The clearing was bathed in the soft, flickering glow of a lantern. Standing beside it was Vallen, his figure a familiar anchor in the chaotic sea that had become my life. His wild, fiery curls caught the light, making him look like he was born from the flames themselves. He noticed me approaching and gave a nod, his usual cocky smirk already in place.
"Finally," he said, voice dripping with impatience and excitement. "I was starting to think you chickened out."
I rolled my eyes, stepping into the clearing. "Please. If anything, I should be the one worried about you keeping up."
As I got closer, I caught sight of Lilith, leaning against a tree at the edge of the lantern's glow. Arms crossed, gaze sharp, expression unreadable. She always carried herself like she was three steps ahead of us. A silent observer, calculating, waiting. Her locs framed her face perfectly, the flickering light catching the golden rings woven into them. Her eyes met mine, studying, analyzing.
"Nice of you to join us, Lucian," she said, voice smooth as ever. "You sure you're up for this after today?"
I shrugged, keeping my tone casual. "I'll live. Jason and his crew? They're the least of my worries right now."
Vallen let out a low whistle. "Yeah, I heard you wrecked him. Word's already spreading. I'm surprised you're even standing after that fight."
"Guess I'm tougher than I look," I replied with a smirk, though deep down, I couldn't shake the unease still coiled in my gut.
Lilith raised an eyebrow. "You always did have a knack for attracting chaos."
"Comes with the territory," I muttered, glancing around. "Where's Nico?"
Before anyone could answer, the shadows at the edge of the clearing rippled—a presence, silent, creeping.
Then Nico and Luca stepped out of the darkness.
Nico moved like a ghost, footsteps soundless, his form barely disrupting the space around him. His presence wasn't loud, but it was impossible to ignore. His intense, dark eyes locked onto mine, searching, always searching.
Luca, on the other hand, was impossible to miss. A Jaguar Beast-Man with spotted white ears flicking against his brown skin, his locs tied back but still wild. He was built for power and speed, and even in the dim light, he looked dangerously comfortable in his skin.
And, well… Luca looked good.
"Right here," Nico said, his voice cool and enigmatic. "Been waiting for you."
Luca flashed a sharp grin, his golden-feline eyes gleaming in the low light. "Yeah, Luci, what took ya so long? You know I don't have much time to hang… I mean, we."
I couldn't help but feel a flicker of relief seeing them all together. Luca, ever the wildcard—reckless but reliable in his way. Nico, usually shrouded in mystery but always steady when it mattered most.
I exhaled. At least this night wouldn't be completely unbearable.
"So this is it?" My gaze locked onto the Rift's shifting spiral.
Nico nodded, his usual easygoing demeanor shadowed by something more serious. "Yeah. Did some recon earlier. It's a Tier 5. Should be manageable, but… something's off about it."
Lilith frowned, crossing her arms. "'Off' how?"
Nico's gaze flickered to the Rift's entrance, his sharp eyes narrowing. "The energy inside is shifting. Subtle, but it's there. And it's not just normal Aether flow—something else is mixed in."
I exchanged a look with Lilith, who already looked annoyed. Not because she didn't believe him—because she did.
"You think it's safe to go in?" I asked, already feeling the prickle of unease creeping up my spine.
"We'll be fine," Vallen cut in, rolling his shoulders. "We've handled worse. Besides, we got the whole squad here."
Lilith didn't even hesitate—she smacked him upside the head."Dumbass, don't jinx it."
Vallen winced, rubbing the back of his head. "Damn, Lilith. You could've just said 'be careful' like a normal person."
"I could've," she said, deadpan. "But you're not normal, so why should I be?"
Nico chuckled, shaking his head before continuing. "Anyway, I identified four of the monsters inside—low-tier ones, mostly E to C rank. Nocturnal creatures, nothing crazy."
I raised a brow. "And the problem?"
His expression darkened slightly. "There's something else. Stronger. I couldn't get a good read, but it felt… unstable. Could be a High C-rank boss, maybe stronger."
Vallen grinned, cracking his knuckles like this was a PvP match instead of a Rift."Sounds like a fun time."
"For you, maybe," Lilith grumbled, "but I'd rather not die before breakfast."
"Let's just stay sharp," she added, more seriously now, glancing between us. "If Nico's instincts are flaring up, we should trust them."
Luca stretched, his feline ears flicking as he yawned."Sooo, are we going in, or is this just a dramatic storytelling session? Because I'm itching to throw hands with something that isn't Lucian."
I rolled my eyes, grinning despite myself.
The group fell into a brief silence as we all looked at the Rift.
Despite the light banter, a heavy tension lingered beneath our words. This wasn't just another adventure. It was the unknown.
And we all knew things could go very wrong, very quickly.
I inhaled deeply, letting the cool air steady my nerves.
"Alright then," I said, voice firm. "Let's do this."
We moved as one, stepping toward the crack in reality. The moment my foot crossed the threshold, the air shifted—a barely perceptible change, but enough to send a shiver down my spine.
Lilith and I exchanged a look.
We both felt it.
"Stay close," Nico whispered, his voice barely more than a breath.
We entered the Rift.
Rifts weren't natural.
No one understood them, just that they weren't supposed to exist. They were pockets of space-time anomalies, unstable dimensional fractures that led to God-knows-where.
The current theory?
Phantasms—monsters inside Rifts—are born from the Genesis Sea's stored "data."
Each Rift had a Tier, ranked 6 to 0.
A Tier 6 needs two Strike Teams. We're in a Tier 5... and alone. Dead men walking.
"Shit, We should be dead already."
1 hour in reality = 1 day in the Rift.
🔹 The longer you stayed, the more dangerous it became.
🔻 Rift Psychosis: Staying too long, beyond what your mind or body could handle, caused Rift Psychosis.
Unless purified, cleansed, or naturally resistant, it would drive you mad.
That was why Strike Teams were required to have rotations. Even the strongest Aether wielders couldn't linger too long.
Insanity.
And now?
It was too late to turn back.
The moment we fully crossed over, the world around us shifted.
Towering trees, their canopies stretching like a cathedral, loomed over us. Their gnarled, ancient trunks twisted with veins of glowing blue Aether. The air was thick and humid, heavy with the scent of earth and foliage.
A jungle.
But not like anything I had ever seen.
The ground pulsed beneath my boots, uneven terrain split by massive roots that snaked out like limbs of buried titans.
Some of the flowers shimmered, petals shifting colors like oil on water. Others looked like they were watching us.
We moved carefully.
Even Vallen, usually the first to charge in blind, took a second to take it all in.
A jungle like this should've been alive with sound.
But there was nothing.
Silence.
Something was off.
That's when Vallen broke formation.
Without warning, he rushed ahead, his excitement getting the better of him.
His boots crunched too loudly against the forest floor.
The air shifted.
A ripple of movement.
Lilith tensed.
I tensed.
Something was here.
"VALLEN, WAIT—!"
Too late.
The first Phantasms emerged from the shadows.
The creatures moved like insects—chitinous armor, segmented limbs, and too many eyes.
But they weren't just insects.
They were wrong.
Their humanoid shapes twisted at the joints, their movements jerky, unnatural—like puppets on invisible strings.
Their soulless black eyes locked onto Vallen first.
Their mandibles clicked.
And then, they swarmed.
From the trees, vine-covered Phantasms unfurled from the jungle canopy. Their twisted, plant-like forms mimicked human silhouettes—arms of tangled roots, hollow faces blooming like petals, glowing eyes flickering with malice.
They moved like dancers, limbs bending in unnatural, fluid movements as they slid toward us.
Vallen had fucked up.
And now?
They were coming for us.
"Get ready!" I shouted.
The first wave hit like a tidal surge.
The insectoid Phantasms lunged first—chitinous bodies blurring forward with terrifying speed. Their claws glinted, slicing through the air as they closed in.
Lilith was already moving.
She slid in low, dodging the first strike, then snapped out her leg in a brutal sweep.
Crack.
The thing's knee bent backward, unnaturally. It didn't scream. Didn't react. It just kept coming.
Vallen roared, slamming his fists together. Aether surged as his body burst with energy, the familiar glow of his Flow Fighter Techniques activating.
I moved.
Faster than I should've.
The Sea whispered.
"Take. Adapt. Evolve."
Something in my body shifted.
But right now?
There was no time to think.
I fought to win.
The jungle erupted into chaos.
Phantasms swarmed from every direction, their insectoid bodies skittering over roots, chitinous armor gleaming in the eerie glow of the Rift's energy. The plant-like creatures slithered through the air unnaturally, their vines reaching for us like living whips.
I reacted on instinct.
Vallen moved first—because of course he did.
🔥 Vallen - Flow Fighter (Genesis Core: Fire & Energy)
Vallen wasn't just fast—he was a damn comet.
The moment the first Phantasm lunged at him, his fists ignited, and **boom—**he drove his knuckles into the creature's chest, sending an explosion of fire through its torso. It shrieked, flailing backward, but Vallen didn't stop. He kept pushing forward, full offense, burning everything in his path.
"You ugly bastards want some? COME GET IT!"
A burst of energy surged from his core, fueling his strikes as he shattered through carapace and bone. But I knew the issue already—he wasn't thinking.
He never thought.
He just hit harder.
Another Phantasm **came from the side, fast—**Vallen twisted too late, and the creature's claws raked across his arm, drawing blood. He gritted his teeth, retaliating with a blast of condensed energy, but I could tell—he underestimated them.
Again.
⚫ Nico - Striker (Artistic Swordsman, Darkness Element)
Nico, on the other hand, was the exact opposite.
While Vallen burned through enemies, Nico flowed around them.
His sword was silent, the only sound being the whisper of air as it cut through flesh and shadow.
One. Two. Three.
Dead.
His blade blurred, glowing with an inky blackness that absorbed the Rift's unnatural light. Where he struck, dark tendrils erupted, devouring pieces of his enemies like starving beasts.
Then, without a word, he vanished.
Literally.
A flicker—his body melting into shadow, shifting behind the next Phantasm. His sword pierced through the back of its skull before it even realized he was there.
"You guys should probably stop playing around," he said, his voice smooth as ever, as he sidestepped another attack.
⚡ Luca - Flow Fighter (Beastmen, Quantum-Type Electromagnetism/Force)
Luca fought like he had been born for this.
Because he had.
His instincts were beyond human. The moment the first wave struck, **he was already moving—**a blur of raw muscle and power.
Phantasm claws swiped at him—he wasn't there.
A second one lunged—he ducked, slipped inside its reach, and shattered its leg with one brutal strike.
Where Vallen relied on raw power, and Nico on precision, Luca was pure combat mastery.
And unlike Vallen, he never wasted a single move.
A charge of electricity crackled through his muscles as his foot drove into the ground, causing a shockwave of force to explode outward, sending Phantasms flying into the trees.
His claws tore through armor, his fists cracked through skulls, his movements impossibly fluid.
I barely had time to watch him before—
☄ Lilith - Flow Artist (Mage Sub-Striker, Quantum-Type Space/Gravity, Psychic, & Life)
The air shifted.
A pulse of energy radiated outward.
And then, suddenly—gravity collapsed.
Lilith stood at the center of the field, her arms outstretched, and the world bent to her will.
A dozen Phantasms froze in mid-air as the space around them distorted. Some imploded inward, crushed by an invisible force. Others were hurled violently into the jungle canopy, slamming against trees with bone-shattering force.
"Keep fighting," she commanded, her voice steady as she held the Rift's energy around her like a queen commanding the battlefield.
And me?
I was… adapting.
I was moving.
Faster than I should've.
My body—it was responding.
I ducked under a claw, countered with a hook to the ribs, felt something shift.
That blue-green energy.
It was everywhere. It seeped from the Phantasms I struck, swirling into me.
I didn't know how, but I was taking it.
Absorbing it.
"Osmosis."
The name flashed through my mind, like it had been there all along.
And then, something clicked.
⚙ Genesis Stack: Activated.
The next Phantasm I hit—something happened.
Aether pulsed into my fist.
It left a mark on my target—a "Stack."
Then, I hit another one.
Then another.
And another.
Each time, the blue-green energy built up. Each hit, the energy clung to them, connecting them in some way I didn't fully understand.
And then—BOOM.
The stacks detonated.
A ripple effect.
The Phantasms I had marked staggered, their bodies briefly paralyzed as my energy forcibly absorbed their Aether in return.
It was small. Weak. But I felt it.
I understood it.
And suddenly?
I felt stronger.
Faster.
Sharper.
More.
And that's when the next wave hit.
The Phantasms weren't mindless.
They learned.
They adapted.
And they weren't going to let us keep up this pace.
The air hummed with an energy shift.
Vallen stopped mid-strike, eyes narrowing.
Lilith's expression darkened.
Nico vanished from sight again.
Luca cracked his knuckles.
Before we could fully process what was happening, the second wave came crashing down like a tidal surge of nightmares.
These weren't just mindless Phantasms. They had evolved.
The flora-humanoid abominations were twisted, living horrors, part plant, part beast. Thick vines wrapped around humanoid skeletal frames, their roots extending like sinew and muscle, forming something too unnatural to be alive, yet too precise to be random.
Their eyes—hollow sockets filled with pulsating, glowing spores.
Their limbs stretched unnaturally long, ending in barbed thorns that dripped with a sickly green toxin.
They moved with eerie grace, each step creaking like a forest shifting in the wind.
And then they attacked.
⚡ "Damn it, Vallen!" Nico snarled, shadow-stepping through the battlefield.
The moment one of the insectoids lunged at him, his blade flickered like a phantom. The air itself darkened, and—
SCHLICK.
One clean slash.
The creature screamed as it was cleaved in half, its body dissipating into the Rift's unstable Aether.
⚫ Lilith - Tactical Supremacy
Lilith was already moving.
Her eyes glowed with Quantum energy, and in an instant, the space around us warped.
A wave of telekinetic forcerippled outward, sending several Phantasms tumbling back.
Then—she wasn't done.
Lilith threw up a localized gravity distortion, locking down a section of enemies. The air shimmered as they struggled to move, their limbs bending under invisible pressure.
⚡ "Lucian, I can't get an exact count!" she called out. "The Rift's energy is distorting everything—whatever this place is, it's changing!"
I grit my teeth. They were adapting.
They were evolving too fast.
🔥 Vallen - Blazing Recklessness
Vallen was too deep in the fight.
His body flickered between fire and raw energy, his movements erratic but devastating.
A Phantasm lunged.
His fist connected first.
BOOM.
The shockwave from his punch ignited the air, sending a burning crater through the enemy.
More rushed him.
He laughed. "Come on! You think you can keep up?!"
I saw the flaw immediately.
Vallen was tearing through them—yes. But he wasn't watching the field.
He didn't realize that every Phantasm that died left behind a ripple of shifting energy—the Rift was learning.
And it was feeding off him.
I ducked under an attack.
My heart slammed in my chest, the adrenaline mixing with something else.
That blue-green energy.
It was everywhere.
It seeped from the dying Phantasms, swirling like mist. Like it wanted me to take it.
And I did.
Osmosis.
The name whispered through my mind.
I absorbed.
I learned.
And then—I adapted.
⚙ Genesis Stack: Activated.
I moved.
One strike—a mark appeared.
Another hit—another mark.
I hit more.
Each impact left an imprint of Genesis Energy on my targets, syphoning aether from all the marked at once.
And then—it activated.
BOOM.
The Phantasms I had marked staggered, their bodies seizing, their Aether forcibly ripped away.
For a second, I saw through them.
I understood them.
Their flow. Their structure. Their weaknesses.
And then?
I became faster.
Stronger.
Sharper.
The jungle trembled.
Lilith froze, her head snapping up.
Nico's smile faltered.
Luca tensed, muscles coiled.
And then, I felt it.
The Rift itself twisted, pulling in more Aether, reshaping itself.
A new energy signature erupted.
🔥 Vallen finally stopped moving. His eyes widened. "What the hell—"
And then we saw them.
The Titans.
One was an Earthbound Colossus, its body forged from shifting stone and raw muscle, the earth itself bending to its will.
The other?
A Storm Wraith.
Lightning flickered in and out of existence, forming a humanoid silhouette wreathed in unnatural, crackling energy.
Their eyes locked onto us.
They weren't summoned.
They were the Rift's final challenge.
They were here to kill us.
The Rift had learned.
Six Earthbound Colossirose from the shifting terrain, their bodies massive, towering figures of jagged stone and molten core veins, the ground bending to their command.
⚡ Six Storm Wraithsdescended from the sky, their forms flickering in and out of existence, arcs of living lightning coiling around them like tendrils, their crackling hum deafening.
And with them, an entire legion of Phantasms.
Creatures formed from stone and dust, their eyes glowing like embers in the abyss.
Beasts of crackling thunder, darting like afterimages, striking faster than thought.
A storm and an earthquake given form.
And they were hungry.
I could hear the blood rushing in my ears.
I looked at my hands.
I could still feel the energy I'd absorbed earlier, like a whisper in my bones.
What was that?
"WHAT ARE YOU BLACKING OUT FOR? LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!"
Nico's voice snapped me back.
An orb of pure darkness shot past my head, colliding with something just inches behind me.
BOOM.
The impact rippled through the air, and I felt the shockwave against my back.
I turned—
Three Mantis Wraiths.
Their bladed arms gleamed, black carapace reflecting the unnatural glow of the Rift.
I barely had time to react. One slashed.
RRRIP.
I looked down.
My shirt was in tatters.
I froze.
Then—
"YOU DISGUSTING INSECT."
🔥 I launched.
My body moved before I could think, rocketing upward with a devastating back-breaking kick, sending the first Mantis Wraith sky-high.
Two more lunged from the ground—
I stomped down on both their heads, their skulls crunching under my weight, using them as a springboard to launch higher.
Spin heel kick—
CRASH.
The first slammed into the ground, forming a crater.
My heart pounded, body burning.
I felt hot.
I heard my breath, shaky, unsteady.
Then—Lilith's voice snapped in my head.
"Found him. He tore through and made it to an opening in the forest past these things."
Her voice was controlled, but I could hear it.
The strain.
She was fighting.
A low hum filled the air, then—
💥 BOOM.
Lilith raised her hand, and the Phantasms around her imploded.
She exhaled, eyes glowing."So we just clean up, then?"
⚡ Nico was already moving.
His dagger blurred in and out of the shadows, Phantasms dropping one by one in his wake.
He flipped over a Storm Wraith's incoming lightning bolt, landed on its shoulders, and drove his blade into its throat,severing its flickering form.
"Oh, so we're all doing 'Moving to the Next Scene Finishers' now? Sweet!"
I grinned.
The ground beneath me shook as I slammed my foot down, and—
💧 A massive wave of water erupted outward.
It rushed like a living tide, shaping into arrowhead-like forms, launching like high-velocity missiles.
Phantasms screeched as they were skewered, impaled, erased from existence.
But the Colossi weren't done.
The battlefield shifted.
The Rift pulsed.
Then—
A sixth sense screamed through me.
I turned—a Colossus was already swinging.
A fist the size of a damn boulder.
I had no time to move.
The world blurred.
And then—
🌊 A rush of waves.
For a second, everything stopped.
Then—
A single drip of water echoed in my mind.
💧 "Take. Adapt. Evolve."
And suddenly—
I wasn't there anymore.
The Colossus's fist smashed into the ground where I had just stood.
I blinked.
I had moved.
Instinctively.
Effortlessly.
Like breathing.
Like a Veil had wrapped around me, pulling me through the gaps itself.
I landed softly on the battlefield, but something was different.
I felt... invincible.
The fight was just getting started.
The area was clear in seconds, but I barely had time to breathe.
My heart was hammering, slamming against my ribs like it wanted out.
My vision swam.
A wave of dizziness crashed into me, and before I could stop it—
I hit the ground, hard.
I gasped, my breath coming in short, shallow bursts. "Tch… Let's get moving. I'm—I'm getting hot—my heart's about to beat outta my damn chest."
🔥 "WELL, NO SHIT!" 🔥
Nico was already at my side, gripping my arm and hauling me up like I weighed nothing. "WHAT KIND OF ATTACK WAS THAT?!" His voice was half awe, half panic."I mean—yeah, cool and all, but what the hell was that, Lucian? Since when could you—? Better yet, HOW did you do that?! I thought you couldn't even control your damn gift?!"
I staggered, shaking my head, trying to clear the fog.
"...I don't know." The words left my mouth before I could stop them. "I don't even know if I can answer."
Because I didn't.
I clenched my fists, my fingers trembling slightly.
This feels like when I fought Jason but... worse.
No. Better.
No. Both.
I was losing it.
Something inside me wasn't normal anymore.
My mind spun, a thousand questions clashing against each other—
What was that blue-green energy?
Was it Aether? Was it something else?
Was I absorbing it? Was I stealing it?
Was that why I felt like I was on fire?
Before I could spiral any further, a chill ran up my spine.
Muscles spasmed. Like I'd been dipped in ice and fire at the same time.
I snapped my head up.
The battlefield was still.
Too still.
🔥 Vallen.
No fire. No sound. Just... silence.
And silence meant something worse.