In the suffocating darkness, blood-red tentacles thrashed wildly.
They slammed into each other, whipping down against the soft, pulsing flesh of the colossal monster beneath them.
Heavy impacts echoed again and again.
Then—
A flash of light.
Just a brief instant.
The light streaked through the forest of tentacles.
Where it passed—
A tentacle was severed.
A chunk of red flesh dropped.
Thud.
Another one.
Then another.
Amid the stench of blood and the storm of flying gore—
Dane charged upward.
Both hands gripped twin blades of light.
Each step landed on slick, quivering flesh. His body launched higher with every stride, climbing closer toward the monster's center.
There—
A brown-haired girl.
White eyes.
Standing motionless in the middle of the sea of tentacles.
Like a god gazing down at a tiny human below.
The distance closed rapidly.
Dane climbed the creature's body like a mountaineer scaling a sheer cliff.
Every swing of his blade—
Another tentacle fell.
Chunks of red flesh rained down behind him.
Like stones tumbling down a mountainside.
And those falling masses… became footholds, letting him climb even higher.
A barrage of alerts blared through his armored suit.
WARNING.
ARMOR DURABILITY: CRITICAL THRESHOLD.
FRAME STRUCTURE: NEAR COLLAPSE.
DESTRUCTION MODE ACTIVE
TIME REMAINING: 08.1s
But Dane did not stop.
Just a little farther.
Close.
Very close.
It was time to end this.
All he could hear was the rush of blood in his ears.
His muscles screamed.
His joints throbbed as if they were about to shatter.
His body begged him to stop.
But his eyes—
Burned with savage battle fury.
He had to destroy it.
Make it pay for every life it had taken.
A blood debt… must be paid in blood.
Faces flashed through his mind.
The rookies.
The soldiers he had trained.
The brothers who had fought beside him.
All of them…
All of them…
I'll make you pay for their lives.
Dane's arms shifted.
Metal plates rotated and folded.
In an instant—
The twin energy blades transformed into arm-mounted cannons.
The barrels widened.
Light began to gather.
Two massive spheres of energy formed before the muzzles.
Their brilliance tore through the surrounding darkness.
Dane roared.
"Out of my way!"
Two blazing beams fired forward.
BOOM!!!
The blasts ripped through the thousands of tentacles blocking his path.
A straight line of blinding light—
Like a pillar shooting into the sky.
Tentacles were blown apart.
The monster's body convulsed violently.
As smoke curled from the cannon barrels, Dane launched himself forward again.
20 meters.
10 meters.
5 meters.
At last—
He stood before it.
The brown-haired girl.
White eyes.
And behind her—
Hundreds of tentacles pierced deep into her body,
like enormous nerve cables.
She clutched her head with both hands as the tentacles lashed wildly around her.
She screamed.
The shriek exploded through the air.
A sonic wave slammed into Dane.
BOOM!
His shoulder armor cracked open.
Half of his helmet shattered.
Fragments of armor disintegrated into dust, scattering into the air.
Once.
Then again.
His body was forced back again and again.
But Dane did not stop.
His eyes burned red.
Inside his mind—
A distant voice echoed.
Old memories surfaced.
"Dane."
"Dane Volkov."
"Can you hear me?"
"Yes, sir."
"What are your orders, sir?"
His commander's voice was low.
"This is the special code to activate Destruction Mode."
"Only use it when there is absolutely no other choice."
A younger Dane asked quietly,
"What exactly is it, sir?"
The man held a pipe between his lips.
Smoke drifted upward.
"It's a mode that pushes your strength far beyond human limits."
"But the price is brutal."
"You only get ten seconds."
"The human body… can't endure more than ten seconds."
"After ten seconds…"
"It will stop drawing crystal energy."
"It will start consuming you instead. You're not stupid enough to sacrifice your own life, are you?"
"Remember this. Don't let it turn you into fuel."
He exhaled a cloud of smoke into the air.
DESTRUCTION MODE ACTIVE
TIME REMAINING: 0.1s
The drifting smoke pulled Dane back to reality.
The memory flickered—
Then vanished.
He no longer knew how long it had been.
But he knew one thing.
If the price he had to pay could bring justice to the dead…
Then so be it.
He forced himself upright as another sonic wave shoved him backward.
DESTRUCTION MODE ACTIVE
TIME REMAINING: -0.3s
In front of him—
The monster.
A monster he had to destroy, no matter the cost.
His legs trembled.
His knees nearly buckled again.
But he refused.
DESTRUCTION MODE ACTIVE
TIME REMAINING: -0.5s
Not now.
His right hand opened.
Light gathered within his palm.
An energy blade formed.
Dane whispered,
"Disappear…"
"You monster."
Then he lunged.
A streak of light flashed past.
The blade sliced across the brown-haired girl's neck.
At the same moment—
The tentacles behind her neck were severed as well.
Dane dashed past her.
Stopping several meters behind.
He did not turn around.
He only heard—
Thud.
Something hitting the fleshy ground.
Dane gasped for breath.
His body was almost numb.
He dropped to one knee.
Blood spilled from his mouth.
Yet he smiled.
"At last… it's over."
DESTRUCTION MODE ACTIVE
TIME REMAINING: -1.2s
DESTRUCTION MODE ACTIVE
OFF
But then—
Laughter echoed around him.
A twisted, unnatural laugh.
Not human.
It sounded like the laughter of a demon.
Coming from behind him.
Dane froze.
"…What?"
In the flickering darkness,
something rolled to his feet.
The night-vision lenses of his helmet still worked.
He lowered his gaze.
Beside his knee lay—
A head.
Brown hair.
White eyes.
Staring straight at him.
Then—
Another one.
Then another.
Heads began emerging from the surrounding flesh.
They opened their eyes.
Looking at him.
Dane coughed up blood.
"…Impossible…"
From those heads—
Bodies of raw, blood-red flesh began to grow.
Complete arms.
Complete legs.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
Dane's face went pale.
His vision started to blur.
He clenched his teeth.
Tried to stand.
But his body collapsed.
He fell face-down.
His eyes remained locked on the blood-red creatures closing in around him.
Their eerie laughter echoed through the darkness.
In the dark—
A faint metallic sound rang out.
A sword slid free from its sheath.
His eyes slowly drifted shut.