The wind tore through the fractured city like a living thing, carrying the stench of burning metal and ozone. Rubble spun slowly in the half-gravity of the Cataclysm, suspended in midair like a broken puzzle. Silas Renvar floated among the debris, gripping his newly-formed staff of hybrid energy. Each pulse from it felt like a heartbeat, syncing with his own.
The world below was unrecognizable. Streets curled into floating fragments, streetlights and vehicles twisted into impossible angles. Mutant beasts scattered among the chaos, many still tethered to the rift's pull. Silas landed lightly on a shard of cracked asphalt, testing his balance. The HUD flashed:
[LEVEL 2] [XP 50/100]
Good. He was leveling fast. Faster than anyone in the System should have. But that was the point: he wasn't supposed to exist.
He surveyed his surroundings. Among the ruins, fragments of tech and glowing rune shards littered the area. It was a scavenger's paradise—but also a battlefield. Every shard, every broken drone, every floating sigil resonated with his Hybrid energy. He raised a hand experimentally, and a floating shard levitated into his palm, spinning gently as circuits and runes intertwined.
[ITEM ACQUIRED: HYBRID SHARD]
The System's text appeared again, glitching and flickering. He was learning how to manipulate it, bending its error code to his advantage. Every absorbed fragment made him stronger, faster, smarter.
"Not bad," he muttered, a hint of pride in his voice. "At least I'm not completely useless."
A sudden shriek tore through the air. Silas tensed, eyes scanning the sky. A cluster of mutant drones, twisted with mana-infused tech, descended toward him. Their forms shimmered with cyan and magenta energy, glowing eyes locked on his presence.
[ENEMY: DRONE SWARM] [LEVEL 3] [HP 90/90] [ELEMENT: TECH-MANA HYBRID]
He smiled grimly. First real test.
He raised the staff, feeling it extend and shift as he willed energy through it. Shards of debris floated around him like guided missiles. He launched a pulse, and the shards shot forward, striking the nearest drones. Sparks and mana energy collided, detonating in midair.
[COMBO +2] [XP +20]
The swarm regrouped, more agile this time. Silas ducked as a drone buzzed past, narrowly avoiding its claw-like appendages. He countered with a flick of his staff, sending an arc of cyan-gold energy at another drone. It exploded, leaving a fragment hovering in the air. He caught it instinctively, feeling it integrate with his own Hybrid energy.
[ITEM ACQUIRED: DRONE CORE] [LEVEL 3] [XP 45/100]
He breathed heavily. This is… insane.
A louder, heavier sound drew his attention. One of the shards of asphalt beneath him shifted, revealing a fissure that pulsed with corrupted mana. From it emerged a creature larger than the drones—a mutant canine, its fur streaked with neon circuits, eyes glowing bright crimson. Its teeth were jagged, fused with scrap metal.
[ENEMY: RIFT HOUND] [LEVEL 5] [HP 160/160] [ELEMENT: AETHER-TECH] [REWARD: 80 XP, TECH-MANA FRAGMENTS]
Silas narrowed his eyes. Now this is more like it.
The RIFT HOUND lunged, faster than any normal animal could move. Silas jumped backward, swinging the staff. Energy arcs collided with the creature's metallic fangs, sending sparks and glowing fragments flying. It snarled, circling him, testing his reflexes.
Glitching… I can see its pattern.
Silas focused. The System's HUD flickered with predictive lines—a glitch in the code allowed him to anticipate the beast's attacks. Every lunge, every bite, every swipe lit up markers in his mind. He dodged, countered, and struck back with the staff, embedding shards into the creature. It roared in pain, staggering, giving him an opening.
He leapt, staff spinning above his head. A pulse of hybrid energy shot forward, engulfing the RIFT HOUND completely. The explosion of cyan-gold light forced debris outward. Silas felt the familiar surge in his chest—the level-up glow.
[LEVEL 4] [XP 100/100 – LEVEL UP]
He landed lightly, staff retracting into a simple shard that hovered beside him. The RIFT HOUND had dissolved into glowing fragments, leaving behind a cache of items.
[ITEM ACQUIRED: AETHER-TECH CORE] [ITEM ACQUIRED: MUTATED FUR]
Silas exhaled. This… is amazing.
But even as he gathered his spoils, the rift pulsed violently above. The Cataclysm's pull was relentless. He could feel more enemies being drawn upward—or downward—toward him. Buildings trembled and shattered, fragments crashing into the floating streets.
A voice echoed in his mind again, steady and commanding:
"Unauthorized… Hybrid… Ascend."
He clenched his fists, cyan-gold energy radiating from his body. He wasn't just surviving. He was adapting. Learning. Becoming.
He looked at the horizon, where fragments of skyscrapers rotated like broken gears, and glimpsed shapes of larger beasts being pulled into the rift. Mutant dragons. Titan-sized drones. Corrupted soldiers. Everything was rising… everything was falling.
Silas grinned. Bring it on.
He leapt from one floating shard to another, staff extended, absorbing shards of tech and mana energy as he went. The HUD flashed new stats, new abilities, new items. He was still learning—but every heartbeat, every pulse of energy, every absorbed fragment was a step toward becoming something the System had never predicted.
The Cataclysm raged on, but Silas Renvar, the Unauthorized Entity, was already rewriting the rules.