The interior of the armored transport smelled of burnt ozone and the chemical scent of synthetic strawberry. Leopold was squeezed into the corner, tearing open his sixth Carbohydrate Gel packet with his teeth. He sucked down the contents as if he hadn't eaten in days.
"Take it easy, man. There's still plenty left," Raven muttered, leaning against the metal wall that vibrated against his back, transferring every jolt of the road directly into his weary bones.
"I need to recover fast," Leopold shot back, his voice muffled by the viscous gel. "Try using all your body's energy to kill a giant metal pig and tell me you wouldn't be starving too."
Daemon, sitting beside them, remained in absolute silence, methodically cleaning his gear as he drove toward the base of operations. The silence between the three was no longer heavy with awkwardness; it was the exhausted quiet of those who had shared a twelve-hour shift in hell.
Suddenly, Raven's vision flickered. A cold pulse surged through his spine, making him freeze in his seat. A translucent interface, visible only to his eyes, glowed with aggressive clarity, overlaying his view of the vehicle's interior.
[ SYSTEM UPDATED V2.0 ]
[ Biological Status: Synchronized ]
[ Adaptation Module: OPTIMIZED ]
[ NOTE: Additional information will be provided now. ]
"Raven?" Leopold stopped sucking the gel, noticing his teammate's sudden paleness. "Are you having a stroke, or did that boar leave some biological 'gift' in you?"
"Just... exhaustion," Raven lied, feeling his brain throb. "The system updated? Thanks for nothing," he thought, feeling the new version of the system running silently beneath his skin, cataloging every micro-fissure in his muscles.
When the hangar gates opened, they were redirected to Sector Zero by Helena's orders. Upon arrival, the atmosphere shifted. It was far from the military noise of the main base. The air was colder, filtered, and the silence was heavy—the kind typical of a place where every step was monitored by vital sign sensors and high-precision cameras. Here, Raven wasn't just a soldier; he was a biological mystery under observation.
Breaking the stillness of the sector, the reception committee stood in the transition courtyard.
Kael stood near the center of the hall, flanked by Maya and León. He looked like he had stepped out of a commercial: an impeccable uniform, hair perfectly combed, and a smile belonging to someone who had never needed to dig monster bone fragments out from under their fingernails.
"Look who survived..." Kael crossed his arms, his voice dripping with irony. "The 'New Ascension' is back. I heard you were supposed to be the great prodigy who would work alone now, Raven. What happened? Realized you can't survive on your own? Afraid of a few Rank C monsters, or just scared a Rank B might actually bite back?"
Raven stopped, feeling his shoulder throb. He looked at Kael and felt his own skin tighten, responding to the stress of the provocation.
"My only fear is not getting enough sleep because something urgent came up. But what about the great star? The hero of heroes who has never faced a real threat? Every time I see you, you're killing low-ranking monsters just to film commercials and flashy scenes for the big shots upstairs."
Kael's smile faltered. Maya, standing behind him, looked away, visibly uncomfortable with her teammate's toxicity.
"What did you say, Rank C?" Blue sparks crackled around Kael's fists. "You're only here because these researchers haven't figured out how you work yet. Know your place, specimen."
"His place is exactly where he is, and he is far more capable than your ego allows you to see," Sarah's voice cut through the air.
She and Helena emerged from one of the monitoring corridors. Helena maintained her usual icy expression, but Sarah had a defiant glint in her eyes. She stopped beside Raven and placed a hand on his shoulder, feeling the texture of his skin, which still resonated with the rigidity of battle.
"You know, Kael... the data from this mission is impressive. Raven has already shown the capacity to face you in a direct spar. And honestly? I'd bet he'd win, if you keep thinking visual effects are a substitute for the resilience of someone who actually bleeds on the front lines."
The silence was absolute. Kael let out a dry laugh, but the hatred in his eyes was evident. Being compared to a Rank C in front of Helena and the Sector Zero researchers was a lethal blow to his vanity.
"A Rank C beating me?" Kael hissed, stepping closer with sparks flying from his eyes. "I've been out there for days eliminating monsters while you lot play house. I just want my deserved rest. I won't waste my time with insignificant amateurs like you."
Kael turned his back and walked away with long strides, leaving small electrical sparks on the floor where he stepped.
"'Weak monsters,' huh?" Raven whispered to Leopold. "He wouldn't last five minutes being chewed on by that Iron Boar."
"You need to control yourself too, Raven," Sarah whispered, guiding them toward the wing's examination room. "Helena wants a full reading of your status. Something in you changed out there, and the government wants to know exactly what."
Raven let out a long sigh, feeling the System process the level of fatigue in his tendons. "Right. More needles and biometrics. The apocalypse doesn't take days off, and these guys' curiosity is my biggest nightmare."
The air conditioning was working at its limit, but the heat emanating from the ring was absurd. Raven lunged with a heavy blow aimed at Sarah's shoulder. She didn't retreat; she simply tilted her body laterally with millimetric precision, letting the punch graze her face. Before he could pull his arm back, she wrapped her hand around his wrist, pivoted her hips, and used his own body weight to hurl him over her shoulder.
The world spun, and the floor rushed up to meet Raven's ribs. Instinctively, he felt a tingling sensation spread across his back and shoulders—his skin hardened, superficially activating his metallic hide a split second before impact.
[ DAMAGE: BLUNT TRAUMA ABSORBED — DORSAL REGION ]
[ STATUS: PHYSICAL INTEGRITY 94% ]
He hit the rubberized floor with a force that could be felt as a tremor from a considerable distance. He rolled back and sprang to his feet, guard high and lungs burning.
"You're fighting as if your enemy were a wall," Sarah said, circling him lightly, not even appearing out of breath. "If the enemy doesn't stay still, you're just wasting energy and making it easy for them to counter-attack."
"It's hard to focus against someone who's always seconds ahead of me," Raven retorted, trying a quick jab to maintain distance. "Sarah... tell me the truth. Is there any sign of things getting better? The government talks about victory, but I feel like we're just digging deeper trenches."
Sarah blocked Raven's low kick with her shin. The sound was like metal hitting stone, an echo that rang through the empty room. She stepped back, lowering her guard slightly, signaling a temporary pause.
"The official plan is the 'Reclamation Campaign,' Raven. The government is trying to isolate so-called 'Green Zones'—areas where the frequency of Rift openings has dropped drastically. The problem is that for every kilometer we take back, the world seems to transform into something we no longer recognize."
She walked over to a side holographic panel and activated a world map. Patches of different colors covered the continents like an infection.
"It's not just about killing monsters. The ecosystem is being 'reformatted.'" She pointed to a metallic gray smudge over what used to be a major industrial hub. "In the Steel Belt, for example, common animals no longer exist. The Rifts there spit out beasts of silicon and metal—parasites that consume electrical wiring and turn cities into nests of iron."
Raven looked at the map, a weight settling in his stomach. He thought of the metal boars they had faced.
"And the forests?" he asked, wiping sweat from his forehead. "The reserve we went to... the trees felt alive in the wrong way."
"That's what we call the Iron Forests; there's also a Crystal Biome nearby," Sarah explained, as the map shifted to shades of emerald green and silver. "The vegetation is absorbing minerals from the Rifts and becoming energy-conductive. The monsters there—like those spiders—aren't just monsters; they are extensions of the flora. They protect the trees, and the trees provide energy for their carapaces. It's a perfect symbiosis our world has never seen."
Raven threw a weak punch at the air, processing the information. "So the cities... what's left of them?"
"They are isolated," Sarah sighed. "The coastlines are now the territory of Abyss Serpents and creatures that make navigation impossible. The interior of the continents has become a mosaic of nightmares. We have regions taken over by fungi that control the nervous systems of anyone who breathes their spores, turning entire cities into silent 'hives.' The government is trying to retake the White Zones—plain areas—to re-establish agriculture, but the monsters that appear there are adapted for open-field hunting. Speedsters that can slice a tank in half with ease."
Sarah turned off the hologram and returned to the center of the ring, beckoning him with her hands.
"That's why you're in this wing, Raven. We need someone who can walk through these biomes without being torn apart in the first minute. The government wants to turn your resistance into a tactical standard. If we can understand how your molecular structure withstands this pressure, maybe we can protect others."
Raven clenched his fists, feeling his knuckles still slightly rigid. He knew they were looking for a formula—a scientific explanation for something even he didn't fully understand.
"So I'm humanity's bumper," Raven muttered, forcing a dry smile. "What a great career I've found just to avoid starving."
"You're the closest thing we have to a natural-born survivor. Now, enough geography. If you don't learn to anticipate my body weight when you strike, the next biome you visit will be the bottom of a grave."
Sarah lunged again, and the training continued until Raven's muscles screamed for mercy and sweat soaked the technical flooring.
It was past three in the morning. The silence in Sector Zero was broken only by the hum of air filters and an occasional distant beep. Raven had eventually passed out right there, sitting on the floor and leaning against the padded wall of the training room. The exhaustion was a thick fog that even the System couldn't fully dissipate.
He woke up to a crackle of static electricity. The air felt heavy, charged with a scent that was almost nostalgic, making the hair on his arms stand up.
Sitting on a bench across from him was the mysterious girl. This time, she didn't look like an optical illusion; her presence was solid, real enough for Raven to notice her long, heavy breathing.
"A great danger approaches," her voice echoed directly in his mind, cold and urgent. "The worlds will be forced to collapse... The rifts will no longer just open... they will tear... Creatures you cannot yet harm are crossing the border... Prepare yourself."
Raven tried to stand up desperately, his throat instantly bone-dry after he gulped down his saliva. "Who are you? What is this collapse?"
She didn't answer. She simply fixed her pale eyes on him for a second and vanished, leaving behind only the trace of that nostalgic scent.
Unable to go back to sleep, Raven found Sarah and explained the situation. He expected to be called crazy or sent to the psych ward, but the reaction was immediate. Sarah listened in silence, and shortly after, Helena appeared in the hallway, coming from the central command room with a data tablet in hand.
"You said this woman you keep seeing warned you of a massive opening of rifts, is that it?" Helena asked, her voice maintaining its icy neutrality, but her eyes scanning Raven from head to toe.
"Yes. It's been a while since I first saw her, but today... today she seemed like she was actually here," Raven replied, feeling his entire body vibrate as if something were happening to his own physiology.
Helena exchanged a quick look with Sarah and nodded solemnly. "Come with us. There is a section of Sector Zero you don't have authorization for yet. But if she is communicating with you, security protocol must be ignored."
They led him into the depths of the complex, passing through three armored doors with retinal recognition and DNA scanners. They arrived in a room kept under a cold, bluish light where the oxygen felt purer. In the center, surrounded by a forest of cables and vital sign monitors, was a capsule.
Inside it was a bluish liquid, and floating within was a tall girl with platinum blonde hair and angular features. What stood out most were her ears—distinctly pointed—and her skin, which seemed to emit a faint, rhythmic glow, as if she were made of light and marble.
"She has been in this state for sixty years," Helena explained, approaching the control panel. "We call her Patient Zero. She was found in a primary rift long before any monster or hero officially appeared. She is this country's greatest secret, Raven."
Raven felt a magnetic pull in his chest, a pressure that the System began to monitor intensely. He walked toward the tempered glass. He recognized her instantly. It was her. The same woman from his visions, but here, inside the tank, she looked... incomplete.
Driven by an impulse that the System validated with a pulse of heat in his arm, Raven reached out and touched the icy glass.
The moment his fingers made contact, the System reacted with an aggressiveness that nearly made him lose consciousness:
[ ALERT: EXTERNAL SYNCHRONIZATION DETECTED ]
[ SOURCE: PRIMORDIAL ORIGIN ]
[ LINK ESTABLISHED: 10%... 40%... 95%... ]
The heart monitors in the room spiked. The girl's EKG, which had been a near-flat line for decades, made a violent leap, drawing frantic peaks across the screen. The lights in the room flickered, and a sharp alarm sound echoed throughout the entire sector.
Inside, Patient Zero did not open her eyes, but her hand rose slowly through the liquid and pressed against the glass, exactly at the same point where Raven's fingers rested.
"Raven, get back now!" Sarah shouted, drawing her weapon by instinct, but he couldn't move. He was stuck.
Raven felt something flowing through the glass—it wasn't just electricity; it was pure information. His skin began to tingle, and his senses felt ten times more sensitive to everything in the environment.
[ NEW ABILITY DETECTED: RIFT RESONANCE ]
[ STATUS: LOCKED — REQUIREMENT: RANK EVOLUTION ]
"I can't... pull my hand away," Raven managed to say, as the blue light from the tank glowed with intensity, illuminating the entire forest of cables and wires.
The night was far from over. The "forced collapse" the girl had mentioned could happen at any moment, but there, in that instant, an ignition point had begun.