Dozens more crows surged into the store, shrieking, filling the ceiling like a storm cloud with teeth.
Elias's chest heaved, his reflection shattering in the pools of blood around him. He didn't know if he was breathing or growling. The voices in his skull rose louder, feathered wings beating against his thoughts.
They left you. You are not theirs. You are ours.
The last thing he saw before the murder of crows closed in—
—was the little girl's face in the rain outside.
Terror. Tears.
And judgment.
"Monster."
That word still burned in Elias's skull when the ceiling came alive.
Wings slammed into him from every angle, a storm of feathers and claws. The air stank of oil and rot, every shriek drilling into his bones.
For a heartbeat, panic surged, he was drowning, too many, too fast.
Then his body moved.
Not away. Through.
He roared, shoving upward, crows scattering like torn cloth. His shoulder drove into one's chest, his hand crushing another's skull as he vaulted across the ruined counter. Talons scored his cheek, warm blood streaking his lips. His tongue flicked instinctively, tasting copper and fire.
The hunger sang.
[ Shard Fragments Absorbed: +0.3 ]
[ Corruption: 2.5% → 3.1% ]
The System's burn licked behind his eyes, and with it came clarity sharper than the storm. He saw the next attack before it landed. The angle of the talons. The exact weight of the bird diving. He slid beneath it, his hand snapping up, grabbing its spine mid-flight, twisting until it cracked like wet wood.
The others swarmed, shrieking, smothering him in black wings.
"Get off!" His voice broke into a growl as he surged forward. His legs coiled, muscles tearing at the seams of his jeans, and he exploded through the glass doors in a spray of shards.
The night swallowed him whole.
Rain hammered down, slicking the streets in oil-black shine. Neon signs sputtered weakly through the storm. The world smelled of ozone, gasoline, blood.
The survivors were already half a block away, sprinting through the sheets of rain. Their cries blurred with the thunder. Elias's gut twisted. He should have run with them. Should have—
Wings screamed overhead.
He spun just in time.
A crow the size of a wolf dove out of the storm, beak jagged like a blade. Elias's instincts ripped control from his hands, his arm lashed upward, black feathers tearing through his forearm again, forming a jagged spear that met the monster mid-air.
SHRRK!
The crow split across his strike, dissolving into ash before its pieces hit the pavement.
Elias staggered, clutching his arm as the feather dissolved. His flesh knitted back together in wet, wrong pulses.
The whispers purred.
More. Don't stop. You were never prey. You are the storm.
Another crow barreled from the side. Elias pivoted, faster than thought; boot slamming into its skull, hurling it into a storefront window. Glass shattered. The bird's body smeared down the wall, leaving streaks of smoke and blood.
His heart thundered with something other than fear now. His breaths tore in ragged, exhilarated gasps. His muscles trembled, not with exhaustion, but with the afterglow of violence.
And under the storm, he could hear it.
The survivors' heartbeats.
Distant. Racing. Fragile.
He almost turned toward them.
Almost chased.
The thought snapped him in half with horror.
"No…" His whisper vanished into rain. He clutched his head, stumbling backward as more birds circled overhead. "I'm not— I won't—"
The System disagreed.
[ Predator Threshold Approaching ]
[ Instinct Override Imminent ]
Lightning split the sky. The crows swirled in a cyclone above, their eyes red pinpricks in the storm. Their formation tightened, a spiral of wings funneling downward.
And then—
They scattered.
The night fell quiet, except for the rain and Elias's uneven breaths.
He blinked, chest heaving. The absence of sound was worse than the shrieking had been.
Then he saw it.
High above, perched on a broken signboard, was something wrong. Humanoid, hunched, its feathers slick with oil, its ribcage cracked open to reveal a faint red glow. One eye socket was a hollow pit, leaking ash. Its remaining eye burned bright and fixed, intelligent, staring at him with focus that froze his lungs.
The Mighty Crow.
[ Predator-Class Entity Detected ]
[ Risk Level: LETHAL ]
Elias's instincts screamed to flee. The lesser crows had obeyed that same instinct, vanishing into the rooftops, wings beating into the night.
But Elias didn't move.
His lips twitched. His tongue flicked over the blood streaking his fingers.
A smile crawled across his face.
He didn't know if it was his.
The Predator descended, each step slow, deliberate, talons sparking on wet asphalt.
Elias's chest swelled with terror. And hunger.
He raised his fists.
Rain drummed around them. The storm was no longer just outside. It was in him.
And when the Mighty Crow lunged, Elias lunged too.
The Mighty Crow struck first.
Its wing cut the air like a blade. Asphalt split beneath the force as Elias rolled back, shards of stone slicing his palms. He barely had time to breathe before the monster's beak shot forward, jagged like a spear.
Instinct seized him.
His body twisted, his arm lashing up—feathers bursting from his flesh in a jagged spear of black bone. The strike met the beak head-on. A crack of impact split the night, the shockwave rattling broken windows for half a block.
For a heartbeat, Elias held it back.
He shoved forward with a roar, feathers driving deep into the creature's cheek. Black ichor sprayed across the street, sizzling in the rain.
The System flared:
[ Predator Health: -5% ]
Elias's chest swelled. He was winning. He could win—
The Crow moved.
Faster than its size should allow, its other wing scythed across the street. Elias barely saw it before it slammed into him. The impact hurled him like a ragdoll into a parked car. Metal screamed, folding around him. His ribs cracked like twigs.
He gagged blood, staggering out of the wreckage.
[ Critical Damage Sustained ]
[ Corruption Surge: 3.1% → 4.7% ]
The whispers purred.
Don't stop. Don't falter. We can break it. We can consume it. Feed us.
The Predator stalked forward, dragging its broken wing across the asphalt. Sparks hissed in the rain. Its single burning eye never left him.
Elias roared, sprinting forward. His claws lashed. He drove one hand deep into its chest feathers, ripping chunks free, tearing black ichor down its side.
The Crow screamed; a sound like steel shrieking underwater, and its talon punched into his shoulder, skewering through flesh and bone.
Pain tore white across his vision.
He clawed back anyway. His other hand slammed into the beast's face, gouging at its eye. He felt it give; soft, wet, and the Predator reeled back with a scream that shook the air.
[ Predator Health: -12% ]
[ Predator Status: Blinded (1 Eye) ]
For a heartbeat, triumph surged through Elias's chest.
But then the Crow's wing smashed down.
The world inverted. He felt himself lifted, hurled. Glass shattered as his body punched through a storefront window. He landed in a storm of shards, coughing blood, his arm twisted at a wrong angle.
[ Warning: Bone Fracture Detected ]
[ Vital Signs: 42% ]
The shard pulsed in his skull, hotter now, stronger. With every beat of his heart it whispered louder.
Let go. Stop resisting. You enjoy this. Admit it.
His reflection caught his eye in the glass beneath him. His veins were black lightning beneath his skin. His grin stretched too wide. Blood painted his teeth.
He didn't recognize himself.
But when the Predator came crashing through the storefront, he surged up again, broken arm hanging loose, the other mutating into a jagged feather-blade, pulsing with hunger.
They clashed.
The fight spilled out into the street again, a storm of claws, wings, and blood. Elias ripped out feathers and muscle. The Predator battered him against walls, dragged him across the pavement, slammed him into the ground until cracks spread like spiderwebs beneath his body.
Every wound Elias inflicted was answered tenfold. His body tore itself apart and knit back together in jerks of wrong muscle. His hunger grew every time blood touched his tongue.
The whispers laughed in rhythm with his heartbeat.
Yes. Smile. This is what you wanted. You don't want it to end.
By the time the Predator pinned him beneath its talons, Elias's body was barely his own. One leg bent the wrong way. His ribs were shattered, jutting sharp beneath his skin. His vision flickered red and black.
The System delivered its verdict:
[ Vital Signs Critical ]
[ Combat Efficiency: <10% ]
[ Survival Odds: <1% ]
The Crow leaned close, its burning eye filling his vision, its beak opening wide over his throat.
The shard screamed in his skull.
Die as prey, or rise as us. Choose.
But Elias had no strength left.
The rain soaked into his blood as his head fell back. His last sight was the Predator's shadow eclipsing the sky.
And the last sound was the shard whispering one word—
Ours.
___________________
AT:
Chapter 5 is usually where readers decide whether to keep going. If you're still here, you're one of the ones who get it. Let's build this nightmare together.
Power stones, comments; they're the fuel that keeps me pushing deeper.
Big Thanks.