The creature's head scraped the underside of a walkway as it rose, crystal plates grinding like tectonic stone. Light shimmered from its surface in fractured shards, each movement rippling through the warped skyline. A fan of abyssal eyes blazed white across its skull, all unblinking, all wrong.
Hunters faltered. Civilians screamed and scattered in every direction. The avenue shuddered as the thing planted itself, claws digging furrows through the pavement.
Selindra's voice cut sharp. "Secondary entity confirmed."
Varik's blade tilted low, point grazing fractured asphalt. His voice didn't rise, didn't strain. "Containment."
Lucen tilted his head. "Containment? That thing looks like it wants to redecorate the skyline."
Neither of them answered him.
Varik moved first. He didn't charge; he didn't need to. Each step sank into the street, aura slamming outward in waves that made bystanders stumble. His blade rose, gleaming faint with channeled mana, and when it cut downward the air itself seemed to fracture.
The colossus staggered back. A diagonal seam ripped across its chest, shards of crystal scattering like shattered glass.
Hunters gasped. Some even cheered, too early.
The wound glowed. Plates regrew in jagged spikes, knitting themselves back together before the shards had even hit the ground. The colossus roared, a sound like stone avalanching through steel pipes. Windows burst up and down the block, glass raining like knives.
'Cute trick,' Lucen thought, smirking faintly. 'Self-repair. Bet it thinks that makes it immortal.'
He flicked his hand and cast [Shockweave Bolt]. Arcs split from his palm, snapping into a cluster of smaller crawlers that had slithered free of the cracks around the colossus's feet. Their bodies convulsed and smoked as they collapsed.
[+40 EXP]
Selindra spun, staff cracking down to shatter the skull of another crawler. "Lucen. Support fire only."
Lucen raised both hands innocently. "That was support. Look at me supporting."
Her eyes narrowed, but she turned back to the map of monsters spilling from the rupture.
Hunters scrambled under her orders, forming perimeters, trying to funnel civilians northwest through the chaos.
Sigils flared around Selindra as she swept her staff, barriers rising like walls of green light across alleys and side streets. Every motion was precise, clinical, nothing wasted.
Lucen leaned against a broken signpost and watched her for half a heartbeat, grinning.
'Efficient. Cold. And definitely measuring me while she pretends not to.'
Another roar ripped that thought apart. The colossus swung its arm down, smashing a row of transports into twisted wreckage. Flames leapt from ruptured fuel lines, smoke curling black across the sky.
Varik didn't flinch. His next swing cleaved the colossus's arm from elbow to claw, the entire appendage crashing into a tower wall with enough force to crater the concrete.
Hunters shouted in awe.
The colossus howled. Light burned through its stump as crystal flesh regrew, plates forcing outward with unnatural speed. In seconds, its arm was back, thicker, sharper, spikes jutting from the joints.
Lucen whistled low. "Persistent bastard."
Selindra snapped her staff and a glyph grid bloomed across the street, force barriers slamming up in a dome to shield evacuating civilians from the falling debris. She didn't even look at Lucen when she barked, "Stop gawking. Control the flanks."
Lucen sighed theatrically, then flicked his wrist. Mana surged up his veins, cold and sharp.
[Frost Spire.]
The street ruptured ahead, jagged ice spearing upward in a perfect pillar that skewered three of the crawlers mid-lunge. Their bodies spasmed, chitin cracking before they froze solid and split.
Selindra shot him a glance. "Reckless."
Lucen grinned. "Support fire."
Her jaw tightened.
The colossus roared again and slammed its body forward, smashing through a tower lobby. Steel supports bent and groaned. The entire high-rise tilted, glass raining as the monster dragged itself through.
Hunters screamed for civilians to clear.
Varik met the monster's advance head-on. His blade swung, light blurring, a strike so heavy the very air shrieked. The colossus staggered again, half its torso cleaved open, only for crystal to blossom instantly across the wound, plates twisting outward like jagged armor.
Selindra's voice snapped. "It's adaptive. The longer this drags, the harder it becomes to wound."
Lucen smirked faintly. 'Adaptive crystal plating. Cute. I wonder what it does when the damage is more than it can regenerate.'
He lifted his hand, mana condensing hot against his palm.
[Piercing Flare.]
A beam of condensed light ripped out, spearing the colossus clean through one of its blazing eyes. The monster reared back, bellowing, half its head shattering into molten shards.
Hunters cheered again.
Then the rift above them shuddered.
The air warped, bending light, sound, even pressure. The colossus froze mid-roar, all its eyes turning, not toward Varik. Toward Lucen.
Every gaze locked on him.
'…That's new.'
Varik noticed. His eyes flicked to Lucen, unreadable, before returning to the beast.
Selindra misread it instantly. "Damn it, Lucen, stop drawing aggro!"
Lucen let his hand drop, feigning innocence. "What? I sneezed."
The colossus roared, crystal plates flaring outward like wings. It lunged, earth splitting beneath its bulk as it charged, straight at Lucen.
Varik blurred forward, intercepting, blade slamming down. The impact cracked the pavement into spiderweb fractures. Hunters nearby staggered from the shockwave.
Selindra's voice hit sharp through her comms. "Evacuation corridor breached. Reinforcement squads Alpha through Gamma to perimeter collapse! Now!"
Lucen rolled his shoulders, cracking his neck.
'Support fire only, huh?'
Mana surged, his system interface flickering.
[Mana Pool: 245/350]
He grinned up at the skyscraper-sized beast as its roar bent glass towers inward, shaking the city like thunder.
'Support fire it is. Until I get bored.'
—
The colossus's roar bent glass towers inward, the vibration running like a low earthquake through Lucen's bones. Shards rained down around him, sparkling in the fractured light.
Lucen grinned up at it. 'Support fire only. Sure. Until I get bored.'
The beast thundered forward. Its claws sank into the pavement, splitting asphalt in jagged waves. Crystal light burned across its chest where Varik had cut it, and all of its eyes locked on Lucen as though nothing else existed.
He let mana coil in his palms, humming faintly against his skin. "Alright then. Show me what you've got, big guy."
Varik blurred between them, blade slamming downward. The impact detonated a shockwave that hurled smaller crawlers into walls. The colossus reeled, half its torso caving in under the strike, then regrew instantly, shards spiraling outward like jagged wings.
[+2,500 EXP]
Lucen smirked. 'Didn't even land the finishing blow and I still get credit. Not bad.'
Selindra's voice snapped across the chaos. "Lucen! Fall back to the flank, now!"
He raised a hand lazily, crackling arcs already spilling between his fingers. "Working on it."
[Shockweave Bolt.]
Lightning snapped outward, splitting midair into half a dozen forks that tore through a crawling wave spilling from beneath the colossus's legs. Bodies convulsed, twitched, and dropped, smoking on shattered glass.
[+50 EXP]
[+50 EXP]
[+50 EXP]
[+50 EXP]
[+50 EXP]
[+50 EXP]
Lucen flicked his wrist, brushing sparks off his glove. 'These things are practically pocket change. No wonder hunters grind these breaks like it's a side job.'
The colossus bellowed, and its claws swept wide, smashing through a tower lobby and scattering hunters like ragdolls. Concrete supports groaned, the building listing.
Selindra didn't flinch. Her staff slammed down, glyphs flaring in green arcs that snapped into barriers around the injured. Her commands cracked out, clipped and merciless. "Sector Four perimeter, close it now! Evacuation squads keep civilians moving!"
Her gaze cut toward Lucen again. "I said flank!"
Lucen tilted his head. "I'm flanking."
Then he grinned, planted both feet, and slammed his palms to the pavement.
[Crater Bloom.]
Mana coiled tight, then detonated upward. Asphalt exploded in a shockwave ring, the concussive blast hurling crawlers in all directions. A half dozen shattered against walls, limbs snapping under the force.
[+200 EXP]
[+200 EXP]
[+200 EXP]
[+200 EXP]
[+200 EXP]
[+200 EXP]
Selindra's jaw clenched. "You reckless—"
"Support fire," Lucen cut in, grinning.
Varik didn't look at either of them. He moved like inevitability, blade carving arcs that weren't strikes so much as verdicts. Every swing erased something, crystal shards, monster flesh, air pressure itself.
The colossus roared again, its massive head snapping downward. Plates unfolded like jaws, light burning at its core.
Lucen's grin widened. "Ah. Laser breath. Classic."
The blast tore free, a pillar of molten crystal energy screaming down the street. Hunters dove for cover. Selindra slammed her staff into the ground, a barrier grid flaring.
Lucen didn't move.
'Let's see if you can take this one.'
[Cataclysm Vector.]
Lines of crimson light erupted around him, jagging into the sky, folding in on themselves. The beam struck the vectors mid-collapse, twisted, and bent. The blast warped sideways, dragged into a spiraling funnel that crushed its own energy inward before detonating above the rooftops.
The thunderclap rattled teeth. Smoke rained down in heavy clouds.
Hunters stared, wide-eyed.
Selindra's eyes cut toward him, sharp enough to wound. "What part of support was that?"
Lucen spread his hands. "The supportive part where I saved your barrier from melting?"
[+5,000 EXP]
The colossus staggered, half its chest smoking from feedback, but it didn't fall. Instead, it screamed, a sound that rattled every window still standing. From cracks across its body, smaller creatures began to spill, birthed from its own crystal flesh.
Dozens. Maybe hundreds.
Hunters faltered at the sight. Civilians screamed. The avenue began to drown in skittering limbs.
Selindra barked, "Perimeter collapse in under a minute! All squads, hold your lines!"
Varik's voice, calm, steady. "Lucen."
Lucen cocked his head. "Yeah?"
"Clear the swarm."
Lucen grinned. "With pleasure."
He raised both hands. Mana poured out, bright and crackling.
[Ignition Burst.]
Flame detonated outward from his body, a shockwave of heat that incinerated the nearest dozen crawlers instantly.
[+50 EXP] ×12
[+600 EXP]
[Soundlash.]
A whip of compressed sound cracked, snapping across a cluster, shattering them into twitching heaps.
[+50 EXP] ×8
[+400 EXP]
Lucen laughed under his breath, mana thrumming in his veins, his system window pulsing in the corner of his vision. The swarm collapsed around him like grass cut short.
The colossus staggered forward again, Varik meeting its bulk with another swing. The sound of steel through stone echoed like judgment itself.
Selindra's commands rang sharp, cold, unbreakable. "Civilians clear! Hunters, maintain perimeter!"
Lucen stood in the middle of the ruined street, smoke curling off his coat, grinning like a man who hadn't heard the word containment in his life.
The colossus roared again, eyes burning, but Lucen only cracked his knuckles.
'Almost level 41. One more good hit should do it.'
He raised his hand. Mana flared hot against his skin.
"Alright, big guy," he murmured, smile sharp. "Your turn."