The pounding on the warehouse door didn't stop.
It settled into a rhythm instead, heavy impacts spaced just far enough apart to suggest coordination rather than chaos.
It was as though whatever remained outside was no longer simply throwing itself forward blindly but beginning to learn, adapt, or at the very least persist with unsettling consistency.
Arty stood a few metres back from the door, eyes fixed on the faint tremor that ran through the frame with each strike.
While the system panel hovered in his vision with quiet indifference, offering options like a menu in a world that no longer deserved that kind of simplicity.
Level: 1
Debt: 1,000,000,000
Crystals Held: 12
The numbers didn't feel abstract anymore.
They felt like weight.
Behind him, Leah had moved Dale onto a low pallet stack and was tearing open a first aid kit she'd pulled from one of the shelves, her movements controlled but tight, the kind of efficiency that came from not allowing panic to take up space.
Tom was circling the interior perimeter, checking aisles, glancing up toward the rafters, confirming what they all hoped was true but none of them believed completely.
Clear.
For now.
"Tell me what you're seeing," Leah said without looking at him, her voice steady but carrying that underlying edge that meant she was done being kept in the dark.
Arty exhaled slowly.
"No idea how to explain it without sounding insane."
"Try anyway."
He hesitated for half a second, then gave up on filtering it.
"There's a system in my head," he said. "It's tied to the crystals, it's counting them, it's giving me options."
Leah stopped moving.
Just for a moment.
Then she went back to work. "Options like what?"
"Spend them. Save them. Upgrade something. Pay off… debt."
She paused again at that word.
"Debt?" Tom said, turning back toward them. "We're doing that now? Apocalypse with a mortgage?"
Arty almost smiled.
"Feels about right."
The panel shifted.
As if responding to attention.
A new line expanded beneath the existing options.
Recommended Action Available
He frowned.
"Did that just—"
The text updated.
Stabilisation Protocol – Tier 1
Cost: 5 Crystals
Effect: Reinforce structure (limited)
Arty looked at the door.
Then at the walls.
Then at the roof supports.
The pounding continued.
Measured.
Relentless.
Leah followed his gaze. "You've got something, don't you?"
"Maybe."
"Define maybe."
"I can spend five crystals and reinforce the building."
Tom didn't hesitate. "Do it."
Leah didn't speak immediately.
Her eyes flicked to the door, then back to Arty.
"How long does it last?"
Arty focused on the panel again.
No duration listed.
No detail.
Just "limited."
"Doesn't say."
"That's not good."
"No," he agreed. "It isn't."
Another impact hit the door, harder this time, the metal bending inward slightly before snapping back into place.
Dale winced from the pallet. "I'd vote for anything that makes that stop."
Arty's hand hovered near his pocket.
Twelve crystals.
Five would drop him to seven.
Seven against one billion.
The math was laughable.
The situation wasn't.
If the door failed, the math didn't matter at all.
He made the call.
"Alright. I'm doing it."
Leah nodded once. "Then do it."
Arty focused on the panel.
"Stabilisation Protocol. Confirm."
The system responded instantly.
5 Crystals deducted
Something changed.
Not visibly at first.
No glow. No dramatic shift.
Just a subtle tightening of the space, like the building itself had taken a breath and held it.
Then—
The next impact hit the door.
The sound changed.
Less hollow.
More solid.
The frame didn't flex as much.
Leah's eyes widened slightly. "It worked."
Arty nodded slowly.
"Yeah… it worked."
Relief tried to creep in.
He didn't let it.
Because something else had changed too.
The panel updated.
Remaining Crystals: 7
And beneath it—
A new line.
One that hadn't been there before.
Stability Duration: 00:04:58
Arty froze.
"Of course," he said under his breath.
"What?" Leah asked.
He looked at her.
"Five minutes."
Her expression hardened instantly. "You're kidding."
"I wish I was."
Another impact.
The door held.
For now.
Tom let out a low whistle. "So we just bought five minutes of not dying."
"Yeah," Arty said.
"Great," Tom muttered. "What happens after that?"
Arty didn't answer.
Because the system already had.
The timer ticked down.
00:04:41
00:04:40
00:04:39
The seconds felt louder than the impacts.
Leah stood slowly.
"Then we don't waste them."
Arty nodded.
That was the play, it had to be.
He turned back to the panel.
Options.
Spend.
Upgrade.
Debt.
He focused on the second line.
Convert crystals to personal progression
Another panel opened.
Level 1 → Level 2
Requirement: 100 points
He almost laughed.
Seven crystals.
Seven points.
Ninety-three short.
"Not happening," he muttered.
The timer ticked.
00:04:02
The pounding outside shifted.
More impacts now.
Closer together.
"They're stacking," Tom said quietly. "They're not just hitting it… they're pushing."
Arty's jaw tightened.
That wasn't good.
That was very much not good.
He looked back at the panel.
One option left.
Convert crystals to debt reduction
He selected it.
The panel shifted.
7 points will be deducted from total debt
He stared at the number.
1,000,000,000
Minus 7
He let out a breath that almost became a laugh.
"This is insane."
Leah stepped closer. "What is?"
"I can spend everything I've got… and it won't matter."
"Then don't," she said immediately.
He looked at her.
She held his gaze.
"Use them to survive," she said. "Not to feel better about a number."
The timer ticked.
00:03:21
Another impact.
The door held.
Barely.
Arty nodded once.
"Yeah."
That was the answer.
Not debt.
Not yet.
Survival first.
Everything else later.
The panel flickered again.
A new line appeared.
Different.
Darker.
Emergency Option Available
His pulse kicked.
"Here we go," he murmured.
Leah's voice sharpened. "What now?"
Arty focused.
The text expanded.
Forced Conversion – System Integration (Partial)
Cost: All remaining crystals
Effect: Unlock Tier 1 Ability
Warning: Irreversible
Silence.
Even with the pounding.
Even with the timer.
Everything narrowed to that one line.
Tom spoke first. "That sounds… important."
Leah didn't look away from Arty. "What does it do?"
"He doesn't know," Dale said from the pallet, voice weaker but steady. "That's the point."
Arty swallowed.
Seven crystals.
Gone.
For something permanent.
Something unknown.
The timer dropped.
00:02:48
The door bent inward slightly under the next hit.
The frame creaked.
"They're getting through that," Tom said.
"Not yet," Leah snapped.
"Soon," he replied.
Arty looked at the panel.
Then at the door.
Then at Leah.
She didn't tell him what to do.
She just watched him.
Trusted him.
Or at least accepted that the decision was his whether she liked it or not.
The timer kept ticking.
00:02:21
He exhaled slowly.
"Alright," he said.
Decision made.
"If this kills me, I'm going to be very annoyed."
"Comforting," Tom muttered.
Arty focused on the option.
"Forced Conversion. Confirm."
The system didn't hesitate.
All crystals deducted
The world snapped.
Not visually.
Not physically.
Internally.
Like something inside him had been waiting for permission to exist and had just been given it all at once.
Heat surged through his chest.
Then spread.
Arms.
Hands.
Spine.
His breath caught as the sensation intensified, not pain exactly, but far too close to it to be comfortable.
The panel burned brighter.
Ability Unlocked: Metal Manipulation (Tier 1)
Arty staggered slightly.
Leah caught his arm. "Arty?"
"I'm fine," he said, though his voice didn't fully agree.
The timer hit—
00:01:59
The door shuddered.
The frame bent.
This time it didn't fully snap back.
Tom stepped back. "That's not holding much longer."
Arty straightened.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Something inside him felt different.
Not stronger.
Not yet.
More… connected.
He looked at the door.
At the steel frame.
At the hinges.
And for the first time—
He didn't just see them.
He felt them.
Structure.
Weak points.
Tension.
Leah followed his gaze. "Tell me that did something useful."
Arty raised his hand slightly.
Focused.
The metal in the door frame trembled.
Just a fraction.
Then held.
His eyes narrowed.
A slow, dangerous smile formed.
"Yeah," he said quietly.
"It did."
The timer hit—
00:01:32
Outside—
Something hit the door hard enough to crack the inner panel.
Inside—
Arty stepped forward.
Hand rising.
Power waiting.
And for the first time since this began—
He wasn't reacting.
He was about to push back.