Utopian System

Zantem held Diana's neck with a fury that threatened to consume him.

This insignificant human, this parasite who had forced him to adopt this grotesque form...

He could end her in an instant, separate her head from her body with a simple squeeze, but that would be too merciful. His transformed body trembled with barely contained rage as he considered the punishment she deserved.

'No,' he thought while observing her pathetic attempts to break free, his enhanced senses registering every futile struggle. 'You need to understand the true meaning of suffering.'

His claws, now more like human fingers but ending in chitinous points, dug slightly into her skin, enough to cause pain but not to end her life. Each small puncture was precisely calculated to maximize discomfort while prolonging consciousness.

Diana's blows against his arm were like a small bird's fluttering against a storm.

When she used her winged sea slug to launch a corrosive attack, Zantem barely blinked at the impact on his eyes. A slight sting, nothing more. His transformed body resistance had rendered such attacks virtually meaningless.

"Did you really think you could escape?" his voice, distorted by the transformation, sounded like broken glass scraping metal, each word dripping with contempt.

One of Diana's companions launched herself against him in a desperate attack. Zantem caught her with his free hand without even looking at her.

The strangest action for a human, and the most foolish in this case, but...

The other human did what her inferior species did best: flee. She turned and flew desperately toward the city.

'Perfect,' thought Zantem while cruel laughter escaped his modified jaws. 'Let her see how they abandon her. Let her feel the worst, the betrayal of her own species.'

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"Look," he whispered with his distorted voice, turning Diana's head to watch her companion fleeing toward the barrier. "See how your kind runs when death approaches?"

"Run!" Diana shouted to her fleeing companion. "RUN!"

"Oh? Yes, encourage their cowardice," Zantem mocked. "Watch closely," he told the soldier he held, "your fleeing friend chose the right path. Survival over honor. It's the only thing your weak species does well."

With a deliberately slow movement, he began to squeeze. "Loyalty combined with weakness," crack "only brings you," crack "death."

With a casual movement, he crushed the throat of the human who had tried to defend Diana. The sound of breaking bone was music to his ears, each crack a symphony of destruction.

Diana's eyes filled with tears while watching her companion die. Zantem held the body a few moments longer, ensuring Diana saw every detail, before throwing it like garbage toward the cores below.

"You see?" he whispered near her ear, his transformed face inches from hers. "Your friend who fled will live. This fool died for nothing. Which do you think made the right decision?"

Diana kept stretching her hand toward the barrier, her fingers trembling with effort.

Zantem smiled, a horrible expression on his transformed face that twisted human features into something nightmarish.

"You still have hope?" His laughter made the air vibrate. "Allow me to fix that."

He descended violently, dragging Diana with him.

The descent's speed made the air whistle around them. With each meter they moved away from the barrier, Zantem could feel hope abandoning his prey, savoring her growing despair like a fine wine.

"Observe," he said while they fell. "Observe how your salvation moves away. Can you feel it? The weight of desperation?"

They impacted against the tunnel's remains with devastating force.

The system's armor barely kept Diana conscious.

Zantem positioned himself over her, his monstrous form completely blocking her view of the barrier, his transformed body a living nightmare in her field of vision.

"You can't see it anymore, can you?" he whispered. "The barrier, your salvation, everything it represented... it's over."

His claws closed around the arm Diana still kept pressed to her chest.

"Now, give me my prize. The core for which you sacrificed your companions."

The sound of breaking bones and tearing tendons filled the air while Zantem wrenched the arm from its position. Anticipation made his voice tremble.

"At last..." His fingers closed around the object in Diana's destroyed hand.

At last, the core was in his power.

Victory would be...

Zantem opened Diana's bloodied hand and froze. Instead of the Fire King's blue core, there was only a simple red Locus core.

The revelation of the simple red Locus core froze time for an instant.

Despite the searing pain, Diana managed to sketch a bloody smile. Her eyes, which moments before seemed to reflect terror, now shone with fierce triumph.

"Seems like the artromus... can't sense the core's location... not so perfect after all," her voice was barely a whisper, but each word was loaded with satisfaction. "You were so sure I had received the core from Elio... so obsessed with recognizing me perfectly, with following me... that you never made sure I actually had it."

Understanding crossed Zantem's transformed face like lightning. The girl who had fled...

"My city won," Diana let out a weak laugh, blood dripping from her lips. "My bet won. You can kill me now... but it doesn't matter anymore."

Zantem's jaws contracted in an indescribable fury.

This human, this insignificant parasite, had not only deceived him but dared to mock him.

To laugh in his face after forcing him to adopt this monstrous form.

"You think death is the worst possible fate?" The artromus's voice was pure venom. "I'll teach you the true meaning of suffering. You'll wish I had killed you quickly."

Death wouldn't be sufficient punishment for such disrespect. First, he would make her understand the cost of her insolence.

♢♢♢♢

Diana's screams had become background noise, monotonous and increasingly unsatisfying.

Zantem observed his work with anger and frustration. Each scream should have brought him pleasure, each sob should have been a small victory, but all he could feel was the bitter taste of failure.

The King's core had escaped him.

His mission, the reason he had submitted to this aberrant transformation, had failed.

"There's no point in prolonging this anymore," he murmured, his claws positioning for the final blow.

Diana, broken and bloodied, found strength to raise her gaze. Her eyes, though clouded by pain, still maintained a defiant spark. Her lips, swollen and broken, curved in a final smile.

"Lo... loser," whispered Diana, each syllable an act of final rebellion.

Zantem roared, his arm descending with lethal force. Diana closed her eyes, at peace with her fate, knowing her sacrifice hadn't been in vain.