Ethan Graves had lived through war, but nothing had prepared him for this.

  The night sky, once familiar and serene, was fractured. A luminous web of cracks spread across the heavens, glowing with an ethereal blue light that pulsed like a dying heartbeat. The air was thick with static, a hum vibrating in his bones. People screamed in the streets, pointing at the impossible sight above. Then, the world changed.

  [The Ethereal System has descended.]

  A voice—deep, mechanical, and absolute—resonated in his mind. It was neither male nor female, yet it carried a weight that crushed everything beneath it.

  [Initiating Evolution Protocol. Adapting lifeforms…]

  Pain. Blinding, searing pain. Ethan dropped to his knees, clutching his skull as molten fire coursed through his veins. His body burned, twisted, and reshaped itself. He barely registered the chaos around him—cars crashing, windows shattering, people convulsing on the ground as they, too, were transformed.

  A flood of information surged through his mind, drowning him in knowledge beyond human comprehension.

  [User identified: Ethan Graves.]

  [Analyzing combat experience…]

  [Assigning Css…]

  [Css Acquired: Adaptive Marauder]

  Ethan gasped for air, his vision clearing as the pain subsided. His hands trembled, but they felt… different. Stronger. His body, once scarred from years of service, now hummed with energy.

  Before he could process it, another screen materialized before his eyes.

  [New Ability Acquired: Essence Fusion]

  Fusion? His heart pounded as more lines of text scrolled before him.

  [Unique Trait Identified: Ability Fusion. You can merge acquired abilities into new, stronger forms. Efficiency and compatibility will vary.]

  A tremor shook the ground, snapping him back to reality. The streets were in ruins—cars overturned, streetlights flickering. Some people were still writhing in agony, while others had already begun to change.

  And then, they came.

  Rifts tore open in the air, jagged wounds in reality itself. From their depths, creatures emerged—twisted things of cw and fang, their eyes burning with hunger. The first to step through was a beast that looked like a fusion of a lion and a reptile, its scaled hide shimmering under the flickering streetlights.

  Ethan had no time to be afraid.

  The monster lunged at a nearby woman, its cws poised to tear through her. Without thinking, Ethan moved. His body reacted with a speed he had never possessed before. He dashed forward, grabbing a metal pipe from the wreckage and smming it into the beast’s skull. The impact rang through his arms, but the creature barely flinched. It turned, eyes locking onto him.

  [New Ability Acquired: Predator’s Reflexes]

  A rush of crity flooded him. His senses sharpened, his movements becoming instinctual. The monster attacked again, but this time, he saw it—every twitch of muscle, every shift in weight.

  He dodged. He countered. His movements were fluid, precise. But the pipe wasn’t enough.

  [New Ability Acquired: Kinetic Surge – Briefly amplifies physical force upon impact.]

  A grin formed on Ethan’s lips. He had an idea.

  [Attempting Fusion: Predator’s Reflexes + Kinetic Surge…]

  [Ability Fusion Successful: Phantom Step – Enhances reaction speed and allows short bursts of momentum, increasing attack force dynamically.]

  The change was instant. His body felt lighter, his steps quicker. The beast lunged again—but this time, Ethan moved faster than it could track. He sidestepped effortlessly, his body blurring for a fraction of a second. The monster’s cws swiped through empty air.

  Then he struck.

  Using the momentum of his enhanced step, he swung the pipe with all his strength. A thunderous crack echoed as the metal connected with the beast’s skull. The kinetic energy amplified the impact, sending the creature reeling. Its skull caved inward, bck blood oozing from the wound.

  [Enemy Defeated: F Rank(level 3) Ravager.]

  [Experience Gained.]

  The beast colpsed. Silence followed—brief but heavy. Ethan exhaled, his breath ragged. The rush of combat faded, leaving behind an eerie stillness.

  Then the screams returned.

  He turned, surveying the chaos. The rifts had torn reality apart, and the creatures spilling through were relentless. But something was different now. Some of the people were fighting back—using abilities, just like him. A man wreathed in fmes torched a pack of monsters, while another wielded telekinetic force to hurl debris like missiles.

  This wasn’t just an apocalypse. It was a forced evolution.

  Ethan’s grip tightened on the metal pipe. He didn’t know what was happening, why the system had descended, or what y beyond the rifts. But one thing was clear.

  The world had changed. And if he wanted to survive, he would have to change with it.

  He had to evolve.