The sky tore wider.
Glass towers groaned as the rift pulsed again, jagged light pouring through like molten veins. The distortion spread across the skyline, bending steel beams and warping shadows. From the tear, something vast began to emerge, its silhouette blotting out the sun.
Hunters froze mid-fight. Screams faltered. Even the crawlers hesitated, skittering sideways, their bodies twitching as if caught between fight and flight.
Lucen tilted his head, smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. 'Oh. Now that's a boss.'
The creature pulled itself through, slow, deliberate, each limb wider than a city street. Chitin gleamed black and violet, threaded with abyssal fire that pulsed under the plates like veins. Its head was crowned with spines, each tipped in white flame. And when it screamed, windows up and down the district shattered into raining knives.
[Warning: Abyss Entity Detected.]
[Designation: Riftborn Juggernaut.]
[Estimated Threat Rank: Cataclysmic.]
The system chime almost sounded smug.
Lucen grinned wider. "Well, that's dramatic."
Selindra's voice snapped sharp as she threw up layered barriers, sigils flaring green and silver to blunt the shockwave. "All squads, retreat perimeter to Sector Nine! I repeat, full fallback now!"
Hunters scrambled, dragging survivors with them. The air tasted of blood and iron, of ozone so thick it burned the back of Lucen's throat.
Varik stepped forward. His blade gleamed faintly, light bending at the edge, aura pressing heavy. He didn't raise his voice. "Selindra. Command the lines."
Her eyes flicked to him. For a heartbeat, hesitation. Then she nodded once. "Understood."
She turned back to the hunters, voice a whipcrack of authority. "Move! North-west corridor! No hesitation!"
The juggernaut's claws hit pavement. The street split like paper, skyscraper supports snapping as tremors rattled through the ground.
Lucen cracked his neck. His system window flickered alive again, neat blue lines over the chaos.
[Level: 42]
[EXP Progress: 42%]
[Mana Pool: 190/365]
[Spells Available: Shockweave Bolt, Ignition Burst, Soundlash, Piercing Flare, Crater Bloom, Cataclysm Vector, Frost Spire, Abyssflare Lance, Nullbind Grasp, Riftstep, Cataclysm Vector — Abyssborne Variant]
He rolled his shoulders. "Alright. Round two."
The juggernaut's first step crushed a dozen crawlers beneath it, their bodies crumpling like eggshells. The second step shattered an entire block. Concrete buckled. A transport craft spiraled out of control overhead, slamming into a tower in a blossom of flame.
Hunters panicked, scattering from the impact zone. Selindra's barriers caught half the debris, but not all. Screams cut through the smoke.
Lucen exhaled. 'Fine. Let's clean the trash first.'
[Shockweave Bolt.]
Arcs spat from his palm, splitting into a net that lanced through the nearest swarm. Bodies jerked, convulsed, collapsed in smoking heaps.
[+75 EXP]
[+75 EXP]
[+75 EXP]
…
[+1,050 EXP]
He didn't stop.
[Soundlash.]
The whip cracked, splitting chitin in a spray of ichor.
[+75 EXP] ×6
[+450 EXP]
Hunters around him glanced back, awe and confusion flickering in their eyes.
Lucen smirked. "What? Somebody has to do the grunt work."
The juggernaut reared back, abyssal fire burning brighter in its chest. Its spines lit one by one, energy coiling.
Selindra's voice rang, clipped and fierce. "Incoming bombardment! All units, scatter!"
Varik didn't scatter. He stepped forward. His blade swung once, and the pressure bent air itself, a wall of force cutting upward.
The juggernaut's blast struck the arc. It didn't deflect. It sheared, split down the center and diverted into the sky, tearing clouds into glowing scars.
Hunters stared, breathless.
Lucen laughed quietly, shaking his head. 'Show-off.'
The juggernaut lunged. Varik met it. Steel met abyssal claw. The shockwave leveled an entire intersection, glass raining like meteors.
Selindra snarled, forcing barriers wider to shield hunters behind her. Sweat glistened at her brow, emerald glyphs trembling.
Lucen let his grin fade into something sharper. 'If he's going to hold the line, I may as well farm.'
He stepped past the barriers, into the churn of crawlers still spilling from the colossus's corpse.
[Abyssflare Lance.]
The spear ripped forward, carving through a dozen at once, detonating in a vacuum implosion that tore half a street corner into a crater.
[+500 EXP] ×12
[+6,000 EXP]
Lucen whistled low. "Now that's efficient."
A hunter stumbled nearby, bloodied, weapon broken. His eyes widened at Lucen. "W-what are you—how are you casting—"
Lucen cut him off with a lazy shrug. "Trade secret. Run along before something eats you."
The man staggered back, half in fear, half in obedience.
Lucen turned, smirk back in place. The juggernaut and Varik were locked in a duel that warped the air. Selindra was holding lines by sheer will. Hunters were dying in streets that bent and bled.
And Lucen's system window pulsed brighter with every kill.
'If this keeps up, I'll hit forty-two before dinner.'
The juggernaut roared, claw sweeping wide. Varik blocked, but the impact tore buildings apart in a hurricane of debris. Selindra screamed orders, voice raw.
Lucen's smirk twisted into something sharper, darker.
[Nullbind Grasp.]
Tendrils lashed upward, sinking into the juggernaut's chest where abyssal fire burned. Its energy sputtered, collapsing mid-charge, the monster staggering.
Varik didn't waste it. His blade carved upward, cleaving half its torso open in a spray of molten crystal.
The beast shrieked, stumbling backward, claw smashing into pavement as it fought to stabilize.
System messages flickered.
[+15,000 EXP]
Lucen grinned, flexing his fingers as smoke curled around him. "Support fire," he muttered again, voice low, amused.
Hunters stared. Some in awe. Some in fear. Selindra most of all, her emerald eyes burning with suspicion that sharpened each time Lucen moved.
But Varik's voice carried through the chaos, calm as iron. "Focus. It's not finished."
The juggernaut screamed again, wounds knitting, abyssal fire flaring brighter.
Lucen tilted his head, smile curling. 'Good. I'm not finished either.'
—
The juggernaut's scream raked across the skyline, spines blazing brighter until the sky itself seemed to ripple. Hunters clutched their ears. Windows shattered in waves. The air reeked of ash and ozone, of a world burning at the seams.
Lucen flicked a cracked fragment of claw off his boot and smiled faintly.
[Level Up]
[Current Level: 43]
[Stat Increase: +20 Mana, +10 Vitality, +5 Strength]
[EXP Progress: 3%]
'Finally.' His grin deepened. 'About time I felt like I wasn't babysitting myself.'
The ground shook as the juggernaut slammed its claws into the street, fissures racing outward like spiderwebs. Asphalt split, swallowing cars whole. Hunters scrambled for footing. Selindra barked orders, her barriers flaring emerald as they sealed cracks before civilians dropped screaming into them.
Varik's blade shimmered, a line of white silence cutting through the monster's shoulder. Abyssal fire spurted like blood, sizzling against stone. The juggernaut staggered, but it didn't fall. If anything, it only grew louder, its body knitting, its mass thickening, like the rift above was still feeding it.
Lucen stretched his hand lazily.
[Abyssflare Lance.]
The spear tore into the beast's chest, detonating in a vacuum implosion that staggered it back a full block. Hunters gaped, some collapsing to their knees under the shockwave.
[+25,000 EXP]
Lucen let out a low whistle. "That'll pad the bar."
Selindra whipped her head toward him, fury sparking behind her eyes. "What in the hell are you casting?"
He tilted his head innocently. "Creative naming sense?"
Her lips curled, about to snap, but Varik's voice rumbled over both of them. "Focus. It's drawing deeper."
And it was.
The juggernaut's body convulsed, abyssal flames spreading across its plates until its entire form glowed like a furnace. Its spines melted into jagged wings, unfurling as the sky warped. The rift pulsed in tandem, tendrils of black light knitting to its flesh, tethering it like a puppet.
Lucen's smirk faded into something colder. 'Ah. Feeding loop. No wonder it's not dropping.'
[System Alert.]
[Entity Evolution Detected: Riftborn Juggernaut to Riftborn Tyrant.]
[Threat Rank Escalation: Cataclysmic to Extinction.]
Hunters broke. Screams tore through ranks. Orders scattered into chaos. Even Selindra froze, emerald eyes widening at the system broadcast she couldn't see but felt in her bones.
Varik moved first. His blade rose, his aura pressing so heavy the air rippled. Pavement cracked beneath his boots. "Fall back. Now."
Selindra swallowed, voice snapping sharp. "All squads, retreat! Clear the sector!"
Hunters ran. Civilians staggered through ruins, dragged by trembling hands.
Lucen didn't move. He tilted his head at the towering Tyrant, smile tugging faintly at his lips. 'Oh, you're pretty. Let's see how much you're worth.'
The monster's wings beat once. Wind slammed the streets flat, hurling vehicles into towers, shredding signs, scattering rubble into storms. Its eyes locked on Varik, abyssal fire burning like twin suns.
Varik didn't flinch. He raised his blade. "Selindra. Evacuation."
Her jaw clenched. "…Understood."
Lucen cracked his knuckles. "Guess that leaves me the fun parts."
He blurred forward. [Riftstep.]
The world split sideways, shards of space snapping like glass, and he reappeared a hundred meters closer, boots slamming down in front of the Tyrant's claw. His grin widened. "Boo."
The claw swung.
[Crater Bloom.]
The street erupted in a ring of force, shattering claw plates and blasting the limb upward. The monster shrieked, black ichor raining in sheets.
[+5,000 EXP]
Hunters who hadn't fled yet gawked. One muttered hoarsely, "That's… that's not A-rank magic…"
Selindra's fury sharpened into suspicion, her voice a hiss only she could hear. "What are you, Lucen?"
Lucen didn't answer. He was already laughing, breathless, exhilarated.
The Tyrant reared back, wings flaring wide enough to blot half the district, then slammed downward.
Lucen's grin sharpened. [Nullbind Grasp.]
Tendrils lashed upward, choking the abyssal fire in its wings mid-charge. Energy sputtered, collapsed, detonating in a half-formed blast that shredded the Tyrant's flesh instead of the city.
[+30,000 EXP]
The beast screamed in agony, its tether to the rift thrashing violently.
Varik moved in that instant. His blade severed one of the glowing spines, the cut so sharp it left the air bleeding white lines.
The Tyrant staggered, howling.