The portal spat them out into a crumbling warehouse on the edge of the city. The air was thick with dust, moonlight spilling through jagged holes in the roof.
Kyle stumbled forward, still bleeding from the extraction rig, but too stubborn to show how much it hurt.
Felix closed the portal with a sharp motion of his hand—no, not his hand. Kyle noticed the flicker of a small charm at his wrist. Portal key? He'd have to ask later.
Gia's eyes scanned Kyle like she was checking for broken bones. "You need to sit down. Now."
"I'm fine," Kyle muttered, brushing past her. "We need to move before they—"
As if on cue, the warehouse walls trembled with a low, unnatural vibration.
Felix's head jerked toward the sound. "…Too late."
From the shadows at the far end of the warehouse, something emerged.
It wasn't human.
Its frame was tall and skeletal, its skin—or what passed for skin—a pale metallic sheen. Its face was smooth, eyeless, save for a vertical slit that pulsed with faint red light. Blades hung from its forearms like folded mantis legs.
"Kyle," Gia whispered, stepping closer to him. "What… is that?"
Kyle's voice was grim. "They sent a Hunter."
Felix's smirk was gone. "Didn't think they'd risk one inside city limits."
The Hunter tilted its head, as if listening. Then, with a burst of speed that nearly blurred it from sight, it lunged straight for Kyle.
The First Clash
Kyle's blood surged into his hands, forming jagged crimson blades just in time to block the Hunter's strike. The impact rattled his bones.
The thing was fast—every movement mechanical yet eerily organic. Each blow came with precision, targeting joints, arteries, weak spots.
Felix was suddenly beside him, twin knives flashing. "You're slow tonight."
"I just had half my blood stolen," Kyle snapped, deflecting another strike.
Gia opened a portal above the Hunter, trying to drop it into who-knows-where, but the creature leapt sideways mid-attack, avoiding it entirely.
Kyle's eyes narrowed. "It can sense the portals."
Felix whistled low. "That's new."
A Close Call
The Hunter's blade scraped across Kyle's side, slicing through his jacket and grazing skin. Blood spilled—but before Kyle could weaponize it, the creature's wrist split open, and his own blood was sucked into its system.
Kyle staggered, cold shock running through him. "It's draining my power—directly."
Felix lunged, slamming both knives into the Hunter's neck joint, but the thing barely flinched. It flung Felix across the room like a ragdoll, sending him crashing through a wooden crate.
Gia's portals became rapid-fire flashes, trying to trap the Hunter in confined loops, but each time it dodged with inhuman calculation.
Kyle's head was spinning—he couldn't lose more blood.
Then Gia yelled, "Kyle! Use me!"
He froze mid-swing. "What?!"
"I can amplify your power through the portals—just trust me!"
The Hunter lunged again. Kyle didn't have time to argue. He flung a stream of weaponized blood toward her portal—
—And it came out the other side, multiplied, a barrage of crimson spikes slamming into the Hunter's chest hard enough to pin it to the wall.
The creature twitched violently, then went still.
Temporary Victory
Silence fell, broken only by Kyle's ragged breathing.
Felix pulled himself out of the crate, brushing splinters from his coat. "Well… that wasn't terrifying at all."
Gia was still staring at the pinned Hunter, her hands trembling slightly. "It's not dead, is it?"
Kyle shook his head. "No. It's waiting."
Felix's gaze darkened. "Then we don't stay here."
As Gia opened another portal, Kyle's mind was racing. If The Order had these things hunting him, it meant they were escalating.
And worse—now they knew exactly how much power he had left.
They wouldn't stop.
Not until he was empty.
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