The air inside the arena was thick with desperation. As the crowd surged toward the purple maw of the portal, the battle royale mentality took hold instantly. Cries of shock echoed as students were backstabbed by their own peers in the rush to enter, their bracelets flashing as they were disqualified before even setting foot in the raid zone.
I stood back, watching the chaotic drama with a detached gaze. I wasn't in a hurry. I stood with my hands casually tucked into the pockets of my slim black fabric trousers. I wore a fitted black shirt, the sleeves rolled neatly below my elbows to reveal forearms corded with lean muscle. My high-collared coat—obsidian on the outside and lined with pristine white—billowed slightly in the mana-infused wind.
Ria and Kael stood beside me, imitating my patience. We were the calm center of a storm.
Nearby, Marcus and his younger brother Caleb remained. Marcus shot me a side-eye, his lip curling in a sneer. "Meet you in there, brat. Make sure you stay alive long enough for me to find you," he spat, before signaling his underlings to follow him into the shimmering vortex.
Caleb didn't bother with words. He simply gave me a middle-finger salute—the universal sign of his insecurity—before disappearing into the light.
I scoffed, my expression bored. "Be careful, you two," I muttered to Ria and Kael. I took one last look toward the high seat where Luka Cinandra sat. The High Inspector had his fist resting against his cheek, a wicked grin dancing on his lips. I knew he had crafted that second rule—the one rewarding the slaughter of fellow students—specifically to see me hunted. He wanted blood.
I stepped into the portal.
The world blurred, and then I was standing in silence.
I was alone. The teleportation had separated me from Ria and Kael, dropping me into the heart of an ancient, sprawling complex. The architecture was haunting—towering stone statues of winged beasts loomed over me, their sightless eyes carved from cold marble. The room stretched endlessly into a dark, suffocating abyss.
I began to walk, my footsteps echoing off the stone floor. As I moved past the rows of gargoyles, a sound reached my ears.
Crunch. Snap.
It was methodical. Slow. There was no frenzy in the sound, no bestial growl. Just the steady, wet sound of flesh being torn apart and the sickening crack of bone beneath measured bites.
Suddenly, a sensation I hadn't felt in a long time flared to life. Deep within my cells, my Monster Veins—dormant for months—began to thrum with a dark, rhythmic pulse. The fear response in my brain vanished, replaced by a cold, predatory curiosity.
I followed the sound. I reached a heavy wooden door on my left and pushed.
CREAKK.
The door groaned open. In the center of the room, hunched over a shredded carcass, was a nightmare.
The creature turned its head sharply toward me, blood dripping from its elongated maw. It had the look of a humaniod dark bat, standing as tall as a man but far broader. Its skin was the color of bruised shadow, possessing human-like limbs but ending in claws that were far longer and sharper than any mortal's. Large, leathery wings were tucked against its back, and its predatory yellow eyes locked onto mine with a gaze of pure malice.
It let out a roar—not a beast's cry, but a high-pitched, agonizing scream that released visible ripples of sound waves.
I winced, covering my ears as the vibration threatened to shatter my eardrums. My heart hammered against my ribs, but my body refused to falter. The Monster Veins were flooding my system with a cold, numbing energy.
"Damn it... what the hell is this thing? System Sage, show me its stats."
[INITIATING SCAN...]
[NAME: BAT DEMON]
[LEVEL: DISASTER-CLASS]
[STRENGTH: 3000]
[SPEED: 720 M/S]
[ABILITY: NIGHT VISION, STEALTH, DEATH SCREAMS, BEAM BALL]
[SPECIAL TRAIT: BLOODTHIRSTY (POWER SCALES WITH CONSUMED FLESH)]
"Shit," I muttered, dropping into a low stance. "It's faster than me. A true predator."
The demon sensed my intent. It didn't hesitate. It lunged, its speed so great it became a dark blur that circled the room, hitting angles I couldn't even see. I didn't panic. I centered my gravity, closing my eyes for a fraction of a second to feel the displacement of air.
A flurry of strikes came from my blind spots. I dodged, my coat whistling as I twisted out of the way of claws that could have disemboweled me. I tried to counter, but the demon was like smoke—slipping through my fingers and reappearing ten feet behind me.
It opened its mouth, and a yellow sphere of condensed energy formed—a beam ball. It fired.
I didn't dodge. I parried. With a snap of my wrist, I swatted the sphere aside. It streaked across the hall and hit the far wall.
KABOOM.
The explosion leveled half the room, but the demon was already in my face. It reached for my chest, its fingers elongated like spears, aiming to pierce my heart while I was distracted by the blast.
I reacted instinctively. I dropped, planting one hand on the cold stone and spinning my body. I used my left foot to sweep its arm aside, and in the same fluid motion, I delivered a twisting kick with my right leg.
My heel caught the demon square in its neck.
The force sent it hurtling through the air. It crashed through three separate room partitions, the sound of breaking stone following its flight. It finally slammed into a structural wall in the fourth room, creating a massive crater of spiderwebbed cracks.
The demon groaned, its yellow eyes flickering with irritation. It rose, crouching in a predatory stance that suggested it was no longer hunting for food, but for revenge.
"What's with that look?" I asked. My voice was flat, devoid of emotion. The Monster Veins were dominating my psyche now, I felt as though I had no human heart, only a cold core of mana.
It lunged again. I met it halfway. We collided in the air, a mess of black fabric and leathery wings. My leg swung with the force of a falling star, striking its neck, but it endured the blow. It grabbed my leg mid-air, its claws digging into my calf, and slammed me downward.
I hit the floor with a bone-jarring thud. Before I could roll, the demon pinned my head down with its long, spindly fingers, locking me in place.
It hovered inches from my face, its jaws unhinging. Then, it unleashed its death screams at point-blank range.
The sound waves were physical, battering my face and making my skin ripple. My hair was blown back, and I groaned as the sheer vibration threatened to liquify my internal organs. I roared in frustration, my muscles bulging as I forced my leg up, catching the demon in the gut and hollowing it out.
The kick sent it flying back across the hall. It skidded, claws sparking against the stone as it tried to regain its composure. But I was already gone.
I appeared behind it, my hand raised in a high-five motion. A sphere of sapphire-blue energy was already swirling in my palm—a charged risho blue.
"Got you."
VMMMMMMM—
I fired. The beam didn't just hit the demon, it obliterated the upper half of its body. The hiss of fading energy filled the room, leaving a lingering resonance that felt like the air itself had been scorched. All that remained of the high-level threat were its legs and a scorched stomach, steaming on the floor.
I stood upright, tucking my hands back into my pockets. As the adrenaline faded, the Monster Veins receded, and the cold, inhuman mask I had been wearing vanished.
DING!
The bracelet on my wrist chimed. I looked down to see a holographic leaderboard.
RANKING: 1st PLACE
POINTS: 2000
CONTESTANTS REMAINING: 998
"Hmph. I guess killing a high-level demon actually pays off," I muttered.
I walked out of the ruined hall, following a shaft of light that led to an outdoor terrace overlooking a different section of the complex. As I stepped into the open air, I ran into a group of three students wearing Tier-Six insignias.
"Hey, Elisa, isn't that the proud trash called Oliver?" a guy named Eli barked, a sneer on his face.
"Yeah, that's him. The E-rank joke," Elisa added, crossing her arms.
A third guy, Dan, stepped forward with a dark, hungry grin. "Hey guys, he's Tier-One, right? Permit me to use him as a point-pump. This will be easy."
"Be careful, Dan," Elisa warned half-heartedly. "Some of these Tier-Ones have been surprising people lately."
"Don't worry, he's a nobody," Dan said, ignoring her. He lunged at me, his mouth opening as a gout of orange flame gathered in his throat. "DRAGON FLAME!"
A massive wave of fire roared toward me. I didn't move. I didn't even draw my mana. I simply took a breath and blew.
A sharp, pressurized gust of air left my lips. It hit the fire like a bucket of water on a candle, extinguishing it instantly.
"What the—!" Dan froze mid-air, his eyes wide with absolute shock. Before his brain could process how a Tier-One had blown out an S-class fire spell, his bracelet flared. His body shattered into blue light holograms and vanished. He was disqualified instantly. I had striked him mid-air immediately after he activated his fire spell which was faster than his perception.
Elisa and Eli stood frozen.
"What just happened?!" Elisa screamed.
"What did he do? I didn't even see him move!" Eli shouted while being so shocked. His bravado replaced by a cold sweat.
I ignored them. I walked past them as if they were nothing more than the dust on the floor.
"Hey!" Eli's voice was deep with a mixture of rage. He reached out, his hand gripping my shoulder to halt my pace. "I don't know what cheat you used... but you don't get to ignore me!"
I stopped. I didn't turn around. "Hey," I said, my voice low and dangerous. "For your own good, go look for other low-tier contestants. Stop trying to use me to fuel your points . You're only going to get disqualified for nothing."
I gave a side-glance, flipping his hand off my shoulder with a flick of my finger and resumed my pace.
"You arrogant brat!" Eli roared. He lunged, his hands transforming into massive, earth-like boulders. He intended to crush me into the dirt.
I didn't even look back. I simply stepped slightly to the left. The momentum of his own massive attack, combined with a subtle trip-wire of mana I left behind, sent him plummeting face-first into the stone floor with a sickening crack.
DING!
His body dissolved into light. He had effectively disqualified himself by trying to hit me coincidentally making me gain more points without me trying.
I glanced back at Elisa. she was staring at me with a look of pure disbelief. She wanted to strike, but her legs wouldn't move. She had seen what happened to the other two if she did. I left her standing there in her own hesitation and continued walking into the unknown.