Olivia sat cross-legged on the cold, metallic floor of her cell, her breathing steady despite the tight restraints binding her limbs. Her arms were locked behind her back, legs shackled to the ground, and a thick blindfold covered her eyes.

  But her jaw was set with grim determination. Ever since she was brought here, she had never stopped struggling. The guards thought it was pathetic, especially with her essence cut off by the chains. But that never stopped her.

  As she strained against the restraints once more, the clinking of boots echoed through the corridor. A guard passed by, slowing as he caught sight of her struggling again. He stopped at her cell and crossed his arms, peering in through the faint shimmer of the energy barrier.

  "When are you gonna quit trying?" he asked with a sigh. "Frankly, it’s starting to get annoying."

  Olivia didn’t answer. Her face remained impassive beneath the blindfold, but her muscles tensed harder. Her fingers curled, nails biting into her palm.

  The guard raised an eyebrow. "Hey—"

  A low groan sounded from the chains bolted to the ground.

  He frowned and stepped closer. "You better stop that."

  But Olivia kept pushing. Her whole body shook with the effort. A deep crack splintered the floor beneath her. Dust lifted. The chains rattled and strained, being pulled purely by her raw strength.

  The guard’s eyes widened. "What the hell…?"

  And then with a metallic snap, one of the chains broke loose, its shattered links flying like a whip and slapping the side of the cell with a sharp clang. The guard stumbled back.

  "That’s not possible," he whispered, panic rising in his voice. "You don’t have essence. How the hell did you—?"

  The remaining chains groaned louder, and one by one, they began to snap. Once the last of the restraints fell to the ground, she slowly straightened her legs and stood up. Her wrists, still cuffed together behind her, flexed upward. In one smooth, flexible motion, she brought her arms up and over her head, pulling them in front of her.

  The cuffs creaked. Cracked. Then shattered. Olivia’s fingers reached up and slid the blindfold down. Her eyes were intense, sharp, burning like focused fire. They locked onto the stunned guard.

  He was frozen in place. Fear spreading like ink in his eyes.

  Snapping into action, he rushed forward to the panel beside her cell and slammed his palm against a large red button.

  A clunk resounded as a heavy metallic sheet dropped over the energy barrier of her cell, sealing her off from view. The light above her cell turned red.

  Olivia closed her eyes and took a long, steady breath. From the core of her being, she drew forth her essence. It surged from her soul like a river breaking free, flooding through her limbs with familiar warmth. A yellow aura shimmered to life around her body, radiant and pulsing with energy.

  With her eyes still closed, she reached outward with her senses. Waves of subtle vibrations pulsed from her, extending in every direction. Down below—deep beneath her—she felt the slight tremors of movement. That was where she was going to go. She had a direction.

  Her eyes opened.

  She crouched and launched herself upward with a burst of power. She pressed herself against the ceiling, and then pushed herself off it. Just as she fell back down, she sharply increased her kinetic energy. The yellow aura blazed, and her descent became a missile.

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  She shattered the floor beneath her in a concussive explosion of concrete and steel, plunging through the levels below like a meteor. In the brief flashes between floors, wide eyes and shocked faces stared at her as she passed through floors.

  After the sixth one she smashed through the final ceiling and dropped into a massive open space.

  A wide facility floor stretched before her. Crates, control panels, storage racks—and dozens of guards. They moved in neat patrol lines, until they saw her.

  Olivia landed like a phantom and the floor cracked beneath her feet.

  Every head turned. The room froze.

  Beyond her, a wall of large glass windows offered a glimpse of the outside world. But before she could reach it, there was this room to deal with.

  She didn’t move to fight. Not yet. Instead, she folded at the waist, bending deeply into a stretch. Her arms rested against her legs as she elongated her quads.

  The guards stared at her, tensed, and with guns drawn. Boots thundered as reinforcements stormed into the room from all sides.

  Olivia breathed deeply, and then rose. Still not acknowledging the crowd around her, she raised one leg straight up over her head with controlled elegance, balancing perfectly.

  Someone barked out, "Get on the ground!"

  She didn’t react. Instead, she slowly lowered the first leg and brought the other up in a mirror motion, holding it in place just the same. Another thirty seconds passed.

  Silence—except for the safeties clicking off around the room.

  She finally brought the leg down, and let out a slow, full breath.

  One of the guards had enough. He lunged at her, baton drawn, closing the distance in a flash.

  Olivia turned her head, annoyance flashing across her face.

  Her foot launched upward and collided savagely with the guard’s face, snapping his head back. The force sent him flying like a ragdoll, smashing through a group of other guards and slamming into the far wall.

  The room stared. The guard slumped motionless, his face mangled and caved in.

  A guard yelled out, "She’s dangerous! Open fire!"

  Gunfire erupted. The roar of bullets filled the air. And Olivia simply smiled.

  She leaned sharply to the side, the bullets narrowly grazing past her. She launched forward with blinding speed, a yellow flash tearing across the space between her and the nearest guard. Her leg snapped outward in a wide, sweeping arc, her kinetic energy enhanced the motion, and her foot cleaved right through the man.

  He split in half, a red spray bursting across the air and onto Olivia's body. She caught him by the hair mid-collapse and spun around, hurling the bisected corpse into a nearby cluster of guards. They screamed and stumbled back as the body crashed into them.

  Olivia didn't stop. She surged forward, tearing through the chaos. Her legs blurred, each kick a thunderous, precise blow. One guard folded backwards as her foot caved in his chest. Another exploded into the air, blood arcing behind him. Every strike left a trail of devastation, blood spraying like crimson mist in her wake.

  More bullets tore through the air, but Olivia raised her hand, and with a shimmer of yellow energy, the kinetic force of the bullets redirected. The rounds curved unnaturally, ripping back through the air and slamming into the very guards who had fired them. Screams followed.

  The windows drew closer, and at the final stretch, Olivia dropped low, then launched herself into a leap. She twisted midair, her legs snapping forward.

  She drop-kicked through the reinforced window, glass exploding outward in a spray of glittering shards. Wind rushed at her, and she emerged into open air.

  She began to fall, and far below her, she spotted a thick perimeter wall encircling the skyscraper. A fortress-like boundary that separated the prison from the rest of the city.

  Her eyes locked onto the city that was past it. She straightened her body mid-fall and with a pulse of essence, she blasted herself forward, cutting through the air like a missile.

  As she flew, Olivia debated whether she should just fly away, burn through her essence and escape clean. But no, that would drain her reserves fast, and she might need every drop later. So instead, she angled herself towards the perimeter wall.

  As she descended, her sharp eyes caught the shimmer of metal. The top of the wall was laced with mounted turrets, that had already begun to shift in her direction.

  She slammed into the top of the wall feet-first, the impact cracking the concrete beneath her.

  Immediately, two turrets jerked to life. Their lenses flared red, and twin targeting beams snapped onto her. A fraction of a second later, a storm of bullets roared to life.

  Olivia shot forward, launching off the top of the wall as rounds shredded the space behind her. She dove down the slanted outer face of the wall, boots skidding as she slid down.

  She reached the edge and flipped off, twisting in midair before descending towards the street. Her feet slammed into the pavement, a burst of energy softening the landing.

  Then she ran.

  Olivia surged into a sprint, essence crackling in her limbs, eyes set forward, the screams of alarms and distant gunfire fading behind her.