Kai had seen many shades of the Lawless City: the neon rot of the streets, the pits full of junkies gnawing on the bones of their own kind, the skyscrapers that glowed like infected teeth in a diseased mouth.
But this? This was new.
He and Renn had walked into another world beneath the city. Schools, hospitals, patrols. Children carrying books instead of knives. Old men selling bread baked in makeshift ovens. It was order hiding under madness.
"Funny," Kai muttered, watching a line of kids file into a reinforced concrete schoolhouse. "The only rules in the Lawless City live under its feet."
Renn smirked. "That's Russians for you. Wolves with discipline."
---
Their HQ was a slab of a building reinforced with sandbags, steel, and old propaganda posters plastered to the walls. Inside, the air smelled like gunpowder and vodka, the kind of mix that seeps into the walls and never leaves.
Five people waited in the meeting room:
Colonel Yelena Vostrikov, the leader. A broad-shouldered woman with blonde hair streaked with white, pulled into a severe bun. Her left cheek was ruined by a burn scar that dragged her face into a permanent half-snarl, but her gaze was steady, almost regal. She sat in a decorated officer's coat, medals dulled but heavy with weight. Cigarette smoke curled lazily from her fingers.
At her side stood her second-in-command, lean and sharp-eyed, hands resting on the butt of a pistol he didn't need to touch to make threatening.
At her feet sat a child soldier, maybe twelve, in patched fatigues, polishing a knife with obsessive care. Yelena stroked his hair absently, like he was both son and weapon.
A translator in a threadbare suit shifted nervously, already sweating.
In the corner lurked the seer, thin as a shadow, her eyes cloudy and skin crawling as if something beneath it tried to get out.
Velnix rippled uneasily behind Kai, mist coiling at his shoulders.
---
Yelena spoke in Russian, her voice smooth but carrying the steel weight of command. The translator straightened, then repeated:
"Ahh, the infamous Stray. I must say, you leave everything you touch better than you found it. I respect that."
Kai raised a brow. "Not everyone would call the Red Circle's crater an improvement."
Yelena's scarred lips twitched upward, a parody of a smile. She spoke again, voice rolling like artillery thunder.
The translator swallowed. "She says: 'My seer has something to tell you. But first, you must know—we support your… hobby in the Old Realm. We not only support it. We encourage it.'"
She flicked ash into a tin tray. "Now. The seer."
---
The veiled woman rose, her voice jagged but clear in broken English.
"This is Old Realm Rift Seed." She held up a cracked clay sphere, faint blue veins glowing through it like frozen lightning. The thing pulsed softly in her hands.
"It opens… unstable rift. First—chaos. People scattered. But after one year… seed grows. Rift stabilize. Becomes permanent. Connects here… and Old Realm. Resonants evolve. Stronger."
Kai's stomach dropped. "You're giving that to me?"
The seer's milky eyes flickered. "Yes. Because Concord will take it. They start mission. In that mission… you build something. Cannot see what. Future hidden. But it ties Old Realm to Lawless City. Without—surface rots. With it—stability."
Kai laughed under his breath. "Wait, wait. Build what? You're just throwing riddles at me and handing me a bomb."
Yelena leaned forward, elbows on the desk, scar catching the dim light. Her Russian came low and deliberate, like a knife being drawn.
The translator's voice shook as he delivered her words: "She says: 'Did you not hear, my child? We want stability. Giving you this gives us that. Tools belong in right hands. You are tool. You are hand.'"
Kai's eyes narrowed. "And if I say no?"
The child soldier giggled, whispering sharp Russian. Yelena's scarred smile widened as she stroked his head.
The translator hesitated. "…He says: 'The Stray thinks he has a choice.'"
Renn barked a laugh. "Kid's sharper than most grown men I've met."
The seer shuffled closer, voice cracking like gravel. "You are pivot. You turn world without meaning to. Rift will open, with or without you. With you—it bleeds less."
---
Yelena gestured, and the seer placed the clay seed in Kai's hand. It throbbed faintly against his palm, warm like flesh, heavy like destiny.
[You have received a soul item, Rift seed - old realm]
Kai exhales
...
The colonel exhaled smoke, her ruined face unreadable. The translator gave her words softly this time:
"She says: 'Good. It already accepts you.'"
---
Back at Omen Trading, Kai sat hunched at a battered table. Neon light from the street flickered through the blinds, painting the Rift Seed in bands of red and blue. It pulsed like a second heartbeat in his hand.
Renn poured herself vodka straight from the bottle, grinning like a hyena. "Well, Stray, congratulations. You've got Russians betting their order, Concord betting their future, and a glowing rock that looks like it wants to hatch in your pocket. You're a goddamn magnet for cursed shit."
Kai didn't answer. He just turned the seed over and over, watching the light crawl through its cracks.
And every pulse made him feel less sure it was just a rock.
He stores it in his soul.
-
"Hey Renn, before we head to Zone Alpha for supplies and you drop us off… any chance we can take a prisoner?" Kai asked.
Renn tilted her head, cigarette smoke curling from her lips. "Depends. Who's the poor bastard?"
"The Ghoul. He's the reason I'm even in this cesspit."
Renn's grin died into something serious. "I see. He's not tied to a faction, but he passes through the processing center every day. Eats corpses for fun. Say… fighting him's suicide. He can pull anything he imagines out of his spine—blades, jaws, whatever nightmare pops into his skull. If we're doing this, we do it smart. Tranq him. Wait for him to come through a rift. Hit him fast. He heals like a devil, so don't be afraid to make it messy."
She flicked her ash and started walking. "Okay. Follow me then."
---
The Gun Store
They wove through narrow streets until reaching a squat brick building scrawled with graffiti. A rusty sign over the door read: ZEAL'S ARMORY.
Inside, the walls were a cathedral of steel. Snipers, pistols, shotguns, racks of tools and scopes lined every surface. Kai's eyes widened at the sheer volume.
Behind the counter stood Zeal, a burly man with oil-stained hands, welding goggles perched on his forehead.
"Zeal," Renn greeted, tossing two sleek pistols onto the counter. "Got time to fix my babies? And meet Kai and Mattethis."
Zeal picked up one pistol, squinting. "Renn, you criminal disgrace. These are custom Makarov twins. You treat them like rusty street junk. I should charge you triple just for disrespect."
Renn laughed. "You love me too much."
Kai trailed off, staring at the endless rows of firepower. "Yeah… cool…"
Matt didn't say a word, his eyes scanning the exits instead of the weapons.
--
Their next stop was worse. The cracked neon sign above the clinic made Kai stop dead in the street. His stomach twisted. His hand clamped to his side, phantom pain burning where an organ should have been.
Renn frowned. "Kai? You're white as a sheet. What's wrong?"
His voice came out like gravel. "That bastard… stole my kidney."
Matt whipped his head toward him. "He what? When?"
Kai didn't answer. He just pushed open the door.
The clinic reeked of antiseptic and rot. A thin man in a bloodstained coat looked up from a tray of instruments. His eyes narrowed when they landed on Kai.
"…Oh," the doctor said flatly. "It's you."
Kai stepped closer, every word cold and sharp. "Damn right it's me. You carved me open in that back room and sold my kidney for pocket change."
The doctor's mouth twitched. "You were unconscious. Payment had to come from somewhere."
Matt's jaw tightened. "You robbed him while he was bleeding out?"
Renn crossed her arms, half amused, half disgusted. "Typical. Take the patient's parts, charge them anyway. Real classy."
The doctor cleared his throat. "What do you want?"
"MA88 tranq," Renn said smoothly.
He disappeared into the back and returned with a box of syringes. "Ten doses. Enough to drop a horse. Or a monster."
Renn reached for her wallet, but Kai's hand shot out. "We're not paying for shit."
The doctor stiffened. "Excuse me?"
"You took my kidney," Kai growled. "That box? That's my refund."
For a moment the room went silent. The doctor glanced between Renn and Matt, searching for support. None came. Renn only smirked. Matt looked like he wanted to break his jaw.
The doctor exhaled slowly. "…Fine. Take it. No charge." He hesitated, then muttered, "And… sorry."
Kai stared at him for a long second, then turned and walked out, shoulders rigid.
Matt leaned closer to the doctor before following. "If he wants it back one day, you better pray you've still got two."
---
They ended up in the Gallows Rest, a dive where mercs and gangs swirled like flies around rot. The air stank of sweat, cheap liquor, and desperation. Dice games clattered in the corners, knives flashed over arguments, and the cracked jukebox bled static instead of music.
"This is Gallows Rest," Renn said, shouldering her way to the bar. "Mage and Liva run it. Neutral ground. If you need to find a crew, a gun, or a rumor, it comes through here first." She shot Kai a grin. "Don't rent the rooms unless you like being stabbed in your sleep."
"Yeah, I'm aware," Kai muttered, eyes skimming the brawlers at the tables. "Almost got stabbed for breathing last time."
Behind the bar, Liva leaned on the counter, tattoos running up her arms like barbed wire. She gave Renn a nod. "Back again. Mage is around the corner."
Renn slid onto a stool, snagged a bottle of something clear, and downed a swig before handing it back. "Need his word that we won't get interrupted when we grab the Ghoul. If anyone's stupid enough to try to cash in on the chaos, Mage will shut it down."
Liva smirked. "You're walking into Concord's trash fire with two strays? Ballsy."
"Ballsy pays," Renn shot back. She grabbed the bottle again, then glanced over her shoulder at Kai and Matt with a grin. "That's it. Between Mage's word, Zeal's guns, and the tranqs… we're set. My payment to you—for taking out Red Circle—I'll help you drag down the Ghoul."
The mercs nearby, half-drunk, leaned in to whisper about it. The Ghoul's name turned heads even here.
Kai kept his face blank, but his gut twisted. He could feel the weight of every eye on them.
---
The three of them waited in the processing center, a room heavy with dread. A desk sat at its center, a rift glowing faintly against the back wall. Behind the desk, doors led to torture rooms. To the side, a hatch yawned open toward the pit below.
Kai's eyes lingered on it, gut twisting.
"So they tossed you in there?" Matt asked quietly.
"Yeah. Twenty-two days. Barely crawled out alive."
Renn cut in. "Where's the rift leading today?"
The guard at the desk shrugged. "Zone Beta. Concord's tightened Alpha too much lately."
Kai noticed the suppressor woman wasn't here. A small blessing.
The rift shimmered.
The Ghoul stepped through.
He was worse than memory—skin stretched taut, bones jutting, and that impossible writhing mass at his back, twitching like a nest of serpents eager to strike. His eyes burned hollow with hunger.
Renn didn't hesitate. "Now."
They moved. Kai lunged forward, syringe in hand. But the Ghoul's spine rippled—bone blades erupted outward, one lashing like a spear.
It went straight for Renn.
She tried to duck, too slow. The blade would have skewered her throat—
Velnix exploded into motion. The mist coiled into a ribbed wall of obsidian-black bone, catching the strike mid-thrust. The impact screeched like steel on glass, sparks and shards flying. Renn staggered back, pale, eyes wide.
Kai didn't stop. He slammed the dart into the Ghoul's neck. Matt drove his into the monster's ribs. Renn, recovering, snarled and buried hers deep into his spine.
The Ghoul roared, a sound that rattled the walls, the blades at his back flailing violently—then his limbs buckled. Foam bubbled from his mouth as his body spasmed and collapsed.
The writhing growths dissolved back into nothing, leaving only the twitching husk of a man.
Kai exhaled, heart hammering. "Huh. I thought that would be harder."
Renn pressed a hand to her neck where the blade had nearly gone through. Her laugh came out shaky. "You'd better thank your shadow pet. That would've been the end of me."
Velnix pulsed behind Kai, its ribs flaring once more before folding back into formless mist.
---
Kai grabbed the Ghoul under the arms while Matt lifted his legs. Renn walked behind them, pistol never wavering, her eyes cold in case the monster twitched.
As they carried him through the processing center, the room shifted. People stopped what they were doing. Guards, smugglers, and half-starved workers froze mid-step, eyes fixed on the impossible sight. Whispers rippled through the crowd, growing into a low buzz.
"That's Stray and Shadowborn."
"No way. No one drags the Ghoul like a sack of meat."
"Thought he couldn't be killed."
"He's not dead. Look at him twitch."
A junkie near the wall barked a laugh, wild-eyed. "Holy shit, the pit spawn did it! He actually did it!"
A merc spat on the floor, scowling. "Luck. Has to be. You don't just beat a Concord experiment."
Another voice, sharp and breathless: "First Red Circle, now this? They're either blessed by Sovereign or cursed as devils."
Renn shot them all a warning glare, and the room went quieter, but not silent.
A grizzled smuggler muttered to his partner, just loud enough to carry: "City won't be the same now. Everyone's gonna want a piece of them. Or their heads."
Kai felt the stares burning into his back, heavier than the Ghoul's dead weight. Awe, fear, hatred, and something else — the beginning of legend.
He clenched his jaw and kept walking.
-
At Omen HQ, they dumped the Ghoul into a holding cell. Renn jabbed him with another dart to make sure he stayed down. His twisted spine twitched once, but nothing sprouted.
Alboro entered, silent as always. His gaze swept from the unconscious monster to the three of them. He gave a single nod.
"We are leaving. Now."
No praise. No judgment. Just the next step.
Kai sat back, chest heaving, staring at the monster caged in front of him. The reason he'd fallen into the pit was now chained behind Omen walls. For once, he didn't feel triumph. Just tired.
---
They rolled out fast. The convoy pushed through the Lawless City's rotting streets, whispers chasing them as news spread like wildfire. Stray, Shadowborn, and Renn had dragged down the Ghoul.
When they reached the Russian-controlled airfield, the night air stank of fuel and smoke. Cargo planes hunched under floodlights while crews hauled crates up steel ramps.
As Kai stood watching, lighting one of his endless cigarettes, Renn plucked it right out of his mouth. She drew deep, exhaling with a laugh. "You're going to give me as many as I can hold, Stray. Cigarettes cost more than bullets here."
Kai grunted but didn't argue. He lit another.
The loading began. Not weapons this time, but contraband that mattered: bundles of medical supplies, crates of dried herbs, sealed bags of weed wrapped in black plastic. Things the clans in Zone Alpha would pay through the nose for. Things they needed to keep their fractured territories stable.
Renn slapped the side of a crate as it was rolled up the ramp. "Four customers waiting in Alpha. You'd better believe they'll line up quick."
Matt adjusted the chains on the Ghoul's reinforced cage. The monster twitched but stayed under, locked down by the MA88 cocktail running through his veins.
Alboro barked a command. The Russians shouted back, engines roaring awake. The plane rattled, heavy with smoke, sedatives, and deals that would ripple across zones.
Kai strapped in, staring out a tiny porthole as the Lawless City shrank beneath them—neon and ruin dwindling into a smear of light.
He exhaled slow, weary smoke curling in the air.
And just like that, we left the Lawless City. As legends.