[SYSTEM WARNING: BLOOD TRIAL — ACTIVE]
[DURATION: 72:00:00 REMAINING]
[CYCLE: STRAYS SPAWN EVERY 2 HOURS]
[ENEMY CLASS: STRAY | TIER: ROTTED-HUMAN]
[THREAT LEVEL: MODERATE – DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE]
[NOTE: FRIENDLY FIRE PENALTIES ARE DISABLED]
[SURVIVE | KILL | ASCEND]
⸻
The sound was wet.
A crack.
Then a snap.
Then a noise like meat being dropped from a roof.
Someone screamed.
Then five more.
A boy across the plaza had been lifted—just lifted—by a Stray with elongated limbs and bone-colored skin.
It crushed his spine with both hands like snapping a bundle of sticks, then bit into his shoulder like it was bread.
His head lolled. Blood sprayed.
No System Message. Just death.
Another Stray hit the crowd from the left, dragging a woman by her hair until her scalp began to peel.
She clawed at the ground, left a trail of bloody nails—
Then went silent when it slammed her into the stone hard enough to burst her skull like fruit.
People scattered.
They didn't run in patterns.
They didn't run in formation.
They scattered like prey.
A mother holding her son tripped.
Her ankle bent sideways and snapped.
The Stray behind her didn't stop.
It grabbed her arm, yanked—
And her body split from itself.
She screamed only once.
A man threw his friend to the floor to escape.
Another stabbed a girl in the back just to push through.
The white light of fear stripped them raw.
Then he walked in.
The man from earlier.
The one who picked up the shard.
He moved like the violence wasn't even happening around him.
White shirt stained red.
Shard pulsing in his palm.
No hesitation in his eyes—only curiosity.
He stopped when a Stray lunged at him, jaws open and screeching.
He caught it by the throat.
No struggle. No effort.
Just a sudden sound of bones being crushed from the inside out
—before he slammed it to the ground and curb-stomped its face until the stone cracked.
[ASCENSION SHARD — STAGE 1: ACTIVATED]
[NEW SKILL: BLOOD-TO-STRENGTH]
"Kill. Grow. Repeat."
He turned.
Saw a teenager, bleeding from the gut, crawling away.
Stepped forward.
Grabbed the boy's neck.
Twisted.
[+1 BLOOD SHARD FRAGMENT OBTAINED]
He smiled.
"Now this is more like it."
His voice carried through the plaza.
Loud despite the screaming.
Confident. Unbothered.
"You hear that?" he said. "The System isn't punishing me for killing people. It's rewarding me."
Some people stopped running.
"What are you all doing?" he called. "Hiding behind walls? Waiting to die? These Strays aren't hard. You are."
He kicked a corpse out of his way and spread his arms wide.
"Join me. Kill with me. Or die bleeding in the dark. Either way, I'll still be here."
The first ones came slowly.
One already holding a bloodied brick.
Another had blood on her sleeves already.
The weak began to drift toward the strong.
A new faction was forming—
And its spine was built from broken ones.
⸻
He turned his head—
And saw her.
Rae.
Covered in dust and scratches.
Face flushed from adrenaline.
Still trying to help a younger boy stand.
He tilted his head.
Eyes glinting.
"Well, hello," he whispered.
He moved through the carnage slowly.
Blood on his shoes.
Fingers twitching.
"You're not like the rest of them," he said as he stepped closer. "Not crying. Not screaming. Pretty, too."
While licking his lips
The boy beside Rae started to speak.
A hand knocked him out cold.
He didn't look away from Rae.
"You should come with me," he said, smiling. "I'd protect something as nice as you."
Rae didn't move.
Didn't blink.
The man crouched, still smiling.
"I'm called Kael. Remember it. You'll be hearing it a lot."
His voice dripped with ease—
But his eyes were feral.
Something primal hiding just beneath the charm.
"I'm building something. Right here. Right now. You could be part of it."
From the shadows, two figures watched.
Eyes glowing like dying stars.
Aura rolling off them like heat from molten steel.
They didn't move.
Not yet.
⸻
Rae had seen people die before.
Not like this—
But close.
Back then, she'd been kidnapped.
Locked away in a basement that reeked of bleach and rot.
With three of her friends.
They whispered comfort to each other in the dark.
They thought someone would come.
One by one, they were taken.
Dragged screaming through the door.
She never saw them again.
She heard what happened, though.
She heard it.
Rae was the last one left when the police broke in.
Bones in her throat.
Breath barely holding on.
Too late for the others.
Just in time for her.
She never forgot the sound.
And still—
this was worse.
Because this time,
the monsters weren't hiding.
This was slaughter.
She held the boy tighter.
Blood soaked into her shoes.
A man's arm landed not far from her.
Still twitching.
She wanted to throw up.
Then she heard him.
That voice. Calm. Pleased with himself.
"Now this is more like it."
She turned.
Slowly.
Instinct, maybe.
That was when she saw him.
The man with the shard.
The one who crushed that monster like it was nothing.
He wasn't fighting anymore.
He was recruiting.
Calling out to the crowd.
Telling them to kill.
Telling them to join him.
And they were listening.
People were moving toward him.
Not away.
And then his eyes found hers.
Something in Rae froze.
She looked behind her—
Hoping maybe he meant someone else.
But there was no one.
Just her.
He smiled and started walking.
Toward her.
Steps casual, like this was a stroll in the park—
But his gaze didn't waver.
Deadlocked. Hungry.
"You're not like the rest of them," he said.
Closer now.
Too close.
"Not crying. Not screaming." He tilted his head. "Pretty, too."
The boy beside her tried to shield her.
A single backhand dropped him.
Kael never looked away.
"You should come with me," he said, voice low, interested . "I'd protect something as nice as you."
Something in Rae's body screamed to run.
But her legs wouldn't move.
Her body shook—not just from fear.
But from the overwhelming Disgust of this man.
Her thoughts blurred.
Then—
The air shifted.
The temperature dropped.
Pressure entered the area like a silent wave.
Her eyes widened.
And they were watching.
Saedra
A sharp-featured woman.
Skin pale like frostbite.
Her silver-black hair was tied back into a tight, functional knot—
like a blade sheathed, waiting to be drawn.
A faint scar carved across her right cheek,
not fresh, but not forgotten.
Her stance was relaxed.
But every muscle beneath her skin was coiled,
ready—
like a predator that had already chosen its prey.
Her eyes glowed.
White.
Soft, yet terrifying.
Leaking light like mist in the dark.
From her shoulders,
a ripple of aura shimmered—
heat rising from scorched earth.
She didn't need to move.
Her presence did the killing.
⸻
Zareth
He stood beside her.
Silent.
Taller.
Broader.
Built like something carved from stone.
Not born.
Long white hair draped past his shoulders,
motionless despite the chaos.
His skin was a deep brown—
marked with ink.
Tattoos crawled across his chest and arms like ancient script,
quietly pulsing with meaning no one could read.
Two long vertical scars sliced down both his eyes.
Eyes that glowed the same white as hers—
but emptier.
Hollow like the sky before a storm.
Aura leaked from him in waves.
Slow.
Steady.
Like something old waking up.
He didn't flinch when the screams came.
Didn't blink when blood hit his boots.
Didn't speak.
He didn't need to.
[SYSTEM UPDATE: UNKNOWN ENTITIES DETECTED]
[WARNING: STRENGTH UNMEASURABLE. ERROR. ERROR. ERROR.]
[???????]