The armored truck rumbled through the Outer Ring checkpoint, leaving the colony's safety behind.
Kai sat in the back with the rest of Squad Talon, watching the city walls shrink in the rear window.
Outside the city walls was the Wilds. It was a huge, corrupted wasteland where rifts from other dimensions had ripped reality open. This was where the monstrous Echoes spawned, where the rifts called Fractures opened, and where mercenary Hunters earned their pay.
And where most of them died.
"First day and first mission with us," Rook said from across the truck. The massive man was cleaning his weapon: a rotary cannon that looked like it belonged on a vehicle, not carried by a person. "You nervous?"
"A little," Kai admitted.
"Good. Means you're not an idiot." Rook grinned. "Glasslands are no joke. Beautiful as hell, but they'll kill you if you're not careful."
Kai had heard of the Glasslands. Everyone had. It was an area about twenty miles east of the colony where reality had frozen mid-collapse.
The entire zone looked like broken glass suspended in mid-air. Clear pieces of shattered space stayed still, bouncing light back in impossible ways. It was one of the most beautiful sights in the Wilds.
It was also one of the deadliest.
"What's the mission?" Kai asked.
Lyss looked up from where she was checking her medical supplies. She was the smallest member of the squad, in her mid-twenties with auburn hair tied back and gentle eyes that didn't match her B-rank classification.
"Echo activity spiked in the northern Glasslands two days ago. Guild wants us to investigate, eliminate any nests, and report back on stability levels."
"Stability levels?" Kai frowned.
"The Glasslands are dimensionally unstable," Senna said without looking up from her rifle scope.
She was perched near the front of the truck, blonde hair pulled into a tight ponytail, her expression as cold as her voice. "The frozen reality can shift without warning. If you're caught in a collapse zone, you get shredded. Literally."
"Fun times," Rook said cheerfully.
Drake sat at the front with his arms crossed, completely silent. He hadn't spoken to Kai since the briefing room confrontation. The small flames from his squad leader's fire Shard kept flickering around his fingers… a nervous habit, maybe.
Kai tried again. "So the Echo nest is confirmed?"
"Guild scouts detected C-rank signatures," Lyss said. "Probably Razorbacks. They like nesting in unstable zones."
"Razorbacks?"
"Boar-like Echoes," Rook explained. "About the size of a car, covered in blade-like spines that can cut through steel. They're aggressive, territorial, and they hunt in packs. C-rank individually, but dangerous in groups."
Kai nodded, trying to commit the information to memory.
Three days ago, he'd been running D-rank salvage missions. Now he was heading into a C-rank nest in one of the most dangerous zones in the Wilds.
This was his new normal.
—
The Glasslands were even more surreal than Kai had imagined.
The team got out of the truck at the edge of the zone, and Kai found himself staring at a view that didn't make sense. Huge pieces of crystal hung in the air, looking like giant frozen waterfalls, some as big as apartment buildings. They reflected the grey sky, the broken ground, and each other, creating endless mirrored pictures that were painful to look at for very long.
Some of the shards were opaque, clouded like frosted glass. Others were perfectly clear, showing glimpses of what might be other dimensions: alien landscapes, impossible geometries, colours that didn't exist.
"Stay close," Drake said, his first words in an hour. "Don't touch the glass. Don't stray from the path. If you hear a cracking sound, run."
The squad moved in formation: Drake at point, Senna covering the flanks with her sniper rifle, Rook and Kai in the middle, Lyss bringing up the rear. They walked through a corridor of suspended glass, their footsteps crunching on the crystalline debris that littered the ground.
Kai kept his hand near his chest, feeling the black Shard pulse beneath his shirt. It was reacting to this place, resonating with the dimensional instability.
"There," Senna said, pointing.
Ahead, nestled in a clearing surrounded by glass shards, was the Echo nest. It looked like a small cave dug into the damaged ground, with bones and debris scattered around the entrance. Kai could see movement inside: large shapes, too many to count easily.
"I count eight signatures," Senna reported, her perception-enhanced vision allowing her to see through the darkness. "One alpha, seven regulars. All C-rank."
Drake studied the nest, then looked at Kai. "You're A-rank, supposedly. Prove it. Take the alpha."
Kai's jaw tightened. "Solo?"
"You survived a B-rank Phantom Lord alone, didn't you?" Drake's expression was unreadable. "A C-rank alpha should be easy."
"Drake," Lyss started, but Drake cut her off.
"We need to know what he can do in a real fight. Not against a caged E-rank wolf in a controlled arena. Against a real threat." He turned to Kai. "Unless you're not confident?"
Kai met his gaze. This was a test. Drake was pushing him, trying to see if he'd crack under pressure.
"Fine," Kai said. "I'll take the alpha."
Rook clapped him on the shoulder. "Don't die, rookie. I'm starting to like you."
The plan was simple: Drake would draw out the pack with a fire blast, Senna would pick off stragglers, Rook and Lyss would handle the regulars. Kai would engage the alpha one-on-one.
Simple. Suicidal, but simple.
Drake raised his hand, and a concentrated blast of flames erupted from his palm, hitting the nest entrance. The Echoes inside roared, and then they came charging out.
Razorbacks.
Massive, boar-like creatures covered in metallic spines that looked like sharp knives. Their eyes were glowing red, and their tusks were serrated blades. There were seven of these regular creatures, and each one was easily the size of a small car.
And behind them, the alpha.
It was twice the size of the others, with spines that looked like swords rather than knives. Its hide was darker, almost black, and steam rose from its nostrils. This thing was mid-C-rank at least, maybe pushing into high-C.
It locked eyes with Kai and charged.
Kai's heart hammered as he raised his hands. The black Shard flared in his chest, and text appeared in his vision:
[Target Detected: C-rank Razorback Alpha]
[Threat Assessment: MODERATE]
[Analyzing power differential...]
[User Rank: A]
[Target Rank: C]
[Balance Protocol: INACTIVE - User advantage confirmed]
[Proceeding with standard combat parameters]
So the System wouldn't activate. Kai was A-rank, the alpha was C-rank. He was stronger. He should be able to handle this.
Emphasis on the word 'Should.'
The alpha hit him like a freight train.
Kai barely got his earth manipulation up in time, creating a wall of stone that the Razorback shattered through.
He threw himself sideways, feeling the wind from its charge, and slammed his palm against the ground.
Sharp spikes jutted out, hitting the alpha on its side. It roared, spraying blood, but didn't slow down. It turned with impossible speed for something so massive, its blade-spines cutting through the air where Kai's head had been a second before.
'Fast,' Kai thought, rolling to his feet. 'Way faster than the E-rank wolf.'
He created another spike, aiming for the alpha's legs. The Razorback jumped… it actually jumped, its hige bulk clearing the attack, and came down with enough force to crack the ground. The shockwaves knocked Kai off balance.
The alpha charged again.
This time Kai was ready. He shaped the earth beneath the Razorback's feet, creating a pit that the creature fell into. For half a second, it was vulnerable. Kai hardened the earth around its legs, trapping it.
Then he formed a massive spike directly beneath it and drove it upward.
The spike went right through the alpha's belly. It screamed and thrashed around, with blood pouring down the stone shaft. But even though it was impaled, it wasn't done. It twisted its body, breaking the spike and pulling itself free with pure strength.
"You've got to be kidding me," Kai gasped.
The alpha limped toward him, slower now but no less dangerous. Kai could see its wounds already beginning to close: C-rank regeneration. If he didn't finish this soon, it would heal and the fight would start all over again.
He charged forward, meeting the Razorback head-on.
What followed was brutal. Kai used every trick he knew: creating weapons from stone, shifting the ground beneath the alpha's feet, and reinforcing his own body with layers of compressed earth.
The Razorback fought wildly, its sharp spines leaving deep cuts on Kai's arms and shoulders.
They traded blows under the shadow of broken glass, and the ground ripped up around them. Kai felt his strength fading, and the blood loss made his movement slow. But the alpha was in worse shape… covered in cuts, one eye gone, and multiple spines snapped.
Kai created one final spike, the largest yet, and positioned himself between the alpha and a massive glass shard behind him.
"Come on!" he shouted.
The Razorback charged.
Kai waited until the very last moment, then slid under the monster. The alpha couldn't stop and flew right over him, impaling itself on the glass shard. The crystal went through its chest, and the Razorback let out one final choking scream before turning into ash.
[Threat eliminated.]
Kai fell to his knees, breathing heavily. His arms were shredded, and his ribs were screaming with pain. But he had won.
Then he noticed something wrong.
The glass shards all over the battlefield was changing. Before, it had been clear or frosted, but now it was opaque and couldn't be seen through… like real glass instead of frozen reality. And it was growing, the solid, dark colour spreading out from the fight zone like a stain.
"What the hell?" Kai whispered.
"Kai!" Lyss ran over, her hands already glowing with healing light. "You're hurt. Hold still."
The warm energy flowed into him, knitting flesh and stopping the bleeding. Within seconds, the worst of the damage was healed, though Kai still felt exhausted.
Rook jogged up, his rotary cannon still smoking from having torn through the regular Razorbacks. "Nice fight, rookie. Messy, but effective."
Even Drake looked grudgingly impressed. "You didn't freeze up. Good."
Senna was the last to approach, her rifle slung over her shoulder. But she wasn't looking at Kai. She was staring at the glass shards.
"Drake," she said quietly. "We need to leave. Now."
"What's wrong?"
Senna pointed at the opaque glass spreading outward from where Kai had fought. "The glass... it wasn't like that before. Whatever happened during that fight destabilised the zone even more."
Drake's expression hardened. "How much spread?"
"At least fifty yards in every direction. And it's still growing."
The squad fell silent, looking at the creeping opacity that was turning the beautiful, frozen reality into something solid and wrong.
Kai felt the black Shard pulse in his chest.
He'd done this. His fight with the alpha Razorback… the power he'd used. The System had said it was inactive, but something had still drained from the environment.
"Back to the truck," Drake ordered. "Double time. This zone is compromised."