Rain hammered the streets of Raccoon City, relentless and unforgiving, each drop striking the pavement with a sharp, hollow rhythm that echoed through the empty block. Water pooled along the cracked asphalt, running in thin streams toward clogged gutters as distant thunder rolled low across the sky.
A streetlight above flickered.
On.
Off.
On—
The dim orange glow cast broken shadows across the street, illuminating the aftermath of violence.
Smoke curled from the barrel of a Desert Eagle, thin and ghost-like as it twisted into the cold air. The scent of burnt powder lingered, mixing with rain and something darker—something metallic.
Soren stood still beneath the storm, the weapon steady in his hand.
Across from him—
Nemesis.
Where its arm had once been, there was now nothing but torn flesh and exposed mass, the limb completely obliterated. Steam rose from the wound as rain struck it, hissing softly.
For a moment—
Everything was still.
Then—
Jill dropped.
Her body hit the pavement hard, air tearing back into her lungs in a violent gasp—
—and Soren moved.
Not toward her.
Past her.
Straight at it.
The monster turned.
Too slow.
Soren's shoulder slammed into Nemesis's torso with explosive force.
BOOM—
The impact cracked through the street like a car collision. Nemesis didn't go flying—but it moved. Its massive frame skidded backward across the wet pavement, boots grinding against concrete as it was forced back nearly eight feet.
Water sprayed in every direction.
Soren didn't stop.
He followed through, planting his foot and driving forward again—
But Nemesis adapted.
Fast.
The ruined stump where its arm had been—
Moved.
Twitched.
Then—
It exploded outward.
Flesh split open with a wet, tearing sound as multiple thick, black tendrils burst free, writhing violently like a nest of serpents. They snapped outward with terrifying speed—
Straight at Soren.
His eyes sharpened.
Too many.
Too fast.
The Desert Eagle dropped from his hand.
Clatter—
Both blades were in his hands a heartbeat later.
SHHK—SHHK—
Steel flashed.
The first tendril lashed toward his throat—
Soren pivoted.
Slash—
It split clean in half.
Another came from below—
He twisted, bringing the second blade down—
CRACK—
Severed.
But more followed.
Three.
Five.
Ten.
They didn't stop.
They adapted.
They came from every angle—high, low, blindside—forcing Soren back step by step as the street around him filled with snapping, whipping tendrils that tore through rain and air alike.
He moved through them.
Fast.
Precise.
Blades cutting arcs of silver through the storm as each strike severed another piece of living flesh.
But they kept coming.
Not too many to overwhelm him—
—but enough to stall him.
And that was all Nemesis needed.
The creature surged forward.
Its remaining arm swung.
Soren barely brought his blade up in time—
CLANG—
The impact sent a shockwave through his arms, forcing him back a full step as the force traveled through his body.
Heavy.
Stronger than before.
Soren's jaw tightened.
"…Of course you are."
The tendrils retracted.
Collapsed.
Then surged again—but this time, they didn't spread.
They focused.
All of them.
On him.
Soren stepped forward instead of back.
His body leaned in—
And something shifted.
Heat.
It built under his skin.
Fast.
Too fast.
Steam began to rise from his shoulders, mixing with the rain as his breathing slowed—not from exhaustion—
From control.
Or the loss of it.
His grip tightened on the blades.
"Alright…" he muttered under his breath.
Then he vanished.
To anyone watching, Soren disappeared into the storm.
To Nemesis—
He became a blur.
SHHK—
A deep gash tore across its chest.
SHHK—
Another cut carved into its side.
SHHK—SHHK—
The blades struck again and again, faster now, harder, each movement more aggressive than the last. The precision was still there—but it was slipping, replaced by something more brutal.
More direct.
Nemesis staggered.
Not from pain—
But from the sheer force driving into it.
Soren didn't stop.
Didn't slow.
He drove in closer, blades crossing—
X—
CRACK—
One slammed into Nemesis's exposed tissue, splitting it open as the other carved upward—
The monster reeled back.
For the first time—
It gave ground.
Soren stepped through the opening—
And drove both blades forward—
THUNK—
Deep.
Buried into its torso.
The creature let out a low, distorted roar.
"STAAAARS—!"
Then—
Everything changed.
Its head snapped—
Not at Soren.
Past him.
Toward the ground.
Toward—
Jill.
Soren's eyes widened slightly.
"…No."
Nemesis moved.
Not retreating.
Not stumbling.
Ignoring him.
It lunged.
Straight for her.
Fast.
Too fast.
Soren ripped the blades free and turned—
—but he was a fraction too late.
Nemesis closed the distance in a single step, its massive hand reaching down toward Jill's still-recovering body—
And Soren moved.
Not to attack.
To intercept.
He stepped between them.
The hit came instantly.
A backhand—
CRACK—
It caught him across the side, sending him skidding across the pavement as his body slammed into the ground, tearing through water and debris before stopping several feet away.
His vision blurred for a split second.
But he forced himself up.
Too fast.
Too hard.
The heat spiked.
His breathing hitched—
Steam rising thicker now.
Unstable.
Nemesis didn't hesitate.
It grabbed Jill again—
Lifting her—
Crushing—
Soren's head snapped up.
And something inside him—
Broke.
His pupils constricted instantly, collapsing into thin, reptilian slits as the color behind them ignited—no longer muted, no longer dim. A deep, burning orange flared to life, glowing through the rain like embers dragged from a furnace.
Then the cracks came.
Dark veins spread from the corners of his eyes, thin at first—then branching outward, crawling across his skin like fractures in glass. They pulsed faintly beneath the surface, carrying heat, carrying something alive.
Steam began to rise.
Not subtle.
Not hidden.
It poured off him in thick waves as the rain struck his skin and hissed away, his body temperature spiking violently in seconds.
His breathing changed.
Slower.
Heavier.
Wrong.
Soren pushed himself up—
—but not like before.
His back hunched slightly, shoulders rolling forward as if something inside him was pulling tight. His arms hung loose at his sides, fingers twitching once… twice…
Then still.
The blades slipped from his grip.
Clatter.
Clatter.
They hit the ground behind him.
He didn't look at them.
Didn't need them.
For a single second—
He stood there.
Head tilted slightly downward.
Steam pouring off him.
Eyes burning through the rain.
Then—
He vanished.
Then—
He was there.
Not in front of Nemesis.
Inside its reach.
A hand shot up and clamped down on the creature's wrist—the one crushing Jill's head.
The force still came down.
Hard.
Too hard.
The pavement beneath Soren's boots cracked instantly as the pressure drove through him, rainwater bursting from the fractures.
But he held.
Steam poured off his body in violent waves, the rain hissing into vapor against his skin. The glow in his eyes burned brighter, those dark vein-like cracks spreading from the corners as his grip tightened.
Then—
He tore.
RIP—
Nemesis's hand came off at the wrist in a violent spray of black blood and shredded flesh.
Jill dropped.
Not far.
Not thrown.
Just released.
Soren's other arm snapped around her waist the instant she fell, ripping her clear of the collapsing grip and flinging her behind him in one clean motion. Not hard enough to hurt her—just enough to get her out of reach.
Then he turned back.
And Nemesis had exactly one second to understand what it had just done.
Soren hit it like a missile.
BOOM—
His shoulder drove into the monster's torso with enough force to fold its upper body inward. Nemesis didn't just stumble—it came off its feet and crashed into the street, concrete exploding beneath its back.
Soren was already on top of it.
No pause.
No technique.
No mercy.
His fist came down—
CRACK—
Nemesis's head snapped sideways.
Again—
CRACK—
Bone and plating gave under the blow.
Again—
CRACK—
The pavement beneath the creature cratered deeper as Soren hammered it down into the street.
Nemesis tried to move.
Too slow.
Tendrils burst from the ruined wrist stump—
Soren caught one.
Yanked.
SNAP—
The entire tendril tore free in his hand.
Another lashed toward his throat.
He didn't dodge.
His hand shot out and seized it midair, then ripped backward with such force that the flesh at the stump tore open wider.
RIP—
Black blood sprayed across the rain-slick pavement.
Nemesis roared.
Soren answered with something worse—a low, guttural sound that barely sounded human.
He grabbed the creature by the upper torso and hauled it halfway up—
Then drove it back down.
BOOM—
The street gave way beneath the impact.
Water erupted outward.
Concrete split.
Nemesis's body bounced once—
And Soren's hands were already inside it.
Not metaphorically.
Inside.
His fingers punched through torn flesh and forced between mutated ribs, finding purchase beneath armor-like tissue.
Then he pulled.
SNAP—RIP—
Its chest opened under raw force, ribs bent outward, reinforced structure cracking apart like weakened steel. The exposed mass beneath spasmed violently, regeneration trying to catch up—
Too late.
Soren drove one hand straight into the center of it.
THUNK—
Buried to the forearm.
Gripped.
Then ripped it out.
A pulsing chunk of dark, vital mass came free in his hand before he flung it aside without looking.
Nemesis convulsed.
Its body jerked once.
Then again.
Still trying to move.
Still trying to adapt.
Soren didn't let it.
He grabbed its head with both hands, fingers digging into ruined bone and slick flesh.
Then twisted.
CRACK—
The sound was wet.
Final.
The body bucked once, then went limp.
Soren still wasn't done.
He rose slightly, steam pouring off him in thick sheets, then brought both hands down one last time and drove the remains of Nemesis into the pavement with a force that shattered the street beneath it.
BOOM—
When the rain settled again, the monster was barely recognizable—half-buried in a crater of broken asphalt, twisted flesh, and black blood.
No movement.
No regeneration.
Nothing.
Just ruined biomass.
Soren remained crouched over it for a moment, shoulders hunched, chest rising and falling in slow, heavy pulls. Steam rolled off him so thick the rain vanished on contact.
Then—
His head turned.
Toward Jill.
< Jill POV >
Jill hit the pavement hard, air finally forcing its way back into her lungs in a ragged gasp. Her vision swam for a second, the world tilting as sound rushed back in—the rain, the crack of broken concrete, something heavy slamming into the street.
Then she saw him.
Soren.
He wasn't fighting.
He was tearing it apart.
Her eyes locked onto him, and for a moment—
Time slipped.
The rain.
The street.
The monster.
All of it faded behind something else.
The helipad.
Two months ago.
That night.
The Tyrant.
And Soren standing in front of it, soaked in rain and blood, his eyes burning with that same unnatural light, that same look—like something inside him had stepped forward and everything else had been pushed aside.
It was the same.
Exactly the same.
Her chest tightened.
"…Why?" she whispered under her breath.
Not fear.
Never fear.
Worry.
"What is happening to you…?"
Soren moved again.
And she couldn't follow it.
One second he was there—over the broken remains of Nemesis—
The next—
He wasn't.
The distance between them simply… vanished.
The creature's body jerked under impacts she couldn't even track, each hit landing with bone-shattering force as if space itself was collapsing around him.
Jill pushed herself up slightly, eyes locked on him, trying to understand what she was seeing.
Trying to understand him.
Then—
Something changed.
A sound cut through the rain.
Sharp.
Controlled.
Not part of the fight.
Her instincts screamed.
Gunfire—
No.
Different.
Softer.
Compressed.
Five shots.
Fast.
From somewhere behind them.
Soren reacted instantly.
His head snapped toward the sound—
And he moved.
Not away.
Into it.
The first dart tore through the space where his head had been a fraction of a second earlier.
The second missed his shoulder as he twisted—
The third—
He slipped past it completely, his body shifting with unnatural speed, each movement just ahead of impact.
Three misses.
Then—
The fourth hit.
THUNK—
It buried into his side.
The fifth followed—
THUNK—
Driving into his upper back.
Soren staggered.
Just slightly.
But Jill saw it.
Her heart dropped.
"…Soren?"
Steam surged violently off his body now, thicker, heavier, his movements no longer clean—even in that broken, chaotic way. Something in his posture shifted, balance slipping for just a moment as the effects hit him.
Then—
Tires screamed against wet pavement.
An armored vehicle tore into view, sliding hard as it came to a stop near the edge of the street.
Doors flew open.
Umbrella Security Service.
Seven of them.
Fully kitted.
Precision.
Timing.
They had been waiting.
Six moved toward Soren.
One turned—
Toward her.
Jill's breath caught.
And then everything snapped back into motion.
Soren moved.
And this time—
Jill saw it.
Not clearly. Not fully. But enough.
A moment ago, he hadn't been there at all—just gone, like the space between him and his target didn't exist. Now she could track it. The shift. The displacement. The movement between one point and another.
That was bad.
Her chest tightened.
Something was changing.
Soren closed the distance to the six operatives in an instant, his body snapping forward with violent intent.
The first USS operative barely had time to react.
Soren's hand shot out—
Clamped around his throat—
And lifted him clean off the ground.
The other five spun immediately, weapons already raised—
Compressed shots cracked through the rain.
Soren didn't dodge.
He didn't move.
He turned.
Used the man in his grip as a shield.
THUNK—THUNK—THUNK—
The darts buried into the operative's back as his body jerked under the impact.
Then—
CRUNCH—
Soren's fingers tightened.
The man's neck collapsed in on itself with a sickening sound.
Dead.
Soren didn't even look at him.
He threw the body.
Like it weighed nothing.
The corpse slammed into two of the remaining operatives, knocking them off balance as they crashed to the pavement.
The other three scrambled—hands moving,
Reloading.
Too slow.
Far too slow.
Soren was already on them.
His fist drove forward—
THUNK—
It punched straight through one operative's chest, tearing through armor, flesh, and bone like it wasn't there.
He pivoted—
Fast.
Violent.
The back of his hand came around—
CRACK—
The second operative's head snapped clean off his shoulders, spinning away into the rain as the body collapsed where it stood.
The last one—
The last one managed to fire.
THUNK—
The dart buried into Soren's abdomen.
He didn't stop.
Didn't flinch.
Didn't even slow.
He kept walking.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Terrifying.
The operative froze for half a second—
That was all it took.
Soren's hand came up—
Gripped the top of his head—
Then crushed.
CRACK—
Bone gave way instantly, skull collapsing under the pressure as blood and brain matter splattered across the wet pavement.
Behind them, the operative moving toward Jill turned at the sound, just in time to see the two that had been knocked down push themselves back up.
They moved fast.
Dropped the dart guns.
Switched weapons.
Real ones.
Raised—
Fired.
BANG—BANG—
Two shots.
Both hit.
Soren's body jerked under the impact.
And Jill—
Didn't think.
A scream tore out of her before she even realized it.
"NOOO!"
Her body moved.
She drove her foot forward—
CRACK—
A kick to the back of the operative's knee beside her, forcing it to buckle as he dropped.
Her hand was already moving.
Gun up—
One shot—
BANG—
The operative on the ground went still.
She pivoted—
Two more shots—
BANG—BANG—
Clean.
Precise.
The two who had just fired snapped backward as the rounds tore through their heads, their bodies collapsing almost instantly.
Silence fell.
Heavy.
Broken only by the rain.
Jill pushed herself fully to her feet, breath uneven, gun still raised for a second before it lowered slightly.
Her eyes locked onto him.
"Soren…?"
Her voice was quieter now.
Careful.
Gentle.
Like she was afraid of the answer.
Jill took a step forward.
Then another.
Soren didn't move.
Didn't turn.
Steam poured off him in thick, heavy waves, the rain hissing as it touched his skin, vanishing into the air.
He just stood there.
Still.
Then—
He swayed.
A small shift at first.
Then more.
His body gave—
Dropping down onto one knee.
Jill's heart skipped.
Shit…
She rushed forward.
"Soren—!"
By the time she reached him, he hadn't fallen completely—but he wasn't holding himself up either.
His head turned slightly.
His eyes found hers.
And for a moment—
He looked terrifying.
Those glowing, burning eyes… the dark cracks stretching from the corners… that empty, predatory look—
Gone.
Just like that.
It vanished.
Replaced by something else.
Something human.
His eyes started to close.
His body slumped.
Jill moved instantly, dropping down and catching him before he hit the ground.
"I got you— I got you…"
Her hands tightened around him, pulling him in, steadying his weight as best as she could.
He was hot.
Not burning—
But close.
Heat radiated off him in waves, his body still steaming under the rain, like something inside him hadn't cooled down yet.
Jill swallowed hard, panic rising fast in her chest.
What do I do?
Her mind raced.
Where do we go?
Her eyes darted around the street, searching, thinking—
My apartment?
No.
Her jaw tightened.
They'll come for us.
They already had.
Umbrella wasn't guessing anymore.
They knew.
Her breathing picked up slightly, thoughts spiraling—
Then where—
And then it hit.
The bunker.
Her grip on him tightened.
"I got to get you back…" she muttered under her breath, more to herself than to him. "I got to get you to the bunker…"
She looked around again.
No car.
No help.
Just rain.
And him.
Heavy.
Too heavy to carry outright.
No other choice.
Jill shifted her position, bracing herself as she ducked under his right arm, pulling it over her shoulder. Her arm wrapped tightly around his waist, anchoring him as she forced herself to lift.
"Come on… come on…"
He moved.
Barely.
But enough.
His body responded just enough to help her get him upright.
That was all she needed.
Jill took a step forward.
Then another.
Slow.
Unsteady.
But moving.
Her eyes lifted toward the street ahead.
Kendo's gun shop.
Closest point.
Closest chance.
"Just a little further…" she muttered, tightening her grip as she dragged him along.