The glass floor beneath my feet vibrated—not from Mahameru's volcanic activity, but from the artificial life of the thousands of souls whose circulation systems I had just severed. The hall was now filled with the hiss of exhaust pipes and a pungent, metallic aroma—the scent of death from creatures that hadn't even had the chance to open their eyes.
I dragged my legs past the rows of darkening incubation tubes. My left ear still rang with a hollow silence, unsettling my balance. Every time I moved, the searing pain on the blistered left side of my face reminded me that I was still human—at least for now.
Suddenly, every light in the laboratory hall turned a pale, sickly blue. A holographic projector hummed in the center of the room, weaving particles of light into the silhouette of a man standing tall in full tactical gear and a command cloak.
Commander Arka.
He didn't look at me with rage. Instead, the face behind the hologram appeared calm, almost like a father advising a wayward son.
"You see the destruction around you, Satria? Do you consider this an act of heroism?" Arka's voice boomed in the hall, steady and authoritative.
I stopped, leaning against the control panel to stay upright. "You're breeding monsters from my brother's blood, Arka! You call this anything but madness?"
Arka let out a long sigh—a gesture that seemed remarkably human for a man who had orchestrated thousands of deaths. "I call this survival. Satria, the world is fighting over the last fossil fuels. Nations will tear each other apart for a drop of oil. But here, beneath our feet, Mahameru provides infinite energy. I only needed an 'interface' to harvest it."
"By sacrificing your own family?" I spat, my voice cracking in the vast room.
"My family were heroes, Satria. Not just Dirga. Not just you. Your blood is the key for millions of people in the Archipelago to keep the lights on in their homes, to feed their children without begging from foreign nations. I carry this sin so my people don't have to."
"He's manipulating you, Satria..." Dirga whispered in my head, his tone dripping with deep-seated hatred. "He sees us as nothing more than biological batteries. He doesn't call us human. Destroy the projector!"
I lunged toward the projector, but before my hand could reach it, a tactical laser fence erupted from the floor, trapping me within a three-meter radius. Simultaneously, one of the massive incubation tubes at the edge of the room—the one overflowing with black residue—began to crack from within.
Something was alive.
A Type-B Wiyangga (Elite), significantly larger than the others, shattered its glass casing into fragments. Black nutrient fluid flooded the floor. The creature fell, its transparent skin glistening, revealing a network of pulsating, violet muscles. The metal visor on its face glowed a fierce red as it detected my presence.
"This is the masterpiece you tried to kill, Satria," Arka's voice echoed again. "A unit powered by pure ancestral residue. Witness how beautifully it moves."
The creature lunged. Its movements were no longer animalistic, but like an elite athlete programmed to kill. it shattered the laser fence, destroying its own containment system with raw force, and landed directly in front of me.
The brutal action began.
The Wiyangga swung its elongated, blade-like arm. I parried it with my left hand, but the force was extraordinary. I was hurled back, crashing into a metal operating table, sending surgical tools scattering. The creature gave no quarter; it leapt at me with metal talons protruding from its lower jaw.
I rolled to the side, evading a lethal pounce that crushed the metal table until it buckled. My left hand glowed fiercely. I had no choice. I had to use Overload on my Rajah.
I seized the creature's neck as it tried to lunge again. A searing heat spread from my arm into its body. We grappled on the glass floor, slick with nutrient fluid. The creature clawed at my shoulders, its sharp nails tearing through my skin and flesh, but I didn't let go.
"If you want a hero, Arka... then look at this!" I roared.
I forced every drop of Kalabendu energy to erupt from my palm in a single, massive pulse.
BOOM!
A flash of reddish-orange light disintegrated the upper torso of the Wiyangga, leaving behind black smoke that smelled of burnt meat. The creature fell limp, dead for the second time. However, the price I paid was instantaneous.
The blood vessels in my left eye burst from the extreme internal energy pressure. Suddenly, my vision on the left side was obscured by a thick, hot red mist. I knelt, clutching my face as my heart throbbed as if it were about to jump out of my chest.
Blood began to seep from between my fingers, staining the laboratory floor.
Arka's hologram still stood there, watching me with an expression that almost resembled pity. "You destroy the future of your nation for a personal vendetta, Satria. Who is truly the monster here?"
"A future built on suffering... is not a future worth its name," I gasped through gritted teeth. "This red blood... it's pure. It's yours... it's a greed wrapped in... a flag."
"You don't understand, Satria. But soon you will meet Dirga in the core. He will beg you to end his suffering. And when that time comes, I will still be the one doing what is right."
The hologram faded. The room returned to silence, leaving me bleeding amidst the wreckage of artificial monsters and dead tubes.
I tried to stand, but my head spun violently. My right-side vision was gray and my left-side vision was a bloody red blur, creating a terrifying visual distortion. I felt as if I were looking at the world through a cracked and bloodied lens.
"Satria... your eye..." Dirga's voice trembled. For the first time, I felt a genuine sadness emanating from that pillar soul.
"Don't stop, Dirga," I said while wiping the blood from my face, though it was futile. "We've made it this far. Show me the way. Where else do I have to drag this broken body?"
I walked toward the gravity lift at the end of the laboratory. Every step was a battle against gravity and a profound sense of nausea. Leaving this Laboratory of Avarice was not a victory, but a reminder of the man I was losing, carrying the weight of thousands of lives just ended for a truth Arka deemed a betrayal.
I entered the lift, pressing the button to the deepest floor: The Imprisonment Room (Ruang Pasung).
Down there, a darkness that had truly been waiting for me lingered. And there, I would find the last remnants of my older brother.
ANTARALA GLOSSARY [Chapter 12]
Energy Purging: A forced release of pillar residue energy to destroy external systems, at the risk of damaging the user's internal organs.
Type-B Wiyangga (Elite): A perfected version of the combatant mutant with superior tactical intelligence and physical durability far above average.
Nusantara Energy Sovereignty: Commander Arka's political doctrine justifying any means to make Indonesia a global energy superpower through the 7 Pillars project.