Rex roared like a demon awakened.
"YOU TOOK EVERYTHING!"
[Skill: Severing Judgement- Blood Cost: 16%]
"SEVERING JUDGEMENT!"
He slammed his blade into the ground.
KA-KRAKKKK!!
A shockwave burst out from the impact. The whole mall groaned, beams snapped, the second floor cracked, and deep splits tore through the ceiling. Chunks of concrete crashed down.
A blinding red arc shot through the ground, fast and sharp. It cut straight ahead, tearing everything in its way. The pressure split the floor and shook the air.
The carousel turned slowly in the chaos, pushed by the blast. Its painted horses kept spinning in silent circles, still smiling.
The others stood frozen as the arc of destruction surged forward.
The shieldbearer's jaw dropped.
"Woah, what the hell is that—!?"
The archer wheezed, shielding his eyes from the brightness.
"That's Rex's wrath… all of it, in one fucking swing…"
He forced himself to his feet, raising his bow, breath shallow.
"This is my gift back, Rex, for saving me. When that nemesis tried to bite my head off!"
[Skill: Exploding Arrow — Blood Cost: 12%]
"EXPLODING ARROW!"
The Runner, blood dripping from its mouth, leapt with its last strength but the arrow struck its leg.
THUNK!
The Runner screeched in pain. The archer smiled.
"My payback, monster. Boom."
KRA-BOOM!
The arrow exploded, blasting through its knee. The Runner collapsed, off balance. It was screaming in pain. One arm gone, one leg crippled and the red arc of Severing Judgment surged forward, tearing the air apart, grinding toward the runner.
Too fast…
Too wide…
No way to dodge it.
Johnquis saw it and felt it.
"NO, NOT LIKE THIS!"
Johnquis ran.
"COME ON… COME ON!!"
He leapt, threw his blade like a harpoon into the turning carousel.
CLANK!
The chain locked. He pulled himself forward, the spinning platform launching him like a bullet through the air.
"NOT ENOUGH!"
CLANG!
The grapple on his belt launched upward. Latching onto the twisted rail of a broken elevator shaft that hung above. It held. He fired again, this time further up toward the debris of an old sign.
The world tilted.
[SYNC LIMIT: 36 METERS]
[SYNC LIMIT: 41 METERS]
A cracked sign barely hanging from rusted chains swaying in the wind. Its faded letters barely clung to the surface:
"WALK HERE TO COME IN — CASINO / LEVEL 4"
That was it.
"Runner… hold on."
SHUNK!
He launched upward. His cape snapped behind him, debris and wind slashing past. Sparks screamed off his armor as he soared. Over the fight, over Rex, over his squad, and over the red arc tearing toward the Runner.
His blade chain SNAPPED TIGHT behind him.
He slammed through a half-collapsed ceiling, dragging himself higher and higher through jagged rebar and bent tiles.
His chain hooked onto ruined tables, twisted slot machines, and the golden trim of what had once been the mall's luxury casino floor.
[SYNC LIMIT: 48.2 METERS]
Dead neon signs lined the walls, long since gone dark. Cards lay scattered across the floor and the ceiling above was cracked open to the clouds.
As he rolled across the ruined carpet of the casino, a chime echoed.
[WARNING: SYNC LIMIT - 50 METERS REACHED]
He screamed, dragging hard with both arms. His veins bulged, feet skidding backward through the casino tiles.
"NOW!"
The chain lit up.
KRAAAK!!
Below, the Runner's chain pulled tight like a leash made of lightning. The monster's eyes widened. Its body lurched forward, dragged across the second floor just as Rex's Severing Judgment tore through the space it had been lying in.
FWOOMMMMMMM!!!
A blinding red arc carved through the floor, annihilating the rubble, cleaving the ground and slammed into the blocked passageway where the archer had once been pinned.
BOOOOOOM!
The rubble shattered, the floor beneath it collapsed. Dust exploded upward like a geyser. And the entire mall shook with the force of the impact.
But the Runner, It was gone.
The chain snapped back. Johnquis dropped to one knee inside the casino, panting.
"Got you…"
The Runner lay beside him, dazed but breathing.
Johnquis let out a shaky breath.
"You… owe me one."
He glanced down through the massive hole where the arc had torn through the mall. Below, silence. Dust and heat hung heavy in the air.
In the center of the wreckage stood Rex. His blade was lowered, chest rising and falling in jagged breaths. Blood trickled from his nose. Slowly, he looked up toward the shattered ceiling.
"No…"
He stepped forward, blood trickling from his nose.
"No. NO. NO!!!"
He roared so loud the walls trembled.
"JOHNQUIS, YOU BASTARD!!"
The spearwoman coughed as she dragged herself upright, her dislocated shoulder hanging limp.
"He… he saved it… He saved the nemesis…"
The shieldbearer stood frozen, eyes locked on the gap above.
"That idiot… That suicidal idiot launched himself straight into the damn casino…"
The archer leaned against a cracked pillar.
"I knew something was wrong with that leash boy…"
Rex's voice exploded again.
"YOU RUINED IT! I HAD HIM! I FUCKING HAD HIM!!"
He slammed his sawblade into the wall beside him cracking the cement and sending shards flying.
"You protected that—that thing that butchered Lex… and for what?!"
His voice dropped into a deadly rasp.
"…You're just like it."
Then his eyes met Johnquis.
"I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU, JOHNQUIS"
A deep, low rmmmmmmmmm rumbled through the entire structure like a growl from the bones of the building.
The mall began to shake.
The shieldbearer stumbled, slamming his shield down for balance.
"W-what now?!"
The spearwoman dropped to one knee, panting, one hand clutching her dislocated shoulder.
"The floor… it's giving out—again!"
Up in the casino, Johnquis barely had time to brace. He slammed his shoulder against a slot machine as the tiles beneath him trembled. The Runner flinched beside him, its hand curling around the cracked floor. Both stared down through the gaping hole.
A groan echoed up through the broken mall. Followed by a faint…
Skritch… skritch… skritch…
Johnquis's breath hitched.
"What the hell is that…?"
The shieldbearer looked down through the destroyed floor, the passage Rex's Severing Judgment had carved now nothing more than a blasted tunnel leading straight into the mall's black heart.
The archer's voice trembled as he backed up, drawing a fresh arrow.
"I… I hear something. Movement, no…crawling. SHIT!"
The walls pulsed, deep cracks spreading like veins.
Skritch. Skritch. Skritch. Skritch.
Then they heard it, the high pitch shriek.
"SSHHHRAAKK!"
"EATERS!"
The spearwoman's eyes went wide.
"No—NO, NO, THE FLOOR WAS KEEPING THEM CONTAINED!"
Then the first pale hand reached the edge of the hole.
Bone-thin fingers. Joints bent backward. Nails like stone. Another hand. Then another. Dozens. Too many.
The shieldbearer yelled, "BACK! BACK NOW!"
But before they could move, a ping rang inside their skulls. Sharp like a blade through the brain.
[WARNING!] [WARNING!] [WARNING!]
"AGHHH! WHAT THE HELL—IT'S SPLITTING MY HEAD!!"
The spearwoman dropped, clutching her temples. The archer screamed, hands over his ears. The shieldbearer groaned. Rex staggered. Johnquis gritted his teeth, eyes going wide as glowing letters flashed across his vision:
[SYSTEM NOTICE!]
—ANOMALY QUEST DETECTED!
[All Eater Blades within this zone have been forcibly linked to a temporary squad.]
Location: [Mall by the Seaside]
Nest Level: [C-Tier]