The Twin Pistons landed like a meteor strike. Kaodin's heels smashed into the under-edge of the Variant's chest plate, flame-wrapped Qi detonating on contact in a compressed burst that cracked the air like thunder. Shock rippled through the monster's massive torso—parasite cords whipping taut, bone-gel sacs fluttering under the sudden internal pressure.
The entire front of the creature lurched backward. Crystal plating warped. Hairline fractures spidered out from the impact site. For a heartbeat, the Variant's feet scraped against the road—almost lifting off the ground from the sheer upward force of the strike.
It stumbled—one heavy step—
then another—
claws gouging trenches through the wet asphalt as it fought to regain its balance.
Arika's eyes sharpened behind her visor.
That's it. He forced a stagger…
"Give him space!" she commanded, pulling her formation back out of the boy's immediate arc.
Yuri shifted left, shielded stance ready.
Albert mirrored right, blade tracking any tendril that dared reach for the boy.
But Kaodin didn't fall back.
He exhaled once—thin, steady—forcing the tremor in his legs to quiet. The Variant recovered its footing with a snarl, parasite cords snapping under its skin as it re-centered its mass. Its body lowered—shoulders rolling forward, claws spreading wide.
Perfect.
Kaodin's eyes narrowed.
There. I can climb that.
The monster hurled itself at him, weight collapsing forward in an avalanche of tendon and chitin. Instead of retreating, Kaodin stepped into the attack, sliding along the inside angle of its strike.
'Salub Fan Pla' — to parry off incoming tendril flurries and swiftly enter the inner circle.
Using the opening as the gigantic monster lowered its body to grapple him, he quickly hopped onto its knee.
The monster roared, then tried with both massive arms to seize the boy again— but Kaodin's legs were already coiled.He launched upward with a Qi-burst – thanks to the monster's knee as a booster.
The height he gained was nearly twice that of the monster.
Getting this high up… almost like when Father tossed me up for fun.This is fun.Let's go higher.
The monster's massive figure straightened as it tried to raise both hands to grab him again.
The boy, again, used its arm as a jumping pod, throttling himself upward with Qi-energy until he nearly reached the height of the abandoned skytrain rail.
The world vaulted downward beneath him.
Rain tore past his ears.
Steam curled around his ankles.
The Variant's head tilted up, tracking him—too slow—its balance broken by the sudden shift of weight on its limb.
Yuri saw the opening before anyone else.
"Commander!" he barked. "He's going for the core again!"
Arika didn't answer.
She was already moving her line.
"Shift left! Keep its tendrils down!" she snapped.
Ken fired suppressive bursts across the flailing side.
Han-Xiao fed predictive arcs across everyone's visors.
Albert intercepted a whipping tendril, blade dragging sparks as he held it down by brute force.
They didn't need to understand the technique—
they only needed to buy the boy three seconds.
Kaodin twisted midair.
Everything thinned into a single point inside his chest—
the heat, the pain, the exhaustion, the anger.
Nyla bleeding on the stones.
Liara shivering in the dark.
The Variant's grin-like maw reaching for him again and again.
This ends now.
Qi surged down his arm—
volcanic red, striping black across his skin—
the ember-fur rippling outward as heat compressed tight around his palm.
He felt it: the exact seam in the cracked chest plate below him.
The half-healed fracture already struggling to close.
As he let the power of gravity to further enhance his strike.
Kaodin drew his right arm back, elbow tight, clawed fingers curled—
"MAGMA—"
The wind howled around him.
"TIGER—"
The Variant's eyes widened as if it was seeing a non-human entity, but something else —
"PALM!!"
KA-THOOM—!!!