The sky inside the rift turned to ash. The clouds thickened with pulsing black lightning as the once-blue gate twisted into a yawning abyss of pitch black. Darkness poured from it in waves, devouring the distant runes on the jungle floor. The ancient temple behind the team cracked, groaned, and then shattered.
The trees fell silent.
Seven monstrous forms stepped from the ruins—towering, twisted, wrong.
They weren’t just beasts. They were shaped like nightmares sculpted by fear itself.
The first was a **bone-plated centaur**, its ribcage open to reveal a glowing core of crimson fire.
The second had **no face**, just endless eyes spinning across its obsidian skin, and a jagged spear of bone for a limb.
The third resembled a **demon wolf** stitched together from corpses, with six heads growling in unison.
The fourth flew—**a shrieking shadow with seven wings**, each one trailing black fire.
The fifth towered with a serpentine body of **metal and magma**, coiling around a floating heart made of obsidian.
The sixth was humanoid—**a headless knight**, dragging a greatsword half the size of a building.
And the seventh... was simply **darkness given shape**, slithering like mist with dozens of glowing red mouths whispering in languages that clawed at the mind.
The moment they appeared, the world **screamed**.
Ying Yue stumbled back, pale as death. "Wh-what... what is that?!"
Zhao Fei fell to his knees, sweating. "That’s not possible... This wasn’t part of the scan!"
Tian Ren’s lenses shattered from the pressure. He screamed, covering his eyes. "S-S-rank—no—no, this is something worse!"
Jessica’s face drained of color. "Those aren’t normal S-ranks. This is... it’s like a god-level mutation!"
"Run," Lei Fang whispered, frozen. "We have to run—"
Chunks of stone and flame rained down. The ground shattered into craters as one of the monsters roared—an earth-splitting screech that sent mana rippling through the air.
Jessica instinctively stepped in front of Evon. "Evon, get behind us!"
Shen gritted his teeth, summoning his halberd. "Formation NOW! Back-to-back!"
The seven monsters moved forward.
The pressure... was crushing.
**Everyone felt it.** Their instincts screamed. Their mana flared in terror.
Zhao Fei’s armor cracked. Ying Yue’s ice melted just by proximity. Lei Fang’s legs gave out. Tian Ren stared blankly, blood running from his nose.
Evon stepped forward.
"No," he said. "I’ll fight them."
Jessica grabbed his shoulder. "Evon, no—this isn’t a normal battle—"
"I know," he said, eyes narrowing. "But if I don’t fight, we all die."
His parents. The Hunters. All of them... vulnerable.
He couldn’t protect them *and* fight.
His eyes glowed silver.
A ring of glowing golden chains burst outward from him, etching intricate symbols into the ground. One by one, Jessica, Shen, and the others were wrapped in shimmering fate-thread cocoons—transparent, floating above the ground in stasis.
Inside that golden glow... they were safe.
Untouchable. Unreachable. Removed from time.
Jessica’s voice echoed from inside the cocoon. "Evon, no! You’ll be alone—!"
Shen roared, slamming his fist into the barrier. "You idiot! You’ll die!"
Evon turned toward the monsters.
His sword glowed faintly.
"...Come on then," he whispered. "Let’s see what you’re made of."
The monsters didn’t hesitate.
The demon wolf lunged first, all six heads snarling.
Evon’s eyes of fate glowed and he immediately knew what it’s weakness is, he ducked low, rolled beneath the snapping jaws, and sliced upward, carving deep into one of the necks. The wolf shrieked and kicked him into a boulder, but he rebounded, using the shock to launch into the air.
He saw with his fate eyes that the wolfs weakness is his one real head and targeted it.
He came down like a meteor, with full strength slamming his blade through the wolf’s skull.
The flying shadow-entity shot a volley of black flame feathers.
Again Evon’s eyes glowed and he saw its weakness, coincidentally it’s weakness is it’s own power.
Evon dodged mid-air, spinning wildly, catching a feather with his bare hand. It seared into his skin—but he hurled it back with a growl, igniting the air and striking the winged monster through the chest.
It shrieked in smoke and fell, twitching.
This smooth one on one didn’t last long, because the remaining five monsters attacked together...
Fatigue was setting in.
His breaths grew shallow. His limbs ached. Blood trickled from his jaw. The sheer aura of the remaining monsters pressed on his spine like mountains.
His sword felt heavier.
The bone-spear monster charged him next, its limbs distorting like fluid. Evon clashed with it, parrying left, ducking, stabbing—
Evon’s shoulder dislocated.
He grit his teeth and kept moving.
But the metal-magma serpent wasn’t waiting.
Evon turned too late.
A massive molten fist collided with his chest.
Evon flew backward like a broken arrow, slammed into the cracked earth, and skidded across the jungle floor.
His sword clattered away.
Thick, red, warm—pouring from his mouth.
The pressure. The agony. The taste of iron.
His muscles screamed. His lungs burned. His ribs were broken. His mana... almost gone.
He lay still, the blackened sky above him twisting.
Somewhere far away, inside the fate prison, Jessica screamed.
"MOVE, DAMN YOU!" Shen bellowed, smashing the walls with mana-charged fists.
Ying Yue was sobbing inside her shield. "No... He’s dying..."
Lei Fang whispered, "He was too young..."
Tian Ren slammed his fists against the fate prison. "Don’t die—don’t die—!"
Inside the battlefield, the monsters began to circle.
His fingers twitched.
He pushed up, coughing again.
His vision blurred again—and then...
**Something strange happened.**
"Do you still wish to return to us...?"
The ground beneath him glowed faintly.
A golden circle appeared under his body. Ancient. Alien. Beautiful.
The monsters stopped.
And then the world **shuddered.**