’...I’m too weak.’
Eden wasn’t wrong.
His current attributes were only ten.
His body couldn’t keep up with his experience.
And Phase Shift was a C-Rank skill.
’I can’t beat him like this.’
Isaac raised his fist.
"Stay down."
Eden lowered his head.
A strange smile appeared.
"Nah."
Isaac frowned.
Eden’s hand trembled.
Not from fear.
But from sheer excitement.
He remembered the description.
’Devour.’
"Let’s see what you can do."
Something changed.
The air around Eden became heavy.
Isaac’s smile disappeared.
A faint red glow appeared around Eden’s fingers.
Then another.
Then dozens.
Red Essence began pouring from his body.
It wasn’t like ordinary Essence.
It felt alive.
Vicious.
Hungry.
The red energy twisted around Eden like smoke.
But within that smoke were shapes.
Teeth.
Mouths.
Sharp, unnatural jaws opening and closing.
Isaac took a step backward.
"What..."
Eden stared at the red Essence.
His heart pounded.
He didn’t know how to control it.
He didn’t even know what it would do.
But somehow—
His body understood.
The skill felt natural.
Almost instinctive.
Like something that had always belonged to him.
Isaac gritted his teeth.
"Whatever that is..."
Orange Essence exploded around his body.
"I’ll crush you!"
He charged.
Eden watched him approach.
Isaac’s fist drew back, intending to finish this in one last strike.
Eden remembered Mendax.
That final gesture.
That single movement.
Mendax had raised his hand.
Eden did the same.
He didn’t think.
He simply mimicked him.
His palm faced Isaac.
His silver eyes widened.
And he whispered—
"Devour."
The red Essence exploded.
A wave of vicious crimson energy surged across the rooftop.
It moved like a living creature.
Mouths opened within it.
Teeth snapped shut.
Isaac disappeared.
"WHAT—?!"
The red wave swallowed him whole.
Then it continued.
Across the rooftop.
Over the concrete.
Around the railings.
Across the walls.
Everywhere it touched, Essence was consumed.
The entire world seemed to turn red.
The red Essence twisted violently before erupting in a massive explosion across the rooftop.
Concrete shattered.
Windows rattled.
Dust and debris were thrown into the air.
Eden was forced backward, covering his face.
The red Essence vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
Silence returned as smoke drifted through the air.
Eden slowly lowered his arm.
His eyes scanned the rooftop.
The two other bullies were still unconscious.
Isaac wasn’t any different.
His body lay motionless at the far end of the rooftop.
His clothes were torn.
Blood covered his face and body.
The orange Essence was gone.
His condition was so bad Eden had actually feared he accidentally killed Isaac at first glance.
For several seconds, he couldn’t speak.
Then a System window appeared.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Skill successfully consumed.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Phase Shift [C-Rank]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Eden’s mouth slowly opened.
He looked at Isaac.
Then at the System.
Then back at Isaac.
A strange laugh escaped him.
"Heh..."
He clenched his hand.
The pain in his knuckles was already fading.
His eyes gleamed.
"So that’s what you meant."
Mendax’s words echoed inside his mind.
"I will bestow my authority upon you."
Eden looked toward the destroyed rooftop.
Eden looked at his status window again.
Level 1.
F-Rank.
An ordinary body.
But for the first time in his life, he owned an extraordinary skill.
Eden slowly smiled.
"...This time."
His silver eyes hardened.
"I’ll be the one standing at the top."
The wind swept across the rooftop.
Far below, students continued walking through the college grounds, completely unaware of what had just happened above them.
Eden looked down at the unconscious Isaac.
A thought crossed his mind.
’I should probably get these idiots to the infirmary.’
He paused.
Then sighed.
"...Yeah. Definitely not explaining this."
With a slight shake of his head, Eden walked toward the three unconscious men.
He reached the infirmary door with Isaac slung over one shoulder and the other two bullies awkwardly supported against him. His legs were beginning to ache, but he refused to acknowledge it.
He kicked the door open.
"Excuse me?"
A young woman sitting behind the infirmary counter immediately looked up.
Her expression changed from mild boredom to absolute shock.
She stared.
Then blinked.
Then stared again.
"E-Eden?"
Eden froze.
The healer’s eyes traveled from him...
To the three unconscious students...
Then back to him.
"What happened?!"
Eden’s mind went completely blank.
He needed an explanation.
Quickly.
A believable one.
Something normal.
Something that didn’t involve an A-Rank skill violently consuming a human being.
He swallowed.
"Uh..."
"They..."
He looked down at Isaac.
Isaac’s face was swollen, his uniform was torn, and there were several ugly bruises across his body.
Eden looked at the other two.
They weren’t much better.
"...fell."
The healer stared at him.
"Fell?"
"Yes."
"All three?"
"Collectively."
A long silence followed.
The healer slowly narrowed her eyes.
"Collectively?"
Eden nodded with complete seriousness.
"Yes."
"...Down what?"
"Stairs."
The healer glanced toward the infirmary’s window.
The college had stairs.
Plenty of them.
But the injuries on Isaac alone looked like he’d been hit by a truck.
Several times.
"Which stairs?"
Eden hesitated.
"...All of them."
The healer’s lips twitched.
She looked at Isaac again.
Then at Eden.
Then back at Isaac.
There was absolutely no staircase on campus capable of producing some of those injuries.
She knew that.
Eden knew that.
Apparently, they had both decided not to discuss it.
The woman sighed.
"Fine."
Eden’s shoulders relaxed slightly.
"I’ll treat them. You should probably sit down too."
"I’m fine."
"You have blood on your face."
Eden touched his cheek.
He looked at his fingers.
Blood.
Probably his.
Or Isaac’s.
He wasn’t entirely sure.
"Right."
He smiled awkwardly.
"Must’ve been from the stairs."
The healer gave him a look.
A very long look.
Eden quietly walked away.
Behind him, the healer muttered under her breath.
"Kids these days..."
Eden’s expression became faintly amused.
’Everything really is different this time.’
Several kilometers away, the atmosphere was considerably less peaceful.
An E-Rank Gate stood in the middle of a cordoned-off street.
The Gate itself looked like a vertical tear in reality.
A swirling mass of dark blue energy twisted inside its frame, emitting an eerie hum that could be felt through the pavement.
Large barriers surrounded the area.
Warning signs had been placed everywhere.
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.
GATE CONTAINMENT ZONE.
A handful of curious civilians watched from behind the security line, taking pictures with their phones.
Normally, an E-Rank Gate wasn’t something worth worrying about.
E-Rank Gates were considered among the safest.
Most newly awakened E-Ranks could survive inside one with proper preparation.
The problem wasn’t the Gate itself.
It was what happened when nobody cleared it.
A Dungeon Break.
That was why three Awakeneds had been stationed here.
Two E-Ranks.
And one D-Rank supervisor.
The supervisor, a broad-shouldered man in his early thirties, leaned against the barrier and checked his watch.
"How long has it been?"
One of the two E-Rank women glanced at the Gate.
"The gate has been discovered Two weeks ago, but our Guild only got the rights to it three days ago."
The supervisor sighed.
"Two weeks..."
"I guess nobody really wants low ranked dungeons anymore these days, huh?"
"Is that really okay?" The E-ranked woman asked.
She looked nervous.
The supervisor gave her a reassuring smile.
"It’s fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Our guild’s strike team is already on its way. Less than two hours, remember?"
"Two hours is still a long time for a gate that’s been around for so long."
"For an E-Rank Gate?"
He chuckled.
"I’ve seen people take longer just deciding what to eat for lunch."
The second E-Rank, a young man standing nearby, laughed.
"That’s because you’re indecisive."
"Shut up."
The woman smiled despite herself.
The supervisor looked toward the Gate.
"I already placed a sealing skill on it anyway."
He raised one hand.
A faint greenish-blue pattern appeared across his palm.
"The seal should be more than enough to delay an E-Rank Gate from reaching a Dungeon Break."
The woman nodded.
"How strong is your seal?"
"Strong enough that unless the Gate suddenly develops a personality and decides it wants to kill us, we’re fine."
"That’s reassuring."
"I try my best."
The three laughed.
For a moment, everything was normal.
Traffic continued in the distance.
The evening sun reflected off nearby windows.
People talked behind the security barriers.
The Gate continued humming...
...Until a faint crack could be heard.
The supervisor stopped smiling.
His eyes slowly moved toward the Gate.
"Huh..."
Another sound.
Crack.
The faint sealing pattern around the Gate flickered.
The supervisor’s expression hardened.
"Everyone back."
The two E-Ranks immediately stepped away.
"What happened?" the woman asked.
"I don’t know."
The supervisor stared at the seal.
’That’s impossible.’
’My sealing skill can easily survive any E-Rank Gate.’
’So how did it break?’
He had used the exact same technique dozens of times.
It had even restrained a D-Rank Gate before.
An E-Rank Gate shouldn’t even have been able to strain it.
The seal flickered again.
Then shattered.
Boom!
A shockwave tore through the street.
The three Awakeneds raised their arms to protect themselves.
"What the hell?!"
The Gate expanded.
Its blue edges warped violently.
Something moved inside.
The supervisor immediately drew his weapon.
"Get ready!"
A creature burst through.
Then another.
Then another.
Within seconds, dozens of Abyss Creatures poured from the Gate.
Small, twisted creatures with elongated limbs and jagged teeth.
Low-level monsters.
The kind that could barely threaten an E-Rank Awakened.
The supervisor didn’t understand.
"Don’t let them through!"
The three moved at once.
The supervisor swung his weapon.
A monster’s head exploded.
Another lunged toward the woman.
She activated her skill and drove a concentrated blast of Essence through its chest.
The creature collapsed.
The young man kicked another into the barrier before finishing it with a strike of condensed Essence.
"These things are weak!"
The supervisor destroyed another two with a single sweeping attack.
’So how did my seal break?!’
More creatures came.
One wave became two.
Two became five.
"There’s too many!"
The young man backed away.
"We’re killing them, but more keep coming!"
The supervisor glanced at the Gate.
His instincts screamed at him.
’...!’
’Something is wrong.’