Chapter 28: Hundred Thousand Volts

The high-voltage current shrieked like a dying turbine as arcs of blue lightning scorched the hallway floorboards.

Raiko threw his head back and laughed, pumping the full hundred-thousand-volt output of his twin chest reactors through the conductive chains.

"Burn, you masked rat!" the cyber-chimera hunter roared, his artificial synthesizer screeching over the crackle of burning insulation.

"Nobody survives the Tesla grid when my coils bite into their flesh!"

Leo clenched his fists as agony ripped through his nervous system, threatening to arrest his heart mid-beat.

Instead of burning his internal organs, the All-Spark in his chest flared with furious purple luminescence.

The assimilated Kinetic and Material Absorption trait went into overdrive, treating the electrical assault as concentrated fuel.

[ Critical Host Trauma Overridden: Kinetic & Energy Absorption Active ]

[ 100,000V Voltaic Energy Siphoned Into Shadow Pool ]

[ Shadow Pool Capacity Surging: 25/25 -> 60/60 (Temporary Voltaic Overcharge) ]

[ Trait Integration: Voltaic Shadow Lightning Unlocked ]

The lightning coiling around Leo’s arms turned a crackling shade of violet.

The heat stopped burning his skin, transforming into a torrent of pressurized ether that flooded his bloodstream with raw vigor.

"What is happening?!" Raiko stammered in sudden panic, his yellow optical sensors flickering as the current reversed through his own chains.

"My coils are draining backward into your chest!"

"You offered me power," Leo whispered through clenched teeth, his gaze blazing with purple fire as his soles rooted into the floor.

"It would be rude of me to refuse."

Leo threw his upper body backward, channeling the strength of his overcharged core into a single yank.

The telekinetic and physical pull ripped Raiko off his feet, sending the cybernetic hunter flying across the corridor.

Raiko crashed through a support pillar, showering the hallway in shattered mortar and twisted rebar.

Down at the basement hatch, the red timer on the magnetic breaching charges beeped its final warning at two remaining seconds.

The two surviving enforcers raised their detonators, ready to trigger the blast manually if the digital clock failed.

"Blow it now!" one of the gunmen screamed, his fingers trembling against the ignition toggle.

"Do not wait for the commander, blow the basement into the sky!"

Leo activated Phantom Greaves, his soles gliding across the floorboards in a streak of purple lightning.

He drew his weapon from the Phase-Catalyst sheath with a swift Iaido sweep.

The spatial edge discharged the siphoned hundred-thousand-volt surge in a sweeping wave of crescent lightning.

The electrified slash bisected both enforcers at the waist, vaporizing their detonators and cleaving the charges off the doorway before the timer reached zero.

The severed explosive blocks clattered to the ground, their digital displays shorting out in small puffs of grey smoke.

Behind the security door, Luna dropped to her knees in the dark pharmacy, breathing hard as the violent thunderclap shook the basement walls.

"He is here," she cried softly into her trembling hands, feeling the familiar resonance of his shadow ether hum through the threshold.

"He really came for us."

"Is it safe to open the door, nurse?" one of the elderly patients asked in a shaking voice, peering through the medical supply racks.

"Stay back against the wall," she answered, wiping tear tracks from her cheeks while holding her hands ready to mend any wounds.

"He will clear the path for us, we just have to trust him."

Back in the corridor, a cloud of dust exploded as Raiko dragged his battered frame out of the demolished pillar.

The cyber-hunter’s chest armor was dented and scorched, exposing glowing circuitry and a cracked containment core.

"I am an E-Rank hunter!" Raiko shrieked in desperation, overclocking his remaining servos to their maximum output.

"I was forged in the Apex black sites to butcher metas like you!"

Raiko lunged forward at blinding speed, his right arm transforming into a five-foot plasma blade aimed at Leo’s throat.

Leo did not step back, nor did he raise his guard to parry.

He stepped into the attack path, letting the Phase-Edge weapon flicker with spatial distortion as he executed a reverse-grip upward thrust.

The dark crescent blade phased straight through Raiko’s plasma blade, slicing through his reinforced collarbone without meeting resistance.

The spatial edge severed the hunter’s main chest reactor clean in half, cutting off the high-voltage power supply at the root.

Raiko froze mid-stride, his yellow optical lenses dimming into lifeless grey as sparks sputtered from his open mouth.

"How..." the hunter choked out, blue coolant fluid pouring from his cracked jaw.

"Your contract is void," Leo answered coldly, ripping the blade free in a clean horizontal flick.

Raiko’s frame collapsed onto the scorched floor, motionless and silent.

[ Target Neutralized: "Volt-Fang" Raiko (Rank: E) ]

[ Combat EXP Awarded: +5,000 ]

[ LEVEL UP: Level 16 -> Level 17 ]

[ LEVEL UP: Level 17 -> Level 18 ]

[ Free Stat Points: +10 | Allocated to Endurance and Perception ]

[ Loot Acquired: 100,000V Tesla Reactor Core x1 | High-Grade Cybernetic Blueprints ]

[ Syndicate Bounty Auto-Wire: 150,000 Credits Deposited ]

Leo lowered his weapon, feeling the residual electric current dissipate into the soles of his shoes.

He turned toward the basement pharmacy, his steps crunching softly over shattered ceramic and broken tiles.

He drove the heel of his foot into the warped security lock, kicking the scorched door wide open.

Luna stood in the smoky darkness behind a row of overturned medicine cabinets, her eyes wide with unspeakable relief.

The moment she recognized his silhouette beneath the dark hood, her strength gave out and she collapsed forward into his arms.

"Leo!" she sobbed against his chest, burying her face into his coat while her arms wrapped tightly around his neck.

"They had explosives, I thought we were going to die down here!"

"You are safe now," he murmured softly, wrapping one arm firmly around her waist while using his free hand to steady her trembling shoulders.

"The strike team is eliminated, and Flint’s enforcers will not be touching this clinic ever again."

"They set fire to the upper floors," she whispered, her voice muffled against his collar as heat radiated from the ceiling.

"The patients are terrified, and the building will not stand for much longer."

"We are getting everyone out right now," he said firmly, glancing at the frightened patients behind the counter.

"Follow my lead to the rear alley exit, the street is clear."

A soothing warmth bloomed between their chests as her Healer’s Devotion passively knitted the electrical burns along his forearms.

[ Heroine Bond Sync: Luna (Heroine Slot 1) ]

[ Emotional Resonance Deepened: 50% -> 60% ]

[ Luna Love Rate Multiplier Active: 2.0x ]

[ Safehouse Sanctuary Directive Generated ]

Leo looked back at the burning lobby, where flames were beginning to lick the support beams of the second floor.

He gathered Luna into his arms, lifting her off the floor in a secure, protective bridal carry.

"Hold onto me," he instructed gently, stepping over the threshold as sirens began to wail in the distant streets.

Luna nodded tearfully, resting her cheek against his shoulder as they vanished into the cool, cleansing night rain.