Chapter Five
"Everyone ready?" Conner said, his voice low, serious. His expression was colder than stone.
"This won't be anything like the battle with the JK Stars. So don't hold back."
As he spoke, shadows spiraled up his arm like living tendrils, swirling tighter until—poof—they vanished, revealing a sleek, jet-black gun in his grip. The weapon's design was angular and alien, pulsating faintly with violet energy.
But that wasn't enough.
Shadows curled around his head next, forming a crimson-black helmet that molded perfectly over his features. A faint hiss sounded as it locked into place. Conner pressed a symbol on its side, activating the vision sensor. A digital overlay painted the battlefield in gradients of heat and motion—highlighting weak points on the approaching enemies.
Behind him, the squad finished their preparations. Every member had activated weapons, enhancements, or items to boost their abilities. If there was one thing they all knew for certain—it was that this fight wasn't going to be easy.
"Let's move!" Conner commanded.
Pine made the first move.
Red chains of energy wrapped around his forearms, glowing and coiling like serpents. With a sharp twist of his body, Pine hurled the chains forward—striking one of the Red Cosmos directly in the chest. The sheer force hurled it across the chamber like a missile, but Pine knew better than to assume it was down. That strike was just a distraction.
It was the signal.
Right then, Conner raised his gun. With a flick of his wrist, he fired several violet orbs of shadow energy. They spiraled through the air, merging mid-flight into one massive blast that slammed into another Red Cosmo with a concussive boom.
The squad split up into units—six agents per Red Cosmo—coordinating in sync. Pine and one other focused on the Red Cosmo he had struck, working to keep it destabilized.
Conner didn't have time to check on the others.
He had his own problem.
The Red Cosmo Pine had knocked back now stood directly across from him. Its armor was unmarred. Not a scratch on the polished obsidian plating.
That was the worst part about fighting Red Cosmos—their defense was absurd. As a Rank 2 agent, Conner should've been able to handle one of them. Barely. But the combination of their overwhelming strength and near-impenetrable defense made them nightmarish opponents.
"Give up... and die," the Red Cosmo droned, voice hollow and robotic.
"Seriously," Conner muttered, cocking his head. "You've got to stop saying that cheesy line."
With that, he unleashed a flaming punch—his red gauntlet igniting with burning energy. The blow smashed into the Cosmo's helmet, flinging its head back with a sharp metallic clang.
The Cosmo retaliated instantly, its obsidian fist slicing through the air toward Conner's face. He barely dodged, evading by a hair's breadth. Fast. Too fast.
Then he saw it—off to the side—one of his teammates about to be impaled by a glowing red dagger formed from condensed cosmic energy.
Without hesitation, Conner twisted mid-air and fired.
His sleek gun barked out a flurry of purple blasts, slamming into the attacking Cosmo and staggering it just long enough for the agent to escape death.
But that left Conner's back open.
He gritted his teeth as a heavy punch struck his side—courtesy of the Cosmo he was originally fighting. Shadow armor surged just in time to absorb most of the impact, but pain still lanced through his ribs.
He winced.
Still breathing.
Twisting once more, he dodged another strike just in time—this one a massive red beam of energy that carved a smoking line through the chamber floor where he'd just been standing.
Then he jumped.
Shadows wrapped tightly around his body, pulsing with energy—giving him a temporary burst of speed and power.
In mid-air, Conner's flame-red gauntlet blazed to life. He dropped down, slamming it straight into the Red Cosmo's helmet with a crackling explosion. Before the enemy could recover, Conner followed up with two rapid shots to the chest from his gun.
The armor flared under the impact—but still held strong.
A few scorched marks. Nothing more.
He cursed under his breath.
This was going to be a long fight.
Conner gritted his teeth. If this continued, they wouldn't be able to keep using their shadow power—at least, not at this intensity. Their reserves were depleting fast, and the longer the fight dragged on, the more likely it was to spiral into disaster. They had to bring down the Red Cosmo soldier now—before things went from bad to irreversible.
He exhaled sharply, then made a decision. It was going to cost him—but hesitation was death here.
"MVEL, activate Usurper Skill," he commanded.
[Skill Activated: Usurper]
A cold pulse shot through the squad as the AI redistributed a fraction of the enemy's energy to them. Each agent felt the surge—shadows deepening, muscles tightening, senses sharpening. A raw, unnatural power flooded their veins.
The trade-off for Conner, though, was brutal. The strain slammed into his body like a collapsing building. But he endured it. He had to. He wasn't dying here—not yet.
With his stats temporarily boosted and shadows reinforcing his limbs, Conner launched himself forward. He struck the Red Cosmo again—this time, finally cracking the armored plating. But the creature retaliated, releasing a blast of red energy that hurled Conner across the room, slamming him into a wall hard enough to rattle his bones.
Dazed, Conner watched as the Red Cosmo materialized a long crimson blade formed entirely of cosmic energy. It lunged forward—and drove the weapon straight into Conner's chest.
Or so it thought.
The blade passed through... shadow.
In that instant, Conner had morphed his body into thick, swirling darkness. The shadows erupted around the Red Cosmo's legs, binding it just long enough—barely a quarter of a second—but that was all he needed.
His gauntlet was fully charged now.
The heat radiating off it was visible from meters away, a blinding red haze like molten metal under pressure.
Conner lunged—and drove the gauntlet directly into the weakened section of the Red Cosmo's armor.
The detonation wasn't just heat. It was fury—compressed, unrelenting, explosive. The blast tore straight through the creature's torso, blowing it apart in a cascade of red energy and twisted plating. The Red Cosmo crumpled, the red glow of its suit dimming before extinguishing altogether.
Silence.
Conner staggered back, muscles trembling. His chest rose and fell with ragged breaths. Around him, the squad regrouped—bloody, battered, but alive.
They had won.
A faint smile touched his lips—until someone screamed.
"GET OUT OF THE WAY!"
An agent with a shield rushed in front of Conner, raising it just in time as another squadmate yanked him backward.
Then it hit.
A massive wave of red energy crashed into the shield—obliterating it on contact.
The blast didn't stop. It tore through the agent's body and slammed into the giant beside him. Both men collapsed, their bodies smoking, their eyes empty. Gone. Just like that.
Conner's heart stopped. He couldn't breathe.
They were dead. Two squad members—gone. In all his time fighting, he had never lost teammates like this. Not so suddenly. Not so violently.
He looked up—and froze.
Standing amid the smoke was another Red Cosmo soldier—but different. Stronger. Taller. Its aura was overwhelming. Where the others had one red core embedded in their chests, this one had two—pulsing on either side like twin hearts of destruction.
It was no ordinary soldier.
And flanking it on either side, as if summoned by hell itself—six more Red Cosmos. Three per side. Their crimson energy balls glowed menacingly, casting eerie reflections on the dark walls as they stared at the surviving squad like wolves circling wounded prey.
Conner's blood ran cold.
Things hadn't just escalated—they had spiraled far beyond control.
He clenched his fists and muttered under his breath.
"Damn you, Sir Vitraz… You called this an easy mission…"
But what Conner saw before him now—was death itself.
---
To Be Continued...