Thomas locked eyes with one of the Fades. Its skin was greenish, stretched over bulging muscles. Large eyes sat above a wide nose, and two tusks jutted up from its lower jaw. Saliva dripped from its crooked teeth as it stared at them. Standing close to seven feet tall, it looked like something straight out of the fantasy movies, comics, and games they used to watch.
An orc.
Thomas could hardly believe he was seeing one in real life.
Not far from it stood another. This one was smaller, its skin a pale green with pointed ears that stuck out sharply. Its body was leaner, its posture restless, but its gaze was just as fixed on the truck.
A goblin.
Both of them carried weapons of sorts. The orc gripped a steel pipe torn from a stop sign, the round plate still hanging from the end. The goblin held a chunk of broken cement in its hands, ready to throw.
"What should we do?" Nevin asked nervously from the back seat, his voice shaking.
"Should we just go back? I doubt these two could ever chase down our hammer," Bryan said with confidence.
Thomas stayed quiet, thinking. Yes, they could simply reverse and retreat. But were they planning to run every time a Fade blocked their path? If that was the plan, how far could they really travel through the fog?
He made his choice. Thomas pushed open the door on his side.
The moment his foot touched the ground, the goblin hurled the chunk of cement it had been holding.
"WHHHST!"
Thomas snatched it from the air with one hand. "Hmph." His expression showed clear disdain for such a cheap move.
"Thomas, what are you doing?!" Bryan's voice rose in panic as he saw his friend step outside the safety of the truck. The goblin's stones couldn't even scratch the hammer's armor, but out there Thomas was vulnerable.
"If I'm at a disadvantage later, just drive away. I'll fight them." Thomas's tone was firm, his decision already made.
"Okay," Bryan answered. He wasn't planning to leave Thomas behind, but he also knew better than to argue. In the rare times Thomas was this serious, there was no stopping him.
And Bryan understood the reasoning too. The fog was crawling with Fades. They had to learn now whether they stood a fighting chance in this journey.
Thomas closed the door, stepped forward three paces, and walked straight into the fog without hesitation.
The moment Thomas crossed the line, a sharp crack echoed from his body. The sound spread in rapid succession, like bones shifting and stone grinding against itself.
His frame began to expand. Muscles swelled, stretching against his skin until it reshaped into something darker and harder, like stone.
He was transforming.
In seconds, he stood nearly nine feet tall. His body was packed with heavy muscle beneath dark gray, rock-like skin. Purple rune lines glowed faintly across his body, winding like markings, while pink runes pushed outward from his flesh like raised scars. His ears lengthened into sharp points, each pierced with earrings that caught the light. His jaw set, fangs jutting past his lips even when closed. From his forehead, two thick horns rose upward, framing the bright red glow of his eyes.
A faint shimmer crossed his vision, and a message appeared in the lower corner of his sight.
"Runebound Oni, welcome to the Interface."
Somewhere far from Earth.
"Alert. Alert. A Class S power has been detected," a robotic voice rang out from a massive monitor.
"Someone transformed into Class S? Put it on the screen!" A man in robes leaned forward, eyes fixed on the display. The monitor flickered, then shifted to show Thomas mid transformation.
"Wait… isn't this the guy we put on the watchlist? I thought we'd never see him again. Hah!" The man laughed as he watched the scene unfold.
"His transformation is powerful. Look at that. I still got it. I knew this one was special." His tone turned almost gleeful. "System, recalibrate the difficulty to match his strength. I think we've found our hero."
"Are you certain?" the robotic voice asked. "We are already in the third month of Earth's time, and this is his first fog encounter."
"Yes, I'm certain. A Class S this early is a clear sign."
"We currently have three Class S individuals. He will be the fourth. Do you truly wish to proceed?" the system pressed again.
"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing. I wasn't wrong putting him on the high priority watchlist, and now this happens? It is a sign from the heavens."
"Affirmative. Adjusting fog power... Delaying the awakening of powerful beings... Calibration complete."
The robotic voice hummed once more. "I don't think the Chief is watching."
"Who knows? No one can enter the Ninth Heavens anyway." The man waved the thought aside. "Forget that. We should celebrate. We've found our hero."
He suddenly stood and raised his arms as if to dance. The robe that had covered him slipped from his shoulders, revealing glowing skin underneath.
But the glow was not what stood out. Across his body, multiple eyes opened and shifted, each glimmering with an unnatural light.
If Thomas could see this place, he would recognize him instantly. The same figure who had haunted his bangungot.
Argus. That was the man's name.
Back on Earth, Bryan could not believe what he was seeing. Hadn't the scientist said transformations took time? One or two days at least, with the body changing part by part?
Yet Thomas had transformed in an instant.
Bryan scrambled into the driver's seat. If Thomas lost his mind, they would be his first targets.
"Thomas…" he called out cautiously.
"Do you… do you still know who I am? Are you… you?" Bryan asked, hands tense on the wheel. His voice carried nervousness, but also a trace of sadness.
Thomas did not respond.
"Thomas?" Bryan tried again. Nothing.
"Thomas! Thomas Aike!" Bryan shouted.
Thomas jolted, as if snapped out of a daze. "Oh. Sorry, I was just thinking about something," he said in a deep, rumbling voice. He had noticed the prompt earlier but ignored it, letting it fade. His body still felt strange, every muscle heavy with change.
Bryan pressed again. "Do you know who I am? Do you know where you are?"
"Yes, Bryan. Don't worry," Thomas answered calmly. "Let me just deal with these Fades." He cracked his knuckles like he was about to start a regular fight and stepped forward.
Bryan hesitated, eyes wide, then let out a shaky breath. "I swear, if you turn into some meat-eating gorilla halfway through… we're running."
Thomas smirked faintly, took two steps forward, then stopped.
The orc was no longer holding a stop sign. In its hands was a massive double-bladed axe.
Thomas turned his gaze to the goblin farther back. The cement chunk was gone. Now it gripped a large knife.
"Did you just… upgrade? Since when do you carry real weapons?" Thomas muttered, half trying to joke, half testing if the Fades understood.
But there was no response.
The orc roared, its voice shaking the air, and charged. The ground trembled under its heavy steps.
In an instant, the orc was only an arm's length away from Thomas.
It swung its axe down with both hands, aiming straight at him. Thomas slipped to the right, the blade slamming into the street with a thunderous crack. The cement split apart like brittle glass, chunks of pavement spraying into the air.
Thomas frowned. "Are you trying to kill me?!"
Before the orc could wrench its weapon free, Thomas moved.
His left arm swung in a full backhand toward the orc's head. The creature bent low, dodging at the last moment.
A near miss. The orc snarled, proud of itself for escaping the blow.
But when it looked back, a boulder was already flying at its face.
The swing had not stopped. Thomas had grabbed a chunk of debris from the shattered road, a slab the size of a microwave. With the same motion, he brought his arm back around and launched it.
The orc twisted to the side, trying to avoid it. But as soon as its head moved, it met Thomas's waiting fist.
A right hook, full force, straight to the face.
CRACK.
The punch landed faster than anything its size should have been able to deliver. The orc had no time to react. The blow hit dead center.
The sound was like a melon smashing against a wall.
Its head burst into pink mist. Bone fragments, teeth, and scraps of flesh scattered across the broken street.
A pink fragment clinked as it hit the ground, bouncing once before Thomas scooped it up and tossed it into his mouth without hesitation.
"Tastes the same. Crunchy," he muttered, wiping his hand on his pants.
He glanced toward the goblin, expecting it to strike, but something else moved first.
A new Fade swooped down from above, diving straight at him.
The goblin lunged in at the same time, knife in hand, dashing toward Thomas with a shrill cry.