The street had fallen eerily quiet.
Ash floated down like lazy snowflakes, settling on cracked pavement and broken glass. The agents stood in a loose circle, lowering their weapons one by one.
Aria leaned against the van, still gripping her dented bat, arms crossed.
One of the agents exhaled. "I think... that was all of them."
"Feels like we just survived a war," another muttered, glancing at the Devourer bodies scattered around the square.
"Could use an actual bed," someone else joked, holstering his weapon. "And maybe therapy."
A low chuckle passed through the group. Even Aria allowed herself a crooked smirk.
Kael stood a few meters away, staring into the distance, unmoving. His markings had faded to a faint glow.
"We should assess the perimeter," the leader said. "Secure this zone in case any stragglers—"
BOOM.
The ground trembled violently. Cracks split through the asphalt.
"What the—"
AND WITH A LOUD CRACK,
The tremors came faster. Louder.
Then the street erupted.
Dozens of Devourers burst from the earth like a geyser of limbs and screeches.
"AMBUSH!" someone screamed.
Aria whirled around, eyes wide.
But they were already surrounded.
Tentacle-like shadows snatched at their legs. One agent fired blindly—another tried to climb the van's roof—but it was chaos.
"They're everywhere!"
One Devourer tackled a soldier, dragging him into a sinkhole in the ground. Another seized a second agent by the arm, dislocating it as it yanked him into the black.
"KAEL!" Aria shouted, reaching for him.
But even as she took a step forward—something struck her from behind.
The last thing she saw was Kael's blank expression as she was pulled under.
---
Kael's Trigger
He didn't move.
He didn't run.
He just watched.
They were gone.
Aria.
The agents.
Everything.
Surrounded again, this time by even more Devourers—clawing toward him, silent, patient.
He looked at his hands.
> You were supposed to protect them.
> You failed.
> That is not... acceptable.
His breath shortened. His chest ached—not from pain, but contradiction.
> Objective: Protect. Status: Failed.
If you can't even protect them then what are you here for, he said to himself
Observation:I'm useless,
Conclusion:System… error.
The world blurred at the edges. His logic stuttered. Purpose fragmented.
And then—
A pulse.
It started in his chest. A crack that split not skin, but code.
His body locked in place.
Then erupted.
---
The Awakening
The markings returned with force—spreading like wildfire across his body, curling around his arms and neck in jagged black lines. His eyes glowed an unnatural violet, darkness swallowing the whites entirely.
The air rippled.
A Devourer lunged.
He didn't flinch.
He raised one hand.
And the creature burned from the inside—not with flame, but with some deep, soul-consuming force. The black light swallowed it whole.
More came.
He moved—not frantically, but with mathematical precision.
Step.
Burn.
Turn.
Strike.
The creatures disintegrated in waves, no resistance, no mercy. The battlefield became a graveyard in seconds.
And when it ended—
Kael stood alone again.
No panting.
No expression.
Just the faint glow of markings across his arms… and silence.