The deep, heavy thump-thump-thump of the motorcycle faded into the distance, leaving an oppressive silence in its wake. Dev stood alone on the quiet residential street, the hum of the city a distant, irrelevant noise. At his feet lay the cheap, black burner phone.
He looked down at it, his (SPI: 39) mind, a cold, humming engine, processing the encounter.
This "Vector" was a (Level 2) threat in the real-world hierarchy. He was an "asset manager" for a larger organization. He wasn't a "fool" like Rhys, driven by pure ego. He was a businessman, and he had just delivered a summons.
[EVENT: MANDATORY MEETING. 10 PM.]
[ORGANIZATION: UNKNOWN. (LEADER: 'KILO').]
[INTENT: RECRUITMENT / INTIMIDATION.]
This was an annoyance.
A "Level 0" distraction. It was a problem from a world he was rapidly outgrowing, a world of flesh and bone and petty, primitive power structures. It was an obstacle keeping him from his real life, his real purpose: the Nexus.
But it was an obstacle that had to be solved. He couldn't have this "Gang" interrupting his schedule, threatening his "day" life, drawing attention to his existence. He couldn't have them forcing him to waste time and energy.
He decided he would go. Not as a victim being summoned. Not as a recruit hoping to join.
He would go as a predator answering a territorial challenge. He wasn't going to "negotiate." He was going to end this distraction, permanently, so he could focus on what mattered.
His [Spatial Awareness], which had been passively scanning his surroundings, pinged. An observer.
He looked up.
Half a block away, in the second-story window of her own house, he saw Mina.
Her home, by some cruel twist of fate, overlooked this very street. She had been at her window, watching him walk home. She had seen everything. She saw the black motorcycle. She saw the new, tougher-looking man. She saw the phone being thrown.
She was pale, a tiny, terrified figure framed in the glass. Her "hostage" status had just been brutally confirmed. She was a silent, unwilling witness to the fact that the "monster" at her school was already being scouted by bigger monsters.
Dev just... looked at her.
He held her gaze, his new 6-foot frame a statue of cold indifference on the street below. His (SPI: 39) eyes, even from this distance, were piercing. He held her gaze for one, two, three long seconds.
It was a look that said nothing, and said everything.
You see? This is my world now.
This is what I deal with. You are irrelevant. Stay out of it.
Mina recoiled from the window, vanishing into the shadows of her room as if she'd been burned.
His point made, Dev bent down and picked up the burner phone. It was light, cheap plastic, utterly disposable. He turned it on.
One new message. A single text:
10 PM. Kilo's Warehouse, West Industrial Park. Don't be late.
"A warehouse," he whispered, his voice a low, cold breath. "How... predictable."
He had hours until 10 PM. He turned and walked home, his new, long-legged stride purposeful. He needed to prepare. He needed to see what his new power truly meant. He needed to quantify his new assets before he walked into a meeting with a city-level boss.
He got home, went to his room, and locked the door. He lay on his bed, the frame of which now creaked under his new, dense weight.
He closed his eyes and plunged into the Nexus.
He materialized in the cold, gray, tomb-like expanse of the Ebonguard Hub.
Selina was there.
She was not the woman he had left.
Her mask of cold, aristocratic indifference was gone. It was shattered. She was standing exactly where he had left her, but her posture was rigid, tense. Her face was pale, and her eyes, normally so dead, were alive with a mixture of shock, confusion, and something else... something he hadn't seen in her yet.
Fear.
She had been staring, for however long he was gone, at his Faction Status Panel, which had clearly remained visible as an anomaly in the Hub.
[LEVEL: 10]
[SYNC RATE: 10.0%]
[SKILL (EX-RANK): ETERNAL BOND]
She wasn't a handler to a dreg anymore. She was a Faction manager who had just discovered a rogue god in her system.
"Report," she demanded. Her voice, usually so calm and melodic, was sharp, strained. It was not a casual order. It was a desperate plea for data.
"The Faction logs are sealed," she said, her voice tight. "Your mission parameters were 'Cull.' You... you engaged a Level 10 World Boss. Alone. You were Level 7. Explain how."
Her eyes flicked to his status panel, to the new, black-and-gold EX-Rank skill. "And explain that. 'Eternal Bond'. An EX-Rank skill has not been logged in this Faction for over a thousand cycles. Explain it. Now."
Dev's (SPI: 39) mind analyzed her. She was a resource. A valuable one. But the power dynamic had permanently shifted. He was no longer her asset. She was now his link to the Faction. He needed to establish the new terms of their relationship.
"The Devourer's power was inefficient," Dev stated, his voice as cold and empty as the Hub itself. "It 'summoned'. It was a 'fool's' power, just a blunt instrument. It didn't 'control'."
He met her terrified, angry gaze.
"This," he said, "is control."
He activated his [Eternal Bond].
It was not the blue, shimmering light of a Faction portal. It was a tear in the very fabric of the Hub, a swirling vortex of black-and-gold energy. His portal. His system.
Out of it, a ten-foot-tall Lava Hulk stepped onto the gray floor.
The Level 3 monster from Tartarus-7. Its obsidian skin smoked, its magma core pulsed with a dull, red light. Its eyes were blank, soulless, and it radiated a pure, controlled menace that flooded the Hub with an oppressive, volcanic heat.
Selina instantly reacted.
Her (AGI) was a blur, faster than anything Dev had ever seen in a human. In less than a microsecond, she had drawn her Faction-issued sidearm—a sleek, silver energy pistol—and had it aimed squarely at the Hulk's head.
"What is this?!" she screamed, her voice breaking. "How did you breach the Hub's defenses?! Stand down, Initiate! That is an order!"
The Lava Hulk, a two-ton monster of pure, elemental fury, ignored her completely. It didn't even register her as a threat.
It turned its massive, molten head to look at Dev.
And then, at a simple, unspoken thought from its master, it knelt.
A ten-foot, 2-ton creature of obsidian and fire bowed before him, lowering its head in absolute, silent, mindless submission.
Selina froze.
Her gun was still aimed, but her hand was trembling. She was connecting the dots. Her sharp, Faction-trained mind was processing the impossibility of what she was seeing.
He hadn't just killed the monsters.
He hadn't just stolen the Boss's power.
He had enslaved its army.
She was not looking at a warrior anymore. She was looking at a master. A necromancer. A legion-builder.
"My God," she whispered, her voice a horrified breath. She slowly, shakily, lowered her weapon. The terror in her eyes was now mixed with a new, profound awe.
"The 'Bond'..." she whispered, finally understanding. "You didn't just get it. You stole it."
Dev looked at his new, kneeling slave. His (SPI: 39) mind was calm. He now had a quantifiable asset. He had his legion. He had his power.
At another thought, the Hulk dissolved, its form collapsing back into the black-and-gold portal, which snapped shut, leaving the Hub in its cold, gray silence.
Dev looked at Selina.
He was ready for his 10 PM meeting. He was bringing more than just his (STR: 11) and a bad attitude.
He was bringing an army.