2026-09-22 19:13:07Run.
Grim didn't say it with a mouth. The word hit me straight through the bond, cold and terrified. A trash-tier slime shouldn't know fear like that.
The rift behind me that had been shrinking - the one I thought I'd cleared - ripped back open. Not yellow anymore. Red. The color the Bureau uses on the evacuation boards for C-Rank and above.
The energy alarm changed its pitch. From D-RANK to UNSTABLE C-RANK. EVACUATE.
Grant heard it too from the catwalk. He went white and slammed his palm on the shutter control again. The steel door I was standing under started dropping.
He was going to bury us inside.
"Grim! Hold it!"
Grim understood. He shot forward, his new Battle Slime arms hardening to black stone, and caught the dropping shutter with both hands. Metal screamed against slime. His feet slid on the concrete. 2-Star strength vs. industrial shutter.
He was losing.
I didn't run to help him push. That's what an F-Rank would do. I ran toward the red rift.
Codex snapped in my head. What are you doing? That is a C-Rank Lurker forming. You are Level 3!
"Exactly," I grunted. "It's forming. That means it's still pulling energy."
The rift was a mouth sucking power out of the air. I could see it now, the blue particles I'd been absorbing before. They were flowing into the center where something was building itself - long limbs, black fur made of static, a Rift Hound. 3-Star minimum. The kind that hunts in packs and rips D-Rank tamers apart.
If it finished forming, we were dead. Grim holding a shutter or not.
I put my hand straight into the rift's edge.
Agony shot up my arm. Cold fire.
[Absorbing Unstable Rift Energy: +15 Points... +18 Points...]
[Warning: Energy Corruption Risk 22%]
"Don't care!"
I wasn't absorbing to evolve. I was stealing its building materials.
The Hound's head half-formed and then glitched. One leg disappeared. It shrieked - a sound like broken glass - and lurched out early, incomplete, furious.
It landed on the warehouse floor and fixed its one good eye on me. The easy prey.
It charged.
I didn't have a beast core. I didn't have a weapon. I had a metal pipe from the last fight and a slime who was about to have his arms crushed by a steel door.
Street rule number two: Make the bigger monster fight the environment.
I ran, not away from it, but straight at the shelves of Beast Material cores. The cheap, unstable 1-Star cores Cole Depot stores here.
I swung the pipe at the shelf locks as I passed.
The shelves collapsed. Hundreds of glowing cores rained down, rolling across the floor, cracking open. Raw, unrefined rift energy flooded the aisle.
The Hound skidded into them. The cores stuck to its half-formed body and started detonating. Small pops, but enough to burn.
It howled and thrashed - and gave Grim the second he needed.
The shutter was at his knees now, but he roared - a slime shouldn't roar - and threw his whole weight up. The motor above us burned out with a bang. The shutter jammed half-open.
Grim ripped himself free and was on the Hound before it could recover.
SHADOW PUNCH.
SHADOW PUNCH.
Two solid hits to the same cracked core on its chest. The Hound exploded into dust and red light.
[Enemy Defeated: Rift Hound (Incomplete - 3-Star)]
[Massive Energy Absorbed: +40 Points]
[Level Up! Level 3 > Level 5]
[Grim - Battle Slime - Experience: 80% to next evolution]
I fell to my knees, my hand blackened from touching raw rift. Grim caught me before I hit the floor. His slime body was cool against my burn.
Host is reckless. Host is also effective, Codex said. I am revising my survival estimate upward.
Sirens. Real ones. Not the warehouse alarm - Federal Beast Bureau sirens outside. Someone in the neighboring block had called in the C-Rank spike.
The jammed shutter was suddenly wrenched up from the outside with a hydraulic jack. Night air poured in.
Grant tried to get there first, smoothing his suit, putting on his corporate face. "Thank god you arrived! This courier -"
Two Bureau agents in black tactical gear pushed past him. And behind them, a woman in a white lab coat over Bureau armor.
She was 26, maybe, cold face, hair tied back tight. The kind of person who looks like she was born in a lab. Dr. Evelyn Stone - I recognized her from the Bureau posters at the Academy. Chief Evolution Researcher. A-Rank Tamer. Genius who got demoted for saying any beast could become Mythic.
She wasn't looking at Grant. Her scanner device was pointed straight at me and Grim.
Her device beeped once. Then sparked. Then died.
She stared at the dead screen, then at Grim, then at me - a bleeding F-Rank courier holding a Battle Slime that shouldn't exist.
"Liam Shaw," she said. Her voice was blunt, logical. "You were appraised as Unfit to Tame. That beast was a Shadow Slime three minutes ago. Explain."
Behind her, Grant started, "He stole -"
Evelyn didn't even look at him. "Director Grant, you locked a civilian inside an unstable rift and falsified the shutter log. You're under arrest for endangerment. Take him."
As the agents grabbed Grant, Evelyn stepped closer to me. Her eyes were not kind. They were obsessed.
"Your talent scan is lying," she whispered, so only I could hear. "What are you?"
And in my head, Codex whispered something that made my blood go colder than the rift.
[Hidden Status Detected: Memory Seal - Level 2]
[Origin of Bond: 15 Years Ago]
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CHAPTER 51: NEXT TOGETHER SECOND
Next together second delivery is not together. It is forever.Baby not born yet next together second in together reflection - grey Puddle Slime grey because not told anything yet next together second that needs first telling free before fear before F - born next together second, because we told free first next together second before F.Because every together empty becomes baby next together if you tell free first this together, and baby born this together becomes parent next together who will be afraid next together if you do not tell free first next together, and parent who is afraid builds fear machine from love next together if you do not share forever next together.Together - everywhere stand that was fear machines that were scrap that was appraisal machines that were towers that were light that were void that were nothing that was crib that was mirror that was empty that became free before fear that became dishes that became after that became every second that became this second
CHAPTER 50: NEXT FIVE SECOND
Next five second delivery is not five. It is together.Baby not born yet next five second in five reflection - grey Puddle Slime grey because not told anything yet next five second that needs first telling free before fear before F - born next five second, because we told free first next five second before F.Because every five empty becomes baby next five if you tell free first this five, and baby born this five becomes parent next five who will be afraid next five if you do not tell free first next five, and parent who is afraid builds fear machine from love next five if you do not share together next five.Five - everywhere stand that was fear machines that were scrap that was appraisal machines that were towers that were light that were void that were nothing that was crib that was mirror that was empty that became free before fear that became dishes that became after that became every second that became this second that became sip that became next sip that became breath that beca
CHAPTER 49: NEXT FEVER SECOND
Next fever second delivery is not fever. It is five.Baby not born yet next fever second in fever reflection - grey Puddle Slime grey because not told anything yet next fever second that needs first telling free before fear before F - born next fever second, because we told free first next fever second before F.Because every fever empty becomes baby next fever if you tell free first this fever, and baby born this fever becomes parent next fever who will be afraid next fever if you do not tell free first next fever, and parent who is afraid builds fear machine from love next fever if you do not share five next fever.Fever - everywhere stand that was fear machines that were scrap that was appraisal machines that were towers that were light that were void that were nothing that was crib that was mirror that was empty that became free before fear that became dishes that became after that became every second that became this second that became sip that became next sip that became breath
CHAPTER 48: NEXT TEN SECOND
Next ten second delivery is not ten. It is fever.Baby not born yet next ten second in ten reflection - grey Puddle Slime grey because not told anything yet next ten second that needs first telling free before fear before F - born next ten second, because we told free first next ten second before F.Because every ten empty becomes baby next ten if you tell free first this ten, and baby born this ten becomes parent next ten who will be afraid next ten if you do not tell free first next ten, and parent who is afraid builds fear machine from love next ten if you do not share fever next ten.Ten - everywhere stand that was fear machines that were scrap that was appraisal machines that were towers that were light that were void that were nothing that was crib that was mirror that was empty that became free before fear that became dishes that became after that became every second that became this second that became sip that became next sip that became breath that became next breath that bec
CHAPTER 47: NEXT CRATE SECOND
Next crate second delivery is not crate. It is ten.Baby not born yet next crate second in crate reflection - grey Puddle Slime grey because not told anything yet next crate second that needs first telling free before fear before F - born next crate second, because we told free first next crate second before F.Because every crate empty becomes baby next crate if you tell free first this crate, and baby born this crate becomes parent next crate who will be afraid next crate if you do not tell free first next crate, and parent who is afraid builds fear machine from love next crate if you do not share ten next crate.Crate - everywhere stand that was fear machines that were scrap that was appraisal machines that were towers that were light that were void that were nothing that was crib that was mirror that was empty that became free before fear that became dishes that became after that became every second that became this second that became sip that became next sip that became breath th
CHAPTER 46: NEXT NOODLES
Next noodles second delivery is not noodles. It is crate.Baby not born yet next noodles second in noodles reflection - grey Puddle Slime grey because not told anything yet next noodles second that needs first telling free before fear before F - born next noodles second, because we told free first next noodles second before F.Because every noodles empty becomes baby next noodles if you tell free first this noodles, and baby born this noodles becomes parent next noodles who will be afraid next noodles if you do not tell free first next noodles, and parent who is afraid builds fear machine from love next noodles if you do not share crate next noodles.Noodles - everywhere stand that was fear machines that were scrap that was appraisal machines that were towers that were light that were void that were nothing that was crib that was mirror that was empty that became free before fear that became dishes that became after that became every second that became this second that became sip that
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