"Hold the door! Don't let them push in!"
The entrance to the auditorium had become a battlefield in the truest sense. No formations, no discipline, just a desperate line of survivors trying not to be overrun. Students crowded the wide stairway, weapons raised with shaking hands as the barricades they had dragged into place rattled violently under repeated impacts.
Something slammed against the metal again and again. The sound echoed like a warning.
A slick, writhing tentacle forced its way through a narrow gap, twisting violently as it searched for something to grab.
"Cut it! cut it off!"
A boy lunged forward with a basic axe, hacking down with more fear than precision. Another student fired blindly beside him, the recoil throwing off his aim. The creature shrieked as black fluid sprayed across the steps, coating the ground in something thick and foul.
"They're climbing the sides!"
"They're not stopping! there's too many!"
Panic was spreading again fast.
Aarav stood a few steps above the frontline, his gaze cutting past the chaos rather than getting lost in it. His breathing had steadied, but not because he was calm but because he was forcing it to be.
They weren't rushing blindly. They were probing. Testing and Looking for a weak point.
Aarav's grip tightened slightly around the pistol.
Then we don't give them one.
He stepped forward. Raised the gun and fired.
The shot cracked through the noise, clean and precise. A creature mid-climb jerked violently and dropped, its body collapsing before it even understood what had happened. Another slithered along the railing, faster this time.
Aarav adjusted, barely shifting his stance.
Second shot. It dropped instantly.
A third lunged over the barricade, claws scraping against metal as it tried to pull itself through. Aarav moved just enough to align the shot and pulled the trigger.
Dead.
No wasted motion,no hesitation but it wasn't calm.
Not really. His focus was holding everything together.
Something flickered across his vision.
Not outside but inside.
A thin distortion passed through his sight, like heat bending the air, and suddenly the world layered itself differently.
Information surfaced. Not as words, but as something instinctive.
Level. Stats. Skill.
Not read but felt.
Aarav exhaled slowly, grounding himself.
"Good…"
The next notification cut in immediately.
[SYSTEM NOTICE]YOU HAVE REACHED LEVEL 15ACTIVE SKILL SLOT UNLOCKEDASSIGNING RANDOM SKILL…
Another impact shook the barricade.
"IT'S BREAKING!", Rohan barked.
Aarav didn't look away from the front. Didn't flinch. The system completed.
SKILL ACQUIRED: MORPH GUNTransform firearm into alternate forms (Sniper / Machine Gun)Mana Cost: 3 per transformation
For a brief moment, the pistol in his hand shifted.
The barrel stretched unnaturally, edges reshaping before snapping back into place. Aarav's eyes narrowed slightly as he felt the change more than saw it.
Useful… but expensive.
He checked his mana instinctively and thought to himself
Not now.
Too many targets. Too much risk.
"Save it," he muttered under his breath.
Another notification appeared.
[SYSTEM NOTICE] – PARTY SYSTEM UNLOCKED
Aarav's gaze dropped instantly.
Rohan fighting still at the lower steps and still alone. Blocking, striking, getting hit and not backing down.
Aarav didn't hesitate and barked, "ROHAN!"
"WHAT?!" Rohan shouted back, slamming his shoulder into a creature and forcing it down the stairs.
"Get up here! we need to link!"
"…This better not be something stupid!" Rohan barked, but he moved anyway, shoving one last monster aside before sprinting up the steps.
He nearly slipped on blood before grabbing Aarav's hand.
"Say it fast-!". Rohan with eyes widened, "Huh?"
A translucent window appeared.
[PARTY FORMED]
Rohan blinked.
"…What is this?"
"I take the kills," Aarav said quickly, already scanning the front again. "You level. Put everything into endurance and strength. You need to hold longer than before."
Rohan stared at him for half a second. Then grinned.
"So I'm the wall, and you're the guy hiding behind it?"
"…I prefer 'strategically positioned,'" Aarav replied dryly.
Rohan snorted and said, "Yeah, yeah. Just don't let me die doing your job."
Aarav replied, "Not planning to."
Rohan with a slight smile on his face said, "Good enough."
Rohan dropped back into position.
This time, more controlled.
The next stretch of combat turned brutal.
Creatures forced their way through gaps, crawled along walls, dropped from above in erratic bursts. But now the defense had shape. Rohan absorbed the impact, holding the line through sheer force, while Aarav cut through anything that slipped past.
Deadeye guided every shot.
Not perfectly but enough.
Until the last creature collapsed near the barricade, twitching once before going still.
No new movement followed.
Just breathing. Heavy. Uneven.
Aarav lowered the gun slightly, chest rising and falling as his focus began to loosen.
Below him, Rohan let out a loud breath.
"YES! finally!"
A new system window appeared before him.
He read it.
Then looked up.
"…Wow."
[SYSTEM NOTICE]
SPECIAL REWARD FOR REACHING LEVEL 10
CLASS ASSIGNED: TANKER
ACTIVE SKILL ACQUIRED: BAIT
Required mana: 2
Draws all enemy aggression within range, making you the primary target.
- Increases Endurance by 25% - Increases Strength by 25%
Aarav glanced at him.
Rohan pointed at himself.
"So you get cool weapon upgrades and I get a skill that basically says 'go stand there and get hit.' Fantastic. Love that for me."
Aarav let out a quiet laugh. Not forced,not controlled but real.
Rohan blinked and then smiled and thought to himself,
"Yeah… there it is."
Before anything else could be said, a voice from behind emerged.
"Hey!"
Niharika jogged toward them, slightly out of breath, strands of her hair sticking to her face. Even now, there was something steady about her presence, something grounding.
"The rear is clear," she said quickly. "People are asking if they should move up and reinforce."
Aarav shook his head immediately.
"No. They stay there."
"Why?" she asked, brows tightening.
Aarav replied, "Because it's not over yet."
She studied him for a moment. Then nodded. "…Alright. Just try not to die before I get back."
She turned.
Took a few steps and the world broke.
Aarav's eyes widened.
Not from the front. Not from above. From between space itself something tore through reality.
A jagged, flickering limb erupted forward and pierced straight through Niharika's chest.
Time didn't stop but it slowed.
Her body jerked violently, breath caught somewhere between shock and pain that never fully became a scream. Her eyes widened. Not in fear, but confusion as if her mind hadn't caught up to what had already happened.
Then the strength left her.
And she fell.
"NIHARIKAAA-!"
Rohan's voice cracked, raw and broken.
Aarav didn't move. Couldn't. His mind lagged behind reality.
No…
No, not again.
Something stood where she had been.
Its form flickered, parts of it phasing in and out of existence like a broken frame struggling to stay aligned. It wasn't fully present and yet it was.
A system window burned into view.
[STAGE 2 BOSS: RIFT WALKER]
Aarav raised his gun instantly. He fired.
The bullet passed through empty space.
No
Not empty.
Just… not there anymore.
He fired again. Missed.
Again-Too slow.
"It's not staying in one place!" Rohan shouted, backing up instinctively.
Aarav activated Deadeye.
The world sharpened.
Patterns emerged.
Movements stretched but something was wrong.
The lines, they didn't settle.They fractured. Split and reformed somewhere else.
"…It's not fixed," Aarav muttered under his breath, tension creeping into his voice for the first time. "It's shifting position before the pattern completes…"
His grip tightened.
I don't have enough mana for this…
The creature moved. Folded and appeared right in front of them.
Too close. Too sudden.
Its distorted form leaned forward, its presence pressing down on them like something unnatural forcing its way into reality.
A low, broken growl vibrated through the air.
Rohan didn't move.
Aarav didn't blink.
For a single second,
Everything became clear.
And the same thought passed through both of them.
We're going to die here.
Today.