"Come on, get out. Today was a good day's work."
Martha's firm, cutting voice rose above the strange hiss emanating from the blue rift. That fissure in the air looked like a wound carved into the world's skin, a tear that defied any natural logic. Sparks of electricity danced along its edges, as if reality itself were in agony.
The team obeyed without protest, crossing through the rift one by one. The crystalline landscape on the other side, with its fractured ground of luminous prisms, was left behind. Just as the last was about to step out, Martha stopped him with a cold finger on his shoulder.
"Wait… Where the hell is the collector?"
"What? I thought she was in front of you."
"And I thought she was behind you."
The two of them exchanged a look, equal parts annoyance and bad omen. The silence that followed was heavier than any scolding.
Martha clicked her tongue.
"Shit… let's go back before they kill her and the cores get lost. And remind me never to hire that stupid girl again."
Far from the exit, lost in a different sector of the Rift, a solitary figure was running.
Dressed in a white suit. The outfit clung to her body like a second skin, crafted in a metallic white with steel-gray linings and plates, evoking the hardness of light armor.
It was Nene, a Hunter who had entered the Rift with a team but was now stranded who knows where.
Her black and white hair whipped wildly behind her as she pushed through a landscape that looked like the worst kind of broken dream: ruined concrete towers covered in red crystals twisting like open wounds in the city. Harsh, gleaming roots, like ruby tendrils, sprouted from the ground to lash at the air in an attempt to snare her.
Nene leapt clumsily, barely dodging the strikes. Sweat ran down her forehead and tears streaked her cheeks, plastering her damp bangs against her eyes. Her breaths came in short, ragged gasps.
"Nene, you're such a complete idiot!" she muttered through clenched teeth. "Why the hell did I split off just for one more core? One damn core!"
She didn't have time to keep berating herself. A guttural roar, distorted like the static of a broken TV, tore through the air.
The ground trembled beneath her feet. The concrete cracked open, and from the fissures emerged first black, bony hands, then arms, and finally the rest of a creature.
Nene froze.
"...I hate my luck."
Before her rose an amorphous being, a grotesque insult to the human figure. Its body was at once skeletal and massive, with insect-like features twisted over the parody of a human torso. Its head, a faceless sphere of obsidian, pulsed with that bone-rattling roar.
Nene tried to run the other way, but the crystalline roots had already snared her legs, trapping her tight.
"Shit, help!" she shrieked, thrashing like a rabbit caught in a snare.
The Ethereal advanced with erratic, inhuman movements, yet charged with murderous strength. Its black claws were a blink away from tearing into her body.
Nene sucked in a deep breath, her heart hammering in her chest.
Calm down. Its attack is clumsy… I can dodge it.
As the claw came down, she threw herself to the ground in a desperate move. The swipe hissed through the air, a breath from her face. The monster's body was laid bare before her, its glowing core throbbing in its chest like an exposed heart.
It was her chance.
Her honey-colored eyes flared purple. The Resonance awoke within her.
"Residual Synchrony – Target [Ethereal Being]: Rusted Claws."
Nene's nails warped into metallic talons. She swung with all the force her fear could muster.
Thunk!
The sound was disappointing—dull, like a needle scraping glass. The core was barely scratched.
Even the creature paused, as if it couldn't comprehend how pitiful that "attack" was.
Nene swallowed hard.
"Yep… not even I know why I thought I could beat you."
The weight of failure pressed into her chest like cold iron. Her voice trembled as she admitted the obvious:
"Guess I'll just stick to what I do best… Help!"
A gunshot thundered. The monster's head burst into black shards that disintegrated with a piercing shriek.
Martha's rough voice followed in the smoky echo of the shot.
"Nene, you're pathetic. You really couldn't handle a simple F-rank Ethereal?"
Relief lit up Nene's face, almost with joy. Her boss's harsh voice was still a lifeline.
"Boss! Thank you, you don't know how terrifying that was. Could you… maybe help me get out of these roots?"
Martha didn't answer right away. Instead, Johan, the red-haired man always at her side, crouched over Nene. With brusque hands, he yanked the bag from her waist.
"Hey! What are you doing?"
Martha calmly sifted through the bag, tossed five cracked cores to the ground, and handed it back.
"Your payment. As agreed."
Nene's eyes widened in disbelief.
"What? No! Wait! You're leaving me here?"
Martha gave her one last look, cold and distant.
"Figure it out yourself."
And just like that, Martha and Johan head back at the exit in the south, leaving behind the metallic stench of gunpowder and Nene's desperation.
The girl was left trapped, alone, with the echo of her own sobs resonating through the crystallized city.
"...They could've at least left me something to cut the roots with…" she whispered, as tears began to blur her vision. "Boss… How the hell am I supposed to get out of here?"