The creature's mouth opened—not with a roar, but with a sound that scraped across Kael Riven's nerves like a cracked violin string dipped in metal.
"H–h u m a n…"
The voice was broken. Distorted. As if whatever was speaking had learned language by chewing on it first.
Kael's entire body stiffened.
The monster stood on six legs, each joint bent at an angle that made his eyes twitch. Its face was too smooth, stretched too thin, the mouth too wide. Behind it, the Rift Zone shimmered—warped land, bleeding sky, jagged stone like broken teeth.
Kael stepped back.
The ground beneath his shoes felt soft—wrong—like the earth was breathing.
His shadow rippled beneath him, an oily darkness shifting with a life of its own. The Devouring Shadow stirred, reacting to the monster's presence.
The creature's head twitched.
Its neck cracked sideways.
Then it lunged.
Kael didn't think—his body moved with new instincts burned into his nerves by evolution.
He dove left.
The creature's forelegs smashed into the ground, sending up a storm of dust and fragmented stone. Kael rolled to his feet, lungs burning, ribs screaming.
"Shadow—help!"
The Devouring Shadow erupted from the ground like a spear of night. It shot forward, stretching into a blade-like form. The monster shrieked, skidding back as the shadow pierced one of its legs.
The shadow retracted instantly, flowing behind Kael like loyal smoke.
Kael's heart hammered.
Before today, he'd fought nothing more terrifying than online lag.
Now a monster that spoke nearly bisected him.
The creature snarled. Thick saliva dripped from its maw, sizzling when it hit the ground.
"This thing… is too strong," Kael muttered under trembling breath.
His Paradox Vision flared—a shimmering overlay revealing hairline cracks across the creature's body. Weak points.
He had one shot.
"Shadow—strike the fracture above its left foreleg!"
The shadow burst forth like a silent arrow and carved into the glowing fissure.
The monster convulsed—then turned its attention fully toward Kael.
"Uh… maybe that wasn't a great idea."
It charged.
Kael sprinted toward a shattered metal pillar. Pain knifed through his side, but he forced his legs to move. The monster's claws sliced the air inches behind him, each miss sending gusts of foul wind across his neck.
He pivoted around the pillar. The creature followed—
—right into a collapsing slab Kael shoved with all his weight.
Stone and steel crashed down on its spine.
The monster shrieked violently, pinned under the rubble.
Kael stood heaving, skin burning, vision blurring.
"That… actually… worked…"
The creature's claws twitched. Its back oozed dark fluid. It wouldn't stay down long.
Kael raised the jagged metal shard he'd grabbed earlier and ran toward it.
He didn't want to kill.
He didn't want to see blood.
But survival didn't leave room for softness.
He brought the shard down—
—but a flash of blinding light carved the air.
SHOOM—
Kael froze mid-strike.
A brilliant silver arc severed the monster's head in one clean motion.
The beast collapsed, twitching once before going still.
Kael turned sharply—
—and saw her.
A girl stood just a few steps away. Slightly taller than him, wrapped in a fitted black combat uniform that clung to muscle and strength. Her hair was white—not soft white, but sharp, metallic, like polished steel threads—pulled into a high ponytail that swayed with the breeze. Her eyes were cold gray, sharper than blades.
She didn't look human.
She looked like someone sculpted from winter.
She lowered her sword—its edge humming faintly with silver energy.
Kael swallowed thickly. "You… saved me."
The girl didn't respond.
She didn't smile.
Didn't nod.
Didn't move.
She simply studied him with expressionless calm, as though calculating his value.
Her gaze lingered on his torn clothes, his dirt-covered skin… and the black lines snaking faintly along his hands.
Her eyes narrowed.
Kael quickly hid them behind his back.
The girl's cold voice drifted out, carrying the clarity of crystal striking stone.
"You shouldn't be alive here."
Kael swallowed. "Believe me, I'm aware."
Her gaze swept across the ruins. "You have no weapon. No armor. No House tattoo. And yet you stand in the Rift Zone."
She stepped forward, boots crunching lightly across shattered stone.
Kael stepped back instinctively.
She didn't stop.
"Name," she commanded.
Her aura pressed down like a winter storm. Kael felt as if frost formed in his lungs.
"…Kael," he said softly. "Kael Riven."
Her eyes remained unreadable.
"I see."
She sheathed her sword with a soft click.
Then—without warning—she turned her back to him.
"Walk behind me. Slowly."
Kael blinked. "Why?"
"Something else is approaching," she said flatly. "Something you cannot fight."
That was a good enough reason for Kael.
He moved behind her quickly. The Devouring Shadow stirred beneath him, restless but silent.
The girl stood like an unmovable spear driven into the earth, body angled slightly toward the dark horizon.
As Kael followed her, he caught a faint trace of ink-like scent in the air near her hand. Something shimmering, like black liquid shifting beneath her skin.
Chrono-Ink.
She was hiding it.
Just like him.
He wanted to speak—ask who she was, why she was here, what she knew.
But the girl raised a hand.
"Quiet."
Her posture stiffened.
A ripple of distortion swept across a nearby ridge. Not a beast. Not a shadow.
Something heavier.
Kael whispered, "What is that?"
"A Rift Titan," she answered. "Run."
Kael's breath hitched. He had no idea what a Rift Titan was. But if a girl who sliced monsters like fruit told him to run—
He ran.
She moved beside him with speed that didn't match her calm demeanor. Not fast. Not explosive.
Just efficient.
Perfect steps. Perfect breathing. Perfect control.
Kael panted, legs burning. She didn't sweat.
Not even a drop.
The Devouring Shadow surged under his feet, giving him a burst of speed at the exact moment he stumbled.
The girl's eyes flicked downward, noticing the ripple.
"…Interesting," she murmured.
Kael's heart jumped. Did she see everything?
He didn't have time to think.
A deafening roar split the sky. The ground shook violently, causing Kael to lose balance.
The girl grabbed his collar, yanked him upright, and kept running without breaking stride.
"We won't make it far," she said calmly.
"That's not comforting!"
"It wasn't meant to be."
They sprinted across cracked stone. The air thickened with static. They needed shelter—anything.
Kael spotted a collapsed tunnel up ahead. "There!"
They dove inside.
The roar thundered again, shaking dust from the ceiling. Something massive stomped just outside, its shadow blotting out the fractured sky.
Kael gripped the wall, breathing hard.
The girl stood silently, eyes on the entrance.
After a long moment, the Titan's steps receded.
Kael let out a shaky breath. "I owe you my life."
"You owe me nothing," she said stiffly.
Her gaze flicked over him again—cold, assessing.
"You should leave the Rift Zone before you die."
"I'm trying," Kael said, exhausted. "Trust me."
She hesitated—a strange expression flickering in her eyes, almost suspicion.
Almost recognition.
"You are unusual," she said.
Kael stiffened. "In what way?"
She didn't answer.
Instead, she stepped out of the tunnel.
Kael moved to follow, but she suddenly turned, expression returning to ice.
"Do not follow me," she ordered.
Kael blinked. "Wha—why?"
"My House does not tolerate strays."
She stepped back, silver eyes narrowing.
"And I do not repeat myself."
With that, she vanished into the haze, moving with quiet grace until the distorted air swallowed her silhouette.
Kael stood alone in the tunnel's silence.
His Devouring Shadow curled around his feet.
"Great," Kael muttered. "Terrifying sword princess tells me to leave. I'm lost. And there's a monster titan outside. Could today get worse?"
The ground trembled.
Kael froze.
"…I had to ask."
Something enormous was crawling toward the tunnel.