Theo and Kira staggered through the wreckage of a collapsed overpass. Their footsteps echoed against broken slabs of concrete, every step sharp and hurried.
Theo glanced back, his pale face tense, blond hair sticking to his sweat-damp skin. His voice was low but firm. "Stay with me. Don't lose focus. We keep moving until this is over."
Kira panted, chest heaving, but managed a faint smile. "I'm not slowing you down. I can still keep up."
Her words were cut short.
A shadow dropped from above.
The Starter Hunter crashed down with bone-shaking force, tentacles flaring outward. In his hands gleamed a weapon—a concave sword that shimmered with Zark energy, its edges glowing like liquid fire.
Theo shoved Kira behind him, shouting, "Run!"
The blade swept across the space where he had stood. He dove backward, narrowly missing its edge. The strike gouged the ground, the sheer force of it rattling his bones.
Theo scrambled to his feet, panic in his eyes. But Kira hadn't moved fast enough.
The sword rose again, then fell.
It cut cleanly through her from shoulder to waist.
Blood sprayed across the ground as she gasped, eyes wide with shock. Her lips trembled. "Theo…" Her voice was faint, broken. "Run…"
She collapsed to her knees, blood soaking her uniform.
Theo's scream tore through the ruins. He lunged toward her, but the hunter was already on her. The blade rose a third time.
Instinct seized him. Theo flung himself through a narrow gap in the debris, arms scraping against jagged stone.
Kira's final scream cut short as the blade struck. Her head rolled free, her body slumping into the spreading pool of blood.
Theo's heart twisted with agony. Tears stung his eyes, blood smeared across his arms.
Across the city, Kaito was still alive—barely.
He had been running, weaving through shattered streets, changing direction again and again. For nearly two hours, he had evaded death, his movements sharp and precise.
For a moment, he believed he had gotten away.
But the hunters never forgot.
The Trophy Hunter's flail swung through the air, its massive head embedded with shards that shimmered with Zark energy. Each swing warped the air, rattled the earth, tore through anything in its path.
Kaito vaulted over a wall, lungs screaming, but the flail crashed through a bus beside him. The metal caved inward, crumpling like paper. The shockwave hurled him off his feet.
He scrambled upright, hands clutching a length of rusted rebar. He gripped it like a spear, his jaw clenched, his chest rising and falling in ragged bursts.
"Let's go then," he muttered under his breath. His voice cracked, but his eyes glimmered with defiance. "Am I going to die here? No. I'm not dying. Not yet."
With a roar, he lunged.
The rebar scraped across the hunter's armor and did nothing. Not even a mark.
Tentacles writhed in irritation.
The flail swung again. Kaito twisted his body, vaulting himself backward. He landed hard, rolling across the rubble.
Every motion screamed of desperation, of a man determined to make his death costly.
But the hunter was faster.
The flail came down in a savage arc, smashing into Kaito's chest.
The crack of bone echoed across the ruins. Blood sprayed into the air in a violent burst.
Kaito hit the ground, vision fragmenting. Pain wracked his body, but a bitter smile curved his lips.
"At least… I tried," he whispered. His voice trembled. "I'll see you soon, little sis."
The flail rose again and slammed into his head.
Darkness swallowed him.
Two hours and thirty minutes had passed.
Amara staggered into the shell of a broken structure. The air was heavy with dust and mildew, the stench clogging her throat.
Her heart pounded violently, her breath short and sharp. She backed against a cracked wall, her body trembling as she fought to calm herself.
Then she heard it.
The scrape of a spear against stone. Slow. Deliberate. Predatory.
Her stomach dropped.
The hunter entered, tall and broad, emerald eyes glowing faintly in the dimness. Tentacles writhed around him as he dragged his spear across the ground, sparks flying with each scrape.
Amara's pulse quickened. "Too close. He's too close."
He closed the distance in strides. The spear lifted, gleaming with deadly light.
It came down in a ferocious arc.
Amara twisted, her body moving on pure instinct. The blade sliced past her, close enough to shear a strand of hair. It smashed through the concrete behind her, shattering it into rubble.
She hit the floor hard, dust exploding around her.
The hunter loomed, raising his spear again. The ground cracked beneath his weight, stone groaning as if in fear.
Amara stumbled backward. Her eyes widened as the concrete floor gave way under the hunter's massive weight. It had been weaken from the spears impact.
The ground collapsed.
The hunter dropped through, crashing into the level below. His tentacles lashed wildly as he fell.
But not before he threw his spear.
It cut the air toward her like a streak of lightning.
Amara dove aside, rolling across the floor as the spear shattered the wall beside her.
The ruin trembled, walls shaking as though the building itself groaned under the violence.
Amara didn't wait to see if the hunter rose again. She bolted, sprinting through the corridors, her feet pounding against rubble.
Her lungs burned, her chest heaving, but a grim smile cut across her face.
"By a hair," she whispered to herself.
She didn't dare look back.
outside, silence thickened.
The hunters slowed their pursuit. Tentacles twitched in agitation as they tilted their heads upward, emerald eyes narrowing at something unseen.
Then the air shifted.
Purple mist rolled in—silent, heavy, curling through the streets like liquid shadow. It poured from every direction, swallowing alleys, creeping through collapsed highways, flooding over shattered stone.
Sera's voice cracked as she clung to Xavier's arm. "No… not again. Not the smoke."
The other survivors stumbled into view. Amara, coughing as she sprinted across a broken avenue. Theo, wild-eyed, clutching his bleeding side. Jalen and Nyah emerged together, dust clinging to their sweat-soaked faces.
"What now?" Theo gasped, his voice frantic. "What the hell is this?!"
The hunters withdrew, their towering figures fading into the haze. They screeched once, a sound of finality, before vanishing completely.
The mist thickened, wrapping around the runners like a living shroud.
They coughed, staggered, tried to resist—but there was nowhere to go. No escape.
One by one, they collapsed into darkness.
Theo woke first.