The air was heavy. Not with smoke or ash—but with movement.
Kairis Ash stood at the edge of the plaza, the night wind pressing against his coat, his silver-black hair flicking over eyes that burned faintly violet beneath the moonlight. The Awakener Gathering had only just ended. The echo of his own speech still clung to the streets like lingering thunder.
He had felt the shift before anyone else.
Something wrong—something feral and intelligent—was crawling just beyond the veil of silence that cloaked the city outskirts.
Then it came.
A roar. Deep. Primal. Almost… articulate.
The ground trembled, and from the blackened horizon emerged five silhouettes—each twisted, massive, and grotesquely humanoid. Their bones jutted through rotting flesh like obsidian armor, and their eyes glowed with that unmistakable mutated gleam—the mark of intellect gained through evolution.
Behind them… came the horde.
Over two thousand lesser undead, shambling like a living tide, their moans merging into a single dreadful hum that rattled glass and bone alike.
The Awakeners—the remaining six hundred who had survived since the apocalypse began—stood their ground. For a heartbeat, the world held its breath.
Then someone laughed.
"Looks like the night's just getting started!"
One of the mid-rank Awakeners launched forward, sword blazing with condensed mana. Then another followed—then ten—then fifty.
The crowd surged like a storm unleashed. Battle cries tore through the night as steel met rot, and light cut through decay.
Explosions painted the dark sky. Mana flashes. Gravity bursts. Fire and ice clashing in flashes of elemental chaos.
Kairis didn't move. He just watched.
The mutated ones hadn't entered the fight yet. They were watching too—calculating.
The one in the center stood tall, humanoid in shape, but with four arms slick with hardened black tissue that glistened like wet armor. Its head was vaguely human, but its mouth… stretched too wide when it grinned. Its eyes shimmered gold—not the dull yellow of infection, but something aware.
And it spoke.
"...So this is humanity's resistance?"
Its voice echoed through the ruins, sharp and resonant, almost mocking. "Six hundred left standing. Six hundred insects against extinction. I almost pity you."
One of the Awakeners shouted back, "Save your pity, monster!"
The creature chuckled. A sickening, distorted sound that crawled beneath the skin.
"I am Vrythar, first of the Ebon Rank."
The moment he said it, a wave of oppressive energy crashed outward, cracking pavement and twisting lampposts like paper. Lesser zombies knelt instinctively—the sheer authority in his presence bending them to submission.
Kairis's eyes narrowed. Ebon Rank? He hadn't seen that classification before.
Then his system pulsed.
A ripple of black text shimmered across his vision, outlined in faint violet.
---
[System Quest: "Trial of the Fallen—The Ebon Spawn"]
Objective: Defeat Vrythar, the Mutated Leader of the Horde.
Rank: SSS (Solo Clearance Required)
Restriction: Assistance Prohibited.
Failure: Permanent death.
Reward: ???
---
Kairis exhaled through his nose. "So this is my warm-up, huh?"
He stepped forward, gravity subtly bending under his feet. The broken street tiles lifted and crumbled behind him as he moved.
Someone shouted, "Wait, Kairis! Don't go alone—"
Too late.
He was already gone, a blur of compressed gravity and Void displacement, reappearing in front of Vrythar with a shockwave that rattled the entire district.
The mutated leader grinned wider, four arms flexing, claws dripping with black ichor that hissed when it hit the ground.
"So… you're different," Vrythar said, voice almost delighted. "I can smell it. You've touched the Void."
Kairis tilted his head, a faint smirk ghosting his lips. "You talk too much."
The next instant, they collided.
BOOM—
The impact shattered the sound barrier, sending dust and blood flying in all directions. Kairis blocked the creature's first two blows, but the third arm—too fast to react—smashed into his ribs, sending him skidding across the cracked pavement.
He grunted, spitting blood, but his eyes glowed darker now—focused.
If it weren't for his True Apostle of Void ascension, that hit would've ended him.
"Fast," Kairis muttered, steadying himself. "Too fast for something that ugly."
Vrythar lunged again, its movements refined, almost martial. It wasn't just brute force—it was trained.
Each of its blows carried rhythm and intent, like a predator that had once been human.
Kairis ducked, twisting midair as he grabbed a chunk of rubble and crushed it mid-spin—turning it into a compressed gravity sphere before slamming it into Vrythar's face.
WHAM!
The explosion cracked the nearby buildings, black smoke rising as zombies screamed and scattered.
But as the dust cleared—Vrythar was laughing.
Half its face was gone. But it was regenerating.
"Good," it hissed, golden eyes burning hotter. "Now this is entertainment."
It blurred—disappearing from sight.
Kairis barely had time to react before claws tore through his shoulder, spinning him violently into a collapsed bus. Metal screamed as he burst through it.
Pain flared. But he didn't stop.
He used Aerial Step, catching himself midair, eyes narrowing as he twisted gravity around himself.
The world slowed.
Then, with a whisper, Void Step.
He appeared above Vrythar, sword glowing with compressed mass—his signature move.
"Graviton Blade!"
He swung down, space itself bending as the blade carved through sound and form.
The ground caved in. The entire street fractured.
When the dust settled—Vrythar was pinned to the ground, its body crushed halfway into a crater, limbs spasming.
But then…
It laughed again.
"Good… good…"
Its golden eyes turned crimson. Its body started to expand. Flesh split, bones snapped outward, new limbs forming—grotesque wings of bone and sinew.
"You… are the first human to make me bleed," it said. "Be honored."
Kairis tightened his grip on his sword, sweat trailing down his cheek.
"Ebon Rank… huh." His voice was calm, but his heart was racing. "Then I guess I'll have to start learning your hierarchy soon."
Vrythar's grin widened, jaw splitting grotesquely.
"Oh… you will, Apostle of Void. Because I'm the weakest of my rank."
And with that—
It lunged again, faster than before.