CHAPTER 12: ADAPT

Rin’s arm was still attached, but it felt wrong. Like the bones were in the wrong places and purple veins glowed faintly under his skin, pulsing with some weird energy.

’That was fucking stupid.’

[It was necessary]

"Bullshit. My arm feels like it’s on fire."

[The connection is established. Try again.]

"No."

[Rin—]

"I’m not doing that again."

[Then Leo died for nothing.]

That hit harder than it should’ve. He looked up at the screens, Kazriketh was still standing there, staring at the camera, waiting.

’Goddamnit.’

He flexed his fingers,the burning faded to a weird tingle and his hand still moved. So that was something at least.

’Leo would’ve done it. He would’ve jumped in without thinking.’

That thought made his stomach twist. Leo was dead because of... whatever this was, because Kazriketh wanted him.

Fine. If it wanted him, it could have him.

Rin reached out again. No hesitation this time. His hand went straight into the portal’s center.

The pain hit everywhere at once. Not just his arm, his whole body felt like it was getting torn apart, put back together in the wrong order, then torn apart again. His vision went white, then black, then colors that made no sense.

He screamed. Couldn’t help it. The sound ripped out of his throat, full of desperation.

But he didn’t pull away.

He kept his hand in there, fingers digging through the energy, trying to find something solid to grab. Had to be something at the core. His fingers found it.

Not solid, more like a knot in the energy, a tangled mess holding the portal open. He could feel it, wrap his fingers around it.

Then everything changed.

It wasn’t just pain anymore. It was... information. Pure data flooding his brain. He could feel every orc in that dungeon, their heartbeats, their breaths. He could feel Kazriketh, cold, heavy and powerful. He could feel the fracture energy, this raw chaos that didn’t belong.

He could feel the portal.

It wasn’t a door. It was like... a wound. Reality torn open and bleeding. And like any wound, it could be healed.

If you had the right tools.

’I can’t.’

[You can, trust me.]

He opened his eyes. Didn’t realize they’d been closed. The portal still swirled, but now he could see its structure. The energy patterns, the weak spots, the frayed edges.

He concentrated and pulled.

Not with his muscles. With the connection he’d made. He pulled at the knot, tugged at the threads keeping the portal open.

The portal screamed.

Not a sound but a feeling. A psychic screech that made his hair stand up. The energy fought back, trying to burn him, force him to let go.

’Leo.’

He thought of his friend’s stupid grin. Their anime arguments. How Leo would talk for hours about some new isekai.

He thought of Leo’s last words. ’I always knew you were special...’

Bullshit. Leo was just being Leo, supportive even while dying.

But maybe, just maybe, he could live up to it this once.

He pulled harder. The energy burned through him, but he could feel the portal responding. The edges pulling together, closing.

Kazriketh’s voice echoed through the connection, straight in his head.

"So you finally show yourself, host."

He ignored the voice and kept pulling. The knot in the energy was coming apart, threads snapping one by one.

The portal got smaller. Not by much but he could see it shrinking, edges curling in on themselves.

On the screens, the dungeon started flickering. Trees phased in and out. The ground rippled.

"Interesting." Kazriketh tilted its head. "You truly believe you can close this? How amusing."

’Shut up shut up shut up.’

Another thread snapped. The portal shrank more, maybe a foot smaller now. His whole body was shaking, sweat pouring down his face.

[Fracture Synchronization: 67%]

The percentage meant nothing to him. His entire focus was on that knot, pulling it apart piece by piece.

Half the orcs in the background just vanished as part of the dungeon collapsed. The forest was breaking apart, chunks of it disappearing into nothing.

"You cannot stop what has already begun," Kazriketh said. "But I admire the effort."

Another thread and another. The portal was definitely smaller now, shrinking faster.

Rin’s vision was going dark at the edges. His legs gave out and he dropped to his knees but kept his hand in the portal, kept pulling.

’Almost there. Come on.’

The last thread held. Thick, stubborn, refusing to break.

He pulled with everything he had left. His muscles screamed. His bones felt like they were cracking. That purple energy in his veins burned brighter, spreading up his arm.

The thread snapped.

The portal collapsed in on itself with this wet sucking sound, all that energy rushing back into nothing. It didn’t explode or implode, just kind of folded in and disappeared.

Empty air. That’s all that was left.

No purple glow. No swirling colors. No connection to the dungeon.

Just silence.

Rin pulled his hand back. His arm looked worse now, those purple veins spreading past his elbow, glowing under his skin like he had neon lights in his blood.

But it worked.

"Holy shit." He started laughing, couldn’t help it. "It actually worked. I closed a fucking portal."

[Portal closure: Successful]

[Dungeon collapsed]

"I did it. Leo, I actually—"

The world tilted.

The floor rushed up to meet him but also felt like it was a thousand miles away.

His head hit the ground hard. Should’ve hurt but everything felt distant.

’What’s happening?’

[Warning: Fracture energy saturation critical]

[Host body experiencing dimensional feedback]

[Initiating emergency stabilization]

Colors bled everywhere. The ceiling was melting, or maybe his eyes were melting. Hard to tell. Sounds came from far away, voices yelling, footsteps running.

His arm was really glowing now. That purple light spreading across his chest, down his other arm, creeping up his neck.

’Am I dying?’

[No, Your body is just adapting, it will be uncomfortable]

"Uncomfortable?" His voice came out slurred. "This sucks ass."

The purple light reached his eyes. His vision went completely white, then black, then this weird in-between state where he could see energy instead of matter. The staging area was just patterns now, frequencies and wavelengths.

He could see people running toward him as collections of heat and electricity. Could see the residual energy from where the portal used to be, fading slowly.

Then everything snapped back to normal.

The purple light faded from his skin. His vision cleared. The dizziness stopped.

He laid there on the floor, staring at the ceiling, trying to process what just happened.

[Adaptation complete]

[Fracture Synchronization: 100%]

[New abilities unlocked]

[Level up available]