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Chapter 24 - Free From The Fog

Thomas was shot and bleeding, but he kept rushing forward, each step heavier but unstoppable.

 

"You… you!" Fred's voice cracked. He had no words left.

 

Thomas grabbed him by the collar and dragged him to the second-floor balcony. Without hesitation, he hurled Fred over the railing. The man's scream cut off as his body hit the ground below.

 

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Gunfire rattled from outside the room, bullets tearing at the door. Splinters flew, but none of them were hit.

 

Thomas ignored it. His eyes locked on the meteor fragment resting on the balcony. He stepped closer, wrapped both arms around it, and let out a deep roar. Muscles strained, veins bulged, and with a violent pull he tore it free from its spot. Lifting it high above his head, he raised the massive shard as if it weighed nothing.

 

Then he threw it.

 

The fragment crashed onto the street below, slamming into the pavement with brutal force. It bounced, tumbled, then skidded to a stop.

 

CRASH!

The impact split the fragment apart, breaking it into dozens of jagged pieces that scattered across the street like shards of black glass.

 

And then the impossible happened.

 

The Safe Zone's barrier flickered.

 

Then it shattered.

 

The Pink Fog rushed in, pouring over the compound like a flood.

 

Thomas's body warped in response. His skin darkened, his horns pushed through his forehead, and his wounds sealed shut before their eyes. The bullet holes closed, and the deformed rounds popped out of his body, clattering onto the floor as the flesh knitted together. In seconds, the damage was gone.

 

Outside the room, the guards tried firing again. Click, click. Their rifles jammed in their hands. Confused shouts rose, but they didn't last long.

 

Thomas stepped back into the room and shoved the door open. The two guards who had been trying to force their way inside froze. They didn't even have time to scream. Thomas's fist caved in one man's skull on impact. The second tried to run, but Thomas caught him by the neck, slammed him into the wall, and snapped his spine.

 

"Stay here," Thomas said, his deep, guttural voice rumbling in the room.

 

Bryan and Iris exchanged a glance. Neither argued. There was nothing they could do.

 

Below, Thomas hunted the guards one by one. Families scattered in every direction, their screams mixing with the sound of rushing footsteps. With the barrier gone and the fog rolling in, the Safe Zone was finished. Chaos swallowed the compound.

 

Thomas felt nothing for them. These were the same people who ignored the old man, who only took and never gave back. He had no sympathy to spare.

 

As he stepped out of the big house, his eyes caught Fred crawling on the ground. The man clutched his back, face twisted in pain. The fall had wrecked him, his leg bent wrong, useless.

 

Thomas moved toward him, slow and deliberate.

 

Fred's eyes widened. He dragged himself backward, his voice cracking. "Hey… hey, let's talk about this, okay?"

 

He coughed, trembling as he tried again. "I didn't like what I did, but they forced me. They would've killed me if I refused. Making me a member was just an excuse. Hunt them, not me. Spare me. Please… please."

 

But his words didn't reach Thomas. All Thomas could see was the old man falling, blood spraying across the floor. His mind went back to his grandfather. Was he safe? Was anyone treating him right? Or would he meet someone like Fred? The thought burned hotter than the bullets that had hit him earlier.

 

Fred was still begging when Thomas closed the last steps between them. He raised his right foot high and brought it down on Fred's chest.

 

"N-no! No, nooo..."

 

CRACK. Fred's ribs snapped under the weight. Thomas pressed harder. The bones gave way one by one until his chest caved in. Fred's screams turned to wet gurgles, then nothing, as his heart was crushed under the pressure.

 

Thomas didn't flinch. Fred wasn't a man in his eyes, only another monster born of the fog.

He pulled his foot back and scanned the chaos around him. Rage still boiled inside. He didn't stop at Fred. He kept moving, hunting down the others. Two more guards fell under his hands, broken and lifeless.

 

Suddenly, two Glints emerged from the fog, walking toward Thomas. He didn't recognize them at first, but their presence made him tense. Both radiated power.

 

The first was a Celestial Winged Tiger. Its white fur was marked with black stripes, and a pair of angelic wings stretched wide from its back, feathers pure and bright. Its blue eyes glowed with a calm, majestic light, and a faint shimmer clung to its body as if it carried a divine presence.

 

The second was a Blazing Sentinel. Heavy armor covered it from head to toe, the metal streaked with glowing red lines that pulsed like embers. A plume of fire-like hair flared from the top of its helmet, flowing backward like a burning ponytail. A long red cape trailed behind, and the whole figure gave off the feeling of heat, as if flames lived inside the armor.

 

"Thomas, it's us," the tiger spoke, its deep voice rumbling.

 

"Who?" Thomas narrowed his eyes. He had a guess, but wanted to be sure.

 

"It's me, Bryan," the winged tiger said.

 

"I'm Iris," the blazing sentinel added, her voice muffled and metallic through the helmet.

Thomas tilted his head. "So… you became a cat?" The words came out more demonic than teasing, his voice not matching the joke.

 

"I'm not a cat, I'm a Celestial Winged Tiger!" Bryan snapped, his tail lashing.

 

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, have you seen the other guards?" Thomas asked, switching back to business.

 

"We took down one each, but the minotaur from earlier disappeared," Iris answered, her voice carrying that strange robotic edge through the armor.

 

"Forget him," Thomas said. The fury in his voice was gone, leaving only exhaustion. "Let's give the old man and his family a proper burial."

 

They worked quickly, their new forms making it easy. Together, they dug a wide pit and bent the frame of a nearby truck into the shape of a coffin. The three bodies were laid inside, resting together. Burning them was not possible because man-made fire did not work in the Pink Fog.

 

When the soil covered them, the three stood in silence.

 

Thomas finally spoke, his deep voice steady. "You are now free from the fog."

 

Bryan and Iris echoed him in unison, "Free from the fog." It sounded rehearsed, but it was not. They simply understood. As long as the fog existed, people would keep suffering.

 

Before leaving, they gathered the shattered meteor fragments scattered below the balcony. Each shard still glowed faintly. They did not know if the pieces could still be used, but leaving them behind felt like wasting. Anything that still held power might matter later.

 

Thomas turned his head for one last look. The small Safe Zone was gone, swallowed completely by the Pink Fog.

 

Nevin sat inside the Hammer, waiting. It had been more than an hour since Thomas and the others left, and there was still no sign of them. He didn't know if he should go out or stay put, so he chose to wait.

 

At last, he spotted three figures walking toward the truck. The towering Oni form of Thomas was easy to recognize. The other two were strangers to him, but he already had a good guess who they were.

 

His eyes widened when he saw the armored sentinel. That's so cool, he thought. Will I be able to transform like that if I expose myself to the Pink Fog?

 

But the thought came with a shiver. What if he failed? What if he didn't become something powerful, but turned into one of the mindless monsters they had just fought? The image alone sent goosebumps across his arms.

 

As the three drew closer, Thomas suddenly remembered something. "By the way, do you have grey fragments?"

 

Without one, they wouldn't be able to enter the Safe Zone.

 

Bryan raised a paw and revealed his fragment. Iris held hers out as well. Both were glowing faintly, bound to them.

 

"Where did you get those?" Thomas asked, confused. They hadn't gone anywhere except the compound earlier.

 

"These came from the guards, the Red Hands members," Iris replied.

 

"It looks like when the owner dies, their grey fragment becomes unbound. Any Glint who touches it after can claim it," Bryan added.

 

The three stepped into the Hammer's safe zone bubble. The glow of their fragments pulsed, and their forms shifted back to human. Bryan's wings and stripes vanished, Iris's blazing armor faded away, and even Thomas's horns receded until only his bloodstained shirt remained.

 

"Do you have access to the interface too?" Nevin asked, curiosity rising. He pictured the strange display Thomas once described.

 

"Yes, but mine is a little different. There's… girly stuff added," Iris said. She didn't explain further.

 

Iris's eyes then fell on Thomas. His shirt was stained with blood. "Thomas, didn't you get shot earlier? Are you okay?"

 

"Yes, I was shot," Thomas admitted. "But after I transformed, the wounds healed. They weren't deep, so it closed up fast."

 

Iris studied him. "If you can heal like that, doesn't that mean you've already reached Stage 1 Fog Power?"

 

"What?!" Nevin's jaw dropped. "Didn't he just transform two days ago?"

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