Excess

"Let's keep moving down this hallway," Grant said, pointing ahead.

The group advanced cautiously down the building's narrow corridor. The air was thick, almost palpable. A heavy silence filled the atmosphere, broken only by the crunch of their footsteps on the dust- and debris-strewn floor.

Ascending floor by floor, they saw walls cracked and corroded by time, marked with deep scratches and dark stains of dried blood, mute testimony to ancient horrors.

Fallen electrical cables hung like dead snakes, swaying faintly in a breeze they couldn't feel. The air carried a stale odor, a cocktail of dampness, oxidized metal, and something else, a kind of sharp, chemical hint that was hard to identify.

"It feels eerie… It's like the past doesn't want to leave," Cass murmured, observing the surroundings as she moved forward.

Wes crossed his arms and glanced around.

"I was expecting something different, but yeah… everything's pretty much the same."

GRRUUAAASHH... A guttural roar erupts, and a hybrid charges from a room to the right.

Everyone reacts instantly. But Seth is closest.

He spins toward the beast, his hand flying to his dagger... only for his whole body to lock up for one crucial split-second.

No use. It won't work... I can't imbue the blade.

CRACK!

Frozen, he was helpless as the hybrid slammed Mira sideways into the wall.
Grant's sword was out in a flash, but Mira was already moving—she parried the lunge, stopping it dead.

In the same instant, Wes's Rem-wire whipped through the air. The dagger-tip speared through the beast's skull. A sharp retract, and the creature dropped, collapsing to the left.

Mira shoved the hybrid's body away. It slumped down, leaving a smear of blood on the wall.

After the grisly scene, Wes approached and asked:

"Mira... are you okay?"

"Ugh," she said, taking a short step back. "Yeah... It's nothing. Just hurt my shoulder a bit."

"Hmm, that looks more than 'nothing'."

Seth didn't let what he'd just seen stop him, and then his urge to help took over. Nervously, he pulled out a bandage.

"Um... for your shoulder," he mumbled to Mira.

A terse "Thanks" was her only reply.

"Can you even put that on alone?" Grant interjected, his doubt hanging in the air.

"Yes," Mira shot back, the single word sharp with annoyance.

Seth watched her wrap the bandage around her shoulder.

Maybe she doesn't want to worry the others, he thought.

"Be more careful, Mira. You seem distracted today," Grant warned.

"I'm fine," Mira replied, looking away.

At that moment, Cass stepped up to Grant.

"Hey Grant, the higher we go, the more threats we run into. Are you sure we should stick to the plan? We've already got a wounded shoulder here."

"Ah… no, no," Mira cut in firmly before Grant could answer. "Don't worry about me. I can keep going."

"Yeah, but we're getting tired and running on fumes here, Mira. Our rem energy's low."

Grant brushed the dust from his clothes and sighed. "We can handle a couple more floors. This is one of the few missions we get out to the outskirts. We need to make it count and secure a Rem beast core."

"Look, Grant," Cass said. "Just keep in mind our limit is two, maybe three fights before we need to use the reserve capsule."

Grant's frown deepened into a scowl. "I know what our limit is!" he shot back. "But if we want to rank the highest this year, we push past it. You know that! We take risks, that's the only way!" His eyes flicked over to Seth. "Harper. Bandage. Now."

Cass didn't let him deflect. "I get it, you've got family pride on the line. But this is recklessness. Or did you already forget?" She jabbed a finger toward the hybrid's corpse. "No rem energy means we're just meat against things like that!"

"Enough," Wes cut in, his tone leaving no room for argument. "Arguing here is useless. Stow it, guys."

Seth watched the exchange, his own thoughts a tight knot in his chest.

Cass is right. We've overstayed. This place… It's too dangerous. I have to speak up.

"Here," he said, holding out the bandage to Grant after a beat of hesitation. "Look… Cass has a point. We should think about falling back."

Grant turned slowly, his gaze locking onto Seth with unsettling intensity. "Harper," he began, the name sounding like a warning. A heavy sigh escaped him. "You're green. I get it. But do you have any idea what these missions mean? They're our ticket into the real ranks."

Seth took a step back. “Yeah, but—just look at Mira. And we were only cleared to engage if it was absolutely necessary.”

Grant took a step closer, his voice dropping, each word precise and cutting. "So let me ask you straight: when that thing came for Mira, what did you actually do?"

Seth's eyes darted to Mira. She wouldn't meet his gaze, her hand pressed tight to her injured shoulder.

"I tried… I wanted to help," he said, the words barely more than a defeated breath. "But I can't… I can't imbue Rem energy into my blade."

"There it is!" Grant barked, a humorless, triumphant snap. "You can't imbue. You can't even touch them. You don't have the training, and you sure as hell don't have the instinct." He took a final step into Seth's space, his voice a venomous hiss. "So you do one thing: you stay alive and out of the way. Be grateful that's all that's asked of you. Understood?"

Seth's fist clenched so tight his knuckles burned white. Every muscle screamed to shout back, to shove Grant away.

You know nothing about me! A voice raged inside him. But the other, colder voice was louder:

I can't complain... He's right. I'm dead weight here.

"I understand," Seth said, the words flat and toneless.

Just push through, he commanded himself, swallowing the bitterness. His mind latched onto the one thin hope he had left—the receptionist's words from the day he signed up:

"...If your teammates report positively on you, you could join one of this year's brigades."

"Back off, Grant! He doesn't deserve that," Cass snapped, the guilt over not speaking up earlier sharpening her tone.

Grant's eyes swept over the rest of them, a silent challenge. "Anyone else?" he demanded, his voice low and dangerous. "Or are we done second-guessing the mission plan we all agreed to?"

Before the standoff could solidify, Wes's arm came down on Grant's shoulder—not as a restraint, but as an anchor.

"Easy, Sergeant Mercer. Don't take it out on the new guy," Wes said, his voice a calm, practiced mediator's tone. "The plan's simple: find a beast, take its core, get out. Let's just do the job."

"Exactly," Grant replied, his stance unyielding. "That's the whole plan. The exit's behind you if anyone wants out."

Cass let out a sharp, frustrated breath. "Fine. Let's just move."

"Then we keep climbing," Grant said, turning toward a nearby staircase. "This way."

They pressed on, their pace brisk in the heavy silence. Every distant creak, every skitter of debris, cranked their paranoia tighter. Yet, wrapped in that eerie calm, they ascended four more floors without meeting a soul.

Cass quickened her step just enough to fall in beside Wes and grip his arm.

"Hey, Wes…" she murmured, her voice barely a whisper.

"Yeah?"

"Tell me you're not actually on board with this."

Wes let out a low sigh, his eyes flicking toward Grant's rigid back. "You know how he is. Even if we turned around right now, that stubborn bastard would go for the core alone."

"He's an idiot," Cass hissed. "The encounters here are random. We're already pushing our limit."

"Look on the bright side," Wes offered, a faint, weary grin touching his lips. "We bag a core, and our squad's spot is locked for the year. That's the prize."

Cass's grip on his arm tightened. "I just hope the rookie's holding up. Grant's always been a hardass, but that was… intense. Even I wanted to punch him."

A few paces behind, the low murmur of their conversation reached Seth. The words were indistinct, but the meaning was crystal clear. They were talking about him. About the liability.

Of course. I was always just dead weight here. So focus. See the attack, move faster. That's all I can do right now.

He gave a sharp, almost imperceptible shake of his head, as if trying to dislodge the doubt.

Forget proving yourself. Just be useful. What can I actually do for them?

The question, desperate and practical, clawed its way to the front of his mind. It dragged up the only concrete information he had to offer—the receptionist's briefing from the day before.

"...the objective is to prepare a report on the current state of the area. It's an old university located on the border of the lower levels, specifically the 118th floor..."

We should've been gone an hour ago. But I get it now—this is how they climbed the ranks by always going further than the mission says.

Fine. Then I won't just be support. I'll gather everything I know.

Let's see... The building has twelve floors. Power's still on. It's infested with hybrids—lots of them. And—

CRACK!

A windowpane exploded inward. A twisted, clawed hand shot through the opening and slammed into the opposite wall, embedding itself in the plaster.

Oh, come on! Infested is a freaking understatement. I've seen more of these things today than in my entire life!

A collective freeze seized the group. Then, as one, their heads turned toward the source of the sound. From the darkness of the broken window came a new noise: a wet, methodical gnawing, punctuated by heavy, dragging footsteps.

"Contact!" Grant barked, his voice low and tight. "Form up!"

From the gloom of the room, it emerged. It was nothing like the hybrids. It stood a grotesque seven feet tall, a flabby, anemic frame supported by arms of corded muscle that stretched and tensed like steel cables. Its head was a featureless mound save for a gaping maw lined with rows of serrated, shark-like teeth. It was a walking blasphemy—a true Rem beast.

The ancient term for its kind surfaced in Seth's mind, dredged up from half-remembered academy lore:

Akki.

An old yokai word for a devourer. A demon said to consume everything in its path.

In class, they had learned that the first researchers used the ancient Japanese folklore to classify the creatures.

Not out of reverence.
But because fear already had names—and humanity needed them fast.