Then, a second voice rang out with another chant:
"With flames that stretch from earth to sky,
Let burning pillars soar up high.
Lines of fire that none can escape—
Inferno Domain: Blazing Cage!"
The voice belonged to Darren, another Beta awakened mage and once one of the bullies who used to torment Zane.
His hands trembled as bright flames circled around him.
Suddenly, several columns of fire erupted from the ground in the heart of the enemy horde. The heat was intense—so hot that the very air around them shimmered. The inferno blazed with violent beauty, trapping a group of the creatures inside a searing cage of fire.
Some Geminis shrieked, flailing as their bodies charred; more of them died, but just as many kept coming.
"Damn it! What the hell are you bastards doing?!" Mario roared, struggling to keep his shield up against the relentless tide of monsters.
His feet slid slightly from the force of another blow. "Attack, plan, scream—I don't care! Just do something! I can't hold this line forever!"
His voice was full of raw desperation. Sweat poured down his face, mixing with dust and grime, but his eyes burned with fury. He knew—if he fell now, he'd be the first to die. And once he went down, the others wouldn't last long.
Behind him, the group stood frozen for a second, caught between fear and fatigue.
"What do we do now, Miss Jasmine?" Leon asked, glancing in the direction of the slumped woman.
"There's… nothing more we can do, children." Jasmine said, her voice cracking as she dropped to her knees on the shattered pavement.
Her fingers trembled as they clenched at the dusty ground beneath her. Her eyes were now dim with despair. "I think… this is the end."
Around her, the other students exchanged hopeless glances. Their faces were pale, bloodied, and smeared with sweat.
Mario stood a few meters ahead, panting hard. His hands shook, and his body was covered in cuts and bruises. He was at his limit—physically and mentally.
Just when it seemed like things couldn't get any worse, the ground began to rumble.
A roar tore through the chaos.
Through the swarm of lower-ranked Geminis charging toward them, a massive figure emerged—a living tank barreling through the Geminis. The monster shoved its own kind aside with terrifying force. It was no ordinary Gemini.
It was a Savage-ranked Gemini—a rank just below Elite.
Its thick body was armored with jagged, bone-like plating. Each step it took cracked the ground, its weight leaving deep footprints. It was shaped like a humanoid beast.
A loud ding popped in front of Mario's eyes.
[System Notice]
{You have encountered a Gemini.
Type: Scarbone
Grade: Savage
Rank: C
Weakness: None Detected.}
Mario's eyes widened as the notice hovered before him.
He stared at the creature. The Scarbone was nearly two and a half meters tall, a towering monster of living bone. Its eyes glowed red with madness, and every inch of its body screamed danger.
"It... it has no weakness? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Even the Elite had one." he whispered.
Before he could react, the Scarbone let out a monstrous roar and charged.
Mario barely managed to raise his holographic shield in time.
The creature crashed into it with such overwhelming power the shield shattered instantly—like thin glass beneath a hammer.
The impact sent Mario flying backward like a ragdoll. He slammed into Leon, and the two of them were hurled back, crashing into the side of a nearby building.
Across the battlefield, the girl carrying the crowbar let it slip from her trembling hands. Her eyes were filled with terror as the wave of Geminis surged forward behind the Scarbone.
She collapsed to her knees, clutching her head, and let out a heart-wrenching scream.
"I don't want to die! Somebody, please—anybody!" she cried, tears pouring down her cheeks. "God, Buddha, whoever's out there, please—help us!"
The ground trembled with the thunder of charging beasts.
Mario groaned, coughing up blood as he tried to stand. His body ached with every movement. His arms hung like lead weights.
Leon, crumpled beside him, didn't move.
"Leon…?" Mario reached toward him, but the boy didn't respond. He was unconscious, possibly worse.
A few steps away, Celine—their team's healer—froze. Her hands, glowing faintly with healing magic, hovered above a wounded classmate. But her focus had broken.
Her wide, terrified eyes were fixed on the wave of death approaching them.
Her lips parted, but no words came out.
The Scarbone let out another roar. It was only moments away now.
And hope was fading fast.
The Scarbone charged toward Celine with a murderous intent.
Celine froze, unsure whether to run or scream. Her instincts urged her to move, but her body refused to obey, her eyes locked onto the incoming threat.
Jasmine's eyes stared forward like hollow glass orbs, completely devoid of any hope of survival.
Among the six awakened fighters, only four were still standing. One was wounded badly, collapsed on the ground.
Leon and Mario had both been knocked out earlier by the Scarbone. Darren, their fire mage, had used up the last of his mana points minutes ago—his hands now shaking, barely able to lift themselves, let alone cast a spell.
Celine was now trembling with fear, unable to focus on the injured Awakener.
And that left one man to make a stand.
Malric.
He was their last line of defense.
Malric rolled his shoulders, each crack echoing through the streets like splintering bones.
The dust shifted beneath his boots as he approached the monstrosity. The others watched in horror, their hopes shackled to one man's fist.
He wasn't a martial artist—his moves were raw, and his footwork was rough. But he was born to take hits and dish out pain. His awakening had blessed him with brute strength, blistering speed, and the ability to recover from wounds that would kill a normal man. He was a Delta-class Awakener—two full ranks below the monstrous Alphas and one rank below a Beta.
He took a breath, steadying himself. Then, with a roar, he activated his ability.
His body swelled with power. His muscles bulged beneath his tattered shirt, veins throbbed with pulsing energy. His skin glistened with sweat as the ground beneath him cracked from the sheer force he radiated. A gust of wind exploded outward, blowing ash and debris into the air.
Then he moved.
In a blink, he charged forward, his feet pounding against the pavement, leaving behind a trail of fractured concrete.
He sprinted straight at the Scarbone—a twisted fusion of beast and bone, walking like a man but built like a nightmare. Bone spikes jutted from its shoulders and arms like weapons forged from its own body. Its skin was grayish-black and wrapped tightly around slabs of muscle.
Malric let out a furious roar as he closed the distance.
He leapt—and threw a punch meant to kill.
His fist—powered by every ounce of his strength—collided with the monster's chest. The impact sent a deep echo through the ruined city, a booming crack like thunder.
But it wasn't the Scarbone that broke.
Pain tore through Malric's arm like fire. He stumbled back with a strangled cry, clutching his wrist as blood splattered the ground.
He gasped, his eyes wide with shock. "I hit it with everything I had… so why the hell am I the one bleeding?!"
His fingers were bent at sickening angles. He could barely move his hand.
The Scarbone looked down at him slowly, tilting its head in eerie silence. It flexed its arm, and sharp bones stacked over its knuckles like a natural gauntlet.
Malric's breath hitched as the beast raised its arm high.
"Oh... crap," he whispered.
Then the punch came.
Faster than he could react, the Scarbone's fist slammed down toward his head. The wind screamed from the force of the strike. Time slowed as he looked up at the punch.
In that final moment, as the shadow of death fell over him, Malric's thoughts drifted far from battle.
'I miss my mom…'
Darren, drained completely of mana, still refused to stay down. Gritting his teeth, he threw himself forward in one desperate, reckless move.
With all the strength he had left, he hurled his body into Malric—who stood frozen in terror—knocking them both out of the Scarbone's path just in time.
A fraction of a second later, the Scarbone's fist came crashing down like a massive hammer.
It struck the ground where Malric had just stood, and the impact was devastating.
The concrete exploded beneath its blow, sending cracks racing across the pavement like lightning veins. A booming shockwave followed, ripping through the air, sending shards of stone, and broken glass in every direction.
From a few meters away, Mario's face, pale with exhaustion, reacted instinctively. He raised a trembling hand, and a flickering, half-formed holographic shield shimmered into existence in front of him.
The translucent barrier flickered with unstable energy as it absorbed the wave of debris, sparing the group from being skewered by flying rubble. Still, the force of the impact made his knees buckle.
The Scarbone paused, blinking as it stared at the crater it had just created. Confusion flickered in its hollow eyes.
It could have sworn the human was right there.
A low growl rumbled from its throat.
Malric and Darren now lay sprawled on the broken pavement.
Malric lay wide-eyed, gasping. He couldn't move. His body had shut down in pure terror, his mind struggling to process how close he'd just come to death.
Darren groaned weakly beside him. He could barely lift his head. His body felt like a bag of bricks, every muscle screaming in pain.
They were both down.
The others weren't in much better shape. The healer crouched beside the injured Awakener. Leon was unconscious. Jasmine… devoid of any fighting spirit. Mario's shield was flickering, barely holding.
And the Scarbone wasn't the only threat.
Even if it vanished into thin air, they still wouldn't survive the other Geminis approaching from the rear.
Darren exhaled a shaky breath, managing a wry smile. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
"Man," he muttered, voice barely audible over the wind. "It looks like this is really it."
He turned his head slightly toward Malric.
Malric was quick to recover. He didn't respond; he may have forced himself to remain calm, but the outcome was already decided.
Then—something strange happened.