"A-A spray gun?" Bork repeated blankly, his furry fingers gingerly reaching out to touch the cold metal barrel. "Boss... how is a hunk of metal supposed to cure hundreds of rabid civilians out there without us having to lay a hand on them?"A faint smile tugged at the corner of Ryker’s mouth. Without a word, he popped open a small hatch on the armored vehicle's roof. A wave of scorching heat and the stench of decay drifted in, accompanied by the hysterical roars of hundreds of beastfolk thrashing about in the market square.Ryker lined up the barrel, aiming straight at a wolf-headed beast who was raging out down below. The creature howled, his chest glowing a sickly, blackened hue from the Blood-Rot Poison.PFFT!A crisp blast of high-pressure air cracked through the silence. Instead of a lead bullet, a dense, ultra-compressed cloud of blue vapor shot out from the muzzle. The mist zipped through the air like lighting, striking the wolf-beast squarely in the chest.Instantly, the micro

Up above, dozens of Hybrid Dragons and Flying Lizards roared wild, catching the massive threat radiating from the single human below. The first ten beasts swooped down in unison, their jaws gaping wide to unleash streams of sulfurous fire hot enough to melt granite."Die!" Ryker hissed.BOOM!The ground sank half a meter under Ryker's boots as he launched into the sky like a blue lightning bolt, moving faster than the naked eye could track. Before the lead dragon could even spew its fire, Ryker was already hovering right above its head.He swung the Aether-Spear in a single, fluid arc.SLASH!A wave of concentrated electrical energy cleaved the first hybrid dragon clean in half. The intense shock of lightning froze its black blood in midair before a single drop could hit the dirt. Without breaking momentum, Ryker twisted in midair, riding gravity to drive his spearhead straight through the chest of a second Flying Lizard.BOOOM!A massive blast of energy detonated in the sky, reducing

As the atmosphere in the square gradually settled, the scent of damp earth began to wash away the stinging stench of sulfur. Ryker stood tall beside his Aether-Spear anchored in the dirt, keeping an eye on the wolf orcs securing the tie-downs for the armored vehicle's protective barrier.Over in the corner of a collapsed wall, Vanya—who had been lying limp—suddenly snapped her eyes open. The agonizing pain in her chest from Lyra's magic blast still burned, but the sheer panic of seeing Vaelor stripped of all his power sent her survival instincts into overdrive. Moving slowly and cautiously, Vanya dragged herself across the ground, trying to crawl into the shadows of the wooden debris to escape Ryker and his guards.Lyra, whose battle instincts had sharpened to a razor's edge, halted mid-step. Without even turning around completely, her ears and magical senses picked up the faint rustle of Vanya's dress scraping against the grit."Where do you think you're going, Vanya?" Lyra's voice c

The Pearl Palace floated gracefully in the depths of the Azure Ocean, encased in a transparent protective dome that allowed the radiance of water crystals to illuminate its white marble walls. Yet behind the magnificence of the undersea architecture, the main corridor leading to the First Princess’s chambers abruptly turned tense as the sharp crack of breaking porcelain echoed against the stone floor.CRASH!A ceramic cup etched with ancient coral reefs shattered into pieces on the ground. It was no ordinary ornament; it was the final keepsake left behind by Marina's late mother, preserved with painstaking care since she was a little girl."Oops... my bad, Sister," Cassia murmured with a subtle, near-invisible smirk, fluttering her gleaming golden tail fins. "My hands were just so slippery today.""Cassia! What did you do?!" Marina gasped, her breath catching in her throat. Her deep-blue tail trembled violently as she swam forward, attempting to gather the shattered pieces of her moth

The leftover electric current from the executioner's whip still scorched the flesh on Marina's back. As the icy stone floor pressed against her cheek, darkness slowly pulled back from the edges of her vision.Marina woke up on a thin bed of straw in a poky room at the far end of the palace’s back tower—a cramped, damp junk-storage closet smelling of dry moss, now serving as her personal quarters. Her badly mangled back quivered violently with every shallow breath she took.Through the crack of the rotting wooden door, the faint laughter and chatter of two palace maids cleaning the hallway drifted in."Poor Princess Marina," the first maid murmured, wringing out a cleaning rag. "Her back is flayed wide open, yet no healer is allowed to even look at her.""Pfft, why pity a traitor?" the second maid snapped back nastily. "Look at the difference with Princess Cassia. She gets a tiny coral scratch, and the whole palace's lotus-oil supply and best royal healers get mobilized immediately. Qu