The ripple widened faster than the first, light bending like heat haze before it broke apart.

Something else pushed through. Smaller than the first creature, but faster, its movement was jagged, like it kept skipping frames.

One of the guards panicked early and hurled a spear before it had even finished emerging.

The spear passed through where the thing's chest had been a heartbeat earlier. The monster blinked forward, literally blinked, from the breach to two meters from the guard, and a hooked limb tore through armor like it was paper.

The man dropped before he could even scream.

'One down already. We can't keep this pace.'

Merlin moved before the thing could take its next target. His boots dug into the dirt and he angled left, making himself the more obvious threat. The creature twitched its head toward him, a blur of too many eyes, then darted in his direction.

He sidestepped its first lunge, barely missing the arc of its claws, and hooked his enchanted wire around its neck.

[Ensnare: 74% Effective]

[Warning: High Agility Detected]

It fought the wire instantly, muscles writhing like snakes under its hide, but Merlin yanked hard, dragging it toward the ground. The dagger followed a moment later, jamming into the top of its spine.

The creature convulsed once and collapsed.

[Target Neutralized]

[Combat Efficiency: -3% Stamina Loss]

He pulled the wire free, eyes already back on the breach. The first monster was still locked on Morgana, her whip cracking in a constant rhythm, each strike carving shallow trenches into its blackened hide. Sparks from her weapon danced across the air, painting her in brief flashes of crimson light.

The second ripple was gone. The breach wasn't closing.

Another form began pressing against the surface.

'Three in under a minute. That's a bad sign.'

"Merlin!" Morgana's voice cut over the chaos, sharp and commanding. "Focus the breach—don't let them chain through!"

He didn't waste time asking how. He sprinted straight for the shimmering tear, ignoring the massive shape halfway out.

[Risk Assessment: 91% Fatality Chance]

'Not helping.'

He planted both boots, brought the dagger up, and slashed across the edges of the breach where the light thinned. The air burned at the contact, like molten glass sliding across his skin, but the effect was instant. The shimmer stuttered, light flaring, and the half-formed monster inside shrieked in a soundless vibration.

[Containment Disruption: 12% Reduction in Rift Flow]

Not enough.

A shadow fell over him.

He ducked on reflex as the first monster's arm came down like a falling tree. Dirt exploded beside him, the force rippling up his legs.

Morgana's whip snapped around the thing's wrist mid-swing. She dug her heels into the ground, muscles tightening under her coat as she wrenched the limb back. "Move!"

Merlin didn't argue. He rolled away and drove the dagger into the breach edge again. This time the light fractured more noticeably, cracks spiderwebbing outward.

The partially-emerged creature gave an ugly, distorted sound and began withdrawing.

[Flow Reduction: 31%]

[Stability Forecast: Temporary]

Temporary was good enough.

He turned just in time to see the first monster rip Morgana's whip from her hands and fling it into the dirt. She didn't flinch, already pulling a short blade from her hip.

"You going to stand there," she called, "or finish this thing?"

Merlin ran at it from behind, leaping onto the jut of its lower spine. The dagger plunged deep, sinking into the same seam he'd cut earlier. This time he twisted harder, felt the resistance give, and black ichor sprayed outward.

The monster buckled, knees hitting dirt, then collapsed in a twitching heap.

[Target Neutralized]

[Remaining Threats: 1]

The small, fast one, the first he'd killed, was still lying where it had fallen.

But its body was dissolving.

'That's new.'

The guards were pulling their wounded back, two of them half-carrying the man who'd been slashed earlier. Morgana wiped her blade on her coat, then glanced at the breach.

"Three in, two dead," she said. "We're ahead so far."

Merlin's eyes stayed on the shimmer. "Not by much."

The light flickered again. Not another ripple—more like a heartbeat.

The ground under their feet vibrated, subtle but impossible to miss.

[Warning: Rift Pressure Surge Detected]

[Predicted Threat Tier: 6+]

'Six plus? Wonderful.'

The air in front of the breach began to fold in on itself, pulling dust, loose pebbles, and even small chunks of stone upward into the distortion. Guards raised shields against the debris. Merlin braced himself.

When it came through, it didn't crawl or lunge. It stepped.

The shape was humanoid, too much so, but stretched in ways that made it wrong. Long arms that nearly touched the ground, skin stretched smooth over muscles like sculpted wax, and a head with no features except a vertical slit down the center.

It didn't rush them. It just stood there, like it was smelling the air.

Morgana's voice was lower now. "I've seen drawings of this. Tier Six. Cognitive-class."

"So it's smart."

"Smarter than you'd like."

The slit in its head widened slightly, showing teeth where there shouldn't be any.

Merlin's system flashed red.

[Hostile Scan Detected]

[Countermeasure: Engage Immediately or Retreat]

Retreat wasn't an option.

He tightened his grip on the dagger and stepped forward. "We kill it before it learns the terrain."

The thing tilted its head toward him. The air shimmered faintly, and then it wasn't there.

"Left!" Morgana snapped.

Merlin turned just as the creature reappeared, arm swinging low. He barely got the dagger up in time, metal scraping against bone-like material. The force knocked him back a step.

Fast, but not instant. He could work with that.

He feinted right, drew the creature into overextending, and cut across its forearm. No blood, just a hiss of hot air escaping.

The slit-mouth opened wider.

[Hostile Ability Detected: Unknown Spatial Shift]

[Recommendation: Sever Limbs Before Lethal Targeting]

Merlin circled, Morgana mirroring him from the other side. "Take the left, I'll take the right."

It blinked again. Merlin felt the rush of displaced air and ducked, slashing upward toward its knee. The blade bit in deep. Morgana's short sword sank into its shoulder from the opposite side.

The creature didn't scream. It just twisted with unnatural speed, backhanding Morgana hard enough to send her skidding across the dirt.

[Ally Status: Injured – Moderate]

Merlin didn't check her, she'd be back on her feet if she could. Instead, he pressed the attack, stabbing into the joint he'd already cut. This time he wrenched until he heard the crack.

The leg collapsed.

The thing still tried to blink away, but its weight dragged it down halfway through. Merlin was on it in an instant, dagger punching into the slit-mouth before it could close.

The blade met heavy resistance, then slid through.

The body convulsed once, then stilled.

[Target Neutralized]

[Remaining Threats: 0]

[Gate Stability: Restabilizing – Temporary]

Merlin pulled the dagger free and stepped back, breathing hard. Morgana was already upright again, wiping dust from her coat like she'd just tripped instead of taken a hit that could've broken bones.

"You good?" he asked.

"I've had worse." Her eyes flicked to the breach. "It's holding. For now."

The light over the rift was dimmer, but no new ripples formed. Guards began moving again, retrieving dropped weapons, checking the perimeter.

Merlin sheathed the dagger, the black ichor already evaporating from the blade.

'If that was just a warm-up, the next breach is going to be bad.'

Morgana stepped closer, lowering her voice. "You moved faster than anyone else here. Faster than you should be able to."

He met her gaze evenly. "I train a lot."

Her mouth curved slightly. Not quite a smile. "Right."

The system pinged in the back of his mind, quiet and insistent.

[Event Complete – Tier-Gate Defense]

[No Level Increase]

[System Note: Threat Level Rising Across All Quadrants]

Merlin looked back at the breach one last time. The light was thin, but stable, for now.

The city would sleep tonight thinking it was safe.

It wasn't.

—

The guards were already hauling the bodies, what was left of them, off the street. Whatever passed for cleanup crews in this city would be busy until sunrise. Morgana had gone to speak to one of her captains, her coat swinging at her hips like she hadn't almost been crushed ten minutes ago.

Merlin stayed by the breach until the last flicker died out. No sound, no ripple, just gone.

'Looks stable… which means it's probably not.'

He turned away and walked past the blood-slick dirt toward the side street. No one stopped him—half the guards were still too shaken to even meet his eyes. That was fine.

By the time he reached the outer wall, his system had already started bombarding him again.

[New Event Flagged: Main Sequence — Window 72 Hours]

[Warning: Predicted Hostile Surge – 62% Probability]

'Seventy-two hours. Of course.'

The streets closer to home were quiet, but his boots still left a trail of dusty footprints on the cobblestones. He kept glancing over his shoulder out of habit, but nothing followed.

When he reached his building, there was someone leaning against the doorframe to his room.

Elara.

Her arms were crossed, but she wasn't looking at him, more like she'd been listening for him. When she saw him, her eyes narrowed slightly. "You're late."

"Long night," he said, stepping past her to unlock the door.

"You were at the breach."

He froze just long enough for her to notice, then pushed the door open. "Everyone was at the breach."