Day 47 Post-Impact - Dawn
The sky was still grey when they gathered at the eastern gate.
Sarnav checked his gear one final time. Light armor, salvaged from the Iron Wolves' armory. Communication crystals, courtesy of Jade's dimensional tinkering. Medical supplies, blessed by Nisha's nature magic. Everything they might need for a reconnaissance mission.
Everything except certainty.
His three remaining wives stood in a small cluster near the gate. Nisha's eyes were red-rimmed but dry. Ananya clutched a small charm she'd been making. Jade pretended to focus on her tablet, but he could feel her anxiety through the network.
"Come back," Nisha said simply. No tears this time. Just iron determination. "All of you."
"We will."
Through the bond, he felt her fear. Felt Ananya's quiet prayers. Felt Jade's racing calculations of survival probability.
Sixty-seven percent, the system noted. Based on available data. Though the unknown variables make precise calculation impossible.
"Reassuring."
I aim to inform, not comfort.
Minji bounced on her heels nearby, her purple hair tied back tight, dressed in dark tactical gear that looked wrong on her gaming frame. "Come on, oppa. We're burning daylight."
Ishani stood ready beside her, light already flickering around her fists. No joking today. No playfulness. This was combat Ishani, the woman who'd held off twenty raiders with nothing but exhaustion and will.
Hafiz completed the team, his lightning crackling in short bursts as he ran final checks on his equipment.
"Remember," Sarnav addressed them all, "this is reconnaissance only. We observe, we gather data, we return. No heroics. No engagement with the S-rank entity. We see what we're dealing with, then we come back and plan the real assault."
Nods all around.
He kissed each of his wives goodbye. Nisha, soft and lingering. Ananya, gentle and sweet. Jade, fierce despite her pretended indifference.
Then they moved out.
The ruined city swallowed them within minutes.
Kuala Lumpur had been beautiful once. Gleaming towers, busy streets, the constant hum of millions of lives intersecting. Now it was a graveyard of concrete and steel, buildings leaning at impossible angles, streets choked with debris and abandoned vehicles.
Minji's illusions wrapped around them like a cloak. To any observer, they were shadows, barely visible, easily dismissed. Her power had grown since joining the network, fed by shared essence and constant practice.
[TEAM STATUS]
[MINJI: ILLUSION FIELD ACTIVE - 94% EFFICIENCY]
[ISHANI: COMBAT READY - LIGHT RESERVES FULL]
[HAFIZ: SUPPORT READY - LIGHTNING RESERVES 88%]
[SARNAV: OPTIMAL]
The void creature nest is approximately four kilometers ahead, the system reported. Thirty-two signatures detected. Mostly D-rank, three possible C-rank.
"Route around?"
Possible but adds two hours. Direct approach recommended. The creatures are dispersed, not clustered. Surgical strikes could eliminate them without triggering a swarm response.
They pressed on.
The nest announced itself through wrongness. The air grew colder despite the morning sun. Colors seemed muted, washed out. The shadows moved in ways that had nothing to do with light.
"I hate this feeling," Minji whispered. "Like something's watching."
"Something is." Ishani's light flared brighter. "Multiple somethings."
The first void hound emerged from a collapsed storefront. Dog-like, if dogs were made of concentrated darkness and hunger. Its eyes were empty pits that somehow still conveyed malevolence.
It died before it could howl.
Sarnav moved faster than the creature could track, his fist punching through its skull, dispersing the void energy that held it together. The body dissolved into black mist.
[VOID HOUND (D-RANK) ELIMINATED]
[ESSENCE: +200]
Two more emerged. Ishani's light lanced through one while Hafiz's lightning took the other. Clean kills, silent, efficient.
Twenty-nine remaining, the system counted. Recommend continued advance. They haven't coordinated yet.
They moved through the nest like ghosts. Minji's illusions kept them hidden between kills. Ishani and Hafiz handled the stragglers while Sarnav focused on anything approaching C-rank.
The first real challenge came near the nest's center.
Three void stalkers materialized from the shadows simultaneously. Larger than hounds, vaguely humanoid, their limbs ending in claws that could tear through steel. C-rank creatures, fast and vicious.
"Contact!" Hafiz called out.
The stalkers moved as one, flanking, coordinating in ways that suggested intelligence. One went for Minji, sensing her as the weakest target. Another circled toward Hafiz. The third came straight for Sarnav.
Finally, something interesting, the system observed.
Sarnav met the stalker's charge head-on. Its claws raked across his forearm, drawing blood despite his enhanced durability. He answered with an elbow strike that shattered its jaw, then followed with a knee to its midsection that folded it in half.
The stalker dissolved, but not before its claws left three parallel gouges in his flesh.
[MINOR INJURY SUSTAINED]
[REGENERATION: ACTIVE]
[FULL RECOVERY: 4 MINUTES]
Across the battlefield, Ishani had engaged her stalker with brutal efficiency. Her light condensed into blades that sliced through void flesh, but the creature was fast, dodging, weaving, forcing her to expend more energy than she should.
Hafiz was struggling. His lightning was powerful but the stalker was learning, predicting his attacks, closing the distance. Minji's illusions bought him seconds, but the creature was adapting.
"Hafiz, down!"
The older man dropped flat. Sarnav crossed the distance in a blur, catching the stalker mid-lunge, his hand closing around its throat. He squeezed. The creature thrashed, claws scoring his chest, but he didn't let go.
When it finally dissolved, his shirt was ribbons and his torso was a map of shallow cuts.
"Sarnav!" Ishani finished her own stalker and rushed to his side. "You're hurt."
"Scratches. Already healing." He watched the wounds close, the blood stopping, the skin knitting together. Soul Transformation regeneration was remarkable. "Status?"
"My stalker's down. Hafiz?"
"Alive." The lightning user was breathing hard, a nasty gash on his shoulder. "Could use a medic though."
They'd brought basic medical supplies. Minji, who'd stayed hidden during the combat, emerged to patch Hafiz's wound while Sarnav surveyed the aftermath.
Twenty-six remaining creatures in the nest, the system reported. However, they are now aware of our presence. Swarm behavior initiating in approximately three minutes.
"We push through or go around?"
Through is faster. Around risks the swarm catching us in the open.
"Through it is. Minji, maximum concealment. Ishani, Hafiz, conserve power. I'll handle the bulk."
They moved.
The next twenty minutes were controlled chaos. Void creatures emerged from every shadow, drawn by the deaths of their fellows. Sarnav became a whirlwind of violence, his A-rank power finally unleashed without restraint. Hounds died in pairs. Stalkers fell to single strikes. A lurker, almost B-rank, required thirty seconds and left him with a temporary limp.
By the time they cleared the nest's far edge, Sarnav had killed nineteen creatures personally. Ishani had claimed four. Hafiz had managed three. Minji's illusions had prevented countless more from finding them.
[NEST CLEARANCE: COMPLETE]
[TOTAL ESSENCE GAINED: +4,800]
[TEAM INJURIES: MINOR]
[RECOMMENDED: 15 MINUTE REST BEFORE CONTINUING]
They rested in the shell of what had been a bank. The vault doors hung open, contents long since looted. Hafiz slumped against a wall, pale but stable. Ishani stretched, working out the tension in her muscles. Minji dropped her illusions, suddenly looking exhausted.
"That was intense," she managed. "How much further?"
"Eight kilometers." Sarnav checked the map. "But that was the only major nest between us and the rift."
Through the network, he felt the wives back home. Nisha's spike of fear when he'd been injured. Ananya's relief as his wounds healed. Jade's grim satisfaction as the kill count rose.
They felt everything, the system noted. The network transmitted pain, danger, combat stress. Your wives experienced a diluted version of the battle.
"Is that a problem?"
Unknown. The emotional bond deepens with shared experience. Whether combat stress is beneficial or harmful to bond development remains to be determined.
He filed that away for later.
"Five more minutes," he told the team. "Then we move."
The S-rank rift dominated the skyline.
They saw it from three kilometers away. A tear in reality, hanging in the air above what had once been a shopping complex. The edges flickered with colors that didn't exist, dimensions bleeding into each other, the very fabric of existence stretched to breaking.
"That's..." Minji trailed off.
"Bigger than the last one," Ishani finished grimly.
[S-RANK DIMENSIONAL RIFT]
[CLASSIFICATION: STABLE ANOMALY]
[THREAT LEVEL: EXTREME]
[INTERIOR DIMENSIONS: UNKNOWN]
[ENTITY SIGNATURES: MULTIPLE]
[DOMINANT PRESENCE: S+ CLASS (ESTIMATED)]
The rift is larger than initial scans suggested, the system reported. Approximately three hundred meters in diameter. The dimensional energy is sufficient to destabilize reality within a one-kilometer radius.
"S-plus class," Sarnav murmured. "Not just S-rank."
Correct. Whatever is anchoring this rift is more powerful than anything you've faced. Direct confrontation is not recommended at current power levels.
They approached cautiously, Minji's illusions at maximum. The dimensional energy made her power flicker, interference from the bleeding realities threatening to expose them.
"I can hold it for maybe ten minutes," she warned. "This close to the rift, my illusions are fighting against the dimensional flux."
"That's all we need."
They reached observation distance. A collapsed parking structure provided cover while offering a clear view of the rift's base.
What they saw made Sarnav's breath catch.
A camp. Inside the rift, visible through the tear, a makeshift camp of survivors huddled in a pocket of stable space. Tents. Barricades. The desperate infrastructure of people who'd been trapped for weeks.
And in the center, a figure wreathed in golden light.
She was too far away to see clearly. The dimensional distortion made details impossible. But the light... the light was unmistakable. Healing energy, pure and powerful, flowing from her hands into a wounded man on a stretcher.
[SURVIVOR CAMP CONFIRMED]
[POPULATION: 14 DETECTED]
[AWAKENED SIGNATURES: 3]
[PRIMARY HEALER: B-RANK (HOLY ATTRIBUTE)]
[NOTE: HEALER IS SOLE REASON FOR SURVIVOR LONGEVITY]
That healing signature, the system observed with something almost like interest. Holy Light. Exceptionally rare. Exceptionally powerful. She's been keeping fourteen people alive in hostile dimensional space for two weeks through sheer will and power.
The distant figure finished her healing and staggered. Even from this distance, Sarnav could see her exhaustion. She'd given too much. Been giving too much every day for fourteen days.
Someone caught her before she fell. Helped her to a tent. The golden light faded.
"We have to help them," Ishani said. "Look at her. She's running on empty."
"We will. But not today." Sarnav forced himself to look away from the healer. "We don't have the firepower to fight whatever's maintaining this rift. We need the full team. We need preparation."
"How long do they have?"
He looked at the camp. At the dwindling supplies. At the healer who'd given everything and was still giving.
Based on observable resources and the healer's deteriorating condition, the system calculated, survivors have approximately seventy-two to ninety-six hours before catastrophic failure.
"Three days. Maybe four."
"Then we come back tomorrow," Minji said firmly. "Full assault. Everyone."
"Agreed."
They observed for another five minutes, cataloging defenses, entry points, the location of the dimensional weak spots where they might slip through. Sarnav committed everything to memory.
Then reality shifted.
[WARNING]
[DOMINANT ENTITY: AWAKENING]
[THREAT LEVEL: CATASTROPHIC]
[IMMEDIATE WITHDRAWAL RECOMMENDED]
The air grew heavy. The rift pulsed. Deep within the tear, something massive stirred. Not coming toward them. Not yet. But aware. Aware that something was watching.
A presence brushed against Sarnav's consciousness. Ancient. Hungry. Vast beyond comprehension. It didn't see him. Not quite. But it sensed... something.
"Move," he ordered. "Now."
They ran.
Behind them, the rift pulsed again. The presence settled, returning to its slumber. But Sarnav could feel its attention, a weight on his soul that didn't fade even as they put distance between themselves and the tear.
It knows something was there, the system observed. It will be more alert now. Your window for rescue has narrowed.
"How narrow?"
Unknown. But I recommend not delaying.
Evening
They returned to the Safe Zone as the sun was setting.
The gates opened for them, and Sarnav found all three of his remaining wives waiting. Nisha's composure cracked the moment she saw him, tears flowing as she threw herself into his arms. Ananya and Jade weren't far behind.
"We felt it," Nisha sobbed. "When that thing noticed you. We felt it in our souls."
Through the network, he understood. The brush of the S-plus entity had transmitted through their bond. His wives had experienced a fraction of that ancient hunger, that impossible presence.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry. Just tell me we're ending this."
"Tomorrow." He looked at his team, then at the gathering crowd of awakened who'd come to hear the report. "We launch the full assault tomorrow. We get those survivors out, we kill whatever's maintaining that rift, and we close it for good."
"And the entity?" Hafiz asked. "The S-plus thing?"
"We'll figure it out." Sarnav's jaw tightened. "We don't have a choice. Those people have three days. That healer has less. We go in tomorrow, or we don't go in at all."
The crowd murmured. Fear and determination in equal measure.
Chen Wei pushed through. "What do you need?"
"Everyone. Every awakened we can spare. This isn't a surgical strike. This is war."
He thought of the distant figure, the healer wreathed in golden light. The woman keeping fourteen people alive through sheer will.
Interesting that you're fixating on the healer, the system observed. Compatibility scan was incomplete at this range, but initial indicators suggest high potential.
"Not now."
I'm merely noting patterns. You do seem drawn to women in need of rescue.
He ignored the commentary.
Tomorrow, they would go to war.
Tonight, he needed to prepare.
[DAY 47 COMPLETE]
[RECONNAISSANCE: SUCCESSFUL]
[INTEL GATHERED: S+ RANK THREAT CONFIRMED]
[SURVIVORS: 14 (3 AWAKENED, INCLUDING B-RANK HEALER)]
[TIME REMAINING: 72-96 HOURS]
[NEXT ACTION: FULL ASSAULT - DAY 48]
[TOTAL ESSENCE: 350,500 / 1,000,000]