My Tribrid System: More than a Monster-Chapter 85: Captain Raze (2)
Chapter 83
The Captain wore a black body-compression suit that clung to his frame like a second skin, zipped tight all the way to his jawline.
It looked hermetically sealed, as if not a single molecule of air could penetrate the fabric.
His feet were encased in a high-grade Vector Mobility System (VMS) boot, polished to a dull, lethal sheen.
Over the suit, he wore a unique short robe that ended just above his waist.
The dark green fabric was fixed firmly to the compression suit, with only the hem fluttering softly in the wind.
A hood was attached to the collar, though it currently rested against his back.
On the shoulder of the robe, a single silver star was pinned—a mark of authority that seemed to radiate a cold pressure.
The back of the robe bore a striking emblem: two contrasting wings, one skeletal black and the other a pristine white, joined side-by-side with a jagged spear thrust vertically through the center.
At his hip, a sleek scabbard held a sword that hummed with a faint, suppressed energy.
Kai, recognizing the star and the man it belonged to, stood as straight as a rod, his goofy persona replaced by absolute military discipline.
"Captain Raze!"
****
Ray stared, but his awe wasn’t directed at the man’s physical presence—he didn’t have a clue who this guy was.
Instead, his eyes were glued to the robe and that solitary star.
Even if he didn’t recognize the face, the uniform was unmistakable.
’A Captain? Not just any Captain, but a Captain of the Vanguard Order?! Woah!’
After a heavy silence, the man finally spoke.
His voice was like grinding stones, cold and devoid of warmth.
"You were all presumed dead by now. It is... unexpected to see you standing."
Kai remained stiff, hands clasped firmly behind his back.
Trisha, though less rigid than Kai, had shed her earlier casualness, standing with a poised, professional air.
Raze’s obsidian eyes drifted to the empty space behind them where the gate had once swirled.
He frowned.
"The gate is closed. How?" he asked, his tone nonchalant, as if the closure of a dimensional rift was merely a minor clerical error.
The squad shared a frantic, millisecond-long glance before Kai stepped forward to take the lead on the explanation.
"We—we managed to defeat the advanced boss-class beast, sir. The core was destroyed, and the gate collapsed as a result."
Raze’s expression remained an unreadable mask.
He stared at them for a few more seconds, his gaze feeling like a physical weight. "And the Aberrant?"
This time, Trisha stepped up, her voice steady and clinical.
"It remains trapped in the beast world. We enacted a split-team maneuver. Several of us provided a distraction for the Aberrant while I moved to eliminate the boss-class beast. We managed to narrowly escape through the closing rift, leaving the Aberrant on the other side."
’Wow. What a smooth criminal,’ Ray thought, genuinely impressed by how easily she wove a half-truth.
"Hmph." Raze rubbed his temples.
He looked entirely unconvinced by the narrative, but he seemed willing to grant them the benefit of the doubt for now.
He scanned their tattered, bloodied forms until his eyes came to a rest on Ray, who was still awkwardly draped in borrowed jackets.
The cold, obsidian gaze lingered on the boy for several long moments.
Ray felt his heart hammer against his ribs, his body stiffening instinctively.
’Why is he staring like that? Did he sense the lingering energy? Am I still partly transformed or—’
"Okay," Raze uttered with total indifference.
He turned around sharply, the movement as precise as a machine.
Without another word or an invitation, he began walking back toward the helicarrier.
The students didn’t need a formal command; they immediately began dragging their battered bodies after him, though they pointedly kept a respectful distance of several metres.
As they walked, Van leaned toward Kai, whispering the question that was eating at him.
"Hey... why were you so stiff and serious a moment ago? Who exactly is this guy?"
Ray, who was a short distance behind them, managed to pick the question up due to his incredibly sharp hearing.
Kai lifted an eyebrow as he cast a quick glance at his friend before looking ahead at the Captain, who had already reached the helicarrier.
"You don’t know who that is?"
Van was now the one to raise an eyebrow in confusion.
A few seconds passed before he shook his head slowly.
"No. Should I?"
Kai’s eyes widened in shock as he stared at Van, nearly stopping in his tracks.
"Should you? Yes, you absolutely should. How can you exist in this world and not know who Captain Raze is?"
By now, Ray was more than intrigued by the conversation, and he hastened his steps to catch up with the duo.
"I know he is a Captain of the Vanguard Order, but what is the big deal?" Van asked again, his voice laced with genuine bewilderment.
At this point, Kai felt like his head was going to explode from the sheer disbelief.
However, he paused for a moment and then exhaled deeply to calm his nerves.
"So you don’t know who Captain Raze is, eh? Do you at least know the warrior who is called ’The Spine Reaper’?"
Van and Ray nodded along as they turned to fully face Kai while still walking toward the vessel.
Of course, who didn’t know who the Spine Reaper was?
He was a legendary Captain of the Vanguard Order who was hailed and praised for his ruthless efficiency against the Aberrants.
He was a cold soldier—a man of few words who preferred letting his combat prowess do the talking on the battlefield.
Amongst all the Captains in both the Vanguard Order and the Iron Corps, he was widely considered the strongest.
This wasn’t meant to diminish the others’ feats, but that was simply how powerful the Reaper was.
He was a combatant who rarely targeted the heart or limbs, almost always focusing his strikes on the head and, the majority of the time, the spine of his opponents.
Hence the terrifying nickname he was bestowed.
Ray had certainly heard about the man in various news cycles, but he had been unable to catch even a brief glimpse of his image, as the officer never granted any reporter or media outlet an interview.
’Wait a moment. Is he—?’
"Captain Raze there is the one and only: Spine Reaper," Kai finally confirmed, giving voice to Ray’s internal thoughts and causing his eyes to widen in sheer horror.
’Fuck. I was close to getting my own spine reaped out. What would have happened if he had arrived earlier and found me in my werewolf state? Shoot!’
The terrifying realization caused his heart to pound with incredible intensity.
His pulse thrummed against his ribs as they all boarded the helicarrier, which began to take off slowly before accelerating rapidly by the passing second.
