My Scumbag System

Chapter 624: Sirena’s Requiem

"Veronica." One of the analysts looked up from her station. "The Boss is producing more spawn than projected. We’re looking at a potential overrun scenario in approximately four minutes."

Veronica’s expression didn’t change. "Options?"

"We can call for VHC backup, but response time is at least ten minutes."

"Unacceptable."

"We could deploy the Sirena Protocol, but that requires—"

"I know what it requires." Veronica’s eyes found Reyna across the room. "Are you ready?"

Reyna stepped forward. Her whole demeanor had shifted. The woman who’d been lying in bed with me an hour ago was gone. In her place stood La Sirena, Valoria’s Crimson Comet.

"Born ready."

"Then go. Show them what Olympus Rising can do."

Reyna looked at me. Something passed between us. An acknowledgment.

Then she was moving, heading for the door at a pace that was almost a run.

"What’s the Sirena Protocol?" I asked.

Veronica turned to me. Her expression was unreadable.

"My sister’s Aspect isn’t just lightning manipulation. At full power, she can generate an electromagnetic pulse powerful enough to disrupt the neural activity of every creature within a two-hundred-meter radius. It’s devastating against monster hordes."

"Why not use it from the start?"

"Because it also affects humans. The pulse is calibrated to minimize damage to Hunters, but there’s always risk. And using it at full power drains Reyna to the point of unconsciousness."

On the display, I watched Reyna’s transport speeding toward the Gate location.

"She’ll be defenseless afterward."

"That’s why I’m sending you."

I blinked. "What?"

Veronica was already moving before the words had fully left her mouth, her hand gesturing sharply for me to follow as she strode toward the bank of monitoring screens. Her heels clicked against the polished floor with military precision. "You said you wanted to see how a real guild operates. Well, congratulations—you’re getting the premium experience. Sometimes operations go sideways and we have to improvise on the fly. Reyna is going to save those people, but someone needs to watch her back when she’s vulnerable afterward. When she’s defenseless."

She glanced back at me, her emerald eyes cutting through the chaos of the command center like a blade.

"I’m not cleared for—"

"I’m clearing you." Veronica’s interruption was absolute. Final. She stopped in her tracks and turned to face me fully, and despite the organized chaos erupting around us, in that moment her complete focus was on me. "Consider this a field test, Satori Nakano. You claim you killed an A-Rank entity. Now show me what the boy who supposedly accomplished that impossible feat can really do when the stakes are real and the cameras are watching."

The weight of her stare made it clear this wasn’t a request. It was an opportunity. And opportunities in this world didn’t come with polite advance notice.

Nel’s amused voice drifted through my mind like smoke. "Oh, the Audience is very, very interested in this development. A chance to see you operate outside your carefully controlled environment? This should be delicious."

Of course they fucking were.

The transport was fast.

Not fast like a normal vehicle. Fast like something that had been designed by engineers who believed traffic laws were suggestions for lesser mortals. Military-grade acceleration slammed me back into my seat with enough force to drive the air from my lungs as we rocketed through the evacuated streets of the outer wards. Through the reinforced windows, the cityscape became a blur of concrete and steel, punctuated by the distant orange glow of fires and the occasional silhouette of a fleeing civilian transport.

The driver—one of Veronica’s personal security detail, judging by the Olympus Rising insignia on his tactical vest—handled the vehicle with the kind of practiced ease that came from years of navigating crisis zones. The HUD mounted on the dashboard painted targets and waypoints in neon blue, tracking our rapidly decreasing distance to the combat zone.

I checked my equipment one more time. The gear Veronica had provided was top-tier. Reinforced bodysuit with integrated armor plates. Holsters for my bat and backup weapons. A communication earpiece linking me to the command center.

The Dragon Witch’s Ring hummed on my finger. Ready.

"Approaching insertion point," the driver announced. "Thirty seconds."

Through the transport’s windows, I could see the chaos ahead. Smoke rising from multiple points. The flicker of elemental abilities painting the sky. The massive form of the Boss looming above the rooftops.

And Reyna.

She stood atop a building at the edge of the combat zone, her crimson hair whipping in the wind generated by the battle below. Lightning crackled around her body, building in intensity with each passing second.

"Sirena Protocol activation in ten seconds," her voice came through the earpiece. "All Hunter personnel, brace for EMP!"

The transport slammed to a stop. I was moving before the door fully opened, my feet hitting pavement as I sprinted toward Reyna’s position.

"Five seconds!"

The lightning around her body reached a crescendo. Blue-white energy so bright it hurt to look at directly. She raised both arms toward the sky.

"SIRENA!"

The world turned white.

The pulse hit me like a physical force despite being outside its primary radius. Every nerve in my body screamed for a split second before going numb. My vision whited out.

Then it passed.

I blinked away the afterimages and kept running.

Around me, the effects of Reyna’s attack were devastating. Every monster I could see had collapsed. The smaller creatures were simply dead, their nervous systems fried beyond recovery. The mid-tiers twitched and spasmed, still alive but completely incapacitated.

Even the Boss had fallen.

The massive creature lay sprawled across the intersection, its translucent body convulsing as it struggled to restart systems that had been forcibly shut down. It wasn’t dead, but it was helpless.

"All teams, execute! Finish the Boss before it recovers!"

Hunters converged on the fallen giant from every direction. Fire and lightning and kinetic force slammed into it while it lay helpless. The regeneration that had made it so dangerous meant nothing when it couldn’t even coordinate its own limbs.

I reached the building where Reyna had been standing just as she collapsed.

Her body crumpled like someone had cut her strings. I caught her before she hit the rooftop, her weight settling against my chest as her eyes fluttered closed.

"Got her," I reported through the earpiece. "She’s unconscious but stable."

"Confirmed. Medical team en route to your position. ETA three minutes."

Three minutes. An eternity in a combat zone.

I looked down at Reyna’s face. Peaceful in unconsciousness. Completely vulnerable.

Something stirred at the edge of my awareness.

Not the monsters. Those were being systematically eliminated by the Hunter teams. Something else. Something that had been waiting for exactly this moment.

I spun, pulling Reyna behind me, just as a figure emerged from the shadows of the rooftop stairwell.

Human. Male. Black tactical gear with no guild markings. A face I didn’t recognize.

He held a weapon pointed directly at us.

"Well," he said. "This is convenient."