The transformation was hideous. Flesh tore, bones snapped and rearranged. The scaled man's neck bulged as new muscle cords rippled beneath his dark armor-like hide. His eyes glowed a feral yellow, veins pulsing like molten veins of coal. The one with the monstrous jaw grew spines along his shoulders, his mouth now a jagged abyss of bone. The whistler's throat expanded grotesquely, cords of muscle vibrating beneath translucent skin as if his whole body was an instrument of death.
Crystara spat a shard of blood-stained crystal from her mouth and smirked. "The disgusting pig turns even more disgusting."
Pulse's sword thrummed at a pitch that set the stones trembling. He didn't answer. He didn't need to. His eyes were already locked on them, cold and focused, the eyes of a killer who didn't want to kill, but would if he had to.
Then the scaled brute lunged, moving faster than before. The ground cracked beneath each step. His claws slashed downward and Pulse met him head-on. The impact shook the entire chamber.
Pulse's blade caught the claw, vibrations amplifying on contact.
SNAP!
The claw shattered into splinters of bone and scale, blood spraying across the floor. The man roared and swung again, but this time Pulse pivoted, driving his elbow into the brute's ribs. The hit carried the force of an earthquake. Bones splintered, flesh ruptured.
The scaled man fell to his knees, coughing black-red blood but Pulse didn't stop. His expression hardened. The sword screamed as he thrust it forward through the man's chest. Vibrations tore through his body from the inside, splitting veins, cracking organs. The brute convulsed violently before collapsing, steam rising from the fissures in his flesh.
Meanwhile, Crystara was painting the cave in carnage.
The monstrous-jawed thug fired wildly, his gunshots deafened by his own inhuman shrieks. Crystara dashed through the bullets, each ricochet glancing off her crystalline skin. She punched once, his jaw snapped sideways with a sickening crunch.
"Dang," she said mockingly, grabbing his head and driving it into the cave wall. "Too fucking fragile."
She didn't stop. Her hands turned into crystal blades, and she slashed through his chest in a single, graceful arc. Blood sprayed in ribbons, staining her shimmering body a deep crimson. His scream echoed through the tunnels before she silenced it with a final, merciless stab through his throat.
"Next."
The whistler's eyes widened as she turned toward him. He took a deep breath, unleashing another sonic wave. The shriek was high enough to rupture stone, but Crystara didn't flinch. She raised her hand, her arm splitting into razor-like shards and with one flick, she fired them like bullets.
They ripped through his face. His scream turned into a wet gargle as his jaw dissolved into shards of flesh and crystal. He stumbled back, clawing at his ruined mouth, before Crystara stepped forward and kicked him square in the chest.
He flew back into a stalagmite, impaled through the spine.
Crystara exhaled, stretching her neck lazily. "And that's that."
Pulse stood silently amid the aftermath, his sword still humming faintly. The smell of iron filled the cave. Blood pooled in black puddles, and the faint shimmer of Crystara's crystals reflected the red gleam across the walls.
The girl behind them had both hands over her mouth, trembling violently. Pulse turned, his sword lowering as the vibrations died down.
"It's over," he said quietly.
The girl didn't answer. She just stared at the corpses or what was left of them.
Crystara glanced back, her expression unreadable. "You okay?"
The girl swallowed hard, voice breaking. "You… you killed them."
Crystara shrugged, her body slowly returning to flesh and skin, crystal receding beneath the surface. "They wanted to do worse. Trust me, they got the easy way out."
Pulse looked at her, the faint smile she wore, calm and casual, like this was routine.
Then he looked down at his own hands. Blood spattered his gloves, his sword's edge still dripping. His grip tightened once before he sheathed it.
He walked toward the wall, tapping his wrist communicator. "This is Pulse. Requesting extraction."
Static answered, then a faint voice came through:
"Copy that. Coordinates received. Extraction en route. ETA: one hour."
Crystara sighed, brushing blood off her arm. "One hour, huh? Plenty of time to extract a few more materials from the giant lizards."
But the girl suddenly backed away. "N-No!"
Pulse frowned, turning to her. "What's wrong?"
She shook her head, eyes darting between them and the cave's entrance. "I can't go back there. I can't go back to base!"
Her voice cracked, fear, pure and real, bleeding through.
Crystara's smile faded. "Why?"
The girl's breathing quickened, tears spilling down her cheeks as she whispered, almost choking on the words:
"Because… the ones who sent them… are from my bureau."
The silence that followed was colder than the cave walls.
Pulse's expression hardened instantly. Crystara's eyes glimmered faintly, the crystal beneath her skin beginning to glow again.
"…Say that again," Pulse said quietly.
The girl took a trembling step back, clutching her arm. "They're from our bureau, the Revenant Authority... I saw their insignia before they attacked me... Back then someone... they wanted me to do something for them but I refused because of the risk... I didn't know they'd reach this far by trying to kidnap me."
Crystara and Pulse exchanged a long look, the kind of look that said everything without a single word.