Alex threw himself forward, bringing himself out of the sword''s path and driving his shoulder into Jackson''s stomach with enough force to knock the air from his lungs. The man''s grip cked and he yanked his hand free, throwing himself back as the sword carved through the air where he''d been an instant before.


    "Glint!" Alex took several steps back to put distance between himself and Jackson.


    The air shattered.


    ire darted for Jackson''s back, but he spun and brought his sword down on nothing. A wave of gray light ripped out in a crescent and ire was forced to dive to safety to avoid getting hit by it.


    Glint stepped out onto the grass beside Alex, but Jackson didn''t wait for the Shardwalker. He lunged for Alex, ripples of faint silver obscuring his body.


    "Block him!" Alex yelled.


    Glint dove, but Jackson held a hand toward him and liquid metal flowed out from his pouch to form a disk in the air. A loud, shrill scrape rang out as the Shardwalker''s ws dragged across rippling shield.


    The swordsman shoved Glint to the side and leapt at Alex again. Alex rolled to the side and the sword bit into the ground where his head had been.


    "The hell is your problem?" Alex yelled as Jackson bore down on him, not giving him a chance to stand back up.


    Jackson swung his de again and Alex thrust his legs out, driving his feet into Jackson''s chest and throwing him back.


    "Kill him! Avoid his attacks," Alex ordered as he leapt back to his feet. Jackson sent two more blurred des of silver whipping out for ire and Glint.


    This time, they weren''t caught off guard. ire rolled beneath his attack and shot back to her feet, only missing half a second. Glint dodged out of the way as well and leapt, aiming totch onto his face. Jackson cursed and dove — not out of the way, but toward Alex.


    The hell is this guy''s problem?


    Alex jumped back, avoiding Jackson''s sword as it whistled through the air where his feet had been. He grinned. "Missed me, asshole."


    "Stop running!" Jackson snarled, lunging up, and sending a wave of energy at Alex.


    He flung himself to the side, toward ire and Glint, but Jackson''s hand shot out and grabbed his foot. Alex rolled to the side and the silver sword drove into the ground, scraping past his side.


    Glint leapt at Jackson, taking advantage of what should have been an opening in his defenses. The swordsman''s de vanished from the ground and reformed in his hand, pointed straight at the Shardwalker.


    In the air, Glint could do nothing to avoid the weapon. It drove through his chest and Jackson flicked him free, sending the monster''s corpse rolling across the ground, already transforming into a stream of energy. In the same motion, Jackson brought his sword up to defend himself from ire.


    Her hands mmed into the de with a loud ng.


    "Stand down, idiot girl. You''re traveling with an Anomaly—"


    The rest of Jackson''s sentence was lost in a muffled, wheezing gasp. He took a step back, eyes wide, staring down to find Alex''s palm pressed to his chest.


    Alex smiled up at Jackson.


    Hot blood bubbled up from the wound and dripped down his fingers. He twisted his hand, then yanked it back, taking the jagged mirror shard sprouting from it with him. Lifeblood spurted from the weeping hole in the would-be killer''s chest.


    Jackson''s mouth worked as he pressed his hand to the weeping wound in his chest. A whistling cough slipped free from his lips and flecks of blood sttered across his shirt. He crumpled.


    ire stepped forward and grabbed Jackson by the arms before he could hit the ground. He didn''t even get a chance to resist before she bit down on the side of his neck, fangs puncturing his skin with a wet snik. A dull red light burned behind her eyes as she seemed to inhale.


    Anyst words that Jackson may have had were lost in a raspy wheeze. The wound on his chest only got a few more seconds to weep before ire had drained every single drop of blood from his body.


    A rush of energy flooded into Alex and he drew in a deep breath, suppressing a shudder. His heart still hammered with adrenaline at the unexpected attack — but the uneasy feeling was gone. Before he could wonder what had caused it, the System''s glowing words manifested themselves in the air before him.


    Anomaly in.


    That was it. Two words, but with just those two words, Alex found himself with even more questions.


    Queasiness worked into Alex''s stomach as he watched Jackson''s skin wither and dry. ire dropped the man''s drained body to the ground, where itnded with a thump.


    "Alex! Are you okay?"


    The question was an interesting one. He hadn''t been injured, but he and ire had just killed a man. Not a monster. A man.


    For several long seconds, he stared at the corpse. Bile welled in his throat. Alex didn''t let ite up. His eyes thinned. This was life now. Jackson hade for him first. He hadn''t set out to kill someone, but he wasn''t about toy his life down for a murderer.


    He''d long sincee to terms with the fact that surviving in an apocalypse would probably involve having to fight to defend himself. He''d seen people die in the days leading up to the System''s arrival, though thankfully none of them had been his friends.


    The warning the world had gotten of the System''s approach had made sure everyone knew what wasing. He''de to terms with the understanding that killing and survival would be one and the same, but actually doing it was different.


    Alex blew out a slow breath. Perhaps there was something seriously broken in his head, or perhaps he''d just grown resigned long before, but when he looked back at Jackson''s body, he felt nothing.


    "Yeah," Alex said with a curt nod. "I''m fine."


    His gaze raised back to ire. He did a double take. Her eyes glowed a faint crimson. Her fangs had lengthened to twice their original length. Not to be outdone, the rest of her teeth had lengthened and grown points as well.


    ire''s nails had sharpened into pointed ws, causing the ng that had rang out when she''d blocked Jackson''s sword to make considerably more sense.


    "What?" ire asked. She didn''t seem particrly bothered by Jackson''s death.


    "What the hell happened to you?"


    "Transformed. I had enough blood to work with, but transforming stalled me for a little while. It''s kind of difficult." ire''s body returned to its normal form and she shook her hands off. "I don''t want to stay like that for too long. It uses up a lot of energy and blood. Are you sure you''re okay? You''re injured."


    She jerked her chin to Alex''s side and he nced down. A thin line of blood ran along his side and his shirt had been cut. He touched the wound gingerly. "Nah. It''s fine. Not too deep. He missed."


    "Good," ire said. "Wasting blood is bad. You going to put it back in?"


    "Put it back — what? That''s not how it works."


    "Hey, I was just asking. I don''t know how humans work. You''re telling me you can''t even eat your own blood? It would just put it back into your body, wouldn''t it?"


    "I mean… I guess. That''s not really how it works, but strictly technically speaking you aren''t wrong."


    ire sent him a nk stare. "All I''m getting from this is that you aren''t eating it."


    Alex sighed and lifted his shirt. "Go ahead. Do you never get full?"


    She made short work of the blood before leaning back and giving him a grateful nod. "No. It also gives me some backup energy to work with if we get attacked again. But hey, at least now we know to trust when you feel weird. You''ve got a sixth sense or something."


    Alex nodded and dropped his shirt again as a breeze prickled against his chest. "I suppose we do. It''s gone now. Did you get anything from killing him?"


    "Just some energy. You? A soul for Glint?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Alex nced over at Jackson''s body. He hadn''t expected to find much, but he was surprised to see a flickering me smoldering above the drained corpse. He pulled his Spatial Mirror from its spot at his side and trudged over, grabbing the me and putting it in before checking his stores.


    Spatial Mirror


    Stored Energy:


    Low-Mid Novice Grade (Ent Harvester) - 1


    Low-Mid Novice Grade (Human) - 1


    Bonded Creature: Shardwalker (Regenerating)


    "Yeah. I got something pretty good. Another Low-Mid Novice Grade energy. Glint will eat well when hees back," Alex said. ire hadn''t gotten a message from the System about killing Jackson, then. That meant it was probably unique to him, or more urately, his Anomaly Title.


    There are more people that got gged as Anomalies, then. I wish I knew if Jackson also fell into the Mirronds and somehow escaped or if there''s a different way to get the title.


    He rifled through Jackson''s pockets in search of anything useful. It was his first time looting a dead man, and he couldn''t say it was particrly enjoyable — though it certainly didn''t help that Jackson barely had anything worthwhile.


    There were a few crumpled dors and a handful of coins that Alex stuffed into his pockets as well as Jackson''s old water bottle. He crushed the bottle and stuffed it into his other pocket before rising again.


    "Have you ever heard of something called an Anomaly?" Alex asked. He wasn''t certain he wanted to share every detail of his abilities or titles, but he needed information and ire had more than proven that they were on the same side by this point — and Jackson had already blown his cover.


    "No," ire said. "Jackson called you one right at the end there, didn''t he?"


    "The System named me an Anomaly after I fell into the Mirronds," Alex said. He looked down at Jackson''s body. With all the belongings he had on him, Alex found it slightly hard to believe that he''d been traveling in the same ce that he had.


    "How did he bleeding know?" ire asked, not even slightly concerned with the revtion. It probably didn''t mean much more to her than it meant to him, given she only had around six days more experience with the System than he did.


    "He was an Anomaly as well, and I think we''ve got some form of way to detect each other when we get close."


    "The weird feeling was more than a random sixth sense, then?"


    Alex nodded. "The System registered me killing an Anomaly."


    ire''s eyes lit up. "Oh. Like getting a title or something? If there''s any effect to your soul, then it''ll show up the next time you meditate."


    Along with my rewards for clearing the trial.


    "I suppose we''ll find out," Alex said. Thest of the adrenaline from the fight seeped away, leaving him empty. "I kind of want to go see what kinds of monsters are around here."


    "Seriously? Take a break. Shouldn''t we at least check out the town and get some food? You need to eat, don''t you?"


    Alex scrunched his nose. "That does sound good, but we should be careful. I don''t know much about this world anymore. I''ve got no idea where we are or if people have some way to identify us. You definitely don''t lookpletely human, but you can pass if you pretend you''re wearing makeup."


    "Makeup?"


    "It''s like paint you put on your face," Alex said, gesturing vaguely to her lips. "Humans don''t have ck lips. Also, most of us aren''t nearly that pale."


    "Thanks."


    "That wasn''t — well, I suppose it''s fine to take it as apliment. Exining how you lookter might be a pain since I don''t imagine there''s just makeup lying around everywhere, but we''ll be fine for today. Let''s do like you said and go check the town out. I''m going to need food sooner rather thanter."


    ire nodded in agreement. "Yeah. What kind of food do humans eat anyway? I swear I''ve seen you guys eat everything, but you aren''t eating the grass. Where do you draw the line?"


    "My preferred diet is pizza and three-dor chicken wings, but I get the feeling that those might not be so essible anymore," Alex muttered. "We can eat pretty much anything with nutritional value."


    "So pizza and chicken wings are things with high amounts of nutritional value for humans?"


    "Er… not really. They taste good, though." Alex cleared his throat. "Actually, that''s not really true either. They''re just cheap when you buy them frozen from the grocery store."


    A loud hum ripped through the air, biting into Alex''s ears like a striking snake. He stumbled and spun in search of an attacker. ire did the same, pressing her back to his as they tried to figure out where the sound wasing from.


    "The hell is that?" Alex hissed.


    "I don''t know," ire replied. "I hear it as well, though."


    Before Alex could ask what she was talking about, the air before him split with golden light.


    Local Announcement for Subsector 735


    As Part [2/3] of the System''s continued initialization, a number of settlements in this subsector have been selected to face increased amounts of monster aggression. This effect willst for 24 hours and will initialize in 2 days.


    Local Leaderboards will activate at the start of this event and popte ording to individual performance.


    A beam of dim white energy erupted from the center of the town in front of them and carved up into the clouds. In the distance, Alex spotted another three lights appear. Tingles raced down his back.


    "I guess that answers the question of what ces got selected," ire said dryly.


    "Yup."


    "Guess that leaves us with two options. The message implied some settlements didn''t get selected, and this is definitely going to be dangerous. We could go find one of them… or we could try to stick it out here." ire nced over at Alex, but her tone made it clear she knew the question was pointless. "With challengees reward, eh?"


    Alex grinned. He didn''t even have to answer. The two of them started down the hill for the town. It looked like they were going to need some backup, and he quite liked the sound of a Leaderboard.


    After all, it''s not going to be easy to get to the top, is it? And, if that''s the case… there''s a reward waiting for me.