The beast in the valley had a name.
Everyone on Deoxy knew it.
Not an official one. Official names did not last long out here.
A soldier's name.
A survivor's name.
Gravecoil Tyrant.
Because wherever it settled, people died.
It lay coiled among broken trees, dark scales swallowing the light. Heat shimmered faintly between its jaws with every slow breath. It did not roar. Did not threaten.
It waited.
Voss stepped forward. His shard armor hummed as systems came online. Plates shifted and locked, the medieval shape tightening into something solid and brutal. Thin red lines of light pulsed between segments, fed by the Mutant Shard in his chest.
He glanced back once.
"Non essential personnel fall back."
The nearby soldiers hesitated.
"Administrator-"
"This thing will kill you," Voss said flatly.
Silence.
"Your mutations will not matter. Your rifles will not matter. You will only slow us down."
Not cruel.
Just true.
"Pull back to safe distance. Now."
Training won. The troops retreated toward the dropship, tense but disciplined.
Ilya bounced lightly in place, grinning. "Good. More room."
Voss ignored him.
"Carrow. Blind it. Slow it."
Carrow lowered his visor. "Understood."
"Hale. Ready the cannon."
Behind them, the massive Pulse Cannon powered up, energy feeding from a ring of crystalline housings at its base.
Twenty Mutant Shards.
Single use.
After firing at this level, each shard would burn out permanently.
Extremely expensive.
Doctor Selene had formally requested the spent shards afterward for research, insisting even "dead" shards might still be usable. Hale had nearly refused on principle before realizing the request carried official authorization.
The cannon hummed as it drew power.
Voss looked at Eli.
"My lord, stay back."
Eli did not answer.
Voss took that as agreement.
Then he jumped.
He hit the valley floor like a falling building.
Rock exploded outward. A crater formed beneath him.
The Gravecoil Tyrant reacted instantly.
Its head snapped toward him, eyes narrowing as it recognized a threat inside its territory.
Voss rose from the crater, debris sliding off his armor.
"Come on," he said.
The beast uncoiled.
Its length kept unfolding, far larger than it first appeared. Each movement tore trenches in the ground.
Then it attacked.
A claw struck Voss head on, sending him skidding across the valley in a shower of sparks before he smashed through a stone formation that shattered on impact.
He stood again.
"Good," he muttered.
Carrow fired.
The beam hit the creature's eye—
and curved.
Not deflected. Controlled.
The light bent around scale ridges and converged inside the eye socket.
The eye exploded from within.
The Tyrant recoiled, thrashing violently.
Carrow fired again.
The beam split into several strands, each slipping through gaps in the armor to burn into joints along the forelimb. Muscle burned. Tendons failed.
Precise.
Efficient.
Light followed his will.
"Opening," Ilya shouted, already moving.
He vanished in a blur, ground exploding where he pushed off. He reached the beast's side almost instantly, blades cutting across weakened scales.
Molten fragments sprayed.
He darted beneath the body, slicing tendon clusters in the rear leg before launching away just as a claw slammed down.
He skidded to a stop, boots smoking.
"Still moving."
"Target locked," Hale said.
The cannon fired.
A column of pale energy erupted forward, dragging debris inward as it traveled. It struck the Tyrant directly.
Light swallowed the valley.
Shockwaves flattened everything nearby. Trees vanished. Stone melted.
When the brightness faded, a massive crater remained.
Smoke drifted upward.
Then something moved inside it.
The Tyrant rose.
Burned. Bleeding. One horn broken. Large sections of armor destroyed.
Alive.
Angry.
A deep sound rolled from its throat.
"…Naturally," Hale said.
The beast lunged forward with sudden speed.
Ilya moved to intercept.
The tail hit him mid run.
The impact sounded like an explosion.
He flew into a cliff face, cracking stone before collapsing to the ground.
"Ilya is down," Hale shouted.
No movement.
But not dead.
The Tyrant turned toward Voss.
Claws slammed down, forcing Voss to one knee as the ground collapsed beneath the impact. His armor strained under the load.
The creature opened its jaws. Energy gathered for a killing blast.
Then Eli hit it.
He slammed into the side of its head, knocking the aim off just enough for the beam to scorch empty ground instead of vaporizing Voss.
They separated.
Faced each other.
Up close, the heat from the beast felt like standing in front of a furnace.
It attacked again.
Eli caught its lower jaw with both hands. His boots dug into the soil as he struggled to hold it back. The ground cracked under the strain.
For a moment, he stopped it.
"Move," he said quietly.
Voss rolled away.
The Tyrant surged forward.
Claws raked across Eli's torso, drawing blood and throwing him through a rock formation that exploded on impact.
He stood.
But slower.
Each exchange pushed him back further. The beast adapted quickly, strikes becoming more precise.
Another hit sent him sliding across the battlefield.
He started to rise—
but the creature was already there.
Jaws opening.
Energy building.
A massive armored shape crashed into its side.
Voss drove forward with everything his suit could produce. His gauntlet punched deep into exposed tissue between shattered scales.
"NOT YET!"
Servos screamed. The shard in his chest blazed with light.
He twisted violently.
Something tore inside the creature.
The Tyrant convulsed. The energy in its throat collapsed into sparks as its body spasmed.
It fell sideways, shaking the ground as it hit.
Silence.
Steam vented from Voss's armor.
"…Stay down," he said hoarsely.
It did.
Hale approached carefully and cut into the corpse. After a tense moment, he pulled free a jagged crystal the size of a heart.
It pulsed faintly.
A Mutant Crystal.
He handed it to Eli.
"My lord."
Eli took it.
Warm.
Alive.
The instant his skin made full contact, a translucent interface appeared before his eyes.
[External Genetic Core Detected]
Origin: Gravecoil Tyrant — Apex Deoxy Variant
Energy Density: EXTREME
Two options appeared:
➤ Integrate Crystal for Permanent Chimera System Power Source
➤ Absorb Gene Template
Wind swept across the ruined valley.
No one else reacted.
No one else could see it.
Eli stared at the glowing crystal in his hand.
Waiting.