Rain hammered the Wilds like nails driven into a coffin lid. Each drop was ice. Each gust of wind carried the stench of rot and blood. The world was pitch-black—except for the two yellow eyes staring at him from the void.
Kresor staggered back until his spine hit a decaying tree trunk. Bark peeled off under his shaking fingers. His breaths were ragged, sharp, broken. Silver scars crawled along his skin, pulsing with frantic light, trying to reject the darkness eating him from the inside.
The beast opposite him lowered its massive head. A Feral Grim-Hound—all muscle, teeth, and mutated rage. It moved. Not like a beast. Not even like a monster. Like a shadow that learned how to sprint. Kresor's pupils shrank. Too fast. No weapon. No armor. My body… it's glass.
Scolrious's voice slithered through his skull, cold as the rain. SCOLRIOUS (V.O.)Armor is a luxury. Intent is the weapon. Use the raw Void. Tear it out.
"I—can't—focus—" Kresor hissed through clenched teeth. The Grim-Hound lunged. Kresor didn't even have time to scream. Instinct took over—the kind that blooms only when death is close enough to smell your breath.
He threw his right hand directly into the beast's open jaws. Not a punch. Not a strike. A gamble with death's dice. He pictured not a blade… but a void. A hole in reality. A starving mouth. Something inside him snapped—whether a thread of sanity or a vein of power, he couldn't tell. A muffled, wet thump sounded inside the hound's skull.
No explosion. Just collapse. The creature's head folded inward like paper crushed by a giant's fist. Bone and flesh imploded, sucked into a jagged sphere of raw darkness. The Grim-Hound hit the ground. Twitch. Stillness. Rain washed the blood from Kresor's hand… revealing the real horror. The skin was grey. Shriveled. Dead.
Like a corpse wearing the shape of his arm. Kresor gasped and dropped to his knees. His stomach rebelled. He retched violently, bile mixing with mud. The pain wasn't sharp. It was total.A consuming ache that reached bone, soul, memory. He pressed his ruined hand to his chest. I survived. But I lost a piece of myself to do it. The rain didn't feel cold anymore.Because his nerves weren't working.
The world spun. The forest swayed. His consciousness dimmed to a flickering candle. Scolrious whispered again, softer this time… almost gentle. SCOLRIOUS (V.O.)This is the cost of power. You paid it. You live. Kresor didn't respond. Couldn't.
He lay in the mud, shivering, staring at the imploded corpse beside him. The hunt wasn't over.But he was. For now.
Floodlights swept across the storm-soaked grounds outside the Golden Portal, slicing through the darkness like cold blades. Sirens pulsed in the distance—shrill, tense, and relentless. Dozens of Order Enforcers moved in disciplined formation, tightening the blockade with every passing second.
Clauiy ducked behind a supply crate as Norphis dragged her out of a searchlight's path. Her breaths came fast. Wet. Shaking. Tears mixed with the rain on her cheeks—indistinguishable except for the heat.
Norphis kept his voice low, eyes glued to the datapad in his hands. NORPHIS "His tracker signal is faint… but still active. He's moving deeper into the Red Zone. At this rate, if the beasts don't shred him—" (voice hardens) "—the Purge Squads will."
Clauiy's nails dug into the crate's metal. CLAUIY "They revoked our access keys. We can't get back inside." (She shakes her head, helpless) "Who can get past the blockade? Who can stop them from killing him?"
The question wasn't for Norphis. It was for fate. But fate didn't answer.Memory did. Her eyes widened. A realization hit like a strike to the ribs.
CLAUIY "…Seren."
Norphis blinked, thrown off. NORPHIS "Your brother? But he's a Sector Instructor. If anyone can override the perimeter… it's him."
Clauiy grabbed his arm desperately. CLAUIY "He trained Kresor. He treated him like a little brother for three years." (Her voice cracks) "Kael adopted all of us—Seren is the only one he trusts with… 'family matters.'"
Norphis froze. The implication was clear. NORPHIS "If Kael issued a kill order… then Seren—"
CLAUIY "…might be the one sent to execute it." (Her breath trembles) "We have to reach him first. Before Kael does."
A siren wailed overhead. Enforcers marched past them, unaware of the tiny rebellion crouched behind a supply crate. Clauiy wiped the rain from her face, but the fear stayed. She didn't fear beasts. Or the Wilds. Or the dark.
She feared one thing: Kresor dying in the hands of the brother who loved him.
The door slid open with a soft hiss, releasing a wave of warm air scented with crushed jasmine and roasted herbs. Kael's Tearoom was quiet, dimly lit, every shadow carefully arranged, every light intentionally placed. Nothing here was accidental — not the stillness, not the silence, not the way the room seemed to watch whoever entered.
Seren stepped inside. Her cloak dripped with the remnants of the journey, droplets tapping against the hardwood floor like impatient fingers. She didn't remove the hood. She didn't need to. Kael already knew.
He sat behind his low circular table, grinding tea leaves with slow, deliberate precision. KAEL"You're late."
His tone wasn't irritated — merely observant. As if lateness itself was a piece of data to be filed. SEREN "Routes were compromised. I had to take the eastern ridge."
Kael paused, fingers resting over the grinder. KAEL "That ridge doesn't compromise you. Something else does."
Seren didn't answer. She moved closer, boots silent, posture tight with controlled urgency. The shadows along the walls shifted with her. Kael poured water into a ceramic bowl, steam rising like hidden whispers.
KAEL"Report."
Seren's hands tightened beneath her cloak.
SEREN"Kresor breached the blockade."
Kael didn't look surprised. He didn't even blink.
KAEL"As expected."
Seren's jaw clenched.
SEREN"He wasn't alone."
That finally cracked Kael's stillness. Not much, but enough — a subtle lift of his chin, an incremental shift in attention.
KAEL"Define 'not alone.'"
Seren inhaled slowly, as if steadying the words before releasing them.
SEREN"Scolrious awakened."
The bowl in Kael's hand stopped mid-pour. Steam curled upward toward his face. Silence closed around them — thick, intentional, weighted with implications neither wished to voice aloud.
KAEL"…That changes the mission parameters."
Seren lowered her head. Not deferential — tactical.
SEREN"Awaiting new directives."
Kael set the bowl down, the ceramic clicking softly against the table as he folded his hands.
KAEL"Your objective remains the same. Locate him. Confirm control. Do not engage unless necessary."
Seren hesitated.
SEREN"And if Scolrious is steering him?"
Kael's eyes lifted, sharp and unblinking.
KAEL"Then you bring him here. Intact. No deviations."
Seren bowed slightly — a gesture of acknowledgment, not obedience.
SEREN"Understood."
Kael returned to his tea, grinding the leaves again with calm, exact movements.
KAEL"And Seren…?"
She paused at the doorway.
KAEL"Do not underestimate what he's becoming."
The tearoom's door slid shut behind her, sealing the warmth inside and leaving the scent of jasmine to fade into the quiet.
The rain had stopped, but the world felt drowned. A thick, suffocating mist clung to the forest like a dying breath refusing to leave. Every shadow looked alive. Every patch of silence felt wrong. Kresor rested against the corpse of the Grim-Hound, though "rest" wasn't the right word. His body hung there—broken, trembling, barely stitched to existence by agony. His vision wavered in slow, dragging pulses. The world bled at the edges.
He no longer felt the pain as pain. It was becoming something distant. Something soft.
KRESOR (Internal)Is this dying?It's quieter than I thought.
His fingers twitched. No strength. No fight left. The void inside him hissed and flickered, trying to devour the sparks of silver still contaminating his blood. A sound cut through the mist. Not a monster's growl. Not the crunch of something hunting. Just… footsteps. Steady. Human. Disciplined.
Someone trained. Kresor tried lifting his arm. It didn't move. His muscles felt disconnected, like strings pulled by a puppeteer with broken hands. A silhouette walked through the fog. The mist parted around him.
Seren. His instructor. His brother in everything but blood. Seren took in the scene—the dead beast, the churned earth, the boy sitting in the middle of carnage—and something inside the man cracked. His voice wasn't the voice of an instructor. It was the voice of a man watching a child die. SEREN (voice breaking) "Kresor… kid. What did they do to you?"
For the first time since the transformation began, Kresor felt warmth—real warmth—stir in his frozen chest. The armor of numbness fractured. The boy beneath the monster gasped for air. His throat tightened. Tears came without permission. Seren wasn't an enemy. Seren was safe. Seren was home.
Kresor's voice escaped him in a whisper so small it barely existed. KRESOR (weak, childlike) "Brother… help me." Seren's knees hit the ground so fast the mud splashed up his legs. He reached forward—no fear, no hesitation—and cupped the back of Kresor's head as though holding the last fragile piece of a shattered world.
Kresor collapsed into the embrace, his forehead pressing against Seren's shoulder. His eyes closed. His breathing steadied. The fight was over. He could rest. Finally.
But when he opened his eyes over Seren's shoulder— The mist behind Seren shifted. A figure watched them. Ten feet away. Silent. Still. Agent Seraph. Armor black as the void. A visor that reflected no light. A presence like an executioner waiting behind a confession booth.
Seraph lifted one finger to his lips. Shhh. Then he tapped the earpiece on his helmet. And pointed directly at Seren. Time went cold.
KRESOR (Internal)He's not here to kill Seren.He's… guiding him.Seren has a tracker.On his belt.Kael sent him.Not to save me.To catch me.
Something hot and acidic tore through Kresor's chest. The warmth of Seren's embrace suddenly turned into needles. His heartbeat didn't just quicken—it spiked like a knife twisting inside him. Seren pulled back slightly, cupping Kresor's cheek. SEREN (desperate, hopeful, blind)"It's okay, Kresor. I'm taking you to Kael. He'll fix this. He promised."
Fix. That word snapped something. It echoed like a cruel joke inside Kresor's skull. Kael had promised. Kael had sworn to keep him safe. Kael had sent him into the anomaly. Kael had sent Executioners. Kael had sent Seren.
KRESOR (Internal)Fix?No.Kael isn't fixing me.He's containing me.
Seren's grip tightened as if reassuring him. But now the touch felt foreign—cold, like the hand of a stranger wearing a familiar face. The last thread inside Kresor—the one thin, trembling thread that kept the boy alive—snapped. Instantly.
The tears stopped. Emotion evaporated. Warmth died. His pupils swallowed the world, turning into two empty black pits. His expression didn't fall. It shut off. Like a corpse propped upright.
Seren froze. "Kresor…?" he whispered, sensing the sudden void. Kresor didn't blink. He spoke slowly, each word a blade sliding across marble.
KRESOR"Is that so… Instructor?" The title felt wrong in Seren's ears. Instructor. Not brother. Not Seren. Instructor. A professional relationship. A cold one. A disposable one.
Seren's breath hitched. "Kresor… what—" He didn't finish the sentence. Because Kresor's right hand—once trembling, once weak—now moved with surgical precision. Slowly. Smoothly. Unnaturally calm. His fingers slid toward the dagger strapped to Seren's belt. Seren didn't notice. His eyes were locked on Kresor's face, on the deadness replacing the tears.
"Kresor, look at me—" He did. And Seren wished he hadn't. Those eyes weren't human anymore. Not a broken child. Not a wounded boy. Something else. Something that had decided humanity was a luxury he could no longer afford. His fingers brushed the dagger's handle.
A whisper rippled through the air—not from Seraph, not from Seren, but from the deep, unholy void coiled inside Kresor's bones. It wasn't a word. It was a trigger. Kresor spoke it.
KRESOR (deep, resonant, inhuman)"AMPHOSIS."
The world reacted first. Then his body. A crack tore through the air—like a rib of reality snapping under pressure. Black tendrils surged from Kresor's spine, wrapping around his torso. They weren't smoke. They weren't energy. They were something older—something made to punish light itself. The tendrils hardened, forming plates. A chest piece emerged, ancient and jagged, as though carved from the bones of forgotten gods. Sharp ridges glowed faintly with an unholy pulse. The rest of his armor formed in a violent, beautiful sequence of clicks and snaps. Then— The mask.
A dark, brutal faceplate slid over Kresor's features. Emotionless. Hollow. Two thin slits opened where the eyes should be. A blinding white glow erupted from them. Then his hair—dark, drenched, messy—flashed into pure white, radiating like ghost-fire. His voice when he spoke next was not the voice of a child. It was deeper. Older. Masculine. Unbreakable.
A voice that would not tremble. Not even before death. KRESOR (Now fully transformed) "Tracking signal located."
Seren's breath collapsed into a gasp. "No… no, Kresor—what is this? What are you doing? I'm trying to help you—" Kresor processed the words. Coldly. Clinically.
KRESOR"You were compromised the moment Kael attached that device."
Seren flinched at the precision. This wasn't Kresor analyzing. This was Kresor calculating. SEREN"Listen to me! I didn't come to hurt you—Kael said he could stabilize you—"
KRESOR"Stabilize?"(A pause. The air thickens.)"Contain. Control. Own."
Seren's eyes watered—not from sadness, but terror. "Kresor… please… you're scaring me…"
Kresor tilted his head slightly. KRESOR "Good."
Seren froze as the boy—no, the entity—drew the dagger from his belt with calm fluidity. Not to stab him. But to lift it. To examine the blade. To see how sharp it was. A final thought rippled through Kresor's mind—one last echo of the boy he used to be.
KRESOR (Internal)Love is a leash.Trust is a knife.You showed me both, Instructor.
His grip tightened around the dagger. His white eyes burned brighter. He took a single step back from Seren. Not running. Not fleeing. Positioning. Agent Seraph straightened behind the mist, sensing the shift, his visor dimming. Kresor's gaze locked onto Seren.
KRESOR"You should not have come here." Fog rolled.The forest darkened. The unholy armor hummed. And in a voice that could freeze blood— KRESOR "The anomaly lives."
A surge of black energy spiraled around him. Seren reached out— "Kresor! Wait—!" But the world collapsed into shadow. A vertical gash of black sliced the air. Kresor vanished into it. Gone.
Seren screamed his name into the mist. Seraph lowered his visor. SERAPH "…Target has entered Phase Three."
The forest closed around the words.