CHAPTER 19: RIFT REAPER
The Riftborn juggernaut stepped from the swirling rift, each footfall shaking the ground like a war drum.
Its armor gleamed black, but not like metal. It absorbed light — a Vanta-skin of living Pulse plates layered with alien bone. Its shoulders were jagged. Its hands? Blade-edged claws. Its head? A twisted horned mask, breathing mist like a furnace.
> "Subject: Rift Reaper," Chi-Chi muttered beside Anthony. "Combat rating unknown. Possibly Goliath-tier."
Anthony narrowed his eyes. "We're about to find out."
The Rift Reaper pointed one clawed hand forward — and the Beacon behind them dimmed slightly, as if recoiling.
It had come for it.
Not to destroy it.
To harvest it.
---
The Reaper moved without warning.
A burst of speed. A blur of black.
Chi-Chi barely blocked the first blow — her kinetic shields flared violently as the Reaper's blade-arm slammed into her guard. She was thrown back five meters, tumbling over a cracked slab of concrete.
Anthony lunged forward, arms igniting with Vanta-blue heat.
His hand closed into a sphere of compressed gravity.
He hurled it at the Reaper.
Direct hit.
It exploded — but the Reaper walked through it.
No burn. No slow.
Unbothered.
Its claws flicked — and three Rift spikes shot toward Anthony's heart.
---
He blinked.
Not just teleported.
He slipped sideways — through space.
The spikes passed through where he'd been.
He appeared behind the Reaper and slammed both hands into its back.
A shockwave burst from his palms.
The Reaper staggered. Armor cracked.
But then—
It twisted unnaturally, spine bending in a way no body should. And with its opposite claw, it slashed upward toward Anthony's throat.
---
Chi-Chi was there before it landed.
She didn't block the blade — she redirected it mid-swing, guiding its momentum into the ground like she was dancing with the monster's limbs.
"Focus!" she shouted at Anthony. "We can't go solo on this freak!"
He nodded, breath short. "Right."
They split left and right.
She went high.
He went low.
A synchronized strike — her gauntlets crashing into the Reaper's head, Anthony slamming the ground and erupting a spike of warped reality from beneath its feet.
The beast reeled.
Snarled.
And screamed into their minds:
> "YOU DEFY ASCENT."
Then the rift behind it pulsed.
Another creature began forming.
Confidence's voice screamed in their earpieces.
> "TONY! Rift is expanding! It's trying to pull the Beacon back into the Fold!"
Chi-Chi cursed. "We don't just have to kill it — we have to close the gate."
Anthony planted both feet.
"Then I need ten seconds."
She stared at him. "You don't have ten seconds."
He turned to her, voice low.
"Then buy me ten anyway."
---
Chi-Chi took off like a thunderbolt.
No hesitation.
She leapt onto the Reaper's back, magnetic boots sparking against the armor.
It bucked and roared.
She held tight, slammed her gauntlets together — and unleashed a kinetic quake directly into its spine.
CRACK.
The Reaper twisted in agony.
But then it retaliated.
Fast.
A jagged tail blade shot out from its back, piercing her side.
Chi-Chi gasped.
Blood. Real. Fast.
She was flung off the Reaper and slammed into a pillar.
Anthony heard it — the impact, the scream in her comm, the silence after.
He looked back.
She was down.
---
The Reaper turned toward him again.
Only this time, something inside Anthony snapped.
The Pulse inside him stopped flowing.
It started... collapsing.
His aura turned darker.
Not just Vanta-blue.
Black and silver, wrapped in echoing symbols.
His body levitated.
His voice dropped an octave.
"I told you to stay away from the Beacon," he growled.
The Rift Reaper lunged.
Anthony raised one hand.
Space bent.
Time buckled.
And the Reaper's arm just... ceased to exist.
Clean. Gone. Unmade.
Not burned.
Not cut.
Deleted from continuity.
---
Chi-Chi, dazed but conscious, blinked as she saw it happen from the rubble.
She saw him hovering.
His eyes glowing like small galaxies.
His fingers trembling with raw creative force.
And for a second...
She wasn't scared of the Reaper.
She was scared of him.
---
Anthony floated down slowly.
His feet touched the ground.
The Reaper tried to scream again — but Anthony clapped both hands.
The sound shattered the air.
And the Rift behind the Reaper imploded.
Gone.
The Beacon glowed strong again.
The Rift Reaper staggered, tried one last swing—
Anthony caught the blade.
Held it.
Looked it dead in the mask.
And whispered:
"No reset for you."
He crushed the blade with his bare hand.
Then slammed his palm into its chest.
One word:
"End."
The Rift Reaper exploded in silent fragments.
Nothing remained.
Not even ash.
---
Silence.
The battlefield was clear.
The sky slowly returned to morning light.
Anthony dropped to one knee.
And turned.
Chi-Chi was sitting upright, pressing a hand to her bleeding side.
He ran to her.
"You're hit—"
"I'm fine," she muttered. "Not dying."
He hovered his hands near her side. "Let me—"
She slapped his hand away.
"I said I'm fine."
But she didn't move yet.
He knelt beside her.
"I thought you were—"
She looked at him. Hard.
Then softer.
And for a long moment...
Neither spoke.
She winced. "You overdid it."
"You were hurt."
"You almost became that thing."
He said nothing.
Then: "I won't lose you."
Her breath caught.
But before she could answer, a new alert lit up on Confidence's tablet.
---
> "ALERT: WORLDWIDE BEACON LOCK ATTEMPT DETECTED"
"SOURCE: UNKNOWN — UNREGISTERED SIGNAL"
"CLASS: ALPHA – CELESTIAL"
"NAME: UNKNOWN"
"LOCATION: ORBITAL"
"MESSAGE INCOMING..."
Everyone turned.
The message blinked once:
> "I SEE YOU, UNMEASURED."
Then the sky turned silver.