Arknights: The Life Inside-Chapter 61

Sitting in the co-pilot seat, Yoren couldn't help but recall the journey from Chernobyl to Mandel City with Vina and the others.

So much had happened along the way. He had learned about the technological structure of Terra from Kate, then met ACE and Turtle. He remembered laughing heartily in the car back then. But now, everything had changed.

There was no cold air here, no snowflakes drifting outside the window. He was still sitting in a car, but this one wasn't heading to Mandel City.

And he was no longer the same Yoren.

Now, he was an infected.

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Knock, knock.

A heavy heartbeat echoed inside his chest.

A force surged forth, unstoppable. The world before Yoren's eyes flickered, then drained of color, turning into shades of black and white.

He clutched his heart with one hand, gripping the door's armrest with the other.

Bang!

The armrest shattered in his grip.

Saria's voice cut through the tension as she drove. "How are you holding up?"

Yoren gritted his teeth, forcing down the dark energy writhing inside him. "I don't think I can hold on much longer. Just let me out here—I don't want to hurt you."

"It's okay," Saria said firmly. "Just hold on. We're almost there."

Looking at her resolute profile, Yoren felt a strange sense of relief.

Saria was a woman of principle, a cornerstone of Rhine Life. It was her presence that had kept their experiments from spiraling completely out of control.

The world didn't know how powerful she truly was.

In Rhodes Island's records from three years in the future, missions involving Saria reported almost zero casualties. Her shield could shatter enemies and their weapons with ease, but she wielded her strength to protect her allies, never to kill.

Just like her famous words:

"Strength is not the essence of battle. Strength does not mean recklessness. In the storm, only those who stand firm endure."

Saria wasn't infected, yet her Originium Arts were unmatched. If she abandoned her shield and fought with the intent to kill, she would be terrifying. But that wasn't who she was.

She was a guardian of order.

Yet Rhine Life was pushing its limits, teetering on the edge of something she could no longer accept. One day, she would leave it all behind and join Rhodes Island.

Thirty minutes later.

Yoren sat in the passenger seat, his left eye completely black. Power surged through him, threatening to rip the car apart.

"Saria... I can't hold it back any longer."

"We're here."

The battered SUV rolled to a stop.

The area was unfamiliar—rocky desert terrain, jagged cliffs rising like silent sentinels. It looked like a canyon, vast and empty.

Yoren pushed the door open. The moment his foot touched the ground, a ripple of black energy spread outward. Sand and stone blasted away in all directions.

There was no doubt—he had become something monstrous.

This uncontrollable surge of power made his body feel like it was being torn apart. In battle, it might have been his salvation, but here, it was killing him from within.

Saria stepped out, her face unreadable.

"This is Rhine Life's surveillance zone," she said. "No one is within a few kilometers. I can't help you from here."

Yoren looked up, spotting drones hovering in the sky. So, Rhine Life was watching, waiting to see if he survived.

Saria handed him a small metal box.

"Take this."

Inside, more than a dozen Originium shards gleamed faintly.

"Try to hold on until these run out."

"Thanks."

She hesitated. "I'll wait from a distance... until the end. I hope we meet again."

Yoren nodded. "Yeah."

For a moment, something unreadable flickered in her eyes. Then she turned and walked away.

Ten seconds passed before Yoren suddenly remembered something.

He shouted after her.

"Saria! Give the child a complete family!"

The sky remained dark. The sun had yet to rise.

Yoren stood alone near the rocky cliffs, breathing heavily.

Then, at last, the power he had been suppressing erupted.

Blat!

The Originium shards fell to the ground, their energy drained in an instant.

A black tornado spiraled from Yoren's body, reaching toward the sky.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Mountains cracked and crumbled. The desert was swallowed in dust clouds, as if a storm had descended. Yoren swung his arms, shattering the cliffs around him.

His mind was slipping.

Originium's energy had become fuel for the black and white twins within him. The dark power ripped through his body, forcing him into a frenzied destruction of everything nearby.

This was the devil's rage. The earth's fury.

And beneath it all, the deepest pain he had ever known.

Then, a voice—soft, haunting—echoed in his heart.

"They call me a dark devil. But who blackened my heart? I am called a demon because I see through the gods' lies."

"I have the purest emotions. If I don't want to be sealed, no one can seal me. But when a demon sheds tears, he loses all his power. That is why demons do not cry."

"Demons are real. Gods are false. The goddess of the sky? No, she is not. Her emotions are too real—so I became a demon to protect her."

A single tear fell to the earth.

Can demons really not cry?

Time lost meaning.

The battlefield was unrecognizable—ruined mountains, shattered rocks, blood staining the sand.

Yoren lay motionless, his body torn apart. His limbs refused to move. The Originium's energy was gone, but the darkness inside him remained, relentless and unyielding.

Pain wracked his body. But the true agony was deeper—something clawing at his very soul.

Another consciousness had entered him, wild and ravenous. It tore through his flesh, churned his marrow, then reached his right eye—

And then, silence.

A second voice, light as a whisper, spoke in his heart.

"If emotions only bring pain, I will let my memories fade. If I cannot escape divine punishment, then I swear upon the sky—"

"To sever my emotions. To sever my ties. To sever my past. To sever my future."

"The sky bears an eternal oath. With this sword, I will cleave sky from earth, darkness from light, until the tomorrow that will never come."

A clang echoed.

A blinding white light burst from Yoren's right eye.

It spread, sweeping across the land like the shockwave of a nuclear explosion.

It passed through rock, sand, and even Saria in the distance, yet nothing was harmed. It was a light of absolution, not destruction.

Yoren lay on the ground, staring up at the endless blue sky.

The pain was gone. His wounds were gone. The darkness had vanished.

And the night was gone, too.

Before the sun could rise, the sky had already turned to day.

Far away, Saria gazed at the sky, disbelief in her eyes.

The darkness had been erased in an instant.

She had read of this in an ancient text.

The strongest end will bring destruction. And from destruction, rebirth.

Darkness will devour the sky, and only at its peak will light finally break through. At that moment, the world will reach balance once more.