Chapter 99
The Bloom Opens Its Mouth
The doors of Dive Facility Zero closed behind them.
Not slammed.
Closed.
Slowly.
That made it worse.
The metal gates moved with a deep grinding sound, sealing the outside world away piece by piece until only darkness remained ahead and behind.
Nobody spoke for a moment.
Xin stood at the front, eyes fixed on the corridor ahead. His body still carried bruises from Sector Zero, from Zane, from Siphaini, from Andy. Every step hurt, but pain had become normal now. A background noise.
Rion stood beside him, one hand near his blade.
Tara walked behind them, rifle raised.
Orion moved quietly, eyes scanning corners, ceiling, walls, floor. He did not look tense. That made him more disturbing than the facility itself.
Clara floated rather than walked, her void-like body barely touching the ground. Wherever she moved, the shadows seemed to bend toward her.
Dren muttered from the back, “I hate this place already.”
Mason whispered, “You hate every place.”
“This one deserves it.”
No one argued.
The inside of Facility Zero looked nothing like normal Dive infrastructure.
It was older.
Much older.
The walls were built from black steel and white stone, fused together with organic Black Bloom growth. Tubes ran along the ceiling like veins. Some pulsed faintly. Some had things moving inside.
Sia covered her mouth.
“What the hell were they doing here?”
Orion answered quietly.
“Everything.”
Xin turned slightly.
Orion did not look at him.
“This was the first place where Dive stopped pretending it was a company.”
They kept moving.
The corridor opened into a massive entrance hall. It looked like a train station, a hospital, and a cathedral had been crushed into one structure. Broken statues lined the walls. Old signs pointed to places with names nobody recognized.
Human Development Wing.
Spinat Refinement Theater.
Entity Observation Deck.
Subject Conversion Atrium.
Rion read the last one and narrowed his eyes.
“Conversion.”
Clara’s voice came softly.
“This place was built to turn people into tools.”
Tara looked around with disgust. “Sounds like Dive.”
“No,” Orion said. “This was before Dive became Dive.”
That shut everyone up.
Xin walked toward the center of the hall. His boots echoed across the floor.
On the far wall, a massive screen flickered on.
Static.
Then a symbol.
The Dive symbol.
Then Andy’s voice.
“Welcome home.”
Everyone froze.
Xin’s fist tightened.
The screen shifted.
Andy appeared.
Not in person.
A live feed.
His face filled the screen, sunken eyes glowing blue white, skin shifting under gray Cardomin plating. Tentacles moved slowly behind him.
He smiled.
“Xin. Rion. Tara. Orion. Clara.”
His eyes narrowed slightly.
“And the others.”
Dren raised his middle finger at the screen.
Andy laughed softly.
“You brought more people to die.”
Xin stepped forward.
“Where are you?”
Andy’s smile widened.
“Everywhere.”
The screen went black.
A second later, the lights across the hall turned on.
All of them.
One by one.
The facility woke up.
Not machines.
The Bloom.
Black veins spread across the walls, expanding rapidly like someone poured ink into living tissue. The floor cracked beneath their feet as dark roots pushed upward.
Tara shouted, “Move back. Formation now.”
Too late.
The Bloom spread faster.
It raced across the walls, ceiling, pillars, staircases. The entire hall transformed in seconds. Steel became wet-looking flesh. Lights dimmed red. The air filled with that rotten sweet smell Xin remembered too well.
Then the floor behind them burst open.
Andy attacked from behind.
No warning.
No speech.
Just violence.
A tentacle shot through the hall at insane speed and slammed into Xin before anyone could react.
The impact sounded like a cannon.
Xin flew backward through three pillars, smashed through the far wall, and disappeared into the next structure beyond the facility. The shockwave tore through the hall and sent everyone else sliding across the floor.
Tara rolled, recovered instantly, and fired.
Her bullets hit Andy’s chest and face.
They did nothing.
Andy stepped fully into the hall.
Massive.
Worse than before.
His body looked denser now. His exposed muscle had hardened in places, almost armor-like. Cardomin plates covered more of him than before. Tentacles moved from his back, shoulders, arms, and ribs like living weapons.
His eyes glowed brighter.
Clara stared at him.
“You grew.”
Andy looked at her.
“And you weakened.”
Clara raised one hand.
The air folded.
A black cube formed around Andy instantly, sealing him inside reality itself.
For one second, it held.
Then the cube cracked.
Clara’s head tilted.
Andy touched the inside of it.
His hand pushed through.
Not breaking.
Resisting.
The cube shattered outward like glass.
Andy stepped through.
“Cute.”
Clara’s body shifted. For the first time, her calm presence flickered.
Rion moved.
“Berzar.”
His slash hit Andy from the side, cutting across his ribs and shoulder. The strike had enough force to split the hall wall behind Andy and tear a long trench through the facility.
Andy’s wound closed before Rion landed.
Andy grabbed Rion’s blade with one hand.
Rion’s eyes narrowed.
Andy smiled.
“You used to have a demon.”
Rion twisted, kicked off Andy’s chest, and pulled the sword free. “I don’t need him.”
Andy’s tentacle snapped forward.
Rion dodged.
Barely.
The tentacle cut the wall behind him cleanly.
Clara warned, “Do not let those touch your center.”
Tara shouted, “Everyone spread out. Don’t bunch up.”
Mason moved first, firing his heavy weapon. Explosive rounds slammed into Andy’s body one after another. Each blast shook the hall. Andy walked through them anyway.
Dren threw two charges onto the Bloom-covered floor.
“Eat this, ugly bastard.”
The explosions blew apart the floor beneath Andy, dropping him into a lower level.
For a second, silence.
Dren grinned. “That worked.”
A tentacle shot from the hole and wrapped around Dren’s leg.
His grin vanished.
“Shit.”
Tara fired instantly, severing the tentacle before it pulled him under.
“Stop celebrating early,” she snapped.
Dren crawled backward fast. “Yeah, noted.”
Andy erupted from the hole.
Rion and Orion attacked together.
Orion moved like he was not bound by normal steps. One second he stood near Tara. The next he was above Andy, weapon drawn from his back. It unfolded into a long curved blade-cannon, black metal lined with pale energy.
He fired once.
The blast hit Andy’s chest and launched him backward through the hall, smashing him into a wall hard enough to crack the entire structure.
Rion followed with three slashes, each faster than the last.
Andy blocked the third with his forearm.
The blade cut halfway through.
Andy’s forearm healed around the blade and trapped it.
Rion immediately let go.
Smart.
Andy smiled.
Orion appeared behind him and struck the back of his neck.
The impact was clean and brutal.
Andy’s head snapped forward.
The entire hall cracked from the force.
For a moment, Andy actually staggered.
Tara saw it.
“Now.”
She moved.
Fast.
Faster than most people in the room expected.
Phenom Force.
First pulse.
She crossed the distance and shot Andy’s left knee joint.
Second pulse.
She slipped behind a tentacle strike and fired into the same spot.
Third pulse.
She kicked off a broken pillar, flipped over Andy’s arm, and planted a blast round into the damaged knee.
Fourth pulse.
She redirected a tentacle’s momentum with her shoulder and rifle, using the force to throw herself sideways instead of being hit.
Fifth pulse.
She landed in front of Andy and fired point blank into the weak spot Orion had opened in his neck.
Five Phenom Force bursts in two seconds.
The hall went silent for half a breath.
Andy dropped to one knee.
Mason stared.
“She can do that?”
Dren blinked. “I thought she just yelled at people.”
Tara landed, breathing hard, eyes sharp.
“Keep shooting.”
Everyone opened fire.
For a few seconds, Andy was buried under bullets, explosions, blades, and Clara’s black pressure fields.
Clara raised both hands.
The shadows around Andy condensed.
A void sphere formed around him, crushing inward.
Andy’s body twisted under the pressure.
His flesh began to tear.
Clara’s voice remained calm, but strained.
“I can hold him for seventeen seconds.”
Orion’s eyes narrowed.
“Make it ten.”
He appeared directly above Andy again and raised his weapon.
The blade-cannon transformed, its edge glowing white.
He struck downward.
The hit split the void sphere and slammed Andy deeper into the ground.
A shockwave blasted outward through the facility.
For the first time, Andy roared.
Not amused.
Angry.
The sound shook the entire building.
Then all the Bloom in the hall moved at once.
Not spread.
Attacked.
Roots shot up from the ground and walls, forming spears, claws, and hands. Mason was knocked into a pillar. Sia barely pulled Nora away from a root that stabbed through the floor. Dren blew apart one cluster, only for three more to grow.
Tara shouted, “Fallback line.”
Andy rose from the broken floor.
His neck twisted back into place.
His knee rebuilt.
The wounds sealed.
His glowing eyes moved across everyone.
“You are all better than before.”
He sounded pleased.
“That makes this fun.”
Then he vanished.
Not fully.
But fast enough.
He appeared in front of Mason and punched him through the floor. Mason crashed into the lower level.
Tara fired.
Andy ducked under the shots and swung a tentacle at her.
She used Phenom Force again, one burst, then two, sliding under the attack by inches.
But Andy was learning.
His second tentacle came from the opposite angle.
Too fast.
Orion intercepted.
He grabbed the tentacle with both hands.
The ground cracked under his feet.
For the first time, Orion struggled.
Andy smiled at him.
“You smell like Stonen blood.”
Orion’s expression remained calm.
“And you smell like regret.”
He pulled.
Hard.
The tentacle tore off.
Andy laughed as it regenerated instantly.
“Good one.”
Outside, far away, Xin crashed through another building.
He had been thrown out of Facility Zero, across several city blocks, through collapsed towers and Bloom-covered bridges. He finally stopped when his body slammed into the ruins of an airport terminal.
Glass and metal exploded around him.
He lay there for a second, staring at the broken ceiling.
His ears rang.
His chest hurt.
His back hurt.
Everything hurt.
Then he coughed and rolled onto his side.
“Fuck.”
He pushed himself up.
The airport was abandoned, but not empty.
Black Bloom crawled through the terminals. Planes sat half swallowed by organic growth. One runway had split open, revealing roots thick as subway tunnels beneath it.
Xin looked back toward Facility Zero.
Far away, flashes of light and shockwaves tore through the skyline.
They were fighting him.
Without Xin.
Andy had thrown him away on purpose.
Xin’s fists tightened.
“No.”
He stood.
The ground cracked beneath his feet.
“No more throwing me away.”
His eyes moved toward the runway.
Toward the planes.
A massive passenger aircraft sat tilted sideways, half consumed by Bloom roots.
Xin walked toward it.
Then grabbed it.
Metal screamed.
The entire plane shifted.
Xin planted his feet.
And ripped it free.
The runway exploded beneath him.
He lifted the aircraft over his shoulder.
“Hope they dodge.”
He ran.
The first step shattered concrete.
The second step broke the runway apart.
By the third, he disappeared.
Xin ran through the city.
He launched from skyscraper to skyscraper carrying an entire passenger plane.
Buildings cracked when he touched them.
Windows exploded.
Collapsed towers shattered from the force.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Entire skyscraper sides caved inward from his movement.
He wasn't flying.
He was violently throwing himself through Veykar while carrying hundreds of tons.
Compression.
Control.
Release.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Facility Zero appeared ahead.
Inside the hall—
Andy turned.
Something was coming.
Very fast.
Xin appeared above the broken skyline.
Holding the plane.
He roared:
“DODGE!”
Everyone looked up.
Tara’s eyes widened.
“MOVE!”
Rion vanished sideways.
Orion grabbed Clara and shifted.
Dren screamed and dove.
Mason rolled.
Sia dragged Nora.
Andy looked upward.
Too late.
Xin hurled the passenger plane.
The aircraft crossed the distance almost instantly.
Then hit.
The impact erased the wall.
The plane slammed directly into Andy with enough force to carry him through multiple chambers, support structures, Bloom towers, and deep into Facility Zero itself.
The explosion of fuel, metal, Bloom matter, and collapsing architecture shook the entire district.
The facility split open.
Entire floors collapsed.
Outside, nearby towers cracked from the shockwave.
Inside, everyone stared.
Dren whispered:
“That was a fucking plane.”
Rion looked toward the giant burning hole.
Xin landed inside Facility Zero a second later, cracking the ground beneath him.
Blood ran from his forehead.
His shirt was torn.
His eyes were calm.
Andy stepped out of the wreckage slowly.
Burning metal slid off him.
His chest had been crushed inward.
It healed.
He smiled.
“There you are.”
Xin rolled his shoulders.
“Miss me?”
Andy’s smile widened.
“Always.”
The word made Xin’s blood go cold.
Then the fight resumed.
Andy attacked.
Xin dodged.
The tentacle strike moved faster than sound. Xin slipped under it, grabbed one of Andy’s arms, and hit him in the ribs with Phenom Force.
The impact pushed Andy back.
Not far.
But enough.
Rion appeared at his side and slashed across Andy’s shoulder.
Orion hit from above.
Clara sealed the space behind Andy with void pressure.
Tara fired into the weak points.
For the first time, Andy was being moved.
Not beaten.
Moved.
Each person had a role.
Tara disrupted.
Rion cut.
Orion crushed.
Clara contained.
Xin forced him back.
Andy laughed through all of it.
“You’re working together.”
He caught Xin’s punch with one hand.
“And still not enough.”
He headbutted Xin hard enough to shake the hall.
Xin staggered.
Andy grabbed him by the throat.
Rion attacked instantly.
Andy used Xin as a shield, forcing Rion to stop.
Then Andy whispered into Xin’s ear.
“She screamed less than I expected.”
Xin’s eyes widened.
Andy smiled.
Kaila.
He wanted the reaction.
He got it.
Xin roared and slammed both feet into Andy’s chest, breaking free. His rage surged, but this time it did not scatter.
It focused.
Phenom Force.
Force Push compression.
He struck Andy directly in the face.
The shockwave blew the ceiling apart.
Andy flew upward through the facility, breaking through level after level until he crashed into the upper tower.
The entire facility tilted slightly.
Clara looked up.
“That was new.”
Rion glanced at Xin.
Xin breathed hard.
“I know.”
Tara shouted, “Don’t pause. Move.”
Andy dropped back down.
He landed in the center of the hall.
The floor sank under him.
His body had changed again.
The Cardomin armor across his chest thickened. Black Bloom wrapped around his arms like additional muscle. The tentacles behind him split into more tendrils, sharper, faster.
Clara’s voice lowered.
“He is adapting in real time.”
Orion stepped forward.
“Then we stop giving him time.”
He moved.
This time Orion went harder.
He appeared in front of Andy and hit him with a sequence of strikes so fast Xin could barely follow. Each hit cracked the facility walls. Andy blocked some, took others, regenerated through the rest.
Orion’s final strike landed directly in Andy’s chest and pushed him back across the hall.
Andy’s feet carved trenches into the floor.
He looked at Orion.
“You’re not like the others.”
Orion said nothing.
Andy leaned forward.
“Good.”
They clashed.
The impact shook all of Veykar.
Outside the facility, towers collapsed.
Inside, everyone struggled to remain standing.
Rion joined Orion.
Two blades now.
One dark and precise.
One heavy and absolute.
Andy fought both.
Tentacles blocked Rion.
Arms blocked Orion.
Bloom roots attacked Tara and the others.
Clara raised a full void barrier around the support team, stopping the Bloom from cutting them apart.
Her form flickered.
Sia noticed.
“You’re weakening.”
Clara did not look at her.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Andy is resisting concepts now.”
Nobody liked that answer.
Tara fired again, moving constantly. Two more Phenom Force bursts carried her across the hall faster than Andy expected. She slid under a Bloom root, fired into Andy’s ankle, rolled, then fired into his eye.
The bullet hit.
Andy flinched.
Only slightly.
But Tara saw it.
“Eyes still react.”
Xin nodded.
“Good.”
Andy turned toward Tara.
Rion cut him across the face before he could move.
Xin launched forward.
Force Push.
Andy blocked.
The impact still drove him backward.
Clara compressed space under his feet.
Orion struck his chest.
Rion cut his left shoulder.
Tara fired the right eye.
For one second, Andy was locked.
One second.
Then the whole room turned black.
Not darkness.
Bloom.
It exploded from every surface, swallowing light, sound, and space.
Everyone was separated.
Xin found himself standing alone in a hallway that had not existed before.
He heard Kaila laugh.
He closed his eyes.
“No.”
He heard her voice again.
“Xin.”
“No.”
The hallway stretched.
Her voice came closer.
“You came late.”
Xin opened his eyes.
Andy stood at the far end of the hall.
Holding something small in his hand.
Kaila’s necklace fragment.
“You still think this is revenge,” Andy said softly. “But this is love.”
Xin stared.
“No.”
Andy smiled.
“You don’t understand because you never loved her like I did.”
That was the moment Xin stopped shaking.
The rage became cold.
Very cold.
“You’re right,” Xin said.
Andy tilted his head.
“I didn’t love her like you.”
Xin stepped forward.
“I loved her enough to let her be free.”
The hallway cracked.
The illusion shattered.
Xin was back in the hall.
Andy was standing in front of him.
For the first time, Andy’s smile faded.
That hit deeper than any punch.
Rion appeared beside Xin.
Orion appeared on the other side.
Clara’s voice echoed from above.
“He is emotionally unstable. Push.”
Tara raised her rifle.
“With pleasure.”
Everyone attacked again.
This time Andy did not laugh.
He roared.
The fight tore through Facility Zero.
Floors collapsed.
Towers cracked.
The entire structure started breaking apart from the inside.
But Andy was still standing.
Still healing.
Still growing.
And still not fully serious.
Finally, he raised one hand.
Every Bloom root in the facility froze.
Then pointed toward the group.
Andy’s voice became low.
“I wanted to play.”
The air turned heavy.
“But now you’re annoying me.”
The Bloom launched.
All of it.
Clara formed a cube around the group instantly.
The Bloom hit it like a tidal wave.
The cube cracked.
Clara strained.
Orion grabbed the cube
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