Gorrin came like an avalanche of meat and iron.
The maul he swung was the size of a boar carcass, fused to a tree trunk of a haft, rimmed with jagged teeth welded along one side. Each of his boots cracked roots and rock beneath him. There was no technique. Just power. Speed fueled by rage.
But Alex had waited for this.
He didn't dodge back.
He stepped forward.
The first blow came overhead.
Alex rolled to the left, letting the maul hit the earth where he'd stood
BOOM! the soil exploded, trees shook and a crater smoked at his feet.
He didn't flinch.
Instead, he swung his dagger.
And slash across Gorrin's exposed bicep blood bloomed. Not deep enough to stop him. But enough to hurt.
Gorrin roared, turned with a backhand that caught Alex across the ribs, sending him skidding back through leaves and bark, breath knocked clean out of his lungs.
[Damage Received: -12 HP]
[Fracture Detected – Rib 6]
Alex coughed once, spat blood, and smirked.
"Slower than you look."
"You'll beg before the end," Gorrin snarled, hefting the maul again.
He came in with a horizontal swing meant to crush alex but Alex dropped, slid beneath the arc, and slashed at the inner thigh.
Gorrin grunted, stumbled but used the momentum to spin.
The butt of the maul smashed into Alex's shoulder.
Pain lanced white through his body. His arm went numb. He rolled, barely avoiding the follow-up stomp.
[Damage Received: -9 HP]
[Dislocation Detected – Right Shoulder]
[System Suggestion: Retaliation – Chaos Surge READY]
"Not yet," Alex growled aloud.
He reached for a nearby rock with his good hand, hurled it at Gorrin's face. The brute swatted it aside, charging again.
Alex grabbed a branch overhead and used his momentum to swing himself up just as the maul came down again BOOM! splinters and dirt flew.
While Gorrin recovered from the downward smash, Alex dropped behind him.
He ran up the brute's back, like scaling a mountain, and drove his dagger down towards the neck.
Gorrin roared and threw himself backward slamming into a tree.
Alex was crushed between bark and meat.
Something cracked.
[HP -17 | Vital Stability Low]
[Chaos Vein at 87% Sync Threshold]
"HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT?!" Gorrin howled.
Alex slid to the ground.
Breathing ragged. One leg shaking.
He looked up.
Gorrin raised the maul high.
[CHAOS VEIN SYNC: 90%… 94%… 97%...]
"Go to hell, boy."
[THRESHOLD BREACHED.]
WARNING: BLOODLINE TRANSFORMATION INITIATED
Unlocking Form: CHAOS VEIN MODE (PARTIAL)
Duration: 3 minutes
Effect: +50% to STR, SPD, DEX. Pain Response Reduced. Instinct Path Overdrive.
Side Effects: Hemorrhaging. Temporary hallucination. Bloodthirst risk elevated.
Alex's eyes lit up blazing crimson, the slits in his pupils widening into near-voids. The veins in his arms darkened. His nails lengthened into curved black claws. Steam hissed off his back where blood boiled to vapor.
He stood without effort.
Even with a dislocated shoulder.
Gorrin blinked he looked scared d said. "What the fuck are you?"
Alex smiled.
And vanished.
One blink and he was gone.
The next second, his dagger plunged into Gorrin's thigh, twisting deep. He moved again appearing behind and slashes across the back. Gorrin turned wildly, swinging the maul, but every time he did Alex was somewhere else.
He was like a storm.
A blur of red and black.
[Skill Combo Activated: Predator's Grasp + Chaos Surge]
Technique Generated: CRIMSON REND
Description: An assassination combo designed for finishing larger opponents. Each hit deals +30% damage if the target is bleeding. Final strike is armor-piercing.
Alex ducked under the next swing, leapt forward, stabbed into the side of the gut the blade piercing deep.
Blood fountained.
Gorrin roared and grabbed Alex by the neck, lifting him.
But Alex was smiling.
"You're already dead."
He raised his hand and drove his clawed fingers into Gorrin's wrist, tearing sinew, breaking the grip. As he fell, he twisted his body
and with one final CRIMSON REND, slashed Gorrin from the hip to opposite shoulder.
A diagonal gash ripped open the brute's chest.
Armor parted like paper. Flesh split. Blood poured.
Gorrin dropped to his knees.
He looked up at Alex, breathing wet and broken. "She begged. You know that? She begged me. And I—"
Alex didn't let him finish.
He stepped forward, grabbed the brute's face with both hands—and activated Chaos Surge one last time.
Then slammed his head into a boulder.
Once.
Twice.
A third time.
Until Gorrin was unrecognizable.
Until there was nothing left of the face that had smiled over Mia's grave.
Silence returned.
Then the system bloomed in red.
[VENGEANCE PROTOCOL COMPLETE]
Target: Gorrin the Butcher – TERMINATED
Reward Unlocked: Skill – Soulbrand (Rank C)
Description: Mark a kill into your bloodline. Permanently increases power against similar enemies.
Bloodline Awareness Increased: 12%
Title Gained: Butcher of Butchers
Chaos Vein Mode: Deactivating…
Side Effect: -18% HP | Internal Bleeding Detected
Alex stumbled away, panting.
He didn't look back.
Let the forest keep the corpse.
Let the world remember what came crawling out of pain and fought back.