The Heiress's Comeback-Chapter 427: [Volume 1] - 426 - Artifact or scientific sacrifice

Chapter 427: [Volume 1] Chapter 426 - Artifact or scientific sacrifice

Then Esme raised her hand—slowly, palm facing outward—and every metal object in the room began to tremble.

Mira screamed.

The doctor collapsed against the far wall, eyes wide, face pale.

Esme’s voice echoed like prophecy, like war drums beneath the sea:

"Let the door open."

"Let them come."

"Let the world burn if it must—but he will find me."

And in the distance—somewhere far above the underground facility—Ray’s heart twisted violently in his chest.

Suddenly, Mira’s trembling hand slammed against another button—a hidden one, beneath the console’s edge.

Hissssss—

A thick, white gas flooded the tank in an instant.

It curled like smoke around Esme’s body, swirling faster and faster until she was no longer visible—just a silhouette with glowing golden eyes that refused to dim.

Inside the fog, Esme didn’t flinch.

She didn’t panic.

She didn’t fight.

She simply stood there.

Still.

Watching.

Smiling.

The doctor leaned forward, clutching the edge of the table. "Did it work?"

Mira’s voice was shaky. "This is the emergency sedative gas. It was made to bring down berserker-class beasts. If this doesn’t work..."

She didn’t finish the sentence.

Inside the tank, Esme’s golden eyes slowly blinked once. Then, at last, her head tilted—just slightly.

And she exhaled.

A single, measured breath.

The golden light in her irises began to fade.

Her body—so rigid a moment ago—wavered. Her legs gave out.

Her fingers loosened from the glass.

And slowly, like a puppet with strings cut, Esme began to sink into the liquid.

Thud.

Her body hit the bottom of the tank with a soft, dull sound.

The light above flickered again, casting a brief shadow across her still form.

Then—nothing.

The gas continued to hiss.

The lab fell into silence.

Mira exhaled a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding and backed away from the console. "She’s... unconscious."

But the doctor didn’t answer.

She was still staring at the tank, wide-eyed—shaking.

Because even though Esme had fallen still, something about her final smile...

hadn’t faded.

The doc slumped against the steel wall, her breath quick and uneven as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. The trembling in her hand was unmistakable. She’d thought she was in control—thought they could handle this. But looking at Esme now, suspended in that tank, her golden eyes closed once again, she realized just how wrong she’d been.

She’s not just rare, the doc thought, her heart pounding. She’s something else entirely.

Her mind flashed back to the moment when the glass had cracked under Esme’s power. The impossible healing of the tank. That smile on Esme’s face—it hadn’t been human. That was pure predator.

The doc’s voice came out as a harsh whisper, barely audible. "If Mira hadn’t reacted so quickly... If the second barrier hadn’t been activated... we would be dead by now. All of us."

Her hand gripped the wall, knuckles white. The room was heavy with the scent of burned ozone, the aftermath of a fight they never should’ve started.

She wiped her brow, trying to shake off the cold dread that had settled deep in her chest. There was no turning back now. They’d crossed the line.

"Collect all the data from today," she ordered, trying to regain control of the situation. "Every flicker of brain activity, every shift in her physiology. I want it all. Prepare the next phase."

As the words left her mouth, Mira, standing near the control panel, froze. Her eyes locked onto the doc, a look of genuine uncertainty flickering across her face. The atmosphere between them changed, like an electric charge before a storm.

"Are you sure?" Mira asked, her voice small, betraying a hint of fear that she usually hid so well.

The doc turned slowly, meeting her gaze. There was no hiding the tension in the air now. Mira’s hands hovered over the controls, but she couldn’t seem to bring herself to move.

For a long, charged moment, the doc said nothing. She just stared at her assistant, her eyes piercing.

"Did you ever see me shaken before?" the doc finally asked, her voice unnervingly calm, but laced with a cold edge.

Mira swallowed, her throat dry. "No... But this is different."

A faint, brittle laugh escaped the doc. "It’s always different when you’ve never seen the edge of the cliff before."

The doc turned back to the tank, her lips curling into a thin smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

"I don’t care how dangerous this is. We need to know everything she’s capable of. There’s no turning back now."

She nodded sharply to herself, but it was Mira who couldn’t shake the unsettling feeling that something was terribly wrong. Esme was more than just an experiment now. And somewhere deep inside, Mira wondered if they’d just opened a door they wouldn’t be able to close.

Mira stood frozen, her fingers hovering above the control panel. The weight of the moment pressed down on her chest, making it hard to breathe. Every fiber of her being screamed at her to stop—to pull back. But she couldn’t. The doc was already moving forward, and the plan they’d carefully constructed was unraveling faster than she could process.

Esme’s body in the tank was still, but Mira could sense a shift in the air around her. The golden hue of her eyes—when they opened earlier—still lingered in the corners of Mira’s mind. There was something unnatural, something terrifying, about the power radiating from the girl, even when she was unconscious.

Mira glanced at the doc. Her face was unreadable, but the subtle quiver of her hands gave away the mounting fear, the uncertainty she was trying so desperately to hide. The doc had always been calm, collected, methodical. But now? There was a darkness in her eyes, a fear Mira couldn’t shake off. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The doc turned to her then, her gaze cold but piercing. "You still hesitate. Why?" she asked, her voice sharp as a blade.

Mira swallowed. "Because this isn’t what we signed up for. We... we were supposed to be studying her. Extracting power, not awakening it."