Setting: The Portal, 11:02 PM PST, 300 meters from the Queen

  The dust from the collapsed buildings hung thick in the air, a surreal shroud of debris and ash billowing out for dozens of meters. The kill box had worked. Thousands of mantises lay crushed beneath tons of twisted metal and organic debris. As their black blood soaked the icy ground, the Queen roared in defiance, her obsidian carapace gleaming in the violet light, her segmented wings buzzing with a sound like tearing metal as she birthed another egg. Her body flared with dark energy, her [Void Mana] tendrils pulsing as they fed the distant portal, a lifeline to the Void’s invasion.

  “Go! Go! Go!” TJ ordered, her voice cutting through the chaos.

  Dashing to her left, closing distance and keeping the Queen at her 3 o’clock, she called the play, “Michael, Alicia, keep those big bastards away from me. Keep away from the Queen, I’m using grenades.”

  Closing to 150 meters, she knelt and brought the rifle up, the GP-25 a cold weight beneath the barrel. She breathed deep, the grenade launcher’s sight picture centered on the back of the Queen, her finger finding the trigger and squeezed. A heavy whumpf followed by a significant kick sent the 40mm arching through the air, exploding center mass and knocking the Queen off the birthing mound, black ichor spraying as she screeched in rage. Two elite mantis warriors, their 10-foot forms crackling with energy, turned and launched themselves at her with frightening speed. Michael moved nearly as fast, stopping them mid stride, slashing his axe across their bodies, metal screeching against hardened chitin.

  TJ moved left again, putting distance between herself and Michael, her rifle trained on the queen. Each shot she fired struck the wound from the grenade, spraying the area with black blood. The rifle locked empty and she knelt behind cover, replacing the magazine as she searched for a way around Michael’s wrestling match. A mantis warrior had disarmed him, and he was now punching and throwing the massive bug, his fists a blur of raw power, his silvered beard tinged with black ichor. Alicia engaged a nearby group of mantis warriors, her [Mana Whips] drawing them away from Michael as he held the elites at bay. TJ pivoted around the mound of concrete separating her from the queen, lining up her shot.

  She never fired. An elite she had not seen lunged from the shadows, its scythe-arm piercing her side with a sickening crunch. Her body froze, the searing fire of ripped muscle and crushed bone overloading her mind. Pain became her world, a crackling inferno of agony crushing her into a ball of suffering, her vision blurring, her breath a ragged gasp. She couldn’t move, couldn’t escape, the world narrowing to the white-hot torment consuming her.

  The pain stopped. The world stopped. Her vision went black. No sounds reached her ears. Her body was numb. Just before her consciousness ceased, she saw a black box with green letters appear.

  The elite Mantis pulled its scythe free, TJs blood dripping from the blade, expecting TJ to collapse. But her eyes snapped open, glowing with a dark, violet hue that mirrored the Void’s chaotic energy. [Void Mana] surged through her, knitting her wounds with tendrils of dark power, her bloodied side shimmering with a faint, violet sheen. She roared, her voice a guttural snarl that echoed with the Void’s rage, and launched into [Reaver’s Tempest], her void-charged strikes a whirlwind of destruction. The elite staggered back, its carapace cracking under the onslaught, black ichor spraying as it screeched in pain.

  Sensing an opening, the elite struck her exposed back, its scythe-arm slashing her jacket open, trailing blood in its wake. TJ’s body flared with [Voidwrath Aegis], a shimmering violet aura that deflected the blade and blasted the mantis with wild void energy, leaving its carapace seared and bubbling.

  Turning into the attack, she stretched her hand out, a dark four pointed star appearing on the chest of the monster. “Void’s Fury.” She said. The sigil exploded into the beast as she struck, shattering the beast, spraying it across the rubble-strewn street. Breathing deeply, she turned her glowing eyes towards the Queen, still struggling to right herself from TJ’s surprise attack.

  “All right bitch, let’s see how tough you are.” She growled through gritting teeth, sprinting towards the massive Queen Mantis.

  The Queen raised her massive form up and buzzed her wings as she screeched in anger. A pulse emanated from her, causing the air to shimmer and eardrums to rupture. TJ, Michael and Alicia all screamed as they gripped their heads, desperately trying to keep them from exploding. The sound felt like hammer blows to the brain, pulsing pain rippling across their heads in waves of agony.

  The two elites Michael fought were unaffected and struck, their scythe-arms ripping huge gashes across his body, his scream reaching TJ’s ruined ears. Alicia had fallen, but was able to cast [Tidal Surge], closing his wounds and stopping the bleeding. “I’ve got you big guy,” her voice trembling.

  TJ pressed the attack against the elites, her relentless [Reaver’s Tempest] pushing them back. Each strike landed with a thunderclap of power, cracking their carapaces and deflecting their counter-attacks. Fists met claws in a flurry of violence, and the void seemed to roar in response as she fought with unrestrained ferocity.

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  One elite swiped at her from the front, trying to draw her into a defensive stance, while a second attempted to skewer her from the side. TJ smirked, her perception sharpening as if time itself had slowed. She blocked the first attack, countered the second, and repositioned, her movements fluid and unpredictable.

  The elites renewed their assault, but Michael rejoined the fray, his massive axe bisecting one of the creatures in a single, sweeping blow. The last remaining elite hesitated, faltering as TJ and Michael unleashed a relentless barrage, both hammering the monster without regard for their own defense.

  It was over in less than a second, the beast falling in pieces around the two warriors. Briefly locking eyes with each other, TJ and Michael launched themselves at the Queen, still shrieking and buzzing those horrid wings. Eight limbs supported a huge spider-like body and a massive neck. Her 3 foot long mandibles clacking like metal swords as she met their charge.

  Michael swung his axe, catching a forelimb, sparks and chitin flying from his glancing blow. She answered, a claw slicing towards him, “[Bulwark’s Pride]”, he growled, his body radiating power. When the claw struck, it exploded, black ichor flying away as her attack was turned against her. She shrieked again, panicked this time, clearly calling for help. Two more legs blasted apart as they ripped into Michael, now bleeding and striking the Queen’s body in a rage.

  TJ joined from the left, reaching the abdomen and using [Reaver’s Tempest] again, blasting void energy into her body, ripping through carapace and flesh alike. The Queen screeched once more, the ripple of void energy striking the team again. Michael fell mid swing, blood seeping from his ears and eyes.

  Alicia, gripping her head, screamed silently into the desolate landscape, her eyes ruptured, her ears ruined.

  But TJ… TJ was reborn in that agony. The Void sang in her veins, her ruined ears now a blessing as its power surged, a twisted symphony only she could hear. “Void’s Fury”, she roared, marking the soft underbelly of the massive queen and struck with [Reaver’s Tempest], blasting her abdomen apart and sending the massive beast tumbling to the side.

  From the Queen’s ruptured abdomen, a blinding white light pulsed, a stark contrast to the oozing black ichor. It coalesced into a bowling ball sized sphere of pure Mana, shimmering power radiating in waves.

  “I have eyes on the [Mana Core]!” TJ screamed into her comms. “Can anyone hear me? I have it! Eli, get that drone here, now!” Before she could repeat the command, Alicia, her own sight returned, acted with sudden decisiveness. She stepped in front of TJ, silencing her with a hand over her mouth and pointing towards the sky. Almost instantly, a drone arrived, its manipulators delicately taking the [Mana Core] as it accelerated back to the portal.

  “Everyone, go!” TJ shouted as Alicia propelled her forward.

  The portal convulsed and shrank as the team sprinted back, the remnants of the swarm snapping at their heels. Most of the creatures were crushed or buried, but the portal's behavior was more alarming.

  "It's shrinking!" Dennis screeched, his voice barely audible over the groaning of reality itself.

  "Yes, we know!! Keep running. There are still pockets of bugs around." Marcus confirmed. "The Queen controlled them, and now they're wild. I'm hitting the detonator!"

  A heartbeat later, a monstrous fireball engulfed the ruined street. The force of the blast hurled the team through the air, a maelstrom of fire and debris.

  Elias slammed into the ground, the impact jarring his teeth. The world spun, a dizzying kaleidoscope of fire and shadow. A hand, rough and warm, appeared in his blurred vision. Looking up, he saw double – two Dennises merging into one.

  "We're not staying here, man," Dennis grunted, hauling Elias to his feet. A ringing filled Elias’s ears, a high-pitched whine that drowned out the battle. "What the hell was that?"

  "My miscalculation," Marcus admitted, his voice tight with guilt. "The bots... the explosion was too big."

  Stumbling, the team reached the portal's edge, its shrinking form a desperate escape route. They dove through, a final, sickening lurch back into their own world.

  The portal sealed with a final pop, the Mana Stone glowing in the claws of the drone hovering nearby. The system’s quest timer disappeared in their HUD, then a message appeared.

  “Are you guys seeing what I’m seeing?” Michael asked, his rough voice grating against healing ears.

  ”Yeah, and we get attribute points!” Elias screamed joyously. “We get to put these on any attribute. We have to talk about this, okay. It's not just dump it and move on. We have to think about..”

  ”Already done dude. What’s there to think about? Check this out!!” Dennis said lifting Coogy over his head with one arm. The cat, much to his credit, actually rolled his eyes while Dennis hooted.

  Smiling broadly and laughing, Lisa skipped over and kissed Elias, his eyes bugging as he struggled to catch up. Stepping back, her hands lingering on his chest, she whispered to him, “Don’t overthink it cutie-pie.”

  Soon the whole group was laughing, tears streaming down their black stained faces. A brief lull in the laughter ended when Dennis looked at Coogy and said, “You hungry?”. Police and emergency personnel converged on the team, still giggling uncontrollably, cleaning wounds and asking what happened.

  The team stayed at the portal location for a few hours as city and federal people interviewed them about the experience. They learned about other portals opening all over the west coast. Hundreds by some estimations and the death toll was catastrophic. There were teams, like theirs, that went into the portals and sometimes they came back. In every case, the portal no longer spit out monsters while the team inside was alive. Marcus stayed longer, going over his readings and replaying elements of the battle, the officials offering suggestions and relaying new facts as they worked late into the night.

  Exhausted, Elias collapsed onto his bed—the first time he'd slept at home since the System's arrival. But sleep offered no escape. The horrors of the portal replayed behind his eyelids, each scream and twisted image etching itself deeper into his memory. Tears streamed down his face as he relived the carnage, yet amidst the grief, a fierce resolve ignited within him. He would become stronger, a bulwark against the Void, and protect those he held dear. Humanity, he now understood, was a weapon forged in the fires of chaos. But to what end? That question haunted his weary mind.