All Chapters of THE ASCENSION SYSTEM : Chapter 61
- Chapter 70
190 chapters
CHAPTER 61
Breaking InThe wind howled through the desolate corridor as we approached the Deep Vault’s outer perimeter. Shadows stretched long and distorted beneath the flickering overhead lights. Every step we took was a calculated risk, every breath measured against the weight of what we were about to do.I tightened my grip on the pulse rifle strapped to my back, feeling the sweat forming on my palms despite the cold. The walls around us hummed with unseen energy, a quiet warning that we were stepping into something far bigger than ourselves.Kane moved ahead, her gaze sharp, scanning for entry points. “The main security grid is live,” she whispered. “We’ll need to override it, but this place has its own intelligence. If we trip the wrong wire, it won’t just alert the Overseers—it’ll trap us inside.”“Sounds fun,” I muttered, pressing my fingers against the cold steel of the access panel. A green pulse flickered across its surface, reading my presence. “We go in quiet, fast. No mistakes.”Fro
Last Updated : 2025-03-13
CHAPTER 62
The Vault’s GuardiansThe door yawned open, and cold, sterile air rolled out like a breath from something ancient and waiting. My fingers tightened around my rifle as my instincts screamed that we had just made a terrible mistake. Kane stepped in beside me, her face lit only by the soft red glow pulsing from the walls.The space beyond was massive—too massive. Vaults weren’t supposed to have horizons. But this place stretched far beyond what should have been possible, the walls shifting and reforming like liquid metal. It was as if the structure itself was alive.And then I heard it. The low, rhythmic thrum of something waking up.Kane sucked in a sharp breath. “Tony—”A shape moved in the darkness. Then another. And another.Metal groaned as towering figures emerged from the shadows—machines, unlike anything we’d faced before. Humanoid in shape but too smooth, too perfect. Their bodies gleamed under the dim light, reflecting us in their mirrored surfaces. Their heads tilted in eerie
Last Updated : 2025-03-13
CHAPTER 63
Cracking the CoreThe sound of our footsteps echoed through the desolate corridors as we sprinted toward the heart of the facility. My lungs burned, my muscles screamed, but I didn’t stop. Couldn’t stop. Not when we were this close.Kane ran beside me, keeping pace despite the slight limp she had tried to hide. Blood trickled down her arm from a graze she’d picked up during the fight with the constructs, but she hadn’t said a word about it. That was Kane—always pushing through the pain, never giving in.We reached the central data hub, an enormous chamber lined with towering servers pulsing with a soft blue light. In the center stood a single, reinforced terminal—the core of the entire system.Kane sucked in a breath. “This is it.”I scanned the room, my heartbeat still erratic from the fight. “No guards. No automated defenses.” I didn’t trust it. “This feels too easy.”She shot me a look. “After what we just went through? Call it a damn miracle and move.”I stepped forward, but the m
Last Updated : 2025-03-13
CHAPTER 64
A Ghost in the SystemWe barely made it out of the data hub before the system locked down. The halls pulsed red with emergency lights and sirens howling behind us as we sprinted through the abandoned corridors. Every shadow felt like a threat. Every flickering light held the promise of something watching.We found a storage room and ducked inside, sealing the door behind us. My breath came in ragged gasps as I leaned against the wall, pressing my forehead to the cold metal. Kane paced, one hand gripping her side where a deep bruise had already begun to form."That thing back there—it knew you," she said, her voice tight with exhaustion.I swallowed hard. "I know."She turned to me, eyes sharp, assessing. "You want to tell me what the hell was in that file?"I didn’t answer right away. My hands clenched into fists as I forced myself to relive what I’d read. Temporal inconsistencies. Event foresight. Memories of the future. Fragments of a life that didn’t belong to me—because, according
Last Updated : 2025-03-13
CHAPTER 65
The Reality DivergenceThe room was filled with the low hum of ancient servers, their rusted casings blinking with failing light. Kane sat cross-legged on the floor, eyes locked on the decrypted data flashing across the portable terminal. The glow reflected in her sharp features, her lips pressed into a thin line.I stood near the doorway, gun in hand, my mind still trying to process what we’d just uncovered. The words on the screen refused to fade from my thoughts. "Subject 0915-T. Temporal anomaly. Failed identity realignment. Recommended termination."I wasn’t supposed to be here. Not just in this facility. Not just in this moment.I wasn’t supposed to exist at all.Kane exhaled sharply. "Tony."I turned to her. She hesitated, tapping a few more keys before looking up. "This isn’t just some anomaly. This is…" She trailed off, searching for the right words, but I could see it in her eyes—something close to fear.I swallowed hard. "Say it."She rubbed a hand over her face before lock
Last Updated : 2025-03-13
CHAPTER 66
Escaping the VaultThe ground trembled beneath us, a deep, guttural roar shaking the walls of what remained of the Deep Vault. The air reeked of burning metal and ozone, a byproduct of the facility tearing itself apart from the inside.Kane pushed herself up, wiping dust from her face. "We need to move. Now."I barely heard her. My head was pounding—no, splitting—as a flood of images surged through my mind. Too fast, too chaotic.A city skyline drenched in golden light—A hand gripping mine, smaller, familiar—Gunfire in a place I’d never been—I staggered, gripping my skull as the visions pulsed through me like an electric current.Kane grabbed my arm. "Tony! Snap out of it!"I gasped, my knees buckling, but she held me steady. "What—" My own voice felt distant. "What is happening to me?"She didn’t answer; she just scanned my face with a mixture of worry and determination. "Not here. We don’t have time."She was right. The Vault was coming down around us.Overhead, support beams gro
Last Updated : 2025-03-13
CHAPTER 67
HuntedWe ran until our lungs burned.The Overseers didn’t stop hunting, and we didn’t stop moving. Every alley, every tunnel, every shadow felt like a trap waiting to spring. Their searchlights carved through the city ruins, sweeping past broken buildings and forgotten streets. They weren’t searching for someone. They were hunting for me.Kane pulled me into a side passage, pressing a hand to my chest to keep me still. I barely breathed. Footsteps echoed in the distance—sharp, methodical. They weren’t in a hurry. They didn’t have to be.The Overseers knew they’d catch us eventually.Kane’s eyes flicked to mine. Her breath was steady, but I saw it—the tension in her shoulders, the way her fingers clenched the grip of her knife.She was calculating. Always calculating.A single nod, barely visible. Move.We slipped deeper into the ruins, the once-great city now nothing but crumbling towers and shattered glass. A forgotten sector abandoned even before the war. It was a graveyard of conc
Last Updated : 2025-03-13
CHAPTER 68
Echoes of a Forgotten PastThe files loaded sluggishly, flickering onscreen as if resisting exposure. Each line of code was fractured, pieces of a reality that no longer existed, broken but not completely lost. Kane sat beside me, her fingers drumming against the console in sharp, anxious beats. The glow of the monitor painted her face in cold blue light, casting long shadows under her eyes.Then, the first image appeared.My stomach clenched.It was me.But not this me.A different version, standing in a world that wasn’t shattered. The skyline in the background was whole, glass towers untouched by decay. The air looked…clean, untouched by the filth we were used to breathing. The sky wasn’t gray, but blue—a deep, endless shade of blue.And there—beside me—was a woman I knew.Except I didn’t.My breath caught. She was smiling, her hand casually resting against my chest, as if she had done it a thousand times before. She looked at me with familiarity, with love. I felt something tighte
Last Updated : 2025-03-13
CHAPTER 69
The Overseers' True PurposeThe screen flickered again, the corrupted data struggling to hold itself together. Kane sat beside me, hunched over the console, her fingers flying across the keyboard in a desperate attempt to force the system to give up its secrets. The glow of the interface casts harsh shadows on her face, highlighting the tension in her jaw and the set of her shoulders.I tried to ignore the tight knot in my stomach, but it was impossible. The files we had decrypted so far had already turned my world inside out.I wasn’t supposed to exist.The Overseers had tried to erase me—tried and failed.But why?Kane’s sharp intake of breath snapped me out of my thoughts."I think I’ve got something," she muttered. The words scrolled across the screen, fragmented but still readable. Her eyes flicked over them, her expression shifting from concentration to something colder.Dread.I leaned closer. "What does it say?"She didn’t answer right away.Instead, she reached for a nearby h
Last Updated : 2025-03-13
CHAPTER 70
Nowhere Left to HideA cold pulse rippled through my veins, a glitch in my own existence. One second, my heartbeat pounded in my ears, steady and strong. The next, it stuttered—like reality itself couldn’t decide if I should be here.I gritted my teeth, bracing against the wave of nausea that followed. The world around me flickered, shadows stretching and collapsing in ways that defied logic. Kane’s voice cut through the haze."Tony!" She grabbed my arm, grounding me. "It’s getting worse, isn’t it?"I nodded, swallowing hard. "Yeah. Feels like my body’s fighting this reality."Her jaw tightened. "We need to move. Now."The decrypted files had given us a single clue—a buried message, barely intact, suggesting that something had been lost when The Overseers tried to erase me. Something that could be restored.But none of it would matter if I didn’t make it out of here alive.A low mechanical hum vibrated through the air. I froze.Kane’s head snapped up, eyes narrowing. "Do you hear that
Last Updated : 2025-03-13