An hour.
About an hour had passed since that man had ordered him to be locked up in this cell.
Arthur was sitting on the floor, his back pressed against the cold, damp wall. The handcuffs were still on his wrists.
The cell was small. Four metal walls, a solid door with a small window. Nothing else.
But Arthur wasn't alone.
There were other people in the adjacent cells. He could hear them. Sighs. Cries. Murmurs.
Over the course of that hour, he had seen several people pass by his cell. Almost all of them were women. Some walked on their own, but most were dragged along by the guards. And many of them... many had marks.
Honkai infection.
I definitely ran into a villain, he thought.
This place wasn't just any lab. It was one of those places where unscrupulous people used Honkai for experiments.
Should I help them escape?
The question popped into his mind naturally. As if it were the right thing to do.
But Arthur shook his head.
No.
I'm not a hero.
He clenched his fists, feeling the cold metal against his wrists.
My priority is to get out of here and get back to Kiana and Emilia.
I'll wait for you, Kiana had said. But if you're late, I'll come find you.
Arthur smiled despite everything. Yes. Kiana would do that. She'd rush headlong into this factory without a second thought, and probably end up locked in the cell next door.
I can't let that happen.
He stood up. His legs responded well, despite the hour of immobility. The core was still beating in his chest.
He approached the door. Metal. Solid. With a small window through which light entered.
Could I break it?
Definitely. He knew it. But doing that would alert everyone. And he still didn't know how many guards there were, what weapons they had, or what other dangers this place held.
What could he do?
"Hey, you."
The voice came from the cell next door. Through the metal wall, he couldn't see anything, but from the tone of the voice, he could tell it was a young woman.
Arthur stood still, holding his breath.
"This is the first time I've heard the guards talk about a boy," the voice continued. "From the way they spoke, you seemed like something special."
Arthur hesitated for a moment. Then, in a barely audible whisper, he replied:
"And who are you?"
"Just a passerby," said the woman. "Though I'm also surprised there's a man who can withstand the Honkai. Most don't last even seconds."
"You…" he asked, lowering his voice even further. "Do you know what their objective is?"
"Objective?" the girl let out a laugh. "Pfft."
"You've barely arrived and the first thing you want to know is their objective?" she said, with a mocking tone. "Are you some kind of hero?"
Hero.
No, he thought. I'm not a hero.
"No," he replied, his voice firm. "I'm not a hero. I just want to get out of here and go back to my loved ones."
The woman in the cell let out a low laugh.
"Is that so?" she said, her tone a mix of curiosity and amusement. "And so, how did they catch you? Did they offer you money? Some promise they couldn't keep?"
Arthur clenched his teeth. He remembered the hallway. The guard with the gun pointed at Kiana.
"They threatened my family," he replied, his voice coming out harsher than he'd intended. "And I volunteered."
The silence in the adjoining cell grew thick. So thick that Arthur thought the woman had left, or fallen asleep, or simply lost interest.
But then she spoke.
"Hmm," she said. "That… that sounds like something a hero would do."
Arthur shook his head, even though he knew she couldn't see him.
"No. A hero would have fought. He would have found another way. He would have…"
"He would have what?" she interrupted him. "He would have let his family get hurt while trying to be brave?"
"No, but..."
"Ah, just shut up," she said, her voice sounding tired. "Guys like you are so funny, but also really annoying—the ones who think everything could have turned out fine if they'd just tried something different."
Arthur shut his mouth.
The woman sighed.
"You know, I'm bored of being in this cell."
Arthur blinked.
"What?"
"I mean, I only ran away from my father because of an argument and to be alone for a while," she continued, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "In fact, it's strange that my father hasn't found me yet. Considering how overprotective he is."
Arthur remained silent for a long while. Processing. Trying to figure out if what he'd just heard was real or if his lack of sleep was playing tricks on him.
"You ran away from your father?" he finally repeated.
"Yes."
"Over an argument?"
"Yes."
"What was the argument about?" Arthur hesitated for a moment. "If I may ask."
The woman sighed.
"He's very overprotective," she said. "He won't let me go out unsupervised even though I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. He's obnoxious, but loving. He's the kind of guy who would bring about the end of the world for his loved ones."
Arthur smiled in the darkness.
"Sounds like a complicated person."
"He is," she confirmed, and her voice softened. "But he's my complicated one."
A moment of silence. Then, as if she'd realized something, she let out a short laugh.
"Haha," she said. "I guess I said too much."
"No," Arthur replied quickly. "It's okay. Talking about them helps, doesn't it?"
"Yes," she admitted, her voice sounding smaller now. "It helps."
"He must be worried," Arthur said, thinking of Kiana, of her blue eyes filled with tears.
"Yes," she replied. "Aunt Theresa, too. I'm sure she's already mobilized half the world to look for me."
Arthur didn't ask who Theresa was. There was no need. In the way she spoke of her family, in the calm with which she awaited rescue, there was something that reminded him of Kiana. That certainty that, no matter what happened, someone would come looking for her.
"You know," the woman said suddenly, and her voice had changed. It was no longer the relaxed voice of someone waiting. It was something else. Clearer. Firmer. "This whole conversation has already made me sentimental."
"It's time to get out of here."
"Get out?" Arthur sat up, pressing his ear against the wall. "But how?"
BAM.
The sound of metal striking metal echoed throughout the hallway, and alarms quickly went off. Red lights began to flash, bathing the hallway in an intense, menacing glow.
Arthur approached the small window in his door. Through it, he could see all the lights turning a deep red.
"Hey," she said from the other side, her voice now sounding close, very close. "Do you want to get out of here?"
Arthur swallowed hard.
"Yes."
"Get out of the way."
Arthur didn't think twice. He leaped backward, pressing himself against the opposite wall, just before…
BAM.
The door flew inward as if it were made of cardboard. It flew through the air, spinning on its axis, and crashed into the back wall with a crash that left Arthur's ears ringing.
And there, in the doorway, she stood.
A young girl. Eighteen years old, maybe older. Blonde hair pulled back into a braid that fell over her shoulder, with a single white strand sticking out. Eyes as blue as a clear sky, shining with an intensity that didn't belong in this place. And a smile. A big, wide smile that lit up the gloom of her cell like a lighthouse.
"My name is Eleanor," she said, her voice clear and firm, filling the space. "Eleanor Apocalypse."
Arthur blinked, dazed. The name rang in his head like a bell. Apocalypse. Didn't Siegfried tell him to watch out for Otto Apocalypse?
"Breakout from cells 22 and 23!" the voice boomed over the loudspeakers, metallic, urgent. "If the subjects are dangerous, exterminate them immediately!"
Eleanor raised an eyebrow. Her smile didn't fade. On the contrary, it grew wider.
"Dangerous?" she murmured, as if the idea amused her. "Well, how rude."
"What do we do?" he asked.
Eleanor looked at him. Her blue eyes shone with an intensity Arthur hadn't seen in many people. Only in one.
Kiana.
"Me?" Eleanor smiled, stretching her arms as if she were about to do some exercises. "Kick their asses. You? Stay behind me."
Before he could say anything, the first guards appeared at the end of the hallway. Three, four, five. All with their weapons raised, aiming directly at them.
"Stop!" one of them shouted. "Hands up! Both of you!"
Eleanor sighed.
"What a pain," she said.
And then she moved.
A guard flew through the air, his gun spinning before crashing to the floor. Another tried to shoot, but she was no longer where she had been. She was behind him. And her fist met his back with a sharp blow that echoed down the hallway.
Arthur watched from the entrance to his cell, stunned. Eleanor moved too fast. But then he saw something that made his blood run cold.
One guard, the one who had stayed in the back, had managed to keep his cool. While his comrades fell, he had raised his gun, taken aim, and was about to shoot Eleanor right in the back.
She didn't see him. She was focused on the two in front of her.
"Watch out!" Arthur shouted.
But it was already too late. The guard pulled the trigger.
The bullet exploded in Arthur's chest before his brain could process what he was doing. His legs moved on their own. He crossed the space separating him from the guard in the blink of an eye.
The shot echoed through the hallway.
But Arthur was already there.
His shoulder slammed into the guard's side with the force of a battering ram. The man was sent flying to the side, his gun clattering to the floor with a metallic clang, his body crashing into the wall before collapsing unconscious.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Arthur stood there, panting, his shoulder aching from the impact. The bullet had passed so close that he could still hear the whistle in his ear. If it had been a split second later...
"Well," said Eleanor behind him, her voice sounding surprised. "I didn't see that coming."
Arthur turned around. She was standing among the bodies of the fallen guards, her hands in her pockets and a smile that mixed astonishment and amusement.
"Hey," she said, tilting her head. "Are you from the Kaslana family? No, your hair and eyes don't match..."
She stepped around him, as if examining a museum piece.
"You look a lot like my dad, actually. Don't tell me he sent you? No, not him either—you're too inexperienced for him to have sent you."
"And that Honkai energy…" she said, frowning. "Who are you?"
"My name is Arthur," he replied, his voice firmer than he'd expected. "And I just want to get out of here."
Eleanor raised an eyebrow. For a moment, her smile softened into something that seemed sincere.
"Arthur," she repeated, as if tasting the name. "Just a kid who wants to go back to his family, right?"
Arthur nodded.
Eleanor was about to reply, but they both sensed it at the same time. Footsteps. Lots of footsteps. Running toward them.
"There they are! Surround them!"
Eleanor sighed.
"How annoying," she muttered, and her smile returned to what it had been before. Broad. Defiant. "Looks like the chat is over, Arthur."
Arthur turned. At the end of the hallway, at least six guards had appeared. All with their weapons raised. All aiming directly at them.
"Hands up!" one shouted. "Both of you!"
"Same line as before," Eleanor muttered. "Can't they be a little more original?"
She lunged forward with the same speed as before, but this time, Arthur didn't just stand there watching.
The core pulsed in his chest, and he felt the energy coursing through his legs, his arms, every muscle in his body. Without thinking, without hesitating, he lunged forward too.
"Hey!" Eleanor said, dodging a bullet that whistled past her ear. "Didn't I tell you to stay behind me?!"
Arthur didn't answer. He saw a guard aiming at Eleanor from the left, an angle she wasn't covering. His legs moved on their own.
The guard pulled the trigger.
Arthur was already there.
His fist struck the man's side with the same force he'd used before. The guard was sent flying backward, his gun clattering to the ground with a metallic thud. Arthur rolled out of the way, dodging another bullet, and stood up right next to Eleanor.
She looked at him. There was no anger in her blue eyes. Only surprise. And something that looked like… amusement?
"I can help you," Arthur said, panting slightly. "I won't bother you."
Eleanor watched him for a moment. Then, as another guard charged at them, she let out a short laugh.
"Well," she said, spinning on her heels and knocking the guard down with a kick that looked like something out of a movie. "At least you're fast. Stay on my right flank. Don't stray."
Arthur nodded. He took his position where she'd told him, and together, the two of them advanced.
Eleanor moved with the experience of someone who had done this many times. Arthur moved on pure instinct and thanks to his core, with that energy that made him faster, stronger.
A guard tried to flank them. Arthur saw him, lunged, and his fist struck the man's chin before he could raise his weapon.
Another aimed from the back. Eleanor was already there, her blonde braid whipping through the air, her knee rising toward the guard's stomach.
"Not bad," she said as the man fell at her feet. "For a first time."
"First time?" Arthur repeated, dodging a blow from another guard. "How do you know it's the first time?"
"Because you move like an amateur," Eleanor replied.
"But hey," she said, spinning on her heels and knocking down the last guard with a kick. "You're not doing half bad."
"Thanks?" he replied, not quite sure what else to say.
"Don't thank me yet," she said, pointing down the hallway. "We're not out of here yet."
"Let's go," Arthur replied, and followed her.
They ran together down the main hallway. The red lights were still flashing, alarms were sounding in the distance, but for now the path was clear. Arthur focused on keeping up.
But then they passed the cells.
The small windows in each door. Behind them, faces. Women. Some young, others older. All with the same eyes: tired, frightened, desperate.
And when they saw them running, those eyes lit up.
Hands pounded on the metal doors. Muffled voices, stifled by the metal, but unmistakable.
"Help us!"
"Please!"
"Get us out of here!"
Arthur felt his feet grow heavier.
Save them, he thought. With Eleanor, maybe we could save them.
He looked at Eleanor. She kept running, eyes fixed ahead, jaw clenched. But Arthur saw her. He saw her eyes drift toward the cells. How her fists clenched a little tighter. How her pace slowed.
They could try. Between the two of them, maybe they could open a few doors. Free a few people. Give them a chance.
But that would cause us more problems than we already have.
The voice in his head was cold.
We already have guards. We don't know how many more there will be ahead. If we stop now, if we waste time opening cells, if we have to protect a group of people who can't even run…
Arthur clenched his teeth. The core beat harder, as if protesting. As if telling him that this wasn't right.
No. We can't. Not now.
They passed another cell. A girl. No older than Emilia. Her big, black eyes staring at him.
Arthur felt his heart break into a thousand pieces.
I'm sorry, he thought. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
He quickened his pace. He didn't look back.