Incubus Ascension

Liam’s boots crunched over broken concrete as he patrolled the outer edge of the settlement’s barrier, the night air thick with the metallic tang of ozone from the humming energy wall. Something felt off. The usual low drone of the defenses had a new, stuttering rhythm to it. He slowed, eyes narrowing at faint disturbances in the dust ahead—small, deliberate holes punched clean through the reinforced plating.

’What the hell?’

He crouched, fingers tracing the edges of one breach. Perfectly circular, edges melted smooth. No random damage. Someone had done this on purpose. His pulse quickened. The barrier was all that kept the nightmares out.

A soft scrape of metal on stone drew his gaze further down the line. There, half-hidden in shadow, a hunched figure worked frantically with a slender rod that glowed faintly at its tip. Liam’s eyes widened as recognition hit like a gut punch.

Wilbert. Lia’s father.

Liam straightened and strode forward, boots deliberate on the gravel. "Wilbert. Why?"

The older man startled violently, nearly dropping the tool. His eyes—wide, bloodshot, and haunted—locked onto Liam’s face. For a split second, raw panic flickered across his weathered features before he looked away, shoulders slumping. He let out a long, weary sigh that seemed to carry years of weight.

"It’s been a long time coming," Wilbert muttered, voice rough as gravel. "You know... Lia’s mother was one of the exiles."

Liam stopped a few paces away, listening despite the alarm bells ringing in his head.

Wilbert continued, eyes distant. "When the town was attacked by that monster... she sacrificed herself. Had a skill that could lock it away in a special zone. Pushed it beyond her limits." His voice cracked. "She died. Became part of the skill. Her soul... trapped in the green zone."

Liam’s eyes widened further. ’The green zone? That place?’

Wilbert nodded slowly, as if confirming the horror to himself. "Every night she sends some of the green mist to me. Talks to me. It’s her. It has to be."

Liam took another cautious step closer, now close enough to see the rod clearly in Wilbert’s trembling hands. The man was methodically punching another hole, each precise strike weakening the barrier further.

"Listen, Wilbert. Calm down." Liam kept his voice steady, though his mind raced. "That mist isn’t your wife."

Wilbert shook his head frantically, eyes wild. "No! She even says my name!"

Liam realized with a sinking feeling that reason wouldn’t reach him tonight. The man was too far gone in his grief. He tried anyway, softer this time. "Think of your daughter. Think of Lia."

Wilbert’s head snapped up, but his expression hardened with desperate conviction. "Lia is sleeping safely back home."

Before Liam could respond, Wilbert glanced at the holes already blocked from Liam’s earlier side. His face twisted with sudden fury. "It’s you! You blocked the holes—not letting me meet my wife!"

He twisted a dial on the rod, the device humming angrily as it powered up to full. With a shout, Wilbert swung it in a vicious arc toward Liam.

Liam threw himself sideways just in time. The air where he’d stood shimmered, then simply ceased to exist—matter erased in a clean, horrifying void. Chunks of ground and barrier vanished without sound or debris.

’This futuristic world is dangerous as hell,’ Liam thought, heart hammering. He rolled to his feet, already putting distance between them.

Wilbert didn’t give him a breath. The man lunged with surprising agility, circling like a cornered animal. Liam cursed under his breath and activated one of his newer long-range skills.

"Frozen Spears!"

Icy projectiles materialized in the air around him and launched forward in rapid succession. Wilbert dodged with eerie precision, weaving between the attacks. From the shadows, Sarah and the other girls burst into action, flanking Wilbert from multiple angles with coordinated strikes. Their combined pressure finally forced him onto the defensive. Liam pressed the advantage, closing in.

"Sarah!" Liam shouted. He darted forward, snatching the rod mid-swing and mashing a different control. He drove the tip into Wilbert’s own side.

Nothing happened at first. Then Wilbert’s body began to change. Muscles swelled grotesquely, veins bulging like ropes under his skin. In seconds, he towered at nearly five meters tall, a hulking monstrosity of raw power. Liam checked the man’s level and swore inwardly. Two hundred and sixty.

"Girls, fall back!" Liam ordered. He triggered his strongest defensive transformation. Time seemed to warp around him as the skill activated—**Time Lapse with Devil Obsession**—elevating to S-rank: **Devil of Time**. Power surged through his limbs.

He leaped back into the fray. Blows that should have shattered bone now met resistance. Liam held his ground, trading strikes that shook the ground, but he gained no clear edge. ’This skill only lasts ten minutes,’ he reminded himself grimly. He poured everything into the assault—fists, skills, raw desperation—hammering Wilbert’s health bar down below half.

Wilbert roared in frustration as he sensed defeat. He broke away, rushing toward a swirling patch of green mist that had begun leaking through one of the holes. "Wife! Help me!"

What happened next chilled Liam to the core. The mist surged forward, pouring into Wilbert’s open mouth and flooding his body. His skin took on a sickly green hue. Wounds that Liam had inflicted began closing at an impossible rate, flesh knitting together faster than it could be torn.

Liam fought on, but every strike was undone almost instantly by the unnatural regeneration. The ten-minute timer on his skill expired with a sickening lurch. Normal strength returned. Wilbert’s massive fist connected, launching Liam backward into the barrier wall with bone-jarring force.

The giant followed up with a devastating punch that pulverized a massive chunk of the wall. Alarms blared instantly—sharp, piercing sirens cutting through the night. From the fresh breaches, monsters began pouring through in a tide of claws and teeth.

"Girls! With me!" Liam called, scrambling up. They fought side by side, carving through the horde, buying precious seconds to stem the flood. Corpses piled up, but the pressure remained relentless.

In the chaos, Liam caught a glimpse of Wilbert retreating, shrinking back to normal size as he fled toward the distant green zone.

’Should I follow?’ The thought warred inside him. But the holes still gaped in the barrier, and Lia waited back in her room, oblivious and vulnerable.

Decision made, Liam grabbed thick spider webs reinforced with adhesive from his inventory. He worked quickly, sealing the breaches with layers of the sticky, durable material. The webs held firm against the monsters’ frantic scratching. Satisfied the immediate threat was contained, he turned back toward Lia’s home, each step heavy with dread. ’How do I even tell her this?’

She was waiting on the doorstep when he arrived, eyes already red-rimmed. Her gaze flicked from his face to the damaged rod still clutched in his hand.

"It’s my dad, isn’t it?" she said quietly. "He did that again."

Liam’s eyes widened. Before he could speak, she continued, voice trembling but steady with painful familiarity. "Don’t worry. I’ve been through this before. It’s why he went to jail last time."

Then the dam broke. Lia crumpled, tears spilling freely and pooling at her feet as sobs wracked her small frame.

Liam knelt, heart twisting. "Don’t worry. I’ll go after Wilbert. I’ll bring him back to his sane self—after a little beating if I have to."

She threw her arms around his legs, clinging tight. "Thank you..."

At that moment, a system window flashed before Liam’s eyes:

**Quest Accepted: Stop Wilbert’s Plan**

**Objective: Prevent the overflow of the city with green mist.**

**Failure: Death. Everyone in town dies. Your girls die.**

**Reward: Rod of Erasure (Upgraded)**

**Time Limit: 16 hours**

Liam’s heart hammered against his ribs. Sixteen hours. The weight of it settled like lead in his chest. He leaned down, kissing Lia’s forehead gently. "Wait for me."

He straightened, jaw set, and broke into a run back toward the barrier, calling for the girls to join him. They fell in beside him without hesitation as they passed through the gate and sprinted into the wilds beyond, heading straight for the green zone.

Liam skidded to a sudden halt at the edge of the swirling boundary, breath catching in his throat. The green mist had thickened dramatically, writhing with unnatural energy. Structures—twisted, half-formed silhouettes—loomed deeper within, far more advanced and ominous than he remembered.

’Was the green zone always this... alive?’

The night stretched ahead, heavy with unanswered questions and the ticking clock. Liam clenched his fists. Whatever waited inside, he would face it—for Lia, for the town, and for the broken man lost to his grief.