Bianca's legs gave out instantly. Her body collapsed against one of the cryogenic capsules with a metallic thud that echoed throughout the laboratory.

  "Bianca!" Brando moved to approach her, but Rusty held him back, biting his leg forcefully, causing Brando to stop. The puppy wanted to warn him that something was terribly wrong.

  Bianca suddenly turned deathly pale. Her face, already naturally fair, took on an almost translucent quality. Her Cold Veins began to pulse visibly beneath her skin, not with the golden color of her ice, but with a dark, blood-red verging on black. This made no sense at all.

  "Stay... back..." Bianca gasped, her voice already distorted.

  She felt her heart explode. Something inside her had suddenly snapped. It was too late; she couldn't turn back. The door had been opened.

  "GWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

  The scream was inhuman. Bianca's body became burning hot. Her heart rate skyrocketed. Sweat poured from her in rivers. Her body temperature soared to over two hundred degrees Fahrenheit. She clutched her head with both hands, as if it were about to explode. The sounds coming from Bianca morphed into something grotesque and demonic. Her eyes turned red. Cornea, iris, eyeball—everything was just red. Her body transformed. Bianca's clothes ripped away completely. Her muscles hypertrophied to monstrous proportions. In seconds, she reached a height of ten feet and lost all feminine characteristics. Her canines grew into wolf-like fangs. Her skin shifted to a cadaverous pallor, but the veins pulsated with visibly red blood.

  "What the hell is that?" Ripa whispered, backing away. "A fucking Glacial?"

  From Bianca's body, the yellow ice she had displayed earlier began to seep out, but it was different now. No longer pure gold, but contaminated with black veins that pulsed like infected blood vessels. The ice crystallized around her right arm, forming a blade nearly six feet long. Immediately after, Brando's KryoWatch displayed the following information:

  [DANGER - Cryogenic Anomaly detected]

  [Cryogenic Energy: Unknown. Evacuation recommended]

  [Warning: Deviation State active]

  Bianca had succumbed to Blood Delirium. She was a Deviant, a being halfway between human and Glacial. And now she had revealed her true nature. She had lost her mind.

  "We need to get out of here," Giordano shouted. "Now!"

  But before they could move, Bianca turned toward them. Her red eyes glowed like burning embers, and when she opened her mouth, the voice that emerged was no longer human, though with one last flicker of consciousness:

  "RUN!"

  The group didn't need to be told twice. They launched themselves toward the exit while Bianca, or what she had become, emitted a sound that mixed the roar of a beast with the cry of a child. The sound echoed through the laboratory, making the cryogenic capsules vibrate.

  "THE DOOR!" Ripa yelled, running in the lead. "WE NEED TO REA—"

  The KryoWatch on his wrist exploded with a series of frantic warnings.

  [DANGER - High-speed movement detected]

  [Distance: 1 foot]

  [IMMEDIATE ATTENTION]

  He didn't have time to process the warning. Bianca materialized beside them, moving at a speed that made no sense for her massive form. She seemed to have teleported. Her deformed figure, ten feet tall, completely blocked the corridor.

  "BACK!" Giordano shouted, materializing an ice barrier between them and the creature.

  Bianca smashed through the barrier as if it were fragile glass with a single swipe. The violent gesture, however, made her lose sight of the boys, who had vanished into the shadows. She frantically turned her head, scanning every corner for them. Under her almost transparent skin, her Cold Veins pulsed wildly, pumping a dark, thick liquid that resembled crude oil more than human blood.

  "Between the capsules!" Brando whispered. "Don't make a sound."

  All four moved through the shadows while the monster continued searching for them, moving with spasmodic jerks. Her head rotated unnaturally, sniffing the air like a predator.

  [DANGER - Predatory behavior detected]

  [Subject displaying primordial hunting patterns]

  [Advice: minimize movements and sounds]

  Bianca moved between the capsules, destroying some with random strikes of her blade. She couldn't see them, but she knew they were there. Like a ferocious beast, she methodically combed the area, getting closer to their position. As she advanced like a predator in ambush, a glass fragment fell from a damaged capsule, tinkling against the metal floor.

  The monster whipped toward the sound, viscous reddish drool dripping from her jaws.

  "Don't move," Brando whispered. "If she sees us..."

  But Ripa was in a precarious position. One of the capsules hiding him had started leaking fluid, forming a puddle that slowly expanded toward Bianca. Ripa tried to silently reposition himself, but his foot slipped in the viscous liquid.

  "MOVE!" Brando yelled. It was truly just a distraction lasting a fraction of a second, that minimal noise sufficient to activate the monster's hyperdeveloped senses, but it was too late.

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  Ripa attempted to dart sideways, but he wasn't fast enough. The difference between Yellow Stage and Violet Stage was too vast. The monster's deformed hand closed around Ripa's right arm in a vice-like grip. He tried to break free, creating the most powerful ice blade he could with his left hand, attempting to cut Bianca's hand or at least make her loosen her grip. It had no effect; Ripa's blade seemed made of rubber. It struck her but couldn't penetrate her flesh.

  "LET GO! LET GO! LET G—NO! AAARGH!"

  Ripa's cry transformed into an agonizing scream as Bianca, with a brutal movement, decisively ripped his arm off at the shoulder. The cracking of breaking bones resonated through the laboratory like a gunshot, followed by the nauseating sound of tearing flesh. Blood exploded from the opening, spraying the walls and ceiling. Ripa collapsed against a capsule while the stump pumped blood like a broken fountain. His face was white as paper, his eyes wide with shock. Even someone like him couldn't remain impassive after losing an arm.

  Time seemed to stop for an instant. No one moved and no one breathed. In that moment, the sound of blood dripping from the torn arm was the only noise in the laboratory.

  "This can't be happening," Giordano whispered, his face white.

  Brando felt bile rising in his throat. He had seen violence in Rione Sanità, had witnessed beatings and stabbings, muggings and robberies. But now Ripa, the Omega who had nearly killed Brando in that alley, had been dismembered like a rag doll.

  "It's... it's a joke," Giordano muttered, backing away. His usual cocky smile had vanished, replaced by an expression of pure horror. "Ripa can't... he can't..."

  But Ripa could, and it had happened. Blood continued to pulse from the stump as the giant tried to breathe through the pain, his glassy eyes fixed on the spot where his arm had been a moment before.

  Bianca lifted the torn limb, studying it with an almost childlike curiosity. Her jaws opened to reveal row upon row of sharp teeth. Then she sank her fangs into the arm's flesh with a deliberate movement. She began to devour the flesh as if she hadn't seen food in days.

  "Oh Christ..." Giordano turned abruptly, one step away from vomiting.

  Brando couldn't look away. The creature was devouring Ripa's arm with bestial voracity, tearing off chunks of flesh and tendons. Blood ran down her deformed chin as she chewed, her red eyes lost in a kind of primitive ecstasy.

  [WARNING - Subject exhibiting Glacial feeding behavior]

  [Estimated time before completion: 56 seconds]

  [Advice: exploit the distraction]

  "Giordano," Brando whispered, trying to control the tremor in his voice. "We have less than a minute. We need to think of something. Now."

  Giordano was still shaken. "What the hell can we do? Did you see what she did to Ripa?"

  [DANGER - Ripa's vital signs declining]

  [Severe hemorrhage in progress]

  [Estimated time before collapse: 4 minutes]

  Ripa, incredibly, was still conscious. His face was a mask of pain and shock, but his eyes fixed on Brando. He moved his lips, forming a silent word: "Run."

  "We can't leave him here," Brando murmured, as the wet sounds of Bianca's chewing filled the laboratory.

  "And we can't beat her," Giordano retorted. "She's a crazed Yellow Stage. We're just damn Violets. You saw what she did to Ripa? To RIPA, for fuck's sake!"

  Brando bit his lip. There was something he could do, but it meant revealing one of his secrets. He had never shown Predator Ice or its variants to anyone. But Ripa's blood continued to form an ever-growing pool on the floor, and Bianca's bestial sounds reminded him that time was running out.

  [WARNING - 38 seconds until feeding completion]

  [Subject will resume hunting]

  [Act immediately]

  "I... I have an idea," Brando whispered. "But you need to trust me."

  "Trust you?" Giordano looked at him as if he'd gone mad. "Brando, that thing just ripped off his arm like a twig..."

  "I know, I know," Brando swallowed, nervously watching Bianca continue her macabre meal. "But I have something different."

  The Cold Veins under his skin pulsed as he materialized a small sphere of ice in his palm. The familiar network of dark veins formed immediately, pulsing as if it had a life of its own.

  Giordano's eyes widened. "What the f—!"

  Brando covered his mouth with his free hand. Bianca had momentarily stopped chewing, returning to nervously moving her deformed head in search of the other two and Rusty.

  They remained motionless for what seemed like an eternity, holding their breath. Finally, the creature resumed feeding. Giordano had almost gotten them discovered.

  "What the hell is that?" Giordano whispered, his eyes fixed on the dark veins pulsing in the ice. "That's not normal."

  "No, it's not," Brando confirmed. A crack resonated through the laboratory—Bianca had just broken another bone. The sound made them both jump. "But there's no time to explain. This ice can corrode metal and decompose it as if it were immersed in acid."

  "Holy shit..." Giordano muttered. "How did you...?"

  "Later," Brando interrupted. "If we survive, I'll explain everything. But now I need you to listen carefully."

  [WARNING - 21 seconds remaining]

  [Subject completing feeding]

  [Last opportunity for action]

  Brando quickly scanned the abandoned laboratory. The structure was crumbling; years of abandonment had left their mark. His eyes ran along the rusted walls up to the ceiling, where a complex network of metal supports barely held the entire structure together.

  "The supports," he murmured to himself. "If they give way..."

  It was Rusty who confirmed his intuition. The puppy had its third eye fixed on the ceiling and seemed to be indicating something. Brando looked up, following the direction: a large metal beam ran along the entire ceiling, supported by secondary supports corroded by time.

  "Giordano," he whispered. "Look up. See the load-bearing structure?"

  Giordano followed his gaze, studying the rusted supports, then the spot where Bianca stood. "You want to collapse the ceiling and drop all that weight on... on that thing."

  Brando nodded. "If I can hit the right points, the entire structure will give way. But..."

  He paused, mentally calculating. The corrosion had to be precise. If he hit the wrong supports, or in the wrong order, the collapse wouldn't be massive enough to stop Bianca.

  "I can't do it with her watching me," Brando continued. "If she realizes what I'm doing, I'm dead."

  "You want me to distract her." It wasn't a question. Giordano's voice was flat, devoid of its usual bravado.

  "I need to hit at least three structural points. The main beam and the two lateral supports. If they collapse together, the entire ceiling will come down." Brando swallowed. "But it'll take time. And she's fast. Too fast."

  "I..." Giordano's voice broke. He couldn't tear his gaze from Ripa's blood. "How long?"

  "Ten seconds. Maybe fifteen." Brando clutched the dark-veined sphere. "I have to be precise. If I miss even one shot..."

  "If you miss, we'll end up like him." Giordano nodded toward Ripa's stripped arm. "Or worse."

  "Let's not think about that." But Brando's voice trembled. "You just need to keep her occupied. Don't try to fight her."

  "And how the hell am I supposed to—"

  Brando's KryoWatch vibrated.

  [DANGER - Subject has completed feeding]

  [Predatory behavior imminent]

  [React immediately]

  Bianca's deformed head resumed searching for them with an unnatural movement. Her red eyes glowed with renewed hunger as she dropped what remained of Ripa's arm, little more than stripped bones and shreds of tendons.