System—Restricted Question Engaged. Query: Full weakness breakdown of Unknown Entity [Rfjitsis Hjokrtis] Classification: Composite Parasite / Hivemind / Speed Regenerator Threat Class: Tier 3 Boss (Ascendant Potential flagged)

Analysing... Analysing...

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Core Physical Weaknesses

Slicing/Slashing

Blunt Force (Jointed)

High-Frequency Vibration

Fire (Sustained)

Notable Weak Point:

Joint Attachments — arms and legs loosely bound by vine-tendon constructs. Severance disables limbs.

Vital Core Exposure: Thoracic Root Mass pulses visibly when summoning or repairing. Vulnerable for 1.3–2.1 seconds during activation surge.

Sensory Control Node located beneath facial mask. Not central to survival, but disruption causes navigational error.

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Cognitive & Motivational Drivers:

Current Directive: Entity is operating under external command to retrieve live human subjects to an extradimensional origin point.

Humans are not hunted for consumption.

Abduction priority overrides self-preservation below 28% structural integrity.

Target prioritization favours powers it hasn't seen before.

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Secondary Threats & Spawn Mechanism

Ability: Biomass Conversion—

• • •

Tanya cut it off there as the focus moved from the Boss itself to the logistics of the creatures it was raising. Information on them would be irrelevant if she could get rid of the Boss bringing them back. She was already pulling the bookcase aside.

"Ishita, I need to be close to it to make something strong enough. Everyone needs to stay up."

Ishita had Fahad on her back again, although he was holding on more consciously now. She nodded, hoisting Fahad higher up her back. "I'll see how much I can heal them."

Tanya's hand stayed on the door handle. She made direct eye contact. "And that includes you. Do not overdo it. Do not go down with them."

Fahad's grip tightened on her sari.

"I won't," she promised.

Tanya swung the door open and they were back out in the chaos.

The moment they left the shop they were mobbed with the smaller monsters.

"Oh fuck!" Tanya yelled as she started swinging her sword left and right in constant killing blows. There was no space for pushing them back or avoiding cutting them up so they couldn't respawn. Her battery pack and tattoo gun thumped against her arm. She inhaled with each left swing and exhaled with each right one, trying to get into a rhythm.

Tanya felt something slippery under her feet and looked down. It was a ripped section of a bin bag. Her breath caught in her throat. That's why there were so many. All of the bagged monster sludge had been moved outside at some point and was just outside the shop.

"This is takin' too long!" Tanya yelled over the din. She stretched on her toes to see the others but too many of the spindly plant-like monsters were blocking her way. They were stranger with each iteration, some now combined together in strange conjoined twin formations or others having formed without certain limbs entirely.

"Duck!" Ishita yelled.

Tanya both ducked and turned, noticing that she'd put the dazed Fahad down between their backs. She gripped his small body into her own, away from the ever-reaching clawed hands around them. Ishita spun in a circle with the fence post outstretched, hitting all of the monsters away in one go with enough force that they seemed to liquefy on impact and splatter onto whatever monster was behind them. She did a few rounds of this, spinning and spinning until Tanya could no longer feel the gripping claws on her back and Ishita's breathing was louder than their snarling.

Standing upright, Tanya surveyed the battle. More monsters were coming but Ishita had taken out the majority on their side for now. Mrs Eceer had most of the Boss's attention, drawing some sort of trap circuit around the boss. She couldn't jump out of the way of one shot so a plate-sized barrier appeared above her head and she groaned, clutching her head. It shattered from a single impact. She continued limping on. Tanya was tempted to run in and help but she realised her positioning was less scary than at first glance. None of the smaller monsters got near or they'd be turned to sludge by the boss's flailing limbs, so she was only defending the one.

Olena was punching monsters with her cannon fist, seeming to have run out of ammo or whatever her cannon charged on. She had a busted lip and bruises all over but she was fighting.

Olena noticed her eye contact and yelled, "Help Boris!"

Tanya scanned the street for Boris. He was still down underneath Fifi. His body wasn't in any danger due to her, but without them, the team was struggling. Tanya had never seen Fifi like this before. Any trace of the dog she was before was gone. She stalked around the body with a stomach protruding like a snake that had just eaten a mouse. Her two mouths both opened so far that she looked like an alien mini boss. Each howl was enough to blow the nearest monster to bits. It sounded more like metal grinding together than a noise an animal could make.

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Tanya turned to Ishita but she was already locked on.

Ishita pushed Fahad towards Tanya with a hand on his shoulder, her eyes never leaving the slither of Boris's button-down shirt and flopped arm that could be seen from under Fifi's huge, straining belly.

Ishita didn't wait for a plan. Her sandals splashed in the monster muck as she sprinted toward Fifi, ducking low beneath the arch of her double maws. Fifi let out a low growl but didn't stop her. Ishita held up her hands, walking the last few feet much slower. Then she dropped to her knees beside Boris.

Tanya shoved Fahad gently behind her, breathing hard as she turned to keep the space clear. She watched Ishita press both hands into Boris's ribs. Ishita keeled over him, keeping her hands on either side of her ribs and shaking. Boris jerked then coughed, loud and hoarse.

"Oi! He's movin'!" Tanya shouted, her voice cutting through the street like a blade.

Ishita didn't look up. "Not for long if we don't clear him space." She sounded pained.

Tanya skidded around the edge of their circle, blade out. "I asked one of them questions!" she shouted to the others, preparing her sword in case something new turned on her from the noise. "Got us a cheat sheet!"

A monster lunged and she caught it in the gut mid-shout, yanking her sword free with a grunt. "Its bloody joints are weak! Yank a limb and it'll come off like a doll's arm!"

"Noted!" Olena yelled from across the street. Her cannon made a clunking sound as a section of metal clattered to the ground. "Shit!" One of them clawed her but she pulled it back together and walloped it with her remaining cannon modules.

"Middle of its chest—when it's summonin' or fixin' itself—glows like a rave light. That's your moment!" Tanya continued.

Mrs Eceer glanced back, blood crusting down one cheek. She was still finishing some sort of trap. "How long?"

"Under two seconds!" Tanya ducked under a swipe and slammed her hilt into the base of the creature's mask. "An' it ain't tryin' to eat us—it's tryin' to take us somewhere!"

There was a pause. Even the fighting around them seemed to stutter for a breath. The implications hung there.

Ishita helped Boris to his feet, steadying him. He was pale and stiff, but his eyes were alert now. Fifi let out a low snarl and stalked forward again. Tanya could see his mouth moving but couldn't hear what he said to Ishita.

Tanya felt a flicker of relief, then a rush of fear. The battery pack on her hip clunked against her hip.

The boss roared, limbs flailing as Mrs Eceer ducked behind a car. One of its arms sagged unnaturally—the team was listening. The vine tendon had been severed.

But they were still falling behind.

Tanya backed up, raising her hand toward Ishita. "I need to draw big—I mean real big—I need you to do that thing."

Ishita's eyes widened. "Okay."

"Not now. Just be ready."

Ishita gave a short nod.

Tanya spun and ran. She dashed for the far side of the road, ducking under a falling lamppost with a breathless curse. The monster's claw came down just behind her, splitting the tarmac like butter. She didn't look back.

"God, I wish I had Assistant," Tanya muttered, gripping the gun's handle hard enough her knuckles went white. "Could use your creepy little fingers right about now."

"I need someone to back me whilst I work out what to design and Ishita does her thing," Tanya called again to the crowd as she slashed another vine-like monster.

"I can," Fahad whispered.

Tanya spun on her heel to look at him. His cheeks were rosier than before and he was in a defensive stance rather than just holding onto Tanya for protection.

"I unlocked level 3," he said with a small smile. "I picked my thing and I can teleport with you now."

"Babu, are you sure?' Ishita asked.

"Yes," he insisted.

Tanya grabbed his shoulder and shoved him into a crouch, stabbing something over his head. She pulled him up again. "You have enough juice for it? Ishita will kill me if you overdo it and I'll kill you if ya die bein' stupid, yeah?"

Fahad giggled but the exhaustion was clear on his face. "They've gone up again a bit now."

Tanya held Fahad's hand and the tattoo menu flickered into view—bright and urgent, rows and rows of symbols stretching in a shifting grid across her sightline like luminous ink pressed against the back of her eyes.

She moved through them fast.

A revolver, etched across a man's forearm with his surname coiled around the barrel. A woman's championship fencing sword, clean and sleek. A double-headed eagle clutching flames—looked gorgeous on that lad's back, but she remembered him squirming while she shaded it in, laughing about how he'd never win a fight but he liked looking like he could. She ruled them out quickly. If she was going to kill it, she'd need something undeniable.

She passed by a biker's dragon that curled like smoke up his ribs. A pair of dice a girl got for her dead brother. A bat covered in lipstick kisses. So many things she couldn't put up against a Boss.

How do we fuckin' take this thing out of the world—

Her breath hitched when she saw it.

Midway through a row. It was a loose, layered portal, all done in one long stroke. It spilled outwards like a sinkhole, never quite finishing itself.

Her stomach dropped.

"I did that for that goth lad," she murmured. "God, what was his name... Always had his hoodie up. Came in quiet, left quieter. Said he wanted a portal on his wrist 'cause it sounded cool.'" She blinked hard, adrenaline spiking.

She remembered laughing. Said, "What, like Narnia or somthin'?" He just shrugged.

He never came back.

Back then it was just ink. Just a vibe. A fantasy some sad boy wanted to carry around.

But now—here it was, glowing at her like it had always meant something. Her fingers hovered above it.

What if it did work?

She clicked on it and the world slowed down. It was like A Blink of an Eye realised she'd found the focus and considered this the start of the process. She pulled out a sharpie, fiddling it between her fingers as she read. The alcoholic smell filled her nostrils.

• • •

Name: Escape Wielder: Kai Taylor Type: Tool Level: 1

Attributes

Efficiency: 15 Absorption: 3 Resilience: 10

Abilities

Dimensional Tear Forms a temporary rift between two marked points. Requires direct contact with both locations within a 24-hour window.

• • •

She didn't need a weapon. She didn't need a creature. She didn't need another fight. She needed this monster gone.

This one allowed for two to be made that are connected. Tanya didn't have time for that. Hers would need to send it somewhere else instantly.

What if it sent it back to its own world...

She opened her newly merged Ability.

• • •

The Magic Touch

Level 1

Your tattoos are more than art—they are execution. By shaping intent at the point of creation, you ensure your tattoos manifest exactly as imagined. Effects created this way scale with the clarity of the Wielder's purpose, and your own attunement to their need.

• • •

She knew something about this would be hard—she was back to level one with a brand new Ability after all. However, that wording suggested she could manifest what she imagined. She'd just have to be specific and hope she could handle whatever this new Ability threw at her.

She dragged in a breath, and something inside her locked into place.

The floor rumbled beneath her.

The monster's core flared with bioluminescent light. A fresh surge of monsters bloomed at its feet. Her allies were panting and bleeding. Mrs Eceer had a new nasty bruise, all the way down one side of her face. Her eye was swollen shut. Olena was on her knees as she spat blood against the tarmac, Boris and Fifi circling around her, both limping.

Tanya gritted her teeth. "You wanna take us through a portal, mate?" she growled, stepping towards the monster. "Alright then. Let's have a portal."

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