The fire clung to Kain's armor like hungry oil. It licked across his chestplate and shoulders, but the Exo Knight suit absorbed the impact. Temperatures peaked in the upper HUD—searing, but non-critical. He didn't flinch.
He stepped forward through the flas.
The boy who had thrown the molotov stumbled back, eyes wide in horror.
Before he could run, sothing lunged at him from the side—a blur of scale and teeth.
Kain moved faster.
His gauntlet caught the beast mid-leap by the throat. Hydraulic servos scread. The monster thrashed, claws raking against the composite alloy. Kain's grip tightened until bones cracked like splinters.
Then—snap.
He threw the corpse aside.
The boy was on the ground, frozen. Kain looked down at him, then turned his visor toward the street behind.
Don't say anything
He raised his rifle again and continued.
...
Elsewhere in the burning village...
Raihan silver-bladed sword humming faintly in the smoke-filled air. One of the creatures, still snarling and half-burning, lunged at him.
He raised his weapon.
"Dragon Slash!" he roared, his voice cutting through the chaos.
The blade ca down in a crescent arc, bursting with light.
For a mont, it seed like ti itself halted.
Then the monster split apart mid-air—cleaved cleanly in two. Its charred corpse slamd into the ground, twitching once before going still.
But Raihan didn't look triumphant.
He stared at the ruined body with a scowl.
"…That's it?" he muttered. "I used to destroy half a city with that strike."
"Protect the civilians first!" Elara shouted
They did. Two paladins covered a fleeing group of elders, lifting a fallen beam to free them. Another pair stood over a wounded child, holding ground against one of the creatures that had adapted to fire—its skin now blistered but glowing like molten stone.
It roared. Solas t it head-on.
His blade shimred with the last flicker of divine light still functional in this strange world.
He parried the monster's strike, slid under its guard, and drove his sword through its jaw and out the back of its skull.
The beast convulsed. Died.
"Not so monstrous when bled like a beast," Solas muttered.
....
Tech Channel — Local Comm Only
Kain: "Status report."
Veyers: "Area C—three targets down. One fled northeast. Still moving fast."
Kain: "Toward the grain silos?"
Veyers: "Confird. Locals are trying to hold the barricade. Poorly ard."
Kain: "Cut it off. And stay visible—maybe they'll stop aiming at us."
Veyers: "No promises, Commander. They look like they've never seen anything like us before."
"Ya, I think so"
In the center of the village, surrounded by burning huts and half-collapsed fences, a makeshift barricade had ford—villagers with pitchforks, bows, anything. A few were aiming at the Exo Knights, others at the shadows still moving through the smoke.
A middle-aged man, blood across his forehead, shouted:
"Back! BACK! Don't let those tal bastards through!"
Then, a woman beside him scread, "No—look! Look what they're doing! They're killing them! The Ravagers of the Hollow Rift!"
Confusion rippled through the crowd.
Then—
"Behind you!"
Another creature—a smaller variant, more agile—burst through the wall behind them. It tore through one of the defenders with a single pounce, then lunged for the woman.
A plasma bolt blew its head apart mid-air.
The villagers turned to see an ISSD operative lowering his rifle, steam rising from the barrel.
"No more doubts," Raihan said, stepping into the open. His blade was red. His armor scorched. But his voice—his voice carried authority.
"You thought we were devils. Fine. So let these devils be the ones who fight for your children tonight."
Minutes later…
The monsters were dead.
The fires still burned, but the screaming had stopped.
Smoke settled over the village like a shroud.
Exo Knights—stood like statues in the central square, their armor systems in low-power mode. ISSD operatives and paladins moved through the ruins, checking for survivors.
Raihan moved among the wounded, helping where he could. Solas stood watch on a rooftop, sword still in hand, eyes scanning the dark treeline.
Saint Elara walked among the villagers—barefoot, her white robes singed, hair tied back. Though her divine power no longer responded, her hands and words still healed, in their own way.
She knelt beside a dying boy, pressing a cloth to his wounds, whispering sothing gentle. The mother wept beside her.
Kain walked into the central square and removed his helt.
He looked at the villagers now cautiously approaching him.
"I don't expect thanks. I only expect cooperation."
Silence.
Then an old man stepped forward, eyes hollow, but respectful.
"You fought like no man I've ever seen… You saved us. And we were wrong about you. About all of you."
Others murmured. So bowed. A few cried.
"So, do you know about these monster?" Kain said
The old man nodded slowly.
"Aye, we have. Gods help us, we have. They co from the Hollow Rift."
"What is that?"
Another villager, a young woman with a torn cloak, stepped forward.
"It's a place beyond the northern hills. The land is dead there. No crops grow. Just rot… and holes in the ground that hum when it's quiet."
"The Ravagers," the old man added, "they crawl out of it. Not often. Maybe once every few seasons. Sotis they just watch. Other tis…" He looked down at the blood soaking the dirt. "This."
Raihan approached, wiping blood from his scorched gauntlet.
"What's the na of this place?"
The old man straightened as best he could. "Nareth. We call it Nareth. Been here for three hundred years, give or take."
"What kingdom are you part of?"
A few murmurs behind him. Uneasy looks.
"No kingdom," the woman answered. "Not anymore. Used to be, long ago. They say there were kings in the west, but nothing's co down the trade roads in decades. We trade with other villages. Farm, hunt. Keep our walls strong. That's all."
Raihan frowned. "No Kingdom.... I see. But it filled with monsters that prey on n like livestock."
Kain turned back to the villagers.
"The Hollow Rift. Do you know where exactly it is?"
The old man hesitated, then pointed toward the distant hills to the north.
"Beyond the black trees. There's a place where the land dips and the ground cracks like an old skull. That's where they crawl out."
Kain's gaze followed the direction. His HUD mapped the terrain in low fidelity—trees, elevation lines, faint heat traces.
"We're going to need to investigate it,"
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