Chapter 77: Carnage! I
Chapter 77: Carnage! I
And so, as an impossibility unfolded within the depths of the VIP rooms of the Rustblood Circuit Arena...Outside of it.
Near the outer rings of the Hollow Stacks.
Five masked figures emerged, clad in matching obsidian bodysuits and masks forged from the remnants of Entropic Beasts, faintly glowing with suppressed power.
At the forefront stood a Leader with barely visible waves of blue-gold hair, his form sculpted and radiating restrained power beneath his black mask.
Even through the mask... his disgust was palpable as he stared into the alleys of the Hollow Stacks.
"They come to our Skyglass Heights and kill our people without consequence. Then they scurry back into their holes, thinking we’ll keep waiting. That we’ll sit around for Council approval... But no. Tonight, these rats will learn."
...!
His voice carried a terrifying weight, and behind him, the other four Symbiotic Resonance Interstellar Beast Masters gave no protest.
A woman among them, dark hair slipping from the edges of her mask, asked coldly.
"Are you sure about this? If we go through with it and we are found out, we risk everything, our positions, our brand deals, and even Council sanctions. Is it worth it?"
...!
Is it worth it.
A question heavy with consequence. The leader, pulsing with more Entropic Energy than the rest, looked out at the bustling masses of Stackborn before answering.
"Is it worth it?"
He turned slowly, voice low and sharp like crushed glass laced with furious fucking flame.
"Was it worth it when the Pure Blooded heirs of House Veylisse were butchered in Club Skyspire, their bodies returned to us in pieces? When three more of ours were torn apart near the Helix Transit Line, their Beasts drained and tossed away like garbage?"
He stepped forward, obsidian armor gleaming under the flickering neon.
"They steal our resources, our tech, our Rifts. They bite the hand that built this fractured world and then cry injustice when we defend it. And every time we hesitate, for votes, for optics, they get bolder."
He pointed toward the glowing spires and shadowed buildings of the Hollow Stacks.
"No more. Let them cry foul. Let them scream about injustice and Council law. I say we flood the Hollow Stacks with blood and ash. Tonight, we remind them who rules the food chain."
It was brutal.
It was heavy.
And as if he wanted to make what they were about to do even easier since he could sense some hesitation, he continued.
"Our targets are anyone carrying Entropic Energy Values. Your visors will reveal them. Vagrant Beast Masters are priority. If any Stackborn get in your way... kill them. Their blood is tainted with stimulants and broken mods. You’d be doing them a kindness to end their miserable lives early."
...!
Silence followed.
Then,
BOOM!
The leader launched forward. The others followed.
The five moved in eerie synchronicity, their black suits melding with the Hollow Stack shadows.
Stackborn laughed and talked as they passed across the dark roads and alleyways.
Some rode hoverboards.
Teenagers played basketball in the alleys.
Peddlers trying to sell drugs and stimulants in one corner.
Neon lights flickered like dying stars overhead. The air was thick with oil, smoke... and something rotten. None of the masked five flinched.
The blue-gold-haired leader raised a hand.
They paused, anticipation slipping between them like breath.
Their visors hummed softly, activating a scanning overlay. A grid shimmered across their vision, sweeping over buildings, alleys, and doors. One by one, Vagrant Beast Masters emerged like ghosts, flickering between Cybernetic Humans and Stackborn alike.
Two hid in a bar.
One lingered in a decaying apartment.
388 Entropic Energy Values. An Initiate Interstellar Beast Master.
The leader’s voice sliced through the static. "There. Two Vagrants in that bar. One in that wreck of an apartment. This is the last time we speak freely, once it begins, kill fast. Then head to the extraction point."
...!
No one replied.
They surged forward, silent and lethal. Their movement was seamless, trained, perfected, reflections of the Beasts they had left behind to remain unrecognized.
But their Entropic Energy? That, they brought.
They shaped it into rage, into destruction.
Tonight, they would make the Vagrants pay.
The Hollow Stacks seemed to constrict around them, buildings looming like a beast sensing danger it couldn’t name.
The first strike was chaos.
The woman with the dark hair shattered a dive bar’s glass door with her fist. Shards rained down in glittering bursts.
Stackborn patrons froze, eyes wide.
A larger shard spun and sliced clean through a server’s neck.
...!
And then, screaming.
A Vagrant Beast Master jumped from behind a table. Her Beast, a sleek rattlesnake, coiled at her side.
It hissed.
But the woman was faster.
She was a Symbiotic Resonance Interstellar Beast Master. The Vagrant barely registered at 700 Entropic Energy Values.
Her visor glowed blue as she thrust her palm out, blasting the serpent into glittering particles.
The Vagrant gasped, watching her Beast vanish.
She turned, too late.
The leader appeared behind her.
His hand pierced her chest, grasping her still-beating heart.
A heart.
He crushed it in his palm as he whispered, "Filthy Stackborn."
...!
"AHH!"
"Run!"
"Monsters!"
Screams echoed.
Blood, both real and synthetic, sprayed across walls.
Stackborn collapsed. One by one.
The leader’s body crackled with golden lightning beneath his skin, hidden power struggling to remain subdued. A flare of that lightning erupted, and several Stackborn exploded.
"No mercy," he growled.
They pressed deeper, crashing through walls and doors. Unstoppable.
Another Vagrant tried to fight, their Beast snarling as it lunged.
Too slow.
The masked attackers were always a step ahead, striking with ruthless precision. Efficient. Cold.
Screams rang through the halls. Smoke and blood tangled in the air like curses.
Bodies, flesh and metal, piled at their feet.
One bar. Erased.
The masked five leapt to another rooftop, scanning again.
More Vagrants.
More prey.
Back near the Rustblood Circuit Arena... in one of the VIP rooms, two Trial Guardians and Anastasia were meeting, unaware of the massacre brewing just beyond their doors.