Elias Crowe stood at the narrow window of his third-floor apartment, a half-empty mug of coffee cooling in his hand. Dawn painted the city in muted grays and soft oranges, but the street below was anything but peaceful. Armored trucks idled along the curb, their engines rumbling like distant thunder. Special Demon Suppression Officers in matte-black tactical gear moved with crisp efficiency, checking weapons and adjusting helmets. Helicopters thumped overhead, their rotors slicing the early morning air.It had been years since the SDS mounted an operation this large. Elias watched as officers formed neat ranks in the middle of the street. Civilians had gathered on sidewalks and fire escapes, murmuring excitedly, phones held high to record the moment.A tall figure stepped forward—the commander. Even from this distance, his voice carried through a portable speaker, amplified and steady.“Today, we remind the world that humanity does not bow to monsters,” he declared. “We hunt them. We

Elias lay among the rubble, chest heaving, every breath sending fresh spikes of pain through his burned side. Blood matted his hair and dripped into his eyes. He wanted to crawl away, to disappear into the smoke and never look back, but his body refused to obey. All he could do was watch.A new figure burst through the haze of battle like a storm.Commander Romeo Vale moved with lethal precision. He was tall and broad-shouldered, his SDS armor scarred from countless previous engagements. A long black coat whipped behind him as he sprinted forward, dual-wielding a massive anti-demon revolver in one hand and a glowing energy blade in the other. His face was set in grim determination, jaw clenched tight.Without hesitation, Romeo closed the distance on the towering demon. He leaped onto the hood of a burning car and fired point-blank into Kargoth’s wounded eye.The shot cracked like thunder. The specialized round—packed with consecrated silver and explosive runes—detonated on impact. The

Elias’s clawed feet touched down on the cracked asphalt with more force than he anticipated. The impact jolted through his legs, but it was the sudden absence of power that truly undid him. His massive feathered wings, still shimmering with faint embers, convulsed once and then dissolved into wisps of black smoke and fading crimson light. They shrank back into his shoulders with a painful tearing sensation, leaving only faint, scarred lines across his back.He staggered forward two steps before his knees buckled completely. Elias collapsed hard onto the street, palms scraping against debris. The transformation’s aftershock hit like a freight train—every muscle burned, his vision swam, and a bone-deep exhaustion settled over him. The dark scales on his arms and torso receded, returning his skin to its ordinary human appearance, though it remained marked with fresh burns and cuts from the earlier battle.He lay there gasping, forehead pressed to the cold ground. *What the hell just happ

The streets around the central plaza had become a war-torn no-man’s-land. Smoke curled upward from dozens of fires, and the air tasted of blood, sulfur, and scorched metal. What remained of the SDS forces slowly regrouped, emerging from cover in ones and twos. Officers helped wounded comrades to their feet, reloading weapons with grim determination. Among them, Commander Romeo Vale limped forward, supported by two of his men. His armor was cracked and bloodied, but his eyes still burned with that same unyielding fire.On the opposite side of the plaza, the demons gathered.Lesser creatures slithered, crawled, and flew into formation. Kargoth the towering brute stood like a living siege engine at the center of their line. The serpentine demon with yellow eyes coiled nearby, tail lashing. More poured from the rifts—hulking brutes, winged stalkers, and shadowy things that seemed to drink in the light. They formed a dark, seething mass that stretched across the ruined avenue, their number

The plaza held its breath. Wind whispered through shattered buildings, carrying ash and the faint crackle of dying fires. No one moved. Not the SDS officers with their rifles trained, not the demonic horde across the divide, not even the lesser creatures that usually twitched with restless hunger. All eyes were fixed on the sergeant whose weapon pointed steadily at Elias’s chest.“Commander…” the sergeant said, voice low and strained but resolute. “I’m giving you one last chance. The President gave a direct order. Hand him over and this ends.”Romeo Vale stood motionless for a heartbeat, then stepped directly in front of Elias, placing his own body between the young man and the barrel of the rifle. His cracked armor shifted with the movement, and fresh blood seeped from a wound at his side, but his gaze never wavered.“If you’re going to shoot him,” Romeo said calmly, “you’ll have to shoot me first.”The words landed like a hammer on glass. A ripple of shock passed through the SDS ran