Chapter 160: Cursed Crystals And Corrupted Chimeras

The dark crystal orb pulsed with malevolent energy, its surface swirling with trapped essence that writhed like smoke beneath glass.

Ginsei’s instincts recoiled so violently he stumbled backward.

"You can’t be serious." His voice carried the authority of countless Bureau briefings on forbidden artifacts.

"That thing is outlawed for a reason—"

"It’s either this..." Mochi’s playful demeanor vanished completely. "Or we’re all wolf chow."

The lead wolf’s massive frame squeezed through the debris, electrical energy crackling along its enhanced fangs.

Behind it, two more pushed through the gap, their blue-veined muscles rippling with synthetic power.

Mochi ripped away the remaining silk and slammed the crystal ball onto the concrete floor.

The artifact awakened violently.

A shockwave of shadowy spirit energy erupted outward, rattling the facility’s foundations and sending loose medical equipment clattering across the floor.

The emergency lighting flickered wildly before plunging them into near-darkness, save for the sickly purple glow emanating from the shattered crystal.

The wolves froze mid-charge.

Their enhanced systems sparked uncontrollably as the artifact’s corruption scrambled their synthetic augmentations.

The lead wolf convulsed violently, its enhanced muscles spasming until sinew snapped and bone cracked audibly.

Its body twisted at impossible angles before collapsing in a heap of torn flesh and sparking circuitry.

Another wolf crashed into the walls in a maddened frenzy, claws scraping gouges in concrete as it slammed repeatedly against the reinforced surfaces.

Blood sprayed from its muzzle as synthetic compounds leaked from its eyes like tears of mercury.

Three more wolves simply dropped where they stood, their blue veins burning out in cascades of failure. Smoke rose from their still forms.

But the artifact’s power demanded a price.

Mochi staggered sideways, blood trickling from his nose in thin streams that dripped onto his leather jacket, staining the black material darker.

"Mochi!" Ginsei lunged forward as the cat spirit’s knees buckled.

Both of Mochi’s tails puffed to twice their normal size, twitching and thrashing as though fighting against invisible chains that sought to drag him down.

His usual grin had vanished, replaced by a grimace of concentration and pain.

"Damn it." Ginsei’s serpentine eyes narrowed as understanding hit him. "You’re feeding your life force into that thing just to keep it controlled."

Mochi’s breathing came in short gasps, but his grip on the artifact’s energies never wavered.

"Can’t... stop now..."

His words slurred as more blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

The forbidden artifact’s corruption spread like a virus through the laboratory’s containment systems.

Hairline fractures started to travel across the reinforced floor, glowing with sickly purple light as the facility’s foundations groaned under supernatural strain.

More enhanced wolves poured through the rubble. But the real chaos began when the spirit pods started rupturing.

The first explosion sent a geyser of suspension fluid across the laboratory floor, followed by the wet slap of something hitting concrete.

A chimeric bear-wolf hybrid spilled from its shattered container, half its body covered in natural fur while the other half gleamed with metallic plating.

Surgical scars crisscrossed its torso where organic and synthetic components had been grafted together.

The creature’s eyes rolled wildly, consciousness fractured between conflicting neural pathways.

It spotted the nearest wolf and attacked with rabid fury, metallic claws raking across enhanced flesh.

More pods exploded in sequence, the artifact’s influence destabilizing every containment field in the facility.

A swan-serpent hybrid crashed to the floor, its neck elongated beyond natural proportions, wings replaced with writhing tentacles that sparked with electrical current.

It shrieked in confusion before slithering toward the nearest exit.

A half-lizard chimera scrambled across the ceiling on gecko pads, its multiple tails whipping frantically as it sought escape from the nightmare that had birthed it.

The laboratory became a war zone of tooth, claw, and synthetic horror.

Enhanced wolves found themselves fighting creatures that shared their augmented nature. Beings designed to be weapons but driven mad by incomplete transformation.

Ginsei pressed himself against the wall, serpentine mist swirling defensively around his trembling form.

"We’re trapped in the middle of a goddamn zoo riot!"

The chaos of unleashed chimeras and enhanced wolves raged around them, but Cyrus remained unnaturally still on the medical room floor.

His unconscious form radiated heat like a dying star, crimson draconic energy flickering weakly beneath his skin.

Cyrus’s back arched violently off the floor, his aura flaring in response to the foreign power flooding their connection.

His lips parted, breath misting with heat as he whispered Kane’s name.

The bond stabilized him just enough for awareness to flicker behind his closed eyelids.

But the reprieve came at a cost.

Mochi collapsed to one knee beside him, his leather jacket slick with blood from his nose and mouth.

Both tails thrashed wildly as the artifact’s corruption fought against his control, draining his life force with every heartbeat.

"Drop it before it takes you too!" Ginsei lunged forward, serpentine mist coiling around his arms as he reached for his friend.

"Almost... got it..." Mochi’s words came out as blood-flecked gasps.

With a final shudder that sent another wave of corruption through the facility’s infrastructure, Mochi severed his connection to the artifact.

The crystal went dark with an audible crack, its malevolent energy dissipating into harmless sparks.

Silence descended like a shroud, broken only by Mochi’s ragged breathing and Cyrus’s weak growls that rumbled from his chest.

The laboratory lay in ruins—magical wards burned to ash, containment pods shattered into fragments, and smoke and sparks drifting through the acrid air.

Ginsei wiped blood from his mouth, surveying the devastation.

"At least the wolves are—"

Suddenly the floor shuddered violently beneath them, weakened by the artifact’s corrupting energy.

Metal groaned as support beams buckled under the facility’s shifting weight.

"Oh, shit—"

The ground gave way completely.

They plummeted through collapsing debris and twisted steel, Ginsei’s mist coiling desperately around Mochi and Cyrus while gravity claimed them all.

They crashed into a lower chamber in a shower of concrete and sparks.

Through the settling dust, Ginsei’s protective mist parted to reveal a silver glow.

At first, it looked like fire—until nine blazing tails unfurled, each one burning with ancient fury.