A searing wave of agony surged through every nerve in Zulfa's body following the pure electrical backcurrent from the main engine room console. Panting heavily, cold sweat slicked across his face as the young engineer forced himself to rise from the steel floor. He clutched his right arm, which now hung limp, completely numb and entirely paralyzed by the high-voltage shock.

"Zul! Are you alright?!" Naya shrieked in panic, bolting down the emergency stairs from the upper floor the moment she spotted Zulfa's condition. She lunged forward, grabbing Zulfa to steady his posture. "God, your right arm... you can't move it at all!"

Captain Danu hurried down right behind her with ragged breaths, swinging his rifle barrel—still venting a wisp of thin smoke from the firefight against the shadow entities in the corridor. The war veteran glanced briefly at Zulfa's crippled right arm, then fixed a sharp glare up the stairs.

"The central valve down there... what's its status, Engineer?" Captain Danu asked swiftly, his voice thick with tension.

Zulfa shook his head slowly, his face wincing against the blinding pain throbbing through his bones. "The system suffered a total overload, Captain... We don't have time left to repair the manual console. The only remaining way to shut down this entire ritual flow is by taking out the mastermind directly at the summit altar!"

Naya stared at Zulfa with tear-filled eyes, yet an iron resolve shone through her features. She tightened her grip around Zulfa's waist. "Then we go up together. Whatever happens up there, we face it side by side."

"Naya's right. Let's finish that suit-wearing bastard right now!" Captain Danu barked with a cynical, confident smirk.

Without a shred of hesitation, leaning on their remaining strength and a blazing willpower, Zulfa, Naya, and Captain Danu hauled themselves back up the vertical emergency stairs, storming back onto the summit altar platform of the corporation's highest tower.

The moment they crossed the threshold onto the summit floor, the ambient air felt crushing and suffocating. The cosmic storm from the light pillar piercing the ionosphere spun violently, churning up a high-pressure gale that shredded their cloaks and clothing.

At the heart of the black stone altar floating above the energy vortex, the supreme leader of the syndicate—The Foundation Council—awaited their arrival.

Yet the man's physical form had mutated drastically. His lower body had melted to merge seamlessly with the streaming cosmic data particles, while his upper torso had transformed into a pure luminous dimensional entity with transparent energy wings unfolding magnificently across his back. His irises burned pupilless and bright, radiating a reality-warping distortion across the space surrounding the altar.

The mastermind turned slowly toward their arrival, breaking into a chilling, condescending grin. His voice echoed across the entire chamber, resonating directly inside their minds without the need for vocal cords.

"Ah... look who came crawling up to my feet," the mastermind spoke in a mocking, derisive tone. "The young engineer and his stray resistance insects. Did you really think a paralyzed right arm could stop me, Zulfa Arditama?"

Zulfa stepped forward slowly, standing tall before the altar despite his lingering agony and limp right arm. He glared at the half-god entity before him without a hint of fear.

"You call yourself a god, Vian... oh sorry, you aren't Vian," Zulfa called out coldly, correcting himself. "You're just a rotting parasite who stole the Arkians' tech and sacrificed thousands of civilian lives for your own insane ambitions!"

The mastermind let out a low chuckle, the sound vibrating like thunder in the heavens.

"Parasite? Oh, foolish boy... evolution never shows mercy to the weak," the mastermind replied with a voice brimming with philosophical conviction. "Mankind down below is fated to live trapped within a chain of suffering, fear, and futile death. I am liberating them. I am fusing all that mortal consciousness into a single, perfect cosmic eternity under my control. Why are you fighting so hard to defend a species that doesn't even know how to save themselves?"

"Because humans aren't just numbers or rows of data on your corporate computer screen!" Naya snapped sharply, stepping up beside Zulfa as she leveled her rifle at the mastermind. "Humans feel fear, they shed tears, but they also harbor hope and the courage to protect one another! Something a monster like you will never understand!"

The mastermind grunted softly, fixing Naya with a look of utter disdain.

"Hope? Courage? Pathetic clichés from a girl of the past who failed to grasp the universe's grand design," the mastermind hissed coldly. "You're all nothing more than a tiny ripple across the mirror of time that I'm about to shatter into a million pieces."

"Enough with the crap!" Captain Danu growled, losing patience with the arrogant monologue. He raised his rifle and roared, "Let's see how godlike you are after this hybrid hot lead rips through your chest!"

Rat-tat-tat-tat!

Captain Danu unleashed a full volley of plasma fire from his rifle straight at the mastermind.

Yet those energy rounds failed even to touch the mastermind's body. Mere centimeters before striking his pure luminous form, the plasma fire froze mid-air, mutated into purple crystal flower petals, and vaporized into nothingness.

The mastermind raised his right hand slowly, opening his palm toward Captain Danu with an emotionless gaze.

"You're truly testing my patience," the mastermind murmured softly.

Instantly, a massive, invisible psychokinetic wave erupted from the mastermind's frame, crashing across the altar surroundings like a gravitational tsunami.

BARRR-GH!

The impact was square and brutal. Captain Danu at the front line was blasted violently backward, crashing hard against the altar's concrete pillar as his rifle slipped from his grip, before collapsing unconscious onto the stone floor.

"Captain!" Naya screamed hysterically, moving to rush to Danu's aid.

Yet the mastermind snapped his transparent energy wings wide. A secondary psychokinetic wave surged forward, cutting off Naya's path and cornering the girl at the edge of the summit altar platform's drop-off, far out of Zulfa's reach, while the mastermind glided slowly toward them with a lethal, killer smile.