"They're not assassins," Seris warned. "They're erasers."
Kiel stood silent, watching the holo-footage. A Dominion warbeast—a full cyber-titan—reduced to twitching chunks in seconds. All that was visible was a blur. Then static. Then silence.
"The Black Maw doesn't leave bodies," she added. "They erase people from existence. No trace. No echoes."
Kiel cracked his knuckles. "Then I'll make them choke on mine."
---
Three days had passed since the Ruinhold raid. The freed captives were recovering, but whispers grew—whispers that Kiel was cursed, that he drew monsters with every step.
He couldn't argue.
At night, he dreamt of laughter. Not his. GRIN's.
Even in death, the thing haunted him.
But today's problem was worse.
A tracking drone screamed through the air and exploded mid-transmission.
Seris ran diagnostics. "Encrypted signal. Tri-harmonic frequency. They're close."
"Too close," Kiel said. "Let's set the trap."
---
The ruins of Sector 11 were the perfect battlefield—collapsed skyscrapers, open kill zones, and subterranean death pits. Kiel picked the ground like an artist choosing a canvas.
Seris deployed turrets, mines, and EMP nodes.
And then they waited.
Hours passed.
Then... nothing.
No sound. No wind. No movement.
Then came the cold.
---
One of the drones flickered. Then died.
Seris froze. "Did you see—"
"No," Kiel interrupted. "That's the problem."
A shape emerged from the ash. Not walking. Not flying. Sliding.
A cloak of digital static. A mask like a sunken void. No features. Just a mouth—open, wide, eternal.
> [Warning: Predator-Class Entity Detected – BLACK MAW PROTOCOL ACTIVE]
> Analyzing… ERROR: Cannot Analyze. ERROR: Cannot Map Threat Level. ERROR—
Kiel sprinted.
The Maw struck.
---
It didn't move like anything alive. It glitched—jumping frames, vanishing and reappearing like corrupted data. It tore through auto-turrets, melted steel with a scream, and laughed with a sound that didn't echo—it consumed echo.
Kiel fought like a god. Claws met void. Fists met anti-matter.
Nothing worked.
Until he bled.
The Maw froze, tilted its head.
Kiel realized something: it wasn't hunting him—it was feeding.
"Seris! Hit it with the pulse flare!"
BOOM.
A flash of raw light overloaded its cloak. The Maw screeched—a thousand voices screaming in reverse.
For the first time, it stepped back.
Kiel didn't waste it. He leapt and drove his claws into its neck. Black sludge sprayed. The Maw bucked like a dying machine, then split apart into shrieking fragments of code and meat.
Then silence.
Again.
---
> [BLACK MAW SUBROUTINE: NEUTRALIZED]
XP GAINED: 25,000
Unique Loot: Maw Fragment (Use: Consume to unlock Void-Class Mutation Path)
System Perk Unlocked: Apex Memory Lock – Immune to Neural Consumption and Mind Eaters
System Note: You are now being watched.
---
Seris stared, eyes wide. "You killed a Black Maw."
"No," Kiel muttered. "I survived one."
He held the Maw Fragment in his hand. It pulsed like a heartbeat. Or a warning.
Behind them, the sky flickered. Static crawled across the clouds.
And in the Syndicate's core, Marruk the Boneharvester watched a new feed.
This time, he smiled.
---
"Release the Chain."