Chapter 1

"Warning. Target Zero's heart rate is abnormal. Emotional fluctuation has exceeded the critical threshold."

The cold female voice of the central intelligence echoed beneath the dome of the SSS sanctuary. Harsh red warning lights cut the pure-white room into broken fragments.

I sat motionless on the reinforced sofa and stared at the floor.

My favorite limited-edition Nova-9 figure lay beneath a black armored combat boot.

The alloy sole ground its delicate resin pieces into powder.

"What? Does that hurt?"

The man before me wore a close military cut. A silver star on his shoulder marked him as an S-class awakened operative and flashed coldly beneath the alarms.

I remembered him. Marcus Rook was the rising operative recently transferred from central command to the First Defense Sector. He'd awakened an exceptionally rare S-class destruction ability.

Because he'd been assigned as temporary adjutant to the bastion's legendary commander, Serena Frost, he had top-level access to the core zone.

"Have you lost your mind?"

Before I could speak, a furious shout came from the kitchenette.

My residential aide, Cole Mercer, rushed out carrying the milk he'd just warmed.

The moment he saw the wreckage and Marcus's murderous expression, fury ignited in Cole's eyes. He smashed the cup down and activated his A-class reinforcement ability.

His exposed arms took on a metallic sheen amid the sickening sound of shifting bone. He planted himself in front of me and stared Marcus down. "This is the absolute restricted zone of S Ward. Who gave you permission to force your way in? Get out."

"Restricted? A man like him deserves a restricted sanctuary?"

Marcus laughed and looked past Cole's shoulder at me as though I were garbage.

"The Third Line got torn open by an altered swarm yesterday. Thousands of soldiers are trapped in the irradiated wastes without clean water. Their wounds are rotting because there's no medicine. And this is how you live?"

He swung one hand, releasing a violent wave that overturned the snack cabinet beside me.

Crates of reserved nutrient solution, uncontaminated fruit, and costly discontinued game systems scattered across the floor.

"The bastion spends thirty percent of its annual energy maintaining this climate-controlled greenhouse, all to prop up an E-rated weakling who can't even pull a rifle bolt?"

His eyes were bloodshot, and his chest heaved. He'd clearly come straight from the front, still carrying the metallic stench of altered blood.

"Gabriel, right? I can't understand whether the old men above us have lost their minds. They treat you like royalty. Do you eat a slice of cake and somehow repair the dimensional breach outside?"

"Shut your mouth. You don't know a damn thing." Cole clenched his teeth, kinetic force gathering in his right fist.

"Cole, don't."

I drew a deep breath, forced down the tremor in my chest, and caught the hem of his jacket.

The emotional-monitoring implant at the base of my skull was heating up. Weak electrical pulses stimulated my nervous system, warning me to stay calm.

I couldn't become angry.

For three years, only the highest officials in the Federal Anomaly Command had known why I was confined here.

I possessed no awakened ability, but the frequency of my brain activity was the only Reality Anchor left in this broken world.

As long as my mind stayed within a calm and contented range, the invisible field around me held the dimensional breach above Meridian Bastion in place and kept millions of altered creatures outside our reality.

If I cried uncontrollably, corrosive rain would fall across the city.

If I surrendered to despair, the breach would collapse completely.

I breathed deeply and forced a calm expression as I looked at Marcus.

"Adjutant Rook, the figure's already broken. You just got back from the front, and your emotions are unstable. I understand. Leave now, and I'll treat this like it never happened."