"Warning! Base 053 has sustained severe damage. Current structural... damage exceeds the maximum alert threshold! The base is about to collapse. All personnel, evacuate immediately!"
"Warning! CPS warning...! Containment pressure has exceeded the warning threshold. A level-one nuclear leak is imminent. All personnel, evacuate immediately!"
The base's Energy Area.
The shrill alarms echoed amid the sounds of collapse, like a countdown to destruction.
With the wiring damaged, the endlessly rotating red alarm lights circled in the darkness like scavenging vultures.
The metal structures supporting the mountain's weight began to fracture. Vast amounts of reinforced concrete filler buckled under the strain and fell like artillery shells.
Hundreds of metal tanks suddenly caved in, jets of scalding white steam erupting from their ruptures.
As the hot gas spread, a hazy white mist enveloped the entire Energy Area.
Beneath the Cooling Tower, half of Aroro's body lay pinned.
His eyes were shut tight. Blood pooled beneath him in a dark red puddle, reflecting the precariously swaying metal beam overhead.
Rubble clanged against the tank. Perhaps a small stone struck him, or perhaps the sounds of collapse woke him.
Aroro's eyelids trembled, and he struggled to open his eyes.
It hurts so much...
Am... am I still alive...?
Agony coursed through his nerves from every part of his body. Aroro struggled to turn his neck and look around.
At the apocalyptic scene before him, he immediately realized that the base seemed to be collapsing.
Driven by an overwhelming desire to survive, he tried to pull himself out from beneath the Cooling Tower. But his lower body felt as though it had been crushed flat. He could feel nothing there, let alone muster any strength.
Tremors rushed toward him from the distance, as though the earth itself were caving in.
Terrified, Aroro tried clawing