2025-06-13 07:39:12The door was open. Fred’s stomach dropped the moment he stepped into the apartment. The couch had been overturned, dishes shattered across the floor. A chair lay broken beside the table. Emily's schoolbag was torn, pages scattered like feathers from a dead bird.
“Emily?” Fred called, his voice hollow. Silence. His mother lay on the bed, barely conscious, unaware.
Fred’s hands clenched into fists.
They took her. [Emergency Trigger: Family Threat Detected]
System Perk Unlocked: Instinct Surge – Lv.1
The world shifted. Suddenly, Fred could smell the sweat of the men who’d been there. See the light scuff marks on the tiles. Tiny particles hovered in the air, trace signs of movement, fingerprints, skin cells.
He could follow them. He dashed out into the night, heart pounding, eyes glowing, the system led him through alleys, over rooftops, through the heart of the city’s decay. The deeper he went, the colder it became, not temperature-wise, but something worse.
The Rot was here. A place where criminals operated with impunity. Where people went missing, and no one cared. Fred heard them before he saw them.
Laughter. Grunts. Music. Metal slamming against metal. Then a scream. Emily’s voice.
[New Quest: Rescue Objective Identified – Emily Ashford]
Objective: Infiltrate Don Raze’s Holding Den Reward: Mutation Fragment x1 | Fire Surge Level Up | Reputation: + Penalty for Failure: System Suppression
Fred’s vision pulsed red. He didn’t wait. Two guards leaned against the door, Fred moved like a shadow. The system whispered where to strike, joints, nerves, weak points, One step, two.
CRACK—an elbow to the throat. THUD—a knee to the groin.
The guards hit the ground silently. Fred entered the building, It was a den of filth metal cages, unconscious girls, old equipment, neon signs, and masked men with tattoos. Fred spotted Emily, chained to a chair, bruised, gagged, but awake. Her eyes widened when she saw him.
One of the men turned. “What the” Fred moved, three men charged. Fred sidestepped the first, ducked a swing, then activated Fire Surge. His palm ignited, flames dancing up his forearm. He struck one thug across the face.
The man screamed, dropping instantly. Another came from behind. Fred spun, caught him with a back elbow, and shattered the man’s jaw. The last grabbed a metal rod and swung, catching Fred in the ribs, he gasped, staggering. Pain flooded his body, but didn’t stop him. His system responded.
[Pain Dampening – Lv.1 Activated] Damage absorbed: 35% Adrenaline spike: +15% Reflex
He grabbed the rod mid-swing and yanked the man forward, headbutting him into unconsciousness, “Freddy...!” Emily cried out, he knelt beside her and broke the chain with his bare hands. Her arms flew around his neck, trembling. “Did they…?”
“No,” she sobbed. “You came in time.”Fred looked around at the girls in cages. Some awake. Some not. All broken.
He turned to Emily. “Stay here. I’ll end this.” The warehouse door slammed open.Heavy footsteps echoed.Don Raze walked in, flanked by two men in riot armor.Bald. Towering. Gold rings on every finger. His right eye cybernetic.
“I don’t know who you are,” Raze said calmly. “But no one walks into my house and lives.” Fred’s system pulsed violently.
[Warning: Opponent Power Level – Class II Threat]
Recommend: Caution / Retreat
Fred stepped forward anyway. “No one touches my sister.”
Raze smiled. “Brave. Stupid. And already marked.”
He raised a hand. The riot guards surged forward. Fred braced. Heart calm. Vision sharp,h e was no longer prey. He was becoming the predator, Fred launches himself at the first elite guard. Raze watches, calm, unbothered, because he has a secret.
From the shadows, a second figure steps out, a girl with white hair and eyes like frost. She’s not one of Raze’s men. She’s watching Fred. And she smiles.
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Chapter 17: Ashes and Awakening
Smoke curled through the shattered remnants of the tunnel. The Gutwrencher was gone, disintegrated into ash and flickers of failed core light. The metal walls still hissed where Fred’s Soulflare Pulse had scorched them, glowing with residual energy. The ground bore the shape of a scorched sigil-ancient, circular, flickering like breath.At the center of it all, Fred lay crumpled. His body didn’t move. His chest barely rose. And yet-he burned. Not with fire. But with remembrance.Emily knelt beside him, trembling. Her fingers hovered over Fred’s skin, the heat too intense to touch, yet her own awakening was now shielding her from the worst of it. “Please,” she whispered. “Not like this.”A soft wind rolled through the collapsed tunnel, a breeze born not of nature, but of energy shift.Then came the system pulse: [Link Reversal Activated] – Primary Core: Heartflame – Target: Fred Smith Transfer: 13% stabilization Status: Sibling Override – AcceptedEmily closed her eyes. “Take it. Take
Chapter 17: Ashes and Awakening
Smoke curled through the shattered remnants of the tunnel. The Gutwrencher was gone-disintegrated into ash and flickers of failed core light.The metal walls still hissed where Fred’s Soulflare Pulse had scorched them, glowing with residual energy. The ground bore the shape of a scorched sigil-ancient, circular, flickering like breath.At the center of it all, Fred lay crumpled. His body didn’t move. His chest barely rose. And yet, he burned. Not with fire. But with remembrance.1. A Sister’s TouchEmily knelt beside him, trembling. Her fingers hovered over Fred’s skin, the heat too intense to touch-yet her own awakening was now shielding her from the worst of it. “Please,” she whispered. “Not like this.” A soft wind rolled through the collapsed tunnel-a breeze born not of nature, but of energy shift.Then came the system pulse: [Link Reversal Activated]– Primary Core: Heartflame – Target: Fred Smith Transfer: 13% stabilization Status: Sibling Override – Accepted Emily closed her eye
Chapter 16: Voice in the Flame
Status Update: Fred – Core Overdrive (Sister’s Oath Surge) Vitality Drain: 78% System Stability: Fractured Emily – Awakening Progress: 56% Remote Core Link Active Gutwrencher – Status: Aggro-locked / Rampaging / Devouring1. Fire Against Flesh and MetalFred stood in the center of the collapsing tunnel, shoulders heaving, body glowing like a furnace with no boundaries.Golden fire bled through every pore. But this wasn’t the precise burn of his original system… this was Emily’s surge. Unstable. Raw. And it hurt.[Warning: Flame Source External – Compatibility 52%] Side Effect: Internal Tissue Burn Duration Remaining: 37 SecondsBut Fred didn’t care. Across from him, the Gutwrencher hunched low, its face splitting open like a cracked pressure valve. A tongue of iron flicked out, glowing with stolen Core fragments. “Come on,” Fred whispered. “Let’s burn.” The creature roared.2. A Dance with a MonsterThe Gutwrencher charged-arms like hydraulic cannons, claws carving gashes through the
Chapter 15: The Burn That Remembers
Status: Fred – Core Lock Bypassed (Temporary) Vitality Drain: 24% Emily – Awakening Progress: 21% New Threat Incoming…1. The Sound of Resolve. The tunnel shook with the weight of silence. Crow’s eyes narrowed as Fred stood, without flame, without defense, but no longer broken, Fred’s hand clenched tighter around Crow’s wrist. His skin sizzled against the null-field, he was burning, but not like before. Not outwardly. He was burning inward.Crow attempted to wrench his arm free, but Fred’s grip held. Tight as iron. “You’re suppressing my flame,” Fred said through gritted teeth.“But not my will. That part of me you can’t erase.” Crow struck him across the face with his free hand. Fred reeled but didn’t fall.[System Update: Core Resistance +4%] [Echobound State Reinforced – Memory Link Initiated]Crow paused. “You shouldn’t be able to do this.” Fred grinned through blood.“Neither should a janitor survive your first punch.”“But here we are.”2. Ivy’s Escape Route. While the two tita
Chapter 14: Echoes and Chains
Status: Fred – Core Lock Engaged Vitality Drain: 12% Emily – Awakening Progress: 12%Fred: Bound in Silence, Fred's body convulsed as Crow’s Echo Trap wrapped him in spectral chains—thick coils of null-energy that froze his flame and muted his mind.His limbs trembled. His interface glitched. [System Functions: Interference Detected] — Combat Skills Disabled — Communication Disabled — Core Access: Suppressed Crow stood over him, calm and clinical.“You have potential. But you’re too raw. Too... unstable.”“The Lab doesn’t want fire, Fred. It wants control.” He raised a silver blade.“Let me carve the fire out of you.”Ivy’s Last Card – Her Connection to Crow. Then Ivy whispered one word, almost too soft to catch. “Rook.” Crow’s hand paused. Fred’s eyes widened. That name... didn’t match the monster above him, Crow froze. His expression, unreadable.“Don’t you ever call me that again.” Ivy rose shakily, cradling her broken arm. Her voice wavered, but it held truth.“He used to be one
Chapter 13: Silence in the Smoke
Countdown: 5 hours 43 minutes Target Status: Active Location Lock: 78% AccuracyCrow was coming. Fred could feel it. Not just from the system ping, but in the air itself, something unnatural, hollow, like the scent of burnt ozone without the fire. And it was getting closer.Ivy’s Exit Plan: Inside the safehouse, Ivy tossed a dusty case on the table. “Old Core smuggler tunnel,” she said. “Abandoned since the last containment purge. If we’re fast, we can vanish before Crow triangulates your signal.”Fred zipped his jumpsuit, eyes dark. “What happens if we’re not fast enough?”“I shoot you myself before he gets the chance.”Flashback – The Broken War. As they moved through the narrow underground route, Fred’s mind flashed again. A vision, but not his own.[Memory Echo Triggered: Unknown Source] Year: 17 Years Ago Scene: Core War battlefield, Sector 9, A younger woman, his mother, clad in scorched armor, stood over a dying man holding a fragment of white light. “The Heartflame is unstable
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