(Written by Rohit Malhotra)
The storm hadn't passed.
It was only gathering strength.
The bunker still vibrated with the echo of the alien's vanishing roar. Faint lights flickered above like nervous stars. Everything had calmed… but only on the surface.
Inside Ronin, something was far from calm.
Ruby leaned against the wall, one hand clutching her ribs, the other trembling. Her eyes stayed on him, wide, afraid.
"Ronin… something's wrong."
He didn't respond right away.
His skin was tingling. Not cold — warm. Like something alive was crawling just beneath the surface. His bones felt like they were humming. Not from fear. From energy.
It wasn't the walls buzzing anymore.
It was him.
And then it came.
Not a scream. Not a screech.
A deep, almost imperceptible vibration. It rippled through the floor like a distant earthquake. Ronin stiffened. The ground beneath them cracked in a perfect spiral. A black wound opened in space — twisting, warping the air itself.
A portal.
"No," Ronin muttered, stepping back. "Not again…"
But this was different. This wasn't like the others.
From the swirling blackness emerged a figure — massive, armored, almost regal in its presence. It stood eight feet tall, its skin a sheen of ridged metallic scales. Two horn-like structures curled from its shoulders to its back. Its eyes glowed blood-red, twin embers of purpose.
It didn't roar. It didn't snarl.
It just looked at Ronin.
As if… evaluating.
Then it moved.
In a blur, the creature lunged — faster than anything he'd seen before. Ronin tried to dodge, but the impact sent him flying into a steel wall. Sparks exploded around him as he slammed into the panel. Pain bloomed in his side, but he forced himself to rise.
He looked up just in time to see the alien turn.
Straight toward Ruby.
"No!" Ronin shouted, eyes wide.
She barely had time to move.
The alien charged — blade-arm raised, aiming to slice through her like paper.
Time slowed.
Ronin's instincts roared louder than his fear.
His hand lifted. Not out of thought — out of desperation.
And then—
BOOM!
A blinding wave of silver-blue energy blasted from his palm, colliding with the alien mid-air. The force threw it backward with the strength of a bomb. The ground cracked beneath it. The ceiling trembled.
But so did Ruby.
She had flown too — slammed into a wall and landed hard.
"Ruby!" Ronin rushed to her, dropping beside her. Her face was pale. Her left sleeve was soaked in blood. A jagged gash ran down her upper arm.
"No no no…" he whispered, pressing his hands around the wound.
She winced. "I'm okay…" she muttered. "What the hell was that…?"
Ronin looked at his hands.
They were… alive.
Glowing with the same energy that had exploded out of him. Pulsing with each beat of his heart.
"I don't know," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I didn't think. It just… happened."
She grabbed his wrist weakly. "It wasn't human, Ronin. That power… that wasn't human."
Before he could answer, a deep, guttural sound shook the air.
The alien stood again.
Its armor was cracked. Red energy leaked from between the scales like glowing blood. It lifted its head — and roared. The glass panel overhead shattered into dust. The lights burst out. Sparks rained down.
Ronin stood slowly.
Something had changed in his face.
He wasn't afraid.
He was angry.
"I don't care what you are," he said coldly. "You're not touching her again."
The alien responded with another charge.
But this time — Ronin didn't dodge.
He met it.
Their clash exploded in the center of the room. The alien brought its bladed arm down with crushing force — but Ronin caught it.
Barehanded.
Energy surged through the contact. Sparks flew. The floor cracked beneath their feet. But Ronin held firm.
"You're done," he growled through clenched teeth.
With a twist of pure power, he snapped the blade-arm at the joint — the sound of bone and steel breaking echoed like thunder.
The alien shrieked — a painful, screeching digital howl. Ronin didn't stop.
He stepped forward and struck — a glowing punch to the chest that sent the creature flying into the far wall. But he wasn't finished.
He followed it.
Ronin's feet barely touched the ground now. Energy whipped around him like a storm. Ancient symbols glowed across his arms — foreign, but somehow… familiar. His body hovered inches above the floor. Even the air around him vibrated.
The alien tried to swing.
Ronin blocked it effortlessly and, in response, unleashed a beam of silver light from his chest — pure force.
The alien was thrown back again — slammed into the steel wall so hard, it crumpled behind it.
It didn't get up.
Ronin walked forward, chest rising and falling, glowing veins still flickering under his skin.
"This is Earth," he said softly. "And you don't belong here."
He raised his hand once more.
The light gathered in his palm, then erupted in a final blast — pure, focused, and devastating.
The alien disintegrated.
Ash and silence remained.
Ronin staggered back. His knees gave out.
He dropped, gasping for breath.
Not because he was hurt — but because of what he had just done.
He looked at his hands again.
Still faintly glowing. Still not normal.
Behind him, Ruby stirred.
She was sitting up now, holding her bleeding arm, eyes wide. But she wasn't looking at the wound.
She was looking at him.
Her voice was soft. "You…"
He turned, slowly.
"You were flying," she whispered. "Your hands were made of light."
"I know," Ronin said, shaking his head. "I didn't ask for this, Ruby. I didn't choose it."
"I believe you," she said. "But… it's inside you now. Whatever this is — alien tech, god, mutation — it's in you."
Ronin knelt beside her.
"I only wanted to protect you," he said, his voice cracking.
"And you did," she replied. "But Ronin…"
She paused.
"…you scared me."
Those three words cut deeper than any blade.
Ronin looked away, ashamed. His glowing hands trembled.
"I scared myself too."
A silence passed between them. Not empty — heavy.
Finally, she whispered, "You're not just Ronin anymore… are you?"
He didn't respond.
Because he didn't know the answer.
Something inside him had awakened — something ancient, powerful, and terrifying.
And it wasn't going back to sleep.
He stood slowly, looking at the bunker walls — once safe, now scorched and broken.
Then down at his hands.
The glow was fading.
But not gone.
Ruby watched him rise.
And she wondered — was the boy she loved still in there?
Or had something else… taken his place?
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