I couldn't breathe.
Not because the air was gone—
but because there was too much of it.
Every breath felt sharp and metallic, like lightning scraping my lungs on the way down. My ears rang violently, a high-pitched scream layered beneath a deeper hum, as if the sky itself had been shoved into my skull and left there to rage.
I was on my knees.
I don't remember falling.
One second I was standing.
The next, the pressure crushed me flat—like the world decided gravity wasn't aggressive enough and dialed it up personally for me.
This is an S+ Rift, my mind whispered uselessly.
Like naming the monster would make it kinder.
Above Aurelia City, the sky had split open.
Not cracked.
Not torn.
Split.
A vast wound stretched across the clouds, jagged and wrong, bleeding violet-black energy that warped the air around it. Lightning crawled sideways along the edges of the tear—not striking downward, not dispersing—just watching. Twisting. Alive.
The rupture pulsed, slow and deliberate, like something on the other side was breathing.
There was a sudden pause.
Not silence—
anticipation.
The kind that presses against your skin, that makes the world feel like it's holding its breath before screaming.
The Rift Beast from earlier was gone.
No explosion.
No retreat.
It hadn't fled like prey.
It had withdrawn—the way animals do when something higher on the food chain steps into view.
That realization hit me a fraction of a second too late.
A chill crawled down my spine, sharp and instinctive, bypassing thought entirely. Every hair on my body stood on end, my muscles locking as if my bones themselves were screaming don't move.
I looked up.
And my blood turned cold.
It was there.
Towering.
Its head brushed the clouds, not pushing them aside but parting them, as though the sky itself knew better than to resist. Purple light bled from its eyes—cold, intelligent, ancient—casting long, warped shadows across the city below.
This wasn't a beast.
This wasn't even a predator.
This was a monster.
A being so far removed from instinctual violence that its gaze carried something far worse—
interest.
I felt it then.
That unbearable certainty.
It wasn't scanning the city.
It wasn't observing the battlefield.
It wasn't even acknowledging the S-Rank tearing reality apart above us.
Its eyes were locked on me.
Pinned.
Measured.
Judged.
The look in its gaze wasn't rage or hunger.
It was curiosity.
The kind that precedes dissection.
My system screamed.
[WARNING]
Target Fixation Detected
Entity Interest Level: CRITICAL
User Designation: MARKED
My breath came out in a shallow, broken gasp.
This thing wasn't here to fight.
It wasn't here to conquer.
It was here because it had noticed me.
And from the way its lips—too wide, too deliberate—curled upward into something resembling a smile…
I knew one thing with terrifying clarity:
It wasn't going to play nice.
Every instinct in my body screamed the same command:
RUN.
But I couldn't.
My system UI jittered violently at the edge of my vision, flickering as if it was afraid to exist here—text tearing, colors bleeding.
[WARNING]
Threat Level Exceeds User Survivability Threshold
Recommendation: IMMEDIATE EVACUATION
"Yeah," I muttered hoarsely. "No shit."
My hands trembled.
Not from fear.
From helplessness.
Riley was somewhere behind me. I'd made sure of that. Dragged him into cover while my heart tried to beat its way out of my chest, vision tunneling as the world outside began to end in real time.
The city groaned.
Buildings bent under pressure they weren't designed to withstand. Windows burst outward in synchronized explosions, raining glass like glittering shrapnel. People screamed—then the sound vanished, swallowed by a low, omnipresent hum that vibrated through my bones instead of my ears.
I tasted blood.
Then the sky bent.
Not metaphorically.
It bent—curving inward toward the monster like reality itself was being dragged toward the wound.
And that's when he arrived.
No announcement.
No portal.
No dramatic descent from the heavens.
Just a single step forward—
—and the air exploded.
A shockwave blasted outward, flattening debris, vaporizing falling rubble, carving a clean corridor through the chaos. The pressure eased for half a heartbeat, like the world itself had flinched in recognition.
I turned.
"S+ rift beast in a population center that's new" the man said casually as he walked past us.
Alone.
His aura hit me like a physical blow.
It wasn't subtle.
It wasn't calm.
It was dense. Violent. Saturated with bloodlust so sharp it burned against my skin—but his eyes…
His eyes were bright.
Alive.
Excited.
A long coat snapped violently around him, its edges glowing faint gold as if resisting forces that should've shredded it instantly. His boots pressed into shattered asphalt that refused to give way beneath him, cracks stopping short at his feet like the ground itself had decided this one mattered.
My system went insane.
[ENTITY DETECTED]
Classification: HUMAN
Rank: S
Status: AUTHORIZED
Combat Authority: ABSOLUTE
My heart skipped.
S-Rank.
Not rumored.
Not theoretical.
Not whispered about in emergency broadcasts.
Real.
The monster reacted instantly shifted it's gaze to what it perceived a higher threat
The monster began pressing forward, fractal and burning, covered in shifting sigils that made my vision swim when I tried to focus.
The man exhaled slowly.
I don't know how I heard it—but I did.
"My turn," he said quietly, voice edged with anticipation.
Then he moved.
Almost instantaneously.
I swear the world lagged.
One moment he was standing there.
The next—
golden light detonated upward.
The street imploded beneath his feet as he launched himself into the sky, ripping free of gravity's grip like it had never owned him to begin with. The air screamed in protest, folding inward as his acceleration shattered sound itself.
The monster reacted instantly.
Its maw split open far wider than anatomy should allow, layers of glowing purple sigils spinning inside its throat like a living reactor. Then—
FWOOM.
A torrent of energy erupted outward.
Not a single blast.
Not even a barrage.
A storm.
Dozens—no, hundreds—of condensed violet spheres screamed through the air, each one warping space around it, leaving spiraling distortions in their wake. Buildings caught in their paths didn't explode.
They simply ceased to exist.
He twisted midair, body blurring as he weaved between the blasts with impossible precision. Each movement was economical—no wasted motion, no panic—like he had already memorized this pattern in another lifetime.
Golden afterimages trailed behind him as he slipped past annihilation by centimeters.
One blast clipped his shoulder.
The impact tore a chunk of cloud apart and sent a shockwave cascading across the skyline.
He didn't slow.
He laughed.
A sharp, exhilarated sound ripped from his throat as he thrust his palm forward.
The golden light around him condensed—compressed into something denser, hotter, angrier. Runes ignited along his arm, spinning faster, brighter, until the air around his hand began to fracture like stressed glass.
"Come on," he muttered. "Let's see what you've got."
He slammed his hand forward.
The clash—
God.
There are no words for it.
Reality screamed.
Golden force collided with violet annihilation in a blinding eruption that split the sky apart. Light swallowed sound. Shockwaves rippled outward in layered rings, flattening clouds and sending buildings shuddering miles away.
For a heartbeat, the two forces were locked—
pushing, grinding, contesting.
Then the golden light surged.
Shockwaves rolled outward in rhythmic pulses, each stronger than the last. I felt them in my chest, rattling my teeth, vibrating my bones, scraping my soul. My system UI cracked visually, text glitching and bleeding.
[ERROR]
Sensory Input Exceeds Processing Limit
Riley…
The Nexus agent who had acted fearless…
And me—
We were frozen.
Speechless.
Our fear had turned into awe.
I didn't blink.
I couldn't.
Because for the first time since the sky broke—
since Riley nearly died—
I saw it.
The ceiling.
This was the level.
This was what real power looked like.
And I was nowhere near it.
A broken laugh bubbled up from my chest, sharp and hysterical.
I had started to believe I was special.
That the system meant something.
That surviving, awakening, fighting meant I was chosen.
But standing there, watching an S-Rank fight an S+ rift like it was a personal argument—
I felt small.
A hunger sparked in my chest.
Hot. Violent.
I felt—
Useless.
Angry.
My fists clenched until my palms burned.
"If I get stronger," I whispered, voice trembling, "will it ever be enough?"
The system didn't answer.
The sky exploded again.
Golden light and violet darkness tore chunks out of each other above Aurelia City, shaking the foundations of the world.
And as I watched—helpless but burning—
One truth settled deep into my bones:
Humanity stood on the brink of extinction.
But we'd been given the power to become gods.
And I had just seen the first real soldier step onto the battlefield.