Chapter 5: Zero Hour and the First Wave

[System Alert: Crimson Rain Initiated.]

[Global Atmospheric Mutagen Concentration: 12%. Increasing Rapidly.]

[Ambient Temperature: -18°C and Falling.]

The blood-red sky outside Blackwood Ridge cracked open.

Thick, viscous drops of crimson liquid began to pelt the titanium perimeter wall, sizzling softly as they made contact with the icy metal. In the city three hundred miles away, the CCTV feeds displayed absolute, unadulterated pandemonium.

The red rain didn't just freeze the streets—it carried the ancient primordial virus.

On the main central monitor, Seraphina watched a crowd of frantic commuters huddled beneath a glass bus shelter. A man fell to his knees, clutching his throat as thick, black veins erupted across his neck. Seconds later, his eyes turned milky white, his jaw unhinged with a sickening CRACK, and he lunged at the woman standing beside him, tearing into her throat with demonic, superhuman strength.

Screams echoed through the muted audio feeds. Cars crashed into storefronts. Power grids across the metropolis flickered violently before plunging entire city blocks into pitch blackness.

Inside her climate-controlled luxury suite, the floor heating hummed at a comfortable 24°C. Seraphina swirled the red wine in her glass, her dark eyes completely vacant of pity.

[Ding!]

[World Extinction Event "Crimson Frost" Officially Triggered!]

[System Feature Unlocked: Global Karmic Tracking & Base Command Network.]

[Current Fortress Structural Integrity: 100%.]

Suddenly, a localized emergency transmission popped up on her secondary monitor. It was an encrypted signal originating from the regional police holding facility in the central district—the exact prison where Julian Hayes was locked away.

Seraphina tapped the screen, bringing up the jail's internal camera feed, which her system effortlessly hijacked.

The prison was in total chaos. Emergency red lights flashed against blood-splattered concrete walls. Guards had abandoned their posts, leaving rows of locked cell blocks filled with screaming inmates.

In Cell 104, Julian was cowering under a thin, threadbare blanket, clutching his broken jaw as the sub-zero draft whistled through the high barred window. On the floor just outside his cell door, a guard who had collapsed five minutes earlier suddenly jerked upright.

The guard’s spine snapped backward at an unnatural angle. He slowly turned toward Julian’s cell, his jaw dripping with black, mutated sludge.

"N-No... stay back!" Julian’s terrified voice leaked through the audio receiver. He scrambled backward until his spine slammed against the freezing concrete wall, weeping in sheer terror. "Someone help me! Seraphina! SERAPHINA!"

[Ding!]

[Karma Reversal Triggered!]

[Primary Antagonist "Julian Hayes" Experiencing Absolute Mortal Terror.]

[Reward: +500 Spatial Energy Points (SEP)!]

Seraphina leaned back into her leather armchair, enjoying the show. "Cry louder, Julian. Nobody is coming."

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

A sharp, high-pitched proximity alarm suddenly cut through the room, overriding the CCTV displays!

The central holographic radar map of Blackwood Ridge flashed bright yellow, illuminating the 1,000-meter outer perimeter of her mountain base.

[Warning! Sovereign Spatial Domain Alert!]

[Multiple Biological Signatures Detected Entering the 1,000-Meter Outer Perimeter!]

Seraphina’s eyes narrowed. Already? The red rain only started two hours ago.

She swiped her hand, pulling up the high-definition night-vision cameras mounted on the outer titanium perimeter wall.

Navigating through the heavy snowfall and crimson mist at the base of the mountain were three heavy off-road SUVs. The vehicles were battered, covered in blood, and driving at reckless speeds, plowing straight through the barricades toward the mountain's private access road.

[Target Identification Complete:]

[Lead Vehicle: Tactical Armored SUV.]

[Occupants: 12 Heavily Armed Mercenaries belonging to the 'Black Viper' Private Security Firm, accompanied by regional high-ranking oligarchs.]

Through the long-range thermal camera, Seraphina spotted a familiar face in the passenger seat of the lead vehicle—Marcus Sterling, her estranged, greedy uncle who had sold out her parents' company shares to foreign buyers three years ago.

Beside him sat a shivering, frantic girl wrapped in a dirty mink coat—Chloe.

"Uncle Marcus... Chloe..." Seraphina’s lips curved into a razor-sharp, lethal smile. "I wondered where you fled when the city collapsed. You actually remembered my mountain retreat."

Over the heavy perimeter loudspeakers at the outer gate, Marcus’s booming, arrogant voice echoed through the comms channel, crisp and clear inside Seraphina's control room:

"Seraphina! Open the blasted titanium gate right now! I know you’re inside! We brought private security and high-grade clearance codes! The city is dead, but with my corporate connections and your fortress, we can rule this region! Open the airlock before I order my men to breach the perimeter!"

In the background, Chloe’s whining voice screeched through the speaker: "Seraphina, you selfish bitch! Give me your coat and let us in! It’s freezing out here!"

Seraphina didn't bother speaking into the microphone. She simply watched the thermal signatures on her display.

The twelve mercenaries stepped out of the vehicles, raising heavy anti-material explosive charges toward the reinforced titanium blast gate.

[System Alert: Unauthorized Breach Attempt Detected.]

[Deploy Base Defense Systems?]

"Deploy automated sentry turrets," Seraphina commanded softly. "Let them know what true despair feels like."

CLACK-CLACK-CLACK!

Concealed panels along the 15-meter titanium wall slid open. Six dual-barrel 30mm automated Vulcan cannons rose from the battlements, their laser-sighting grids locking directly onto the mercenaries and the two Sterling family members below.

Before the mercenaries could even prime their explosive charges, the night sky lit up with blinding muzzle flashes!

RAT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-TAT!

Heavy armor-piercing rounds shredded the lead SUV in a fraction of a second, exploding the gas tank and turning five mercenaries into bloody mist instantly! Marcus screamed as shrapnel tore through his shoulder, dragging Chloe behind the burning wreckage as continuous heavy fire chewed the frozen earth into pieces!

"FALL BACK! FALL BACK! IT'S AN AUTOMATED KILL ZONE!" the mercenary captain screamed over the gunfire, scrambling toward the remaining vehicle.

Seraphina watched the carnage with cold amusement. "Running away so soon? You came all this way."

She stood up from her chair and lightly tapped her left middle finger. The obsidian ring hummed, wrapping her body in a shimmering aura of violet spatial gravity.

ZIP!

In a flash of distorted space, Seraphina vanished from her master suite, instantly stepping out onto the high observation deck overlooking the icy battleground below.

The biting -18°C wind whipped past her dark hair, but her Tier 3 body didn't feel a fraction of the cold.

Down below, Marcus and Chloe were crawling through the snow, bleeding and weeping, while the surviving three mercenaries raised their rifles toward the observation deck, spotting her figure standing high above them in the crimson moonlight.

"THERE SHE IS! KILL HER AND GET THE ACCESS CODES!" the captain roared, opening fire!

BANG! BANG! BANG!

A hail of high-caliber rifle rounds screamed through the air, flying straight toward Seraphina’s chest!

Seraphina didn't dodge. She didn't even blink.

She casually raised her right hand and lightly flicked her wrist.

BOOM!

A 50-meter wide, invisible Spatial Shield materialized in mid-air!

The incoming rifle bullets slammed into the violet barrier, flattening like soft lead foil before dropping harmlessly into the snow.

The mercenaries froze, their eyes bulging in utter disbelief. "W-What the hell is she?! She stopped bullets with her naked hand?!"

Seraphina looked down at them from the ledge, her eyes burning with an ancient, terrifying violet radiance.

"My fortress isn't a charity shelter," her voice echoed across the frozen valley like a divine decree. "It's your graveyard."

She extended her hand, preparing to crush the remaining intruders with spatial gravity—

ROAR!!!!!!

A deafening, earth-shattering roar suddenly echoed from the deep forest at the base of Blackwood Ridge!

The ground beneath the titanium perimeter wall violently convulsed. The burning wreckage of the mercenary SUV was lifted ten feet into the air and tossed aside like a toy!

Out from the tree line stepped a terrifying, eight-foot-tall mutated horror—a human torso fused with jagged, crystalline red bone armor, its six elongated arms dripping with corrosive crimson acid! A Level 2 Abomination, birthed prematurely by the concentrated rain!

The beast ignored the mercenaries entirely. Its glowing red eyes locked straight onto the high observation deck—straight onto Seraphina!

CRACK!

With explosive velocity, the Level 2 Abomination leapt over thirty meters in a single bound, its massive acid-coated talons reaching straight for Seraphina’s throat!