The corridor opened into a vast steel chamber, a hollow cylinder carved deep into the iron bowels of the Descent.
Metal walkways coiled around a central pit, spiraling downward layer by layer.Steam drifted from vents in slow, heavy breaths.The air vibrated with a quiet tension that felt too deliberate to be natural.
Jarek gripped the railing and looked over the edge.
"I… I don't see anything," he whispered.
"Good," Kellan muttered. "Means it's hiding."
Aria ignored the abyss for a moment.
Her eyes were fixed on Elias.
He walked ahead with measured steps—too precise, too calm for someone who had just nearly died.His breathing was controlled, but there was a stillness in him that hadn't been there before.Like something else was sitting in his mind, watching through his eyes.
She finally spoke.
"Ward."
He stopped, but didn't turn around.
"What."
"You need to tell me what's happening to you."
He stared down into the pit.
"I'm adapting."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the one I have."
Aria stepped in front of him, blocking his path.
"You saved my life. You saved Jarek twice. You pulled Kellan back. You made choices. Real ones."
Her eyes sharpened.
"But what woke up inside you… that wasn't acting for you."
Elias' jaw tightened almost imperceptibly.
Aria lowered her voice.
"I am not your enemy, Ward."
He looked at her then.
Calm. Cold. Honest.
"You could be."
That shook her more than she wanted to admit.
Before she could answer, the metal beneath their feet shuddered.
Jarek flinched and clutched the railing.
"What was that…?"
A low scraping sound rose from the depths below.Claws dragging along steel.Slow. Heavy. Patient.
The kind of sound that didn't rush.The kind that knew its prey had nowhere to go.
Kellan stepped to the edge, eyes narrowing.
"There it is."
Aria moved closer to Elias without thinking, blade already in hand.
The thing climbed.
It emerged from the darkness like a nightmare given weight.
Its body was a twisted mockery of human and beast—stretched limbs, corded muscles, bone-like plates along its spine.But its eyes—
Not bright.
Not hungry.
Grey.
Dozens of grey eyes, embedded in its head and torso, shifting independently, each one dull and cold like dead stone.
Aria's voice dropped to barely more than a breath.
"…A Threshold Devourer."
Jarek almost collapsed.
"A… what?"
Kellan's face drained of color.
"That's impossible. Those things show up in S-rank disasters, not cadet trials."
Elias didn't need the name.
He could feel it.
The creature bled the same kind of pressure that had awakened inside him—like a distortion in the air, like gravity twisting.
And it was staring at him.
It sniffed the air lazily.
It felt Kellan's blood.Jarek's fear.Aria's mana.
But then all of its grey eyes turned.
Every single one.
To Elias.
Kellan swallowed.
"It's not here for us," he said quietly. "It's hunting your power."
Aria moved in front of Elias on reflex.
"Ward. Stay behind me."
Elias stepped around her.
Aria grabbed his forearm, grip hard.
"Stop. What are you doing?"
He looked at her, more clear than distant this time.
"It's here because of me. If I run, it will go through all of you to get to me."
Aria shook her head, anger and fear leaking into her tone.
"You're in no condition to fight that. You just came back from the brink. If you push again—"
"I know."
Calm. Simple.
Jarek's voice broke.
"Elias… please, we can find another way…"
Kellan moved to Aria's side.
"If he goes, we go."
"That's not—" Aria started.
Elias raised his hand slightly.
"No.
"You keep your distance. If I fall… you run."
Aria laughed once, humorless.
"I'm not running—"
"Aria."
He didn't raise his voice.
But the way he said her name stopped her.
She hated that.
The Devourer's claws dug into the metal.It hauled itself up onto the same level, grey eyes blinking out of sync, its chest rising and falling with a dry, rattling sound.
Then it lunged.
Aria shouted:
"WARD!"
Elias dropped low at the last moment, rolling under the swing of a limb larger than his torso.The claws tore through the railing behind him.
He pivoted sharply and drove his fist up into the Devourer's jaw.
Bone cracked.The creature's head snapped to the side.
It took one staggering step back.Only one.
Then its twisted neck rotated unnaturally, turning all the way around until those grey eyes locked onto him again.
And it charged.
Aria moved to intercept.
Kellan grabbed her wrist.
"Let him!"
"He'll die!"
"And if you go in, you'll die with him!"
The Devourer's claw crashed into Elias.
He wasn't fast enough this time.
The blow slammed him into a steel pillar.Metal bent inward.The sound of impact rattled the whole structure.
Jarek screamed.Aria flinched as if the hit had landed on her.Kellan's hand tightened around his staff.
Elias dropped to one knee.
Blood slid from the corner of his mouth.Every breath grated against what felt like cracked ribs.
But his eyes…
They were brighter.
A familiar, cold interface blinked behind them.
Threshold Veins — Stage Two unlockedSovereign Instinct (fragment) acquired
- Senses fatal lines in enemy movement
- Allows limited redirection of killing intent
- Short bursts only
- Severe spiritual strain on repeated use
Aria saw it in his posture.Not the System window—the way his entire presence shifted.
"...Kellan," she whispered. "That's not a normal skill."
The Devourer roared and lunged again—faster this time, aiming to crush him into the floor.
It never reached him.
Elias moved before the limb fully extended.He stepped into the attack, just outside the path of the killing arc, grabbed the creature's forearm, twisted his body with exact leverage—
—and snapped the joint with a violent wrench.
The Devourer shrieked, grey eyes rolling in all directions.
Kellan stared.
"That wasn't trained reflex," he muttered. "That was… seeing the attack before it happened."
The creature slammed its other arm down.
Elias slid past it with brutal economy, no wasted motion, no hesitation.
Aria's grip tightened around her blade.
"That's not him," she breathed. "It's something using him."
The Devourer roared and threw its full weight onto Elias, crushing him beneath its bulk.
Aria broke free of Kellan's grip and ran forward.
"Elias!"
Kellan swore and followed.
Jarek didn't move.
He was frozen.
Pinned.
The Devourer pressed down—metal shrieked beneath Elias' back—the weight alone should have shattered him.
And then—
A white glow leaked out from under the monster's torso.
A voice, soft but edged, slipped through clenched teeth:
"Get. Off."
A shockwave blasted through the Devourer as if the floor itself had kicked it.
The monster was thrown back, slamming into the far wall, body shuddering, plates cracking, viscous grey fluid spilling down its frame.
Aria skidded to a halt.
Kellan dropped his staff.
Jarek choked on a breath.
Elias pushed himself off the ground.
Blood streaked his chest.His breathing was rough.His eyes were half-lidded, but focused.
Aria approached slowly.
"Ward… Elias… do you hear me?"
He raised his gaze to her.
For a moment, there was nothing human in it.No warmth.No doubt.Only cold focus.
Then he blinked.
Something softer returned.
"I'm… still here," he said.
Her chest finally loosened.
She didn't realize she'd been holding her breath.
Kellan exhaled hard and forced a shaky laugh.
"Good. For a second I thought we'd have to fight you next."
The Devourer tried to stand.
All of its grey eyes rolled toward Elias again.
It took one step.
Elias didn't move.
The creature took a second step.Its leg buckled.Something invisible weighed it down.
Its limbs trembled.
Every eye strained in his direction.
Then its chest collapsed inward—
—as if some unseen force had decided it was done.
The Devourer fell, its body dissolving slowly into drifting grey dust.
Silence followed.
Aria stared at the fading corpse.
"That wasn't strength," she whispered. "That was… authority."
Elias didn't answer.
He just breathed.
Once.
Twice.
The chamber vibrated.
From deep below, farther than the eye could reach, something shifted.
Heavy.Cold.Older than the Descent itself.
Jarek clung to Kellan.
"What now…?"
They all felt it at the same time—
The presence rising from below.
Not the golden-eyed entity.
Not a Devourer.
Something worse.
And somewhere in that unseen depth…
more than two eyes opened.
Dozens.