Kairo woke again — not gently, not peacefully — but the way dying men gasp when something drags them back from the edge.
His eyes snapped open.
A roof.
Not sky.
Rough stone. Cracked. Damp. Cold enough to sting his lungs.
His heart surged in instinctive panic, but his body refused to move. Pain chained him to a creaking wooden bed.
A voice cut the silence.
"You should be dead."
Kairo turned his head, throat burning with the effort.
A girl sat beside the wall sharpening a rusted blade. Around seventeen. Black hair tied up. Pale eyes that gave nothing away.
Her clothes were a patchwork of bandages, torn leather, and metal scraps sewn together. No frills. No softness. Just survival.
She didn't smile.
"Survive a Prime-tier surge and live?" She flipped the blade. "You're either blessed… or cursed."
Kairo swallowed. Every breath felt like glass.
"Where… am I?"
She pointed at a square window covered by a broken metal grate.
"Eidrus. The City of False Gods."
Kairo forced his aching body to turn.
Outside — a city that breathed fear.
Crooked towers built from scavenged metal. Shacks piled on top of each other like wounded animals seeking warmth. People moved quickly with heads down, clutching baskets of offerings.
And above everything—
A colossal statue of a robed figure with no face. Chains dangled from its hands. Chains that dripped blood.
Kairo shivered.
"What rules this place?"
The girl snorted. "You really don't know anything, do you?"
Before he could answer, the door slammed open.
Two armored guards marched in — taller than normal men, shoulders wrapped in metal plates, helmets shaped like smiling masks.
Behind them entered a man dressed in black ceremonial robes embroidered with silver. He didn't walk — he glided with authority that made the air shrink.
A Priest-Knight.
One of the highest under the gods.
He stopped by Kairo's bed, studying him with cold calculation.
Kairo tensed.
"So," the Priest-Knight said, voice flat, "you're the anomaly."
Kairo blinked. "What?"
The priest raised a glowing slate etched with shifting runes.
"Your arrival was detected across half the region. A Prime-class signature appearing out of nowhere… Normally, that alone is grounds for execution."
Kairo's blood turned to ice.
The guards moved.
The girl with the knife stood instantly, blade raised.
"Touch him and I'll—"
The Priest-Knight flicked two fingers.
A pulse of force slammed her into the wall. She crumpled, gasping, the blade clattering away.
"Sit," he commanded.
She couldn't move.
Kairo tried to rise, but pain clawed up his spine again.
The Priest-Knight circled him like examining a specimen.
"You're weak. Frail. No training. No lineage. No divine mark. And yet…"
He leaned close, voice turning almost fascinated.
"…you survived a Prime awakening."
Kairo's pulse hammered.
He didn't want this. Didn't ask for this. Didn't even understand it.
The Priest-Knight smiled — thin, blade-like.
"That makes you valuable."
Kairo swallowed.
"Valuable?"
"Or dangerous." The priest shrugged. "Depends on whether you can be controlled."
A chill crawled down Kairo's back.
"What do you want?"
"Your loyalty."
Kairo didn't answer quickly enough.
The Priest-Knight tapped the slate.
Bells rang outside.
Screams followed.
Kairo jolted, eyes snapping to the window.
Below — a man was dragged into the plaza, kicking, begging — until chains wrapped around him. A ritual execution.
The city didn't stop. Didn't flinch.
The Priest-Knight spoke calmly, almost bored.
"Heresy is punished. All life here belongs to the gods. So tell me, boy—"
His gaze sharpened.
"Will you serve Eidrus?"
Serve? Bow? Become another chained dog for a faceless god?
No.
But if he said that, he'd die.
The Priest-Knight leaned in until Kairo could smell the cold metal on his robes.
"You have no family here. No records. No proof you deserve to live. Even your existence is suspicious."
The guards lifted their weapons.
"Choose."
Kairo's mind raced.
He could lie. Serve for now. Escape later—
A tremor shook the room.
The Priest-Knight stopped mid-breath.
A distant thunder rumbled.
Then—
A howl. Not human. Not animal.
Something that belonged in nightmares.
The girl whispered, horrified, "No… not here…"
The Priest-Knight's eyes widened.
"A Rift Beast."
The guards moved instantly, spears raised.
The Priest-Knight turned to Kairo.
"If you truly are a Prime anomaly… prove it."
Kairo's stomach dropped.
"What—?"
The priest pointed toward the sky.
"If you wish to live, then survive."
The world tore open.
A monstrous claw ripped out of the sky, followed by a towering skeletal creature dripping with shadow.
A Rift Beast descended with a scream that shattered windows.
Kairo froze.
The Priest-Knight spoke without emotion.
"Show me your power, anomaly."
"I… I don't even know what I am…" Kairo whispered.
Then he heard it.
"…help…"
A child's voice.
Kairo's eyes snapped to the street — a small boy trapped under debris, the Rift Beast lunging toward him.
Kairo's heartbeat exploded in his ears.
Not again.
Not again.
His muscles trembled. His breath stuttered.
Something inside him — something buried, furious, and broken — cracked open.
"…I won't lose another person…"
Lightning crawled up his spine.
His blood ignited.
The Priest-Knight recoiled in shock.
The Rift Beast turned toward Kairo, sensing the surge.
The sky vibrated.
The System whispered:
< PRIME BREAKER AUTHORITY — ACTIVATION AVAILABLE >
Kairo stared at his trembling hands as power rippled like a storm beneath his skin.
Fear swallowed him—
But resolve burned hotter.
The Rift Beast roared.
And the world began to shake around him.