Leo kaelen moved in a low crouch, the reinforced polymer of his reclaim suit whispering against the shattered tile of what was once a Starbucks. Outside the gaping hole in the wall, the canyons of Manhattan were choked with verdant, aggressive life. A giant, bioluminescent moss clung to the side of the Empire State Building, and the distant, guttural roar of a Titan-class beast echoed from the direction of Central Park.“Kaelen! You lagging again?” a sharp voice crackled in his earpiece.Leo tightened his grip on the standard issue pulse baton at his hip. “Just being thorough, Roric. This sector’s unstable.”A scoff was the only reply. Roric, a burly man whose family had minor ties to the Ironbloods, was the team lead. He made sure Leo never forgot his place.The team Leo, Roric, and two others was in the “Midtown Tangle,” a newly expanded zone where old office buildings had been violently fused with a petrified, aura-saturated forest. Their mission: secure a cache of Spirit-Growth H

Roric’s face twisted from pain into fury. “You! You ran, you coward! You led us into this trap and then you ran!”Leo ignored him. His eyes were locked on the beast. He could see its aura now. A swirling, sickly green energy centered in its core. The Heart-Crystal. It pulsed like a diseased heart.“It’s weakened,” Leo said, his voice calm. It sounded different to his own ears. Clearer. “Its left side is slower. The injury runs deep.”“What do you know, you dreg?” Roric spat. “Get out of here before I kill you myself!”The Grub-Spawn decided for them. With a chittering shriek, it lunged, not at Roric, but at Leo. It sensed the new, pure energy in him. It wanted it.Time seemed to slow down for Leo. His Diamond Hide skin tingled, sensing the shift in the air. He didn’t try to run. He dropped into a low stance, his body moving on instinct.“Kaelen, move!” Elara screamed.The beast’ massive maw descended. Leo sidestepped with a fluid grace that shocked both his teammates. The crystalline

“A crystal?” Leo repeated, letting his voice sound tired and a little confused. He rubbed his eyes as if he’d just woken up. “Roric, what are you talking about? We were just trying to survive.”Roric flinched, still refusing to look at Leo. “I saw you,” he muttered to the floor. “You reached into its head. You pulled something out.”The lead guard, the one with the scar, didn’t move. His name was Kael, Leo remembered. A mid-level enforcer for the Ironblood family. “We’re not here for a debate, Kaelen. Hand it over. Now. All findings from the Tangle are property of the Reclaimer Corps, which operates under Ironblood oversight.”“There is no ‘it’,” Leo said, spreading his hands in a gesture of innocence. He channeled all his frustration at being a dreg into his performance. “Look at this place. Do you think if I found some valuable crystal, I’d still be living here? I’d have traded it for a better room, for real food!”Kael’s eyes narrowed. He took a step inside, his partner, a bulkier

At the 72nd Street gate a massive wall of scrap metal and reinforced concrete Leo found his new team waiting.Lia was checking the charge on her heavy shock-baton. Marc was calibrating the scanner over his eye. Ben was nervously fidgeting with a pouch full of small, metallic orbs sonic traps."You're on time. Good," Lia said, her eyes appraising Leo. He still wore his simple Reclaimer clothes, but he carried a new confidence. "Stick to the plan. We get in, we get the eggs, we get out. No heroics.""Heroics are for people who can afford to die," Leo replied.Lia gave a grim nod of approval. "Exactly. Let's move."They passed through the gate, leaving the relative safety of the fortified sector behind. The air changed instantly thicker, wilder, filled with the chatter of unseen things and the roar of distant beasts. The streets were a jungle of shattered asphalt and colossal, twisting roots. The skeletons of old cars were draped with glowing moss.Marc took the lead, his scanner whirr

Leo’s new room was a step up from his Reclaimer box. It was still small, tucked away in a run-down building that catered to independent Hunters, but it had a lock that worked and, most importantly, no Ironblood guards watching his door.He sat on the thin mattress, the Razor-Wing Queen’s crystalline feather laid before him. It pulsed with a soft, rhythmic light, like a captured heartbeat. The air in the room vibrated with its sharp, clean energy.“Alright, System,” Leo whispered, his voice tight with a mix of anticipation and dread. The memory of the Marrow Refining was still a fresh scar on his mind. “Let’s do this.”[Initiating Organ Refining Protocol.][Target Organ: Lungs.][Catalyst: Razor-Wing Queen Crystalline Feather (Wind-Aspected).][Warning: The lungs are a delicate organ system. The refinement process will be excruciating and carries a high risk of catastrophic failure, including pulmonary collapse and suffocation. Proceed?]Leo took a deep, steadying breath. It’s always a