A silhouette stood in the middle of the street, featureless at first glance.
Cloaked in a shifting haze of black, it held a tall staff or sword—Richard couldn't quite tell. Its eyes glimmered with an eerie, unnatural light that locked onto him immediately.
A shiver ran down Richard's spine.
Even the Reapers, vicious as they were, had a bestial form, a physicality he could understand. But this entity? It radiated something else—malevolence given shape.
This fucking thing is at least high S-Rank.
He forced himself to stand tall, ignoring the searing pain in his shoulder.
The swirling darkness around this being made it nigh impossible to see its true form. With a slow, deliberate step, it approached, not slithering or lurching like the Reapers, but walking—almost strolling—as though time itself were inconsequential.
Richard's instincts screamed for him to run.
Yet his pride as a hunter—and the mission—shackled him in place.
If this creature was orchestrating the Reapers, letting it roam free would endanger the entire region.
He glanced at the earpiece. No time to call for backup. He'd have to handle this, or…
Clenching his jaw, he started weaving stars again.
The four stars shimmered into existence beneath him in a diamond pattern—4-Star Glyph: Starlight Convergence.
The raw power of it made the rain sizzle where it fell. Richard's veins burned as he channelled the glyph, summoning a swirling mass of astral light that coalesced in the air above him.
"Let's see what you're made of," he ground out.
A brilliant beam crackled forth from the convergent stars, lancing towards the dark figure. The storm-ravaged sky lit up in a dazzling arc of silver, every raindrop momentarily catching the glow.
The creature merely tilted its head as if curious. Then, with casual grace, it raised its hand. The beam collided with an unseen barrier, scattering embers of white-hot energy in all directions.
For a moment, Richard's heart faltered. He redoubled his concentration, pouring more of his reserves into the glyph.
His arms trembled under the strain, muscles quivering in protest. The radiant beam intensified, pushing forwards inch by agonising inch… only to be halted by the same impenetrable force.
Then, in a mere second, the entity swatted the beam aside—like brushing away a bothersome fly.
Starlight splintered into brilliant shards before vanishing altogether.
A wave of backlash thundered through Richard. His glyph flickered, the ground underfoot scorching from the massive outpour of energy. He nearly doubled over, chest tight, head spinning.
That thing… It's toying with me.
Gasping, he forced his wobbling knees to lock in place. He could sense the entity's eyes upon him, shining with cold amusement.
"If Starlight Convergence wasn't enough, then what the hell would be?
The next logical step was madness, but he saw no other option. He had glimpsed the fleeting power of his highest glyph only a handful of times. Using it alone in the middle of an unstable anomaly zone could tear him apart just as easily as it could grant him victory. But if he did nothing, he'd probably be dead anyway.
He took a shaky breath and steadied his daggers, blood pounding in his ears.
"Nova Ascension," he whispered.
Five blazing stars spun into being around his body, a coruscating ring of astral brilliance that outshone even the streetlights.
Instantly, a surge of raw, electrifying power coursed from his core to his fingertips. Every raindrop striking his aura evaporated in a hiss of steam.
His battered shoulder numbed as strength flooded his limbs, adrenaline pushing the pain into some distant corner of his mind. His senses sharpened—he could feel the weight of each droplet, taste the tang of ozone in the air. Time seemed to slow, the creature's slightest movement etched in perfect clarity.
With a roar, Richard launched himself forward.
Burst Step was magnified under Nova Ascension, propelling him in an instant across the flooded street.
His first strike came from above, daggers slashing down.
The entity caught the blow with a single arm, but Richard's enhanced strength forced it to skid a few paces back, black mist swirling from its form.
Richard pressed the advantage. He twisted in mid-air, unleashing a rapid series of strikes, each dagger wreathed in flickering starlight.
Sparks flew when the blade met the creature's shifting darkness. This time, the monster struggled just a bit—enough for Richard to sense it was no longer ignoring him.
He battered at the entity's guard, feinting left, hooking right.
Another glyph ignited underfoot, brimming with astral power as he attempted a quick Celestial Bind to lock the creature in place.
The silver net flickered around it, but the entity shrugged off the effect almost instantly, shattering the distortion field with a crackle of some kind of energy.
Richard had only a heartbeat to react before that same energy lashed out at him, a tendril of black lightning that sizzled the air.
He brought up his daggers, crossing them in a desperate block. Astral Ward flickered around his arms, just enough to parry the blast, though he was still hurled backward into the side of a crumbling building.
The impact crushed the breath from his lungs, and pain exploded along his spine. Through gritted teeth, he forced himself to stand again.
With every strike, the weight of Nova Ascension dragged at him, his limbs growing heavier. But stopping meant death
He spat a mouthful of blood. "Come on," he snarled at the entity, raising his daggers defiantly. "Is that all you've got?"
In answer, the dark figure reached into the swirling shadows, drawing forth a twisted sword, black as obsidian.
The blade seemed to drink in the sparse light around it, fracturing the night into deeper darkness. Immediately, the air grew heavier, charged with a silent promise of annihilation.
The creature moved.
Even with his heightened perception, Richard almost couldn't track it. In the blink of an eye, the entity closed the distance, sword arcing towards him in a blur.
He barely managed to sidestep, the edge grazing the protective aura of Nova Ascension. In that same moment, he retaliated, driving a dagger towards the figure's centre mass.
For an instant, he felt the tip connect, felt resistance—only for the entity to twist aside with inhuman grace.
They clashed again and again—metal shrieking against ephemeral darkness.
Each collision sent shockwaves rippling through the rain-soaked street. Ruined walls collapsed further, and broken glass rained down from battered window frames.
Blood pounded in Richard's ears; a part of him was distantly aware that he was nearing his absolute limit. His muscles burned like molten lead, breath ragged in his throat.
Yet there was a savage satisfaction in holding his ground—if only for a moment—against a foe so vastly superior.
Had he been even a fraction weaker or slower, he would have been dead.
He thought of the corpses lining the alleys, the unknown civilians, the Bravo team… I have to stop this thing. I have to—
The entity's sword came at him again, a diagonal slash of lethal precision.
Richard crossed his daggers to parry, summoning the last dregs of Astral Ward around his arms.
The force of the blow splintered the ward instantly, throwing his daggers wide. Pain ricocheted through his hands, nearly dislocating his wrists.
He staggered back, his vision flickering with white spots.
No—fight on.
He tried to pull his arms back into a defensive position when the creature materialised behind him, as if stepping through shadow. A frisson of terror arced through his mind.
Too fast…
He spun, mustering the remnants of Nova Ascension, but the sword's blade was already there—cold and unyielding.
It thrust forward, piercing his chest in one clean motion.
He felt the steel slide between his ribs with surreal clarity, a wave of agony flooding his senses.
His breath caught in a wet gasp.
His daggers slipped from numb fingers.
The five swirling stars around him winked out one by one, leaving the world darker than ever before.
Rain pelted down, soaking his hair and his clothes, washing away the blood trickling from the wound.
Or perhaps that, too, was an illusion—he couldn't tell, his senses warping under the shock.
Richard's heart thudded, a desperate flutter in his chest, as though trying to escape the sword's intrusion.
He coughed, spluttering crimson. Darkness tugged at the edges of his vision.
Is this it?
A strangled laugh gurgled up his throat.
I guess it was never going to be simple.
The creature didn't speak or gloat. It just stood there, sword buried in his chest, as though fulfilling an inevitability.
Pain spiked again, blinding in its intensity.
Richard's head lolled back.
Far above, on a battered rooftop, a silhouette watched him. Lightning flashed, illuminating the figure just long enough for Richard's breath to hitch. King?
His earpiece crackled faintly, though he could barely register the sound.
"King…?" he echoed, voice raw. Indeed, the figure looked like King, the friend who'd guided him through so many missions.
Yet there was an unmistakable smirk on the observer's face, a smile that sparked more dread than comfort.
Through the haze, Richard wasn't certain if he was hallucinating or if King was truly there—smiling while he bled out.
He opened his mouth to speak, but the words died in his throat.
"Per aspera ad astra."
The words slithered through the rain, but Richard couldn't tell if they came from the creature, the figure above… or himself.
The entity twisted the sword in a final, merciless motion.
Astralis sank to his knees, the creature withdrawing its blade in a silent flourish.
The dark mist around it spiralled upwards, as though consumed by the fury of the storm.
Richard's gaze drifted skyward once more, searching for King's face, trying to understand that last vision.
But the storm clouds were all he could see, swirling in roiling greys, flickering with the ghosts of lightning.
His last coherent thought flickered through his mind like a dying ember. I'm sorry… for failing.
Then the world folded in on itself, and Richard Blackwood knew no more.