The descent path narrowed into a long metallic throat, swallowing the group in a haze of steam and thin flickering lights.Pipes rattled overhead, leaking warm vapor that curled around their boots.
Elias walked at the front.
Not because he volunteered.Because something inside him—raw instinct sharpened by whatever he awakened—pulled him forward.
Aria stayed behind him, blade in hand, her gaze fixed on his back with a mixture of calculation and doubt.
Kellan supported Jarek, who still hadn't recovered from the last fight, his legs trembling uncontrollably.
The Iron Descent felt different now.The air hung heavier.The shadows seemed deeper.As if the dungeon itself recognized Elias.
Aria finally broke the silence.
"Ward."
Elias didn't turn.
"What?"
"What exactly did you unlock back there?"
Elias' voice was flat.Controlled.
"Enough to stay alive."
Aria stared at him, her jaw tightening.
"That's not an answer."
"It's the one I have."
Jarek swallowed nervously.
"Aria… he doesn't look… normal anymore…"
Kellan grunted.
"Let him focus. Something's wrong ahead."
And he was right.
Elias stopped walking.
Everyone froze.
"What is it?" Aria whispered.
Elias didn't respond at first.He listened.
Not with ears.
With something else.
The metal under his feet vibrated again—not from machines,not from shifting floors,but from weight.
Heavy.Deliberate.Hunting.
Elias raised his hand.
"Behind me. All of you."
Aria narrowed her eyes.
"Tell me what you sense."
"There's something coming," Elias said."It's big."
Kellan snorted."That's not very helpful—"
"Three seconds," Elias said calmly.
Aria's grip tightened on her blade."Three…?"
Two.
One.
The lights above them exploded in a chain of sparks.
Jarek screamed.Kellan yanked him down.Aria leapt back.
A figure burst out of the darkness.
Huge.Armored in black bone.Claws digging trenches into the metal floor.Eyes glowing like molten steel.
An Apex Hunter.
A predator built to kill apex-level fighters—a thing that didn't belong anywhere near cadets.
Aria's breath caught.
"That… shouldn't exist here."
Kellan swore under his breath.
"Apex-level? They're used in A-rank extermination units. What the hell is it doing in a cadet trial?!"
Jarek clung to Kellan, shaking violently.
"Oh gods… oh gods… we're dead—"
Elias didn't move.
He didn't blink.
Because as soon as the creature's eyes locked onto him, he understood something:
It recognizes me.
The Apex Hunter lifted its head.Sniffed the air.Tensed.
And then—
It stepped back.
Aria blinked.
"What the—?"
The Hunter lowered its posture.Its claws scraped the ground.Not in preparation to attack.
In submission.
Kellan whispered:
"It's afraid of him…"
Jarek's voice cracked.
"Elias… why is it backing away from you?"
Elias said nothing.
But inside, he felt it:
The apex creature could smell the threshold on him.It sensed the instability inside him.The incomplete awakening.
And Apex Hunters didn't challenge anomalies.
They fled from them.
Aria slowly approached Elias' side, eyes sharp.
"Ward," she murmured, "what are you turning into?"
Elias didn't answer.
Nor did the Apex Hunter wait.
It retreated into the dark and vanished like a shadow sinking into deeper shadow.
Kellan stared at Elias.
"You scare monsters now. That's… new."
Jarek nodded quickly.
"New. Terrifying. Horrible. Please don't hurt us."
Aria didn't say a word.
Her silence was heavier than anything Jarek could imagine.
Then—
Metal scraped behind them.
The fog parted.
Two golden lights glowed in the distance.
The golden-eyed entity stepped forward, its presence quiet and suffocating.
Aria immediately raised her blade.
"You again," she hissed.
The creature didn't look at her.
Its gaze fixed on Elias.
"You are not steady," it said."Yet predators retreat."
Aria stepped between them.
"Say one more word and I—"
"Silence."
The creature didn't raise its voice.
But Aria froze for a split second—not because of power, but because the command felt like a physical weight.
The creature turned its head slightly.
"There is something deeper in this place. Something that hunts even us."
Jarek paled.
"Even… you?"
The golden-eyed entity nodded.
"A predator of thresholds. Drawn by your resonance."
It turned its gaze back to Elias.
"You woke too early."
Aria's voice rose in anger.
"Then help him. Fix him."
The creature tilted its head.
"That is not my role."
Kellan snapped:
"Then what is your damn role?"
The creature stepped back into the fog.
"To observe."
Its final words drifted through the steam.
"And to see which of you survives what comes next."
The golden eyes vanished.
Leaving the group standing in a broken corridor—
Alone.
And not alone.
Elias inhaled slowly.
Something in the depths of the Iron Descent was moving toward them.
Something even the watchers feared.
And his threshold pulsed in answer.