Ash's lungs burned. His parasite's shell flickered over his skin in jagged, flickering bursts as he sprinted through the overgrown tunnel, vines whipping past his face, fungus crackling underfoot. Behind them, the Knight's roar shook the ground like a war drum.
"Keep going!" Ash barked, pushing Sylvie forward.
"I'm not leaving you!" she snapped back, gripping his wrist like it was the last thing tethering her to life.
A pulse of Riftlight exploded behind them as the Heloxian Knight slammed its palm into the earth.
The tunnel floor split. Ash's footing vanished. Sylvie cried out as they tumbled, dust and spores clouding their fall. Ash hit the dirt hard, his arm cracking against stone, parasite armor peeling off like scorched bark.
He groaned, pain stabbing into his ribs. Sylvie landed beside him, her breath knocked out.
Ash tried to rise, blood trickling down his lip. "I can still fight," he muttered, teeth clenched. "Bonnet—give me control. Just one more time—"
"No," came the low voice in his head. "You'll die."
"Then die with me," Ash growled, eyes flaring. "I don't care anymore."
Sylvie grabbed his arm and yanked him forward. "Then die another time, idiot. Not now!"
She didn't wait for his argument. She just pulled him again, dragging him back to his feet.
The Heloxian Knight behind them snarled and tore a chunk of Rift-corrupted stone straight from the wall. Muscles bulged under its plated hide. It hurled the boulder like a god throwing a tantrum.
It missed.
But the shockwave sent Ash and Sylvie tumbling again. Dust, gravel, and steam. They slid and crashed into the roots of a fungal tree.
Ash tried to rise. Sylvie was already up, wiping blood from her temple, one hand still locked on his.
"I'll fight him," Ash said, chest heaving. "You go. You've got better odds."
Sylvie turned to him, eyes burning through the grime. "Shut up."
"I'm serious."
"I said shut up!" she shouted, voice cracking. "I'm not letting you get picked off like some NPC death flag. You're not dying here, and I'm not dying alone either, so just shut the hell up and run with me!"
Ash blinked. His mouth opened.
Then the wind changed.
Sylvie turned slowly. In front of them, another figure stepped out of the mists—taller, plated in Heloxian armor, its eye-lights glowing a cruel red. It was an another knight.
"No..." she whispered. "There's another one?"
The one behind them snarled again.
"Now we're boxed in," Ash muttered, voice tight. "We're done."
Behind them, the first Heloxian Knight raised its voice, guttural and low, its alien language rumbling like tectonic plates scraping together.
Its voice echoed with weight. "End them quickly. They are not worth the Queen's attention."
The one in front didn't speak.
It charged.
Ash pushed Sylvie behind him, preparing for impact, parasite flaring despite its exhaustion.
But the Knight didn't come for them.
It lunged straight past.
"Wait—what?!"
Sylvie watched, wide-eyed, as the armored Knight sprinted past her—straight at the Knight behind them. Its footfalls thundered across the tunnel.
The first Knight barely had time to react before the charging one slammed into it at full force, armor cracking, claws digging in. They crashed into the wall with a sickening crunch of metal and alien flesh.
"What the hell is—" Ash started.
The second Knight twisted, throwing a brutal punch that knocked the first one off-balance, then lunged again, claw striking across its chest.
Then the false Knight turned, and the illusion shimmered for a brief second.
Kai's eyes glinted through the cracks in the helmet.
"About damn time," he muttered.
Sylvie's jaw dropped. "Kai!?"
"Sorry for the delay," Kai said, slamming his clawed fist into the first Knight's gut again.
Ash blinked, confusion blooming like a bruise across his face. "Wait, that's you?! What the actual—what is that armor!?"
"Adaptive Gene Canal," Kai said casually, slamming his knee into the Knight's chin. "Don't ask where I got this ability, long story."
The first Knight roared, trying to recover, but Kai ducked low, armor shifting, his form mimicking the alien's moves perfectly—and faster.
Sylvie's voice cracked as she laughed. "That's the dumbest infiltration I've ever seen and it actually worked!"
Kai grinned inside the helm, even as the enemy Knight raised a spike-arm to retaliate.
"Yeah, well, dumb plans are my specialty," he muttered. "Now move! I can't tank both of these forever!"
They ran.
Kai ducked under a sweeping claw, the impact carving a groove into the fungal wall behind him.
The enemy Knight bellowed, voice like static tearing through flesh. Kai's parasite armor flared, mimicking the Heloxian plating, but it was already cracking. His heartbeat thundered louder than the clash of metal.
"Sekh," he muttered, side-stepping another blow. "How much time?"
"One minute, thirty seconds," Sekh answered. The gene frame is destabilizing.
"Tch," Kai spat blood.
The Knight roared and lunged. Kai caught the first strike on his shoulder, pain lancing down to his ribs.
He twisted with it, slammed his elbow into the Knight's chin, then followed with a brutal uppercut that nearly knocked the mask off.
The Knight staggered.
Kai didn't stop.
He slammed his fist into the Knight's chest. Once, twice, and again. The parasite-assisted blows cratered the armor, splintered bone beneath the plating.
The Knight reeled, stumbling, but not falling.
It wasn't enough.
The Heloxian backhanded him—Kai flew, skidded across the dirt, rolled. His armor flickered again.
"One minute," Sekh warned.
Kai groaned, dragged himself up. His parasite throbbed, furious and ecstatic. He grinned, teeth bloodied.
"I'm not done yet."
The Knight charged. Kai waited—then ducked, slid under the swing, and slammed his palm into the Knight's lower ribs. Adaptive armor morphed, forming a short blade over his wrist. He twisted and stabbed.
The Knight screamed.
Kai drove his fist up into its throat. It staggered. He grabbed its horned helmet, pulled down—and kneed it in the face with all his weight.
The Knight finally crashed to the ground, twitching.
"Ten seconds," Sekh warned.
Kai stood over it, panting. The Knight's breathing was shallow, gurgling.
"You had strength," Kai said, raising his hand. "But I've got desperation."
His armor flickered again and then vanished.
Kai stood there, bare, the Knight unmoving at his feet.
And then—
[Do You Want To Devour: Heloxian Knight?]
[Y/N]
Kai blinked, and then laughed. "Hell yeah."
He placed his hand on the dying Heloxian's chest.
Veins of Riftlight spread. The Knight convulsed once, then went still. Data flooded Kai's mind—patterns, traits, combat memory.
[GENE FRAGMENT ACQUIRED – "WEBSPIN GLAND"]
Classification: External Organ / Glandular Appendage
Effect: Grants the user the ability to secrete a dense, bio-adhesive filament from the palms or forearms. Threads can be used to bind enemies, create traps, or form temporary climbing lines. Material strength scales with host stamina and hydration.
Status: Stable.
Risk: Minor fluid loss with overuse / Temporary muscle fatigue in arms.
Another Gene Fragment burned itself into his soul.
I finally got one without killing innocent creatures... Kai dropped to a knee, exhausted. But smiling.
"That's three…" he muttered. "I'm actually starting to get good at this."
The other Gene Fragments he got from killing the innocent creatures were sold to the market, so all of his Gene Fragments are now three.
Then a voice cleared her throat beside him.
He looked up.
Akari stood there, holding out his tattered clothes like she was handing a towel to a dog.
She didn't look amused.
"Really?" she said, brows raised. "You're naked again? What are you, allergic to pants?"
Kai winced. "Technically, it's the mutation's fault."
Akari tossed the bundle of clothes at his face. "Next time you want to cosplay as a monster, give me a five-minute warning so I can not see your ass again."
Kai chuckled, catching his pants. "You're welcome for the rescue, by the way."
She rolled her eyes, but her smirk betrayed her relief. "Just put it on."
Kai dusted the dirt off his shirt, still warm from battle, and tapped his HUD. "Marin, what's the situation with Sylvie and Ash? Did they make it out?"
Her voice came through, slightly scrambled. "They're fine now, resting at the forest you scouted earlier. They're holding up."
He exhaled. "Good. What about Grin's plan, did it work?"
"Yeah," Marin said. "One of the Knights fell straight into the ravine. It didn't even get the chance to scream."
Huh, Kai thought, I didn't even catch what she planned, but damn, she's terrifying when she wants to be.
Actually, when he had rushed toward Sylvie and Ash earlier, Marin had given him a quiet heads-up—another Knight was circling right, flanking them. That would've been bad if Grin hadn't stepped in.
With Akari and Grin now walking close behind him, Grin finally spoke, brushing her hood back slightly.
"I'll take it from here," she'd said before vanishing toward that right flank.
I still have no clue what she did, Kai thought, but whatever it was, it worked. I'm not complaining.
Then Sylvie joined the comms, voice calm but tired. "You guys regroup with us in the forest, alright? We'll need a headcount."
Kai smirked. "I actually found a new band member along the way," he said, jerking a thumb toward Akari. "She's got the looks, the voice, the combat trauma—all the qualifications."
Akari raised a brow but didn't argue.
Marin's tone shifted. "That's great and all, but don't celebrate yet. We've got a problem. There's an army heading straight for you—northbound."
Kai blinked.
He turned.
And sure enough, across the distant fungal hills, just where the tunnel opened into wide open bioluminescent plains, the ground trembled.
Hundreds of Heloxians marched in formation—shields grown from bone, pikes pulsing with living parasites. The sky above them cracked faintly with Rift-energy.