I looked up.
The sky above the block shimmered like torn velvet. Buildings warped at the edges. A hovering hexagonal ripple tore open between the clouds, the Rift finally blooming in.
I moved through the rubble, eyes sharp, instincts louder.
Then I saw her.
A woman, early thirties, trapped under the bend of a leaning wall structure. A massive chunk of concrete teetered above her like divine judgment.
She didn't scream. She was too frozen to.
I leapt. Fast. Too fast. Plasma surged down my arm as I unsheathed my katana in one fluent spin. The blade hissed blue flames dancing along its edge like lightning shaped into a whisper.
Slash.
The rubble split clean.
I landed beside her. She stared. Gasped.
"you alright, yh, then get out of here, go." I said in an almost sarcastic tone, wondering why she hadn't evacuated in the first place.
She didn't need to be told twice.
People tend to stay behind in the area during evacuations to get things they forget or pack more stuff, forgetting their lives are way more valuable than those stuff .They can count themselves lucky to have been guided out under protection, to not have to struggle to survive the horrors of a rift.
The minute she ran…
A whisper slid behind me.
"Found you."
I turned.
It was tall,very tall. Skinless muscle structure wrapped around a semi-humanoid frame, glowing red arteries pulsating beneath transparent flesh. Its skull resembled something human... if the human had been left to burn alive and rebuilt in hatred. Its voice was like four people speaking at once.
I didn't speak.
I couldn't.
My hands tightened around the hilt.
Its eyes glowed with intelligence — an Echoe?? Worse… an Aberrant.
And it smiled.
Then it lunged.
The aberrant lunged at me, no roar, no warning, just a blur of purple mass slicing through the wind.
I raised my blade, and steel met claw with a screech so violent it sent sparks across the cracked pavement. The force sent me skidding backward, boots dragging trenches into the dirt, hood fluttering behind me like a wounded flag. I exhaled slowly, letting the silence stretch as the creature rose from its crouch, saliva bubbling between jagged teeth.
Tall, hunched, and snarling, its obsidian skin gleamed under the fractured light like cooling magma. Its arms were disproportionately long, ending in claws that jittered, eager to carve. Twin yellow lights blinked in place of eyes, and a third eye pulsed in the center of its brow.
"Jazz," I muttered.
"Low-tier aberrant," the AI answered in my ear. "Possibly evolved from an Echoe. Intelligence: minimal. Caution: moderate. Cool factor: 3 out of 10."
I planted my sword into the earth beside me with a satisfying smirk.
"Won't be needing this then."
A soft blue glow emerged across my glove as heat curled from my fists, The air around me shimmered.
"Evolved, sure… but not by much."
The aberrant's head twitched to the side.
"Grrrrgh—blasphemous pest!" it hissed, voice like a broken garbage disposal trying to speak Latin.
I rotated my shoulders.
"Oh, it talks. A lot less dumb than I thought." I taunted a smile tugging at my masked lips.
It let out a guttural scream that shook the ground, and I just stood there, hood flapping behind me like the calm before a monsoon.
We moved at the same time.
Its claws whistled past my cheek. I dipped low, countered with a right hook engulfed in blue fire. It staggered, shrieked. My left fist caught its chin, followed by a swift spinning kick to its ribs. It retaliated with a burst of reddish energy, firing orbs from its palms. I weaved through them, one singed my sleeve, another grazed my mask.
After exchanging a few more blows I decided to make things a lot more interesting.
"Jazz," I called, panting lightly, "Can I raise the heat?"
"No humans within a hundred-meter radius. You're good to cook, chef."
I let the flames dim. The aberrant blinked, confused. It took a step toward me.
Then paused.
Steam hissed from its skin.
"It's not the flames that'll kill you," I muttered. "It's the temperature."
The creature writhed. Its flesh blistered, bubbled… and then began to melt. Sludge pooled around its twitching feet. Its shrieks became gurgles. Moments later, all that remained was a whiff of gas and a puddle evaporating into steam.
I didn't even pick up my blade.
"And they call me defective."
"Incoming call," Jazz chirped.
"Put it through."
"Yo."
Willy's voice came through, casual as ever.
"How's the fam? Everyone good?"
"Yeah," I replied. "Toured the place. All the usual drama."
Just then, I spotted a movement beyond the adjacent wall figures moving erratically. Black tactical uniforms, bodies lit by symbiont and aeon aura flares.
"Jazz, zoom in. Who's that?"
"Luce Nera Operatives. Engaged with multiple Class 1 aberrants."
I vanished into a streak of lightning.
I dropped in behind the operatives, making sure I moved quicker than the eye could match, blue plasma igniting around my fists mid-air. One aberrant lunged at a soldier—I intercepted it mid-pounce, sending it crashing into a wall. Dust exploded. The operatives turned, wondering what had happened. I dipped into another sprint, body dashing across the battlefield like a dying star.
Back on the call
"Yo," Willy grunted. "why You panting, bro? You got the huzz over?"
> "Yup."
"Whatever you do, use pro—"
I hung up.
The quake hit like a bomb.
The sky shivered. The air folded.
A titan stomped into view, its body a grotesque patchwork of steel and sinew. Fourteen feet tall, horned, with jagged armor-like skin glowing red in the cracks.
It roared, and two operatives were reduced to jelly under its feet. Blood misted the air. Screams followed.
I sprinted in, lightning trailing my heels. One soldier, a woman with a crimson streak through her helmet was seconds from being bisected. I tackled her aside just as the titan's spiked limb slammed into the ground where she'd stood.
"You okay?"
She blinked at me.
"Who—never mind. Thanks."
She lit up her level 2 crest, a radiant green. Her boots glowed, aura swelling.
"Let's take this thing down!"
She surged ahead, I had a gut feeling.
"Jazz!" I shouted. "Read me that titan again!"
"Level 3 sir. She's not gonna make it."
"Wait!"
Too late.
She reached the titan's knee, and was immediately backhanded into a metal wall, leaving a crater and zero pulse.
"...Damn."
The titan turned to me. I raised my fists, ready to go full nuclear. We exchanged blows, I danced around its swings, hit plasma-laced jabs at its weak points.
But I was losing steam.
One misstep, and I was slammed through a street lamp, skidding across the ground and bleeding from my temple.
"Jazz! Can I take this thing?"
"Yes. With your blade or if you just.... ."
> "...Crap."
I looked to where I'd left it earlier.
A glimmer of hope.
I dashed, only to be snatched mid-run and hurled through a glass wall, the impact cracking my ribs.
The titan stomped toward me, one foot already rising for the kill.
"fuck," I whispered.
Shiiing—
The titan froze.
Then…
Its head slid clean off.
It rolled past me like a kicked pumpkin. The body crashed backward, shaking the street.