The sun rose over the broken city like it didn’t recognize it. Light crawled across shattered rooftops and collapsed streets, revealing the aftermath of Frank’s victory,not triumph, not peace, just a silence too heavy to be called relief. Smoke drifted in thin columns. Nothing moved except dust swirling in the pale dawn. Frank stood on the remnants of an overturned tram car, surveying what the fight had left behind. His breath came slow, steady. The hybrid’s faint glow, once pulsing inside his chest, now flickered like a dying ember.Elara stepped beside him, arms crossed, her fire dimmed to the softest orange. No flames curled from her shoulders, no aura of power,just a tired girl, exhausted, leaning into the sunrise. “It feels wrong,” she murmured. “The quiet.”Frank nodded, expression flat. “It’s too quiet.”The city wasn’t supposed to be silent. Even after the first collapse, after the king’s fall, after the sky tore open,there had always been sound. Movement. Survivors. Bu

The creature’s hand stretched toward him,long fingers like pale blades, joints bending backward, reaching not just for his body but for something deeper. Frank felt it,felt the world thicken, slow, twist. Like space was turning to liquid around him. Elara’s scream cut through the distortion. “FRANK,DON’T LOOK AT IT!”Too late. The creature’s eyes locked onto his. Red. Empty. Endless. A pressure slammed into his skull so hard he dropped both hands to the ground, gasping as pain pierced straight through thought. “No,no,stop,”Elara hurled a torrent of fire at the creature’s head. A white-blue explosion lit the entire intersection,but the flames bent around it like smoke. The creature didn’t even blink. Elara cursed under her breath. “What are you?!”The creature’s voice vibrated the air, a deep layered resonance: “Restored fragment. Return.”Frank’s vision burned white. “I’m not,your,fragment!”The world quaked around him. Pavement splintered under his knees. His fingers dug into d

Frank’s body jerked violently in the invisible pull, his limbs stretching like threads caught in a storm. Pain flashed through him, red-hot, tearing at every nerve. His eyes darted toward Elara,her white flames burning brighter than anything he had ever seen. “Elara! Help me!” he screamed. She thrashed against the massive giant that pinned her, flames spiking in every direction. “I’m trying!” she shouted back, voice raw with rage. “Hold on! Hold on!”The pull intensified. Frank felt himself slipping between moments, between spaces. The hybrid inside him shrieked, clawing outward. “Frank! Fight it!” Elara’s voice cut through the haze.He clenched his teeth and concentrated, trying to anchor himself to the real world. But it was like gripping water. The first giant raised its arm, slowly this time, red energy coalescing around its fingertips. “Fragment resistance insufficient. Extraction complete: 95%.”Frank’s body arched as the last of the hybrid’s tether inside him screamed, thre

The street was aflame. Smoke spiraled into the sky, red and white flames carving trails across the ruins. Frank’s chest burned with the hybrid’s energy, every heartbeat a pulse of pure, violent force. “Elara I can feel it I’m changing,” he whispered, voice trembling. “Then use it!” she shouted, flames roiling around them like molten armor. “Stop fighting yourself and start fighting them!”The three giants regrouped, towering over them, red eyes blazing. The first stepped forward, moving slower this time, calculating. “Fragment bearer: adaptation critical. Containment: failing,” it intoned.Frank’s vision fractured into shards of white-hot light. The hybrid inside him screamed in protest and in triumph, a raw, pulsing energy that surged through his limbs. “I can’t hold it,” he gasped.“Yes, you can! I’ve got you!” Elara snapped, grabbing his shoulders. Flames wrapped around him, almost suffocating, but protective.The second giant moved next, energy forming into a spinning red sphe

The city trembled beneath them. Streets were shattered, buildings cracked like brittle glass, and dust spiraled into the red-tinged sky. Frank’s chest burned with the hybrid’s energy, every heartbeat sending jagged waves through the ruins. “Elara it’s different now stronger than ever,” he whispered, voice trembling. “Good,”she said, flames coiling around her like molten serpents. “Then use it. Completely. Don’t hold back!”The giants staggered back, fractured and flickering. The first lifted its massive arm, red light pulsating violently. “Fragment bearer adaptation critical,” it hissed. Frank’s eyes narrowed. The hybrid inside pulsed, alive, aware, responding to his will. He had merged with it fully. No hesitation. No fear. Only raw, unrelenting force. “I am not yours,” he shouted, energy spiraling outward in white-hot coils. “Yes! Let it roar!” Elara yelled, her fire spiraling outward, flames coiling like molten blades around them. The first giant lunged, massive hand smashin