The air was thick with the stench of burnt metal and raw destruction. My boots scraped against the shattered pavement as I scanned the battlefield. The explosion had thrown everything into chaos, and the monster at the center of it all was only growing more grotesque by the second. I could feel the weight of the situation pressing down on me, each moment slipping like sand through my fingers.


    Zane’s voice crackled over the comms, but it sounded strained, distracted. "Something’s wrong," he muttered, the words barely registering as I tightened my grip on my great sword. The sudden darkness of the market district made everything feel more hostile, more alien.


    “Zane, talk to me,” I called, my voice steady despite the rising panic in my chest. His usual cocky tone was gone, replaced by something I hadn’t heard from him before: real fear.


    “My grace,” he breathed, disbelief in his voice. “It’s gone.”


    I stopped in my tracks, my heart skipping a beat. "What do you mean gone? Your power’s never just... gone.”


    But I knew. I knew something had happened—something unnatural. The EMP burst from that orb had been no accident. It wasn’t just a shockwave of energy. It was calculated, deliberate. The creature knew exactly what it was doing. It had disabled all electrical systems in the vicinity—disrupting the very thing that made Zane’s grace function.


    I took a deep breath, steadying myself. “EMP,” I muttered, though it felt strange to say the words aloud. It had to be an EMP. The monster’s attack had overloaded the electromagnetic field around us, interfering with Zane’s ability to harness his power.


    “What the hell kind of monster is this?” Zane’s voice was rough, frustration lining every syllable.


    “Not a monster,” I said, my eyes narrowing as I observed the creature, still towering in the wreckage, its form pulsing with eerie energy. “A weapon. It’s been engineered. It’s not just here to fight. It’s here to *disable*.”


    Zane shifted, his fingers flexing around the neck of the guitar, but there was no spark of energy, no hum of power like there had been before. His frustration was palpable, and I could feel it gnawing at me as I steadied myself. We had to find a way around this. I couldn’t lose him now—not when we were so close.


    “We’ve got to hit it harder,” I said, my voice firm. “It’s evolving, adapting too quickly. That EMP wasn’t just to disable Zane’s grace—it’s weakening us all.”This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Zane nodded, his face set in grim determination. He turned back toward the creature, his eyes flickering to the broken city around us. The faint sound of metal groaning, fire crackling, and the distant wail of sirens was drowned out by the roar of the beast.


    “We need to *finish* this now, before it can adapt again,” he said, more to himself than to me.


    But I wasn’t sure we could. Not without Zane’s full power.


    I exhaled slowly, my heart pounding, but I shoved the fear deep down. Fear wasn’t going to win this fight.


    "Zane," I said, turning to face him, my voice steady, though my mind was racing. "We can’t rely on your grace right now. We fight without it."


    I saw his jaw tighten, saw the flicker of hesitation in his eyes. But then, he nodded, his expression hardening. He was right there with me.


    “Then we do it the hard way,” he muttered, his fingers tightening around the guitar again. The purple energy was gone, but the determination was still there.


    “We can’t take it head-on,” I said, my mind already working, planning, adjusting. “We need to use the environment. We’ve got to box it in, make it vulnerable.”


    Zane raised an eyebrow, clearly not thrilled with the idea of fighting this thing without his full arsenal. “I don’t know about you, Tess, but I don’t think I’m in the mood for a staring contest with a monster.”


    “It’s not a staring contest,” I shot back, already starting to move. “It’s a battle of attrition. We outlast it. We break it down.”


    I could feel the weight of my great sword in my hands, the cold steel a comforting presence. I wasn’t as reliant on my grace as Zane was on his power, but I knew I could hold my own.


    We moved as one, Zane going high, I went low. I used the rubble to my advantage, leaping from broken pillars, making myself a moving target. Zane followed, darting from shadow to shadow, using every distraction to keep the creature’s focus off him.


    But the monster—if it even was a monster—was faster than we anticipated. It wasn’t just physically fast. It was... aware. It knew how to anticipate our moves, shifting its massive form like a terrifying predator. And when it turned its blood-red eye on Zane, I saw it. That instant of recognition—the beast knew what he could do.


    "Zane, move!" I shouted, but it was already too late.


    The beast shot a burst of dark energy straight at him. I dove, tackling him to the ground just as the energy collided with the spot where he''d been standing. The force knocked the breath from my lungs, but I barely noticed. All I cared about was Zane.


    "You okay?" I gasped, my voice rough.


    He nodded, grimacing, but I could see the frustration in his eyes. He was struggling, trying to will his power back into existence, but the EMP had left him powerless.


    "Yeah," he said, pushing himself up. "But we can’t keep dodging forever.”


    I looked back at the monster. Its body seemed to be... rebuilding. It was adapting again. The EMP hadn’t just disabled Zane; it was trying to break us down piece by piece. But I wasn’t about to let that happen.


    "Then we destroy it before it gets any stronger." I grabbed Zane’s arm, pulling him into a crouch. “We have to finish this, Zane. We’re running out of time.”


    He gave me a sharp look, determination flashing in his eyes. "You’re right. Let’s end this."


    We would fight until we couldn’t. Until the monster fell—or until we did. No more running.


    [End of Chapter]