THE LAST SIGNAL

Kara's unquenchable flame flickered on the infinitesimal edge of annihilation as the slab's shattered edge obliterated her skull, the molten rock consuming her brain, its fiery torrent vaporizing her thoughts into a chaotic maelstrom of torment, the pain a cataclysmic black hole shredding her consciousness. The neural clamp's prongs, buried in her soul's last breath, pulsed with a ravenous siphon, draining her brother's whisper into a deafening abyss, the feedback loop incinerating her neural pathways, her body convulsing in a final, bone-cracking convulsion. The mechanical arm's blade sliced through her forehead, cleaving her cranium with a wet rend, blood and lava erupting as her head tilted, the chasm's sealed walls trembling with the drill's earth-shattering roar. Her pulse, a solitary whisper, teetered on the brink of cessation.

The molten flood surged, seeping into her cranial fracture, burning through her brainstem, the heat fusing her spine to the stone, silencing her last gurgling rasp in a hiss of scalding vapor. The mechanical arm's claw, jammed and sparking, triggered a cascading meltdown, blasting a molten javelin into her chest, piercing her heart, the beat staggering as blood and molten rock sprayed in a grotesque cascade. The clamp's siphon reached 99.999999999%, a quantum glitch preserving a subatomic shard of her will—her brother's laugh—but the prongs plunged deeper, targeting her soul's final flicker, the cold void spreading like a cosmic freeze. The enforcer's melted knife, lodged in her thigh, exploded under pressure, its shards slicing her femoral artery and vein, the gush draining her life in a torrential hemorrhage.

A cataclysmic implosion rocked the chasm, a buried quantum core destabilizing, unleashing a fireball that roared through the crevice, incinerating her torso, reducing her ribs to molten ash, the heat blistering her lungs into cinders as they disintegrated. The slab overhead splintered violently, a razor-edged fragment plummeting, grazing her temple, shearing off her remaining ear, blood gushing as the agony drowned her senses in a crimson deluge. The mechanical arm's laser fired again, its beam slicing her cheekbone in two, the sizzle deafening as her face slumped, the blade poised to bisect her skull. The drill's second arm extended, its claw snapping at her eye socket, missing by a hair but gouging her brain, the pain a white-hot supernova piercing her fading mind.

Marcus's voice, a spectral cry through the rubble, gasped, "Kara… blaze…"—but a final cave-in crushed the sound, burying him in eternal nothingness. The clamp's prongs struck her soul's last ember, a black hole devouring her identity, her vision fracturing into a kaleidoscope of torment—Lena's triumph, her brother's fading plea—merging as the siphon neared absolute erasure. The molten rock rose to her severed neck, burning through her spinal column, fusing her consciousness to the stone, the heat melting her essence into nothingness, her pulse a solitary throb against the encroaching void. The mechanical arm's claw jammed again, sparking a feedback cataclysm that hurled molten debris into her face, blinding her with searing shrapnel, her scream a wet choke in the blood-filled abyss.

The chasm's walls pulsed, a final seal locking with a thunderous groan, the slab tilting to obliterate her head, the molten flood sealing her nostrils and mouth, suffocating her as her heart faltered. The clamp's hum reached a fever pitch, the siphon at 99.9999999999%, a Planck-scale spark of her defiance jamming it, but the prongs readjusted, plunging toward her soul's last whisper. The mechanical arm's blade descended, the drill whirring for a final decapitation, and the extraction pod's hum crescendoed, its claw snapping at her skull, fracturing her cranium further, the grip tightening as it began to pull. The fireball's last surge ignited her brain, the flames consuming her thoughts, and the walls groaned, a hair's breadth from crushing her utterly.