The Silent Dragon's Mark,
While Mila began her new life, diving into international law and shell corporations with the ferocity of a shark, Vicky had to hunt. He was the Progenitor. His power was the engine that drove everything.
He first took a moment to allocate the power from his last level-up.
VICKY THORNE: STAT ALLOCATION
Stat Points Available: 3 (From Lvl 12)
+1 Strength
+1 Speed
+1 Endurance
His body absorbed the new power, a familiar, warm rush that settled into his muscles and nerves, making him sharper, faster, and more durable.
XP: 2,100 / 8,400 (To Lvl 13)
He, Elias, and the full Alpha Squad spent the next three nights in the shadows. They were no longer just hunting random nests. They were exterminating.
Marcus's intelligence led them to an old, decommissioned chemical plant by the river. A place so toxic, the city had just walled it off and forgotten about it. It was the perfect breeding ground.
TARGET: A high-level hive of Venom-Clawed Stalkers (Lvl 13).
THREAT: Coordinated pack-hunters. Claws carry a fast-acting neurotoxin.
Vicky stood on a rusted gantry, the moon slicing through a shattered skylight, illuminating the rotting facility below. It was a labyrinth of pipes, vats, and catwalks.
"Elias," Vicky's voice snapped through their comms, "you're the anvil. Take Alpha Squad and secure the central processing floor. Battle-Cry on my mark. I want every creature in this facility drawn to you."
"Yes, Master," Elias's voice rumbled back.
"Marcus, you're with me. We are the scalpel. We hunt the Alpha."
The central floor is a graveyard of rusted machinery. Elias Vance (Lvl 7) and the nine Lvl 6 Alpha Squad members land in a perfect, 360-degree defensive circle, their black tactical gear making them one with the shadows.
(Close Up: Elias)
Elias plants his feet. "Lights. Now."
The squad hits their shoulder-mounted floodlights, painting the vast chamber in sterile white. The walls, the ceiling, the pipes—they are alive, covered in dozens of sleek, chittering, black-carapaced Stalkers.
(Sound Design: A high-pitched, multi-throated CHITTERING ROAR)
"ELIAS!" Vicky's voice commands from the darkness above.
Elias takes a deep breath, clenches his fists, and slams them into the concrete floor. He unleashes his Blood Knight's Battle-Cry.
It's not just a sound. It's a shockwave of pure, psychic terror that washes over the chamber. The Lvl 13 Stalkers recoil, their pack-mind shattering, their attacks broken by a flood of primal fear.
"Alpha Squad! Kill-boxes! Execute!" Elias roars.
The squad moves as one. They are a blur of black uniforms and crimson light.
Two Stalkers drop from the ceiling. An Alpha Squad member slides backward on his knees, not even looking up, firing two Blood Arrows that pin one Stalker to a beam.
The second Stalker lurches. The squad member spins, drawing his Blood Claws and severing all six of the creature's legs in a single, fluid, circular motion.
On other hand, Elias (Lvl 7) meets a charging Stalker head-on. He doesn't dodge. He activates Blood Shield (Lvl 2). The crimson barrier explodes outward, not just blocking the Stalker, but disintegrating its carapace and sending it flying back into a vat of roiling chemicals.
High above, on the network of catwalks, Vicky (Lvl 12) and Marcus (Lvl 7) move.
"They're a distraction, Master," Marcus whispers, his senses scanning the darkness. "The Alpha isn't here."
"I know," Vicky says. His own Blood Sense is at full power, a sonar pinging the life force of the entire building. "It's deeper. It's... herding them."
They move, two shadows among shadows. Vicky, with his STR (18) and SPD (17), is a phantom. They find a massive, sealed blast door, its steel warped and bulging outward, as if from immense pressure.
The blast door explodes inward. Shrapnel and steel fly across the gantry.
A Stalker Alpha (Lvl 15) bursts through. It's twice the size of the others, built like a tank, and its claws are dripping with a viscous, green venom that sizzles as it hits the metal floor.
"Marcus! Harass! Don't engage!" Vicky orders.
Marcus becomes a black blur, his SPD (16) pushing him to supersonic speeds. He runs up the wall and onto the ceiling, firing a constant stream of Level 1 Blood Arrows at the Alpha's joints and eyes. They are stinging, irritating, and relentless.
The Alpha roars, ignoring Marcus on the ceiling, and charges at Vicky. It's faster than the Behemoth. It's smarter.
(Extreme Close Up: Vicky's Eyes)
The world slows. He sees the strike coming. The venom-laced claw, moving at 100 mph.
He didn't dodge. He activated Titan's Strength.
He catches the claw.
(Sound : A sharp, deafening CRACK of stressed metal and bone)
Vicky's feet skid back, carving two deep grooves in the steel gantry, but he holds. The monster's (Lvl 15) raw power against his enhanced STR (18). And his strength wins.
"You're fast," Vicky grunts, his voice a low growl, steam venting from his nostrils in the cold air. "But I am stronger."
The Alpha, shocked that its killing blow was caught, rears back to strike with its other claw. Vicky doesn't let it. He pulls it off balance, yanking it forward, and activates his Level 2 Blood Arrow. He doesn't fire it. He forms it, a 10-foot, jagged spear of solid, crimson energy in his free hand.
He ducks under the second strike, pivots on his heel, and with all his Progenitor strength, rams the blood-spear straight up through the creature's jaw and into its brain.
The Alpha (Lvl 15) freezes. Its claws go limp. Vicky shoves it off the gantry, and it crashes to the floor below, dissolving into a massive fountain of golden XP.
Vicky stands, breathing hard, the adrenaline fading as the glorious rush of XP floods his system.
VICKY THORNE: STATUS
XP Acquired: (Dozens of Lvl 13 Hives @ ~2,500) + (1x Lvl 15 Alpha @ 5,000) = +7,500 XP
Total XP: (2,100 + 7,500) = 9,600 / 8,400
LEVEL UP! Level 13 achieved.
As the system notification faded, Elias called from the main floor, his voice sharp. "Master. Look. On the Alpha."
Vicky leaped from the gantry, landing silently next to the dissolving carcass. There, painted in fresh, red paint on the creature's own carapace, was a new mark. It wasn't blood.
It was a perfect circle, with a coiled, serpentine dragon in the center.
Vicky ran his hand over it. It was still wet.
"They were watching us," Vicky said, his voice a low, lethal growl. "We killed their Disciple at the docks. We've been killing the monsters they were... 'herding.' And now they've left their card. They're claiming my kills."
"The Silent Dragon," Elias said, spitting the name like a curse.
"They just made a mistake," Vicky said, his eyes glowing with a cold, crimson light. "They think they're the only predators in this city."
He had a new target. Not a mindless beast, but an organization of Chi-wielding humans. This wasn't a hunt. This was a war.
STATUS UPDATE :
VICKY THORNE
Level: 13
XP: 1,200 / 9,800 (To Lvl 14)
Stat Points Available: 3
STR: 18
SPD: 17
END: 17
Chi: 10 / 10