The silence was worse than the screaming.
For a long time, I could only lie there, sprawled on cold stone, lungs dragging in air that tasted like rust and smoke. My blood clung to the floor in a sticky pool beneath me, mixing with the black ichor still steaming from the Devourer's corpse. The monster had collapsed into sludge, its bones dissolving into tar, its body vanishing like a nightmare forced back into whatever abyss it had crawled from.
It should have felt like triumph.
But all I felt was the weight pressing down on my chest, each breath an effort, each beat of my heart too loud in my ears. My body screamed with wounds, leg torn open, arms shredded, and blood loss making my vision fade in and out like a dying bulb.
The only anchor keeping me from slipping into the dark was his hand, still gripping mine. Even limp, even trembling, Lysander's fingers hadn't let go.
I forced myself to roll toward him, groaning with the effort. He was on his knees, blade still stabbed into the ground like it was the only thing holding him upright. His pale skin was smeared with blood and bile, hair plastered to his forehead, chest heaving in jagged breaths.
But his eyes… those goddamn eyes still burned.
He lifted them to me, silver catching the dying light, steady despite the wreckage of his body. The sight made my chest ache in a way I couldn't name.
"You alive?" His voice was rough, rasped raw by smoke and screaming.
"Barely." My laugh was broken, more blood than sound. "You?"
He let out something between a grunt and a chuckle, collapsing onto the ground beside me, still refusing to release my hand. "Alive enough."
We lay there in the wreckage, tethered by a grip that had survived everything. My mind floated in and out, drifting between pain and exhaustion, until a new sound cut through the silence.
Boots.
I forced my head up.
Figures emerged from the smoke at the edge of the chamber, weapons drawn, eyes wide as they took in the carnage. Hunters. Survivors. People who had been too far, too late to face the Devourer, and now they came to collect the aftermath.
At their front was a familiar face.
Kade.
The rival who had entered at the end of the first chapter, the one I had never forgotten, the one who had always sneered at me like I was something to be scraped from his boots. His armor was cleaner than it had any right to be, his dark eyes gleaming sharp as a blade.
"Well, well," he said, voice carrying through the ruined chamber. "Looks like the rats survived their little crawl through the beast's guts."
The others behind him muttered, some in awe, some in disgust, but none dared step closer yet. Their eyes kept flicking to the sludge, to the collapsed remains of the Devourer, to the two of us still lying broken but alive in the middle of it.
Kade's gaze dropped to our linked hands, his lip curling. "Cute."
I tightened my grip on Lysander's hand, not out of choice but instinct. My chest burned, rage simmering under exhaustion. "We killed it. Not you."
Kade's smile didn't reach his eyes. "And yet here we stand while you can barely move. Funny how victories look when you're too broken to keep them."
The bond pulsed, Lysander's silent fury brushing mine like fire catching on dry wood. His voice was steady, though his body trembled. "Step closer, Kade. Find out if I've got strength left to cut you down."
Kade didn't move, but the way his jaw tightened told me he heard the truth in Lysander's voice.
The System saved him from answering.
[ Aberration Terminated. ]
[ Rewards Pending Distribution. ]
[ World State Shift Detected. ]
The voice thundered inside all our heads at once, sharp and final. Light flared in the chamber, blinding white, and when it cleared, fragments of the shattered core hovered in the air—black crystal veined with silver. They floated weightless, pulsing faintly like dying embers.
Everyone froze.
[ Core Shards: 7. ]
[ Ownership: Contested. ]
[ Rule: Shards grant Aberration Authority. Claim or devour to evolve. ]
The shards hung above us like bait on hooks, humming with power that made my skin crawl. Every hunter in the chamber stared at them, hunger flickering in their eyes.
Even Lysander's gaze sharpened, silver flame catching in his pupils as if drawn to them. Through the bond, I felt the pull—an itch, a whisper, a need. The shards were temptation carved into crystal.
Kade broke the silence first, stepping forward slowly. "Looks like the System's offering prizes. Seems only fair the strong should take them."
"Strong?" My voice cracked, but I pushed myself upright anyway, glaring at him through the haze of blood loss. "You didn't fight. You didn't bleed. You didn't kill it."
He smirked, raising his hand toward the shards. "Doesn't matter. The System doesn't care about stories. Only power."
Lysander was on his feet before I even realized he had moved. His blade wasn't steady, his body shook like it might collapse any second, but his presence filled the chamber like a storm.
"You touch them," he said softly, "and you'll die before your fingers close."
The hunters behind Kade shifted uneasily. None dared move closer. The bond burned between us, his fury lashing against my veins, pulling me with him. My crowbar was still slick in my hand, but I raised it anyway, legs screaming as I forced myself up beside him.
[ Bond Synchronization: 71%. ]
[ Emergency Fusion I Available. ]
The shards pulsed again, brighter this time, almost impatient. The temptation clawed at my mind, urging me to take, to devour, to evolve. My fingers twitched, half-raising despite myself.
Through the bond, Lysander's voice cut through like steel. Not yet. Don't let it own you.
Kade laughed softly, though his eyes never left the shards. "We'll see how long you can resist. Power has a way of finding its rightful owner."
The chamber trembled again, different this time. Not the Devourer's death throes, but something deeper. A warning. A promise.
[ World State Updated. ]
[ Aberration Evolution Cycle Accelerated. ]
[ Next Cataclysm: 9 Days. ]
The System's voice was final, cold. Every hunter stiffened, breath catching, fear bleeding into the silence. Nine days. That was all we had before something worse came crawling out of the dark.
Kade's smirk faded into something colder, his eyes calculating. He lowered his hand, but not out of surrender—only patience. "Nine days, then. Let's see which of us survives long enough to claim what matters."
He turned, signaling his group, and they withdrew into the smoke, leaving the shards still pulsing in the air like the heartbeats of something that refused to die.
Only when they were gone did I let out the breath I had been holding. My legs gave way, body collapsing against the wall. Lysander caught me before I hit the ground, pulling me into his side despite his own shaking limbs.
We both stared at the shards, their glow casting shadows across our bloodied faces.
The bond throbbed, alive with hunger neither of us dared acknowledge.
The Devourer was dead. But its shards were alive.
And the real war had only just begun.