The footsteps grew louder.
Shields clashing. Boots pounding. A disciplined rhythm—hunters trained to kill monsters far worse than him.
Kairo pressed his back against the cold wall, trying to steady his breath.
His hands shook.
Not from fear of them.
From fear of what he might become if he lost control again.
I won't let it out. I won't.
But the voice inside him purred.
"Kairo… Do you really think you have a choice?"
He grabbed his head, nails digging into his scalp.
"Shut up."
"If I shut up, you'll die."
"I don't care!"
"Liar."
The footsteps stopped.
A disciplined silence.
Then—
"Target detected."
A female hunter stepped into view. Her armor was marked with silver scars, her eyes sharp and cold.
Behind her, at least twenty more hunters aimed their weapons.
"You've killed our squad," she said, voice steady. "And for that, you will—"
She cut off, eyes narrowing at the blood on his hands.
Not just blood.
Steam still rising from it.
She tightened her grip on her spear.
"You're not human anymore, are you?"
Kairo swallowed hard. "I didn't kill them."
She laughed—not mocking, but pitying."I've heard that before."
He took a shaky step back. "Listen. Something took over my body. I'm not—"
She raised her hand.
"Fire."
SHHHK!
A dozen red energy bolts shot toward him in a single, coordinated volley.
Kairo's body moved on its own.
His back twisted unnaturally, legs bending, spine stretching as he dropped lower than a human should be able to.
The bolts tore through the wall behind him instead.
The hunters paused—just a heartbeat—but it was enough for the voice inside him to whisper:
"Let me do it."
"No," he hissed through clenched teeth.
The hunters aimed again.
"Kairo."
He pressed a hand against his chest.
His heart was beating too fast.Too strong.Each thump sending a pulse through the dungeon floor, making the dark veins spread further.
The female hunter stepped forward.
"You're unstable. If we don't kill you now, the thing inside you will consume everything."
Kairo's blood ran cold.
She knew.
She recognized it.
"What… what's inside me?" he whispered.
Her jaw tightened."An Abyss Fragment."
The voice inside him exhaled like someone stretching after a long sleep.
"So they do still remember us."
Kairo trembled. "What… what does that mean?"
The hunter didn't hesitate.
"It means you're already dead."
She thrust her spear.
It moved faster than his eyes could track—aimed straight for his heart.
Kairo didn't think.
He didn't decide.
His arm simply changed.
Bone cracked.
Tendons split.
Fingers elongated, twisting into something claw-like for the briefest moment.
And he caught her spear mid-thrust with impossible strength.
The hunters froze.
Kairo froze.
His hand…
His hand wasn't human.
It pulsed.Like something alive under his skin.Like something trying to break out.
"See?" the voice whispered gently."We are evolving."
"No… no, no, no—"
The female hunter ripped her weapon back and stumbled away, fear flooding her eyes.
"He's manifesting," she shouted. "Fall back! FALL BACK!"
They began to retreat—shields raised, formation crumbling.
Kairo clutched his arm as it snapped back into human shape with a sickening crack-crunch.
Pain flared up his shoulder like fire.
He fell to his knees.
"Stop it," he gasped. "Please… stop."
The voice went quiet.
Then:
"If I don't act, you die."
"I don't care," Kairo whispered, shaking. "I'd rather die human than live as a monster."
Silence.
Then a soft, almost sad chuckle.
"Kairo… you were never human."
Kairo's breath caught.
The ground beneath him split—black veins bursting outward like a living root system.
The walls trembled.
The hunters screamed in alarm.
And deep within Kairo's body…
Something ancientSomething hungrySomething that remembered the abyss—
opened its eyes.