The pain was the first thing he noticed.A sharp, searing ache behind his temples, like a nail driven straight into his skull. His vision swam, blurry at the edges, before snapping into focus. The ceiling above him was plain white, cracked in one corner familiar, yet wrong."Didn’t I already die?"The words escaped his lips before he could stop them, raw and hoarse. His fingers twitched against the thin sheet beneath him, damp with sweat. The air smelled stale, like old books and dust.He sat up too fast. The room spun. His stomach lurched."What the hell "Memories flooded back. The monster. The crushing grip. The sickening crunch of his skull collapsing like an eggshell. The last thing he’d seen was Lucius’ face no, not Lucius anymore, but that thing with its skin split open like cracked earth, flames licking through the fissures.And then nothing.Until now.His hands trembled as he reached for the nightstand. An old cellphone lay there, its screen scratched, the model at least a de

The first attack was sloppy.A wild swing, telegraphed by the shift in the boy’s weight, the tension in his shoulders. Lucius didn’t move like a man he moved like a shadow, slipping sideways with a half step, letting the fist sail past his ear. The wind of it ruffled his hair."Hari! Help me!" Nevan’s voice was a shrill whipcrack, his skeletal fingers clawing at the air.Hari didn’t need the command. He was already lunging, his bulk making him slow, his face twisted in something between fury and confusion. Lucius watched him come, calm as still water.Then he struck.One step. A pivot. His fist sank into Hari’s chest like an axe into soft wood.The boy flew.Not a stumble. Not a fall. He launched, his body folding midair before he crashed into the rooftop door, the metal groaning under the impact. The others froze. Their leader was on the ground, gasping, his ribs already bruising through his shirt.Lucius didn’t look at him.His eyes were on Nevan.The boy had gone very still. His bre

"That insufferable gym teacher," Lucius muttered under his breath as he found himself seated in a dimly lit interrogation room.The space was cramped—a squalid square barely two meters in length and width—its only illumination a single, flickering bulb suspended above two opposing chairs. The air carried the stale scent of sweat and disinfectant."You were absent from class when the incident occurred, were you not?" the interrogating officer asked, his voice laced with suspicion. He was a man of average build, his most distinguishing feature a thin, curved mustache that twitched as he spoke. His rank suggested he held little authority within the precinct."Indeed, I was," Lucius replied, his tone indifferent. His breathing remained steady, betraying no trace of unease despite the gravity of the interrogation."Son, I know you’re searching for an alibi. You likely have a story prepared. But I want the truth—where are those missing students?""I haven’t the slightest idea," Lucius dismis

The air inside the cell was thick and stagnant. It carried the metallic tang of rust and the sickly sweet scent of rotting waste. This place felt more like a forgotten sewer than a high-security military prison. Moisture beaded on the stone walls, reflecting the dim, flickering light of a single bulb overhead. Lucius sat on a mattress that was little more than a slab of cold, grey rock. Every time he shifted, the heavy iron chains around his wrists barked a sharp, metallic warning."I finally made it," Lucius whispered. He ignored the ache in his joints and scanned the room with a predator's precision.The corridor outside was eerily quiet. During his walk to the cell, he had counted only five other occupied units. It was a ghost facility. He had expected a crowded dungeon, but this isolation was even better for his purposes."Ten years," he murmured to himself. "In exactly one decade, the most terrifying system in history will awaken in this very coordinate."He closed his eyes for a

Lucius watched the dust settle around General Nefion. The man had stepped off a cliff into a ten kilometer abyss and landed as if he were stepping off a curb. There were no broken bones and no signs of strain. Just the raw, terrifying durability of a body honed to the limit. Lucius felt the silk of his own parachute tugging at his shoulders as he drifted down. The contrast was humiliating."I have to reconsider every single part of this plan," Lucius thought as his boots finally hit the jagged floor of the pit. He unhooked his harness and let the parachute flutter away like a dying bird. "If he can survive a fall like that without the help of a System, my current strategy is nothing more than a death sentence."He took a moment to scan the environment. The bottom of the mine was a mechanical nightmare. Colossal grinders chewed through boulders with a deafening roar. Mining vehicles the size of houses crawled across the dirt like armored beetles. Lucius watched a line of heavy trucks gr