The abduction did not begin with violence.
It began with silence.
Lunaria felt it first as absence—the subtle wrongness of the night thinning, like a breath being slowly drawn away. He was halfway across the outer gardens of Hunters College, moonlight silvering the paths and reflecting softly off the dew-kissed leaves, when the mana around him stuttered.
Not collapsed.
Not surged.
It hesitated.
[Warning.]
[Spatial interference detected.]
[Threat classification: extreme.]
Lunaria stopped walking.
His ribbon was back in place, pink against pale hair, his sword resting calmly at his side. To any distant observer, he looked like a student enjoying a quiet stroll.
To the world beneath the surface, he was standing at the center of a tightening snare.
"…This isn't subtle," Lunaria said softly.
The air behind him folded.
Not ripped—folded, like fabric being pressed inward by invisible hands.
Then the sky fractured.
A massive spatial sigil ignited above the gardens, crimson and black interlocking into a demonic summoning array so vast it swallowed the stars. The mana pressure slammed down like an ocean, crushing sound, bending light, pinning everything beneath it.
Trees snapped.
Stone paths cracked.
Barriers screamed as they activated too late.
Lunaria's knees bent slightly under the weight—but he did not fall.
[City-level threat detected.]
[Combat engagement restricted.]
"…I see," Lunaria murmured.
The first demons emerged not through portals, but through reality itself.
Dozens.
Then hundreds.
They descended like a tide—winged, horned, armored in living obsidian and molten bone. Their presence turned the air toxic, mana corroding as it passed through their bodies. These were not infiltrators or scouts.
They were an extraction force.
A towering figure stepped forward, easily three times the height of a human, his form wrapped in layered sigils and ancient chains that burned with hellfire. His eyes fixed on Lunaria with reverent hunger.
"There you are," the demon said, voice reverberating like a cathedral bell cracking. "The Silver Quiet."
Lunaria met his gaze calmly.
"You're damaging college property," he replied. "That's rude."
The demon laughed, a sound that shattered windows across the campus.
"Property?" he repeated. "Child, entire cities will be offered to retrieve you."
The chains moved.
Not to bind Lunaria—
—but to seal him.
Runes flared around Lunaria's feet, locking his mana pathways with brutal efficiency. It wasn't suppression—it was authority, a command embedded so deeply into reality that even his system recoiled.
[Override detected.]
[Combat capability: restricted.]
[Reason: collateral probability—unacceptable.]
Lunaria exhaled slowly.
"So this is how it is," he said.
The demon extended one clawed hand.
"Come quietly," he said. "You are not permitted to resist."
Lunaria did not struggle when the chains wrapped around him.
Not because he couldn't.
But because the moment he did—
The city would die.
Mana trembled under his skin, power coiled and restrained by will alone. He felt the limits pressing inward, the system anchoring him to the greater good with merciless logic.
He looked once toward the main towers of Hunters College.
"…I apologize," he whispered.
Then the world collapsed inward.
Space inverted.
Sound vanished.
And Lunaria Vale was gone.
---
The explosion arrived after the silence.
Alarms screamed across the city, layered and shrill, emergency barriers slamming into place as shockwaves rolled outward from the ruined gardens. Hunters poured from buildings, weapons drawn, eyes wide as they took in the devastation.
"A mass-scale abduction?" someone shouted. "Inside the city?!"
"This level of summoning—are you insane?!"
No.
They were desperate.
High above the city, reality trembled again.
And this time—
It answered back.
The sky split.
Not with demonic sigils.
But with light.
A spear of white-blue mana tore downward, annihilating the remaining summoning array in a single, precise strike. Thunder followed, not natural but declared, shaking the air as figures descended from the rupture like falling stars.
S-ranked hunters.
The first to land was a man wrapped in a long coat scorched at the edges by battle, his presence alone forcing the ambient mana to kneel. His eyes scanned the destruction, jaw tightening.
"…They took him," he said.
A woman landed beside him, her armor etched with divine circuits, wings of light folding into her back. Her expression was cold, furious.
"They crossed the line," she replied. "City abduction. That's a declaration of war."
Another presence arrived last—not descending, but appearing, space bending politely around him as if unwilling to resist.
He was tall, silver-haired, his gaze distant and sharp.
"The demons didn't just abduct a target," he said quietly. "They abducted a variable."
The man in the coat clenched his fist.
"Track them."
"I already am," the silver-haired one replied.
---
Lunaria awakened to chains and chanting.
He stood at the center of a colossal chamber carved from black stone, its ceiling lost to darkness, its walls lined with ancient runes that pulsed in time with a heartbeat not his own. Demons filled the space—hundreds kneeling, dozens standing watch, several towering figures overseeing the ritual.
The chain-lord stood before him.
"You are calm," the demon noted.
Lunaria inclined his head slightly.
"There's no benefit in panic," he said. "It clouds judgment."
The demon studied him with fascination.
"You are aware of what you are, yes?"
"…A problem," Lunaria replied mildly.
The demon laughed again.
"No," he said. "You are a key."
The chanting intensified.
Sigils flared beneath Lunaria's feet, draining—not his power—but information. Threads of fate strained, reality itself pressing closer to understand him.
[Warning.]
[Existential observation detected.]
"…That's uncomfortable," Lunaria murmured.
For the first time, something like irritation touched his expression.
Then—
The chamber shook.
A sound echoed through the abyssal halls—not an explosion, but a footstep.
One.
Then another.
The chanting faltered.
A scream cut through the air as the far wall imploded, not outward, but inward—crushed by an overwhelming force. Light flooded the chamber as an armored figure stepped through the debris, blade already wet with demonic blood.
"Hands," the hunter said calmly, "off the kid."
Chaos erupted.
Demons surged forward, spells igniting, blades flashing.
The hunter moved.
What followed was not a battle.
It was a correction.
Every step he took erased enemies. Every swing of his blade carved through layers of defense meant to withstand armies. The chamber filled with thunder as another S-ranked hunter dropped from above, slamming into the ground with enough force to fracture reality.
A third arrived, then a fourth.
The ritual collapsed.
Chains snapped.
Lunaria felt the restraints dissolve, mana rushing back into alignment—but he did not move.
He watched.
He watched as beings who could shatter mountains were cut down like obstacles.
He watched as the chain-lord roared and transformed, only to be met by the silver-haired hunter—who raised one hand and stopped time for a heartbeat.
When time resumed, the demon's head fell.
Silence followed.
The S-ranked hunters turned toward Lunaria.
The man in the long coat approached first, kneeling to meet his eyes.
"…Are you hurt?" he asked.
Lunaria shook his head gently.
"No," he replied. "Thank you for coming."
The woman with wings folded hers, studying him intently.
"You didn't fight," she said.
"It would have killed the city," Lunaria answered simply.
The silver-haired hunter exhaled slowly.
"…You chose restraint," he said. "Even knowing the cost."
Lunaria looked away, fingers curling briefly.
"Yes."
The man in the coat stood, expression grim.
"This changes things," he said. "They won't stop now."
Lunaria met his gaze, moonlight silver eyes steady.
"I know," he replied.
And somewhere far above, the sky healed itself—unaware that the quiet boy it had just watched disappear and return had become something the world could no longer afford to ignore.