Kai was surprised at how calm he felt, despite the chaos in his surroundings. He slowly turned towards the entrance just as the blaring wail of the Leviathan breach alarm tore through the chamber. Oh boy this is gonna be awkward....The entire room was now bathed in a deep red glow, flashing in tandem with the sirens overhead. Kai turned fully, to face the two figures standing at the threshold. Zyren and Saphielle.
Zyren's ember-like scarlet eyes burned through the dim light, sharp and alert despite the lazy smirk tugging at his lips. His wild mercury-like hair shimmered as he tilted his head, sizing up the situation with casual ease, as his eyes seemed to pierce into Kai. Beside him, Saphielle stood poised with quiet intensity, her sapphire eyes glinting with analysis. Her snow-white wings remained folded against her back, but her posture was rigid, tense. The golden strands of her shoulder-length hair framed her serene yet piercing expression, betraying no panic, only focused calculation. Kai was about to say something to break the ice, but before he could his eyes caught a glimpse of something that alerted him.
Close to the center of the Zyren's and Saphielle's chests, where their heart would have been, there was a small orb glowing it an eerie black light. Kai quickly masked his expression, forcing on a look of complete composure. Suddenly, the voice of Umbra echoed in Kai's head, "Do not trust them big brother, those glowing spheres of darkness are Orbis Culpae. Those two are hiding something from you and their intentions are possibly hostile." It took Kai all of his willpower to maintain his calm demeanor, he thoughts were racing, trying to process the information Umbra just gave him.
Zyren finally broke spoke up. He flashed his usual half-smirk as he crossed his arms. "Well, would you look at that?" he mused, tilting his head. "Did you happen to hit a growth spurt in your sleep, rookie? You're looking more like a man now." Kai decided staying neutral was possibly the best choice for him. He simply met Zyren's gaze and said, flatly, "What do you mean by that? I don't feel any different than usual." The deadpan seriousness in his tone seemed to catch Zyren of guard, but before Zyren could ask him further, the doors slammed open once more. Selara strode in first, her amber eyes already scanning the room, followed closely by Lorith and Elyssar. The latter looked slightly annoyed, her tail flicking behind her in agitation.
"Saphielle," Selara barked, wasting no time. "Have you pinpointed the breach?" Saphielle was already at one of the central panels, her fingers gliding over the glowing runes with practiced efficiency. She didn't even glance up. "It's worse than expected," she said grimly. "It is a Double breach. Two different locations nonetheless." That made the air shift. Selara's expression darkened. Lorith let out a low grunt, crossing his massive arms, while Elyssar exhaled sharply, her ears twitching.
"What are the threat levels?" Selara asked after a beat. Saphielle's fingers hesitated for half a second, before she uttered, "B-Rank, both of them." The room tensed. Zyren clicked his tongue, as he ran a hand through his wild silver hair. Kai felt as if the pressure in the room had doubled within the last few seconds. Selara was silent for a long moment, thinking. Then, she made her decision. "We're splitting up," she said. "We don't have a choice." She turned to Zyren. "You, Kai, and Lorith take one breach." Her eyes shifted to Saphielle. "You, Elyssar, and I will take the other." Zyren let out a short exhale, rolling his shoulders as he cracked his neck. "Well, isn't that just lovely," he muttered, half to himself. Well this just got a lot more complicated, Kai thought to himself,
The Vortex Chamber pulsed with an eerie glow as Saphielle's fingers skimmed over the console, weaving patterns of shifting light into the platform's framework. The air trembled as reality itself twisted, the shimmering rift before them widening into an unstable gateway. The resonance of its activation sent ripples through the chamber, making the very space hum with anticipation. She exhaled sharply and, without looking up, instructed, "Zyren, Lorith, Kai, you three are up first." Well then.....let's get this over with, Kai thought to himself as he tried his best to maintain his composure. He strode through the rift, his mind racing with anticipation. No amount of imagination would have ever created an image close to what he saw on the other side of the rift.
The moment he emerged on the other side, the stark contrast was almost disorienting. They had left behind the structured, glowing halls of the Primarium Castrum, stepping into the World Beyond: multiple desolate stretches of cracked, blackened grounds, tough as obsidian, under a sky that churned with shifting, unnatural hues. The floating islands were fractured, as though time had splintered it apart, and across each of them, massive jagged rock formations jutted toward the heavens like the bones of a long-dead colossus. The air was thick with energy, the scent of something wrong lingering like a whisper at the edge of perception. Kai instinctively fell into a battle ready stance, as his eyes darted around, scanning the area.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Zyren, Hex manifesting in his hands as his ember eyes scanned their surroundings. His weapon resembled Japanese Kusarigama. Its large scarlet blade gleamed dangerously as it curved from the silver handle. A long black chain unraveled from its end, the links clinking softly as it stretched into the air. The chain extended to an orb, slightly larger than a tennis ball, its translucent surface resembling fragile glass. Zyren gripped the weapon firmly, as he spun the orb by the chain attached to it, channeling his energy into the weapon. The moment his scarlet energy surged into it, the orb ignited like a miniature star, flaring with violent intensity, its glow casting flickering red embers across his silver skin. Lorith, stood right behind Zyren, rolling his shoulders, his massive crystalline form gleamed faintly under the unnatural sky. His greatsword rested over his shoulder. His eyes flicked over the landscape, scanning, waiting.
Nothing could have mentally prepared Kai for the arrival of the Leviathan. Within an instant, a rift tore open a few feet in front of them. With a sickening, guttural howl, a Leviathan surged through the breach. It landed with a ground-shaking thud, claws carving deep gouges into the earth. The beast moved on four massive legs, each limb packed with corded muscle, ending in monstrous talons that sank into the cracked soil like blades through flesh. Its wings unfurled: jagged, uneven, and riddled with spikes that ran in chaotic rows down its spine. The leathery membrane stretched, tattered yet strong, as it shifted, adjusting to the new plane. Its tail lashed behind it, long and segmented, ending in a brutal cluster of jagged spikes that pulsed with a faint, eerie glow. It moved around it's massive oval-shaped shaped head, a pair of pointed horns curling from the top, as it looked around. For a moment, it was still. Then, its eyes, dark voids brimming with unfathomable hunger, locked onto them. It let out another guttural howl, revealing two rows of long, triangular and wickedly sharp teeth along with a pair of long jagged canines on each jaw.
The mere sight of the hideous beast put Kai on edge, but the presence of Zyren and Lorith helped him stay calm. This might have been the first time Kai was facing a monster of such high caliber, but the aura of the experienced fighters standing by him both comforted and assured him that he was not alone in this fight. "Well, then" Zyren finally muttered, scarlet energy crackling through the air as the orb at the end of his chain flared brighter. "Time to put down this rabid monstrosity." Kai let out a deep breath as he levelled his blade, ready to attack. However, the Leviathan had other ideas.
The Leviathan's guttural snarl reverberated through the fractured expanse, its sheer presence sending a ripple of pressure across the battlefield. But instead of lunging at them, the beast stilled. "This can't be good..." Kai though. Then, the beast roared. A deafening, otherworldly sound tore through the air, vibrating in his bones like an unholy resonance. The glow of scarlet energy burst from the Leviathan's form, flaring wildly as its entire body pulsed with violent luminance. Kai felt the increased pressure before he saw it.....like the moment before a storm breaks, a thick, suffocating tension that made every hair on his body stand on end.
"The hell is it-" Zyren began to say, but the answer came before he could finish. From the Leviathan's body, countless spheres of pure, condensed energy shot out in every direction, their trajectories wild and unpredictable. Each orb shimmered ominously, distorting the air around them as they floated away from the source. They hovered in eerie stillness for only a moment. Then, one by one, they began to change. The orbs expanded, stretching, twisting, reshaping themselves with grotesque fluidity. The shifting masses pulsed as limbs burst forth, dark silhouettes forming into grotesque shapes. Wings unfurled from some, clawed feet slammed into the ground from others, tails whipped through the air as the once featureless spheres solidified into horrifying replicas of the original Leviathan. They were smaller, yes, but no less deadly, their bodies twisted and leaner, their movements shaky yet terrifyingly fast.