At an intersection between tall buildings covered in glowing signs, half of which were broken, was the location a slaughter was going to take place.

35 blade hounds were attacking 4 people. They were not feeling scared like most would expect. What they are feeling is frustration at the one who lured this many to them.

"This is too much, Echo!" One yelled at his friend as he punched a blade hound with a gauntlet. The gauntlet glowed blue as the glow spread to the blade hound and disintegrated.

He was a muscular orc. His eyes glowed a vivid blue, His face and silver suit of armor were covered in glowing blue lines that resembled roots. His hands had metal gauntlets they had holes on the knuckles that glowed a similar vivid blue. He went by HighJack and brawler of this group.

"None of them are over level 5, light bulb." Another was unfazed by HighJack's yelling and snapped her fingers, making 3 blade hounds flicker in and out of existence before reappearing split in half, collapsing in puddles of ichor.

She had long black hair and pale white skin with long pointed ears and glowing red eyes. A long tan trench coat covered the lower half of her face and went down to her knees. Black stockings and boots adorned her legs. She went by Echo and is the scout of the group.

The third looked at the remaining number of blade hounds and turned to the final member. "Pulse, can you deal with the rest?"

He was dressed in an old school fighter pilot uniform and aviator mask that covered his face. Large barn owl wings sat on his back. He went by GoldenWing. The support and acting leader of the small group.

"Gladly!" The last one unfurled two whips and started to flick her wrists. The whips cracked on small explosions into two blade hounds, leaving only two purple puddles. She cracked the whips again and again. A melody of explosions bloomed from the quickly disappearing hounds.

She was wearing red wolf eared headphones that pulsed a rainbow of colors along with cracking of the whips, a pink hoodie covered in musical notes. Her leg and feet were covered in a black skintight material that exploded into bright colors whenever she moved. Her name is Pulse, the cleaner.

It barely took Pulse 2 minutes for all of the blade hounds to be turned into a stain on the floor. After double checking that all the fractals here were dead, GoldenWing tapped his mask before speaking. "Full moon calling in to report sector 9 10 is clear of fractals moving to 10 10, Over."

A gruff voice came through the phone. "Affirmative, 10 10 is not occupied by any saints yet. Freedom will join for support as soon as they clear 10 9... Full moon, remember to check for civilians when you enter the sector. Over." GoldenWing tapped his mask again and glanced at his teammates before running to 10 10 with them.

HighJack started bickering with Echo about what to eat after the fracture was resolved as they ran towards a massive glowing red wall that seemingly cut into the buildings. They didn't stop and ran into the wall and passed through it with no resistance. The four slowed to a stop next to a beautiful fountain, and GoldenWing spoke to Pulse. "Is there anyone in this sector, Pulse?"

All of them went silent as Pulse closed her eyes and waved her hand in front of her, revealing a pink holographic board and shifting a few things around on it. While listening to her headphones, she talked to GoldenWing. "How would anyone live in a field fracture this long anyway..? Wait, there's a person outside of the bunkers!?" She was horrified at the thought of someone being outside of a bunker for so long.

"Where are they!? Are they moving?" GoldenWing grimaced as he thought about it. It's been 7 hours since the fracture happened, and it would be next to impossible for a person to survive that long unless they found a safe place to hide but if you could just hide during a fracture, there wouldn't be a reason the bunkers were everywhere.

"Underground, maybe in the sewers, and yes, they seem to be running with a limp!" Pulse was tense what it meant for the person to be running. Golden Wing had the same worry. "They're probably being chased by a hound. Lead the way. They won't be able to keep that up."

Pulse looked around and started to run. Going through alleyways and buildings, shortly followed by the other three. Just as Pulse rounded a corner, She was attacked by a giant snake over 5 meters tall with 4 backward legs that spat an orange liquid at her.

The orange venom hit spectral wings instead of Pulse's face as GoldenWing spoke. "Me and Jack will hold this here. You two go ahead, we can't waste time. Keep an eye on her, Echo." Pulse and Echo didn't hesitate and ran by the legged snake that tried to bite them as they did but was met with a gauntlet that sent it stumbling back, letting the two pass.

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Pulse ran through more alleys as they dispatched several fractals in their path. "Ec, why do you think they're not in a bunker?"

"My guess is that they couldn't find an open one and choose the sewers as an alternative. Honestly, pretty smart, but it seems something found them." Echo stayed alert while she answered.

Pulse scowled and nodded in agreement when she saw what she was looking for. "Ec, help me with this manhole!"

...

=At the same time in the lab=

...

I just passed through another hallway after that hound left the room, and I can't lose it. I was going as fast as my leg would let me, but the hound was catching up, and I realized that it was bigger than any I've seen down here. What do I do? I'm only getting slower. I started to look for a room to hide and prepare for a worse scenario.

The first doorway is a hallway. Empty.

The second doorway is another hallway. No rooms in that one.

The third doorway has a door, and it's locked. How is this still standing?

The fourth doorway is a room with a large guillotine. The bloody blade was still hanging in it, ready to be dropped down by a thick metal lever. What's that? Why would that be here?! It could work!

It entered the hallway I was in just as I went into the room and hoped it hadn't seen me. If it enters this room...

I'll have to kill it. The rest of the room had thin metal pillars and empty tables that were stripped clean. My eyes glanced over some spools of flexible cable on a few of the pillars. I can use that. I grabbed a cable spool and got to work tying one end to a pillar.

My hands moved as if I tied knots before. I don't remember messing with rope before, but whatever at this point. I couldn't break the cable, so I ended up wrapping it around the pillars, making as many makeshift tripwires as possible.

It took maybe a few minutes to set a full spool of cable up. The room now felt like a spiders nest full of webs. I just have to lure the blade hound following me through the guillotine.

The sound of steps made me turn my head to the hound running towards me. Oh, fuck! I ducked under a cable and tensed when It ran into the cable but the cable held to my relief.

My relief faded quickly as it jumped over my wall of cables. I glanced at the guillotine as I ran to another set of cables but I couldn't get close enough yet with the hound right behind me. So I sped up and immediately felt my leg protest with the feeling of it stabing itself.

I barely managed to get past the cable and the hound slammed into it. I saw the hound stunned itself and took the chance to run to the guillotine.

I got there, grabbed the lever, and waited for the fractal. The fractal didn't understand the danger and chose to leap at me through the guillotine. Now! I yanked it down, letting the blade slam into its back. It struggled under the weight before it let out a guttural howl that made my hair stand on end and finally stopped moving. With it, another ding boomed in my mind.

[Congratulations on the unbelievable accomplishment of killing a Lv7 blade hound without getting hit before becoming a Saint N/A when you become a Saint!]

I panted as I looked down to my leg and saw that it was bleeding again but the slime was trying to stop it by covering the bleeding parts. "Oh, that's where you've been. Thank you, but could you move? I need to bandage it again."

The slime moved and l started my first aid and sat down, exhausted. "I'm reaching my limits... Oh, right! I didn't get a chance give you nickname... Sly? No... Pinky? Hop? How about Elpis?"

I'm not sure where the name came from but it felt nice and Elpis agreed. "Let's stay together for a while~" I smiled started to pet Elpis. This is nice.

I didn't get a chance to finish petting Elpis as something tackled me into the cables and wrapped around me. Pain quickly flooded in from everywhere and my sight went red as a horrifying realization hit me all at once. I was being crushed.

No, not again, please. My plea went on deaf ears as what I saw the thing holding me. A big snake like thing with pointed scales that tore into my skin.

I couldn't even breathe anymore as my arm snapped again. The pain was insufferable as my vision went to black and white.

I wanted to scream but I couldn't but I wasn't giving up, I couldn't. I WON'T DIE HERE! And I started biting it, over, and over. My teeth ripped through it with horrible crunching noises.

I have to survive! *Crunch*

I can't stop! *Crunch*

I need to live. *Crunch*

Why do I have to go through this? *Squelch*

It's so cold. *Squelch*

Am I really going to die? *Gulp*

I went to bite again when all of a sudden everything went white, accompanied by a shock wave that rolled over me. I fell down head first into a slop of the snake that I was just having a fight to the death with. I felt my consciousness slowly came into focus as I questioned what had happened. Did it just melt? Why?

[Congratulations, you have survived a assault and killed a Lv3 Poison sluke before you even became a Saint and will be given a special skill when you become a Saint. You are in need of serious medical attention. Please seek it.]

"Found them! It's... a child?" My head snapped to the door, and the ooze covered my vision, but someone was definitely there, and they sounded like women. Who's there!

I tried to take a deep breath to talk, only to break into a coughing fit that only got worse. My lungs felt like they had knife in them. Something went into my mouth and my lungs shift around violently. The pain was similar to being on fire and tearing them apart. Oh... My lungs probably collapsed.

"Oh, god! EC GET OVER HERE!" Her voice all of a sudden boomed through the room and hurt my ears not that it mattered with all the worse pain I'm in.

I felt someone touching me and tried to shift away. "Stop moving, you making it worse... What the?"

That was the last thing I heard before blacking out.