Reborn with my killer's looks Chapter 8: I will be there

The Zone defied physics in ways that would make your head hurt if you thought about it too much.

Blue geotric patterns stretching infinitely in all directions, to form corridors and chambers shifting based on intuition rather than intention.

The chair he sat in was the only thing that made the void around him feel real.

"Alright." Jazz’s voice echoed from...,

well everywhere. "So you’re planning to charge into a Level 3 rift with no backup sir, or are we discussing strategy first?"

"I thought we built a connection jazz, you should know better than that." Huey stood up, the chair dissolving behind him. "Show the samples we recovered."

A section of the void materialized into an inventory. Among other things, Glass vials lined transparent shelves, each one filled with the distinctive blue liquid from the warehouse.

Huey grabbed one, holding it up to examine. "The serum, the one that brings corpses back with Crests."

"I’ve been running analysis. The chemical composition is beyond anything we’ve encountered. Whoever’s manufacturing this has access to resources not even arcanum has seen."

"Hailee needs to have this." Huey pocketed the vial in his tactical jacket. "If higher-ranked Topplers are responding to the rift, she’ll be there."

The Zone was his personal pocket dinsion, created through the manipulation of plasma particles and neurons. Ti moved differently here, seconds outside could be minutes inside, giving him space to prepare, think, and store things he couldn’t risk keeping in the real world.

Like stolen evidence and vigilante gear.

"Sir, about the rift barrier," Jazz said. "The ergency broadcast ntioned it was misidentified. If it’s actually Level 3, the field will be—"

"—keeping anything above Acolyte-level pneuma outside and anything below Presbyter pneuma inside."

Huey finished, pulling his hood up.

"Which ans the higher-ranked Topplers won’t be able to enter for a while."

"Exactly." Huey secured his katana across his waist.

"But I don’t have pneuma. The barrier won’t register as a Toppler. I can walk straight through."

Huey’s eyes blazed blue. "Let’s go."

The Zone collapsed.

He materialized back on a rooftop overlooking the rift site, blue electricity dissipating from his fra.

The red field ford a do around the affected area, light filtering everything inside with that characteristic crimson glow.

Huey could see figures moving inside.

Luce Nera agents in their distinctive black tactical gear, the phoenix emblem visible on the side of their jackets even from this distance.

They were engaged with sothing big, an Aberrant-class variant judging from its size.

Bodies littered the ground.

Low level Echoes mostly, their corpses already dissolving into black particles.

But there were human bodies too, Topplers who hadn’t made it.

Hailee along with the other high ranking topplers of Luce Nera would be have a hard ti finding a way through when they got here.

Which ant these agents were on their own till then.

Huey moved quickly, keeping to the shadows, using abandoned cars and rubble for cover.

He found the remaining Topplers pinned down near what used to be a shopping district.

Four left, all showing signs of fatigue. Their tactical gear was torn, one was limping badly and another had her arm in an improvised sling.

The Aberrant they faced was twelve feet tall with the usual cluster of eyes on its deford head.

it moved fast for sothing that size, each strike leaving craters in the pavent.

But what caught Huey’s attention was the woman at the front of the group.

Caroline.

He recognized her imdiately.

Blonde hair tied back, and green eyes sharp despite the exhaustion.

She’d been at family dinners before, and always had a kind word for Huey, despite knowing he was Crestless.

She fought valiantly now, her Crest manifesting as barriers of compressed air that deflected the Aberrant’s strikes, but she was getting overwheld.

They all were.

He shouldn’t get involved, the plan was to deliver the serum sample to Hailee and leave.

Getting spotted ant questions he couldn’t answer.

But Caroline was about to die.

The Aberrant’s massive fist ca down. She raised her barrier, but the impact shattered it, sending her flying backward into a wall and slumping to the ground.

Huey lept foward, with the intention of weakning it enough to give them a fighting chance.

His speed made him into a blue streak that appeared at the Aberrant’s blind spots, his katana biting deep into its legs, arms, and exposed back.

The Aberrant roared, and spun to face a threat it couldn’t see.

The creature staggered, one leg gave out and it crashed to its knees.

"Now!" Caroline shouted, blood streaming from the cut above her eye.

The four remaining Topplers converged. Energy blasts and blade strikes hit simultaneously. The Aberrant raged.

once, twice, and began dissolving.

Caroline leaned against the wall, breathing hard. "What... what just happened?"

"Did you see sothing?" one of the other agents asked.

"I don’t know, but that thing was on us and then..." She shook her head. "Never mind. Is everyone—"

A sound cut her off.

A child crying.

It ca from deeper in the rift zone, past the collapsed buildings.

"Help ! Please! Soone help!"

One of the agents, a young man whose na tag read Morris, urged forward imdiately. "There’s soone alive in there"

"Wait!" Caroline grabbed his arm. "Morris, think about this"

"It’s a kid!" He pulled free. "We can’t just leave them!"

"Morris, that’s—"

But he was already running, heading toward the sound.

He reached the intersection where the crying was coming from.

The Titan’s foot ca down like a teor strike.

Morris didn’t even have ti to scream, Just a wet sound, and nothing but a red stain on the pavent.

The creature rose to its full height.

Thirty feet of muscle and armored hide. Its mouth opened, revealing rows of teeth designed for tearing.

When it spoke, its voice was mockingly human.

"Oops."

The remaining three Topplers froze.

"Did it just" one started.

"Talk." Caroline’s voice was hollow.

The Titan smiled. "The little ones are so trusting. They make such convincing sounds when they die and you humans fall for it every ti."

It took a step forward and the ground shook.

Caroline raised her hands, barriers forming.

But the Titan swatted them aside like tissue paper.

Blue lightning carried Huey forward. His katana intercepted the Titan’s fist mid-swing, the impact sending shockwaves through the air.

He redirected the montum, using the creature’s own strength against it, guiding the strike away from the Topplers.

Then he was gone again, appearing beside Caroline.

"Move!" He grabbed her arm, pulling her backward as the Titan’s other fist cratered the ground where she’d been standing.

"What" Caroline stared at him, taking in the hood, the mask, the glowing blue eyes. "You’re—"

"Not important right now!" Huey pushed her toward cover. "Get behind sothing!"

The Titan laughed. "The Blue Reaper, I’ve heard stories about the Little ghost that kills other humans for sport."

"Huh, stories??"

It charged.

Huey t it head-on yet again. But this wasn’t like fighting the Aberrant, the Titan was much stronger, smarter, and adapting to his movents with horrifying speed.

Each ti he went for a strike, the Titan predicted it. Each ti he tried to create distance, it closed the gap.

And the Topplers were still in danger.

One agent tried to provide support, firing energy blasts at the Titan’s back.

The creature’s tail whipped around, impaling him through the chest. He hung there for a mont, blood pouring from his mouth, before the Titan flung him aside like garbage.

"No!" The third agent, a woman with short red hair, rushed forward in rage.

"Don’t!" Caroline scread.

The Titan grabbed her mid-charge, lifted her high.

And squeezed.

The sound was awful, bones breaking and organs rupturing.

By the ti it dropped her, she was unrecognizable.

Only Caroline was left now.

Huey carried her behind a collapsed building, out of the Titan’s imdiate line of sight.

"Stay here," he commanded.

Caroline was trembling, covered in her teammates’ blood. But she still had enough training left to grab his arm. "You’re under arrest."

"Shut up." Huey’s tone was more frustrated than threatening.

"Your comrades just died, you really want to make that sacrifice aningless?"

She flinched, and had no choice but to stand down.

"Stay here, don’t move and don’t make a sound. Let handle this."

"I’m a Luce Nera agent. I can’t just—"

"You can’t do anything." Huey t her eyes.

"And you know that for a fact. I’ve already watched enough people die tonight."

Caroline couldn’t open her mouth to argue.

"Found you."

The Titan’s voice echoed across the ruins.

A massive energy blast erupted from its mouth, red and burning, aid directly at their position.

Huey threw Caroline to the side with all his strength, sending her tumbling across the pavent.

Then he raised his katana, channeling plasma through the blade, trying to deflect.

The blast hit.

But it didn’t hit him.

At the last second it curved, Changing trajectory.

Straight into Caroline.

The energy simply erased her, turning flesh, bone and everything that made her Caroline into a spreading puddle of matter.

The Titan’s wicked smile was the last thing Huey saw before the rage took over.

His mind flashed back.

He was seven. The Cross family manor. Hailee was showing off her new Presbyter promotion and Caroline had co to celebrate.

She’d found him hiding in the library, and avoiding the crowd.

"Hey, little Huey." She’d sat beside him "You doing okay?"

"I’m fine."

"Yeah? Because you look like you’d rather be anywhere else."

Huey shrugged, he was used to the looks he got from people by then.

Caroline had ruffled his hair. "You know what I think? I think the world’s too obsessed with Crests. Power’s great, but it doesn’t make you a great person, So of the strongest Topplers I know are complete assholes."

Yet the look In her eyes were different.

She’d smiled at him, genuine and kind.

"And You’re definitely gonna be great Huey Cross. Crest or no Crest, I can tell."

The mory faded.

Huey stared at the puddle that used to be Caroline.

Good people.

There were still good people in this world.

People who saw past the labels, past the hierarchy, past the rankings that determined a person’s worth.

And they kept dying.

Huey attacked.

The Titan barely had ti to react, Huey was on it in an instant, katana moving faster than the creature could track.

Each strike targeting joints and weak points in it’s body.

The Titan tried to swat him away, but Huey was too fast.

The titan staggered to the ground.

He cloaked his katana in electricity.

This was it, one clean strike and he can end this.

Huey lunged.

An energy blast hit his leg.

He went down hard, his montum carrying him into a tumbling roll that ended with him sprawled on the pavent.

His leg was a ss, the flesh charred, barely holding together.

"What??"

The Titan was laughing.

"Did you think," it wheezed between laughs, "that I only had one attack?"

Its tail, the sa tail that had impaled the agent earlier. The tip glowed with residual energy.

"Surprise."

The Titan’s mouth opened wide and Energy built in its throat.

Huey tried to move. His leg wouldn’t respond. The damage was too severe.

"Jazz," he muttered. "I need"

"Sir, you can’t. If you let go of control, if you give in"

"I know." Huey’s hands were shaking. "But I can’t die here, I can’t"

The energy reached critical mass.

The Titan fired.

The blast dissipated mid-flight, torn apart by wind pressure.

A figure descended from above, riding a disc of spinning air that dissolved as her boots touched down.

Silver braids, black Luce Nera trench coat with the Vice-Captain star plastered to the right side of her large chest.

Her Green eyes took in the carnage with professional calm before settling on the dead soldiers.

Her hand rose into the air.

The Titan’s head separated from its shoulders so cleanly it took a mont for the body to realize it was dead.

The head hit the ground and rolled, the body collapsing with a thud.

Hailee walked past it without looking, kneeling beside Huey.

"You idiot," she said quietly. "What did I tell you about playing hero?"

Huey’s vision was swimming, blood loss and Shock. His leg was....

Her hands were already glowing, her green coloured pneuma allowing her to apply pressure to the wound without touching it.

"Stay with ...."

Hailee Cross had arrived.

His eyes were closing.

"Huey!"