The Genesis Zone was thinning.
Not in density—but in silence.
Where once organisms floated without care, now the void trembled with unspoken tension. Xerion felt it in the pulses of the fluid, in the nervous stutter of prey clusters, in the fact that even predators avoided certain regions.
And one of those regions… was just ahead.
[Hazard Alert: Local Zone Activity Spike — Anomaly Detected][Environmental Decay Rate: Accelerated]
A dense cloud of necrofluid hung in the current, like black fog stained with blood. Within it—movement. Slow, deliberate, predatory.
The system whispered the name:
[Bone-Leech Larva. Tiered Predator. Rank Estimate: Top 25. Known Evolution Trait: Bone Harvesting.]
Unlike other zone predators, Bone-Leeches didn't simply kill. They extracted. Their enzyme-rich saliva corroded membrane structures, then hardened the remains into skeletal armor—growing layers of chitin and bone from stolen matter.
Efficient. Brutal.
A predator born to prey on other predators.
Xerion scanned deeper.
He had no reason to engage it.
No mission. No revenge.
But something else drove him forward:
Fear.
Not of death.
But of stagnation.
If he ran now, he would remain prey.
If he struck first…
He would rise.
He circled the outer edge of the leech's decay field. Every molecule of fluid was tainted with enzyme traces—painful even in low concentration. His veil camouflage flickered as it tried to adapt.
It wouldn't last long.
[Strategy Required: Direct Confrontation = Suicide][Alternative: Disruptive Terrain + Lure Tactic Suggested]
He pulsed.
There—a crevice wall to the east. Scattered husks of decayed forms, brittle and floating like ash. Enough matter to hide movement.
He surged toward it, pressed into the broken bio-debris, and waited.
He didn't have long.
Within moments, the Bone-Leech appeared.
Massive—by zone standards. Twice his current form's size. Pale gray. Its armor was jagged and unnatural, fused from half-digested remains. A single red filament pulsed along its spine like a glowing nerve.
Xerion studied it.
Every motion. Every habit.
It floated, twitched, released small clouds of decay enzymes. Waiting.
A trapper.
Not a chaser.
Good.
He uncoiled, drifted wide, and pulsed a single flash of energy—low frequency, like a wounded cell.
Then fled.
The leech reacted instantly.
It lunged, tearing through the fluid toward the signal's echo.
Xerion shot into the wreckage zone, weaving through decayed shells and fragmented sacs.
Behind him: hissing. Acid trails. Something screamed—not in sound, but in neural pressure.
The leech was angry.
Perfect.
He reached the center of the bonefield and coiled upward. His membrane began to vibrate, building kinetic energy.
Then he dropped it—straight down.
A pulse. A crack.
The bone fragments shifted—raining into the field below.
The leech was too slow.
It turned, acid flaring.
Too late.
[Impact Registered. Enemy Limb Damage: 34%. Bone Covering Fractured.]
It shrieked in fury and pain.
Xerion lunged—not for the core, but the filament.
The red glow.
He stabbed forward with his toxin-covered body, slammed into the pulsing strand—and released all stored bio-charge.
[Critical Strike. Filament Integrity Compromised.][Enemy Neural Response: Disrupted]
The leech twitched violently, losing spatial balance.
Xerion wrapped, compressed, struck again.
Once.Twice.Until the glow dimmed.
Then—
[Enemy Neutralized][Bio Points +4 | Energy +0.043][System Upgrade: Core Spine Catalyst Available]
He floated back, trembling.
The fight had been close.
Too close.
But he had won.
Not by strength.
By strategy.
Later, deep within a nutrient trench, he reflected.
[Dominance Rank: 28th of 64][New Trait: Core Spine Catalyst — Boosts neural signal and resilience.][Unlock Option: External Shell (Light Bone Frame)]
The system now trusted him with defense. Armor.
He accepted.
A faint layer of bone wrapped around his structure—not heavy, not rigid. A flexible shell that shimmered under pressure.
He was no longer just adaptive.
He was becoming durable.
And for the first time, he saw fear in other predators.
A group of razor-threads fled at his approach.
A fungal crawler curled into its husk and played dead.
They knew.
Xerion had crossed the threshold.
From survivor…
To threat.
In the back of his neural thread, a name pulsed again.
Celestara.
He didn't know why.
Only that as he killed…
As he rose…
As he became something more than nature intended…
The thought of her returned, over and over.
He wasn't evolving alone.
Somewhere in the dark...
She was evolving too.