The forest shook.
Trees splintered like matchsticks as the shadow passed overhead—wings vast enough to darken the twin moons, a scream like tearing metal echoing across the canopy.
Rael crouched behind a thick root system, his visor dimmed to mask the glow. Nyra's voice cut in.
"Whatever that is, it's coming back. Pattern indicates patrol or hunting behavior."
He glanced up. Through the gaps in the canopy, something vast banked in the air. Reptilian. Armored. Spined.
Its wings cracked the sky with every beat.
"It's not a dragon," Rael muttered."I don't know what a dragon is," Nyra replied, "but this thing isn't in any database. It's fast, airborne, heavily armored, and it's hunting everything moving. Call it whatever you want."
"I'll call it dead."
Rael leapt from cover, activating his jetpack. Flame burst beneath his boots, launching him upward. The wyvern spun mid-air, locking onto him with glowing yellow eyes and a gaping maw full of dagger-like teeth.
It shrieked.
Rael fired a burst from his plasma rifle, scoring the creature's wing membrane. It snarled and dove at him, jaws wide.
His shield generator flared as a claw scraped across it—energy dispersed the blow, but only barely.
[SHIELD INTEGRITY: 61%][WARNING: Multiple target locks]
He twisted in mid-air, spinning beneath the wyvern's claws and unloading a full mag into its underbelly. Chunks of scorched scale peeled off.
Still not enough.
Rael activated his shoulder-mounted rail spike, now loaded from a recent crystal upgrade. The weapon locked on with a shriek of magnetic charge—and fired.
The spike slammed into the wyvern's neck. Blood burst in a high-pressure spray. It screamed and faltered, slamming into the treeline and toppling oaks like toothpicks.
Rael dropped with it.
He landed hard, boots kicking up a crater of dirt, armor flexing. The wyvern writhed on the forest floor, one wing crumpled, blood pumping from its neck.
"Let's end it."
The energy blade snapped free from his wrist. One swift strike — and the beast's head fell into the dirt, eyes dimming.
Rael stood over the corpse, smoke hissing from his gauntlet.
"You alright?" Nyra asked.
"Armor held. Shield's low. Let me catch my breath."
The wyvern's chest glowed faintly—buried within the charred scale, a crystal pulsed with inner light. Different from the last one. Larger. Clear violet with streaks of crimson.
Rael reached out and touched it.
His suit vibrated.
The HUD blinked. Energy spiked through his armor.
[CRYSTAL PROTOCOL SYSTEM – MODULES UNLOCKED]
Origin: UnknownAnalysis: OngoingIntegration Status: Partial Sync
New Systems Available:
Armor Module: Nano-Adaptive Cloak Boost
Enhances stealth field to resist energy detection.
Weapon Module: Hydra-X Smart Missile Rack
Wrist-mounted mini-missiles with predictive lock-on.
Mobility Upgrade: Jump Jets Mk2
Higher altitude, mid-air directional control.
Gear Unlock: Predator Disc (Retrievable)
Spinning, magnetized blade for silent ranged kills.
HUD Upgrade: Multi-Spectrum Scanner
Can detect energy signatures and thermal residue.
Rael blinked. "This tech's beyond even Nanto standards. Feels like... the suit wants to grow."
Nyra's voice dropped to a more serious register.
"We don't fully understand it yet. It's not magic. Not tech as we know it either. Crystals interface with your suit like they're... speaking a language we don't know."
Rael secured the crystal in his armored combat pack, next to the food rations, ammunition cartridges, and water reserves. The pack sealed itself with a soft hiss. Nearby, his grenade pouches auto-reloaded with spare flash cells and gravity mines.
His fingers brushed the combat blade sheathed at his chest — unused, untouched, waiting. It wasn't needed yet.
Not while the energy blade and plasma systems still held.
He turned toward the darkness.
More monsters were coming.More crystals.More answers.
But for now, Rael stood over the corpse of an airborne predator, his glowing red visor casting its eerie light over the battlefield.
Unknown world.Unknown rules.
But he would master it.
One kill at a time.
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