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Chapter 16 - Run

The order cracked through the air like a gunshot.
“Run!”

09’s voice was raw, stripped of all calculation, all control. For once, it wasn’t an order—it was desperation.

404’s chest knotted. He took a step back, but his eyes didn’t leave 09. For a moment, 09 glanced over his shoulder, giving a small, crooked grin—half mockery, half reassurance.

“Don’t waste this,” he muttered.

Then the shadows broke open. Figures poured in—masked, armored, moving in sync with Argo’s command. 09 launched himself forward, blade flashing, striking with reckless precision. Sparks flew as steel clashed against reinforced armor.

“Run, 404!” 09 roared again, blood already slick on his knuckles.

And this time, 404 did. He turned, bolting into the darkness, heart hammering, breath tearing at his throat. But even as his feet carried him away, his ears filled with the sound of 09’s struggle—the grunts, the crashes, the metallic screams of machines breaking.

Behind him, the clash began. 09 had drawn nothing but a rusted pipe scavenged earlier, yet he fought as if it were a blade. Every strike was bone-shattering precision. Every block, brutal survival. Argo’s drones swarmed like insects, their lenses glowing with that merciless, unblinking red.

404 could still hear the sound—metal breaking against metal, sparks flying, 09’s roar blending with mechanical screeches.

But he couldn’t turn back. Not when 09 had thrown everything into those two words.

Run.

His mind screamed at him to find a way out. But the deeper he pushed through the twisting halls of Sector Grid 7, the more he realized: there was no way out. Every passage ended in steel. Every exit was sealed. Every route carried Argos’ mark.

They were everywhere.

And then—silence.

The kind of silence that pressed against his ears, heavier than any noise.

404 froze, chest heaving. Somewhere behind him, the fight had ended.

But whose silence was it?