the one who was injured and transforming and barely staying upright. It abandoned Nana and went for Zayne with the single-minded hunger of a predator that had identified the easier kill.
Zayne didn't retreat. Didn't freeze. Moved with an instinct that his conscious mind didn't understand but his body remembered perfectly—muscle memory from a life in Avalon that had been erased from his awareness but never fully deleted.
The ice sword came up. Met the vampire's lunge with a precision that shouldn't have been possible for someone who had never held a blade before.
The creature dissolved on contact, the ice disrupting its Wanderer energy at a fundamental level.
Silence in the observation platforms above.
Then the scratching of pens on tablets. The quiet murmur of scientists exchanging observations. Data being collected.
"Remarkable," someone said through the speakers. "Subject Li demonstrates combat proficiency despite no formal weapons training. The ice manifestation is instinctive rather than learned. Muscle memory from previous Avalon exposure may be influencing—"
Another hatch opened.
Two hybrids this time. Larger than the vampire. Faster. They emerged simultaneously from opposite sides of the ring—a coordinated attack designed to split the specimens' attention.
Nana took the one on the left. Zayne took the right.
She fought the way she always fought—brutal efficiency, using her enhanced strength and speed to overwhelm creatures that would kill a normal human in seconds. Her fist drove into the hybrid's chest, cracking the crystallized armor that protected its vital organs. Her knee came up, connected with what passed for its skull, sent it crashing to the ground.
Thirty seconds. Dead.
She turned to check on Zayne—
And found him standing over the dissolved remains of the second hybrid, his ice sword still drawn, frost spreading in a perfect circle around his feet.
He'd killed it. Alone. While barely conscious. While his body was still transforming.
Their eyes met across the ring. Something passed between them—not words, just recognition. Understanding.
They were both monsters now. Both specimens. Both things that had been built to fight and kill and survive what normal humans couldn't.
"Increase difficulty," her father's voice came through the speakers. Clinical. Detached. "Release the demon cluster. Let's see how they handle multiple high-threat targets simultaneously."
Four hatches opened at once.
Demons poured into the ring—not the mindless creatures from standard Avalon encounters. These were enhanced. Faster. Stronger. Their bodies crackling with dark energy that suggested they'd been modified the same way Nana had.
They came from all sides. A coordinated assault designed to overwhelm.
Nana and Zayne moved without discussing it. Back to back—the instinctive positioning of two fighters who trusted each other completely. She could feel him behind her, his frost spreading to coat her boots, his breathing harsh but steady.
"On three?" she said.
"On three," he confirmed.
They moved as one.
Nana took the demons on her side with the same brutal efficiency she'd shown before—fists and feet and her aether core blazing blue as she tore through creatures that should have been impossible to kill bare-handed. Each strike was precise. Calculated. Lethal.
Behind her, Zayne's ice exploded outward in violent waves. Not the controlled manifestation from before—this was raw power, driven by pain and desperation and something deeper. The demons on his side froze mid-lunge, their bodies crystallizing in seconds before shattering into fragments.
Sixty seconds. Eight demons. All dead.
Nana turned to look at Zayne again. His ice sword had grown—not just a blade anymore but something larger, more elaborate. Ice armor was forming on his arms, his chest, spreading across his body like a shield his evol was building to protect him.
The transformation was accelerating. His body was adapting. Learning. Becoming.
In the observation platforms, the scientists were frantically taking notes. Her mother's fingers flew across her tablet, documenting everything. Her father leaned forward slightly, his expression sharp with interest.
"The paired combat efficiency exceeds all projections," someone said through the speakers. "The emotional bond appears to enhance coordination beyond what individual training could achieve. Subject Li's protective response to Specimen 21's proximity is triggering accelerated evol manifestation—"
More hatches opened.
Giants this time. Three of them. Massive creatures that barely fit through the openings, their crystallized armor gleaming under the harsh lights.
Nana felt a spike of genuine fear. Giants were dangerous even for her. Required weapons. Required strategy. Fighting three at once—
Zayne's hand found hers. His grip was ice-cold but steady.
"Together," he said simply.
They charged.
The first giant swung at them with a massive arm that could have crushed a car. Nana ducked under it, driving her fist into the creature's knee joint. The armor cracked but held. She hit it again, harder, and felt the joint give.
The giant toppled.
Behind her, Zayne had formed another ice weapon—not a sword this time. A spear. Long enough to reach the second giant's vulnerable spots, sharp enough to pierce its armor.
He threw it.
The spear struck true, embedding itself in the giant's chest. The creature seized, frost spreading from the impact point, ice crystallizing through its entire body in seconds.
It shattered.
The third giant was already coming at them. Nana grabbed Zayne and pulled him aside just as the creature's fist cratered the concrete where they'd been standing.
"It's too fast," she gasped. "We need—"
She didn't finish the sentence.
A hybrid had appeared behind her—one of the enhanced ones, moving with predatory silence. It lunged, claws extended, going for her exposed back.
Nana saw it in the reflection of Zayne's ice armor. Tried to turn. Tried to react.
Too slow.
The hybrid's claws were inches from her spine when the world exploded into ice.
Not a targeted strike. Not a controlled manifestation. This was something else entirely—a detonation of power that erupted from Zayne's body with enough force to shake the entire arena.
The temperature dropped instantly. Not gradually—instantly. From room temperature to arctic conditions in the span of a heartbeat. Every moisture molecule in the air crystallized, creating a fog of ice particles that filled the ring.
And everything within ten meters of Zayne froze solid.
The hybrid behind Nana. The remaining giant. Three demons that had been waiting in the wings for the next wave.
All of them frozen in place like statues. Their bodies preserved mid-motion, surprise evident in their postures even through the ice.
For one perfect, crystalline moment, everything was still.
Then the frozen creatures began to crack. Fractures spreading across their surfaces like lightning through glass. The structural integrity failing under the impossible cold.
They shattered. All of them. Simultaneously. Exploding into fragments that rained down across the arena floor like deadly snow.
Silence.
Absolute, stunned silence from the observation platforms above.
Nana stared at Zayne. At the man who had just unleashed enough power to kill five enhanced creatures in a single burst. Who was standing in the center of a perfect circle of ice, his body wreathed in frost, his eyes still hazel but glowing faintly with the blue light of his evol.
"Zayne?" she whispered.
He looked at her. Really looked—and she saw him in there. Not a specimen. Not a weapon. Just Zayne, terrified and in pain and desperately trying to understand what was happening to his body.
"I couldn't let it hurt you," he said. His voice shook. "I felt it coming and I couldn't—I didn't think. I just—"
He collapsed.
Not unconscious—just his legs giving out as the adrenaline that had been holding him upright finally failed. Nana caught him before he hit the ground, lowering them both carefully to the frost-covered concrete.
Above them, her mother was already speaking into her recording device. "Emotional trigger response confirmed. Subject Li's ice evol manifestation amplifies in direct proportion to perceived threat against Specimen 21. The protective instinct overrides conscious control, resulting in area-effect detonations that—"
She stopped mid-sentence.
Someone in the observation platform was pointing at something. Then another scientist. Then several at once, their calm professionalism finally breaking into genuine alarm.
Nana followed their gaze to the far wall of the arena.
The glass cylinders. The ones visible through the transparent barrier that separated the gladiator ring from the creature production floor. Hundreds of them, containing the hybrids and vampires and demons that were being grown for Avalon deployment.
The cylinders were shaking.
Not from external force—from inside. The creatures within, dormant until now, were responding to something. The violence in the arena. The blood on the concrete. The sounds of combat and death and desperate survival.
It was triggering their predatory instincts. Waking them up before the production cycle was complete.
One cylinder cracked. Just a hairline fracture, barely visible.
Then another.
Then a dozen at once.
"Shut down the production floor!" someone shouted through the speakers. "Emergency protocol! Seal the—"
Too late.
The first cylinder shattered.
A hybrid burst free, its body dripping with amber liquid, its eyes burning with fresh hunger. It didn't attack the glass barrier—it attacked the nearest cylinder. Shattered it. Released another creature.
That creature released another.
And another.
And another.
Within thirty seconds, the production floor was in chaos. Hundreds of creatures breaking free, fighting each other, fighting the scientists who'd been monitoring the growth process, tearing through the facility with mindless aggression.
Alarms blared. Red emergency lights flooded the arena and the observation platforms. Soldiers scrambled, weapons drawn, trying to form defensive lines against an onslaught they hadn't prepared for.
On the monitoring screens mounted throughout the facility, Nana could see it spreading. The creatures weren't staying on the production floor. They were finding corridors. Finding exits. Finding their way deeper into the facility—
And finding their way up.
Toward the surface. Toward the forest. Toward the iron door that led to Linkon City.
Nana pulled Zayne closer, watching the chaos unfold with a strange, detached clarity.
This was it. This was the moment everything broke. Not because of her plan—she hadn't planned this. The facility had broken itself. Had built too many monsters, had pushed too hard, had assumed they could control what they'd created.
And now the nightmare was escaping.
In the observation platform, her father was shouting orders into a communication device. Her mother was frantically working her tablet, trying to initiate lockdown protocols that should have been engaged minutes ago.
Captain Jenna stood apart from them, watching the monitors with an expression that wasn't quite horror and wasn't quite resignation. Something in between.
She looked down at the arena. At Nana holding Zayne in the middle of the frost circle. At the two specimens who had just demonstrated combat capabilities beyond anything the program had projected.
Their eyes met through the glass barrier.
Jenna made a decision.
She moved to a control panel and pressed a sequence of buttons. The blast doors that sealed the arena began to open—not the ones leading deeper into the facility. The ones leading to the emergency exit corridors. The ones that led up.
An alarm override. An evacuation protocol that shouldn't have been activated during a containment breach.
Jenna was opening a path out.
Nana understood immediately. She pulled Zayne to his feet—he was barely conscious but still trying to help, still fighting against the exhaustion and pain.
"Can you run?" she asked.
"Can try," he managed.
They ran.
Through the opening blast doors, into corridors that were already flooding with panicked scientists and soldiers. The creatures were everywhere now—hybrids tearing through security teams, vampires hunting in the shadows, demons fighting each other for territory.
The facility was eating itself alive.
Nana and Zayne pushed through the chaos, following the emergency exit signs that glowed red in the flickering lights. Behind them, she could hear her parents shouting. Hear soldiers trying to regroup. Hear the screams of people being caught by the creatures they'd created.
She didn't look back.
They climbed. Up emergency stairwells designed for exactly this kind of catastrophic failure. Up through levels of the facility that Nana had never seen, past laboratories and monitoring stations and rooms full of equipment she couldn't identify.
And finally—finally—they burst through a door into cold night air.
The forest. They were in the forest. The same outskirts area where this had all started. The iron door was somewhere behind them, still hanging open, creatures already beginning to pour through into the trees above.
Zayne collapsed against a tree, gasping, his body still wreathed in frost. The transformation was still happening. Still changing him. But slower now. Stabilizing.
Nana stood beside him, watching the forest.
In the distance, she could hear sirens. Linkon City's emergency response. Someone had called them. Someone had seen the creatures emerging. Someone had realized what was happening.
The second Avalon was beginning.
Not in a pocket dimension this time. Not in an artificial realm built to contain the nightmare.
Right here. In the real world. In a city full of civilians who had no idea what was coming for them.
Nana looked at Zayne—at the man she loved, who had been turned into a weapon to fight the very monsters that were now escaping the facility that had created both the weapons and the threats.
"What do we do?" he asked quietly.
Nana looked back at the forest. At the darkness where creatures were moving. At the city beyond, where lights still glowed in innocent ignorance of what was about to descend on them.
"We fight," she said simply. "It's what they made us for. So we fight."
She helped Zayne to his feet. Together, they turned toward the forest.
Toward the nightmare that was just beginning.
.
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To be continued.