The golden light changed.
Until now, it had been wild—blazing arcs, explosive impacts, power unleashed in violent defiance of the sky itself. But suddenly, it focused.
All that radiance condensed into a single, razor-thin point, locked onto the monster's chest.
The S+ Rift entity reacted instantly.
It unleashed everything.
Violet spheres screamed through the air in relentless waves. Tendrils of warped gravity lashed outward. Space twisted, folded, screamed as the monster fought back with the desperation of something that knew—knew—it was finally being hurt.
And still—
He dodged.
Not barely. Not frantically.
Effortlessly.
Golden afterimages scattered through the sky as he slipped between annihilation, moving with infuriating calm. A blast shaved past his shoulder, close enough to vaporize a chunk of cloud. Another tore through the space where his head had been a heartbeat earlier.
Then—
He struck.
The golden point punched forward.
It didn't explode.
It pierced.
The light broke what should never have been broken—sliding through the monster's supposedly unbreakable hide like it was wet paper. No resistance. No hesitation.
Straight through.
The world went silent.
Not quiet.
Empty.
Sound vanished. Wind died. Even the ever-present hum of the rift collapsed into nothingness.
For half a second, reality forgot how to exist.
Then the rift reopened above us—wide, violent, furious.
The S+ Rift monster screamed.
It wasn't a roar this time.
It was panic.
Its massive body began to collapse inward, folding in on itself like a wound being stitched shut by something that hated the flesh beneath it. Violet lightning snapped inward, devouring itself, coils of energy dragging the monster apart from the inside out.
The pressure crushing my lungs lifted all at once.
I collapsed forward, palms scraping against broken asphalt as my body remembered how to breathe.
I gagged.
Air slammed back into my chest—sharp, painful, glorious. I sucked it in like I'd been drowning my whole life and only just surfaced.
Above Aurelia City, the torn sky convulsed one last time—
—and vanished.
No explosion. No victory flare.
Just absence.
Clouds rushed in to fill the gap, thick and gray, like the sky was embarrassed to show what had been underneath.
For a long moment, nobody spoke.
The monster—
that thing—
was gone.
Not retreating. Not dispersing.
Gone.
What remained told the story better than words ever could.
Entire city blocks had been flattened into smooth, glassy craters. Skyscrapers leaned at impossible angles, their upper floors shaved clean off like they'd been sliced by an invisible blade. Fires burned without smoke. Cars lay twisted into shapes that no longer deserved to be called vehicles.
Aurelia City—already wounded, already struggling to recover—looked like it had picked a fight with a god.
And lost.
At the center of it all—
He stood.
The man who ended it.
He hovered a few meters above the ground, golden light fading from his body like embers cooling after a blaze. His coat hung torn and scorched at the edges, but otherwise he looked… fine.
Too fine.
Like the fight had been a warm-up, not a war.
Tall. Broad-shouldered. Solid in a way that made the word sturdy feel inadequate.
When his boots finally touched the ground, the cracked street didn't dare collapse beneath him.
He rolled his neck once.
Then his shoulders.
"Man," he muttered, exhaling slowly, "S+ Rift beasts are getting real comfortable showing up in population centers." He glanced skyward. "Makes you wonder what pissed this one off enough to visit."
His voice was calm.
Annoyingly calm.
I just stared.
Up close, his eyes were unmistakable—bright crimson, sharp and alive, glowing faintly even now. Not cold. Not cruel.
Alert.
Like a blade that never fully sheathed itself.
He surveyed the destruction with a professional eye, then sighed.
"Cleanup's gonna be a nightmare," he added. "Thank God that's not my department."
I almost laughed.
Almost.
Then
he looked at me.
My system spasmed.
Copy code
[WARNING]
Entity Focus Shift Detected
Reassessing Threat Parameters…
My body stiffened automatically. Every survival instinct I had screamed at me to freeze.
His gaze lingered for half a second.
Just half.
But in that sliver of time, it felt like he saw everything—my fear, my anger, the system flickering behind my eyes like a nervous animal.
His brow lifted slightly.
"Huh."
That was it.
Just huh.
He turned to Riley next, eyes flicking over the prosthetics, the way Riley stood a little too rigid, pretending he wasn't shaken to his core.
He nodded once. Respectful.
"you Kid's got guts," he said casually. "Both of you do. Surviving that close to an S+ without protective gear?" A faint smirk tugged at his mouth. "That's not normal."
Riley swallowed. "Uh… thanks?"
He snorted softly, then looked back at me.
"You," he said. "What's your name?"
My throat felt dry.
"Qu… Quinn."
He studied me again—longer this time.
"Quinn," he repeated slowly. "Yeah."
A pause.
"Figures."
Figures what?!
Before I could ask—before my system could decide whether to explode—he straightened and stepped back.
"That's all I needed to see."
Golden light flickered once more around his boots.
"Oh," he added, glancing over his shoulder like it was an afterthought, "name's Marco."
He looked back at us, grin faint but sharp.
"Marco Santos."
Then, with the casual confidence of someone stepping off a curb—
he vanished.
Not teleported. Not warped.
He simply left.
The air snapped shut behind him like it had never been disturbed.
Silence rushed in to replace him.
I stood there, heart hammering, mind blank.
Marco Santos.
An S-Rank—confirmed by my system.
Walking away like the apocalypse was just another shift.
Boots crunched over rubble behind us.
"Hands where we can see them."
I flinched.
Figures in dark tactical gear emerged from the smoke—armored, masked, weapons humming with unfamiliar energy. Their insignia wasn't military. It wasn't police.
A stylized sigil marked their shoulders.
The Nexus Foundation.
—or whatever had clawed its way out of the wreckage.
One of them stepped forward, visor glowing as it scanned us.
"Quinn Cole. Riley Hayes," the agent said calmly. "You're coming with us."
Riley glanced at me, forcing a crooked grin. "Man… you ever notice how every time we leave the house, things go to hell?"
I let out a shaky breath.
Yeah.
I noticed.
As they escorted us through the ruins of Aurelia City—past survivors, sirens, and a skyline that would never look the same again—one thought burned itself into my chest:
Marco hadn't looked at me like I was dangerous.
Or important.
He'd looked at me like I was interesting.
I felt a cold chill down my spine