Part 1 – Joint Assault
The crack split the chamber floor with a deafening snap. Not like rock breaking — more like space itself tearing.
The shaking stopped.
But something was different.
The air — once dense — had grown heavy.
Thomas felt it in his bones. Like he'd dropped into a deeper layer of himself.
The scanner on his belt twitched violently.
The needle spun a full circle, flickered… and reignited. Twice as bright.
— He's rising. — Lili's voice was sharper than before.
— This isn't a regular beast. — muttered Walter, backing up. — We underestimated this thing. This isn't just a Class C.
Dark mist began pouring from the gash in the ground.
Thick. Twisting. Almost liquid.
And then — it rose.
First the arms, far too long.
Then the chest — covered in cracks that pulsed with violet light.
The head looked carved from bone and dry bark — half skull, half exoskeleton.
Its eyes… weren't really eyes. Just holes.
Black holes, leaking steam — each breath a hiss of condensed Ayvu.
But the worst part wasn't what they saw.
It was the presence.
This creature was watching them.
Thinking.
Like Thag'Zhul.
It made a dry rasping sound, and suddenly —
Three shadows, still lingering nearby, were reabsorbed. Instantly.
No smoke, no transition. They were just… gone.
None of them had even noticed those shadows were still there.
Anahi stepped in front of Thomas.
— Back up. — she said firmly, not turning around.
— You don't need to shield me. — he replied, summoning his blades.
— If you're really Class E… this thing's too much for you.
Walter and Elias circled wide, trying to flank.
Lili reinforced her barrier.
Renzo and Davi moved back, tense.
But the Yandu didn't move.
It just stood there.
Observing.
Like it was waiting.
Then the room shifted.
The stone floor warped.
The air spiraled inward — like Ayvu itself was bending around the creature.
— He's folding the flow! — Lili snapped. — Spatial distortion incoming!
Thomas recognized the pattern.
Thag'Zhul had done it.
But this one... did it with grace.
Like an artist.
The Yandu vanished.
Appeared behind Renzo.
Thomas shouted —
— RIGHT SIDE!
Too late.
The creature gripped Renzo's skull like it was holding fruit.
Lifted him.
Ayvu bled from Renzo's pores, his eyes, his mouth.
Anahi launched a glass grenade —
But it detonated in empty space.
The Yandu had already moved.
Thomas dashed in. Blades spinning.
But when he got close —
It looked at him.
And spoke.
— You… carry the scent… of someone long dead.
The voice scratched the air. Cold. Heavy.
Thomas froze.
Anahi stepped back.
Lili reinforced her circle.
Walter ran to help Renzo — but the man was limp. Not dead. But… empty.
The creature raised both arms.
The runes across the walls lit up.
Red.
Then purple.
Then a blinding white.
Too bright.
But not a light of sight — a light that hurt to perceive.
— This is no summon. — Lili gasped. — He's trying to use us!
— Use us how?! — Anahi shouted, pulling back.
— He's draining Ayvu… he's trying to form a Yaruka!
Thomas narrowed his eyes.
His vectors pulsed.
The blades zipped into his hands.
The Yandu spoke again.
— You should not… carry what you carry. No human lives that long.
— I didn't ask for it. — Thomas growled, then ran.
He didn't charge head-on.
He curved left — aiming for the weak spot he'd seen when it absorbed Renzo.
When its arm had overextended, something shifted.
There.
Thomas dashed past the beast, slashed hard — fast.
The blade connected.
It hit something denser than flesh.
Crystallized Ayvu.
The creature reeled —
Then spun.
A cord-like limb struck Thomas square in the chest.
He slammed into a column.
But rolled, rose, blade in hand.
Anahi saw her moment.
She zigzagged, threw three blue bombs to the ground —
And one straight up.
Blue mist exploded outward, blinding anything with Ayvu sensitivity.
The upper grenade flashed — bright as lightning.
— NOW! — she screamed.
Walter lunged with his curved blade.
Twisted mid-air.
Slashed down on the creature's neck.
The blade sank in.
But didn't cut through.
The Yandu exhaled — not in pain. In… disappointment.
And retaliated.
The ground split.
Three bone-pillar constructs shot from the floor like spears.
Walter barely blocked one using his Ipokan.
Elias wasn't so lucky.
A spike impaled him straight through the chest. He died without a sound.
Lili tried to form a new barrier —
But her circle shattered as the third spike struck.
— The domain... it's growing too fast! — she cried out.
Thomas fell to one knee.
The pressure was unbearable.
But something had changed.
His right eye burned.
And suddenly, he saw.
Lines. Flows. Cracks in the creature's body.
A network of exposed energy.
He blinked.
The pupil narrowed.
The world sharpened.
— Left chest… under the shoulder.
— The core is there.
— Not centered. Displaced.
He stood.
Anahi saw his face.
— You see it?
He nodded.
— Seven seconds. I need seven seconds.
She didn't answer.
She just ran.
Davi conjured two curved blades.
Anahi stabbed them into the ground, forming an Ayvu trap.
A pulse.
Gravity twisted.
The Yandu staggered.
Thomas didn't hesitate.
He ran.
Jumped.
Spun mid-air.
Threw his right blade — not to kill. To bait.
The creature turned.
Blocked high.
Thomas fell from behind.
His left blade pierced the exposed spot —
And twisted with a pulse of Ayvu vector energy.
Anahi arrived.
Walter followed.
They pushed together.
The beast screamed.
A sound that cracked the dome.
The core trembled.
But didn't shatter.
Instead — it retreated.
Lines of crimson light spread through the creature's body.
Its skin steamed with leaking Ayvu.
But it wasn't dead.
It was furious.
It lifted one arm — and slammed Thomas across the room.
The wall cracked on impact.
His head snapped sideways.
Vision blackened.
He hit the floor.
Tried to breathe.
Pain flooded in.
A black spear of corrupted Ayvu tore from the floor — aimed at where he'd fallen.
He rolled, barely dodging it.
Anahi rushed in —
But the creature saw her.
One blow.
She hit the ground hard.
Lili summoned a final circle —
But the earth shattered beneath her. She vanished in smoke.
Walter roared, blade burning with Ayvu.
Slash. Slash. Slash.
The creature didn't move.
Then placed a single finger on Walter's chest.
Ayvu flared —
Walter stiffened.
And collapsed.
Davi… was gone.
Only Thomas remained.
And the Yandu… wasn't done yet.
Part 2 – Raising the Stakes
The creature had changed.
No longer wild. No longer testing.
Now, it hunted.
Thomas stepped back. A shadow slashed across his path.
He lunged sideways—just in time.
Two more tendrils whipped from the ground, boxing him in.
He was surrounded.
The Yandu pressed forward.
Its body moved like a collapsing star—
twisting, pulsating, coiling with rage.
Every step cracked the stone beneath.
Every movement spawned more lances, more arms, more madness.
Thomas clenched his fists.
The daggers were gone.
His right hand sparked with raw Ayvu.
He pushed off the floor—
angled his feet—
and launched.
He hit the wall, kicked into a spin, and dropped like a meteor.
Mid-spin, he compressed Ayvu into his forearm—
his fist now a hammer.
He landed.
And slammed.
The tendril took the full force.
Ayvu burst like a pressurized valve.
The creature roared, pulling back.
Only a half step.
But it was enough.
Thomas stumbled.
His body screamed.
Blood dripped down his face.
He stood. Barely.
The creature stared.
Then… vanished.
— Shit. — he whispered.
A whisper behind him—too late.
The Yandu struck like a truck.
It grabbed him mid-turn, slammed him into the wall, then the ceiling, then the floor.
Three hits.
All bone.
All pain.
Then… came the crush.
A tendril, thick as a tree, wrapped around his ribs.
Squeezing.
He gasped.
No air.
Chest locked.
His lungs wouldn't fill.
His ears rang.
The right eye—burned.
Move.
Fight.
NOW.
Blood spilled from his nose.
But his eye… opened wider.
And he saw.
The Ayvu inside the creature… was overloading.
The core—destabilized.
Overheating.
Now.
Thomas stopped resisting.
He aimed.
Not with his blade—
with his vector.
He pointed straight into the beast's chest.
And detonated.
It wasn't clean.
It wasn't graceful.
It was raw.
The force ruptured the tentacle.
His arm bent back—something cracked.
But the Yandu didn't retreat. Not yet.
It charged. One arm lashed forward, a blunt, clawed appendage aiming for Thomas's ribs like a pile driver.
Thomas twisted sideways, but the blow clipped his shoulder.
Pain shot down his back — hot and blinding.
He used the momentum, ducked, and slid low under the second strike.
But the Yandu was faster than before.
Its lower limbs folded inwards, tendrils reshaping mid-motion into a sweeping horizontal blade, aiming for Thomas's legs in a slithering arc.
Thomas planted his hand on the ground.
Kicked up, spinning with his full body — a tight aerial twist.
He came down like an axe — heel-first, crashing onto the Yandu's skull with a thud that cracked the floor.
The Yandu staggered back, dazed.
But it didn't fall.
Instead, it let its body fall sideways — then used the impact to rebound.
A spike-arm shot out of its side, jagged and fast, aimed straight for Thomas's stomach.
Thomas saw it late.
Too close.
He didn't flinch.
Instead, he let the momentum from his spin carry him into a reverse roll, grazing the tip of the spike by centimeters.
He landed low — knees bent — arms raised in a tight pugilistic guard.
The next blows came in a storm.
The Yandu hammered at him — diagonal strikes, piercing thrusts, tendon-whips.
Thomas blocked them all — using his forearms like reinforced bars, absorbing impact with short bursts of Ayvu at each contact point.
He took three hits. Four. Five.
Then advanced.
One step. Two. Close.
— Now.
He exploded.
His right fist flew forward —
Then left —
Then right again — faster.
He wasn't just punching.
He was testing something.
Ayvu flowed to his elbows. Then his shoulder blades.
He channeled power backward — not into the fists, but into the origin of motion.
The back of his shoulders lit up, like twin engines.
And when he punched again —
The force doubled.
The Yandu's jaw cracked sideways.
Its exoskeleton fissured.
Thomas saw the opening — and went further.
He aligned his Hekato.
Created vectors behind his own arms, like springs.
As each punch landed, the vectors pulled his arms back, then pushed them forward again.
Punch. Retract. Punch. Retract.
Each time faster.
Like a hydraulic piston.
Like a human jackhammer.
Left-right-left-right-left-right-left.
The air around his fists hissed from the speed.
The Yandu — once graceful — stumbled under the sheer weight of the blows.
Its arms twitched.
It tried to retaliate.
Tried to leap back.
Thomas advanced.
He leaned in.
One final vector flared beneath his foot — propelling his entire body forward like a launched blade.
The punch landed full center on the Yandu's chest.
Bone cracked.
Ayvu burst out in a spiral.
The creature roared — not in power.
In fear.
And then it turned. It ran.
For the first time his steps were uncoordinated.
Flesh crumbled as he moved.
It didn't teleport. It fled.
Thomas dropped to one knee.
Breathing.
Fists dripping blood.
Mouth still closed.
Eyes locked on the path ahead. But he stood.
The domain shattered. The ground trembled.
The Yandu Slid between the pillars and vanished down a narrow corridor of living stone.
But Thomas… was already chasing.
He didn't think. His body ran on instinct.
His eyes now glowed with stormlight.
"I'm starting to use Ayvu naturally in some ways", he thinks.
Blue, burning, focused. His steps were too light. He didn't run, he launched.
Each movement cracked the floor.
Each vector-fueled leap bent the air.
The daggers flew beside him.
One leading. One circling.
His right Eye showed him everything.
Cracks, shifts in energy,the core's movement.
He's relocating the core… shifting it backward.
The Yandu scurried across the walls, then the ceiling—
a monstrous spider weaving a retreat.
Thomas stayed close.
He vaulted off ruins, pillars, even midair.
Behind them, in the shattered chamber—
Anahi stirred.
Walter groaned while Lili was evolving him in a dense almost pink Ayvu aura.
— Who is that guy…? — Anahi whispered.
— Isn't he a a rank E? — Walter wheezed, pressing a hand to his cracked ribs.
— The hell he is. — Lili said.
They watched Thomas vanishing between the columns, Ayvu flashing behind him like meteor trails.
Each flash of Ayvu lit the sky like fireworks.
The Yandu reached the outer corridor.
Thomas struck.
He launched a dagger into the wall—
used it like a hook to pivot—
and changed trajectory midair.
Another blade flew.
It hit the creature's flank.
It howled. Turned.
Thomas recalled the blade with his vector.
It ripped sideways—stretching the creature's torso unnaturally.
And there—he saw it.
The core. Drifting. Exposed.
He landed.
Stepped and launched.
The Yandu lashed out—arms, tendrils, blades of Ayvu. Thomas dodged every strike by inches.
Duck, aerial twits, land, advance, duck right, duck left, advance, defend, PUNCH!
He punched right into the core.
The shockwave echoed like a buried explosion.
But he didn't stop.
Left. Right. Left. Right.
His fists were mangled. His vision blurred. But the rhythm never broke.
The creature kept trying to land killing blows on Thomas. Every strike meant to end him, but Thomas evaded them all, slipping in punches of his own between the attacks.
Blue Ayvu bled from his eyes. No pupils anymore— just power.
He hit again. And again. And again.
The core—cracked. Hairlines at first. Then fractures.
The Yandu screamed. Thomas didn't flinch.
One punch. Then another. Each faster than the last—until his blows came so fast, so relentless, the creature could no longer fight back.
Then a final, devastating blow. The core imploded.
The creature fell—no explosion, no flame. Just silence.
Stone. Dust. Ash.
Thomas collapsed.
Blood on his arms. His breath broken. His victory undeniable.
Thanks to Hector's teachings, he was able to win. He remembered and smiled, a thankful smile, he will be able to see Olivia and Gabi again.