The icy rain felt like dull needles pricking Jihan's cheeks as he stood on the worn wooden porch of the orphanage."Transfer a hundred percent?" Jihan muttered softly to himself. The emptiness in his eyes sharpened into an absolutely frigid focus.He looked down at his gloved hand. The glowing orb of White Essence, the uncorrupted soul of Anwar, pulsed warmly in his palm. The Bank expected a pure deposit. They demanded absolute compliance to feed their cosmic ledgers."Like hell I will," Jihan whispered to the digital prompt, the corners of his lips curving into a demonic smirk beneath the pouring rain.Jihan closed his pitch-black eyes. He didn't just access the Reaper authority inside him; he forcefully dragged out the darkest, most agonizing trauma he had buried deep within. He recalled the absolute helplessness he felt when his father's contract doomed his sister, the blinding panic of Luna being dragged into the portal, and the excruciating pain of snapping his own bones just to

Arthur's severed head rolled across the sticky, alcohol-stained floorboards, coming to a halt near the leg of a broken barstool.Jihan stood completely still. He did not blink. His black, tailored suit was remarkably spotless, contrasting violently with the pool of crimson expanding at his feet. The dive bar was dead silent. All the low-level thugs and drunk mercenaries had long since fled, leaving the Reaper alone to clean up the mess.He reached out his left hand, aiming it at Arthur's decapitated body.Slowly, a shimmering, dark violet orb drifted upward from the fresh corpse. It was Arthur's soul, condensed into a cluster of raw dimensional energy.Normally, an obedient employee would just dump this asset directly into the Death Bank's cloud server. But Jihan had a completely different agenda. The young man with graying temples narrowed his pitch-black eyes. He squeezed the purple orb with his leather-gloved fingers."Time for your medication, you cosmic parasites," Jihan whispere

The frigid night wind whipped furiously across the rooftop of the towering skyscraper. Down below, the capital city glittered with deceptive peace, completely oblivious to the harbinger of absolute ruin standing hundreds of feet above its bustling streets.A swirling portal composed of condensed, pitch-black cosmic energy tore through the atmosphere without making a single sound. The distortion faded smoothly, depositing Jihan onto the concrete edge of the roof.The young man with graying temples stood impeccably straight. His flawless black Reaper suit snapped and fluttered violently against the aggressive wind. The pristine leather of his shoes settled firmly on the concrete ledge. His pitch-black, hollow eyes didn't look down at the civilians driving below. His gaze remained completely locked onto the massive, gilded compound directly across the street.The headquarters of the Number 1 Guild.The very same golden cage where he was once held as a sacrificial battery. The very same f

The massive crystal chandeliers suspended from the ceiling of the Number One Guild's main ballroom sparkled blindingly bright. Soft classical music played by professional violinists drifted through the air, trying to mask the panic that still lingered in the chests of the elites.Outside the seventy-story skyscraper, the scene was far from elegant. Five layers of concrete barricades fortified the main gate. Hundreds of heavily armed military personnel, supported by snipers and dozens of Mana-detecting drones, stood guard in a state of heightened alert. The national state of emergency had not been lifted. However, inside this bulletproof executive floor, everything seemed as if the economic apocalypse that had wiped out three of their Dungeons that morning had never happened.This Gala Dinner was held purely for appearances. A large-scale damage control operation.At one of the round tables draped in white silk, Suryo sat with a glass of wine in his hand. His trademark fatherly smile w

A deafening screech of grinding metal tore through the blood-soaked silence ofthe hall. The white marble floor in the center of the room slowly split open,revealing a massive pit leading straight down into the underground facility ofGuild Number 1's headquarters.Jihan took a step back, his dark eyes fixed on the widening gap.Cold air drifted up from below, carrying the sharp tang of chemicals andpreservatives that mingled with the stench of blood. His sense of smell had gonedull a long time ago, yet something about that place still put him on edge.It wasn't the smell.It was the lingering despair.A massive elevator platform began ascending from the depths of the shaft.Clank. Clank. Clank.When the platform locked level with the hall floor, Jihan saw dozens oftwo-meter-tall glass tubes resting on it. Most were fractured, while several hadcompletely shattered. Neon-green medical fluid poured from the broken cylinders,bleeding into the pool of red across the tiles.Then, the