The howl that split the night wasn't animal. It was the sound of raw voltage screaming through flesh—a wet, crackling shriek that made Kael's teeth vibrate.
Li Na yanked him behind a shattered lab table just as the creature rounded the corner.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Kael breathed.
The thing was a walking storm. Seven feet tall, its body a lattice of charred muscle and arcing electricity, with eyes like live wires sparking in its skull. It dragged a massive, rusted pipe behind it, the metal glowing red-hot where its fingers touched.
[Warning: Alpha-Class Bio-Electric Entity Detected]
[Recommended Level: 15]
[Current Level: 2]
"Well," Kael whispered. "That's rude."
Li Na's grip on her mop-spear tightened. "Distract it."
"Distract—? What am I, bait?"
"Yes." She kicked him into the open.
Kael stumbled, the creature's neon gaze snapping to him.
"Hi," Kael said. "So, lightning and corpses—new aesthetic, or…?"
The Lightning King swung the pipe.
Kael moved, the wind shoving him sideways as molten metal grazed his ribs. The heat seared through his shirt, but he barely had time to yelp before—
"Now!" Li Na lunged, driving her spear into the creature's back.
It didn't even flinch.
The electricity surged up the mop handle, throwing Li Na across the room. She hit the wall with a crunch, slumping to the floor.
"Li Na!"
Kael's pulse roared in his ears. The creature turned, raising its pipe again—
And Kael snapped.
The air around him warped, pressure dropping suddenly as he sucked every molecule of oxygen toward his palms. The creature staggered, its electrical arcs flickering as the vacuum disrupted its current.
Then Kael released.
The shockwave hit like a bomb, throwing the Lightning King through the lab's reinforced window. Glass shattered, rain hissed against hot metal, and for three glorious seconds, there was silence.
[Aerokinesis Upgrade: Vacuum Pulse Unlocked!]
[Adaptability +5%]
Kael didn't celebrate. He sprinted to Li Na, skidding to his knees beside her.
"Hey. Hey! No dying allowed—you're the only one here who doesn't want to strangle me."
She groaned, batting his hands away. "I'm fine. Just… need a minute." A trickle of blood ran from her hairline.
Outside, the storm answered the Lightning King's fury. Thunder rolled, and the creature stood, its body knitting back together with crackling energy.
"Oh, come on," Kael muttered.
Li Na grabbed his wrist. "It's weak to water."
"What?"
"The rain—it's short-circuiting it. Just not enough." She coughed. "So drown it."
Kael's eyes darted to the broken window, the downpour beyond.
"…I have a really stupid idea."
Kael vaulted through the window, landing ankle-deep in flooded courtyard grass. The Lightning King turned, its pipe carving a molten line through the water.
"Hey, Tesla!" Kael spread his arms. "Bet you can't even touch me."
The creature moved, electricity surging—
And Kael ran, leading it toward the courtyard's central fountain. The old stone structure was overflowing, water spilling over its edges in torrents.
"Okay," Kael panted. "Let's see if physics still works."
He spun, summoning the wind into a spiraling funnel around the fountain. Water lifted into the air, a swirling vortex that drenched the Lightning King—
The creature screamed, its electricity grounding out in a catastrophic short-circuit. Its body convulsed, flesh blackening as the water invaded its circuitry-like veins.
Kael didn't let up. He pushed, forcing the whirlpool tighter, until—
Pop.
The Lightning King imploded, its core overloading in a shower of sparks and steam.
[Alpha-Class Entity Defeated!]
[+500 XP]
[Level Up! x3]
[New Title: Stormborn]
Kael collapsed to his knees, gasping. The System's notifications blurred in his vision, but one line burned brighter than the rest:
[System Affinity Upgrade: Electrokinesis (Latent) Detected]
"…Huh."
Li Na found him sitting in the fountain, staring at his hands.
"You're an idiot," she said, tossing him a stolen energy drink.
"But a winning idiot," Kael said, cracking it open. The liquid fizzed over his fingers, mixing with rainwater.
Li Na sat beside him, wincing as she pressed a makeshift bandage to her temple. "How'd you know that would work?"
"I didn't." He grinned. "But hey, fake it till you make it, right?"
She shook her head, but there was something like respect in her eyes.
The moment shattered as Zhang's voice crackled over a scavenged walkie-talkie:
"We've got a problem."
The cafeteria group had found more than supplies.
They'd found a message.
Scrawled in blood on the wall, in handwriting too precise to be frantic:
DARWIN PROTOCOL: PHASE ONE COMPLETE
SURVIVORS PROCESSED
PHASE TWO INITIATED: ASCENSION
Below it, a list of names.
Kael's breath caught.
Chen's name was there.
So was Li Na's brother.
And at the bottom, in fresh, dripping letters:
KAEL ZHOU
Li Na's voice was deadly quiet. "What aren't you telling us?"
Kael stared at his reflection in the blood-streaked wall.
The System's newest notification pulsed like a heartbeat:
[Warning: Host Designation Changed]
[Current Status: Prime Candidate]
"…I think I'm part of this."
That night, Kael dreamed of lightning.
Not the kind that struck from the sky—the kind that unspooled from his ribs, threading through his veins like live wires. He woke gasping, his fingers sparking.
Across the room, Li Na watched him, her knife glinting in the moonlight.
"You're changing," she said.
Kael flexed his hand. The sparks danced between his fingers, obedient.
"Yeah," he admitted. "I think I am."
Outside, the rain turned to static.
[Next Evolution Wave: 00:00:00]
[Welcome to Phase Two.]