THE SYSTEM GAVE ME EVERY VILLAIN'S POWER

Chapter 6

The ground didn’t just rumble; it gave way with a sound like a thousand windows shattering at once. The asphalt under Kian’s boots turned into a dark, yawning hungry mouth.

"Look out!" Kian screamed, his hand instinctively reaching out toward the woman who, seconds ago, had been threatening to end his life.

Mei Ling’s eyes flashed with a cold, momentary panic as she lunged toward him, not to strike, but because the fissure had claimed the entire width of the alley. "Don’t let go of the pipe!"

"The pipe?" Kian barked as gravity took them. "I’m worried about my neck!"

The descent was short but violent. They slammed through a layer of old ductwork and ceiling tiles, crashing onto a concrete platform thick with the smell of old iron and stale sweat. Dust filled Kian’s lungs, and he rolled, his hospital-gown-clad legs scraping against the debris.

"Where... where are we?" Kian groaned, coughing out a cloud of gray grit.

"The Metro tunnel," Mei Ling replied, already back on her feet with an agility that made Kian feel like a sack of potatoes. She wiped a smudge of dirt from her cheek, her spear humming with an intense, agitated blue light. "Get up, kid. We have company."

Kian looked over the edge of the platform. Below, in the pit of the subway tracks, hundreds of people were huddled together. They weren't heroes; they were commuters, office workers, and kids with backpacks, all trapped by the cave-in. And emerging from the violet rift at the far end of the tunnel were dozens of scuttling, multi-legged shadows.

"Are those... beetles?" Kian whispered, his voice trembling.

"Rift-Born drones," Mei Ling said, her voice dropping into a professional command tone. "They're small, fast, and they love soft tissue. Stay behind me."

"I can't stay behind you!" Kian pointed to a group of people near the stairs who were being circled by three of the monsters. "Look over there! They’re going to get eaten!"

Mei Ling looked back at the main horde, then at the civilians. "Damn it. I can't be in two places at once."

"Then give me a chance," Kian said, standing up. His hand was already beginning to glow with that sickly, pulsating orange light again. "You take the big swarm. I’ll clear the stragglers near the crowd."

"Are you insane?" Mei Ling barked, glancing at him with a mix of suspicion and disbelief. "You can barely control your own arms! If you go into a mana-meltdown next to those people—"

"I won't!" Kian snapped. "I’m Kian, not the madman! Just... trust me for five minutes!"

Mei Ling hesitated for a fraction of a second as a screeching drone lunged onto the platform. She swatted it away with the butt of her spear, shattering its carapace instantly. "Fine! If you hurt a single one of them, I’ll finish what I started in the alley. Go!"

Kian didn't wait. He vaulted over a turnstile, his feet hitting the lower floor hard. "Hey! Over here, you overgrown bedbugs!"

A woman in a business suit shrieked as a drone hissed at her. Kian lunged between them, swinging his iron pipe with a desperate, unrefined force. The metal clanged against the monster’s head.

"Get back!" Kian yelled at the woman. "Move toward the stairs! Don't stop!"

"Thank you! Oh god, thank you!" she sobbed, scrambling away.

"Don't thank me yet," Kian muttered, feeling the inner voice start to titter in the back of his mind.

See, Kian? the arsonist whispered. They need us. They need the warmth. Give them a show.

"Stay down!" Kian growled at the voice.

On the other side of the platform, Mei Ling was a blur of blue. Her spear whistled through the air, carving arcs of mana that vaporized five drones at a time. She was a master of efficiency, but the horde was endless.

"Kian!" she shouted over the noise. "To your six! Burn it!"

Kian didn't look. He trusted her voice. He whirled around and thrust his left palm outward. A jet of concentrated, violent orange flame erupted from his hand, incinerating a drone that had been mid-jump.

"I got it!" Kian yelled back, breathing hard. "Who’s next?"

"Stop focusing on the power!" Mei Ling called out, her movements like a dancer’s as she pivoted between targets. "Focus on the aim! You’re wasting mana with those wide spreads!"

"I don’t know how to aim!" Kian shouted as another beetle skittered toward his ankles. "It’s like trying to aim a firehose that’s made of hate!"

"Think of it as a needle!" she ordered, spear-pinning a monster to the concrete. "Thin it out! Don't let it consume you!"

Kian squeezed his eyes shut for a second, trying to visualize a single point. He felt the fire burning in his chest, hot and heavy, but he forced it down into a tight, vibrating line in his wrist. When he opened his eyes, he saw a monster creeping toward a small child who had hidden under a bench.

"Not today," Kian hissed.

He snapped his fingers. Instead of a massive explosion, a tiny, high-intensity bolt of white-orange heat lanced out. It punched a hole straight through the drone's head.

"Wait... I did it?" Kian blinked in shock. "Did you see that?"

"Less talking, more clearing!" Mei Ling shouted, though there was a hint of something—maybe respect—in her tone. "We’re almost done with the first wave!"

They worked in a frantic, disjointed rhythm. Mei Ling was the storm, keeping the bulk of the swarm at bay, her blue light acting as a beacon of safety for the terrified crowd. Kian was the gutter-fire, sharp and erratic, picking off the insects that tried to slip through the gaps.

"Watch it, Hero!" Kian yelled, diving to push a drone off its course before it hit Mei Ling's blind spot. "Coming up on your right!"

Mei Ling spun her spear behind her back without looking, impaling the creature. "Took you long enough!"

"Hey, give me a break!" Kian gasped, leaning against a pillar. "I’m wearing a hospital gown and I haven't had breakfast!"

"You're doing alright, kid," she said, her voice low as she closed the distance to stand back-to-back with him. The last of the drones were retreatng into the shadows of the tunnel, sensing the turn of the tide. "Where did you learn to move like that?"

"I don't know," Kian said, his chest heaving. "It feels like... instinct? Or maybe I’m just used to people trying to hit me."

"It's street combat," Mei Ling noted, her eyes scanning the tunnel walls. "You aren't fighting like a Hunter. You’re fighting like a rat in a corner."

"Well, that’s where I live," Kian said, glancing down at his UI.

[NOTIFICATION: MINI-QUEST COMPLETE]

[OBJECTIVE: PROTECT CIVILIANS]

[REWARD: 100 POINTS]

[LEVEL UP: 1 -> 3]

"You okay?" she asked, her spear-tip finally lowering a few inches. "Your mana levels are spiking again."

"I... I feel like I'm vibrating," Kian said, looking at his hands. The sparks were still there, dancing between his knuckles. "Is it supposed to feel like my blood is carbonated?"

"That’s the over-exertion," Mei Ling said, finally retracting the glowing tip of her spear. "And the soul-residue. You’re pushing your system harder than a Level 3 body can handle."

"I had to," Kian whispered, looking over at the civilians. A group of men were helping the children up toward the higher stairs. "They would have died."

"Maybe," she said quietly.

She turned toward him fully now. The violet rift above them was beginning to seal itself, the tremor subsiding into a low, dull throb. The emergency sirens were still wailing above, but down here, it was suddenly, deafeningly quiet.

"So?" Kian asked, his voice shaky. "Back to the alley? Are you going to arrest me now?"

Mei Ling looked at Kian—really looked at him. She saw the tattered black hoodie, the bloody iron pipe still clutched in his hand, and the raw, unpolished terror in his eyes that no amount of soul-snatching could hide.

"I should," she said. "Protocol says you’re a Class-4 Bio-hazard. I should call the containment team and have them put you in a nullification cell for six weeks."

"But?" Kian pressed, his heart hammering.

"But a bio-hazard wouldn't have wasted mana to save a kid under a bench," she said, sheathing her spear into a compact hilt at her hip. "And honestly? The Guild is going to have their hands full with this rift for the next twelve hours. My report might take a while... to file."

Kian let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. "You mean... you’re letting me go?"

"I’m saying the signal down here is terrible," she replied, her face returning to its cool, professional mask. "I might have lost your location. For now."

"Thank you," Kian said, his eyes watering slightly. "Seriously."

"Don't thank me, Anomaly," Mei Ling said, turning to walk toward the exit. "Just don't make me regret it. If I see a fire started within five blocks of your last known coordinate, I won't use the butt of the spear next time."

"I’m not a villain," Kian shouted after her. "I’m just... me!"

Mei Ling paused at the foot of the stairs, looking back over her shoulder. "Find a way to clear that signature, Kian. Before the System decides you don't belong in either world."

She disappeared into the dust and crowd.

Kian stood alone on the platform, his UI flickering a bright, soft green in the gloom.

[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: NEW OPTIONAL QUEST]

[OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE THE NIGHT]

[HIDDEN UPDATE: MEI LING SURYANI IS 'OBSERVING']

"Great," Kian sighed, looking down at his empty hands. "No pressure."