The sky was bleeding.
Dark crimson clouds twisted above the ruined battlefield like a living wound, covering the world in suffocating red light. Ash drifted endlessly through the air, mixing with the stench of blood, rot, and burning flesh.
The ground itself looked diseased.
Blackened veins spread across shattered roads and ruined buildings, pulsing faintly like the world still had a heartbeat — one corrupted beyond salvation.
This place had a name once.
Now survivors only called it:
The Deadlands.
And tonight, it had become a graveyard.
"LEFT SIDE!"
Kael's roar thundered across the battlefield.
A hulking infected lunged from the smoke, its twisted body covered in swollen tumors and exposed ribs. Before it could reach them, a massive bone spike erupted from the ground beneath it.
SHKKK!
The creature split apart mid-air.
Kael stood at the center of the ruined street, breathing heavily, white bone armor crawling across his arms like living steel. Cracks spread along the armor from repeated impacts, but he still grinned like a madman.
"Ugly bastards just don't quit!"
"Less talking," Liora snapped.
Blood floated around her like crimson ribbons, sharp enough to slice concrete. With a flick of her fingers, the ribbons pierced through three rushing infected, severing limbs and throats in a spray of black blood.
But even she was breathing harder now.
They all were.
Because the horde wasn't stopping.
It just kept coming.
From atop a collapsed bus, Arin scanned the battlefield with cold violet eyes.
Too many.
Way too many.
Thousands of infected surged through the ruined district like a tide of corpses. Walkers. Runners. Mutants. Even evolved aberrations moved within the crowd.
And behind them—
Something worse.
Something watching.
Arin tightened his grip on the black shadow blade in his hand.
"This isn't natural," he said quietly.
Kael smashed another infected into the pavement. "You noticed that now?!"
"No." Arin's expression darkened. "I mean the numbers."
Liora immediately understood.
Their mission intel said the area contained:
one corruption nest
scattered infected
low tyrant probability
Instead—
This was a full-scale death zone.
An ambush.
A cold feeling settled into Arin's chest.
Then his eyes shifted toward the man fighting several meters away.
Elias Gray.
Their teammate.
Their supposed friend.
Elias moved through the battlefield with explosive force, kinetic energy bursting around his body each time he attacked. Every swing of his weapon shattered infected apart.
But something was wrong.
He wasn't panicking.
He wasn't surprised.
And he kept glancing toward the eastern ruins.
Like he was waiting for something.
Arin's eyes narrowed.
"Kael."
"Yeah?"
"Fall back closer."
Kael instantly caught the tone.
Liora did too.
The three subtly repositioned closer together while continuing to fight.
Years of surviving together had made it instinctive.
Then it happened.
The eastern ruins exploded.
BOOOOOOM!
The ground shook violently.
A massive wave of infected poured from underground tunnels and shattered buildings like floodwater bursting through a dam.
Dozens became hundreds.
Hundreds became thousands.
And leading them—
A towering monstrosity dragged itself into view.
Four arms.
Bone armor.
A face split vertically into layers of teeth.
Its roar shook the entire district.
|[Target Identified]
|Name: Corrupted Tyrant
|Rank: A
|Level: 7
|Threat Classification: Catastrophic
|Status: Extreme Danger
|Note: Escape probability — Near Zero
Kael stared.
"…You've gotta be kidding me."
Even Liora's expression finally changed.
Fear.
Real fear.
Because they were exhausted.
Their mana reserves were nearly empty.
And an A-Rank Tyrant was impossible for their current condition.
Unless—
This had been planned.
Arin slowly turned toward Elias.
"Tell me," he said quietly.
Elias froze.
For a brief moment, guilt flickered across his face.
That was all Arin needed.
"You sold us."
Silence.
Even the screams around them suddenly felt distant.
Kael looked between them in disbelief.
"…Elias?"
Liora's blood threads slowly lowered.
Elias clenched his fists.
"You don't understand."
"No," Arin said coldly. "I understand perfectly."
The infected kept approaching, but none attacked yet.
As if waiting.
Watching.
Elias's voice cracked slightly.
"I was tired."
Kael stared at him like he'd been punched.
"Tired…?"
"Of always being behind you!" Elias shouted.
The words exploded out of him like poison finally escaping.
"You three always had each other! Always moved together! Always trusted each other!"
His breathing became unstable.
"No matter how hard I fought… I was never really part of it."
Liora's eyes hardened.
"So you decided to murder us?"
"You think I had a choice?!" Elias snapped.
He pointed toward the Tyrant.
"You know what the Sovereign Circle offered me?! Power. Protection. A place at the top when the continents fall!"
Kael looked sick.
"The hell is wrong with you…?"
"They said humanity is finished!" Elias shouted desperately. "Only the strong will survive what's coming!"
Arin's gaze remained emotionless.
"And you believed them."
Elias hesitated.
That hesitation said everything.
The Tyrant took a step forward.
The street cracked beneath its weight.
The surrounding infected shrieked violently in response.
The horde surged.
"MOVE!" Kael roared.
The battlefield exploded into chaos again.
Liora's blood whips tore through rushing infected while Kael summoned massive bone walls to slow the horde. Arin disappeared into the shadows, reappearing beside evolved mutants and cutting them down instantly.
But it wasn't enough.
There were too many.
Far too many.
A Runner burst through Kael's defense and sank its teeth into his shoulder.
Kael ripped it apart instantly—
—but three more replaced it.
"DAMN IT!"
Liora's breathing became ragged.
Her blood manipulation was slowing.
Mana exhaustion.
Arin saw it immediately.
This was over.
Not because they were weak.
But because someone they trusted had chosen power over them.
Then the Tyrant moved.
Fast.
Terrifyingly fast.
Its massive claw smashed through Kael's bone barrier and slammed him across the street.
"KAEL!"
Liora's scream echoed.
Arin instantly shadow-stepped forward, intercepting another strike—but the impact shattered his shadow blade and sent him skidding through rubble.
The Tyrant roared again.
The horde answered.
And for the first time in years…
The three understood they were truly going to die.
Elias stood frozen several meters away.
Watching.
Breathing heavily.
His hands trembled.
Not from fear.
From guilt.
But he still didn't move.
Didn't help.
Didn't save them.
Because deep down—
he had already made his choice.
Kael staggered back to his feet, blood running down his arm.
"…Still hate your cooking," he muttered toward Liora weakly.
Liora laughed despite the tears forming in her eyes.
"You idiot…"
Arin looked at them both.
And for one small moment—
the battlefield disappeared.
Not the monsters.
Not the screams.
Not the betrayal.
Just them.
The three children from Saint Marrow Orphanage who survived a cruel world by staying together.
Another explosion rocked the street.
Liora was thrown backward.
Kael's bone armor shattered.
Arin's side tore open from an infected claw.
The horde closed in completely.
No escape left.
Then—
A strange black symbol appeared beneath the three of them.
Faint.
Ancient.
Pulsing.
None of them noticed it yet.
Kael coughed blood and laughed weakly.
"Well… this sucks."
Liora wiped blood from her mouth.
"That's your final line?"
"Had better ones earlier."
Arin slowly stood despite his injuries.
The Tyrant approached.
Death itself walking toward them.
And strangely—
Arin no longer felt fear.
Only regret.
Regret that they trusted the wrong person.
Regret that they failed to protect each other.
Regret that this was how it ended.
The horde descended.
Darkness swallowed everything.
And within that darkness—
the three made the same silent vow.
If we live again…
We won't repeat this mistake.
Never again.
Then the black symbol erupted.
And the world shattered.