Word Count Target: 1,000+
Setting: Earth — Lusaka outskirts, late afternoon (4 of 6 hours used)
---
A crimson fog spilled from the cracked sky, its scent sharp like burnt copper. Civilians screamed, scattering through broken alleyways. Dungeon creatures — malformed and blood-hungry — poured from a spiraling tear hovering above a collapsed supermarket. This wasn't a raid. It was a slaughter.
SeTa moved like a blur, Zuvanox beside him, shadowy and fanged. His calm contrasted with the chaos around him. Time mattered. Every second lost on Earth was a second denied in the Tower. But still… the blood. The helpless.
A beast — part insect, part flame — slammed into the ground ahead, crushing a fleeing woman. SeTa's gaze narrowed.
> [Void Tactic: Fractured Displacement]
He blinked forward, catching the creature's attention with a single, whistling snap. It screeched, its mandibles flaring, but it never reached him. Zuvanox erupted from the ground beneath it, jaws tearing it in two.
He stood over the woman. Dead. Not fast enough.
"Mark it," he said coldly. "That portal's S-Class."
> [System Notification: Dungeon Core Identified — S-Class. Estimated Collapse: 1 hour 12 minutes]
The UN-GAA agents were supposed to monitor these. Instead, they were scrambling to set up a perimeter half a mile back. Cowards in hazmat armor.
One of them ran toward him, breath ragged. "We didn't expect this kind of rupture—! The intel said B-Class at worst!"
SeTa turned slowly, his expression unreadable.
"You expect too much of your scanners," he muttered. "I'll handle it."
"But the extraction team is still—"
He was already walking into the fog.
—
Inside the rift, visibility dropped to inches. The fog hissed against his skin, whispering nonsense in a forgotten tongue. The air pulsed with death.
SeTa activated Void Tactic: Null Pulse, casting a wave of force that cleared the mist in a radius. Dozens of eyes glinted at the edge — beasts mutated by corrupted dungeon energy.
He clicked his tongue.
"Perfect."
They charged.
---
10 minutes later
A hill of corpses burned behind him. His coat was torn, his breathing sharp. But his eyes gleamed with precision — a strategist mid-battle, analyzing angles.
One final creature emerged: a Fallen Knight, corrupted and armed with a twisted halberd, its armor dripping with venom.
Zuvanox growled but SeTa raised a hand.
"No. This one's mine."
> [Void Step: Shadow Dive]
He disappeared. Reappeared behind the knight. Metal screamed as their weapons clashed — sword and halberd echoing like thunder through the mist.
SeTa ducked, rolled, and slashed upward.
The knight blocked. But the shadow behind it didn't.
Zuvanox lunged with a snarl, holding it long enough for SeTa to stab its eye.
As the knight staggered and fell, the System chimed.
> [Eligible for Subordination]
[Fallen Knight: Semi-Sentient. Type: Undead Variant. Accept as subordinate?]
[Y/N]
SeTa hesitated for just a breath.
"Yes."
A chain of violet light wrapped the knight's fading form. It stood again — halberd firm, corruption suppressed. It knelt silently.
> [New Subordinate Acquired: Mordain, the Broken Vow]
SeTa's brows twitched. "You'll do."
---
30 minutes later – Outside the Rift
GAA agents stood slack-jawed. The fog was gone. The monsters dead. And behind SeTa now walked a skeletal knight in corrupted armor, silent and loyal.
One of the agents stepped forward, shivering.
"W-what… what are you?"
SeTa didn't answer. He simply passed the soldier and muttered:
"I still have two hours left. Don't waste my time."