The industrial district at night felt like a different world entirely. Not the sprawling hellscape of the South corridor, nor the echoing death-throat of the West Underpass, nor the frantic chaos of the East Interchange.
Here, the darkness rose in vertical slabs.
Rows of shipping containers—stacked two, three, even four high—loomed like steel skyscrapers. Gaps between them flickered with firelight, long red cuts across the asphalt. Forklifts sat abandoned like dead insects, their shadows long and skeletal. Sparks drifted from somewhere deeper in the maze, carried by a warm, smoky wind.
Talia slowed as she approached.
Even from fifty meters away, she could see the improvements made since her earlier pass. They'd taken her redesign and doubled it. Then doubled it again.
The original U-shaped maze had become a full perimeter fortress—three concentric rings of containers stacked into brutal walls, with narrow kill corridors threading between them. Entire buildings had been demolished to clear sightlines and replaced with welded steel blocks.
Floodlights clung to upper levels. Torches burned in the lower passages. Elevated platforms bristled with long-range fighters—bows, crossbows, pipes, poles. Some adults guided kids' hands on weapons—making sure the children earned kills for the Binding. No personal contribution, no guaranteed seat in the next world. Others fought for their families' survival.
No panic, no chaos. Training. The first faint breath of the world they would enter next.
Talia parked behind the carcass of a forklift and stepped into the fortress. This blockade was the safest in the town now.
Water hoses arced from upper platforms—slamming beasts backward, interrupting jumps. Smoke bombs drifted like pale ghosts. Pepper bombs burst into sharp clouds that sent foxes skittering sideways. Fire-retardant foam coated the weakest container seams, preventing boars from cracking them open.
Civilians ran the place like a small army—efficient, structured, learning at impossible speed.
Pride flickered warm in Talia's chest.
She had given them a template.
They had built a defensive fortress out of it.
Launa spotted her before she could signal anyone.
The Firelady jogged down a container ramp, hair tied back with a strip of hi-vis tape, soot smeared across her cheek. Her outfit was half firefighter uniform, half system armor. A metal chest plate glimmered beneath the reflective strips.
Her kill count had to be past the eighties, judging from the armor she wore.
"Talia!" Launa called from the last step. "I saw it!"
Talia blinked. "Saw what?"
Launa tapped her temple. "The message. The Binding Hour. You were right, It sounds like we have to earn our place—both to get there and once we arrive."
Her breath shook—half excitement, half terror.
"I brought my boy and my mum here to train. Rob's still at South… and, well—" She gestured around the steel labyrinth. "I spread the word. Looks good?"
Talia scanned the blockade again—long-range teams working in pairs, kids learning to reload, elderly handing out water, fighters cycling positions like they'd trained for months.
"It looks incredible," she said. "This is the cleanest blockade in the city."
Launa exhaled shakily. "Can we follow you? When the time comes?"
"Yeah," Talia answered without hesitation. "I've got others coming too—from the Underpass. Let's survive today. Then the next world."
Launa nodded hard.
Talia decided to broach the important news. "South will fall in a few hours, they need to build a second line. Can you spare any personnel."
Launa nodded fiercely. "We'll start now." She raced to put together a team to help her husband build the second line.
A roar rolled across the steel walls—low, thick, wrong.
Talia turned automatically.
The beasts had changed again. Earlier, night had made them frantic, now they were rabid.
Instead of rushing in predictable flows, they slammed into container walls in messy, frenzied clusters. Packs piled onto each other—using fallen beasts as stepping stones. Goats leapt higher, biting at platform edges. Dogs clawed desperately at seams. Boars rammed until their skulls cracked.
And something moved at the back of the horde.
Not bigger.
Just… different.
Focused.
A leader-beast—just one for now. More would come as the clock approached the 24-hour mark, Talia guessed, a last test from our trainer.
Talia's skin prickled. The test was escalating.
She forced herself up the nearest ladder to a raised platform, taking the rungs as fast as her strapped thigh and shoulder would allow.
"Shift left!" she shouted, pointing with her spear. "Climbers on the forklift! Two seconds!"
Defenders scrambled without question.
Three beasts clambered up the forklift frame and leapt—only to crash into a crossfire of pipes and spear jabs. They dissolved before they hit the ground.
Talia pulled the bow from her space and fired at the leader-beast. Her arrow hit deep but didn't kill it. Its growl reverberated through the steel. Stirring the beasts around it into a killing frenzy, not caring if they attacked friend or foe.
"Acid drums ready?" she asked. Having spotted the new equipment that Launa had gotten installed.
A teenager—maybe fifteen—nodded fast and pointed at three barrels arranged on a makeshift trebuchet built from rebar, chains, and a forklift mast.
"Load one," she ordered.
The chemical-suit team carefully rolled the drum into the cradle and locked it in place with chains before stepping back.
"Fire!"
The release snapped.
The barrel arced, hit the densest cluster, and burst—acid spraying, sizzling. Beasts shrieked as fur and flesh melted.
[Kill Count: 3875]
"Again!"
Two more barrels.
Two more green-white eruptions.
[Kill Count: 3990]
[Kill Count: 4080]
The pressure finally shifted. The leader-beast had to make a move.It stared at the kill zone and roared, body shuddering like it was fighting something inside itself. Then it forced its way through the dissolving bodies, movements gradually firming until it stood steady and let out one more vibrating roar, eyes locked straight on the fortress — steady, calculating.
Talia climbed higher onto a stacked container, moving carefully, her thigh and shoulder complaining with each pull, until she reached the highest platform, where the wind tasted of dust and smoke.
From her vantage point she witnessed the Leaders struggle and transformation and a chill crept up her spine.
Something was definitely driving these beasts to attack — it felt like there were two wills clashing: whatever guided humans, and whatever pushed the beasts. Could both survive this trial? Or was the design that only one side walked away?
Reigning in her thoughts she could only do what she can. There is no way for her to find a solution to the trial, she can only save those close to her, she is no saint.
Facing the newly motivated leader, she drew her D-Rank bow and notched the arrow. Her strapped shoulder screamed at the pull, but she ignored the spike of pain.
Knowing from her previous experience with the Mole Leader how tough and strong these guys can be, she had to be quick and aim straight for the weak points. Otherwise it could vanish and tear this place apart. Including the defenders.
Loosing the first shot, she gritted her teeth and dragged the string back again. Then again. Then another.
First shot—into its left eye.
Second—through its right eye.
The third—straight into the roof of its mouth as it reared to howl.
The beast staggered three unsteady steps. Then collapsed.
Talia waited but no system ring.
Seeing the nearby fighters watching the leader in horror, Talia spotted a strong man holding a javelin.
"Good aim?" She asked
Having an idea of what she was asking for he prepped this through,"I can hit a stationary target fine."
"Aim for his skull, you'll need multiple shots to break through." She said.
Hearing this a couple of people on the side rushed to grab a handful of javelins.
Five Javelins later and the system chime that followed made it clear: the system didn't care who softened it up, only who landed the finishing strike.
The horde faltered. The surrounding beasts seemed to hit a calm switch and returned to their night behaviour.
The blockade steadied. Fighters let out shaky breaths.
"Did she just—?"
"That thing was huge—"
"That thing took six javelins plus the arrows"
"Holy shit, we might actually live tonight—"
"Don't jinx it!"
"Is that… is that a D-rank bow?"
"No way, that's just the War Goddess with a stick and spite—"
Launa reappeared, breathless, bracing herself on the railing.
"You weren't kidding," she gasped. "They're different tonight."
"They'll get worse," Talia said. "This is the world ending. We're proving we can function in the next one."
Launa swallowed hard. "We'll be ready."
A pull tugged at the back of Talia's mind. She was tired now, sitting down to rest for a moment she leaned back against the container.
Her thigh seized the moment she stopped moving, muscles locking in protest, but she forced herself down anyway and braced her back against the container and went to watch her family update.
The Rowe house was a fortress now.
Her dad stood front and center, barking orders with a confidence she'd never seen before, far more comfortable than her last foresight. Cael and Theo flanked him, forming a kill-triangle with practiced ease.
Locals they'd trained moved in coordinated sweeps, clearing bodies, shifting barricades. Floodlights hung from poles Grandpa had rigged, casting bright circles across the street.
Kids worked in teams—one distracting, one stabbing.
Even the littlest had hit twenty kills, judging by the gear they wore.
Grandpa stood in the courtyard, chest heaving, axe dripping black residue. Touching the newly formed bracer, and let out a shaky laugh.
Grandma seemed to gather more people around her—She was the emotional backbone of an entire block.
And the motivator, judging by the wear of her shovel.
Talia felt a hard twist of pride and relief. They were becoming people who would survive the Binding. She was working hard to become one too. The vision slipped away.
Below, Launa's team braced for another surge. The air vibrated with oncoming pressure. Not yet—but soon.
Feeling she had a little more time, she forced down a quick meal and drained another bottle of water. She couldn't close her eyes or she wouldn't open them again anytime soon.
Feeling her limbs stiffening she stood slowly and gently stretched them to warm up, then slowly made her way down the ladder, favoring her good side.
Talia ran a hand along her spear, feeling every chip and hairline fracture along the E-grade shaft.
Then she mounted her bike.
Her shoulders ached. Her hands burned. Her thigh pulsed like a heartbeat under her skin. Smoke filled her lungs and settled there like sediment.
Only one major stop left before the Binding Hour began closing in.
Seeing Launa in the distance she rolled over and called "I'm moving to the last blockade, I'll be back here for the final hour."
"See you then, stay safe." Launa waved and replied, then turned to continue organising equipment and people.
Talia revved the engine.
Industrial District: stable.
Barely.
The next grind waited ahead—long roads, bleeding minutes, and the last major push before the night broke open.
She accelerated toward the distant firelight.