Crossing a gate never felt natural.
One moment, Aurora Covenant stood beneath the pale morning sky of the industrial district. The next—reality folded. For a brief instant, gravity, sound, and direction simply ceased to exist. Then the world snapped back into place.
They stood inside a ruined factory complex. Rows of rusted warehouses stretched across cracked concrete yards, broken cranes leaned sideways like dead skeletons, and steel pipes hung loose from collapsing towers. Above them was a dull gray sky—not made of clouds, but a flat ceiling of pale, artificial light.
Kairos slowly turned in place, his voice hushed. "...This feels wrong."
Seris gave a small nod. "That's how gates feel."
Everything looked familiar, yet nothing truly belonged to the real world. A silver window unfolded in front of them:
[System Notice]
[Gate Classification Confirmed]
[Rank: D]
[Gate Type: Breach Gate]
[Objective: Neutralize Hostile Entities]
Lucien read the screen. "More information than the first gate."
Kaida tilted her head slightly. "Gate type, though..." She tapped the word. "Breach."
Mira shrugged. "Sounds violent."
"It means monsters will spawn continuously until the core is destroyed," Nox answered calmly.
Everyone looked at him. Kairos blinked. "...You sound very certain."
Nox simply looked at the ground. "Stay ready."
The concrete shifted. A scraping noise echoed beneath their feet, and Lucien raised a hand. "Formation."
Garrick stepped forward, stone surging upward beneath his boots as Atlas answered. A defensive wall formed instantly just as the ground split open. Something crawled out.
Black chitin plates slid across the cracked concrete. The creature was long and low like a massive insect, roughly the length of a motorcycle. Hard, overlapping armor segments covered its back, reflecting a dull metallic sheen, while six hooked legs clawed into the concrete. Its head was the worst part: two enormous serrated mandibles unfolded outward like shears, snapping together with a sharp metallic clack. Clusters of dull red eyes glowed along its face.
Then another emerged. Then another. Within seconds, the cracks in the ground erupted with movement as dozens of the creatures skittered forward.
Kairos's voice dropped. "...Those things are horrifying."
Nox spoke calmly. "Mandible Crawlers."
Mira blinked. "You named them already?"
Kaida frowned slightly. "How do you know that?"
Before Nox could answer, the swarm rushed.
"Engage," Lucien commanded.
Orion raised his bow, but Nox spoke first. "Orion. Joint segments." He pointed toward the narrow gaps between the armor plates. "Weak points."
Orion adjusted his aim. Three arrows fired instantly, silver streaks piercing through the swarm. Each struck a segment joint, and three Crawlers collapsed immediately, dissolving into dark mist.
A new system screen appeared:
[New Monster Registered]
[Species: Mandible Crawler]
[Threat Level: D]
[Behavior: Pack Hunter]
[Weakness: Segment joints vulnerable]
Mira looked at Nox. "...Okay, that's suspicious."
Kaida smirked. "You guessed correctly."
Nox shrugged. "They have mandibles."
"That explanation is terrible," Mira muttered, narrowing her eyes.
More Crawlers burst from the ground. The swarm thickened rapidly, mandibles snapping and legs scraping across the concrete. They moved with a speed that would have overwhelmed normal soldiers, but Aurora Covenant wasn't normal.
Garrick advanced, his shield slamming into the ground. Stone pillars erupted, crushing several Crawlers instantly. Kaida lifted her hand, and shadows spilled across the battlefield, wrapping around the monsters' legs to slow them down.
"Don't let them surround us," she warned.
Mira slammed her palm onto the concrete. A summoning circle ignited. "Peaches!"
The massive spectral wolf exploded into existence, landing directly in the middle of the swarm. Her jaws snapped shut, and one Mandible Crawler vanished instantly.
Kairos stared, mesmerized. "...That wolf is gigantic."
Mira grinned proudly. "She's adorable."
Lucien moved like a flash of gold, each strike erasing another monster, while Orion's arrows continued to find the exposed joints. Seris stayed near Kairos, monitoring the battlefield. "Observe their movement."
Kairos nodded, watching carefully. He noticed the Crawlers didn't move randomly; they were all streaming from one direction. "...They're spawning from the warehouse," he said, pointing toward the largest building in the complex.
Kaida followed his gaze. "...Yes." She smiled slightly. "That's the nest."
Nox was already walking. Lucien noticed immediately. "You found the core."
"Yes."
Lucien nodded. "Then we finish it."
__
Inside the warehouse, Mandible Crawlers clung to rusted machinery and broken beams, their legs scraping constantly against the metal. Kairos stayed near the entrance beside Seris, his eyes wide.
Then Nox slowed. "There."
At the center of the warehouse, the concrete cracked open as something massive unfolded. The creature was three meters long, built from thick chitin plates that looked heavily armored. Its legs were heavier, ending in hooked claws that gouged the floor. Its mandibles were larger than a man's torso, lined with saw-like teeth. Clusters of glowing red eyes spread across its head like a crown of embers.
[Core Entity Identified]
[Species: Mandible Crawler Broodlord]
[Classification: Breach Gate Core]
[Threat Level: D]
[Function: Spawn Anchor]
"Broodlord?" Mira blinked.
"That explains the swarm," Kaida noted, smirking.
Lucien lifted his weapon. "Then we remove the anchor."
The Broodlord screeched—a deep metallic sound that echoed through the building—and the swarm surged forward in a frenzy.
"Clear the swarm," Lucien ordered.
Garrick raised stone pillars, Kaida's shadows bound the creature's legs, and Orion fired a precise arrow into the joint beneath its mandible. Finally, Lucien moved. Golden light erupted, his strike cutting straight through the creature's head.
The body collapsed, and the entire swarm dissolved into black mist.
[Gate Objective Completed]
[Hostile Entity Eliminated]
[Breach Gate Cleared]
[Gate Collapse Initiating]
The air inside the warehouse began to distort. Kairos exhaled slowly. "...That was intense."
Mira stretched her arms. "That was fun."
"For us," Kaida corrected.
Lucien looked toward Kairos. "You did well observing."
Kairos blinked. "...I didn't do anything."
Lucien rested a hand briefly on the boy's head. "You stayed calm."
Kairos looked down, a small flush on his face. "...I tried."
Light burst across the warehouse and the world shifted. Aurora Covenant stepped back into the real world, the fracture above the industrial district dissolving into nothing. Kairos looked up at the sky. His first gate—and they had cleared it.
__
Meanwhile, across the northern defense sector, another gate roared with thunder. Regulated Order was already inside, and their battle had only just begun.