Eater Blade: Grinding in Apocalypse-Chapter 45: THE SAVIOR OF THE APOCALYPSE.

The rain kept falling, cold needles on Johnquis’s face as he moved toward the coffin. The wind bit into him, but his steady hook line and cape kept him balanced.

He pulled the hook free with a sharp pull and ran. Boots slammed across the creaking frame, rain sheeting off rusted steel. He leapt, caught a dangling sign, swung over a gap and landed hard on the shell of an old bus jammed into the building’s side.

Below, the street boiled with movement. The Eaters were clawing at the coffin now, Heads snapped around like rats fighting over scraps. He could see the lid, buckling under claws and teeth, steam hissing from the last of the locks.

"Come on, come on... hold just a little longer—"

He muttered it to no one but the storm.

Dancer was already ahead. She dropped down the bus’s cracked windshield, blades scraping sparks off the metal. She landed on the street in a crouch, her foot-blade spinning her sideways to dodge a lunging Eater. Her claws sank into its neck —

CRACK!

And she flung the twitching thing aside like trash.

[Feed Count: +100]

[Feed Count: 45,300/70,000]

Johnquis followed, flicking the hook wide again. The line snapped taut around a traffic light pole, swinging him across the gap. He let go at the last second, hit the ground on a shoulder-roll, boots splashing through filthy rainwater.

He popped up behind Dancer, back to back. They stood in the middle of the ruined street, the coffin only a dozen meters ahead — a black box under the crawling swarm.

Lightning flashed. For a second, he saw the whole mess clear: Eaters crawling over the box like ants on sugar, bones slick, eyes glowing hungry. The lid strained against the locks, a thin blue light seeping from the cracks.

He spat rain. "You see it, Dancer? There’s more coming."

Dancer hissed low, shoulder blades twitching, eyes locked on the prize.

Another Eater lurched from an alley to their left, mouth split wide. Johnquis whipped around, Eater Blade ready.

"BLADECALL!"

His bronze stone flared — chains exploded out, part steel, part living flesh, wrapping around his right arm. Black and red veins pulsed just under the surface, throbbing like a heartbeat.

He lashed the chain straight through the Eater’s face. It popped as he pulled it free.

[Feed Count: +100]

[Feed Count: 45,400 / 70,000]

More shapes flickered behind ruined cars and half-buried storefronts. Dozens of them, dragging themselves toward the fresh blood inside that box.

He turned, eyes narrowing. The last lock on the coffin hissed, steam coiling in the rain. He gripped his hook tight, ready to rip any Eater off that lid himself.

"Stay alive, rookie. We’re coming for you." freewebnσvel.cøm

Johnquis sucked in the storm, tasting rust and rain on his tongue. The last lock on the coffin hissed. So close, so damn close but the Eaters were everywhere, crawling over the lid, jaws snapping, eyes burning with sick hunger.

He shouted, voice cutting through the thunder. "Dancer!"

She moved faster the moment she heard the desperation in Johnquis’s voice. She sprang forward first, a flash of claws and foot-blades flashing silver in the streetlight. Johnquis lunged after her, chain blade dragging lines of sparks behind him as he ran.

They hit the swarm together.

Dancer slammed low, carving a beast’s knees out from under it. Johnquis spun, chain cracking like a whip. It sliced through a skull, wet pulp spattering across his boots.

[Feed Count: +100]

[Feed Count: 45,500 / 70,000]

"Move! Move! That lock’s not gonna hold—"

A pale freak lunged at him from the side. He pivoted, chain wrapping its neck, yanking it forward just in time for Dancer to open its throat with a flick of her claw.

[Feed Count: +100]

[Feed Count: 45,600 / 70,000]

Lightning lit the street white as bone. The coffin ahead pulsed blue through the cracks, the seals straining, the lid trembling.

More Eaters spilled from ruined storefronts, slipping from rain-slick cars like roaches. Their claws skittered on broken asphalt. For every one they dropped, three more pushed in. Johnquis’ boots slipped on blood and rain, he grit his teeth, forced himself forward.

[Feed Count: +600]

[Feed Count: 46,200 / 70,000]

He snarled through the storm.

"We’re gonna make it! We’re—"

KLIK.

The final lock split. Steam hissed out like a dying gasp. The Eaters stopped for half a heartbeat, heads cocking at the sudden silence then they shrieked as the lid cracked open.

GHRRAAAARRRGGGHH!"

"No! Shit! Dancer — GO!"

They bolted, slamming through the last wave of hungry freaks. But they were still too far, ten meters, then five — the coffin’s lid shuddered once, then dropped with a dull, wet SLAM into the flooded street, splashing filth up onto the snarling Eaters.

A heartbeat of silence.

Then—

BANG!

The sound was so sharp it split the storm. A single bullet punched out from the dark coffin, blasting straight through an Eater’s temple.

Another shot —

BANG!

Another monster’s chest blew apart in a burst of rotten bone. Heads burst like berries underfoot.

Johnquis braked hard and froze in place. He watched as the Eaters twisted, clawing at their new invisible enemy. Muzzle flashes flickered inside the coffin like tiny suns.

Dancer hissed in raw delight. Johnquis let out a breathless laugh, chain blade dangling at his side.

"...That’s no rookie."

A figure rose from the dark coffin interior — steam curling off him like smoke from a forge. He wore full Guild combat armor but over it he draped something peculiar, fluttering like a ragged cloak in the storm. In his hand: an Eater Blade, a shotgun, still wet with fluid from the coffin’s bio-locks.

The man stepped onto the wet asphalt, boots landing in the pool of rainwater with a sharp splash. He didn’t flinch as an Eater lunged, he pivoted, blade-gun up —

BANG!

Split its skull open. The monster dropped at his feet like a sack of meat.

He tilted his head back. Rain streaked across his sharp jaw, dripping from his hair. He turned to Johnquis and Dancer, eyes wild, a grin carved across his face like he’d been waiting his whole life for this exact moment.

He rested the shotgun on his shoulder. With a smooth click, the barrel snapped shut. The gap sealed as the weapon shifted, the blade sliding out to fill the space. Now it was a sword, blood steaming off its edge, red and black veins pulsing just beneath the slick surface.

"What the— a hybrid weapon?" Johnquis muttered, eyes wide.

Thunder cracked overhead. The new Eater Blade threw back his head and laughed. Voice cutting through the rain.

"The savior of the apocalypse has arrived!"

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