Present - Elysia Central Medical Center
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The steady sound of a heart monitor echoed through the quiet room. A nurse sat beside the bed, staring at the monitor with tired eyes. She had been working for almost sixteen hours.
The incident downtown had overwhelmed every medical facility in Elysia. Hundreds had been injured, dozens were dead, and the number was still rising.
But there was one patient in this room who had confused every medical professional who had examined him.
The nurse glanced at the bed. The young man had been unconscious for three days. His name was Raphael Matthews, twenty-one years old, non-Awakened.
He had no registered ability, no mana attribute, and no combat experience. According to the preliminary reports, he should have been dead. Actually, he should have been dead several times over.
The nurse looked down at the medical tablet in her hands.
"Multiple fractures..."
She swallowed.
"Internal bleeding..."
Her eyes moved further down.
"Massive mana shock..."
She shook her head. None of it made sense. Raphael had been caught directly in the attack of a Calamity Beast, a creature that had torn through reinforced buildings like paper- a creature that several A-Tier Awakened had struggled to even approach.
The creature’s estimated threat level had already been revised three times. F-Tier, E-Tier, D-Tier, then C to B, then A, and finally potential S-Tier.
The entire medical center had been put under emergency lockdown when that information came through. An S-Tier Calamity Beast appearing inside a major city wasn’t something that happened every day. It was a national emergency.
And yet, one ordinary human had survived its attack. The nurse looked at Raphael again.
"Who are you...?"
She had asked that question countless times. There was no answer, until-
Beep.
The heart monitor changed, causing the nurse’s eyes to widen.
"Wait..."
Raphael’s fingers moved. She immediately stood.
"Doctor!"
The door flew open, and two doctors and three nurses rushed inside.
"What’s happening?"
"His heart rate is increasing!"
"Blood pressure?"
"Rising!"
"He’s waking up!"
The doctors crowded around the bed as Raphael’s eyelids trembled and slowly opened. Light flooded his vision.
"Ugh."
His throat was dry, and his entire body felt heavy. He tried to move.
"Don’t!" A doctor immediately placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don’t move yet."
Raphael blinked. He stared at the unfamiliar ceiling, then at the people surrounding him. He was in a medical center. He was alive.
His eyes widened.
"I..." His voice came out hoarse. "...survived?"
The doctors exchanged glances. One of them looked almost offended by the question.
"That’s what we’re trying to figure out."
"What?" Raphael frowned.
The doctor pulled out his tablet.
"You were found at the epicenter of the Calamity Beast’s attack."
Raphael’s expression stiffened. The memories returned- the little girl, the monster, the black flash, his death, then the system.
His eyes widened.
[Throne of Knights System]
He instinctively looked toward the side, but there was nothing- no system window. For a moment, panic flashed through him.
Was it a dream?
[System integration complete!]
A translucent message appeared directly in front of his eyes, causing Raphael’s pupils to contract. Nobody reacted, as they couldn’t see it. He slowly smiled.
It wasn’t a dream.
The doctor continued.
"We initially thought you were dead."
Raphael looked at him. "Initially?"
"You had no detectable mana signature. Your body suffered injuries that should have been fatal." The doctor’s expression became increasingly serious.
"Your bones were fractured. Your organs were damaged. Your mana channels were practically nonexistent."
He paused.
"And yet..." He looked at the monitor. "You recovered."
Another doctor stepped forward. She was a woman wearing large spectacles.
"You did not just recover." She stared at Raphael as though he were some kind of scientific anomaly. "Your regeneration rate is completely abnormal."
Raphael said nothing. The first doctor leaned closer.
"Mr. Matthews."
"Yes?"
"Tell me something." The doctor lowered his voice. "What exactly is your ability?"
"I don’t have one." Raphael’s heart skipped.
The doctors exchanged looks as silence enveloped the room. One of them actually laughed, not because it was funny, but because the answer was absurd.
"You’re telling us that an unawakened human survived a direct attack from a monster with a possible S-Tier threat classification?"
Raphael remained silent. The doctor stared at him.
"That’s impossible."
Another medical examiner stepped closer.
"We’ve already tested you three times." She raised her tablet. "There is no elemental affinity, no conventional mana core, no known mutation, and no registered ability. There is nothing."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Whatever you are..." She looked directly into Raphael’s eyes. "You aren’t normal."
Raphael felt a strange warmth spread through his chest. The system remained invisible to everyone else. Then another notification appeared.
[Main Quest Unlocked!]
[Quest: Rise of the Chosen Sovereign]
- Objective: Survive.
- Objective: Establish your Throne.
- Objective: Summon your First Knight.
- Reward: System Authority + ???
Raphael stared at the words, and a grin slowly appeared on his face. The doctors thought his survival was a mystery. They thought he was some kind of impossible anomaly.
They had no idea.
None of them knew that Raphael Matthews had died three days ago. The man who opened his eyes in this hospital was someone entirely different. He looked toward the space beside his bed, and silently thought: Vanessa. Let’s begin.
...
Let’s begin.
Raphael focused on the system window.
[First Knight: Vanessa Fencer]
[Status: Registered]
[Summoning Location: Confirmed.]
[Would you like to summon your First Knight?]
[YES] [NO]
There was no reason to hesitate. He chose yes. The moment he selected it, the world around him changed. The air inside the hospital room suddenly became unnaturally still, while the heart monitor beside him continued beeping, but somehow, the sound seemed distant.
[Summoning initiated!]
A faint purple glow appeared in the center of the room, causing his eyes to widen. The glow expanded as purple particles began gathering together, swirling in a slow vortex. The temperature dropped, causing him to instinctively pull the blanket closer around himself.
"What’s happening?"
No one else seemed to notice. The doctors were still talking among themselves; the nurses were still checking the equipment. They couldn’t see it. They couldn’t see the enormous magic circle forming under the space beside his bed.
It was beautiful.
Several concentric circles appeared, one after another, with ancient symbols rotating along their edges. Then the outermost circle began glowing with a deep violet light.
[Summoning successful!]
[First Knight is entering the host’s world]
A silhouette appeared within the magic circle. At first, it was only a shadow. Then Raphael saw long hair, black as midnight. It spilled down the woman’s back and shoulders, moving gently despite there being no wind.
A hooded veil framed her head, giving her an almost religious appearance. Then her face became visible. Pale skin, sharp, elegant features, and half-lidded violet eyes that glowed faintly with an almost unnatural light.
Her expression was cold or angry. It was just... disinterested, as though the world around her wasn’t worth her attention. Her lips parted slightly as she stepped forward, and then he saw her armor.
Black.