To be honest, the night at Kael's place felt safer than I expected. Her "home" was basically a garage full of scrap metal and smelling of oil, but she made sure I didn't freeze to death by tossing me a heavy, metallic-fiber blanket.
I curled up in a corner, my head resting on a pile of rusted gears. I didn't sleep much. All I could think about was the "Pit." It sounded like a place where dreams went to die, and tomorrow, I was scheduled to be the guest of honor.
When morning hit—or at least when the violet sky turned a slightly lighter shade of bruised plum—Kael dragged me out.
"Wake up, Investment," she barked, kicking my sneaker. "Time to see if you have a backbone."
The Pit was exactly what it sounded like: a massive, sunken arena carved into the bedrock of the Lower District. It was surrounded by hundreds of crazy-looking people—beings with jagged horns, cybernetic eyes, and weapons made of bone. The air was thick with the smell of sweat and desperation.
"Kael," I whispered, looking at a three-eyed giant sharpening a meat cleaver nearby. "This place is full of... really intense people."
"Don't look at them," Kael said, shoving me toward a rusted gate. "Look at the gate. If you want to do your first level-up, you have to beat someone even more of a loser than you."
I straightened my torn school tie. A loser more than me? I thought. Okay. I can do that. I've spent sixteen years being a professional nobody. I know the competition.
The gate hissed open, and Kael pushed me into the dirt of the arena. Across from me stood my opponent.
He was a dwarf. But not a "warrior" dwarf. He was skinny, tired-looking, and had a beard that looked like it had been chewed on by a goat. He was holding a wooden stick like it was a legendary broadsword.
"This is it?" I muttered. I felt a surge of confidence. "Okay. I can take him."
I puffed out my chest and pointed a finger at him. "Hey! You! Dwarf! I'm challenging you! Prepare to... uh... be defeated!"
The crowd around the Pit went silent for a heartbeat, then erupted.
"HAHAHA! Look at the stick-figure human!" someone yelled.
"I'll bet ten Credits on the Dwarf!" another shouted.
"Wait," a third voice added. "I'm betting twenty on the Human to lose in under a minute!"
They were betting on me—not as a winner, but as a spectacular loser. My face burned red. "I'll show them," I growled to myself. "I'm not a ghost anymore."
I charged. It was a classic "Tokyo High School" tackle. I swung my fist with everything I had.
The dwarf didn't even move until the last second. He just sighed, stepped slightly to the left, and stuck out his foot.
TRIP.
I went flying, my face hitting the dirt with a sickening thud. Before I could even spit out the dust, the dwarf turned around and whacked me across the backside with his wooden stick.
WHACK!
"OW! Hey! That's a foul!" I scrambled up, swinging wildly again.
The dwarf moved like he was bored. He ducked under my punch, grabbed my arm, and used my own momentum to flip me over his shoulder. I hit the ground so hard my vision flickered. Then, for the grand finale, he sat on my chest. He didn't even use a weapon; he just sat there, looking at his fingernails while I struggled like a flipped turtle.
[ STATUS: TRASH ]
[ HEALTH: 15/100 ]
[ MESSAGE: ARE YOU SERIOUS? ]
The crowd was howling. People were falling over laughing. Even Kael was leaning against the gate, rubbing her forehead with her hand like she was wondering if she could get a refund on me.
"Give up, lad," the dwarf wheezed, his voice sounding like sandpaper. "You've got the combat skills of a wet noodle."
I lay there, staring up at the violet sky, pinned down by a skinny, geriatric dwarf.
From a nobody to a criminal... to the laughingstock of the universe, I thought bitterly. I really am at the bottom.
But as I lay there, the broken mirror in my pocket gave a tiny, almost imperceptible pulse of warmth. It wasn't an explosion of power—it was a nudge. A reminder.
I wasn't done yet.
The crowd eventually got bored of my humiliation. "Worst fight of the cycle," someone grumbled as the bettors cleared out, leaving me sprawled in the dirt.
Kael walked over, looking down at me with her arms crossed. She didn't offer a hand. She just shook her head with such deep disappointment that it hurt worse than the dwarf's stick. "I've seen Nulls with no legs fight better than that, Fuen. How can someone be this bad at existing?"
"I know, I know," I groaned, rolling onto my back. "I'm a natural-born loser. It's my only talent."
As I lay there, feeling the grit of the Pit in my hair, I felt something soft and heavy land right on my chest. I looked down.
It was a cat. Pitch black, with fur that seemed to swallow the light around it. It sat there with a majestic aura that didn't belong in a scrap-yard tavern, calmly licking a paw as if it owned the entire planet.
"I can see what you are," the cat said.
Its voice wasn't a meow; it was a smooth, cultured purr that resonated inside my head.
I stared at it, eyes wide. "A talking cat," I said out loud. Then I sighed, my head hitting the dirt again. "Actually, why am I surprised? I've seen blue giants and energy-roasting fences . A talking cat is practically normal."
The cat stopped licking its paw and looked me dead in the eye. Its pupils were like vertical slits of gold. "Call me Lord Kuro. And I can help you, little human."
I sat up slowly, Kuro balancing perfectly on my shoulder as I moved. He had a lot of attitude for something that weighed ten pounds.
"I am the Dark Lord of the Underworld," Kuro announced, his tail flicking with a sense of self-importance. "Or, I was, before a slight... disagreement with the Archons. Regardless, I am ready to take you under my wing. I can make you level up faster than that mechanic girl ever could."
"And what do you need in return for that?" I asked. My time in Aethryx had already taught me that 'free' didn't exist here. "Are you after a legendary sword too?"
"Hmm. Smart," Lord Kuro mused, his whiskers twitching. "I do have a reason for helping you. But I will only reveal it once you prove you are ready to become Star-Crowned. I don't waste my genius on those who intend to stay in the dirt."
I looked at my hands, still shaking from the fight. "You really think I can become that? Look at me. I just got my ass kicked by a guy who uses a twig as a weapon."
Kuro stepped off my shoulder and paced in front of me, his steps silent. "Listen, boy. Even a common stone can be shaped into a masterpiece of a statue if it is broken technically. You are broken. You are a 'Null.' That means you are a blank canvas. The 'Winners' up there are already full—they cannot grow anymore. But you? You can become anything."
He sat back on his haunches, his golden eyes glowing. "So. Are you ready to stop being a ghost and start being a problem?"
I looked at Kael, who was watching the cat with a suspicious squint, then back at Kuro. For the first time since I fell into this world, I didn't feel like I was just waiting to be erased. I felt like a student.
"Okay," I said, my voice firmer than before. "I'm in. Tell me what to do, Lord Kuro."
"Excellent," the cat purred, a predatory grin appearing on its feline face. "First lesson: Stop trying to punch things. You're terrible at it. We're going to use that 'Trash' status of yours to do something much more dangerous."