The Roppongi Grand Ballroom was a masterclass in gilded arrogance. Every inch of the space was covered in gold leaf and reinforced mana-glass, designed specifically to project an image of absolute safety to the world's elite. The JAA High Council sat on an elevated dais, flanked by the leaders of the Big Three guilds and various international delegates who looked more like bankers than warriors.
In the dead center of the room, trapped within a high-frequency stasis field, sat the Shard of Malice.
To the S-Rank sensors humming in the room, it was just a high-grade mana crystal. To Kaizer, who had entered with Sera and Vane at his back like twin pillars of shadow, it looked like a diseased, beating heart.
"They have no idea," Kaizer whispered. His violet eyes tracked the invisible, obsidian capillaries stretching out from the shard, reaching toward the unsuspecting guests.
"It's feeding, Boss," Sera murmured. Her Blood-Oracle eyes were twitching behind her dark lenses. "It isn't a relic. It's a lure."
The Sprout
The auction hadn't even officially started when the first scream cut through the classical music. A B-Rank aide to the American delegate collapsed, his skin turning the color of wet ash in seconds. Before the medics could even move, thick, oily black vines erupted from his mouth and eyes, lashing out at the nearby tables.
"The stasis field!" Director Goro shouted, but the panic had already set in.
The Shard of Malice didn't just break the glass; it dissolved it. The crystal sprouted, blooming into a jagged, pulsing tree of obsidian thorns that filled the center of the ballroom in a heartbeat. From its branches, a heavy, violet fog began to pour. It was the Malice Miasma, as thick as water and as cold as an open grave.
The S-Ranks reacted with practiced precision. Swords were drawn and elemental shields were thrown up, but the fog didn't care about physics. It ignored the Holy Shields of the Vatican knights and drifted right through the flame walls of the Japanese veterans. The moment the mist touched them, their mana began to curdle.
"My... my core is freezing," one guild leader gasped. He fell to his knees, his own shadow rising up to wrap around his throat like a noose.
The Hunger
While the most powerful hunters in the world were choking on the floor, Kaizer Gold didn't move. He stood in the middle of the growing fog with his hands in his pockets.
The Malice Miasma swirled around him, recognizing the heavy resonance of a Warlord. It tried to infect him, to claim him as just another battery for the tree, but Kaizer simply tilted his head back.
"Is that all?" Kaizer's voice boomed, vibrating with the dual-tone of the Abyss. "You're starving. Let me show you what a real hunger looks like."
He didn't fight the fog. He activated the Devourer's Hunger and simply inhaled.
A violent vortex formed around him. The violet mist, which was currently liquefying the lungs of the elite, was sucked into Kaizer's mouth and nose in a terrifying torrent. His veins turned a glowing purple, pulsing under his skin like neon wires.
The S-Ranks watched in horror, paralyzed by their own weakness, as Kaizer literally ate the apocalypse. He wasn't saving them; he was clearing the air because the mana tasted better than anything he'd found on Earth.
Dominance
As the last of the fog was drained into Kaizer's lungs, the obsidian tree shriveled. The sprouts died instantly, their source of nutrition—the guests' fear—stolen by a greater predator.
Kaizer walked through the field of gasping, broken heroes. He reached the shrunken Shard of Malice, which was now trembling against the floorboards. He picked it up with his bare hand. The remaining thorns tried to prick him, but they shattered against his skin like cheap glass.
"Hunter Kaizer..." Director Goro rasped from the floor, clutching his chest. "That... that is JAA property. It must be... contained."
Kaizer looked down at the Director. His eyes were completely violet now, swirling with the stolen Malice. The pressure he released was so heavy it forced Goro's face directly into the carpet.
"Contained?" Kaizer asked. His voice was a low, dangerous growl. "You couldn't even contain your own breathing three minutes ago. If I leave this here, you all die. If I give it to the Gods, they'll use it to leash you."
He tucked the Shard into his pocket as if it were a common stone.
"The Abyss doesn't belong to the JAA," Kaizer said, turning toward the exit. "And it certainly doesn't belong to the Bureau. It belongs to me. If any of you have a problem with that, wait until your lungs stop bleeding and come find me at the Eclipse."
The Exit
Vane and Sera followed him out, walking past the First Disciple, Erikson, who was slumped against a pillar with his divine lightning extinguished. Erikson looked at Kaizer with pure, unadulterated terror. He realized then that the Gods hadn't sent him to hunt a human; they had sent him to witness a birth.
As Kaizer stepped out into the Roppongi night, a system notification flickered in his vision.
[MALICE MIASMA ABSORBED: CLASSIFIED AS 'DIVINE POISON'] [SOVEREIGNTY STAT +10] [RESISTANCE UNLOCKED: CELESTIAL DECREE (Lvl 1)] Warning: The Celestial Bureau has noticed your 'theft' of their trial. The Second Disciple's arrival has been accelerated.
Kaizer looked at the moon, a cold smile on his face. "Let them accelerate. I'm still hungry."