Nadine crouched behind the shattered wall with Samantha, Ethan, and George beside her. From the broken window she kept her eyes locked on Myles' back as he walked alone toward the rotting house.
Her face stayed calm, determined, and unshaken. But inside, she was the most worried.
Myles had saved her life. Without him, she would have suffered a fate worse than death. She would have been raped by those three n and left on the street to be devoured by monsters. That mory still burned deep in her mind.
Because of him, she now stood here alive. She had beco strong and ard with a magical weapon and power she never imagined she would wield.
A debt she could never fully repay.
"If I were stronger, I would stand beside him," she thought, bitterness tightening her chest. "Even with this weapon and my level… I'm still not enough."
She clenched her jaw.
"No. I can't think like that. I'll do my part. I'll help him the best I can."
Beside her, Ethan and Samantha watched silently. George wiped sweat from his palm. None of them spoke, but the tension showed in their eyes.
Across the street, Victor's group also waited in position.
Ryan, Kade, Daniel, and Clara crouched behind broken concrete and rusted vehicles.
"That man is brave," Ryan muttered, eyes fixed on Myles. "I'm not ashad to admit it. I'm scared of that giant."
" too, Captain," Kade replied automatically.
Ryan shot him a look. "I told you, that title doesn't matter anymore."
Kade just gives him a sheepish smile.
"He is brave indeed," Victor said quietly. "He also has clarity. He knows he needs to get stronger and determined to do it. Not afraid of taking a risk."
"If he wasn't leading us, we wouldn't have survived this far," Clara added.
No one disagreed with her words.
"Wait," Ryan suddenly said. "I need to pee."
Victor's head snapped toward him. "Are you fucking serious? Right now?"
The others stared at him in disbelief.
"It can't be helped. I'll be quick." Ryan slipped away without waiting for approval and disappeared behind a building.
Victor exhaled sharply. "Forget him for now. Focus on Myles. When the fight starts, we move fast."
—
Behind the building, Ryan loosened his belt.
But before he could finish, a voice whispered from behind him.
"Do you want power?"
It was feminine voice. Soft, and smooth.
The mont he heard it, his body froze. The urge to pee vanished. His thoughts slowed down almost like he was being hypnotized.
He turned around slowly.
A woman stood in the shadows.
She was beautiful. So beautiful that his mind struggled to focus on her features and determine her face. Her figure blurred at the edges, as if reality refused to fully define her.
"Do you want power?" she asked again. Sa question.
"Y-yes…" Ryan stamred.
His head felt dizzy. His heartbeat quickened. Sothing inside him responded to her voice with overwhelming desire. It was like lust, but not exactly.
It was obedience.
"I'll give it to you," she whispered.
The air around them thickened and the woman created a barrier. The air folded inward the mont her whisper faded.
A thin shimr spread outward from her feet like heat distortion rising from asphalt. It expanded in a slow and silent ripple before curving back over them. Light bent, sound dulled, and the building behind Ryan blurred and lted away.
The barrier sealed them inside another space. From the outside, nothing could be seen. It looked like empty space.
Inside, the world looked different. Dark strands of energy wove together above them, forming a cocoon of pulsing translucent mbrane. It glowed faintly violet. The ground beneath Ryan's feet softened, no longer concrete but sothing smoother and almost organic.
The outside world disappeared. Only her and him.
Ryan's breathing grew shallow. The air felt heavier, sweet and intoxicating at the sa ti. The woman stepped closer to Ryan.
"What will you give …?" he whispered.
Her smile curved slowly. The cocoon pulsed. Whatever happened next, only the two of them would rember.
—
Myles kept walking. His step felt heavier than the last. His heart pounded harder the closer he approached the house.
But he refused to stop. This giant must die now.
The stench thickened until it felt almost tangible in the air. Rot filled his lungs even as he tried to control his breathing. The air tasted foul and tallic.
Then he heard a crack from inside the house. A wet snapping sound echoed from inside.
Another crack sounds followed. This one sounds like bone grinding and flesh tearing.
His instincts scread. He broke into a run toward the house.
He wouldn't let it finish whatever it was doing.
His boots pounded against broken asphalt as he charged straight toward the doorway. The sll grew suffocating. His eyes watered.
He crossed the door and saw black blood covering the floor.
It pooled thickly, almost like tar mixed with mucus. It clung to the tiles and dripped slowly from walls and ceiling. The stench burned his throat.
At the center of the pool sat a figure.
Myles slowed down. It wasn't the giant. The creature sitting there looked… human-sized.
Its back faced him. It has thin shoulders and long limbs.
Steam rose faintly from its skin.
Myles tightened his grip on the Umbravore Fangblade.
The black pool rippled around the seated figure as if reacting to his presence. Steam continued to rise from its bare skin, twisting into the stale air.
He took slow steps forward. Every instinct in his body scread that the thing in front of him was dangerous.
The level of dangerousness was worse than the blue giant he faced before.
His heart hamred violently against his ribs. His palm grew damp against the weapon's hilt. He forced his breathing to steady.
"That's not the giant's body…"
But he could feel it. The Ether energy pressure was still there. Dense, oppressive, and familiar.
It carried the sa signature as the bloated blue monster from before. The sa presence.
Only now… it felt more concentrated. More refined and more stable.
Myles' jaw tightened.
"It evolved…"
The realization settled cold and heavy in his chest.
The grotesque bulk from that ti had disappeared. In its place sat sothing compressed and condensed. Like raw power packed into a smaller fra.
If the giant had truly undergone an evolution, then this new form could be far stronger than they anticipated. Far beyond their calculations.
Myles gulped hard.
The figure's shoulders twitched. Slowly, his head began to turn.
—
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