The world had faded.
Darkness.
Not the peaceful kind.
No dreams. No sounds.
Only the weight of something ancient, something watching, like unseen eyes peering through cracks in the void.
The boy who collapsed.
Crimson soaked his uniform, pooling fast around his broken body. His breaths grew shallow. Limbs twitched weakly, then went still.
For a moment, the alley fell quite.
And then —
[ SYSTEM DETECTED EXTREME HOSTILE THREAT. ]
[ EMERGENCY PROTOCOL ENGAGED. ]
[ INTIATING OVERDRIVE —]
[ Possession: "THE INVORY MOTH". ]
[ Sync Rate: 4.2%... STABILIZING. ]
[ TEMPORARY CONTROL GRABTED. ]
The Spinehowler let out a low, guttural growl.
Rein fell harder.
Then—
A single twitch.
Then another.
Eryn's bloodied fingers curled slowly, digging slightly against the wet ground.
Something moved inside him—but it wasn't him.
His chest rose, steady and unnatural. Bones cracked into place. Muscles tightened.
His head, still lowered, twitched once.
His arms pressed down, lifting his torso from the pool of blood. He looked like a shattered doll being forced to move by unseen threads. His head remained bowed, hair hanging soaked and black, streaked with grime and red.
Then —
A faint shimmer sparked.
From his crown, subtle silver began weaving through the strands of his hair, almost like moonlight whispering across ink. The color spread in waves, dancing like flame beneath the storm-lit sky.
His right hand, bloodied fingers slid up his cheek... And brushed the hair aside.
And beneath it—
His eyes opened.
No longer brown.
Now pale blue, glowing faintly with etched lines, like circuitry pulsing beneath glass. There was no fear in them. No confusion. Just stillness.
His body stood straight.
Back slightly arched. Head titled downward.
Rein fell from his shoulder, slicking over the torn fabric of his uniform. Cracks in his ribs were visibly shifting beneath the skin. The broken boy had been puppeted—his limbs moving like silk on steel.
The Spinehowler paused.
Something had changed.
Its instinct screamed. But too late.
The possessed body disappeared from sight.
No sound.
No warning.
Just a blur—a flash of silver and blue.
By the time the creature turned it's head, Eryn was already behindit—midair, as if he'd leapt impossibly high, weightless in the storm. His form twisted mid-flight, leg raised high—
CRACK.
His heel came crashing down on the back of the beast's skull, sending it face—first into the ground with a resounding slam.
The Spinehowler let out a shocked snarl, claws scrabbling against the wet floor, trying to push itself up.
But Eryn —no, the thing inside Eryn—did not stop.
He landed softly behind it, feet barely touching the ground, and turned.
No wasted motion. No Flare.
Just lethal precision.
A second later, he was in front of the beast again, ducking low beneath a wild claw swipe. His palm opened, fingers slicing upward in a razor-precise strike across the underside of its jaw.
[ Skill Unlocked: STRIKE PATTERN - VEIN RIPPER ]
[ Target Bleeding Resistance: 22% ]
[ Damage: 48 HP ]
Blood sprayed.
The Spinehowler screeched, stumbling backward.
And Eryn followed — a ghost in motion, weaving through the creature's wild blows with unnatural grace. Every twist, every movement, carried purpose. Not a single breath wasted.
At one point, the beast lunged.
Too slow.
Eryn leaned sideways, let the fangs pass his face by inches, and then struck with an open plan palm to the side of its neck. A ripple of energy surged from the impact point, sending the monster crashing against the wall.
[ FORM CORRECTION COMPLETE. MUSCLE RESPONSE BOOSTED. ]
[ Overdrive Stability: 5.6%... RISING. ]
A pause.
The Spinehowler was trembling now.
Rain fell harder, mixing with blood in rivers across the concrete.
Eryn stood still in the center of the alley—head titled slightly, those glowing blue eyes focused like a predator's. His silver-streaked hair clung to his skin, wind pulling strands loose like trailing silk.
But behind those eyes... he was there.
Only the Watcher was.
And for a brief moment, the Spinehowler hesitated.
It should have killed him. It should have feasted.
But something older had taken his place.
"Curious," the voice murmured. Not aloud. Just a whisper... in the storm. Smooth. Detached. Watching.
"So this is how fragile the vessel is..."
Eryn's lips curled into a faint, almost pained smile.
And then the creature lunged again.
—
Time slowed.
The Spinehowler's claw cut through the air—but Eryn was no longer there.
His body shifted with impossible precision, ducking just enough for the strike to miss, foot sliding across the soaked pavement as if on calculation. Rain burst from under his movement like shattered glass.
[ Predictive Mirror: ACTIVE. ]
Another swipe. Another dodge.
Every movement was exact, efficient —less like instinct, more like data.
[ WEAK POINT LOCATED. Probability of Critical Success: 87%. Executing. ]
Eryn's arm moved. A jagged metal rod—perhaps once a fence post lashed out, driving straight into the Spinehowler's exposed inner thigh. The Beast howled, leg bucking.
The glow in Eryn's eyes pulsed.
[ Precision Break: ENGAGED. 10 SECONDS REMAINING. ]
He moved faster. The rod struck again—neck, shoulder, inner chest where the ribcage met corrupted muscle.
Not just brute force.
Every strike counted.
[ 6 second remaining. ]
The Spinehowler roared, spinning, jaws snapping. It caught Eryn's arm—no, almost caught it. The body shifted, pivoted mid-motion, narrowly avoiding a crushing bite.
[ 3 seconds. ]
Another strike.
This time, the rod plunged into the creature's lower jaw and drove upward —deep enough to rattle.
This time, the rod plunged into the creature's lower jaw and drove upward deep enough to rattle.
[ 0 second. ]
[ POSSESSION OVERDRIVE TERMINATING ]
[ Watcher: IVORY MOTH — Disengaging. ]
[ Note: SUBJECT'S NEURAL COHESION AT 14% Memory of even: FRAGMENTED. ]
"—Bo...ring.."
The glow began to fade.
But it was over.
The Spinehowler dropped.
Its body collapsed like a mountain of meat and shadow, crashing though a vendor stall and sending debris across the flooded street. Its eyes were dim now. Its body twitched once... then stilled.
For a moment, silence returned.
Only rain and the faint crackling of distant electricity remained.
Eryn—or what wore his skin, stood over the corpse. He swayed slightly. The glow in his eyes flickered, then blinked out entirely.
Then collapsed, unconscious.
---
Minutes passed.
Not long after, boots splashed against wet pavement. A squad at six operatives in dark-gray combat suits entered the scene—bearing the insignia of AURELIS: Break Division.
Leading them was a man in modified A-Ranj armor. Blue trim shimmered faintly against the black plates, and his helmet bore a Captain's crest.
"Clear the perimeter. Scan for Rift residue, gate signature. anything," he ordered, voice sharp and efficient.
His name was CaptainDarius Vale. A veteran Slayer with over 50 confirmed Aberrant kills. And he didn't like surprises.
"Captain," one of the operatives called, "No active Rift gate detected. No Flare. "
Vale frowned, stepping closer to the massive corpse that lay broken in the alley. The Spinehowler's body was steaming. Part of its was shattered, a makeshift rod buried deep into its cranium.
No signs of explosive damage. No heavy weapon use.
Just... raw precision.?
"Wo the hell did this?" he muttered.
One of the team shouted from the far end.
"Captain! We've got a civilian! Still breathing!"
Vale strode over. Lying in a pool of diluted blood was a boy—no older that seventeen.
Uniform torn, face bruised, skin deathly pale.
But he was alive.
Vale knelt beside him, fingers to his neck. Pulse, faint but steady.
His eyes caught the patch on the boy's soaked uniform.
Aurelis Vanguard Institute. D-Rank trainee.
"A student? Here?" he said under his breath. "On his own?"
He glanced toward the dead Aberrant again.
Then back at the boy.
Impossible.
Unless...
His gaze narrowed. That kind of precision. That brutal efficiency.
"He's alive. Pulse is weak, but stable. Get him patched up."
A medic rushed in with a portable regen-pad, clamping it to Eryn's neck.
"Sir," another operative called out, kneeling beside the Spinehowler. "Core is still intact. Pulling now."
Darius gave a curt nod.
"Understood, Captain."
Another voice chimed in. "We've scanned the area—ni other civies nearby, but there's significant collateral damage stretching two blocks west. Orders?"
Darius stood, eyes scanning the smoke-filled ruins.
"Deploy sensor drones. Sweep the perimeter. I want confirmation that no other Aberrant came through. We don't leave shadows u searched."
He turned back to Eryn, now being lifted onto a stretcher.
"And him... I want a full report. Background. Section All of it."
He narrowed his eyes.
Something... unnatural had taken root here.
The smoke curled around them. And far above, unseen by all, something watched from the cracks of reality —its pale glow fading, satisfied.
[ Observation Complete. Subject Response: ACCEPTABLE. INITIATING NEXT PROTOCOL... ]
- END OF CHAPTER 2