050 "A" THREAT DETECTED
The Veyran team broke formation the instant their leader fell.
Panic spread like wildfire. Without Fenyl, their will to fight dissolved, and the mercenaries turned to flee.
But the Deacon of Annubis wasn't about to let them escape.
He descended in a blur of gold and shadow, his scythe flashing like liquid light. The first Veyran warrior didn't even have time to scream before his body split apart.
A crimson mist filled the air.
Then—
Notification: Your skill [Momentum Collapse] has improved.
Damen chuckled under his breath. He almost lost his Camouflage from laughing, but it was worth it. Revenge always was.
"Serves you right," he whispered.
The dead Veyran had been one of them — one of those who conspired to kill him, the one who'd handed him that alien-attracting beacon during the mission in Mountain Death.
When Damen saw the Deacon closing in, he'd already acted first — activating his mining app, locking Veyran as his next source. The moment he perished, the mining process completed.
Power flowed into Damen, cold and exhilarating. It was the taste of vengeance.
The Veyran meta human's essence was kinetic-based — perfect synergy for his Momentum Collapse fusion skill. Damen could feel the compatibility the instant it merged. His body vibrated faintly, as if charged by invisible pressure.
The rest of the Veyran expedition screamed and scattered, but the Deacon was merciless. Each swing of his scythe carved another into the dust.
And every time one of them fell—
Notification: Your skill [Momentum Collapse] has improved.
Notification: Your skill [Momentum Collapse] has improved.
Notification: Your skill [Momentum Collapse] has improved.
Notification: Your skill [Momentum Collapse] has improved.
Notification: Your skill [Momentum Collapse] has improved.
Notification: Your skill [Momentum Collapse] has improved.
Notification: Your skill [Momentum Collapse] has improved.
Notification: Your skill [Momentum Collapse] has improved.
Notification: Your skill [Momentum Collapse] has improved.
One by one, those who betrayed him — those who watched him die in Mountain Death — were erased.
Damen stood in silence, invisible, watching their judgment unfold. When the last body hit the ground, he closed his phone with a quiet, satisfied click.
"All accounted for," he murmured. "Their sins… punished."
Your skill: Momentum Collapse has upgraded to Rank F
Damen laughed, a low, satisfied sound that almost broke through his camouflage.
"And adequate compensation received," he muttered.
-----
The Blue Blood invasion wasn't slowing — it was in fact escalating. Across the fortress walls, explosions tore through the sky as the enemy unleashed their main force.
Dozens of Deacons of Annubis advanced in formation, each commanding packs of shadow hounds that surged like living tides.
Their howls drowned out the alarms.
Even Damen felt a flicker of fear at the sight. The sheer scale of the assault was terrifying — a true army of the alien world.
But he forced it down. Fear was a distraction, and he had work to do.
He swiped open his mining app and targeted one of the alien leaders.
Target: Krathgolok
Rank: D
Strength: 241 | Charm: 18 | Meta: 90 | Command: 88 | Blood: 384 | Armor: 384
A wicked smile spread across Damen's face.
"Let's do another experiment."
He tapped Relinquish: Blood. The numbers shifted instantly.
Blood: 385
He laughed again. "There goes a little more blue blood from my veins," he said. Every time he hit Relinquish: Blood, one point of his cursed stat drained away.
"Eventually," he whispered, "I'll be rid of this blood curse completely."
Then a thought struck him.
He hesitated only for a heartbeat — then tapped Acquire: Meta.
His stats changed again. +1 Meta received.
Damen froze, then grinned like a man discovering fire. "No way… I can steal stats from them too?"
Without hesitation, he began tapping through every parameter — Strength, Command, Meta, Charm — every trait the Deacon possessed.
The power of their stats flowed into him in a cascade of light only he could see.
His pulse quickened. "Stealing from aliens is perfect. There will be no complaints, no witnesses, and no SIA regulations to worry about," he said.
One Deacon down. He moved on to the next. And the next.
Each time, the numbers surged, his stats climb higher with every successful extraction.
Acquire: Strength. Acquire: Meta. Acquire: Command. Acquire: Charm.
The app pulsed with data until his entire body vibrated with newfound power.
When the last Deacon's essence faded, his screen displayed the alert he'd been waiting for.
System Limit Reached: Maximum Stats for Rank F achieved.
Damen exhaled, exhilarated. He couldn't grow stronger — not until he broke into Rank E after his mining app improves his rank.
But that didn't matter.
He looked out over the battlefield, the storm of energy and death raging below, and smiled.
"Let them come," he said softly. "I'm ready."
-----
A shadow hound clawed its way through the force field, snarling as it landed on the walls. Before its feet even touched the ground, Damen vanished—then reappeared beneath it, his heel crashing against its neck.
A ripple of invisible force exploded outward.
Momentum Collapse.
The hound's neck crumpled inward with a sickening crunch, its body folding before it even realized it was dead.
"Yes, I can kill a hound without the Fist Form Blade", Damen screamed.
Another hound lunged from the side. Damen pivoted, surged forward, and struck with a spinning momentum kick. The beast's head snapped back and slammed into the wall, lifeless.
But the tide didn't stop. More blue-blooded beasts poured through the breaches.
"Damn it… these creeps are endless," he growled, his breath sharp and sweat stinging his eyes.
Damen fought on, kinetic bursts flaring with every strike.
Then…
There were Horns. A deep, rolling, and ancient sound echoed across the horizon.
The battlefield froze. Even the hounds hesitated.
From the veil of blue mist, a colossal silhouette emerged—jackal-headed, robed in shadows. Its eyes burning like the twin suns in the sky of Anu.
"It is the Shadow of Annubis," the soldiers screamed.
"We are doomed. The alien god's shadow is here."
The alien god's enormous scythe materialized, a blade as long as a tower, gleaming with light of death.
It moved.
The swing alone tore the air apart as the scythe's edge descended toward Fortress Myrone.
Sirens wailed. The citizens of Fortress Myrone were shrill and desperate. The fortress alert changed pitch: A-Rank Threat Detected.
Damen's throat went dry. "How the hell are we supposed to fight that? A god?"
Then something else was nagging at him in his body, it was a feeling… no an urge… a compulsion… a lust.
"…I want kills…."
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