The city went dark all at once.
Not gradually.
Not section by section.
Every light visible through the command center windows vanished in the same instant.
Streetlamps.
Apartment buildings.
Traffic signals.
The illuminated Hunter Association tower.
Even the emergency lamps inside the mobile command center died before they had a chance to activate.
For one breath, New Haven disappeared.
Then the screaming began.
It came faintly through the reinforced walls at first.
Car horns.
Shouting.
The distant crash of vehicles colliding at dark intersections.
Inside the command center, computers shut down one after another.
The enormous world map vanished.
The faces of guild leaders and government officials disappeared with it.
Only darkness remained.
Aiden stood motionless.
The golden scale in his pocket burned against his chest.
Not enough to injure him.
Enough to make ignoring it impossible.
The spiritual flame inside him pulsed in the same rhythm.
Once.
Twice.
A third time.
Far beneath New Haven, something answered.
The ground shifted.
A low vibration passed through the command center floor.
Metal tables rattled.
Loose equipment slid toward the walls.
Someone cursed in the darkness.
General Thorn’s voice rose above the confusion.
“Emergency power.” “It isn’t responding, sir.” “Manual generators.” “Trying.” Marcus drew his sword.
The faint white glow along its edge became the only source of light in the room.
His face appeared sharp and pale in the dim illumination.
“Cross.” “I’m here.” “What is happening?” “I don’t know.” The Primordial Chimera stirred inside Aiden.
That answer was not entirely true.
He knew one thing.
The ancient creature was furious.
Not startled.
Not afraid.
Furious.
Its presence pressed against the inside of his mind like a beast throwing itself against a cage.
MY THRONE.
Aiden clenched his jaw.
“You said that already.” THEY DARED.
“Who?” No answer.
The ground trembled again.
This time, the vibration carried a sound.
A deep metallic groan rising through the earth.
It reminded Aiden of enormous chains being dragged across stone.
Several people in the command center froze.
Theodore lifted his head.
“That came from below us.” Sophia activated a small sphere of shadow-light over her palm.
The dark flame illuminated the room without producing heat.
Technicians hurried between dead control panels.
General Thorn moved toward the central table.
“Restore communications.” “Every electrical system in the city is down.” “What about mana-powered equipment?” A technician checked a crystal device.
Then struck it with his palm when nothing happened.
“Also dead.” Sophia’s expression changed.
“That isn’t a power outage.” Marcus looked toward her.
“No?” “Something is suppressing energy.” “Mana?” “Mana, electricity, probably any artificial energy source within the affected radius.” Aiden looked toward the dark city outside.
Millions of people were trapped in buildings, hospitals, trains, elevators.
The thought came too quickly.
“The orphanage.” Marcus turned toward him.
“Do not leave.” “They have no backup power.” “We don’t know what’s outside.” “That is exactly why I’m going.” Marcus stepped into his path.
“No.” Aiden stopped.
The Guild Master’s expression left no room for negotiation.
Then a distant golden light rose beyond the windows.
Every person in the command center turned.
Thin lines appeared across the city streets.
At first, Aiden thought they were cracks.
Then they brightened.
Gold spread through the pavement in geometric patterns, running beneath buildings and across intersections.
The lines curved around entire districts, joining one another as though an enormous symbol had been carved beneath New Haven long before the city existed.
The glow became visible through roads, concrete, and foundations.
A vast circle.
The city had been built directly above it.
The golden Gate was not merely beneath New Haven.
Its structure stretched under nearly all of it.
The Primordial Chimera’s rage vanished.
In its place came recognition.
THIS CITY WAS BUILT ON MY HALL.
Aiden stared at the expanding pattern.
“Your throne room is the size of a city?” IT WAS NOT A ROOM.
“Of course it wasn’t.” A powerful pulse erupted from below.
The command center windows bent inward.
Aiden felt the pressure pass through his body without touching his skin.
His incomplete spiritual core flared.
Several people collapsed.
Sophia dropped to one knee.
Marcus remained standing, but his sword trembled in his hand.
Theodore leaned heavily on his walking stick.
Only Aiden seemed unaffected.
No.
Not unaffected.
Recognized.
The pressure wrapped around him like a hand searching for a familiar shape.
The golden scale rose from his pocket.
It passed through the torn fabric without damaging it and floated in front of his chest.
Aiden reached for it.
The Primordial Chimera stopped him.
WAIT.
The scale rotated in the air.
Golden symbols appeared around it.
Sophia forced herself upright.
“What are those?” “I have no idea.” Theodore studied them.
“They resemble the markings in the underground ruin.” The symbols arranged themselves into a ring.
Then the golden scale cracked.
Aiden’s heart lurched.
“Aurelius said it could only be used once.” IT IS NOT ACTIVATING.
“Then why is it breaking?” A fragment separated from the scale.
Instead of falling, it transformed into a thin beam of light that passed through the floor.
Another fragment followed.
Then another.
The scale was pointing somewhere below.
A path.
Marcus watched the pieces disappear.
“Can it guide us to the Gate?” “Maybe.” “That is not an answer I enjoy.” “It’s the only one I have.” General Thorn approached.
“No one enters the underground structure until the city is stabilized.” Marcus glanced toward the dark windows.
“With what equipment?” “We have personnel.” “You have soldiers unable to use their weapons, Hunters unable to sense mana, and a city sitting above an ancient structure that just turned off every machine within several kilometers.” Thorn’s expression hardened.
“Which is precisely why we do not rush into it.” Aiden looked toward the golden line beneath the floor.
The spiritual flame inside his chest pulled downward.
Something was calling him.
Not with words.
With memory.
A sensation of belonging to a place he had never seen.
He could almost picture it.
High pillars.
A ceiling filled with stars.
Countless beasts gathered beneath a throne of black stone.
Then blood.
Fire.
An empty hall.
Aiden pressed one hand against his chest.
The vision disappeared.
The Primordial Chimera’s voice came quietly.
WE MUST DESCEND.
“Why?” BECAUSE IF THE HALL HAS AWAKENED WITHOUT ME…
The ancient creature paused.
…SOMETHING ELSE SITS UPON THE THRONE.
The temperature in the room seemed to fall.
Aiden repeated the warning aloud.
Marcus swore under his breath.
General Thorn did not move.
“What would be capable of occupying its throne?” Aiden waited.
The answer came reluctantly.
ONE OF MY CHILDREN.
Theodore’s gaze sharpened.
“The missing statue.” Aiden looked toward him.
“What?” Theodore explained what he had seen in the ancient hall.
The empty platform.
Fresh marks.
A statue that had not shattered, but disappeared.
The Primordial Chimera searched Aiden’s memory of the platform.
Its reaction was immediate.
NO.
“What?” NOT THAT ONE.
Aiden felt something close to dread enter their bond.
Marcus stepped nearer.
“Which child was represented by the missing statue?” The Primordial Chimera did not answer.
Aiden’s patience snapped.
“Enough.” The word came out louder than he intended.
Everyone looked at him.
He did not care.
“You keep giving warnings after the danger arrives.
You knew the Hollow One.
You knew Aurelius.
You know what is beneath this city.
And every time I ask for the truth, you hide behind sealed memories.” The ancient creature growled.
YOU SPEAK AS THOUGH I CHOSE TO FORGET.
“Then tell me what you remember.” Silence.
Aiden felt the struggle inside it.
Pride resisting necessity.
Finally, an image entered his mind.
A beast standing beneath a red sky.
It possessed a narrow, almost human shape, covered in pale armor.
Four curved horns formed a crown around its head.
Its arms ended in long black claws.
Unlike Aurelius, it did not kneel before the Primordial Chimera.
It stood beside the throne.
Equal in height.
Equal in defiance.
Bodies surrounded it.
Not enemies.
Other children.
Wounded.
The image vanished.
The Primordial Chimera spoke one name.
MALACHOR.
Aiden repeated it.
The golden patterns beneath the city pulsed.
The name had been heard.
Every illuminated line turned red for a fraction of a second.
The spiritual pressure increased.
Somewhere far below, a voice laughed.
It was faint.
Yet the sound rose through stone, metal, and earth as clearly as though someone stood beside Aiden.
«Father remembers.» The Primordial Chimera roared inside his soul.
Every golden marking beneath Aiden’s skin ignited.
Black scales appeared along his neck and right hand.
Marcus raised his sword toward him before realizing Aiden was not transforming by choice.
The voice came again.
«And he has chosen a human.» The laughter grew colder.
«How humiliating.» Aiden looked down.
The golden path beneath the floor changed direction.
It no longer pointed toward the center of the city.
It pointed directly beneath Saint Aurora Orphanage.
His blood ran cold.
“No.” Marcus followed his gaze.
“What?” “The Gate isn’t beneath the Association.” The golden light spread across a physical map lying on the table.
It traveled through marked streets and stopped beneath one small building.
Aiden knew the shape before he read the label.
Saint Aurora.
The orphanage where he had grown up.
The place Mrs.
Palmer and the children still lived.
He was moving before anyone could stop him.
Marcus grabbed his shoulder.
“Wait.” “Let go.” “If that creature wants you, running directly toward it is exactly what it expects.” “It is under the orphanage.” “I know.” “The children are there.” “I know.” Aiden turned.
His eyes had begun glowing gold.
“Then let go.” Marcus held his gaze.
For a moment, neither moved.
Then the Guild Master released him.
“I’m coming.” “So am I,” Sophia said.
Theodore sighed.
“I had hoped to spend at least one afternoon not entering an ancient death trap.” General Thorn stepped in front of the exit.
“This is not a guild operation.” Marcus stopped.
“No.” He looked around the command center.
“This is a rescue.” The emergency generators finally activated.
Dim red lights flickered overhead.
Several screens attempted to restart.
One displayed a live aerial image of the city.
The streets were filled with civilians.
No monsters had appeared.
But the golden lines beneath the roads were brightening.
A countdown appeared on the screen.
Not generated by the Association.
Written in ancient symbols.
Sophia stared.
“What is that?” Aiden could read it.
He did not know how.
The knowledge came through the Primordial Chimera.
THRONE CHALLENGE COMMENCING.
Beneath it, a timer began.
Fifty-nine minutes.
Fifty-eight seconds.
General Thorn looked toward Aiden.
“What happens when it reaches zero?” The Primordial Chimera answered through him.
“The hall chooses a sovereign.” “And if Malachor wins?” Aiden felt the ancient creature’s certainty.
“New Haven becomes his territory.” The room fell silent.
Theodore frowned.
“Territory in the political sense?” “No.” Aiden looked toward the glowing city.
“In the biological sense.” Sophia understood first.
“He’ll transform everything inside it.” The Primordial Chimera confirmed the thought.
The city.
The humans.
The monsters.
Every living body would become material for Malachor’s evolution.
Aiden ran.
They reached the orphanage in less than ten minutes.
Without traffic lights, the roads had collapsed into chaos.
Marcus forced a path through abandoned vehicles while Sophia used shadow-flame to guide civilians away from the glowing streets.
Saint Aurora stood in complete darkness.
The children had gathered outside beneath blankets.
Mrs.
Palmer stood among them holding an old flashlight that no longer worked.
When she saw Aiden, relief crossed her face.
Then she noticed his scales.
“What happened?” “I’ll explain later.” “You always say that.” “Today I mean it.” Emma ran toward him.
Aiden crouched and caught her before she could collide with his transformed arm.
“Are we in danger?” she asked.
He looked toward the building.
The golden lines ended beneath it.
The entire orphanage trembled.
“Yes.” Emma considered that.
“Is it the kind where we should panic?” “Not yet.” “Good.” Mrs.
Palmer began guiding the children toward the Association vehicles.
The ground split.
A crack opened across the orphanage courtyard.
Golden light poured upward.
The old fountain collapsed into the earth.
Beneath it, black stairs emerged.
They were identical to the ones beneath the false F-Rank Dungeon.
But these were not covered in dust.
Fresh blood ran down them.
A figure stood at the bottom.
Tall.
Armored.
Four horns formed a crown around its head.
Its pale body looked almost human until it raised one hand and revealed claws longer than swords.
Aiden felt the Primordial Chimera recoil.
Malachor looked upward.
His red eyes passed over Marcus.
Sophia.
Theodore.
Then stopped on Aiden.
A smile spread across his narrow face.
«You are smaller than I expected.» Aiden closed his eyes briefly.
“Why does everyone keep saying that?” Malachor stepped onto the first stair.
The timer continued counting down across the sky above New Haven.
Forty-seven minutes remained.
The ancient child bowed—not to Aiden, but to the presence trapped within him.
«Welcome home, Father.» Then his gaze returned to Aiden.
The smile disappeared.
«Now surrender my body.»