The night air hit them like a slap, filled with smoke and ash. For the first time since the chaos began, Leon and the survivors stood outside the building, staring at the broken city. Flames licked the sky from distant towers, car alarms wailed uselessly into the dark, and somewhere far off, a scream was cut short.
Some dropped to their knees, sobbing. Others staggered into the open street, clutching their wounds or their friends. For a moment, there was silence—just the hollow breath of a city that had already died.
Then came the sound.
A groaning crunch of metal twisting under pressure. The crowd turned as the doors behind them shuddered, and from the wreckage, it stepped out. It was not like the smaller creatures they had just fled. It was taller, broader, its frame swaying with an unnatural weight. The horde inside had been wild animals, but this one was… calm.
Behind it followed the rest of the horde, attacking anyone they laid their eyes on
Its gaze swept over the survivors—and then stopped. Dead center. On Leon.
No one spoke at first. Then a trembling voice broke the silence. "Why…why isn't it coming for us?"
"Who cares run!!" Another voice shouted, because even if it didn't attack them the smaller ones would.
The rest of the crowd ran off leaving Leon and Lara who were now face to face with the creature.
Leon felt it before he understood it: that pressure, that suffocating focus bearing down on him alone. The monster ignored the others, stepping past them as ran they were nothing.
It hadn't come out to hunt. It had come out for him.
In a blur, it vanished from sight, reappearing behind Leon. Its right hand gleamed under the fractured sky, and the air crackled as it brought the blackened limb downward with enough force to break bone.
In that instant, Leon shoved Lara aside before steadying himself and spinning on his heel. His other hand shot out instinctively, catching the attack head-on. He buckled under the force of the blow, but his legs didn't give out. He stood firm.
The creature let out a croaking sound, seeming confused, but its confusion didn't last long.
Leon was barely holding on when the creature delivered a solid kick to his side, sending him flying across the pavement.
He tried to push himself up, his arms trembling under his own weight. Every breath stabbed at his ribs, but he refused to stay down. The creature was already looming over him, its crooked form blotting out the ruined skyline.
It raised its leg again, talons scraping the pavement, ready to stomp him flat. Leon rolled just in time; the ground split where he'd been a second earlier. Dust and shards of stone rained over his back.
Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to his feet, blood dripping from his lip. His vision was blurry, but his eyes locked onto the creature's twisted frame.
It made that croaking noise again—louder this time, frustrated.
The creature lowered itself, muscles coiling as it prepared to lunge. But before it could strike, something cut across its path. Not an attack—just a figure.
Lara.
Her silver hair whipped in the dusty wind, her purple eyes locked on the monster as tears streamed from them. She was afraid, not of the monster, but of the fact that Leon was probably going to die. She hadn't struck, hadn't even raised a weapon—yet the creature faltered, not in fear but in confusion.
Why was this person blocking him from his meal? The creature felt no emotion; its only instinct was to feed. But its prey was being shielded. This stirred something within it—not anger, not hate, just a violent urge to remove the obstacle and sink its teeth into Leon's warm flesh.
The monster loomed, its grotesque form blotting out what little light remained. Instinct told Lara she should move, should run—but she wouldn't. She would rather die a thousand times over than let Leon get hurt. She turned her head slightly, her eyes catching Leon's. A soft smile curved her lips, faint but steady, as if she'd already made peace.
"Goodbye…" she whispered.
Leon's breath caught.
The creature didn't hesitate. With a guttural roar, it surged forward. Its arm lashed out in a blur, claws cutting the air, and the impact sent Lara crashing into the pavement with bone-shaking force.
"Lara!" Leon's voice cracked as her body skidded across the ground. For a moment, he couldn't breathe, couldn't think—then the memories hit. Her laughter, the countless times she'd trusted him to protect her, the way she always clung to him. All of it ignited at once.
Something inside him snapped. His vision tunneled, rage drowning every other thought. The creature turned its gaze back toward him, but it was too late—Leon was already moving.
The creature's eyes darted around, trying to lock onto Leon's figure, but every time it turned, Leon was already somewhere else. It lashed out wildly, claws slicing through the night—until suddenly, it froze.
Its vision blurred. A sharp, alien pain tore through its arm. It looked down, confused, just in time to see its right hand hit the ground with a wet thud.
For a moment, the creature didn't even understand. Then its head snapped up.
Leon stood across from it, still as stone. But he wasn't empty-handed anymore. In his grip was a sword—not made of metal or steel. The blade was crimson, gleaming wetly as though it had been pulled straight from a vein. The weapon pulsed faintly, alive, its edge whispering with a hunger of its own.
And Leon… Leon's eyes were wrong. Both pupils had narrowed into vertical slits, reptilian, gleaming with the deep red of blood. They were not human—something entirely other, something that looked back at the creature with predatory disdain, hatred, and bloodlust.
For the first time, the monster hesitated.
It instinctively stepped back. Something gnawed at the edges of its mind, a whisper slithering through the sound of its hunger. A voice—rasped from the dark corners of its instincts—telling it to stop. To run.
The creature had never felt fear before. It didn't know what fear was. But it hated this feeling of oppression, this suffocating weight pressing down on its very being. Every instinct screamed at it to fight back, to tear apart the source of that pressure, to destroy Leon before this suffocating presence consumed it whole.
It roared, a guttural, ear-splitting sound that shattered windows and rattled the ground beneath their feet. Muscles bulged in its remaining arm, and its body tensed for another charge.
It lunged at Leon, its claw flashing in a frenzy of speed and desperation. But Leon didn't brace; he didn't even raise his sword. He shifted his weight a fraction, sliding one step aside.
The creature flew past him. For a heartbeat, it thought it had missed. Then its world tilted.
A thin red line traced itself across its neck, glowing faintly against the black flesh. Its body stumbled forward, arms still reaching, before its head slipped free, tumbling to the ground with a dull, final thud.
[+1 Skiver Ravager killed]
[17 kills Left]
Leon exhaled slowly, eyes narrowing as he lowered the crimson blade.
He watched as the sword melted back to nothing, the crimson edge unraveling into a mist that hissed and curled before sinking into his skin. In seconds, it was gone—as if it had never been there at all.
Leon flexed his fingers, staring at the faint red veins still pulsing along his arm. His breath came heavy, but steady, the rage still simmering beneath his chest. The lizard-like glow in his eyes lingered until, at last, it began to fade.
Then his eyes shifted, almost against his will—toward where Lara had fallen.
The battlefield was silent now, except for the settling of dust and the faint hiss of Leon's breath. The monster's body lay broken behind him, but Leon didn't care. His feet carried him forward, his heart pounding in his chest, until he dropped to his knees beside Lara.
She was broken and bloodied, her breathing shallow, but her eyes still found him. Still smiling, as if pain itself couldn't take that away.
"Leon... Don't look at me like that," she whispered, her voice trembling.
Leon's throat tightened. His hands hovered uselessly over her body, searching for wounds he couldn't heal, answers he didn't have.
'How do I save her?'
The question clawed at his mind. Then, suddenly, something clicked. The thought was reckless, absurd—yet it sounded crazy enough to work.
His jaw clenched. And before he could second-guess it, Leon bit down hard on his tongue. Blood filled his mouth, hot and metallic.
"Leon—what are you—" Lara gasped, wide-eyed, as he bent down.
He silenced her with his lips.
At first, she froze, shock flashing in her eyes. But then the taste of his blood reached her, and the kiss deepened. She stiffened, then melted against him, her fingers twitching weakly against his chest. She could have pulled back, could have refused—but instead, her eyes fluttered shut, and a faint, breathless moan escaped her. Whatever protests she'd had vanished into the desperate press of his lips.
When he finally pulled away, his blood still staining her mouth. She stared up at him, dazed, breathing unevenly. Her smile was sharper now, possessive, almost feverish. She looked like she had achieved a life long goal.
Then the moment was interrupted.
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