THE LAST SIGNAL

Kara's unquenchable eternal flame teetered on the quantum precipice of annihilation as the slab's shattered edge obliterated her skull, the molten rock consuming her brain, its fiery maelstrom vaporizing her consciousness into a chaotic singularity of torment, the pain a cataclysmic black hole shredding her essence. 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 void, the feedback loop incinerating her neural lattice, her body convulsing in a final, bone-crushing cataclysm. The mechanical arm's blade sliced through her scalp, cleaving her cranium with a wet rend, blood and lava erupting as her head tilted, the chasm's sealed walls quaking with the drill's apocalyptic thunderclap. Her pulse, a solitary tremor, clung to the edge of oblivion.

The molten flood surged, flooding her cranial fracture, burning through her brainstem, the heat fusing her spine to the stone, silencing her last choked gurgle in a scalding hiss of vapor. The mechanical arm's claw, jammed and sparking, triggered a cataclysmic meltdown, blasting a molten spear into her chest, piercing her heart, the beat faltering as blood and molten rock sprayed in a grotesque deluge. The clamp's siphon reached 99.99999999999999999%, a Planck-scale flicker preserving a subatomic shard of her will—her brother's laugh—but the prongs plunged deeper, targeting her soul's final ember, the cold void spreading like a cosmic ice storm. 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 crimson cascade.

A cataclysmic implosion shattered the chasm, a buried quantum singularity imploding, unleashing a fireball that roared through the crevice, incinerating her torso, reducing her ribs to molten vapor, the heat blistering her lungs into ash as they evaporated. The slab overhead splintered with a deafening rupture, a razor-edged shard plummeting, grazing her temple, shearing off her remaining orbital ridge, blood gushing as the agony drowned her senses in a scarlet abyss. The mechanical arm's laser fired again, its beam slicing her nasal bridge to fragments, the sizzle deafening as her face disintegrated, the blade poised to bisect her skull. The drill's second arm extended, its claw snapping at her medulla, missing by a hair but gouging her pons, the pain a white-hot nova piercing her fading mind.

Marcus's voice, a spectral plea through the rubble, gasped, "Kara… blaze infinite…"—but a final cave-in crushed the sound, burying him in eternal silence. 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 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 choke 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 thunderous zenith, the siphon at 99.999999999999999999%, a quantum 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 erupted into a seismic cataclysm, its claw snapping at her skull, fracturing her cranium further, the grip tightening as it began to rip her head free. The fireball's last surge ignited her brain, the flames consuming her thoughts, and the walls groaned, a fraction of a nanometer from crushing her utterly.