Deep beneath the quiet streets of NTOEL, hidden beneath layers of reinforced steel and enchanted stone, absolute silence filled an underground training chamber.
Only two people occupied the room.
One sat tied to a heavy metal chair.
The other stood before him.
Nora.
A full year had passed since the Trial, yet the calmness in her crimson eyes had only grown more unsettling. Her black hair rested neatly behind her shoulders, and the silver sword in her hand radiated a faint crimson glow. Tiny strands of destiny wrapped around its blade like invisible threads, causing the surrounding air to distort slightly.
Across from her, Mason remained restrained by thick enchanted chains. His wrists, ankles, and chest were tightly bound to the chair. Ordinary restraints would never have held someone like him, but these chains had been specially prepared over the past year.
Even so...
A confident smile remained on his face.
He looked directly into Nora's eyes without the slightest trace of fear.
Nora slowly lifted her sword.
Its edge shimmered with an eerie crimson light.
"Mason."
Her voice remained calm.
Too calm.
"I didn't expect someone like you to compliment me."
A faint smile appeared on her lips.
"But enough games."
She took one slow step forward.
"What..."
"...did you do to my brother?"
Mason sighed dramatically before shaking his head.
"Again?"
"How many times are you going to ask me about this Jade person?"
"I've already told you."
"I don't know who he is."
Nora didn't answer.
Instead...
She swung her sword.
SHING!
The crimson blade passed cleanly across Mason's chest.
No blood appeared.
No wound formed.
Mason lowered his head before laughing loudly.
"Hahaha..."
"Is that supposed to be a sword?"
"I've suffered worse paper cuts."
Nora simply stared at him.
Three seconds passed.
Then—
"Cough!"
Mason suddenly bent forward violently.
A mouthful of fresh blood spilled onto the floor.
His pupils contracted.
"What...?"
He looked down in disbelief.
There wasn't a single injury on his body.
Yet the pain spreading through him felt completely real.
Nora lowered her sword.
"I wasn't attacking your body."
Her voice remained emotionless.
"I attacked your destiny."
Mason's expression darkened.
Inside his heart, countless thoughts raced through his mind.
So this is how much she's grown...
In only one year...
She already learned to directly manipulate destiny.
If she becomes an Awakened...
She'll become even more troublesome.
He silently cursed himself.
Everything had gone wrong.
His original plan had been simple.
Track Nora.
Capture her.
Extract the information he needed.
Instead...
He had become the prisoner.
Nora slowly approached him again.
Each step echoed throughout the underground chamber.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
The atmosphere grew heavier with every passing second.
Finally, she stopped directly before him.
Her crimson eyes looked completely devoid of emotion.
"Mason."
"I command you..."
"...tell me exactly what happened to Jade."
The moment those words left her mouth, the invisible threads surrounding Mason tightened.
His body stiffened.
His lips trembled.
He tried resisting.
Every muscle in his body fought against the command.
Veins bulged across his neck.
"No..."
"I..."
"I won't..."
His own voice betrayed him.
Against his will...
The truth escaped.
"I tried..."
"...to kill him."
Nora's fingers tightened around her sword.
Mason continued speaking.
"...but he survived."
"...he became stronger than I expected."
"I placed a mark on him."
"...a mark that prevents him from meeting you."
Silence.
The room became unbearably quiet.
Nora remained motionless.
Her expression didn't change.
Not even slightly.
She simply looked at Mason.
For a long moment...
Neither of them spoke.
Finally...
Nora shook her head once.
"I don't believe you."
Mason slowly raised his eyes.
"What?"
"I said..."
"I don't believe you."
Her calmness became even more frightening.
She wasn't shouting.
She wasn't angry.
She wasn't emotional.
Her voice remained perfectly steady.
"As far as I know..."
"My brother isn't weak."
"He wouldn't allow someone like you to manipulate his fate so easily."
She took another step closer.
The tip of her sword rested beneath Mason's chin.
"So."
"Tell me..."
"The real truth."
A cold chill ran down Mason's spine.
For the first time since being captured...
He felt genuine danger.
Not because Nora intended to kill him.
Because her calmness felt far more terrifying than rage.
He slowly smiled.
"If you think..."
"I'm lying..."
Before he could finish—
Nora spoke a single word.
"Silence."
The authority contained within that command crashed into Mason's consciousness like a tidal wave.
His mouth snapped shut instantly.
Not because he wanted it to.
Because his destiny obeyed her before his own body could.
Then...
Something strange happened.
Nora frowned slightly.
A faint squelching sound echoed from somewhere above them.
Squish...
Squish...
Squish...
The sound resembled flesh being dragged across wet stone.
Both Nora and Mason slowly lifted their heads.
The ceiling trembled.
Cracks spread rapidly across the reinforced concrete.
Dust rained downward.
Mason's confident smile disappeared.
"...What?"
The squelching sound grew louder.
Closer.
Closer.
Until—
BOOOOOOM!!
The entire ceiling exploded inward.
Stone, metal, and shattered concrete crashed into the chamber like a collapsing mountain.
A violent shockwave blasted across the room.
Nora instinctively crossed her arms before her face as she was thrown backward by the explosion.
The walls cracked.
The lights shattered.
The underground chamber disappeared beneath an enormous cloud of dust.
For several long seconds...
Neither of them could see anything.
Only silence remained.
Then...
Something massive slowly moved within the dust.The dust lingered in the underground chamber, reducing visibility to almost nothing.
Chunks of concrete continued crashing onto the floor.
Steel support beams groaned beneath the immense pressure.
For several long seconds...
Absolute silence followed.
Then—
THUD.
A heavy footstep echoed through the ruined chamber.
Another followed.
THUD.
THUD.
Each step made the shattered floor tremble.
Nora slowly pushed herself to her feet.
Blood trickled from a cut on her forehead, but she ignored it completely.
Her crimson eyes narrowed.
Something was inside the smoke.
Something enormous.
A pair of glowing crimson eyes slowly appeared.
Then another.
Another.
Another.
Dozens of eyes blinked independently within the darkness.
Watching.
Searching.
Waiting.
The creature finally stepped into view.
It was nearly four meters tall.
Its body resembled a grotesque fusion of several different predators.
Dark crimson scales covered most of its body, yet patches of exposed flesh pulsed beneath them as though countless hearts were beating under its skin.
Six muscular arms extended from its torso.
Each arm ended in different claws.
One resembled the talons of a giant eagle.
Another looked almost human, except its fingers were several times longer than normal.
The remaining limbs ended in hooked claws capable of ripping apart steel.
Its back was lined with rows of black bone spikes.
They curved upward like the teeth of a massive crown.
A long tail dragged behind it, scraping across the broken floor and leaving deep grooves wherever it passed.
Its mouth slowly opened.
Rows upon rows of jagged teeth filled its enormous jaws.
There were far too many.
No creature should possess that many teeth.
Dark saliva dripped from between them, hissing whenever it touched the ground.
The strangest part...
Was its face.
Or rather...
The lack of one.
Instead of a normal face, countless tiny crimson eyes covered its skull.
Each eye looked in a different direction.
Some watched Nora.
Others watched Mason.
Several simply stared at the ceiling.
The monster didn't merely observe.
It analyzed.
It remembered.
It judged.
The pressure pouring from its body became almost tangible.
The surrounding air itself felt heavier.
Even breathing became difficult.
Nora instinctively circulated her essence.
"This..."
Her pupils contracted.
"...an Awakened."
The realization struck her immediately.
Not merely an Awakened creature.
An Awakened predator.
One whose aura far surpassed anything she had encountered since leaving the Trial.
Mason's face completely changed.
All confidence disappeared.
"Damnation..."
His voice sounded almost like a whisper.
He recognized the creature.
Not by appearance...
But by the pressure.
He had encountered monsters like this before.
Only once.
During one of his failed attempts to become an Awakened.
That single encounter had nearly killed him.
Yet now...
One stood directly before him.
The countless crimson eyes slowly shifted.
Every single one focused on Mason.
Not Nora.
Not the shattered room.
Only...
Him.
The creature took another step.
The floor collapsed beneath its weight.
Mason immediately understood.
"It came for me."
His heart began racing.
The monster ignored Nora completely.
Its killing intent remained locked entirely onto him.
Mason struggled violently against the enchanted chains binding him.
The chair screeched across the broken floor.
Nothing happened.
The restraints refused to budge.
"No..."
"No..."
"This isn't how this is supposed to go."
The creature continued walking.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Like a predator already certain of its meal.
Its breathing echoed throughout the chamber.
Each breath carried the smell of blood and burning flesh.
Nora immediately stepped between Mason and the creature.
Without hesitation, she raised her sword.
Crimson threads of destiny gathered around the blade.
"I don't know what you are..."
"...but if you intend to kill someone..."
"...you'll have to get through me first."
The monster didn't react.
It simply looked at her.
For one brief moment...
Nora felt something impossible.
She felt...
Pity.
As though the creature viewed her as something too insignificant to acknowledge.
The next instant—
BOOM!
One of its enormous arms swung casually through the air.
Nora barely managed to raise her sword.
The impact sent a deafening shockwave through the chamber.
CRACK!
The floor beneath Nora shattered instantly.
Her body was launched backward like a cannonball.
She crashed through two stone walls before disappearing beneath another cloud of dust.
Silence followed.
The monster slowly lowered its arm.
It hadn't even taken a fighting stance.
That single strike...
Had nearly removed Nora from the battle entirely.
Mason's breathing became heavier.
He stared at the place where Nora had vanished.
"...Impossible..."
He had expected the girl to lose.
But not...
That easily.
The creature resumed walking toward him.
One slow step at a time.
Its claws dragged across the stone.
SCRAAAPE...
SCRAAAPE...
SCRAAAPE...
The sound alone was enough to make ordinary people lose their minds.
Mason clenched his jaw.
His eyes sharpened.
"If brute force won't free me..."
"...then I'll have to leave another way."
Dark essence slowly gathered around his body.
His pupils began glowing with a pale silver light.
A cold smile slowly spread across his face.
"Soul Mark..."
"If I can't escape this chair..."
"...I'll simply leave my body behind."
The creature stopped.
It tilted its head slightly.
Almost as though it sensed what Mason intended to do.
But it made no attempt to stop him.
It merely watched.
Waiting.
Watching the prey make its final move.