2025-12-21 04:55:51The beast stood in the middle of his living room. Too large for the space. Too real for logic.
Its four heads hung from a thick, corded neck, each one different. One hissed. One growled low. One breathed slowly and measured. The last grinned, lips pulled back over too many teeth.
Cracked tiles bent under its weight. The floor had already begun to cave. Framed photos lay shattered beneath its claws. The couch sagged, half-melted, half-crushed, like the room itself had tried to escape and failed.
Ryker stood near the doorway, shoulders squared, heart beating too loud in his ears. His body knew before his mind accepted it.
This thing was not meant to exist here.
“I guess you’re one of Clark’s experiments,” Ryker said. His voice didn’t shake, though pressure crawled up his spine, cold and invasive. “What should I call you before I kill you?”
The beast went still.All four heads stopped moving at once.
No breath. No sound.
The silence pressed down harder than the noise had. It lasted half a second.
Then space folded.
The creature vanished.
Ryker didn’t even have time to blink. Pain detonated into his side like a bomb. His ribs screamed. His body lifted, twisted sideways, and flew across the room. He hit the couch hard enough to snap it in half, then kept going. The wall behind it exploded outward. Wood, brick, and concrete burst into the night.
Ryker landed in a sprawl of broken furniture and dust.
For a moment, there was nothing. Then sensation came rushing back.
His vision smeared. Sound returned in pieces. Something warm ran down his cheek.
A red bar burned into his sight.
HEALTH: 60%
Forty percent gone. Gone in one hit.
Fear wrapped around his chest, tight and suffocating. Not panic. Something colder. Cleaner.
Understanding.
If he misstepped—
He would die.
Ryker rolled onto his side, coughing dust and blood. His muscles screamed as he forced himself upright. His legs wobbled, but they held.
The beast stood across the room again, exactly where it had been before. Claws dug into the floor. The concrete screamed and fractured beneath them.
It watched him. Waiting.
Ryker didn’t hesitate.
SYSTEM — ARMORY ACCESS
The dagger formed in his hand with a familiar weight. Black metal. Simple. Balanced. It grounded him.
He held it close, blade angled down, breath slow despite the ache ripping through his ribs.
The beast roared with intent.
The pressure slammed into him like a wall. The windows rattled. The remaining glass spiderwebbed. His teeth clicked together from the vibration alone.
A warning burned across his vision.
MURDER INTENT DETECTED. ELIMINATE TARGET FOR MYSTERY ABILITY REWARD
Ryker’s mouth curved into something sharp.
“Guess the system wants you dead as much as I do.”
The beast attacked. It crossed the room in a blink.
Ryker raised his guard on instinct.
The impact still sent him flying.
He smashed through the inner wall and out into the yard, landing in a storm of debris. His arms went numb. Pain screamed through his shoulders. Something strained. Something tore.
HEALTH: 40%
CRITICAL DAMAGE DETECTED
His breath came fast, harsh. Every inhale burned.
Anger cut through the fear—pure and focused.
He pushed off the ground before the beast could follow through.
This time, he attacked. Ryker moved first.
He and the beast blurred through the wreckage, crossing the yard in streaks of motion too fast for anything human to track. Each collision sent shockwaves through the street. Windows shattered in sequence. Parked cars rocked violently. Alarms screamed into the night.
Ryker struck again and again.
The dagger carved glowing lines across the beast’s hide. Not deep enough for any real damage.
The wounds sealed instantly. Flesh crawled back together like liquid muscle. Bone clicked back into place.
The beast laughed. All four mouths.
The sound was wrong. Layered. Mocking.
Then it hit him.
Ryker flew backward and slammed into a standing wall fragment. His ribs screamed. The impact drove the air from his lungs.
HEALTH: 10%
The warning flared red.
SYSTEM FAILURE IMMINENT. IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED
Ryker vanished behind the remaining concrete slab as the beast tore through the yard again. He dropped to one knee, chest heaving.
Blood ran down his chin and splashed onto the ground.
ARMORY — STORE
The interface flicked open fast.
RECOVERY POTION — 12 COINS
He didn’t hesitate.
PURCHASE CONFIRMED
COINS REMAINING: 18
He drank.
Heat surged through his veins. Bones slid back into place with sickening ease. Muscle rewove itself. Breath snapped back into his lungs like it had been stolen and returned.
HEALTH: 100%
He stayed focused.
His eyes locked onto something new.
SHORT SWORD — ENHANCED DAMAGE — 15 COINS
Clean. Balanced. Mean.
PURCHASE CONFIRMED
COINS REMAINING: 3
The sword materialized in his hand.
Shorter than a longsword. Heavier than the dagger. Its edge hummed faintly, like it wanted blood.
The beast found him anyway. It didn’t need sight.
Its roar alone shattered the slab Ryker hid behind. Debris exploded outward, slicing the air like shrapnel.
Ryker stepped through it. Sword tight in his grip. Resolve settled into him like armor.
Then, he attacked.
The first strike landed clean across one of the beast’s shoulders.
The creature screamed. Pain, raw and furious. It backhanded him across the yard, claws tearing flesh, but Ryker rolled with it and came back up immediately. He didn’t retreat. Didn’t hesitate. He pressed forward, blade flashing.
They clashed again.
And again.
The fight dragged on, brutal and unclean. Ryker adapted with every exchange. He learned the timing between heads. The lag between movements. The blind spots when two heads struck at once.
He took hits. He gave worse ones.
The sword bit deep. Each strike carved slower-healing wounds. The beast’s movements grew heavier. Its laughter turned ragged.
Ryker drove it back step by step, cutting, dodging, striking without mercy.
The beast slowed.
Just a fraction.
Enough.
Ryker stepped inside its reach and drove the blade straight through its core.
The creature froze.
All four heads howled at once.
Then its body unraveled. Peeling apart into ash and heat, dissolving into nothing until the night swallowed it whole.
Silence followed.
Ryker dropped to his knees. Then fell onto his back.
He stared up at the sky. Smoke drifted where his house used to be. The walls were gone. The roof was gone. Everything familiar lay broken and burning around him.
His chest rose and fell slowly.
The system stayed quiet.
Then,measured footsteps sounded behind him.
A woman's voice followed—low and ancient.
“Theros.” she said.
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Latest Chapter
CHAPTER 16: Dead Men Don't Answer
Ryker barely had time to turn before the man’s voice carried down the corridor, smooth and faintly impressed.“I didn’t think you’d be able to defeat my precious work.”Ryker stopped.The man with the scar stood a few paces away, hands folded behind his back, posture relaxed as if he were inspecting equipment rather than standing over the remains of a dismantled weapon. His eyes lingered briefly on his subject, then lifted to Ryker’s face.“But now that I’ve caught you,” the man went on, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, “I’ll configure you to be my loyal dog.”Ryker said nothing. His chest rose and fell steadily, his senses still sharpened from the fight. “Since we’ve not been formally introduced,” the man said, inclining his head slightly, “I’m Dr. Stark Wilson.”The name settled into the air.At the same moment, Ryker’s system flashed fully into view.STATUS: STABLEMETA-NEUTRALIZATION: PARTIAL FAILUREHis eyes flicked briefly to the notification, then back to Stark. The
CHAPTER 15: God's Hands
The man with the scar didn't wait for an answer.“So,” he said lightly, already turning away, “I’ll leave the room to you two.”The door slid shut behind him with a dull metallic sound that lingered longer than it should have. The silence that followed was heavier than before, thick enough that The big man moved.He stepped forward in slow, measured strides, boots heavy against the floor. There was no rush in him, no wasted motion, no visible anger. Just intent. Ryker straightened, brushing his side once where the earlier blow had landed. The pain was there, dull and persistent, but manageable. He took a step back, eyes tracking the man’s movements, cataloging distance and angle the way instinct demanded.That was when he noticed it.At first, it was subtle. A faint distortion at the edge of his hearing, like static caught between stations. It grew sharper as the man came closer, a constant, unnatural hum that did not belong to muscle or breath or blood. Ryker’s brow furrowed as he
CHAPTER 14: Red In His Eyes
“There’s no way I’m leaving without you,” Ryker's voice thundered enough to rattle ears.Henry lay on the floor where he had fallen, one hand pressed uselessly against the metal band locked around his neck. The green light pulsed steadily.“Ryker,” Henry said, low. “Don’t be—”Ryker closed his eyes.The noise faded. The alarms, the shouting, the scrape of boots against concrete all dulled as his focus narrowed inward. He took a slow breath, felt it settle, and when he opened his eyes again, the system unfolded across his vision.Data scrolled clean and sharp.Armory access opened with a silent confirmation.Ryker filtered fast. Then he stopped.SHORT SWORD.He selected it without hesitation.Metal formed in his hand, solid and balanced, the weight familiar as it settled into his grip. He rolled his wrist once, feeling the edge align with his movement.Across the room, one of the men laughed.He had a long knife scar cutting from the corner of his mouth toward his ear, the skin pulled
CHAPTER 13: Extraction Point
Ryker slowed his steps as they moved deeper into the hideout, his hand lifting slightly to signal Henry to stop. The corridor ahead was narrow, lit by a single strip of flickering white light that buzzed faintly overhead.“We do this quietly,” Ryker said without turning his head. “As quietly as possible.”Henry walked beside him, hands loose at his sides, expression relaxed in a way that never meant what it looked like. “You keep saying that.”“I mean it,” Ryker replied. “Your power lights up rooms like fireworks.”Henry hummed. “Funny. Last time I checked, you were the one who jumped out of a chopper without a parachute.”“That was necessary.”“So is this,” Henry said lightly.Ryker stopped and held up a hand.Ahead of them, the hallway opened into a wider stretch. Light spilled out unevenly from overhead fixtures. Voices drifted through. Laughter. The scrape of metal on concrete.Ryker leaned just enough to see.Four guards clustered around a makeshift table. Cards scattered across
CHAPTER 12: Missile Lock
The rotors thudded overhead in a steady rhythm that sank into Ryker’s bones.The chopper cut through the clouds, metal humming beneath his boots, the cabin lit dimly by the glow of the interface screens lining the walls. Across from him, Henry lounged back in his seat, one leg stretched out, fingers drumming idly against the armrest.“You’re unusually quiet,” Henry said. “I don't think that's a good sign.”Ryker didn’t answer.He swiped the tablet dark and leaned his head back, eyes closing against the steady pulse of the rotors. The noise faded into something distant, like waves crashing far away.The memory came uninvited.His mother’s voice, tired but warm, calling his name from the kitchen. His sister sitting cross-legged on the floor, braiding scraps of string together and declaring it a crown. The cramped living room. The cracked walls. The laughter that had filled it anyway.They had been happy. It hit him hard enough to make his chest ache.Then the system screamed.WARNING.
CHAPTER 11: Before The Next Assignment
Ryker stepped out of Dr. Clark’s office with the tablet still glowing in his hand.The door slid shut behind him with a soft mechanical hiss. He didn’t slow. His eyes skimmed the screen as he walked, the familiar layout of mission data scrolling beneath his thumb. Coordinates. Timelines. Clearance codes. The kind of information that never surprised him anymore.The corridor stretched ahead, long and quiet, polished to the point where the lights above reflected faintly off the floor. His footsteps echoed back at him, measured and controlled. He welcomed the silence, as it gave him space to think.“Ryker.”The voice hit him hard enough to stop him mid-step.Not because it was loud. Because it was familiar.His grip tightened around the tablet before he turned. His stomach twisted, sharp and immediate, the kind of reaction that came from old instincts he’d never managed to bury. He turned slowly, already knowing who he would see.Damon stood a few paces away. He looked exactly the same.
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