Chapter 6: Chaos Unleashed
Selena stood in the hospital room, glaring at the system’s initialization countdown. Twelve hours. Twelve fucking hours until it would be fully operational. She’d worked herself into the ground building this thing—attributes, skills, dungeons, quests—everything meticulously crafted to protect this world. Now, all she had to do was wait.
“This better be worth it,” she muttered, eyeing the timer. But then, a pulse—a dark, twisted surge of energy—rippled through her awareness, freezing her in place.
“What the hell…?”
She opened her interface, and her stomach dropped. A gate—an F-rank gate—was open. No, not just one. There was one in every major city, spilling creatures into the world before the system was online.
“No. No, no, no.” Rage flared as she realized exactly who was behind this. “Azrial, you fucking bastard.”
A low chuckle filled the room as Azrial materialized beside her, his face smug as hell. “Ah, my Little Architect,” he drawled, his tone dripping with mock innocence. “You seem… upset.”
“Upset?” She rounded on him, fury blazing. “You opened a goddamn gate before the system was ready! You set off multiple gates, and you know people aren’t prepared for this.”
Azrial raised an eyebrow, looking amused. “It’s only an F-rank, Selena. A few goblins, wolves, some bears. Nothing they can’t handle—right?”
Selena’s fists shook as she watched the chaos unfolding on the screen. “People have no idea what’s coming, you manipulative asshole. They’re defenseless, and you knew it.”
“Defenseless?” He smirked, gesturing toward the screen. “Look again, Little Architect.”
She tore her gaze from him and looked at the screen, where the scene was unfolding in a nightmare of citywide chaos. Goblins, wild animals, and low-level beasts poured out from the gates, flooding the streets. People were screaming, cars were skidding off the roads, and entire blocks were thrown into chaos.
In one city, police had already set up a perimeter around the gate, forming a desperate line to protect civilians. Gunfire cracked as officers unloaded their weapons into the swarm of goblins, trying to hold them back. But for every creature they dropped, more spilled out from the gate, relentless and bloodthirsty.
Around another gate, chaos erupted as the local military units moved in, tanks and armored vehicles rolling down the streets. Soldiers shouted orders, rifles trained on the creatures flooding the area. They fired in organized bursts, mowing down the goblins as quickly as they appeared, but it wasn’t enough. The creatures clawed at the tanks, climbing over vehicles, breaking through any defense that dared stand in their way.
“See?” Azrial murmured, sounding entirely too pleased with himself. “They’ve got guns, tanks, soldiers. They’ll be fine… or not.”
“Fine?” she spat, watching as a wave of goblins overwhelmed a line of police officers, dragging them down in a flurry of snarls and blood. “Guns aren’t enough against this!”
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“Perhaps they’re just not trying hard enough,” he replied, feigning a sigh.
She forced herself to ignore him, eyes fixed on the screen. In another city, news reports were streaming live, capturing the chaos on national television. Anchors shouted over each other, reporting the “unprecedented attack” while footage showed civilians scrambling to escape, trampling each other in the panic. Some people fought back, grabbing whatever they could find—metal pipes, kitchen knives, anything to fend off the creatures tearing through the streets.
“Goddamn it,” she muttered under her breath, her heart pounding as she watched helplessly.
Military helicopters circled the gates, machine guns blazing as they fired into the flood of creatures below. A line of soldiers armed with assault rifles fired in unison, trying to keep the creatures contained, but it was like trying to hold back a flood with a paper dam. In one shot, a wolf lunged at a soldier, dragging him to the ground as his fellow troops scrambled to pull it off.
Selena’s blood boiled. She wanted to do something, anything, but her hands were tied until the system was online. All she could do was watch the timer tick down—eleven and a half goddamn hours left, and it felt like torture.
Azrial’s voice was smooth, amused, as he watched the chaos unfold. “Look at them, scrambling, so fragile. It’s almost pathetic, really.”
She whirled on him, eyes blazing. “You’re the pathetic one, Azrial. Watching people suffer because you’re too much of a coward to create anything that actually helps.”
He didn’t even flinch, that smirk still on his face. “On the contrary, Little Architect, I have created something. I’ve brought them the gift of chaos. If your precious system can’t handle a few goblins, maybe it wasn’t worth building.”
“Chaos?” She scoffed, disgust twisting her face. “This isn’t chaos. It’s a slaughter, and you know it.”
Azrial only shrugged, clearly unbothered. “The strong will survive, and the weak… well, they’ll perish, won’t they? I’m simply giving nature a little nudge.”
Her gaze snapped back to the screen, where entire blocks were in flames. Civilians fought with whatever they could find. Some wielded hunting rifles, firing through broken windows at the creatures below. In one clip, a man armed with a shotgun stood on the roof of his car, blasting away at goblins climbing up after him. But he was losing ground, his face pale and desperate as he ran out of ammo.
Then she noticed something that made her stomach churn. Goblins were snatching women off the streets, dragging them kicking and screaming into alleyways and dark corners. Even from a distance, it was clear that their intentions were sickeningly vile. She felt the fury boil over as she watched, knowing exactly the horror those women were facing.
Around another gate, the military had set up barricades, armored vehicles forming a line as soldiers unloaded their clips into the oncoming horde. Selena watched as a group of soldiers tried to protect a group of civilians, ushering them behind a tank while a swarm of goblins lunged at them, tearing at their defenses. One soldier fell, screaming as a wolf dragged him down, his gun slipping from his hand.
“Just you wait,” she muttered, seething as she watched the timer tick down. “When the system’s live, they’ll have a fighting chance. And they’ll tear through your gates like tissue paper.”
Azrial chuckled, looking more entertained than ever. “If you say so. But until then, Little Architect, we’ll see how many of them last the night.”
She forced herself to turn back to the screen, focusing on every corner of the disaster unfolding before her. She watched civilians form makeshift barricades, piling up cars and debris to slow the creatures down. People fired out of windows, some groups of civilians holed up in buildings, barricading themselves in as goblins clawed at doors and windows.
A flicker of movement caught her eye, and she watched as a group of townspeople, clearly untrained, worked together to create a perimeter. They had everything from baseball bats to hunting rifles, forming a shaky line as they held off goblins advancing down the street. She couldn’t help the glimmer of satisfaction as they took down one goblin after another, determined to hold their ground.
Azrial tilted his head, watching her with a glint of curiosity. “Interesting. You seem rather… invested in these mortals.”
“Yeah, maybe because I’m not a sadistic bastard who enjoys watching people suffer.” She didn’t bother looking at him, her eyes glued to the screen. In the distance, she could see government helicopters hovering, broadcasting the carnage below. The country’s top officials were watching this nightmare unfold, and they looked as clueless as the rest of them.
“Look at them,” she murmured, mostly to herself, as she watched a man helping a wounded woman up the stairs of a nearby building. “They’re unprepared, but they’re not giving up.”
Azrial smirked. “Unprepared and doomed. That’s all I see.”
She shot him a look of pure venom. “That’s because you don’t get it, Azrial. These people have more strength than you’ll ever understand. And when the system’s live, they’ll make you wish you’d never opened these gates.”
He simply laughed, his voice dark and taunting. “Oh, Little Architect, I look forward to it. But for now…” He gestured at the screen, where the creatures continued to pour out, unchecked and relentless. “You have eleven hours. Let’s see who survives.”
She clenched her fists, trying to tune him out as she focused on the screen, feeling her anger burn hotter with every second. The gates were spreading chaos across every city, and all she could do was watch as the military and civilians fought, unprepared but refusing to back down.
A group of soldiers took up position on a rooftop, unloading their clips into the horde below. Civilians gathered on the street below, armed with whatever they could find, forming a line of defense as goblins charged. Selena’s heart pounded, rage and helplessness mixing in a way that left her shaking.