The ruins of Sichuan offered no rest.
Crumbled buildings leaned on one another like broken ribs. Smoke drifted through fractured alleyways. Seyfe stood just beyond the aftermath zone, staring at the tangle of threads where the battered Veiler's corpse had hung. The sight still clung to his vision like oil on skin.
"Seyfe," Saline called quietly, stepping beside him, "we got a ping."
Jerome was already at the edge of the debris field, fingers to his earpiece.
"Aki's orders just updated. Protocol Red Veil has been initiated.""Sovereign-class mutations are no longer isolated."
"So they're spreading it on purpose?" Seyfe muttered. "Someone's guiding them."
Jerome gave a sharp nod. "It gets worse. Ground intel just picked up movement. Not just one, a swarm."
The tremor was felt before the sound arrived. The cracked asphalt beneath their boots pulsed faintly—followed by a low metallic scrape.
Chhnnkk.
Then again.
CHHNNKKKK.
They turned.
From the ravaged ruins to the east, shadows poured in—ripping into the ash-light of morning.
Creatures of twisted geometry, forged not by nature, but something imitating it. Their heads bore rusted lizard-like jaws, with metal plates twisted into snarling snouts. Their bodies—long and wolf-like—rattled as they ran, covered in twitching wires and torn plating. Each one rose on hind legs, mimicking bipedal motion with haunting efficiency. And at the crown of each beast's skull—three violet eyes, all locked on Seyfe's squad.
"Oh that's just—nope," Ferez muttered, stepping back and drawing both sidearms."They're mocking human structure," Saline added, readying her halberd. "That's not instinct. That's intent."
The swarm surged forward like a tide of living steel.
Seyfe's eyes narrowed. His core flared with a distorted shimmer—still unstable, but alive.
"Form up!" Jerome barked. "Fall into the reverse trident. Keep them from circling behind us!"
They moved.
The first Echoform lunged, limbs wide, claws arcing down in a blur of violet light. Seyfe ducked low, slamming an open palm into the beast's chest, his unstable core flickering with a crackling pulse as he flung it back through a shattered wall.
Three more followed.
Saline let out a yell as she spun her halberd, cleaving through plated limbs, sparks exploding with each strike. Jerome moved with precision, his rifle tracing arcs of plasma that tore through the pack's flank.
"They're coordinating!" Ferez called, shooting a beast mid-leap. "They're trying to separate us!"
"Not happening," Seyfe growled, dashing forward, flipping off a collapsed wall to land a kick into the snout of another, sending its central violet eye bursting like a fruit.
But still, they came.
Ten. Fifteen. Twenty.
Each one shrieked with a chorus of metallic grinding and wet, guttural howls. The sound wasn't just noise—it clawed at their minds.
Seyfe's body twitched for a second—his tongue pulsing black beneath his teeth. He grit them hard and held the line.
"Cover left!" Saline shouted, blade glowing red-hot. "They're rushing the medic crate!"
Ferez dove in, shields flaring.
Suddenly, Jerome called out—his voice grave:
"They're trying to herd us."
The realization dropped like a weight.
"Behind us," Seyfe muttered, spinning—only to see a larger form, rising from a collapsed building, metal coils slithering down its arms like roots.
It wasn't just a swarm.
It was a test.
And they were the prey.
The ground quaked beneath them—metallic claws striking like a storm of blades. The swarm was relentless, each Echoform more rabid than the last.
CRACK—SSHHHKKK!
Then, the temperature plummeted.
A sharp gust swept through the rubble-strewn battlefield, carrying a biting chill that crawled up their spines. The air crystallized as frost skated across the ground like veins of silver lightning.
"Stand aside."
The voice was calm. Controlled. Cold.
They turned.
Emi stepped forward, silver hair caught in the swirl of frigid wind. Her eyes gleamed with a blue-white light, and her breath misted visibly as she exhaled. One gloved hand clenched into a fist.
The ground beneath her responded.
Ice erupted upward—lancing from shattered concrete like jagged spears. Echoforms were impaled mid-pounce, frozen in place as their bodies fractured with sharp cracks, the green slime inside them flash-frozen to brittle resin.
"Emi?!" Saline gasped, stunned.
"My core," Emi said calmly, already lifting her other hand, runes glowing across her arms, "is now fully sanctified."
"I can now wield my full Runeset."
She thrust her hand forward.
A shardstorm of crystal ice burst forth—razor-like needles spinning with blinding speed—slicing through a wall of Echoforms. Limbs, armor plating, and violet eyes were shredded clean as the mutated beasts shrieked in agony.
"Holy crap," Ferez muttered, ducking beside Seyfe. "She's a walking storm now."
"Remind me to never piss her off," Seyfe replied under his breath.
Jerome gave a nod, eyes locked on Emi's controlled destruction.
"With that kind of precision… she's ranked high for a reason."
More Echoforms scrambled to regroup—but Emi was already a step ahead.
She tapped her boot once on the ground. A pulse of runes flared outward, forming a frost line. The moment the creatures crossed it, their bodies slowed—frozen mid-motion like insects in amber.
"Keep pushing forward!" Emi called. "I'll thin the line. Don't let them surround us again!"
"Yes, ma'am!" Saline grinned, charging alongside Jerome and Ferez.
Seyfe lingered for a moment, watching her. His own core buzzed in protest—still erratic. Unrefined. Not like hers.
"Guess I'm the only one left catching up," he murmured, tongue briefly flashing black between his teeth.
"My core isn't... aligning right yet," he muttered, stepping forward as the frost ahead began to melt.
"Then keep pushing," Jerome called back. "The longer you let it sit idle, the longer it resists you."
"Tell that to the part of me that's still mutating," Seyfe grumbled.
"You can mutate later," Saline snapped. "We're still surrounded!"
He grinned slightly, blades sliding into his hands. "Yeah, yeah. Let's dance."
And with that, the team charged back into the fray—Emi at their center, a force of glacial ruin breaking through the rising tide.
The room was dim, lit only by the blue glow of dozens of projected live feeds. One massive screen displayed Seyfe's squad—now fully engaged in combat within the Sichuan quadrant.
Aki stood still, arms folded behind her back, red eyes scanning every detail. Her expression was unreadable—half calculation, half concern.
"Zoom in. Squad C-2."
The technician complied. The feed locked onto Emi, now at the heart of a storm of crystalline carnage. Runic indicators pulsed wildly across the right panel, displaying active sequences in real-time.
"Rune sequence recognized: Glacial Sigil, Bloom Type—Sanctified Core confirmed," a system voice read out.
Aki narrowed her eyes. She didn't look away from the stream.
"Estimated elemental pressure output?"
"Surpassing 1200 units and climbing," the assistant muttered, almost stunned. "She's maintaining coherence across four structures simultaneously."
Another feed lit up on the side—radial scans from earlier. It picked up an ice signature forming into a multi-pierce formation, registered under Advanced Veiler Techniques.
Aki's fingers twitched at her side.
"She's stabilizing multiple lines while adjusting her focal casting… without breaking control," she whispered, almost to herself.
The lead strategist beside her leaned forward.
"Unit C-2's lead is outperforming forecast. Her reaction time, mental fortitude, rune discipline—it's textbook high-class performance."
Aki didn't reply. Her gaze drifted momentarily—not at the data, but past it. Past the numbers. She caught a glimpse of Seyfe in the corner of the frame. His attacks were clean, but…unbalanced.
His form lagged behind the others. He moved like someone still fighting with himself.
"His synchronization is incomplete," Aki murmured.
"Ma'am?"
"Seyfe. His core isn't harmonized. Not yet." Her voice was quiet but decisive. "The mutation's still interfering with alignment."
Another operator spoke up.
"Shall we issue a withdrawal order for the squad if risk escalates?"
Aki turned slightly, her tone now sharp.
"No."
"Ma'am?"
"We need data. And we need control."She stepped forward, tapping the terminal."Monitor all fluctuations in Emi's ice field. Log every rune interaction. I want her pattern compared with other sanctified cores."
"And for Seyfe?"
A pause. Her red eyes glowed faintly in the low light.
"Track how long he lasts… before the mutation oversteps his will."
The room went quiet for a breath.
"Understood."
The battle raged on in the projection. Ice shattered. Echoforms fell.And Seyfe—still out of rhythm—continued to fight like someone chasing something just out of reach.
The initial swarm had fallen, but the sonar's hum hadn't ceased.Instead, it grew louder—deeper—echoing from beneath their boots.
Ping. Ping. Pingpingping—Then silence.
And then it burst.
From the debris, a larger echoform surged upward, claws raking through concrete, limbs snapping like twisted springs. This one bore an obsidian-plated spine, its body writhing as if thousands of metal scales shifted in disharmony. Its three violet eyes locked onto the squad with a hateful glare.
"Spread!" Jerome barked.
Saline flipped backward, launching an arc of pressure rounds into the creature's flank while Ferez charged from the left, glaive drawn and runes ignited in his palms.
"This one's evolved—more than a Grade D!" Ferez shouted, barely dodging a swipe that crushed a nearby support pillar like foam.
Seyfe's breathing was steady, but he felt the tug inside again.His tongue burned black beneath his teeth, his core pulsing erratically as if tempted to resonate.He gritted his teeth and surged forward, blade drawn.
"You want a body?" he hissed under his breath. "Come take mine."
Emi raised her hands.
"Third rune—fracture alignment, sector sweep. Freeze now."
A circle of runic glyphs exploded beneath the creature, slowing its limbs in mid-swing as jagged frost entrapped it—if only for a second.
Jerome jumped in, scythe swirling down in a crescent arc, severing one of its legs. Black fluid hissed against the icy floor.
"Now, Seyfe!"
Seyfe's blade pierced through the echoform's core just as it let out a screech. The body convulsed, imploded, and crumbled into dark, greasy dust.
Minutes Later — Sector Cleanup Point
The squad regrouped, battered but upright. Smoke drifted in lazy curls above the ruins. The only sound now was the wind cutting between collapsed steel and rubble.
"Is everyone intact?" Emi asked, panting slightly, her silver hair matted with cold mist.
"In one piece," Ferez nodded, clutching his side. "Mostly."
Saline pointed ahead.
"Over there… what's that?"
Through the dusty wind, a silhouette came into view—cruelly tall and too still to be natural. As they neared, the horror became clear.
A Veiler's body.
Impaled on a rusted pole, arms stretched, back arched unnaturally—Like a twisted form of crucifixion.
His core crystal had been shattered and stuffed into his own mouth.His torso was carved, the flesh torn into letters that bled slowly, yet unmistakably:
"To whom who shall awake from the deep slumber, ala maki siya mau hula."
Jerome took a step back, horrified.
"What… what kind of echoform does this?"
Seyfe's eyes narrowed. That phrase... it wasn't just cruel. It felt ritualistic.
Emi knelt, her hand hovering over the corpse as her runes detected lingering arcane resonance.
"There's something else here..."
"A message," Seyfe said quietly. "Not just a kill."
Saline glanced around, now uneasy.
"We're being watched."
The air was too still. Too deliberate.
Far above them, on a broken scaffold half-consumed by vines, a shadow shifted. It didn't attack.It merely observed, like a spectator waiting for the next scene of a play to unfold.