"Now or never," Avela muttered, echoing her thought from moments before.
A shiver of determination ran through her, yet a tiny sliver of doubt gnawed at the back of her mind.
The sickly green light pulsed, bathing the cavernous factory in a nauseating glow.
The light was like a malevolent fog, casting long, twisted shadows on the cold, damp concrete walls.
It painted Sebastian's triumphant sneer in an unsettling luminescence, making him look like a demonic puppet master pulling strings in a macabre play.
The sound of the light's pulsing was a low, rhythmic hum that grated on Avela's nerves.
"Hold him off," Avela yelled to Lorson, her voice barely audible above the thrumming of the machine.
The thrumming was a deep, bass - heavy vibration that she could feel in her bones, like the heartbeat of a mechanical monster.
Lorson, his crimson eyes blazing, didn't need telling twice.
The heat of his anger was palpable, a searing aura around him.
He launched himself at Sebastian, a blur of motion and predatory grace.
Their clash was a whirlwind of fangs and fury, silver flashing against the sickly green backdrop.
The sound of their impact was like thunderclaps, and the smell of blood and sweat filled the air.
Victor, a formidable presence despite his age, joined the fray, intercepting Lucy – Avela's double, a chilling mirror image – who fought with a ferocity that belied her delicate frame.
The air crackled with the raw power of their conflict, a symphony of growls, hisses, and the clang of metal.
The metallic taste of blood was in the air, and the tang of ozone from the energy discharges stung Avela's nostrils.
Meanwhile, Avela, ignoring the chaotic ballet of death unfolding before her, focused on the task at hand.
She slammed her fist against her mechanical eye, activating its maximum scanning power.
The sharp pain in her hand from the impact sent a jolt through her body.
The world around her shimmered, distorted through the lens of her cybernetic enhancement.
Lines of code flickered across her vision, the factory's structure peeled back, revealing the intricate workings of Sebastian's infernal device.
There, pulsating at the heart of the machine, a single vulnerable point glowed a fiery orange.
As she stared at the glowing core, Avela's mind raced.
She knew that this was the key to stopping Sebastian, but she also knew the risks involved.
Every second she hesitated; the machine grew more powerful.
"Jack! Target that!" she shouted, pointing to the shimmering core.
Jack, sweat beading on his brow, didn't hesitate.
The salty taste of his sweat dripped into his eyes, stinging them.
He unleashed a barrage of energy blasts from his modified rifle, each shot aimed with pinpoint accuracy at the exposed weakness.
The machine shuddered, the green light flickering erratically, as if protesting this unwelcome intrusion.
A high - pitched whine filled the air, escalating into a deafening screech that made Avela's ears ring.
Sebastian, momentarily distracted from his fight with Lorson, registered the threat.
His eyes, previously alight with triumph, now widened in panic.
No!
Stop them!
" he roared, his voice cracking with desperation. He unleashed a wave of dark energy, a tangible force that slammed into Lorson and Victor, sending them reeling. The force of the impact was like a hurricane, and the wind whipped at Avela's hair.
Avela knew time was running out.
She could feel the machine fighting back, its energy building to a catastrophic crescendo.
Fear and determination warred within her as she realized what she had to do.
There was only one way to stop it.
"Jack, get clear!" she yelled, her voice strained.
Jack, sensing the finality in her tone, scrambled away from the machine.
Avela took a deep breath, her heart pounding against her ribs like a trapped bird.
She closed her eyes for a moment, picturing the faces of her friends and the destruction that would follow if she failed.
With a grim smile, she activated the self - destruct sequence in her cybernetic eye.
A blinding white light erupted from the metallic orb; a searing flash that momentarily obliterated everything else.
The light was so bright that it left spots in her vision, and the heat from it was like standing too close to a furnace.
The light resonated with the core of the machine, creating a feedback loop of destructive energy.
The air crackled, the ground trembled, and then… BOOM!
The explosion ripped through the factory, a cataclysmic release of energy that shook the very foundations of the building.
The green light vanished, replaced by an inferno of orange and red.
The heat of the flames was intense, and the sound of the explosion was deafening.
Dust and debris rained down, obscuring the scene in a choking cloud.
The taste of dust filled Avela's mouth, and she coughed violently.
In the ensuing silence, a faint, raspy voice emerged from the wreckage.
"This... isn't... over..."
The dust settled, revealing a scene of devastation.
The factory, once a testament to Sebastian's twisted ambition, was now a mangled wreck of steel and concrete.
The sickly green light was gone, replaced by the flickering orange of flames that licked greedily at the debris.
A thick, acrid smell hung in the air, a cocktail of burnt metal and something else, something ancient and unsettling.
From the heart of the wreckage, a figure emerged, coughing and sputtering, like a cockroach crawling out from under a rock.
It was Sebastian.
His once pristine white suit was ripped and scorched, stained with dust and what looked suspiciously like his own blood.
His face, once smug and self - satisfied, was now a mask of pain and fury.
One arm hung limply at his side, twisted at an unnatural angle.
He looked like a discarded Ken doll that had been through one too many explosions, but the malevolent gleam in his eyes hadn't dimmed one bit.
"You think… you've won?" he rasped, his voice barely a whisper.
"This... this is just the beginning!"
Avela, her vision blurry and ears ringing from the blast, stumbled through the debris, her mechanical eye flickering erratically.
She could feel a warm trickle of blood running down her temple, a stinging reminder of the price of victory.
"Give it up, Sebastian," she growled, her voice raw with exhaustion.
"It's over."
Lorson, looking like he'd just lost a wrestling match with a particularly grumpy grizzly bear, limped towards Sebastian, his silver dagger glinting menacingly in the firelight.
"You're outnumbered, outmatched, and quite frankly, you look like something the cat dragged in," he drawled, his voice laced with sardonic amusement.
"Now be a good villain and stay down."
But Sebastian, fueled by an unholy cocktail of desperation and dark magic, wasn't ready to throw in the towel.
He let out a guttural roar, and the air around him crackled with dark energy.
The ground beneath their feet trembled, and a fissure snaked its way towards them, glowing with an infernal red light.
The heat from the fissure was intense, and the smell of sulfur filled the air.
From the fissure, shadowy tendrils snaked out, grasping at the debris, twisting and reforming into a grotesque, monstrous shape.
It looked like something out of a Lovecraftian nightmare, all teeth and tentacles, pulsating with malevolent energy.
"This… this is my masterpiece!" Sebastian shrieked, his voice rising to a manic crescendo.
"The dawn of a new age! The age of… of…" He choked, a thick black ichor oozing from his lips.
He looked at Avela, his eyes burning with a feverish intensity.
"You... you could have joined me..." he whispered, his voice fading into a raspy wheeze.
"We... could have ruled together..."
Avela just stared at him, her expression a mix of pity and disgust.
"You're delusional," she said, her voice flat.
"And you smell terrible."
Sebastian's eyes widened, a flicker of something akin to hurt flashing across his face.
Then, his gaze shifted past Avela, towards something behind her.
His lips curled into a chilling smile.
"Too late," he whispered.
"Look behind you..."