The sky wasn't supposed to crack.
And yet it did—like an invisible claw raking across the ceiling of the dungeon, tearing apart the illusion the systems struggled to keep stable. The sound was sharp, metallic, far too real to be a hallucination.
I froze mid-motion.
So did Mira.
Her blade stopped just centimeters from my throat.
The air vibrated.
The voice that interrupted everything was cold—and tired. Like someone who had seen this scenario too many times already.
"I said stop."
The Predator System went berserk.
[POWERFUL SYSTEM SIGNATURE DETECTED]
[CATEGORY: UNKNOWN]
[THREAT LEVEL: CRITICAL]
Mira took a step back—but not by choice. Her body moved instinctively, as if something overwrote her muscles. The system glow in her eyes faded, and for a brief moment, they returned to something human.
"Wh—what…?" she whispered.
Good.
That meant something of her was still inside.
A man stepped out from between the trees.
The same one who had warned me the night before the raid.
The one the system had labeled as Unknown Predator.
He didn't look like a monster, but the air around him behaved differently. As if his presence was a weight the ground endured reluctantly.
The Silver Blades didn't know how to react.
Armin stood there with wide eyes, hand on the hilt of his weak sword—terrified for the first time in his life.
"W-who are you?" he forced out.
The man didn't even glance at him.
"Not your concern."
Armin swallowed louder than necessary. Two other members stepped back, hiding behind trees as if the forest might swallow them whole.
Only I stayed still.
And Mira… was trembling.
Not her body.
Her system.
[MIRA — SYSTEM SIGNATURE: HESITATION / FRACTURE?]
[PREDATOR (PARASITIC?) RESPONSE: DEFENSIVE]
That was new.
The Predator System rarely used the word parasitic.
The man stopped between us, angled partly toward me, partly toward her—like he knew both sides were equally dangerous.
"If you fight now, you both die," he said calmly. "The dungeon will seal. The systems will finish the rest."
Mira tightened her grip on her weapon.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
He smiled faintly.
"Someone who's already passed this stage. And almost died in it."
He stepped closer to me.
"Eliasz."
The team collectively held its breath when he said my name.
Armin looked at me with something like suspicion—like he was finally realizing I was more than the team's mascot.
The system warned softly:
[WARNING: TARGETS BEGIN CONNECTING PATTERNS]
[EXPOSURE RISK: MEDIUM]
I didn't move.
"You should leave," the man said. "Both of you." He turned his head slightly toward Mira.
She grimaced, like his presence caused her pain.
"I can't," she said quietly. "The system won't let me."
So that was it.
The Predator inside her wasn't complete.
It was bound.
Anchored to the dungeon's structure.
The man nodded.
"I know. That's why you need to listen."
Armin finally found his voice.
"Hey! Excuse me, who let you in here?! This is an official Academy dungeon! We have clearance—you—"
The man raised his hand.
He didn't touch Armin.
Didn't strike.
And yet Armin went silent instantly, like something clenched his throat from the inside.
[WARNING: POWER MANIPULATION]
[CATEGORY: ABOVE STANDARD PARAMETERS]
The Predator System was rarely surprised.
Right now, it was.
The man turned back to me.
"Eliasz." His tone hardened. "I know the system is pushing you to fight. I know you feel her instability and want to end it yourself."
He was right.
The Predator System pulsed violently, urging me to tear into Mira and rip the parasite out by force.
But the man continued.
"The problem is—you can't. Not yet. And if you try… it will tear you apart."
"It?" I echoed.
He looked at Mira—not at her as a person, but at something behind her eyes.
"That isn't your Predator," he said quietly. "It's a copy. Imperfect. Unstable. It's trying to imitate you, Eliasz. Like a child repeating words it doesn't understand."
Mira inhaled sharply, like she'd been struck.
"You're lying," she hissed. "The system told me—"
"The system told you nothing," he cut in, voice like steel. "You're hearing an echo. Not a voice. You don't have the full version. You have a fragment."
Mira flinched.
Her eyes flashed blue for a split second—then went dark.
As if the Predator inside her felt fear.
The system recorded it instantly.
[SECOND PREDATOR — EMOTION: PANIC]
[WARNING: PARASITIC SYSTEM FEARS SOURCE ENTITY]
The source was him.
The Unknown Predator.
The team understood nothing.
"Eliasz… what's happening?" one of the girls asked, voice shaking. "Who are these people?"
I ignored her.
The world narrowed to three figures:
Me.
Mira.
The Unknown Predator.
He continued.
"Two paths, Eliasz." He raised two fingers. "Either you separate now—each of you leaves the clearing in a different direction, and the dungeon releases you…"
Then he raised a third finger.
"Or you fight. And then a third party will decide for you."
Mira clenched her teeth.
"Who's the third?"
He answered with two words that sliced through the air:
"The Administrator."
The Predator System inside me howled so violently my balance wavered.
[WARNING: UNAUTHORIZED KEYWORD DETECTED]
[ACCESS TO INFORMATION RESTRICTED]
[SYSTEM RESPONSE: FEAR / DEFENSE]
The system… was afraid.
And when the system is afraid, I'm left alone.
"Who is the Administrator?" I asked.
The man shook his head.
"Not your question yet."
Mira straightened abruptly.
"You don't get to decide what my questions are."
"I'm not deciding," he said, almost gently. "I'm telling you what you need to know before you die."
Inhuman fury flashed in her eyes.
"I won't die!"
Her system surged again.
Blue light.
Air distortion.
The ground beneath her feet cracked in a thin line.
The Predator System displayed an alert I'd never seen before.
[WARNING: HYBRID BEGINNING DETACHMENT FROM HOST]
[PROJECTION: 14 SECONDS UNTIL LOSS OF CONTROL]
Detachment…?
From Mira?
What did that even mean?
No time.
Everything accelerated.
The man stepped back a pace, like her energy burned him.
"Eliasz," he said sharply. "Choose. Now."
The Predator System flashed red.
[PATH SELECTION REQUIRED]
A: ATTACK THE HYBRID
B: WITHDRAW FROM THE CLEARING
C: TRUST THE UNKNOWN PREDATOR
C.
I knew it instantly.
But the clearing shook like a living organism.
Branches fell.
The ground collapsed on the left.
The air thickened until I tasted metal.
The dungeon was reacting.
The Unknown Predator lifted his head.
"Too late," he whispered.
Something tore through the ground behind Mira.
Something massive.
Something black.
Something without shape.
Nothing I had ever seen in any cycle.
The Predator System flickered words that should not exist:
[ADMINISTRATOR — AVATAR LEVEL 1]
Mira turned, terror flooding her face for the first time since this began.
"What is—?"
From the darkness, a hand emerged.
Not monstrous.
Not bestial.
Human.
Made of pure black.
It grabbed her face.
She didn't have time to scream.
The clearing exploded in light.
I lunged forward on instinct.
The Unknown Predator shouted:
"DON'T MOVE!"
Too late.
In the same second I ran, I saw something unforgettable.
The blackness began pulling Mira into the ground.
Not like a monster.
Not like a system.
Like the dungeon itself wanted to swallow her.
The Predator System screamed one last message:
[WARNING: ACCESS TO HYBRID — LOST]
[TARGET STATUS: MIRA REMOVED FROM SYSTEM]
Then:
[SELECTION LOCKED]
I kept running, trying to grab her.
The ground split completely.
And in the final instant before the darkness consumed her, I saw her eyes.
Not human.
Not system-driven.
Not parasitic.
Empty.
As if someone had cut out her soul.
And I heard—quietly, inhumanly—one word:
"Eliasz…"
Then she was gone.
The dungeon sealed with a thunderous impact.
The Unknown Predator looked at me heavily.
"I was right," he murmured. "A third party decided for you."
He approached slowly, meeting my gaze.
"Eliasz… they just consumed her."
I wanted to speak.
I couldn't.
A new objective ignited in the system:
[NEW SYSTEM QUEST]
Name: RECOVER THE HYBRID
Risk Level: LETHAL
Time Limit: UNKNOWN
Below it, in red:
[WARNING: ADMINISTRATOR HAS TAKEN INTEREST IN YOU]
The Unknown Predator exhaled.
"This is only the beginning."
The ground beneath us pulsed once more—
as if the dungeon was breathing.
And the cliffhanger fell naturally:
From deep within the forest came a faint echo, like a whisper.
A whisper that should not exist.
"The second Predator… updated."