Chapter 3

Alana stepped into the elevator, jabbing the button for the administration floor. Her comm-link vibrated violently against her wrist. A red notification flashed: Access Denied. You have been removed from the Safehouse Security Grid.

She gritted her teeth, the muscles in her jaw jumping.

The elevator doors slid open. She marched down the plush, carpeted hallway and stopped in front of the heavy oak door belonging to Senior Advisor Reginald Kent. She knocked twice, hard.

"Enter," a bored voice called out.

Alana pushed the door open. Her boots sank into the expensive wool rug.

Kent sat behind a massive mahogany desk, casually sipping from a porcelain coffee cup. A holographic screen floated in front of him, displaying Alana's official squad termination report.

Alana planted both hands flat on the polished wood of his desk. "Sir, I need you to reject this termination. It's a malicious dismissal to force me into a corporate contract."

Kent set his cup down slowly. He pushed his gold-rimmed glasses up his nose, his eyes cold and condescending.

He swiped his finger through the air. Alana's academic transcript expanded in the space between them. He picked up a digital stylus and circled a specific line in glowing red ink.

Summoning Attempts: 12. Success Rate: 0%.

"Aegis Academy does not harbor dead weight, Miss Nicholson," Kent said, his voice dripping with disdain. "A Conduit without an Eidolon is a defective product."

"My tactical analysis scores are the highest in the entire sector!" Alana argued, her voice rising, her chest heaving with desperate breaths. "My mental micro-control is flawless!"

Kent let out a dry, mocking chuckle. He waved his hand, dismissing the hologram. "In the face of absolute power, tactics are garbage."

He opened his top drawer, pulled out a crisp, white document, and slid it across the desk toward her.

Alana looked down. The header read: Logistics & Breeding Track Transfer Application.

"Be realistic," Kent said, lacing his fingers together. "Your destiny is to serve the Concord by providing offspring. Go to the civilian breeding centers. It's where you belong."

Alana's blood ran cold. Her hand instinctively moved to the inner pocket of her jacket - the shard was still there. She could sell it, buy the forbidden ritual, force an Eidolon summon. But if anyone discovered she had stolen a piece of the academy's S‑tier testing monolith, she would be executed. No, worse - dissected. She clenched her jaw. Not yet. Not unless absolutely necessary.

A wave of pure, blinding heat washed over her face. 'The civilian breeding centers...' The words coiled around her heart like venomous snakes, squeezing the life from her. No. She would rather burn to ash in the fires of forbidden magic than be reduced to a state-sanctioned incubator. If they were so determined to destroy her, she would drag this entire corrupt system down into the abyss with her. A cold, terrifying clarity settled over her mind.

She snatched the paper off the desk.

Right in front of Kent's eyes, she gripped the edges and ripped the thick document in half. The sound of tearing paper was loud in the quiet office. She let the pieces flutter down onto his precious wool rug.

Kent's face turned purple. He slammed his palm onto the desk. "You ungrateful little brat!"

"I am not transferring," Alana shouted, her voice echoing off the walls. "I will form my own squad."

Kent looked at her like she had lost her mind. He laughed, a cruel, grating sound. "With what? You have no credits. You have no safehouse. You can't even summon a bottom-tier slime."

He leaned forward, his eyes narrowing into slits. "Here is your sentence. If you do not register a valid Eidolon before the Ascension Trials, you will be expelled. Immediately."

Alana stared at him. The fire in her chest burned away the last of her fear, leaving only a cold, hard determination.

She turned and walked out of the office.

She didn't stop until she found an abandoned janitor's closet at the end of the hall. She slipped inside, locked the door, and slid down the cold, tiled wall until she hit the floor.

She gasped for air, her lungs burning. Hot tears pricked the corners of her eyes, but she blinked them back fiercely. She would not cry.

She activated her comm-link, switching it to maximum privacy mode. Her fingers flew across the virtual keyboard, bypassing the academy's firewalls, diving deep into the dark web databases.

She searched for anything. Any forbidden method to force a resonance connection.

Dozens of red warning pop-ups flooded her screen. She swiped them away until her eyes locked onto an ancient, fragmented file.

The Blood-Bound Resonance Matrix.

She read the translated text quickly. It required an excruciating physical toll and materials that were nearly impossible to find.

Her eyes dropped to the estimated cost of the materials. 1.22 Million Credits.

Her heart sank, a heavy weight pulling at her ribs. But then she read the final line of the description: Bypasses all talent barriers. Forcibly anchors a high-dimensional entity.

Alana closed the comm-link. She stood up and brushed the dust off her pants. Her eyes were no longer desperate. They were sharp, focused, and deadly.

She walked out of the closet and looked out the window at the dark, gathering storm clouds over Zenith City.

She pulled up her navigation app and set the destination. The underground black market.