Rin sprinted through the wreckage-strewn streets, his body battered and bruised from the fight with the Boss-Class Rift Beast. But there was no time to recover. The sky above Arcadia City still swirled with the ominous glow of the dimensional rift, and the air hummed with the presence of more creatures waiting to descend.
Rin's mind raced. He had no idea how to close a rift. The top Hunters had always been the ones to handle that kind of task. But there were no Hunters here now—just him.
He glanced at the notifications that still hovered in front of him.
**Level: 2
Abilities: Energy Strike (Level 1), Force Shield (Level 1), Blink Step (Level 1), Energy Burst (Level 1)**
*Blink Step?* Rin thought, focusing on the ability. He hadn't had time to test it yet, but the name gave him a good idea of what it could do. If he could use it to get up to the rift, maybe—just maybe—he could find a way to close it from within.
The ground trembled as another Rift Beast, smaller but fast, leaped out of the portal. Its many legs scuttled across the ground, its body sleek and spider-like. Rin gritted his teeth and prepared for the fight, but just as the creature lunged at him, he activated **Blink Step**.
The world blurred around him. For an instant, it felt like he had moved faster than light itself, skipping through space in the blink of an eye. He reappeared several feet away, leaving the creature's attack to slam into the ground where he had been standing.
Rin's eyes widened in shock. He hadn't expected the ability to be so quick, so effortless. But he didn't have time to marvel at it. The rift was his target, and it was now or never.
With another **Blink Step**, Rin closed the distance to the nearest building. He scaled the crumbling structure, using the jagged edges of broken windows and debris for leverage. As he reached the rooftop, his eyes locked onto the rift above him.
*It's huge,* he realized. Up close, the portal was even more terrifying, a swirling vortex of chaotic energy, crackling with lightning and pure magic. The air around it felt heavy, oppressive, as if the rift was a wound in reality itself.
Rin took a deep breath, his heart pounding in his chest. *I have no idea what I'm doing,* he thought, but he couldn't back down now.
He activated **Blink Step** one more time, and the world blurred again as he shot upward, directly toward the rift. For a split second, he feared he would miss—but then he felt the pull of the rift's energy grabbing hold of him, dragging him in.
The world around him twisted, and Rin plunged into the rift.
---
The first thing Rin noticed was the cold. It was a bone-deep chill that seemed to seep into his very soul. The world inside the rift was dark, almost otherworldly, like a void filled with swirling mist and distant echoes. Strange, floating islands of rock drifted aimlessly, connected by thin bridges of light.
His skin prickled with unease. It was like stepping into a place that shouldn't exist, a place that defied the natural order of the world.
Rin hovered in midair, as if gravity had lost its hold on him. He looked around, trying to make sense of his surroundings. Up ahead, he saw something—a massive structure that seemed to pulse with energy. It was anchored to the rift itself, a monolithic gate covered in strange, ancient runes.
*That has to be the source,* Rin thought, his eyes narrowing. If he could destroy it, maybe it would destabilize the rift enough to close it.
But he wasn't alone.
From the shadows of the floating islands, figures began to emerge. Humanoid in shape, but twisted, with dark, flickering auras that obscured their faces. They moved like shadows, silently gliding through the mist toward him.
Rin's pulse quickened. He was no stranger to the monsters that came through rifts, but these things—they weren't just mindless beasts. There was something intelligent, something sinister about them.
One of the shadowy figures raised a hand, and Rin barely had time to react before a bolt of dark energy shot toward him. He dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack, and retaliated with an **Energy Strike**. The blast of light collided with the figure, but instead of being destroyed, it simply absorbed the impact, its form shimmering as if made of smoke.
*These things aren't like the Rift Beasts from before. They're stronger. Smarter.*
Rin gritted his teeth and charged forward, relying on **Blink Step** to outmaneuver the shadowy figures. He appeared behind one of them, summoning the energy for another strike. This time, instead of a simple blast, he focused the power into his fist, channeling it into a condensed sphere of light.
"Let's see how you handle this," Rin muttered, and he unleashed **Energy Burst** at point-blank range.
The figure recoiled, its form flickering violently before it disintegrated into nothingness. Rin's chest heaved as he wiped sweat from his brow, but there was no time to rest. The other figures were still closing in, and more were emerging from the shadows.
He needed to destroy the gate—and fast.
Rin summoned every bit of energy he had left, pushing his body to its limits. With a burst of speed, he Blinked across the floating platforms, dodging attacks and weaving through the maze of islands. The gate was just ahead, its dark presence looming over the void.
As he neared it, something shifted in the air. A powerful aura, different from the shadowy figures, washed over him. Rin froze, dread creeping up his spine.
A new figure emerged from the darkness, taller and more imposing than the others. Its form was still obscured, but Rin could feel the malice radiating from it. The thing raised a hand, and the entire rift seemed to pulse in response.
Rin's eyes widened as a notification flashed before him:
**Boss-Class Entity Detected: Warden of the Rift
Level: ???**
"Great," Rin muttered, his throat dry. "Another boss."
But this time, there was no running. If he didn't stop this Warden, the rift would never close—and the city would be doomed.
Taking a deep breath, Rin prepared himself for the fight of his life.
- -