The trap was set.
Ethan stood in the center of an abandoned Red Hook warehouse, hands in his pockets, waiting. Around him—darkness. The building had no power, no lights, just moonlight filtering through broken skylights, casting pale bars across the concrete floor.
Perfect hunting ground.
[LE: 500/500]
[Primordial Integration: 43%]
[Root network: 87% coverage]
It had taken Ethan six hours to prepare—he'd grown roots through every crack in the foundation, threaded vines through the walls, planted seed mines (Kaito's term) beneath the floor, and one trigger would make the whole place erupt.
Mira's voice crackled in his ear.
"She's two blocks out. Moving fast."
"Alone?"
"Looks like it. Arrogant."
"Good." Ethan's jaw tightened. "Arrogance gets you killed."
"Speaking from experience?"
"Learning from it."
"Don't get cocky, Ethan. She almost killed you last time."
"Last time I didn't know what I was doing." Ethan flexed his fingers—felt the roots beneath his skin pulse. "This time, I do."
Pause.
"...Good luck."
The line went dead.
Ethan waited.
Sixty seconds.
Ninety.
Then—
The warehouse door exploded.
Not opened.
Detonated.
Torn off its hinges by thick, barbed roots that slithered across the floor like serpents, and through the gap—
Briar.
She looked worse than before—armor cracked, scorched, her left arm wrapped in fresh vines (bandages, Ethan realized) covering the wounds he'd given her, but her eyes were solid green, burning, furious.
"SEEDBED!" she roared.
Her voice shook the walls.
Ethan didn't flinch.
"You got my invitation," he said calmly.
Briar laughed—it sounded like breaking branches.
"Invitation? You think you invited me?" She stepped forward, roots coiling around her legs. "I've been hunting you. Tracking your LE signature across half of Brooklyn. You're not a hunter, little seed. You're bait."
She raised her hand.
Her fingers extended—barbed roots, ten feet long, dripping black sap.
"And now I'm going to gut you."
She lunged.
Ethan didn't move.
Just smiled.
"Now," he whispered.
The floor erupted.
SEED MINES: ACTIVATED.
Every root Ethan had planted beneath the warehouse floor detonated simultaneously—not explosions, growth—roots bursting upward, dozens of them thick as tree trunks, slamming into Briar mid-lunge.
She gasped.
The roots wrapped around her legs, her waist, her arms, squeezed—
"WHAT—"
Ethan stepped forward.
Pressed his hand to the ground.
PRIMORDIAL COMMAND.
The roots obeyed.
They dragged Briar down, slammed her into the concrete—hard—cracks spiderwebbing across the floor, and Briar screamed (not in pain, in rage) and her own roots exploded outward, ripping through Ethan's bindings.
She stood.
Breathing hard.
Glaring.
"Clever," she hissed. "But tricks won't save you."
"Not trying to be saved," Ethan said.
He raised both hands.
LIFE DRAIN – AREA EFFECT.
The roots beneath Briar's feet inverted—instead of feeding her, they drained her—and her eyes went wide—
"No—NO—"
Her LE flooded into the roots, into the floor, into Ethan—
[+143 LE Absorbed]
[LE OVERFLOW – Converting to Growth Points]
[+18 GP]
[Briar's LE: 2,847 → 2,704]
Briar roared.
Her entire body ignited—not fire, thorns—hundreds of them erupting from her skin, barbed, razor-sharp, shredding the roots around her, and she ripped free, staggered back, breathing hard, blood (no, sap) dripping from dozens of self-inflicted wounds.
"You..." she panted. "You dare—"
"I don't just dare," Ethan said quietly.
He walked forward.
Roots rose from the floor behind him like wings.
"I hunt."
Briar's expression shifted.
Fear.
Real fear.
She'd come here expecting prey.
Found a predator.
"You're not—you're not ready for this—" she stammered.
"Neither were you."
Ethan lunged.
The fight was brutal.
Briar was stronger, more experienced, her roots faster and sharper and deadlier, but Ethan had the building—every surface, every wall, every beam, all of it was his—and when Briar sent roots to impale him, Ethan's vines intercepted, wrapping around them, snapping them, and when she tried to retreat, roots erupted from the walls herding her back into the center, and when she tried to drain him, Ethan's Primordial-infused LE burned her from the inside—
[Briar's LE: 2,704 → 2,389 → 2,102]
Briar stumbled.
Fell to one knee.
Her armor was shattered, her vines wilting, and she looked up at Ethan—
"Please," she whispered. "I was following orders—"
"So were the soldiers at the sanctuary," Ethan said coldly.
He placed his hand on her head.
LIFE DRAIN – MAXIMUM OUTPUT.
Briar screamed.
Her LE poured into him—not slow, flood—and Ethan felt it rushing in, hot and thick and tasting like burnt sugar and rotting flowers and something that made his hindbrain shriek STOP STOP TOO MUCH but he didn't stop, couldn't stop, didn't want to stop because it felt too good, felt like power, felt like—
[+731 LE Absorbed]
[CRITICAL OVERFLOW]
[Converting excess to: PRIMORDIAL EVOLUTION POINTS]
[+89 Evolution Points gained]
[Briar's LE: 2,102 → 1,371 → 892 → 301 → 0]
[TARGET ELIMINATED]
[Primordial Quest Progress: 12/50]
Briar's body withered.
Her skin turned grey, her vines crumbled to ash, her eyes (once burning green) faded to dull black, and she collapsed—
Dead.
Empty.
Harvested.
Ethan stood over her corpse.
Breathing hard.
His entire body glowed—green light pulsing beneath his skin like a second heartbeat.
[LE: 500/500 (CAPPED)]
[Evolution Points: 107]
[Primordial Integration: 48%]
[ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Apex Reversal]
[New Skill Available: HARVESTER'S CLAIM]
[Would you like to claim Briar's ability: THORN BURST?]
Ethan stared at the notification.
At Briar's corpse.
At his own glowing hands.
"Yes," he whispered.
[THORN BURST – ACQUIRED]
Ethan felt something shift.
Inside him.
Beneath his skin.
Thorns.
Growing.
Waiting.
He clenched his fist.
And smiled.
Mira found him an hour later.
Standing in the warehouse.
Surrounded by ash and withered vines.
Briar's body was gone—consumed—only her helmet remained, cracked, empty.
Mira stared at it.
Then at Ethan.
"You killed her," she said quietly.
"Yeah."
"Alone."
"Yeah."
Silence.
Then: "How do you feel?"
Ethan looked at his hands—still glowing faintly.
"Hungry," he admitted.
Mira's expression flickered.
"Ethan—"
"I'm fine." He looked at her. "I'm in control. The Primordial and I... we have an understanding."
"And what happens when that understanding breaks down?"
Ethan didn't answer.
Mira stepped closer.
"You just killed a Tier-4 Harvester. Thorne is going to escalate. They'll send worse. Stronger. And they won't underestimate you again."
"Good," Ethan said quietly.
He picked up Briar's helmet.
Turned it over in his hands.
"Let them come."
Mira stared at him.
Then nodded slowly.
"Alright, Hunter." She turned toward the door. "Let's go home."
Ethan followed.
Behind them, new roots sprouted from the warehouse floor.
Growing.
Spreading.
Claiming.
The Primordial was pleased.