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    Eden''s fingers clenched around the hilt of his weapon, his knuckles turning white. His frustration simmered beneath the surface, his teeth grinding as he glared at the beast. "It''s like it knew exactly where they were," he growled.


    He had been too weak. His strike hadn’t been deep enough. Hadn’t been fatal. Hadn’t mattered.


    ROOOOAR!


    The Wild Roller bellowed, its fury now directed at the two remaining Skyborns hovering in the air.


    "Come, let''s head back before..."


    A sudden alarm rang in their comms.


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    Warning! Unidentified life forms approaching!


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    Eden barely had time to process the alert before a shadow swooped down.


    "OIVIER!"


    A monstrous winged beast snatched Oivier mid-flight, its talons digging into his armor.


    "Get the fuck off me!" Oivier roared, twisting in the creature''s grasp.


    He fired a barrage of flux projectiles from his wings, the explosive rounds blasting apart the creature’s limb. The beast screeched in agony, its grip faltering just enough for him to break free. Oivier tumbled through the air before steadying himself.


    Eden was already moving. In a flash, his sword sliced through the air, bisecting the wounded beast before it could recover. Its severed body plummeted to the ground below.


    "You good?" Eden asked, adjusting his flight path.


    "For now." Oivier shot a wary glance around them. "But we have no cover."


    The two surged forward, heading toward the buildings in the city. But the Wild Roller’s earlier rampage had left nothing standing in the surroundings. No buildings. No rooftops. No walls to use as cover. No shelter from the creatures hunting them from above.


    Their comms crackled with static as Oivier sent out a distress call.


    "We need immediate extraction! We''ve engaged a Wild Roller and lost most of our team. Now we''re being pursued by some kind of airborne predators!"


    A brief pause. Then a response.


    "Southern Base here. Air support en route to your location."


    "Move faster!" Oivier snapped, risked a quick glance over his shoulder—then cursed.


    "What''s the nature of the threat?"


    "Unidentified... something," Oivier bit out.


    "Can you provide a short description?"


    "No."


    They weren’t slowing down to observe. The creatures were gaining. The high-pitched screech of breaking glass filled the air as the two Skyborns shot past the ruins of shattered windows, shards raining down in their wake.


    A swarm of winged horrors tore through the open spaces behind them, their grotesque forms illuminated by the strong daylight.


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    Warning…


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    "Shut up!" Eden snapped as a red blur closed in. He turned mid-flight, sword flashing.


    The creature shrieked as his blade cleaved through it. But there were more.


    The sky predators were a nightmare made flesh—like a cannibal species fused with something from the deepest depths of hell. Their crimson skin stretched over wiry frames, long membranous wings flapping erratically as their serrated, sturdy beaks snapped hungrily. Their elongated front limbs ended in hooked claws, sharp enough to tear through armor.


    Eden exhaled sharply. Then he struck.


    His sword unleashed a barrage of flux blades—razor-sharp crescents of energy that ripped through the swarm. The creatures shrieked as the deadly arcs carved through their ranks, some dropping lifelessly from the sky, others spiraling out of control as their wings were shredded beyond use.


    But there were too many.


    Eden reached into his utility belt, fingers curling around a talisman. The moment it left his hand, the paper ignited, burning away in an instant.


    Then the sky exploded.


    A roaring inferno erupted behind them, engulfing a portion of the swarm in searing flames. From the heart of the fire, something emerged.


    A new beast.


    Larger than the red ones. Faster. And unlike the others, it moved with terrifying precision.


    A streak of gray, its wings slicing through the air like blades. It tore through the burning creatures with ease, its razor-sharp claws rending them apart as if they were made of paper. Blood and bone splattered in its wake.


    Eden barely had time to react before it lunged.


    He dove, sword a blur of spectral purple energy as he met its strike head-on. His blade found purchase, slicing deep into the creature’s shoulder joint. The beast screeched, ichor spraying into the wind as sinew was severed.


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    But it retaliated.


    Its powerful tail lashed out, striking Eden with bone-crushing force. The impact sent him hurtling backward, his body colliding with a half-collapsed building. The structure crumbled beneath him, sending debris crashing onto the streets below.


    His suit absorbed most of the impact, dispersing the force across its reinforced plating, but the shock still rattled his organs. Gritting his teeth, Eden barely had time to take flight before the beast lunged at him again, a gray blur of raw predatory instinct.


    “Oivier!” Eden shouted into the comms, his voice strained.


    Silence. Then, a deliberate click. Oivier had shut off communications.


    Eden barely had time to curse before the beast was on him again, its dark silhouette cutting through the smoke-cloaked skyline like an omen of death.


    His mind flared with power. He reached out, unseen force latching onto the creature’s mass. With a mental heave, he twisted its trajectory, slamming it into a skeletal high-rise—an apartment complex, long abandoned. Concrete and steel exploded on impact, dust and debris swallowing the beast whole.


    For a heartbeat, Eden thought it worked. Then, a guttural snarl shattered the air.


    The rubble stirred. The beast was already adapting, its presence a tidal wave of fury that battered against his mental hold. Eden grit his teeth, doubling down. Their wills clashed, two invisible forces locked in brutal combat.


    The beast staggered, its massive form faltering mid-air. Then, it darted toward him.


    “Shit!” Eden growled, reaching into his belt. He withdrew a handful of paper talismans, the seals already thrumming with contained malice. With a flick of his wrist, they adhered to the beast’s body, clinging like spectral leeches.


    “Crumble under the weight of your sins!” he commanded, his voice reverberating with power.


    The spirits bound to the talismans shrieked, their wails rising in a discordant chorus as they latched onto the beast’s essence. The creature convulsed, its flight faltering into a rapid, uncontrolled descent.


    “Aaaawwwwwaaaaaa!”


    A piercing headache slammed into Eden’s skull. His vision blurred, the world tilting sideways as nausea gripped his senses.


    ''Patron!'' Vex’s voice cut through the fog, laced with urgency.


    Eden forced himself to focus. Behind him, red-winged beasts flooded the air, their numbers a writhing sea of predatory hunger. With a pulse of power, Vex unleashed his wrath, a wave of spectral energy ripping through the horde. The creatures fell from the sky like marionettes with severed strings.


    Then, something massive crashed into the street below, shattering pavement upon impact.


    Oivier.


    Eden barely had time to react before his instincts flared—danger. He twisted just in time to see the beast’s long, whip-like tail carve through the air toward him. He dodged by a hair’s breadth. The tail struck the ground where Oivier crashed, splitting the concrete like brittle glass.


    “Thanks!” The words tumbled from Eden''s lips as he stabilized himself mid-air.


    “Aaaawwwwwaaaaaa!” Another bubbling growl rumbled from the apartment complex, its source now fully revealed.


    ''Patron!'' Vex called as Eden suffered under the mental attack.


    The tailed beast stood within the ruin, without paying rent, its many watery eyes locked onto Eden with something disturbingly close to intelligence. For a moment, Vex wavered, his spectral form flickering. That moment was all the beast needed.


    It struck.


    Sleek, razor-edged tails lashed out, moving like executioner’s blades through the night. One plunged through Eden’s Exo-Rig, piercing deep into flesh and bone.


    Time slowed.


    Eden gasped, a sharp, wet sound. Blood splattered across his visor, his breath hitching as pain flared through his entire being. Instinct took over—his fingers found the talismans in his pouch, his mind reaching for them even as agony clouded his thoughts.


    One activated instantly, swapping his position with his. The others clung to his wounds, pulsing with sealing flux to staunch the bleeding.


    ''Patron!'' Vex howled, materializing fully in a burst of black mist. His spectral form surged forward, clawing at the beast to force it away from Eden’s battered body.


    Eden struggled to focus, his breath ragged. He prepared to teleport again, targeting the talismans on the gray-winged monster he had previously bound. But he couldn''t. There was no teleportation talisman attached to the beast.


    His thoughts fractured. A tide of sickness swelled in his veins.


    Poison?


    His limbs grew heavy, the edges of his vision becoming bloody.


    “You dare!” Vex’s voice was a thunderclap.


    A wave of sickly mist exploded outward, rolling over the battlefield like a living storm. Every red-winged beast caught in its path convulsed violently before dropping lifeless to the ground.


    Eden coughed, struggling against the inevitable. His sword slipped from numb fingers, clattering uselessly onto the broken earth. His suit’s wings, once symbols of power and freedom, sagged limply against his back.


    Vex roared, his very presence warring against the beast for control. Eden felt the pressure lifting, the mental claw retracting from his mind.


    With the last of his strength, he reached for another talisman. I have to call the divine... the heal...


    “Void Cutter!”


    Vex’s immaterial hand slashed through the air, a blade of pure entropy carving through reality itself. The severing force ripped through the beast’s right side, slicing off its thrashing tails as if they were nothing more than rotting vines.


    The attack didn’t stop there—momentum carried the strike onward, cleaving through the skeletal remains of a nearby building, which crumbled in a deafening cascade of shattered concrete and twisted metal.


    “Aaaawwwwwaaaaaa!” The fish faced beast’s agonized wail pierced the daylight.


    This time, it failed to affect its targets.


    Vex’s rage had ignited into something far beyond mere anger—it had become an entity in itself, a force of nature that bent reality around it. The black mist surrounding him pulsed like a living thing, moving with an intelligence that belonged to neither man nor spirit.


    The flying beasts reacted too late. The mist swallowed them whole. Their growls of defiance turned into choking, panicked wails as their bodies withered, their strength drained in an instant. They fell, lifeless husks before they even reached the ground.


    Vex turned sharply, his spectral form flickering as he rushed to Eden’s side. With a swift, forceful motion, he tore off Eden’s helmet, revealing his patron’s pallid face beneath.


    “Patron!” Vex called.


    Eden’s eyes fluttered open, unfocused. His breaths came in short, ragged gasps, barely pulling in enough air. Sweat beaded along his forehead, mixing with the streaks of blood on his face.


    “P-Poison…” he mumbled, his voice barely more than a whisper. His fingers twitched weakly as if he were trying to grasp onto something just out of reach. “It’s… poison.”


    Vex’s eyes narrowed. He looked down, his ethereal senses sharpening as he examined the corruption seeping into Eden’s body. A sickly green flux pulsed beneath his patron’s skin, a writhing energy that was both spiritual and physical, digging deep into his very core like parasitic tendrils.


    Without hesitation, Vex placed his hand over the infection and began to pull.


    At first, it worked. The dark mist surrounding him funneled inward, devouring the toxic flux, stripping it away like peeling back layers of rot. Eden’s body trembled under the strain, and for a fleeting moment, Vex thought he had a chance—


    Until he felt it.


    It wasn’t just the poisoned flux. It was something more. Something living. Something that refused to be purged.


    “Patron!” Vex’s voice broke with desperation. His grip tightened. “Stay with me!”


    No response.


    “Patron! Tell me what to do!”


    Eden’s body began to convulse violently. Blood gushed from his mouth in dark, sickening spurts, his muscles seizing as if rejecting his very existence. His limbs twisted, spasming, his fingers clawing at the air in blind agony.


    The warden’s words echoed in Eden’s mind. ''I have seen the future of this existence of yours, and I can assure you—it is a short-lived one.''


    No. No, he refused to accept that.


    Vex clenched his teeth, his entire form crackling with unstable power. He tried again, pouring everything into purging the corruption, but it was like trying to empty an ocean with his bare hands. Eden’s breathing hitched—then faltered.


    His pupils dilated. His body stilled. Then, the darkness took him. His mind plummeted into the abyss, unraveling into the endless void.


    "Ahhhhh!" Vex ripped the vessel of his patron in half before sending a second [Void Cutter] that split the fish faced beast in half.