The creature moved.
That alone was enough to shatter the illusion that this was something humanity could handle.
Concrete cracked beneath its weight as it stepped forward, each motion accompanied by a distortion in the air—as if the space around its body struggled to remain intact. Its form was wrong. Not malformed, not monstrous in the usual sense, but incompatible with the world it had been born into.
Mana bled from its veins like steam.
Spiritual pressure radiated from its core, unstable and violent.
Natural energy twisted around it, corrupted by forced growth.
Rian felt all of it.
Not fear.
Recognition.
"This thing didn't evolve," he muttered. "It was forced."
The beast let out a roar that rippled through the street, shattering glass for blocks in every direction. Humans screamed and fled. Some tried to fight—throwing unstable bursts of mana or flaring spiritual auras—but their attacks dissolved before they even reached the creature.
It didn't acknowledge them.
Its gaze locked onto Rian.
And for the first time since the apocalypse began, Rian felt something close to excitement.
⸻
System Status
⸻
Primordial Bloodline System – Active
Energy Sources Active: 4 / 4
Bloodline Integration: Stable
Observation Mode: MAX
Assimilation Authority: Locked (Combat Conditions Required)
⸻
The system wasn't urging him to attack.
It was watching.
Measuring.
Waiting for proof.
⸻
The First Exchange
The beast lunged.
Not fast.
Instant.
The ground detonated beneath its feet as it closed the distance in a blink, its clawed arm sweeping toward Rian's head with enough force to flatten a truck.
Rian moved.
No wasted motion. No panic.
Mana reinforced his legs as he pivoted aside, spiritual perception flaring just long enough to predict the trajectory. The claw missed him by inches, the wind shear alone carving a trench through the asphalt behind him.
He countered—not with a technique, but with precision.
Rian slammed his palm into the beast's side.
The impact wasn't explosive. It was focused.
Natural energy surged through the contact point, destabilizing the creature's internal balance. The beast staggered, more surprised than hurt, and Rian used the opening to leap back, putting distance between them.
"So you're strong," he said calmly. "But you're sloppy."
The beast roared again—angrier this time—and the air around it thickened as its energies spiked erratically.
⸻
Unstable Power
Mana flared around the creature's limbs, forming crude, violent constructs that tore chunks out of nearby buildings. Spiritual energy pulsed outward in waves, triggering panic responses in every human still within range.
People collapsed.
Others screamed.
Some bled from their ears.
Rian stood untouched.
His bloodline absorbed the pressure without resistance, filtering the chaos into usable data.
⸻
System Analysis Update
⸻
Enemy Designation: Aberrant Hybrid Beast
Energy Composition:
• Mana – High (Unstable)
• Spiritual – Medium (Corrupted)
• Natural – High (Forced Growth)
Threat Level: EX
Bloodline Compatibility: Extremely High
Assimilation Success Rate (Conditional): Unknown
⸻
"That confirms it," Rian said quietly.
This beast wasn't meant to exist yet.
Which meant killing it wouldn't just be survival.
It would be profit.
⸻
Escalation
The creature slammed both fists into the ground.
Natural energy surged outward, causing roots and vines to erupt violently from the earth. Cars were flipped. Light poles snapped. The street transformed into a living battlefield in seconds.
Rian ran into it.
Mana reinforced his body as he weaved through snapping tendrils, spiritual perception guiding him through openings too narrow for normal eyes to track. He vaulted off a collapsing bus, landed on a rising root, and launched himself straight toward the beast's chest.
This time, he didn't hold back.
Bloodline energy surged.
Not outward.
Inward.
Every fragment he had absorbed—wolf agility, avian perception, plant resilience—aligned into a single, unified flow.
Rian drove his fist forward.
The impact sounded like a cannon firing.
The beast was thrown backward, its massive body crashing through the front of a building and disappearing inside. The structure groaned, then partially collapsed.
Dust filled the air.
Silence followed.
For three seconds.
⸻
The Beast Adapts
The rubble exploded outward.
The creature emerged again—damaged, but far from dead. Cracks ran along its hide, glowing faintly as its energies surged to compensate. Its movements were faster now. More controlled.
It had learned.
Rian exhaled slowly.
"Good," he said. "That makes this worthwhile."
⸻
System Warning
⸻
Adaptive Response Detected
Enemy Energy Stabilization: In Progress
Assimilation Window: Opening
Risk Factor: High
⸻
This was it.
The moment where hesitation would cost him everything.
Rian stepped forward, eyes glowing faintly as all four energy sources synchronized perfectly.
The world seemed to slow.
Not because time obeyed him—
—but because his bloodline finally understood what it was meant to consume.
⸻
Cliffhanger
The beast charged again, power roaring through its body as it committed everything to a single, decisive strike.
Rian didn't dodge.
He reached out.
And touched it.
⸻
Touch-to-Bloodline Assimilation: INITIATED
⸻
The street vanished in a storm of light.
And the system began to scream.