Few things gave Sen the same rush of excitement as action. And as deadly as it was to fight monsters and run for his life, his long-time addiction to thrills and the adrenaline it brought him had conditioned his subconscious to react positively to it by default. It was a problem, he knew. One day, if he didn’t keep this in mind, he would indulge it too much. He would become more and more reckless: a daredevil that only sought the next danger in like not because he enjoyed it, but because he’d accustomed himself to seeking the feel of adrenaline pumping through his blood.

It was one hell of a drug, after all. And Sen had been a junkie since he’d first cannonballed off a cliff and into the sea at ten years old.

Sen doubted that going for an offensive route in combat would help him stave that addiction off. In the end—just like his position in his football team—playing defensively and working for the team was better than seeking the glory himself.

And so, he pressed the Essence Exchange option with those thoughts it mind.

As soon as Sen selected the option to create a basic Skill Orb with his essence, he felt the pool of energy in him flow down his heart. It was unlike both Flow and the unnatural heat in his heart. While his heart’s energy was a hungry, scorching torrent and his Flow a deep, cold wave of ice, this energy felt like electricity. It was a sparking, vibrant orange-yellow, jumping and constantly shifting. Essence was always ready to power the creation of something else.

The essence coalesced into a swirling, orange cloud. It hovered over his hand, as large as his fist, with flashes of golden light occasionally bursting forth from within.

Skill Orb creation has begun. Visualize effects to proceed.

Sen closed his eyes and pursed his lips. He furrowed his brows in thought, thinking: what did he need? What could he create that could improve his role of controlling the battlefield and keeping them alive even more? He could control his enemy’s positioning with Psionic Force. He had a staple skill in Bone Armor, and a way to shore up some of his offensive weaknesses with Claw Fighting. That left his other skills, which gave him a lot of utility.

But while Sen considered Darkvision essential in the face of this new, sunless world, Predator’s Tongue had to go. He needed something more game-changing than a drastically improved sense of taste. At least while he was out in the city and not having a meal at home.

With a flick of his fingers, he queued the Skill in question for removal. A timer started: just a few minutes long. Enough time for Sen to choose a new Skill Orb for himself.

And Sen knew exactly what he wanted; he was already a melee defender.

Why not become an even better one?

As the idea came to him, Sen’s mind subconsciously shifted to an image from before the apocalypse began. It was of a shield-wielding hero in blue, taking the center of the field and issuing commands. An unstoppable force leading with pure grit, badass looks, and an ocean of unrelenting charisma.

Sen felt himself grin.

Captain America was his favorite hero for a reason.

The image strengthened. Sen saw scenes across multiple movies shoot past his mind’s eye, strengthening his impression further. He focused on the way the character fought. Aggressive in his defense, unrelenting in his tenacity. The essence in his hand shrunk until it coalesced into a dull, orange marble. Small sparks of light flickered within its glossy surface.

Skill Orb created! Essence [100/100] has been consumed.

Shield Fighting (Tier 0 – Orange) [Body]

Passive. No cost. The user’s mind gains an intuitive understanding of how to fight with shields of all kinds. Small increase to user’s proficiency with shield-based equipment during combat. Shield-based equipment’s durability is slightly increased.

By now, a few minutes had already passed, and Predator’s Tongue had already gone into his reserve slots. So, as soon as Sen had the new Skill Orb in his hands, he absorbed it without hesitation. Sen felt a rush of instinct flood his brain—the vague impressions of how to improve his center of gravity. How to take a blow with a shield, and how to move his body in a way that deflected force instead of tanking it.

And yet, Sen was still excited about something else. He had a theory. An idea so absurd that it might just work out for him.

“[Bone Armor],” Sen muttered, and a sleek exoskeleton of pale ivory immediately sprouted from his skin. It covered his limbs and his chest, leaving his body close to fully armored save for a few vital, unarmored spots.

Sen wetted his lips as he sent Flow into his armor.

Bone Manipulation went to work.

The Bone Armor on Sen’s arms bubbled and expanded, bulging outwards into a large, curved shield. He wielded one on each forearm, the shields each large enough to fully cover his torso. Sen felt Shield Fighting flood into his mind, but he wasn’t done. Sen kept urging the bone in the shields forward.

And slowly, three bladed tips curled out from the edge of each shield.

Sen waited.

Claw Fighting activated.

“Yes!” he cheered, grinning from ear-to-ear, as he marveled at the giant, clawed shields on both of his arms. Both of his fighting skills counted them as valid, despite being hybrids. And now…

Now he could be Captain America and Wolverine.

He was going to be unstoppable.

All he needed now was a regeneration skill. But that would have to come later, once he had more Skill Orb slots to actually use. For now, he was happy. Despite the fact that these new skills would be used to fight in life-threatening battles, Sen just stood there, enjoying the absurd fantasy of playing superhuman at the end of the world.

And he still had four hundred essence left, which Sen couldn’t wait to spend more of on upgrades. He instantly brought up the Augment options for both of his fighting skills.

Claw Fighting (Tier 0 – Orange) [Spirit]

Passive. No cost. The user taps into a bestial proficiency by channeling the instincts of a clawed beast. Small increase to user’s proficiency with claw-based weapons during combat. Learning speed for claw-based fighting increased. Vampiric origin; minor Flow-drain on claw strike.

Available Augments:

Rending Claws [0/250]

Active. Small Flow cost. The user empowers the next claw strike with Flow, increasing damage dealt. Wounds inflicted by this skill are more difficult to heal.

Phantom Strike [0/500]

Active. Moderate Flow cost. The user’s next claw strike is enhanced by Flow. Two phantom claws attack alongside the next strike, inflicting both physical and spiritual damage for each. Both phantom claws have a moderate armor-piercing effect.

Vampiric Claw Fighting [0/1,000]

Passive. Unlocked by Blood Curse of Kulv’arash [Stage 1]. Evolves [Claw Fighting] into [Vampiric Claw Fighting] and unlocks a new set of Augments for the new skill. Alongside the previous effects, this skill strengthens the user’s vampiric bloodline, further increasing the effect of any vampiric conditions. Minor essence and Flow-drain on each claw strike.

Shield Fighting (Tier 0 – Orange) [Body]

Passive. No cost. The user’s mind gains an intuitive understanding of how to fight with shields of all kinds. Small increase to user’s proficiency with shield-based equipment during combat. Shield-based equipment’s durability is slightly increased.

Available Augments:

Shield Bash [0/250]

Active. Small Flow cost. The user empowers the next strike with invasive Flow, which reverberates across the target’s body on a successful hit. Unresisted, this effect will stun any entities struck for a very short duration.

Shield Brace [0/250]

Active. Extreme Flow cost. A surge of Flow infuses the shield and the user’s body. All defensive attributes and effects are moderately enhanced for one second. Shield cannot be broken by any attacks up to one Tier above the user.

Looking at his options, it was easy to narrow them down. Of all the options present, Sen found Shield Bash and Phantom Strike the most appealing for several reasons. The first of which was what Claw Fighting’s two other upgrades were either not as good as his other options, or just straight up terrifying to pick. Phantom Strike seemed better than Rending Claw in every way, and Vampiric Claw Fighting was…

Well, it was terrible. It would give him a new skill which he would have to spend essence to Augment again, on top of increasing the effect of his already problematic curse.

The moment he saw it, it instantly dropped to the bottom of his list.

And as for Shield Brace, it was just weak. Sen was sure he would have considered it a better option in any other circumstance, but as it was, he was pretty sure Mortal Commandment could do everything it did, but better. A lower Flow cost, a potentially stronger effect, and for a far longer duration of ten seconds.

So, choosing his new upgrade was honestly quite easy.

Sen picked the Shield Bash Augment off the list, and he immediately felt the essence drain out of him. He wanted an upgrade now, and it was his best bet for an offensive option until he had enough essence to get Phantom Strike for Claw Fighting. And with that, he was finally done.

Left with just over a hundred and fifty essence, Sen settled his upgrade session with a contented nod.

With this, he was far more confident about surviving outside. Added with the fact that Em was also no doubt upgrading her Skill Orbs and Attributes, Sen felt the uncertainty from a few hours ago fade away. They would survive this. They just had to keep doing what they’d been doing so far:

Being careful, acting creatively in a pinch, and trying to tackle things with proper preparation. If they did that—

Essence surged behind him, and Sen paused mid-sentiment.

He turned to Em, who entered his room with a big grin, and blinked. Em turned to him with a self-satisfied smirk, looking like she was standing on a pedestal of energy. It practically flooded into her, changing the way Sen perceived her with his senses. He gave her a good look, then. The kind that prompted the interface to react.

Em – Tier 1 Human

Sen smiled as soon as he saw it. “Congratulations,” he said. “How’d your trip to the bathroom go?”

Em raised an eyebrow at him. “Uh, what?”

It was Sen’s turn to look confused.

“Didn’t you get the Tier-up notification?”

“Uh… I did, why?”

She blinked at him, waiting for a response. But instead of speaking, Sen slowly felt himself go pale. He looked down at Em’s feet.

His room floor was carpeted. Sen looked up at her.

“Get the hell out of my room.”

“Huh?”

“Get out. Right now! Go!”

Sen stomped towards her in a panic, his hands reaching out to grab her shoulder. Sen pointed to the door with his other hand, and Em only stared at him blankly, looking like he’d just slapped her. “I just came here to tell you the good news,” she said, upset. “Why are you so mad at me? Is it because I walked into your room? Jeez…”

“No!” he replied, turning her around and pushing her out. “It’s not that, you idiot. You just tiered up!”

She turned her face to him. “And what’s wrong with—”

Em’s face turned green. Sen paled.

“Oh no,” she said, her knees buckling. She grabbed onto Sen’s arm, a hand on her face as she staggered forward, looking sicker than death. Sen tried to tear her hand away and run, but then she looked up at him, queasy, and—

Em puked putrid, black goo and shredded organs all over the carpeted floor.

Sen felt himself die a little inside.

Sen sat on the couch, his clothes splattered with vomit, as Em stepped out from his bathroom with a fresh set of clothes on. She had a wet washcloth in her hand, smeared with dark refuse. Em refused to look him in the eye for a whole minute as Sen glared at her, slowly wiping off vomit stains with a wet rag.

Em pursed her lips.

“You know,” she said. “Maybe that was karma. For that thing you did.”

Sen glared at her. “You puked on my bed,” he said. “The one we take turns sleeping on. The only good one we have.”

“We can always move to another room.”

“Other rooms don’t have a memory foam mattress!”

She winced. “That mattress was pretty ace, true. Damn. I’m gonna miss it now that we have no choice but to burn it.”

Sen stared at her, incredulous. “You’re going to burn my mattress.”

“I mean, I puked on it. And every time I see it, I’ll remember that I puked on it. That’ll just make me feel like puking on it again.”

“I hate you so much.”

“Want an apology hug?”

He flipped her off, and Em laughed. She wandered out of the room and into the kitchen, before coming back with two cans of lukewarm soda. With the refrigerators dead, fizzy, warm Coke was all they had. She handed one to him and Sen took her peace offering with wary, narrowed eyes.

“I was the one who looted this. And you’re bribing me with it.”

“Is it working?”

Sen glared at her, sipped at his drink, and then nodded. “Yes,” he said, and Sen turned back to cleaning himself off as Em cracked a smile.

“Perfect.”

Em went off and ruffled through the garbage bags they had inside, each one stuffed full of clothes and other necessities they’d looted from the other rooms. She started looking through several, and then haphazardly tossing away anything she didn’t look happy with. Em plucked out a nice, black dress shirt and paused.

She looked it up and down, before giving him a glance. “You said you wanted to wear smart casual more?”

Sen looked up at her and blinked. “Yeah?”

“This’d look good on you, I think.”

Em tossed it to him, and Sen caught it, looking down at the shirt in surprise. “Aren’t we going back out there soon? Why dress up in good clothes we’ll probably ruin?”

“It’s the end of the world. There are good clothes to loot everywhere we go.”

“Point. Still a waste, though.”

“Are you saying no to fighting monsters while looking good, then?”

Sen looked at her, offended. “Never.”

“Thought so. Here’s a jacket.”

He took it. Sen idly paced around the room, changing into his new clothes as Em rifled through the bags for more things to wear. She settled on a pair of skinny, black jeans and a white jacket over a crop top, which she came out of the bathroom wearing after a few more minutes. With her hair done up to a ponytail to show off her piercings, she looked more like she was going out for a date than into the monster-infested city outside.

Not that Sen could say he was any different. Once he’d changed into his clothes, he had to admit—if he was going to pick clothes to risk his life in, these weren’t half bad. He would likely tear them as soon as he got into a fight, but…

He felt good. Great, even.

After nearly a week of acting like rats hiding in a dark room and running from monsters, constantly filthy and afraid, Sen finally felt human again. These clothes gave him that. They made him feel a sense of morale that he had been missing for a while now. And judging from the way Em was grinning at herself in the mirror, she felt the same way.

It would have been marginally better to wear clothes that were easier to move in, Sen knew. But right now, he didn’t care.

He just enjoyed feeling like the world was a little more normal again.

Sen closed his eyes and breathed, before turning to Em again.

“I think I’m ready,” he said. She nodded.

“Me too. Where do we look first?”

“Where else?” Sen asked, looking outside of the window. They had no other leads. No way to know if there were any authorities out there, herding people into shelters and fighting back the monsters. But they did have one place to go. One place to check for survivors. Sen swallowed as he recalled the horrors waiting for them, there.

Horrors that they were now ready for.

“Let’s go back to Belmont University,” he said. “And if Prince and Assad and the other survivors are still there…”

Em nodded. “We’ll get them out.”

“You think we can do it?”

She smiled. “When we look this good? I don’t think anything can stop me right now. I’m finally… me, again. I think. I really feel like I can face the end of the world as long as I feel like this. I feel strong. Like I’m back on my feet.”

“Me too,” Sen said, unfastening one of his shirt’s top buttons. He smiled as he adjusted his outfit to something that was more his style. More casual. More… free. Sen rolled up his sleeves as he pulled a leather shoulder bag over his chest. Then his hair, tied into a messy knot behind his head.

He looked at himself in the mirror, and truly, for the first time since the sun exploded, Sen once again felt a semblance of security. Em stood next to him, and together, they grinned at the mirror.

“Let’s go,” he said. She smiled.

“Yeah. Let’s—”

A crash from downstairs cut her off. The sound of glass breaking, once again, but it wasn’t near them this time. It was four stories down, across the street by the sound of it, and Sen and Em rushed to the window to check. Sen swiped the curtains away as he leaned into the glass, narrowing his eyes to find the silhouettes of two people running out of the McDonalds across the street.

Behind them, a giant, armored lobster the size of a subway car screeched as it barreled through the storefront, its claws snapping at their heels. Dust billowed out around it in great clouds, the rubble spraying forward with each lumbering scuttle forward.

Sen sighed as he opened the window and pulled Em forward, touching her back.

“Sen can fly at will. Em can fly at will.”

Flow surged. The commandments activated, and Sen felt his feet lift off the ground, and beside him, he saw Em’s appearance shift into the appearance of her Ability’s persona, floating right next to him.

“...Any chance we can delay going out to tomorrow?" she asked, her eyes a bright red.

Sen gave her a flat look.

Em sighed and leapt out the window. And together, they sprang into the open air as the night of a post-apocalyptic Dubai came to life.