Chapter 162: Broken Familiarity
Kai could not move.
The battlefield roared around him.
Screams.
Explosions.
Steel.
Magic.
All of it blurred into noise.
Dr. Z was gone.
The girl’s body still lay on the ground.
Half human.
Half monster.
Still staring at nothing.
Kai’s breathing was shallow.
His hands trembled.
Not because of fear.
Because something inside him had gone cold.
He stared at her face for a long time.
Then—
A memory surfaced.
A quiet street.
A residential district.
A child struggling with a push up.
Her friends cheering.
A normal face.
A normal person.
And now—
This.
Kai’s jaw tightened.
"..."
His fists clenched.
Anger surged up so suddenly it almost blinded him.
He took one step forward.
Then stopped.
Dr. Z was already gone.
Chasing him now would save no one.
Behind him—
A civilian screamed.
Kai turned sharply.
A hybrid had crashed through a collapsed wall and was moving straight toward a group of fleeing people.
Kai moved before thought could stop him.
Wind burst beneath his feet.
He shot forward.
His knuckle duster smashed into the creature’s jaw.
It staggered.
A second strike followed.
Then a third.
The hybrid collapsed into the street.
Kai barely noticed the blood on his hand.
He was already running again.
The city was breaking apart.
Western streets burned.
Guard towers were still firing.
Soldiers fought in small squads wherever they could hold ground.
Andrew carved a path through a knot of demons near the square.
His scythe flashed in the smoke.
"Outta my way!"
One demon went down.
Another lost an arm.
A third was sent flying into a cart full of shattered stone.
Andrew kept moving.
Didn't slow.
Didn't stop.
He looked like a storm given human shape.
Taai was worse.
Or better.
Depending on how one looked at it.
A demon lunged at him from the side.
Taai punched it so hard the creature slammed through an entire storefront.
A monster charged from behind.
Taai twisted and hit it with a shoulder strike that cracked its spine.
"Third line!"
"Hold the intersection!"
"Don't let them split the district!"
His voice carried over the chaos.
Soldiers responded instantly.
Civilians who could fight picked up whatever they could find.
Hammers.
Spears.
Axes.
Broken pipes.
There was no room left for fear.
Only survival.
Kai rejoined the fight at the center of a collapsing avenue.
A hybrid charged him.
This one was taller.
Bulkier.
Its body was stitched together with unnatural muscle and flickering Magic Circuits beneath the skin.
Kai dodged the first swing.
The second clipped his shoulder.
He winced.
Then the creature opened its mouth and roared.
Kai felt the pressure in his chest spike.
The circuits.
They were there.
Waiting.
He could feel them like a wire stretched too tight under his skin.
Not now.
He didn't have time to hesitate.
A child screamed nearby.
Kai turned.
A monster was closing in on them.
That was all it took.
He inhaled once.
Then let go.
Not force.
Not rage.
Just the instinct to move.
The lines beneath his skin lit up.
Not brightly.
Not fully.
But enough.
His whole body surged forward.
Wind exploded around him.
The world sharpened.
Every sound became distant.
Every motion became clear.
Kai appeared in front of the child and drove his fist into the monster’s face.
CRACK.
Then another.
And another.
The creature dropped.
Kai stood there for one heartbeat longer than before.
Then the power ripped out of him.
Pain speared through his chest.
He bent forward hard enough to cough blood.
"...Ngh!"
The glow vanished.
His legs nearly gave out.
He caught himself on one knee.
"...Damn it..."
It hurt worse this time.
Much worse.
Like his body was punishing him for even trying.
Taai noticed immediately.
He appeared beside Kai in a blur.
"What the hell was that?"
Kai wiped blood from his mouth.
"...Nothing."
Taai gave him a flat look.
"...That was not nothing."
Kai forced a weak grin.
"...Just pushed too hard."
Taai stared at him for a long second.
Then the city shook again.
A new explosion tore through another block.
Neither of them had time to keep talking.
The battle kept escalating.
More hybrids emerged.
More demons pressed through the breach.
More cultists appeared at the edge of the streets, feeding the chaos with bursts of crimson magic.
One of the city’s towers collapsed.
Another cannon went silent.
Smoke rolled over the western district like a tide.
Kai kept fighting.
One rescue.
Then another.
A monster.
A civilian.
A collapsing wall.
A child trapped beneath broken timber.
He moved from one to the next until his breathing became ragged and the pain under his skin refused to go away.
Still—
He kept going.
Because if he stopped now...
People would die.
And he had already seen enough death today.
Far above the screaming streets, a horn sounded from the outer wall.
One long blast.
Then another.
A messenger ran toward Taai through the smoke, face pale.
"Leader!"
Taai turned.
"What now?"
The messenger looked toward the horizon, terrified.
"A new horde!"
Taai's eyes narrowed.
The soldier swallowed.
"More demons."
"More monsters."
"From the north."
"They're coming in a wave."
The soldier's voice cracked.
"...And there's too many."
Kai looked up.
Across the smoke-stained skyline—
Something huge moved in the distance.
A shape too large to be one of the smaller hybrids.
Then another.
Then another.
The invasion had only begun.
And the city was already running out of room to breathe.