Li Yuan stepped out of the building, the night air hitting him like a wall.
His boots touched the ground just as the pressure intensified.
The street below was already tense.
The black armored truck stood parked near the curb, its engine still running. Five hunters had stepped out, weapons in hand, all of them staring in the same direction.
The air ahead was warping.
Space folded inward, pulsing with a dull, ominous glow. The ground beneath it trembled, fine cracks spreading across the asphalt.
One of the hunters swallowed hard.
"Boss…"
Li Yuan didn't look at him.
"I know," he said calmly.
His gaze never left the forming rift.
He activated his gene fully.
Muscles tightened, veins darkened, and a faint golden sheen rippled beneath his skin. The presence he released was heavy, grounding the team instantly.
"Formation," Li Yuan ordered. "Defensive first. No one charges."
The hunters moved immediately, instincts honed by years of survival snapping into place. Weapons were raised. Positions adjusted. Breathing steadied.
Li Yuan took one step forward, eyes sharp, senses flaring.
So the kid was right, he thought.
Behind him, in the quiet house above, Wei Jin stood frozen, unaware that the first thread of fate had already begun to move.
And once the rift opened—
There would be no turning back.
The crack in the air stopped expanding.
For half a second, everything went unnaturally still.
Then the rift stabilized.
The warped space hardened into a jagged oval of darkness, lightning-like veins crawling along its edges as if the air itself were struggling to hold it together. A low, vibrating hum poured out, setting teeth on edge and making the streetlights flicker violently.
Li Yuan's eyes narrowed.
"Here it comes," he muttered.
The rift pulsed once.
Something moved inside.
A massive shape burst out of the darkness, landing heavily on the asphalt with a crack that sent sparks flying. It was a wolf—like monster far beyond anything natural. Its body was lean and muscular, covered in dark-blue fur streaked with glowing lightning patterns. Its claws dug into the ground, electricity snapping violently with every movement.
The monster lifted its head and howled.
The sound wasn't just loud—it was charged. Windows shattered up and down the street, and several civilians screamed as panic exploded all at once.
"Stormfang Lykor" one hunter said tightly. "Lightning-type."
The Lykor bared its fangs, electricity gathering around its jaws as it scanned the area with predatory intelligence.
More movement followed.
One by one, additional wolves emerged from the rift, each radiating the same sharp, crackling presence. Five in total, spreading out instinctively, already probing for weaknesses.
Li Yuan raised his hand.
"Crowd control first," he ordered calmly. "Get civilians inside buildings. No heroics."
Two hunters immediately moved, activating suppression devices and shouting commands, herding panicked people away from the street. Another hunter pulled out a communicator, fingers moving fast.
"This is Unit seven," he said sharply. "Confirmed rift breach. Multiple Unique-tier lightning wolves. Request immediate reinforcement."
The reply came almost instantly.
"Copy. Gene defence forces en route. ETA ten minutes."
Li Yuan exhaled slowly.
Ten minutes.
He looked at the wolves again, then at the still-forming shadows of other monsters within the rift.
"That's manageable," he said.
A deeper presence stirred inside the rift.
Not yet visible—but felt.
Li Yuan's expression hardened.
"These aren't the main threat," he said quietly. "They're scouts only."
The team stiffened.
"There's an Epic-tier behind them," one hunter said grimly.
"Yes," Li Yuan replied. "Fast. Strong claws. Lightning amplification. If it comes out early, we disengage and fall back."
He turned to face his team fully now, his lion gene flaring faintly beneath his skin, golden light tracing his frame.
"We're not here to wipe them out," he said evenly. "We stall. We protect civilians. We minimize casualties first."
His gaze swept across them, sharp and steady.
"These are Unique monsters. It won't be easy. You will feel pressure. You will make mistakes if you panic."
He paused.
"So don't."
The lightning wolves shifted, muscles coiling, electricity snapping louder as they prepared to move.
Li Yuan stepped forward, claws extending, his presence crashing outward like a wall.
"Hold the line," he said.
"Ten minutes."
Behind him, unseen but not unaware, Wei Jin's senses screamed as something far more dangerous began pushing against the other side of the rift.
And this time—
Even Li Yuan didn't know how bad it was going to get.
The first Stormfang Lykor moved without warning.
Its body vanished in a burst of crackling blue light, reappearing behind one of the hunters in an instant, claws already arcing toward his spine.
"Behind you—left!"
Jin's voice rang out from above, sharp and urgent.
The hunter reacted on instinct rather than thought, twisting sideways just as lightning-sheathed claws ripped through the air where his neck had been a heartbeat earlier. The impact shattered the concrete wall behind him instead, electricity exploding outward.
The hunter stumbled back, breathing hard.
"…Boss," he muttered, eyes wide. "That kid—"
"I heard him," Li Yuan snapped. "Focus!"
The Stormfang Lykors surged forward together.
They were fast—too fast. Each movement carried explosive acceleration, their claws tearing through asphalt and steel barriers alike. Lightning detonated with every step, forcing the hunters to keep moving or risk being overwhelmed.
One hunter was clipped across the shoulder, armor splitting as electricity burned into his flesh. He screamed and dropped to one knee.
Li Yuan slammed into the nearest Lykor head-on, his lion gene flaring fully as golden light wrapped around his frame. He caught its claws barehanded, muscles bulging as lightning coursed through his arms.
The shock still forced him back several steps.
"Tch—Unique-tier my ass," Li Yuan growled. "These things are more dangerous."
Another Lykor darted in from the side, jaws opening, lightning condensing into a spear of blue-white energy.
"Don't block it!" Jin shouted again. "It fires first—then charges!"
The hunter closest to it hesitated for half a second—then dove aside instead of raising his shield.
The lightning blast tore straight through the spot where he'd been standing, punching a molten hole clean through a parked car.
The Lykor lunged immediately after, exactly as Jin predicted.
Li Yuan intercepted it mid-charge, shoulder-checking the beast and driving it into the ground. The impact cracked the street open like shattered glass.
"Jin," Li Yuan barked without looking back, "keep talking."
Jin's hands were clenched so tightly his nails dug into his palms.
He wasn't sensing the future.
He wasn't predicting anything supernatural.
He just remembered.
"They hunt in threes!" Jin called out. "One feints, one flanks, one strikes high—don't chase a single target!"
The team adjusted instinctively, tightening formation. When one Lykor retreated deliberately, no one followed.
A heartbeat later, two others burst from opposite angles—only to crash into reinforced defenses instead of exposed backs.
The fight dragged on.
Minutes felt like hours.
Every victory cost effort. Every mistake will cost a life.
Finally, with a coordinated strike, Li Yuan tore through one Stormfang Lykor's neck, his claws ripping past crackling lightning and severing the core beneath. The beast convulsed violently before collapsing, electricity sputtering out.li yuan kicked the body to side.
One down.
Another Lykor fell soon after, skewered through the chest by combined fire, its speed finally overwhelmed by coordination.
Jin didn't wait.
While the hunters repositioned, he ran down the stairs and crossed the street quickly, keeping low. To anyone watching, it looked like concern—like he was checking the fallen monsters for movement.
He wants to know will devouring work.
He knelt beside the corpse, pacing a hand against its still-warm hide.
The world dimmed.
A familiar prompt surfaced before his eyes.