Elizabeth frowned with concern as she glanced at the device at her hands, seeing the dots approaching their spots. She glanced at Samuel still relaxed in his posture.
"Should we contact the HQ"Elizabeth said as they stay in the same position. "This is clearly an abnormal situation" she frowned as this is the first time this happened.
Monsters coming to back up a fellow monsters, now that is abnormal,to make it more abnormal a A-rank monsters coming to backup a D-rank monsters.
"What little trust you have for me Eli" Samuel said as he wave his hands lazily."I don't need the back-up of those from the HQ, especially from those old man"
"But-"
"Trust me" Samuel stated firmly as his pale blue eyes gaze at Elizabeth, cutting her sentence.
Elizabeth sighed as she let go of her hands holding the device for communication, and focus on the sensing device.
"Fine, but if the situation gets out of hand, in calling the HQ"
Samuel smirks at her response. "I knew, I know"
Both of them look at the sound that's gradually approaching them.
Elizabeth pulled out a gun that's specially modified by an ability users to be effective towards creatures like them.
---
The ground trembled slightly—light, almost imperceptible, but growing with each second.
Samuel tilted his head, stretching his neck with a soft pop. "They sure like to make an entrance, don't they?" he muttered, the smirk never quite leaving his face.
Elizabeth didn't respond, her focus fixed on the blinking pulses approaching on the device.
He glanced at her again from the corner of his eye, noting the way her jaw tightened, the subtle twitch of her fingers near the trigger. Always controlled. Always by the book.
"You ever get tired of being perfect, Eli?" Samuel asked, almost offhandedly.
"I get tired of cleaning up after your recklessness," she shot back flatly, eyes still forward.
Samuel laughed, the sound low and amused. "That's fair."
Then he paused, growing more serious for a moment.
"But really... if things go south, get out of here."
Elizabeth stiffened. "We go in together. We leave together."
His smirk softened into something quieter. "That's why I hate working with people who care."
Before she could reply, the fog at the end of the street parted two tall figures emerged, their silhouettes monstrous and heavy, glowing red cracks pulsing from their limbs and torsos like veins filled with magma.
Samuel exhaled slowly, the glow of his ability faintly building again around his frame.
Elizabeth lifted her gun. "Two A-Ranks confirmed. Combat imminent."
Samuel flashed her a grin.
"Now that's more like it.
-
"Sir, we have confirmed the identity of the victim from case D-class Smiling Monster," the agent said as he handed over a folder.
The man behind the desk leaned forward. His face remained mostly hidden behind a screen displaying real-time data. monster signatures blinking rapidly across a city map.
He opened the folder with gloved hands, eyes scanning the report.
"Civilian... no prior Ability-user registration… but the tissue sample shows traces of... potential ability awakening..This wasn't a random attack."
The man leaned back in his chair, expression unreadable.
"Someone's pushing D-class creatures to evolve," he muttered.
The agent hesitated before speaking. "Sir… there's more."
He placed another file beside the first.
The man's eyes narrowed as he flipped it open. His jaw tightened. "This name... why does it keep showing up?"
"Unknown, sir," the agent replied. "But they were linked to at least two prior incidents in District 9 and one in the Old Research Zone. Every time, same energy signature. Same mutation pattern."
The silence in the room grew heavy.
The man finally stood, facing the window overlooking the city's nightscape.
"Notify the Special Task Division," he said. "And keep eyes on Agent Elizabeth and Silver Vane."
The agent blinked. "Sir? You think they're compromised?"
"No. But they're getting close."
He turned, his gaze sharp beneath the low lights.
"And I want to know exactly what or who they're about to find."
_
The night air thickened with static as the two A-Rank monsters stepped fully into view, their molten veins pulsing with heat. One towered with spiked limbs dragging across the asphalt; the other hunched low, its skin a writhing mass of black tendrils.
Elizabeth took a steadying breath, aiming her modified gun. "Engaging targets."
Samuel cracked his neck and smiled. "Let's dance."
The tendril-covered monster lunged first fast, faster than expected. Its limbs shot forward like spears, targeting Elizabeth.
Bang Bang Bang!
Elizabeth fired in a tight rhythm, each bullet glowing with embedded ability energy. The first two bounced off, but the third struck a weak point near the creature's shoulder, causing it to recoil with a screech.
Samuel vanished phased as the spiked monster swung down a heavy limb meant to flatten him.
PHASE BREAK activated.
He reappeared behind the monster mid-air, his hand glowing blue as he slammed it into the creature's spine. A shockwave erupted from the impact, phasing parts of the monster's body in and out of reality, warping it briefly before it shrieked and staggered away, sizzling.
"Keep them separated!" Elizabeth barked, shifting her position behind a crushed car for cover. "Don't let them merge."
The tendril-beast split its arms into multiple lashes, whipping them toward her with unnatural reach.
Samuel stepped in, phasing directly into the path of the attack and grabbing the tendrils as they phased through him. "Not today."
He grinned and then snapped the tendrils clean off with a burst of raw force. The monster reeled, spasming violently.
The spiked one retaliated roaring, it charged Elizabeth, intent on skewering her with both arms.
Elizabeth didn't flinch. She rolled aside, her boots skidding across wet pavement. As it passed, she unloaded a full clip of armor-piercing rounds into its leg joints. One shot struck true detonating a small embedded charge and the creature stumbled, crashing to one knee.
"Down!" she called.
Samuel didn't need telling.
With a shimmer of blue light, he phased to the monster's chest, hand crackling with energy.
"This is for running your mouth."
He struck
Phase Break: Core Rend.
A burst of compressed energy forced its way through the monster's body, bypassing armor and flesh, ripping directly into the energy center buried deep inside. The monster let out a distorted roar—and then imploded, its body collapsing into smoke and fragments.
The second monster hissed and tried to flee.
Elizabeth took aim. One breath. One bullet.
Bang.
Right between its eyes. A direct hit.
The beast twitched, faltered and exploded in a burst of dark mist.
The street fell silent.
Ash and mist drifted on the breeze.
Samuel let out a breath, hands on his hips. "That wasn't so bad."
"Now" Samuel said as his gaze landed on the remain, walking towards it
The remains of the A-Rank monsters still shimmered faintly, particles slowly dissolving into the night air. Samuel crouched beside one of the corpses, his eyes narrowing as he reached into the disintegrating remains.
He pulled out a small, pulsing core irregular, glowing faintly silver-blue like a beating heart of fractured crystal.
Elizabeth stepped beside him, keeping her weapon drawn just in case. "Another core?"
"Yeah," Samuel muttered, turning it over in his hand. "This one's different. It's… denser. More refined."
Elizabeth activated her scanner, frowning as the device sputtered briefly before displaying an unusual symbol on the screen an anomaly warning. "The readings are spiking. That's not just monster energy it's mixed with something else. Something... familiar."
"Familiar?" Samuel asked, standing.
She hesitated. "There's a trace signature… similar to an Ability User's energy pattern."
They looked at each other.
"Wait," Elizabeth said slowly, her voice tightening. "You don't think—?"
Samuel tossed the core up and caught it again, expression unreadable. "That they've been taking something from us? Mimicking our power?"
"Or feeding off it," Elizabeth added grimly. "What if they're evolving… because of us?"
Samuel didn't answer immediately. He stared down at the core, fingers tightening around it slightly.
"And what if this…" he murmured, "is the same thing we've been using to get stronger?"
Elizabeth's expression darkened as the implications settled in.
"You're saying the thing we've been using to grow stronger… it's from them?" Elizabeth asked, voice low with disbelief.
Samuel tucked the core into his coat. "Yeah. And someone knew. Someone up in HQ."
Elizabeth looked at him sharply. "You sure?"
Samuel only glance at her. "Or maybe not, who knows" He smirks
Elizabeth looked at him, the wind brushing strands of hair across her face.
"Then what does that make us?" she whispered.