The Holy Radiant City of Eidrus floated above the world like a crown of light—its rings of divine metal turning slowly in the sky, its marble-white towers piercing the clouds.A place where god-blooded clerics walked with pride.Where Saints were worshipped.Where hunters were trained to purge "abominations" from the lower realms.
The city never slept.
But tonight… it shook.
Wailing alarms rippled across the sky—low, metallic screams that made even angels flinch. A glowing sigil flickered across every holy screen and divine tablet:
WORLD-THREAT ANOMALY: RESURGENCE DETECTEDLOCATION: DESOLATION CRATER 03SURVIVAL RATE: 0% → 1%IDENTITY: UNKNOWN PRIME-BLOODRISK LEVEL: CATASTROPHIC
Priests froze mid-chant.Saint-candidates dropped to their knees.Veteran hunters stared in shocked disbelief.
Prime-bloods didn't just appear.They weren't found in dead zones.They didn't awaken at random.
And they never crawled out of the Abyss alive.
Unless they were something else.
Something worse.
Something capable of toppling the hierarchy of gods.
The Grand Cathedral — Panic Spreads
Inside the sacred cathedral, divine mirrors cracked one after another as if struck by an invisible fist. Holy chandeliers flickered violently.
Saint Aurelius slammed his crystalline staff against the marble floor.
"Speak! Which hunter squad was deployed to Crater 03 today?"
A priest fumbled through a glowing scroll with trembling fingers.
"Squad Primus, my lord. Led by—"
The cathedral doors burst open.
Rhelos staggered inside.
His armor was cracked.His arm wrapped in makeshift bandages.His eyes—burning with fear and fury.
He knelt sharply.
"Saint Aurelius… We had an incident."
"Explain." The Saint's voice was cold.
Rhelos hesitated.
Hunters never hesitated.
"…We discovered an anomaly inside the Abyssal dungeon. A human boy. Silver hair. He resisted purification. Survived fatal wounds. And—"
"And?" Aurelius snapped.
Rhelos swallowed hard.
"…He unleashed a pulse. Instinctively. Unconsciously. It disintegrated a Tier-4 Rift Beast in a single flash."
A gasp rippled across the room.
Aurelius's expression darkened.
"Impossible. No untrained being can manifest destructive resonance at that scale."
Rhelos lowered his gaze in shame.
"We believed he died when the dungeon collapsed. We… left the body."
"You assumed." Aurelius hissed. "The Abyss devours those who assume."
Before Rhelos could respond, the holy screen flickered again.
ANOMALY STATUS:THE SUBJECT IS MOVING.
Aurelius went pale.
"…The boy survived."
For the first time, Rhelos saw fear in a Saint's eyes.
Desolation Crater—A Boy Who Should Be Dead
Kairo walked.
The wind whipped ash across his face. His entire body screamed with pain, but he didn't stop.
He couldn't.
He refused to die in this wasteland—not after everything.
His footsteps dragged across scorched stone. His breath came out in shallow gasps. His vision flickered.
Then—
A crunch.
A soft shuffle.
Footsteps.
Human footsteps.
Kairo tensed, barely able to raise an arm.
A figure limped out from behind a broken stump.
An older man. Wrapped in rags and mismatched armor plates. His hair was tangled white, his beard wild, one eye blind, the other sharp with unsettling intelligence.
He looked Kairo up and down.
"You're leaking power like a cracked core," the old man rasped. "And still walking. That alone screams trouble."
Kairo said nothing.
He trusted no one.
The old man chuckled. "Relax, boy. If I wanted you dead, you'd be fertilizer already."
Kairo's cold gaze didn't change.
The man tapped his wooden staff.
"You came out of that hole alive. That makes you blessed…"
He took a slow step closer.
"…or cursed beyond reason."
Kairo's voice was barely audible. "…Who are you?"
The old man grinned with broken teeth.
"Me? Nobody important."
He leaned in, his whisper cutting through the cold air.
"But I know what you are."
Kairo's heartbeat spiked.
"What… am I?"
The old man looked up at the crimson moon.
"You're the kind of being this world tries to erase before it learns how to breathe."
He looked directly into Kairo's eyes.
"The kind the gods fear."
Kairo's chest tightened.Fear?The gods feared him?
The old man sighed, adjusting his ragged cloak.
"But you won't last the night like this. Come. I have a shack nearby. Rest before your own power tears your body apart."
Kairo hesitated.
Trust had always led him to cages, chains… betrayal.
The old man raised an eyebrow. "Kid, you can barely stand. If I wanted to do something, I'd push you over."
Kairo almost snorted.
Almost.
He tried to take a step—his leg buckled—and the old man caught him with surprising strength.
"Tch. Kids these days. Always trying to die dramatically."
"…Why help me?" Kairo whispered.
The old man looked away.
"Because you remind me of someone I once failed to save."
Kairo froze.
The man turned toward the dark path.
"Move. Now."
Kairo followed.
For the first time since awakening in the abyss…
He felt something faint.
Not trust.Not hope.Not comfort.
Just—a direction.
Back in Eidrus — The Hunt Begins
Rhelos knelt before Saint Aurelius.
"I request permission to lead the retrieval mission."
Aurelius's voice was cold as winter steel.
"This is not a retrieval."
Rhelos looked up sharply.
Aurelius raised his staff. A red sigil flared across Rhelos's holy armor.
MISSION TYPE: TERMINATIONTARGET: PRIME-BLOOD ANOMALYAGE ESTIMATE: 16WARNING: DO NOT ENGAGE ALONE
Rhelos's eyes widened.
"But, my lord—he looked human. If we examine him—"
Aurelius slammed his staff into the ground.
"He walked out of the Abyss alive.He disintegrated a Rift Beast without intent.He disrupted divine sensors."
The Saint turned away.
"That is not a human child."
Rhelos clenched his fists.
"And… if he is?"
Aurelius looked toward the trembling crimson moon.
"Then the gods will erase another threat before it breeds disaster."
Rhelos remembered the boy's terrified eyes…the trembling voice…the broken body…
His conscience whispered:
He looked so human…
But the Saint's order was absolute.
"You will kill him, Rhelos. Do you understand?"
Rhelos lowered his head.
"…Yes, my lord."
Aurelius's voice dropped to a whisper.
"But pray he does not awaken fully."
His eyes reflected the shaking sky.
"Because if he does…this world will drown in blood."