THE LAST SIGNAL

Kara's indomitable spark teetered on the Planck-scale edge of annihilation as the slab's shattered edge pulverized her skull, the molten rock consuming her brain, its fiery torrent vaporizing her consciousness into a chaotic vortex of torment, the pain a cataclysmic singularity shredding her essence. The neural clamp's prongs, embedded in her soul's last whisper, pulsed with a voracious siphon, draining her brother's laugh into a deafening void, the feedback loop incinerating her neural network, her body convulsing in a final, spine-shattering convulsion. The mechanical arm's blade sliced through her scalp, cleaving her cranium with a wet tear, blood and lava gushing as her head lolled, the chasm's sealed walls quaking with the drill's apocalyptic roar. Her pulse, a solitary tremor, hung on the brink of oblivion.

The molten flood surged, flooding her cranial cavity, burning through her brainstem, the heat fusing her spine to the stone, silencing her last choked rasp in a scalding hiss of vapor. The mechanical arm's claw, jammed and sparking, triggered a catastrophic meltdown, blasting a molten harpoon into her chest, piercing her heart, the beat faltering as blood and molten rock erupted in a grotesque maelstrom. The clamp's siphon reached 99.99999999999%, a quantum flicker preserving a subatomic shard of her will—her brother's whisper—but the prongs plunged deeper, targeting her soul's final ember, the cold void spreading like a cosmic ice age. The enforcer's melted knife, lodged in her thigh, disintegrated under pressure, its shards slicing her femoral artery and vein, the gush draining her life in a torrential hemorrhage.

A cataclysmic implosion shattered the chasm, a buried singularity core rupturing, unleashing a fireball that roared through the crevice, incinerating her torso, reducing her ribs to molten cinders, the heat blistering her lungs into dust as they evaporated. The slab overhead splintered with a thunderous crack, a razor-sharp fragment plummeting, grazing her temple, shearing off her remaining cheekbone, blood spraying as the agony drowned her senses in a scarlet abyss. The mechanical arm's laser fired again, its beam slicing her jawbone to dust, the sizzle deafening as her face dissolved, the blade poised to bisect her skull. The drill's second arm extended, its claw snapping at her brain stem, missing by a hair but gouging her medulla, the pain a white-hot supernova piercing her fading mind.

Marcus's voice, a spectral plea through the rubble, gasped, "Kara… burn bright…"—but a final cave-in crushed the sound, burying him in eternal void. 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 sneer, her brother's fading smile—merging as the siphon neared absolute erasure. The molten rock rose to her severed neck, burning through her spinal cord, fusing her consciousness to the stone, the heat melting her essence into nothingness, her pulse a solitary throb against the encroaching dark. The mechanical arm's claw jammed again, sparking a feedback apocalypse that hurled molten shrapnel into her face, blinding her with searing fragments, her scream a wet gurgle in the blood-filled chasm.

The chasm's walls pulsed, a final seal locking with a cataclysmic groan, the slab tilting to obliterate her head, the molten flood sealing her nostrils and throat, suffocating her as her heart spasmed. The clamp's hum reached a deafening crescendo, the siphon at 99.999999999999%, a Planck-scale spark of her defiance jamming it, but the prongs readjusted, plunging toward her soul's last breath. The mechanical arm's blade descended, the drill whirring for a final decapitation, and the extraction pod's hum exploded into a roar, its claw snapping at her skull, fracturing her cranium further, the grip tightening as it began to tear her head free. The fireball's last surge ignited her brain, the flames consuming her thoughts, and the walls groaned, a millimeter from crushing her utterly.