The door clicked shut behind Rex, and silence settled over the living room like thick smoke.
No one moved.
Ash stared at the spot where Rex had been standing moments ago, his mouth slightly ajar. The snapped toothpick rested forgotten in his lap. "What the hell… was that?"
Silas finally exhaled through his nose and leaned back, hands clasped behind his head. "That wasn't just a song. That was… a manifesto."
Kai slowly stood from the beanbag. "Did you hear that chorus? 'Seek and Destroy'? That's not just heavy — that's apocalyptic." He looked over at Silas. "Dude, I thought you were gonna jump outta your skin."
"I might've," Silas admitted. "There was something primal about it. Like… we just got handed a weapon."
Ash nodded slowly, piecing it together. "He wrote that? Rex wrote that? Alone?"
Kai scratched the back of his head. "That's what he said. Didn't give us a damn warning either. Just melted our faces off like it was no big deal."
Silas tilted his head toward the hallway. "No way that's just a random idea he had. There's something going on with Rex."
Ash narrowed his eyes. "You think he's holding something back?"
Silas shrugged. "All I'm saying is… that performance wasn't normal. That song's too polished, too timeless. Like it already existed somewhere else."
Kai raised a brow. "You saying he's a time traveler or something?"
They all laughed. Nervous laughter. Because even as the joke passed, none of them could shake the feeling that Seek and Destroy wasn't born in this world.
But they let it go.
Because right now, the only thing that mattered was what to do next.
---
Rex stood in the kitchen, pretending to be busy with a glass of water. He'd heard the muffled voices. Caught a few words. Time traveler made him smirk.
If only they knew.
The system's interface pulsed faintly in the corner of his vision — only he could see it. It had been silent since he played the song, but he could feel it waiting, watching.
[System Notification: Milestone Unlocked]
You have introduced your second Legendary Song to your band.
+1000 USD added to your funds.
New rewards available in System Shop.
Rex blinked. His lips curled into a small grin. He didn't care about the shop right now. The money, though? Perfect.
He walked back into the living room.
The moment he entered, the conversation halted.
Rex raised a brow. "You guys plotting my murder or just trying to figure out how I wrote a song that sounds like it came from Valhalla?"
Ash was the first to break. "Alright, man, you gotta tell us — where the hell did that come from?"
Rex gave them a crooked smile and shrugged. "Let's just say… I got inspired by the gods of heavy music."
Kai whistled. "If that's inspiration, I want a hit."
Silas stood up. "We're doing this one next, right? That wasn't just a song — that was an event. If we put that out and it doesn't explode online, I'll shave my head."
Ash smirked. "Kai's already bald, man. He beat you to it."
Kai flipped him off with a grin. "More aerodynamic for headbanging."
Rex nodded, getting serious again. "We release Seek and Destroy. But we do it right. We need to rehearse it until it sounds like the world's ending. I'll lay down the rhythm track, but we're all in on this one."
"What about the recording setup?" Silas asked. "Your mini-studio good enough to capture all that?"
Rex gestured to the bedroom. "I've got the basics: audio interface, DAW, condenser mic, amp sim plugins. It's tight, but it'll work if we track each part separately. Ash, you and I will layer the guitars. Kai, you're gonna need to crush it on those drums. Silas — the bassline's got some groove in the verse, but keep it punchy in the chorus."
Silas nodded slowly, visualizing the structure. "That bass drop in the bridge? I want that to hit like thunder."
"Exactly," Rex said. "We're not doing cover songs . We're giving the world something they've never heard."
Ash leaned forward, fingers steepled. "We doing a video for this one?"
Rex smiled. "We keep it raw. Just us in the room, instruments in hand, camera rolling. No fancy angles. No gimmicks. Just firepower."
Silas cracked his knuckles. "We upload it to our channel, right?"
"Every platform," Rex said. "YouTube, TikTok, Insta clips, even freakin' SoundCloud. We go wide."
"And the name?" Kai asked. "We credit it to Obsidian Saints?"
Rex nodded. " of course,This is our official debut. This song puts us on the map."
Ash tilted his head. "Won't the name Seek and Destroy sound... aggressive?"
Rex's eyes lit up. "Exactly."
They all grinned.
---
Late that night, as the others drifted off to prep or rest, Rex sat alone with his guitar, plucking out the intro again — slower this time. Reflective.
The system's interface flickered again.
[Band Morale: +5]
[Momentum Boost: +10% reach for next video release]
He didn't know how it worked, and honestly, he didn't care.
All he knew was that Seek and Destroy was going to be their warcry.
And the world?
The world was going to listen.
---