The change took effect immediately. Screams rose around them from every direction. It was not the grinding shrieks of buildings or the collapse of concrete but human voices filled with fear, panic, and something else layered with it. Something that sounded like excitement or ecstasy.
Steel rang against steel. Skills detonated in tight spaces. Someone laughed as another voice cut off abruptly.
The massacre had already begun.
The bold and cold ones moved first. Those who did not hesitate once the rules allowed it. They turned on their own kind without restraint, driven by the promise of faster power, better gear, and stronger skills.
Humanity did not crumble slowly. It just snapped like that.
People hunted people. Not out of hatred, but efficiency. A belief that killing first meant getting better power, so living longer.
They became savage beasts wrapped in human shapes.
Clyde felt his stomach twist. And the worst part was that he could not bring himself to hate them.
