The silence that followed the creature's death was worse than the screams. It was a heavy, suffocating blanket that smelled of ozone and wet copper. Aiden Kael remained on his knees, his fingers buried in the tattered, synthetic carpet of his dorm room. His breath came in ragged, hitching gasps, each one burning his throat as if he had swallowed hot ash.
Inside his chest, something was shifting.
The pale energy he had absorbed—the 'essence' of the thing that was once a student—wasn't just sitting there. It was clawing at his insides, a cold, parasitic force trying to find a place to settle within his marrow. It felt like needles made of ice were being driven through his veins, stitching themselves into his DNA.
[ SOUL NEXUS — ASSIMILATION PROGRESS: 15% ]
[ Warning: Physical Vessel (Human) is under-leveled for current Mana Density. ]
[ Recommendation: Increase Vitality to prevent internal hemorrhaging. ]
Aiden ignored the translucent blue boxes floating in his peripheral vision, blinking away the static that threatened to blind him. He forced himself to stand, his legs feeling like rusted iron pipes. Every joint groaned with the effort. He turned his head toward the shattered window, where the glass lay like fallen stars on the floor.
Beyond the jagged frame, Ashfall City was no longer the place he knew. Fire blossomed in the distance, orange plumes licking the underside of the swirling purple clouds. The skyscrapers, once symbols of progress and human ambition, now looked like broken teeth against a bruised, bleeding sky. The University plaza, usually filled with students rushing to evening lectures, was now a graveyard of abandoned cars and flickering neon signs.
His mind raced to his home in Sector 9, a distant suburb that now felt like it was on the other side of the moon. He could almost see his parents and Elara—trapped in a residential zone that was likely crawling with the same horrors he had just faced. In the old world, Sector 9 was just a forty-minute commute; now, with the city's infrastructure collapsing and the 'Synchronization' warping the very streets, those forty-two kilometers were a death march.
His father Marcus, a man of few words and iron discipline, would be barricading the doors. His mother Sarah, whose only weapon was her vast library of 19th-century literature, would be trying to keep Elara calm. But books and stoicism wouldn't stop the things that were coming. They were defenseless, and he was stranded at the opposite end of a dying metropolis.
"I have to get to them," he rasped, the words feeling heavy and metallic on his tongue.
If the city was falling, his family wouldn't save themselves. He was the only one with this strange 'Nexus' humming in his blood—a power that felt less like a gift and more like a curse he was forced to carry.
He reached down and grabbed a heavy metal floor lamp that had been knocked over in the struggle. He ripped the cord from the wall with a violent jerk, sparks dancing momentarily in the dark. It wasn't a sword or a gun, but the solid iron base gave him a sense of weight—a tether to reality in a world that had suddenly turned into a nightmare.
He stepped toward the door. The wood was splintered from the vibration of the earlier 'Synchronization.' He reached for the handle. It was unnaturally cold, frosted over with a thin layer of rime that bit into his skin. He took a deep breath, clutching the lamp until his knuckles turned white, and threw the door open.
The hallway was a vision of absolute carnage.
The flickering emergency lights cast long, rhythmic shadows that danced like demons against the blood-spattered walls. The air was thick with the scent of iron and something sweet, like rotting fruit. A few meters away, a body lay facedown. Aiden recognized the sneakers—it was Leo, the guy from the third floor who always played music too loud. Now, he was just a still shape in a spreading pool of dark crimson.
Standing over Leo's corpse were three figures.
They weren't like the creature in his room. These were larger, their skin bloated and translucent, stretched so tight over their frames that you could see the dark, stagnant blood pulsing in their veins. Their joints snapped and popped with every jerky movement, a sound like dry twigs breaking in the wind. They turned in unison, their milk-white eyes fixing on Aiden.
[ PROXIMITY ALERT ]
Entities: 3x 'Drowned Seekers' (Lvl 1)
Threat Level: Moderate-High
Survival Probability: 22%
"Twenty-two percent?" Aiden gritted his teeth, his jaw aching from the tension. "My dad always said the odds only matter if you're planning on losing. I'm not losing today."
The first Seeker lunged. It didn't run; it launched itself with a distorted, powerful spring that defied human anatomy.
Aiden's heart hammered—not just with fear, but with that strange, surging pressure. 109 Mana. The number flashed in his mind like a strobe light. As the creature closed the distance, the world seemed to ripple. The sound of the rain outside slowed down to a dull thud. Time didn't stop, but it stretched, becoming fluid and viscous.
He could see the droplets of black bile flying from the Seeker's unhinged jaw. Instinct—ancient, predatory, and violent—took over. He didn't just swing the lamp; he felt a spark of that internal silver heat flow from his core, down his shoulder, and into the metal pole.
WHAM.
The metal base collided with the Seeker's jaw. But it wasn't just physical force. A faint, silver spark ignited at the point of impact, followed by a dull boom. The creature wasn't just hit; it was blasted back as if struck by a cannonball. It hit the opposite wall with enough force to crack the concrete, its head lolling at an impossible angle.
[ Skill Synergy Detected: Raw Mana Discharge (Incomplete) ]
[ Warning: Mana exhaustion is fatal. Current Output: 2% ]
Aiden didn't have time to celebrate. The other two were already on him. One grabbed his shoulder, its blackened nails tearing through his denim jacket and sinking into his flesh like hot needles. Aiden let out a guttural cry of pain, the coldness of the creature's touch sending a wave of nausea through him.
The second one lunged for his waist, its weight pulling him down toward the blood-slicked floor. He could smell the decay on their breath, a cloying stench that made his eyes water.
"Get... OFF!"
He wasn't fighting for himself anymore. He was fighting for the dinner table in Sector 9, for the quiet mornings, for the life that was being ripped away. He reached out with his free hand and grabbed the creature's head. He focused on the burning pressure in his chest, that 'Anomaly' that the System warned him about. He willed the energy to burn.
A blinding flash of silver light erupted from his palms.
The Seeker didn't just die; its head imploded under the sheer, unrefined pressure of his mana. A shockwave of pure energy rippled through the corridor, shattering the remaining light fixtures and throwing Aiden backward into a pile of discarded luggage.
He hit the floor hard, his vision swimming. His hands were smoking, the skin red and blistered where the mana had exited his body.
[ SOUL NEXUS — UPDATE ]
Entities Neutralized: 3
Level Up: 1 —> 2
Stat Points Allocated to Vitality: +3 (Automated for Survival)
Assimilation Level: 6
Aiden lay there for a moment, staring at the dark ceiling. The pain in his shoulder was already dulling, replaced by a strange, tingling warmth. He could feel the System working on him—stitching his skin, hardening his muscle fibers, knitting his bones back together with a cold, mechanical efficiency.
He realized with a jolt of terror that the more he 'assimilated,' the less he felt like the son his parents had raised. The fear was being replaced by a cold, calculating stillness. It was as if the human parts of him were being overwritten by something more... efficient.
Warning: Excessive assimilation may result in irreversible alteration.
"I'll save you all," he whispered to the empty, dark hallway. "Sector 9... Mom, Dad... Elara. Just stay alive until I get there."
He forced himself to sit up. The hallway was silent now, save for the crackle of a broken wire overhead. He looked at the bodies—now just husks of grey, shriveled flesh. Pale, ghostly mist was already rising from them, drifting toward him like iron filings to a magnet.
He didn't fight it this time. He opened his senses and let the mist sink into his skin. He needed the strength. He needed to be a monster to protect the people who weren't.
He stood up, his body feeling lighter, faster, and infinitely more dangerous. The 109 Mana was a sun trapped inside a glass jar, waiting for the moment he would finally let it loose.
He turned toward the stairwell at the end of the hall. The path to the ground floor was open, but he knew the real horror was only just beginning. Beyond the dormitory doors lay a city that had been turned into a hunting ground, and his family was on the other side of it.
Aiden Kael stepped into the shadows of the stairwell, no longer a student, but a protector forged in silver fire, descending into the heart of the apocalypse.