The Alternate, the breacher supposedly hunting us, leapt high from its perch and ascended to the night. Its silhouette was perfectly framed by the crescent moon and a sprinkling of stars. For a moment, it seemed to hover in the air with surprising elegance.

Then, the Alt rapidly spun downwards and crashed into the middle of our group. We leapt away in the nick of time. Between us, long, slash-like gouges erupted from the pavement; they ran across the ground and up the walls like fault-lines, accompanied by screaming wind and tremors.

Despite the ugly destruction, the Alt took a serene stance. It cocked its head towards me, and an invisible dagger of terror punctured my chest. I’d fought breachers before, the kind you’d find in fantasy novels, but this? This was incomprehensible. This wasn’t a monster, this was an alien—something that couldn’t be found in any Worldlines.

“Firebrand!” Empress shouted at her comrade, wielding [Twin Heavens] in full. I could barely see her face and we were in whispering range. “Light it up!”

Firebrand held his right arm to the sky, and a sleeve of tiny crimson orbs spawned from his skin.

[Skill Activation: Firelight Festival]

The orbs dispersed and spread throughout the Plaza like small drones; they hovered above rooftops and blessed us with reddish-orange light. We saw each other’s faces again, and the word “afraid” wasn’t enough to describe them.

The Alt stared at the floating crimson orbs. It said, “▁▄▆▎ ▍▄. █ ▀▌ ▇▄░▄ ▔▎ ▄▛▔▄░▌█▍▀▔▄ ▔▇▄ ▒▇▄▍▒ ▎ ▍▋▜—”

[Chain Gauntlets]

Whatever the fuck that was, it received two chains as a response. They whipped around its chest and hugged its arms together. Then, I played tug-of-war, pulling and pulling. “I got it—!”

“▅▕▔█▋▄.”

When I blinked, the world was upside down and I was in the air, chains stripped. I was flying. My destination was a random building. I bounced off the metal roofing and landed on a random walkway. A shrill wind told me my pain hadn’t ended yet. Barely, I jumped out of the way as the Alternate came down where I’d recently landed.

Yeah, I think I believe Empress now. This bastard was chasing after me!

[Memento Recollection - Nightingale Shotgun]

A hot cloud of spells blasted into the Alt’s shoulder, into its chest, its head, but all three slugs might as well be tickling the fucking thing. It was glitching, I didn’t know how to accurately describe it. One sword was above its shoulders one second and at its waist in the next, as though it was operating under high-ping in a video game.

Just what the hell was I fighting?

“Look out, corpo!” shouted my savior.

From above, a comet of flames slammed down onto the Alt. What a gorgeous sight. Firebrand, wielding a flaming greatsword as large as him, was locked in a clinch, sword against swords. The heat evaporated the filth staining his ponytail and robes, and he roared.

[Flame Avatar Shift - Burning Tempest]

His ponytail came undone and his skin took on this lamplight glow. Power was added to his muscles, enough to break the pavement underneath the breacher.

And without fucking warning, the Alt teleported two feet eastward, away from me, and stood stiff and stared at a random direction.

Firebrand gasped and flopped to the ground. Two shadows suddenly landed beside me, and I nearly punched them. Good thing I didn’t. They were the girls who’d surely punch me twice as hard as retaliation.

As Firebrand regrouped, we watched the Alt carefully. Well, more “gawked” than “watched” to be precise. It was literally standing there, twitching like a drug addict in an alleyway, seemingly distracted. It wasn’t attacking or doing anything of note.

I had the [Shotgun] ready just in case. “What the hell is it doing?”

Empress glanced at my toy and swallowed the obvious question. Instead, she said, “Long story short, it’s not meant to exist, period. It’s trying really hard to maintain its existence.”

Thea gripped her [Echo]. “I’m gonna pretend those words mean something to me, so I have something better to say: what’s our plan?”

In response, I switched my gear: turning the [Shotgun] into a [Pistol] and wearing a [Gauntlet] on the other arm. My broken helmet was regenerated. “You said it’s hunting me, so I’ll act as bait. You guys will pick out opportunities to deal some damage.”

Firebrand loudly exhaled, steam bellowing out. “Never thought I’d agree with the corpo.”

Empress raised an eyebrow. “So you’re calling the shots now?”

“You got any better ideas, princess—?”

An arc of wind pressure drew a deep, rough line between us. A few inches in either direction and we’d be in multiple pieces.

I shouted, “No time to complain, let’s go!”

I made my bravest and most suicidal decision of the night: running straight at the fucking monster. The Alt went to slash at the air again, but at the last possible microsecond, it jerked around as though getting hit by three invisible punches. Looks like I got lucky for once.

I pushed mana to my legs and let [Mana Impact] take me up and over the Alt. From launch to landing, I lit the bastard up with [Nightingale]. Did nothing, obviously, but I wasn’t the heavy-hitter in the team.

That would be Firebrand. A molten beam of fire slammed into the Alt like an eighteen-wheeler, forcing the fucker back. It incomprehensibly screamed, its voice horribly distorting like it was put through the shittiest speaker.

The Alt raised an arm halfway only for some pesky chains to bind it again. I pulled as hard as I could, but even with my muscles, it didn’t budge. However, all we needed was a single second.

The flames paused.

[First Azure - Ethercross]

That’s where Empress intervened. The [Azure Series], her father’s swordsmanship, was a derivative of the [Heavenly Demonic Artes], essentially taking the “demon” out of “heavenly.” This was the first technique: [Ethercross], concentrating power and finesse into a singular slash; and with her [Father]’s blade, she painted it beautifully onto its immobile arm.

But she didn’t sever it, and now she was in the frying pan. Firebrand couldn’t attack from afar without hitting her, and I don’t think Thea could do anything either. She fought best against human opponents, which meant she was fundamentally weaker against breachers—well, in our case, aliens that weren't supposed to exist.

My chain went slack. I couldn’t risk making the same mistake again. Let’s see if this thing was dumb enough to prioritize me!

“Hey, fucker!” I shouted and unloaded [Nightingale] into its back.

The Alt, who was turned away from me, stiffened.

“I’m over here—!”

It teleported again.

In front of Althea.

I’d forgotten something very important: the key detail that would undo our laughable plan. As it turned out, my biological sister who was just as weird as me was also a Shen.

I really was a self-absorbed asshole, huh?

[Skill Activation: Blur]

But if Althea knew how to do one thing, it’d be running away. She transformed into a [Blur] and smartly fled, but I couldn’t sit around and let the Alt finish its hunt.

“Figure something out!” I shouted at Empress, reminding her of the original plan, and gave chase.

[Skill Activation: Mana Impact]

Althea’s movement [Skill] was way better than mine—hell, [Mana Impact] wasn’t even a movement [Skill] to begin with—regardless, it allowed her to maintain consistently high speed. As a result, Primordial Plaza was her playground.

Unfortunately, it was also the Alt’s. As fast as she ran, the monster ran a few steps slower and had those fucking swords. It slashed and cut and swiped and scraped, hitting everything but my sister. It kept jerking around too, arms frequently teleporting and making its attacks completely unpredictable. We were lucky, but you couldn’t say the same for Primordial Plaza. It was unrecognizable now.

Thea cursed like a sailor, bouncing from street-to-roof and roof-to-street, doing everything she could to prevent catching a blade to the ankles. Fortunately, she knew how to use her speed. That’s better than most speedsters.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

I, comparatively, lacked the discipline. [Mana Impact] was slow. While [Blur] was one continuous activation, [Mana Impact] was a one-time burst of speed. If she ran, I bunny-hopped. I followed the trail of destruction caused by the Alt one jump at a time. Sweat soaked my clothes underneath [Yuzhou]. My temporary PPS thumped and ached, but giving up wasn’t an option.

At this rate, however, I would burnout within five minutes.

I could do five minutes.

I switched [Mementos] and pulled [Nightingale Rifle]. If I couldn’t catch up, then I had to slow the fucker down. Spell-bullets pelted its back again; they were bee-stings, of course, but they contained a message: the Shen you should really come after was over here.

Eventually, the Alt received the message and turned its head—

The building I was standing on, the roof had been sheared off. I didn’t even see the sword move. Before the roof fell out, I leapt and covered my arm in [Chains]. They unraveled and shot toward a nearby streetlamp, wrapped around the overhead light, and I swung myself across the road.

“I’m over here!” I said, perching on another rooftop. I laid additional fire. “Come get me—!”

The Alt prepped another arc, but my dumbass sister didn’t take the distraction as a cue to retreat. She had other ideas.

[Memento Echo - Juroku (十六)]

Like, for example, copying Firebrand’s signature greatsword and charging at the Alt. She hefted the flaming sword and slammed fire onto its back. It screeched something terrible, but she kept the pressure, ruthless and opportunistic like how Uncle had taught us. Thea got low, spinning on her knees and feet, creating a fearsome whirlwind of crimson-orange.

Every revolution pushed the Alt backwards and the fire prevented a swift counterattack. It was trapped in a red tornado that burned brighter than the lamps Firebrand had conjured. Something like that had to do damage, but the breacher wouldn’t make it easy for either of us.

Because, without warning, it teleported beside Althea.

But she predicted that might happen.

I said earlier that Thea was fundamentally weaker against breachers. It wasn’t completely accurate. As long as she was fighting alongside Slayers, where she could see their [Loadouts] and [Skills] in action (especially mine), then she had the theoretical strength of the entire team. Personally-speaking, as much as Thea denies it…

She has greater potential than me. She inherited Mom’s superpower, after all.

[Observation Lock - Ethercross]

Copying, that is.

In a million years, [Ethercross] would never be used with a flaming greatsword, but Thea loved breaking tradition.

Her [Ethercross] crunched into the Alternate’s side and launched it away far enough to earn herself a double. The monster crashed through a wall to one of the examination buildings, stuck there for the time being.

Thea managed to crack a proud smile before falling to one knee. Firebrand’s [Echo] dissipated.

I jumped down and ran to her side. “Shit, you okay—?” I stopped myself. Her arms were burned. Fuck, I didn’t account for that. She could copy signatures and [Skills] but that didn’t mean she had the proper foundation to correctly use them. “Thea—?!”

“T-Think I’m running low,” she muttered through clenched teeth. “I can’t go on for much longer. How ‘bout you?”

[Mana Impact] had used a lot of juice, so consequently, my PPS was acting up. I shook my head. “Haven't hit the wall yet, but it’s coming.”

“What the hell are the Angels doing—?”

Just as she asked that, a plume of fire rose above the rooftops a fair bit away. Guess that was their signal. I forgot we had no way of communicating with the Angels, but fortunately they knew how to improvise.

I patted her back. “That’s our cue.” The Alternate stepped out of the hole it’d made and thwacked the ground with its swords. “That’s really our cue to leave, let’s go!”

“Ugh, dammit!”

[Blur]

[Mana Impact]

Once again, we ran. I pushed myself harder, trying to maintain enough distance as the Alternate tried slashing us from behind. We split up, came together, and split once more. Several times we had close calls. We stumbled, we tripped, we dodged.

Somehow, through sheer luck and will, we were nearly at the rendezvous point.

What were they doing…? Ah, I know. I remember this area, I’d visited it during the first day of First Wave. We were running toward the Eschaton Simulation Battles. The exam was on the tin: Slayers had to fight against simulated Essies in a massive arena. You naturally needed a lot of space and protection to ensure a safe fight.

These guys were clever.

I turned toward Thea, who was panting her lungs out. “Thea, run ahead and regroup with the Angels!”

Thea stared at me wide-eyed.

“I know what they’re doing! Go to the big-ass arena!”

“Shit, fine!” Reluctantly, the little brat took a detour and disappeared out of sight.

Which left me and the Alt.

I looked over my shoulder and nearly got my head cut off for doing so.

“▃▎ ▍▎ ▔ ▅▋▄▄, ▂▎ ▍▐▕▄░▎ ░!”

“What the hell are you even saying?!” I shouted out of frustration. My legs were killing me. They were going to fall off at any second, but dammit all—like hell I was going to die to this fucking thing!

The arena was coming up. For once, I loved the designers. They’d constructed a glass dome around the arena to allow for natural lightning. Perfect. I charted a path: hopping between roofs, using the streetlamps as monkey-bars, all while avoiding death. Conveniently, a pressurized arc of wind flew past me and shattered the reinforced glass.

With one last [Impact], I dove through the hole and fell face-first into the middle of the arena.

There was no time to whine and groan. I saw a flicker of red and brown hair at nine o’clock. I scrambled toward them, resorting to crawling on all-fours. I tripped, banged my knees, and the sound of something landing behind me nearly induced a heart attack.

Someone grabbed my arm and threw me down a small staircase.

“Leo!” Firebrand yelled.

She pressed a button on the center console.

Machines came to life. A magic circle manifested on the arena-floor, spinning, spinning, spinning. The Alt looked down for a brief moment, then the truth dawned. By the time the dumbass realized what was happening, it was too late.

A barrier formed around the arena’s perimeter. A thick, transparent barrier that could survive almost anything you could throw at it. That’s what the Angels were planning: using First Wave itself to trap the Alt inside.

Like a pissed gorilla trapped in an enclosure, it rushed toward us. We shrieked like kids as it thankfully rammed against the hard barrier. It slashed, creating large wounds that thankfully regenerated. Despite seeing the regeneration for itself, it kept cutting.

“Holy shit,” Althea gasped, patting her chest. “I think I’m gonna piss myself.”

I climbed to my feet, leaning against a random table for support. I dropped the helmet to see better. The Alt was lashing at us, verbally and literally. Couldn’t understand what it was saying, though.

“Are we good?” I asked desperately.

Empress shrugged as she backed away from the console. “For a little bit, I think. I don’t know how much mana the barrier has left. We couldn’t find the crystal deposit.”

“What about teleporting?” Thea said. “That thing, can it teleport outta there?”

Firebrand wiped away the dirt and saliva on his lips. “I dunno. Something tells me teleporting isn’t one of its original abilities…”

As he said that, the Alt stopped attacking. Its arms went limp and it blankly stared—just like earlier. We released a collective breath as we observed the strange behavior; for a while, the Alternate stayed like that.

Staring. Quietly.

Until the Alt teleported a few meters backward. Then teleported to the east, the west, in the air, pressed against the barrier, sideways and upside down and diagonal—it was fucking teleporting a thousand times a second.

“We need to get the fuck out of here,” I said.

We ported from the arena and found an open space to wait for our inevitable demise, because honestly? Our chances of victory were getting slim. It didn’t seem to feel exhaustion. Any single one of those slashes could kill us, and as much as I hate to admit it, me and Thea were burdens. Empress and Firebrand had to prioritize our safety as well as killing the fucking thing.

“Empress!” I yelled. “Please tell me we have reinforcements!”

“They’re coming, and I don’t fucking know when!” she spat back, drawing her blade. “How’re you and your sister holding up?”

“Terrible!”

“Horrible!”

“Join the club!”

Firebrand held his greatsword out. “Don’t worry, Rector’s coming! We—!”

The Alt ported a dozen meters in front of us. As it had performed a thousand slashes on the barrier, it did the same here. Its swords were smears as they cut through the air. We were blasted by wind, by tremors, by the sounds of our sinking hearts. We’d seen what those swords could do: effortlessly going through concrete and metal like they were nothing.

And the swords stopped.

There weren’t any blade-arcs. No gouges along the ground. No eerie winds foreshadowing. Nothing. It was like the Alt was playing around with its swords like a little boy on Christmas.

We looked around and at each other to see if we weren’t going crazy. We weren’t. The Alt had abnormal powers. Take its random-ass teleporting from earlier as an example. Hell, a little while ago, it registered my [Shotgun] blasts minutes after I pulled the trigger—

Oh. Oh fuck.

“EVERYONE, MOVE!”

I grabbed Althea and ran for the nearest cover. Between the buildings, that’d do. I threw her there—

My ears deafened. My vision blurred. I couldn’t see or hear what happened, but I knew. The Alt’s wild flurry of attacks hadn’t registered in reality yet, and now it had. We barely had enough time to find somewhere safe—for my sister to find some cover, hopefully. She seemed unscathed, relatively-speaking, but her eyes went wide.

[PARTY STATUS]

INCAPACITATED: Alexander Shen

I fell to the ground.

Her eyes were still wide, and her mouth was wide open like she was screaming.

The back of my shirt was wet.

I blinked.

I opened my eyes and someone had their arms underneath my armpits, dragging me backwards. A thin trail of blood followed me.

I heard voices.

“—brand, get them outta here!”

“—gonna leave you here—!”

“—lex! C’mon, say—! Alex—!”

I guess… I guess something bad happened to me.

Just my luck.

Even through my blurry vision, I could see the Alt encroaching on us. We were probably too slow to run away. Like I said, me and Thea were burdens. If only I kept my emotions in check, huh?

Looks like you were right, Empress. You guys really were trying to help us all along… This was comeuppance.

I’ll make sure to apologize, either in Hell or in a hospital bed…

I closed my eyes—

“Golem!”

A massive rocky fist smashed the Alt, and as soon as the fist withdrew, magic flew over our heads.

That was the last thing I saw before exhaustion finally claimed me.

[Commission Error! Commission Error! Commission Error!]

[Event Commission “The █████████ Alternate” has been completed]

[No payment administered due to lack of registration]

Event Commission: The █████████ Alternate

Pay: N/A

Description: █████████ ██ ██████████ █████████ ████████████. █████████ ██ ███████ ███████████ ██████ ███████ Cosmic Disaster. ███████████ ██ ███████████ Alexander Shen. █████████ ███████ ████████ ████████. ██████████ ██ █████ ████ ███████ ████████████. ███ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ ███ ██████, extermination ██ ████ █████████ ██ necessary.