“What happened to you?”

  “I sparred with an Officer Cadet.”

  “Hah!”

  — Overheard in the ICC training gym

  The second wave poured through the tear like a dam breaking.

  Not forty shrikes this time, but twice that… maybe more. They erupted from the tear in a cascading flood of crystalline bodies and razor wings, filling the air with the sound of breaking glass multiplied a hundredfold.

  Erika didn’t hesitate.

  She moved like violence given form again, daggers flashing as she carved through the first wave that dove toward us. One throw, two throws, three, each blade finding its mark. Shrikes dropped from the sky, and before their bodies hit the ground, she’d already conjured new daggers and thrown again.

  I tracked a shrike at the edge of the swarm, one circling high where Erika’s daggers couldn’t reach yet. Aimed, compensated for its erratic flight pattern, and fired.

  BZT!

  Direct hit. It tumbled from the sky in a spray of crystal fragments.

  “One!” I shouted.

  Erika glanced at me for half a second, and her face lit up with competitive fire. “Four!” she yelled back, daggers already flying toward another pair of shrikes that were diving at my flank.

  They fell before I could even track them.

  “Two!” I called out as another shrike at range dropped to my plasma bolt.

  “Six!” Erika countered, and I watched her blade work become a blur. Three shrikes came at her simultaneously, and she didn’t dodge, just moved through them like water, each motion ending with a dagger in a critical joint or eye cluster. They dropped, and she was already spinning toward the next threat.

  “Three!” I fired again, catching one that was trying to flank from above.

  “Ten!”

  This was insane. The air was thick with shrikes, a living storm of crystal and rage, but it wasn’t the desperate survival fight from the first wave… because Erika was there.

  Every time a shrike got close, every time one dove at me while I was lining up a shot, she was faster. A dagger would flash through the air, and the threat would tumble away dead. She moved in a constant circle around me, creating a perimeter of death that nothing could penetrate.

  All I had to do was aim, and aim… and aim.

  Track the distant targets, the ones circling high; the ones trying to build speed for diving attacks. The ones Erika couldn’t reach yet with her daggers. My rifle became an extension of my focus: sight, compensate, fire.

  The heat indicator climbed toward yellow. Then red, but I didn’t care and just kept firing. “Fifteen!” I shouted, watching another shrike spiral down.

  “Thirty-two!” Erika’s voice was gleeful now, caught up in the competition.

  The chaos swirled around us, but we were in the eye of the storm as shrikes dove and died. Crystal rained from the sky like lethal snow, and the grass was littered with corpses while they still came.

  But fewer now; the swarm thinning.

  I dropped another at extreme range. “Twenty-three!”

  Erika threw a dagger that curved mid-flight, actually curved, bending around an obstacle to nail a shrike trying to hide behind its flock-mate. “Fifty-eight!”

  It was insane, and we fought on until the last cluster dove together, a final desperate assault. Erika met them head-on, daggers appearing in her hands faster than I could track. She jumped, spun, and it was like watching a dance choreographed by someone who really, really loved murder.

  They fell.

  All of them.

  Silence crashed over the park like a physical weight.

  [Leveling LP progress: 81%]

  I stood there, rifle smoking, arms trembling from the sustained firing. The rifle was so hot I could see heat shimmer rising from it, and my breath came in ragged gasps.

  Erika landed lightly on her feet, not even breathing hard. “Seventy-one,” she announced, grinning.

  I did quick mental math, counting the distant kills I’d managed while she’d held the close-range perimeter. “Forty-seven,” I said sheepishly.

  Erika jumped up with pure joy, punching the air. “I won!”

  “You’re Level 21,” I pointed out, trying not to sound too defensive. “I’m Level 1.”

  She looked at me, but her smile didn’t fade. Instead, it softened into something warmer. “But you have a system now. Where have you put your LP?”

  I grimaced. “Nowhere. It’s broken. All I can do is put it into levels or plugins.”

  Erika thought for a moment, her head tilting as she considered. “Put it into plugins, you won’t lose level progress... unless you blurt about the system to plebs. Do you have any plugin that can level up?”

  “Yeah...” I pulled up my system mentally, looking at the available options. The Incursion Predictor sat there, waiting. “I’ve got one.”

  She sat down on the grass, still riding high on the victory. “For Gray-1, the next one should be a boss battle.”

  I set my rifle aside, letting the overheated coil cool, and sat down beside her. The weapon hissed softly, venting heat into the afternoon air. “So...” I started, pulling up my system interface mentally. “What should I do with this thing? The system, I mean.”

  Erika nodded, her expression becoming more serious. “Unlocking attributes or getting a mana subsystem should be your priority. Those are the foundations everything else builds on.”

  I smiled despite myself. “I’m already working on the mana part.”

  Her eyebrows shot up. “Really? That’s—that’s actually perfect. What about attributes?”

  “Broken,” I said with a shrug. “Everything just... glitches. ERROR messages everywhere. The whole thing’s called a ‘minor system’ instead of a proper one.”

  Erika thought for a moment, lips pressed together. “Yeah, probably because you were drained. Your compatibility’s so low the system can’t fully initialize.” She paused. “But you’ve got something working, at least, and that’s more than nothing.”

  I observed her as she sat there, the afternoon sun catching on her armor, making the glyphs glow softly. She looked so confident, so comfortable in her own skin. A proper system user, everything I’d wanted to be.

  “What’s sol-warrior?” I asked, remembering the preset my emergency system had mentioned.

  Erika’s eyes widened. “That’s the advanced attribute system from Rosenfeld! It’s—” She stopped, staring at me. “Wait, you have a Rosenfeld system?”

  I blinked. “I have a Rosenfeld Bank account. They also have an academy?”

  Erika laughed. “What Sol Fortune 15 doesn’t?”

  I shook my head. “Kallum.”

  She bit her lip, and I had to look away, blood rushing to my cheeks as my brain decided to betray me with extremely unhelpful thoughts. “I mean… not official at least. We’ve got affiliate… uh… nevermind.”

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “So,” Erika said, mercifully changing the subject. “The Rosenfeld attribute system is, uh, very simplified. Normally, you can assign attributes to anything… like the dexterity of the pinkie on your left foot. If you want to increase the density of your muscles, you can choose which specific ones, down to individual muscle fibers.”

  I tried to imagine that level of granular control and immediately got a headache. “That sounds... complicated.”

  “It is,” she confirmed. “Rosenfeld can’t do that. Instead, they can only increase everything… density of ALL muscles in the body, for example. You can’t pick and choose.” She held up a finger. “But in exchange, they have higher limits and efficiency than standard systems, and they can use ‘presets’ to optimize the distribution for specific combat styles.”

  “That’s still... hard?”

  Erika laughed again. “Yeah! That’s why it’s studied at academies for four semesters!”

  I wanted to respond, but the tear rippled. Not the chaotic pulsing from before the waves… this was different. Deeper. The white tendrils contracted, pulling inward like a fist clenching.

  “Boss,” Erika said, rising to her feet with fluid grace. She flexed her hands, and daggers materialized in her grip, spinning once before settling into a ready position. “Should be Gray-5. Nothing too hard for me to take down.” She glanced back at me with a wink. “But be careful and take out any adds that spawn. Sound good?”

  I grabbed my rifle, checking the heat indicator. Yellow. Not ideal, but functional. “Agreed.”

  She twirled her daggers once more, the motion casual, and faced the tear with eager anticipation. The rippling intensified, reality buckling under whatever was about to force its way through.

  The tear convulsed one final time, and something massive forced its way through.

  The boss shrike was easily three times the size of the others, wingspan stretching at least six meters across. Its crystalline feathers were darker, almost black, shot through with veins of pulsing violet light. The vertical mouth segments were larger, lined with serrated ridges that looked capable of shearing through steel.

  And those eyes, clusters upon clusters of them, covered its entire head like a grotesque crown.

  [Incursion G-5]

  It emerged slowly, hovering in the air with wings that barely moved. Not the frantic flight of the smaller shrikes, but controlled, almost lazy movements that radiated confidence.

  Erika’s grip tightened on her daggers. “Here we go.”

  The boss tilted its head, those clustered eyes focusing on us. Then it opened its mouth and instead of the familiar shriek, light gathered in its gullet. Violet light coalesced into a solid form, crystallizing into a jagged projectile the size of my fist.

  “Shit!” I dove sideways as it fired.

  The crystal spear slammed into the ground where I’d been standing, punching through the earth with enough force to send grass and dirt spraying. The impact crater smoked faintly.

  Erika was already moving, closing the distance with lethal speed. She threw two daggers in rapid succession, both aimed at the boss’s center mass.

  The boss twisted mid-air, wings adjusting with impossible grace. The daggers passed through empty space, and before Erika could follow up, it fired three more crystal projectiles in quick succession.

  She dodged the first two, and the third she deflected with a dagger that materialized in her hand just in time. The crystal spear shattered against her blade in a spray of violet fragments.

  “Keeping its distance,” Erika muttered, circling. “Smart.”

  But the boss wasn’t alone.

  The tear pulsed again, and more shrikes poured through. Not the massive wave from before, now like six, eight, a dozen. Small groups emerged every few seconds, circling high above the boss like attendants protecting their lord.

  “Adds!” Erika called out. “Dash, handle them!” I holstered my rifle, still too hot to fire reliably, and drew both plasma pistols.

  A cluster of four dove toward me.

  I aimed, fired. The first pistol kicked in my hand, plasma bolt catching the lead shrike in the chest. It exploded mid-dive in a spray of crystal and ichor.

  Second shot, another hit and another dead shrike.

  The pistol’s heat indicator flashed red immediately. Two shots… that was all I got before the coil needed to cool.

  I switched hands, firing the second pistol.

  Two more shrikes dropped… and the pistol overheated. “Damn it!” I threw both pistols toward the pavilion, their metal casings clattering against stone as they hit the pavilion steps.

  I unslung my rifle, praying the coil had cooled enough. The indicator showed yellow… not ideal, but it would have to do.

  More shrikes were diving now, attracted by my kills like sharks to blood. I raised the rifle and fired into the swarm.

  BZT! BZT! BZT!

  Three shots, three kills. Now I was used to the rifle’s kick as I tracked the next target, compensating for its erratic flight pattern.

  Another shot and another corpse tumbling from the sky.

  Behind me, I could hear Erika engaging the boss. The clash of daggers against crystal, the crackle of magic being formed and deflected. She was fighting hard, constantly moving, never staying in one place long enough for the boss to land a clean hit.

  But the boss wasn’t trying to land a clean hit. It was keeping her busy, occupying her attention while more adds spawned from the tear.

  I dropped two more shrikes that were trying to flank from above. “Fifty-five!” I shouted.

  There was a brief pause in the sounds of combat behind me. Then Erika’s voice, slightly breathless: “Seventy-three!”

  I grinned despite the chaos and fired again. “Fifty-six!”

  “Still seventy-three!” Erika called back, frustration clear in her voice. “The boss doesn’t count until it’s dead!”

  “Fifty-nine!” I dropped three more in quick succession, the rifle heating in my hands but still functional.

  “That’s not fair!” Erika’s voice was almost a whine now. “I’m fighting a boss! I can’t just—there’s adds everywhere and I need to focus—”

  “Sixty!” I smirked, tracking another distant target.

  I could practically hear her pout. “You’re the worst!”

  “Sixty-two!”

  The rifle was getting dangerously hot now, the heat indicator climbing back toward red. But the adds kept coming, and I kept firing, each shot a clean kill.

  The swarm was thinning again, and I could see gaps in their formation, spaces where dead shrikes had been. The boss was still keeping Erika at range, firing crystal projectiles that she dodged or deflected with increasing irritation.

  “Sixty-six!”

  More shrikes dove. I dropped them at random, finding a rhythm in the chaos. Sight, compensate, fire. Again! Sight, compensate, fire.

  The rifle’s indicator hit red.

  Then blinked.

  Then the weapon let out a warning whine that made my stomach drop.

  “Overheating!” I shouted, lowering the rifle as smoke began rising. “I can’t shoot anymore!”

  The boss’s head snapped toward me, all those clustered eyes focusing simultaneously… and it charged.

  Not a lazy hover anymore. Full speed, wings tucked, crystal projectiles forming in its mouth even as it dove. Behind it, every remaining shrike in the air followed, a cascade of crystalline death aimed directly at me.

  I dropped the rifle and drew my sword; the blade felt inadequate against what was coming, but it was all I had left. Erika landed beside me, daggers spinning in her hands. She glanced at me, eyes wide. “You’re crazy.”

  “And you’re amazing,” I retorted, settling into a combat stance.

  Her face flushed, but she didn’t look away. Instead, she grinned, fierce and completely unhinged. “Watch.”

  Then she moved.

  Her hands blurred, and daggers materialized in the air around her. Not two or three, but twenty. Twenty glowing blades hovering in a semicircle, each one aimed at a different target in the diving swarm.

  She thrust her hands forward.

  All twenty daggers launched simultaneously.

  I couldn’t track them. The blades moved faster than my eyes could follow, each one finding its mark. Shrikes exploded mid-dive, their bodies disintegrating under the barrage. The boss took a dagger to the shoulder, another to its wing joint, violet dust spraying as the crystalline feathers shattered.

  It shrieked, the first sound it had made beyond the crystalline projectiles, and the sound was pure hatred.

  But it didn’t stop.

  The boss slammed into Erika’s position, and she met it head-on. Her daggers flashed, carving through crystal, but the creature was massive, fast and angry. Its talons raked across her armor, glyphs flaring bright as they absorbed the impact.

  More shrikes dove at me.

  I swung the sword in a wide arc, catching the first one across its gullet. Crystal shattered, and it fell. Another came from my right, and I pivoted, blade trailing blue sparks as it carved through the creature’s wing.

  They kept coming.

  I fell back into that desperate rhythm from the first wave. Slash, pivot, stab, dodge. No technique, no finesse, just survival. The sword wasn’t elegant in my hands, but it was effective enough. A shrike latched onto my shoulder pauldron, its talons punching through the already-damaged plating. I felt metal give way, felt the pressure against my actual shoulder beneath the armor.

  I grabbed it with my free hand and ripped it off, throwing it to the ground before stabbing downward. The blade punched through its body, and it dissolved into fragments.

  Another dove at my back.

  I spun too slow, and its talons raked across my chest plate. The TitanWard armor buckled under the strike, the sound of tearing metal mixing with breaking crystal. I felt the impact transfer through to my ribs, a pain blooming across my chest.

  The armor was at its limit.

  Every plate was dented, gouged, some pieces hanging by a thread. The pauldrons were more hole than solid metal. The chest plate had a long crack running diagonally across it that definitely shouldn’t be there.

  But I was still moving and fighting.

  I dropped another shrike, then another. My arms screamed with fatigue, the sword feeling heavier with each swing, but I couldn’t stop. Couldn’t let up, because Erika was fighting the boss, and if I fell, the adds would swarm her.

  I glanced over just in time to see Erika duck under a crystal projectile, roll forward, and drive both daggers into the boss’s underbelly. It shrieked again, that horrible sound of breaking glass amplified a thousand times.

  But it wasn’t done.

  The boss’s eyes, all of them, locked onto Erika. Violet light gathered in its mouth, brighter than before, more intense. Not one projectile forming, but dozens. A barrage building in its gullet that would shred anything in its path.

  Erika saw it coming. I watched her assess, calculate, and decide in the span of a second.

  She didn’t dodge.

  Instead, she charged.

  Straight at the boss, daggers appearing in her hands faster than thought. She threw them as she ran. One, two, five, ten… each blade finding a critical joint or eye cluster. The boss’s aim faltered as its vision shattered, the gathered projectiles firing wildly in every direction.

  One passed so close to me I felt the heat of its passage.

  Erika jumped, soaring higher than should be possible, and as she reached the apex of her leap, she materialized one final dagger. Larger than the others, glowing with that same fierce light that seemed to radiate from her entire being.

  She drove it down with both hands.

  The blade punched through the boss’s skull with a sound like a cathedral window shattering. Violet dust blew outward, coating Erika as she rode the creature down, driving the dagger deeper, twisting.

  The boss convulsed once.

  Twice.

  Then it dissolved, fragments scattering like snow in a wind that wasn’t there. Erika landed in a crouch, breathing hard, covered in crystal dust and absolutely triumphant.

  I dropped the last shrike with a tired swing of my sword and let the blade fall to my side.

  Silence crashed over the park again.

  [Plugin LP progress: 29%]

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