On a desolate field veiled by a bleak, star-drained sky, the Resonant Unbound and the Class III Hazard collided in a merciless duel, their every impact unleashing a lethal clangor that rippled through the grayscale wasteland like the scream of something ancient waking up. The ghastly scene of the brutal battle was unfolding within the swirling chaos of a planetary vortex. The Resonant moved in slow, deliberate steps, each lunge a planned blow to the weak spots in the Riftborn's body. Momentarily, every vicious assault would be followed by a thunderous sonic boom that briefly ripped through the field, revealing the upturned, scarred earth beneath and scattering sand in violent arcs, as though the ground itself had been captured in the battle. The Riftborn showed no signs of weakness, its fangs exposed and gleaming with viscous ichor that dripped onto the scorched ground. Its frenzied claws moved in a bizarre, unsettling order while lashing outward in disorganized, nearly hallucinogenic arcs. Each swipe was a desperate attempt to rend the seemingly flawless adversary that danced just beyond its grasp.
As it turned out, the Frontier Divisions, Prometheus in particular, had long observed that vortexes varied wildly in behavior, scale, lethality, and energy emissions, with some still shrouded in unsolved, haunting mysteries. Beyond the occasional unnatural disasters that battered the New Facility, the Vortex Frontier itself stood as an unrelenting, tyrannical nemesis. As mentioned before, the Vortex Frontier was not merely a field—it was a dissonant, convulsing world of vortexes, emerging over 3,163 cycles ago, gradually tightening its grip around humanity, which lingered at the center of this chaos, helplessly fated to be consumed by the encroaching, inoculating apparition.
Some of the vortexes that the Unbounds investigated and the research teams painstakingly examined completely defied expectations by containing entire worlds, earning the moniker "Planetary Vortexes." A planetary vortex was a vortex that contained an entire self-contained world with massive mountains, forests, deserts, or rivers and could feel like a mini-planet. Sequence I to III planetary vortexes had small lands, limited forests or dunes, and were easy to close. Sequence IV to VI planetary vortexes were as large as continents. Sequence VII to IX were almost planetary in scale, their landscapes stretching for thousands of miles. Sequence X to XII were extremely vast, and near-impossible to close. Generally, most planetary vortexes – if not all – had vivid wine-red forest canopies glowing with uncanny contrast against the monochrome expanse in many of these realms, where the world cast a surreal grayscale hue. When these vortexes were firstly discovered, humanity had long assumed that vortexes were mere portals to distant corners of the Galaxy of Cornelius or the outer reaches of the Universe, but the finite and limited dimensions of these types of vortexes, joined together with other évidences, dispelled such notions, hinting instead at isolated, self-contained realms. At the furthest reaches of these dreamlike landscapes lay swirling storm fogs, veiling the edge of each vortex as if the world itself were carefully pocketed and suspended in a strange, otherworldly bubble. This left the swirling entrance gate—which was the entrance into the vortex—as the only way out of these surreal worlds.
Nevertheless, the vortexes conceal dangerous and unfathomable traits that no Unbound, not even those of the higher stages, would dare to confront willingly. Some of these vortexes could trap anyone who entered in a relentless time loop. A time loop is when the same events repeat endlessly, like being caught in a replay you cannot stop. Imagine waking up, going to school, talking to friends, and sleeping, only to wake and live it all exactly the same way again. This cycle continues without end until some unknown force breaks it. Within these vortexes, intruders may not even realize they are trapped because their memories are erased and replayed with each repetition. The torment would be both harrowing and invisible to the victim. This dangerous feature, however, appeared in temporal vortexes, another type of vortex discovered. Chronotype Unbounds were especially susceptible to this anomaly due to their natural affinity for manipulating time.
According to the System, vortexes were classified into various types based on their appearance, stark difference in behavior, and the intensity of their vortex pulse energies. They were ranked according to the lethal threat they posed and humanity's capacity to adapt to their hostile environments. Yet, many mysteries surrounding these vortexes remained unresolved, lingering as one of Prometheus' ongoing projects, shelved but never abandoned, quietly waiting for answers that might never come.
Of the thousands, or maybe millions of vortexes—who knew how vast the Vortex Frontier was?— Prometheus had since discovered about eight different vortexes. They were the Planetary vortexes, as explained earlier, the Temporal vortexes, the Abyssal vortexes, the Ignis vortexes, the Ethereal vortexes, the Magnetron vortexes, the Sentient vortexes, and the Obscura vortexes. Coincidentally, the first twelve sequences of each vortex had been discovered. The sequence could also mean the order or level of lethality posed by each vortex type. The higher the sequence of a vortex, the more dangerous it was. However, not even a pilot cadet could survive a Sequence 1 vortex of any type. Only Unbounds were resilient enough to brave these anomalies. As long as a human had not begun falling upwards or unbound, these vortexes could also mean a suicide attempt. This also meant that Stage 1 Unbounds and above were the only ones capable of scaling these vortexes, according to their resilience and strength capacity.
Back into the fight, the Riftborn, now donned in what seemed like a crystal armor, continued in its flailing, frenzied attack, clashing its adamantine claws desperately against the crude sword reshaped from matter. The Resonant Unbound still parried, countering the anomaly with grace, without breaking much sweat. The battle had only begun a few minutes ago, and yet it seemed as if they had been dueling for a few hours. This was because the whole environment had changed entirely, the nearby cliffs gradually giving in and the distant dunes gradually levelling, succumbing to the brutal clash between the monstrosity and its apparition. The vast area of ashen sand around them had cleared away with the momentary shockwaves produced from the clash. The grey hard ground beneath had now become tilled soil, still suffering under the onslaught. Swords and claws kept drawing arcs every now and then. The unrelenting duo were now gradually advancing toward a towering dune, which was waiting for its oncoming destruction. From a high distance, the grayscale world of the desecrated field resembled more of a hellish landscape with every minute that passed.
"Tch!"
Just as the Riftborn gave a successful blow on his skull, the Resonant tumbled and slid backwards, maintaining his stance. Then he lifted his reformed sword, or what looked like it, and pointed it at the Riftborn, lingering a few meters away, baring its wet fangs in fury.
"Now then," he curled his lips upwards, "let the real game begin."
As if responding to that, the flesh littering the whole vast field began to stir to life as their bones tore out of the dead bodies and shot towards the Resonant. The bones stopped a short distance away, in-between the two adversaries, and began reforming into more refined shapes, these ones more refined compared to the initially used sword. Obviously, it was the Materion-type Unbound that summoned the bones.
[Matter Reformation Successful.]
Hearing that, he dashed forward with the swarm of bone swords streaking behind him, the whole arsenal moving like a single mind. Unfazed by this, the gaunt Riftborn lunged forward too, the distance instantly closing in between them in what seemed like a nanosecond. Its two ejecteing fangs pointing upward were slick with viscous drool and its adamantine crystal claws were gleaming. Clearly, the atmosphere of the battle had changed, becoming more brutal.
And in that split second...
SLITCH!