Shattered marble and reinforced concrete debris still littered the bottom of the ten-foot crater where Jihan had landed. The air inside the basin was suffocating, thick with chalky dust and the coppery tang of his own blood.Jihan crawled across the heap of rubble. The shirt beneath his Reaper coat was soaked through with sweat and the thick blood running down his chest and forehead. That raw gravitational shockwave from Suryo had practically pulverized every joint in his frame. Jihan's breathing rattled horribly, every shallow expansion of his chest tearing at his lungs like a barbed fishhook.High above the crater's rim, Guild Master Suryo stood tall and proud, his arms crossed over his chest as he gazed down. A venomous smirk curled across the middle-aged man's face, radiant with the stolen authority over space and time."Still hungry for asphalt, rat?" Suryo's rich baritone echoed from above, descending like a decree from a false deity. "The petty magic of that loan shark of yours

The invisible spatial shield, forged from the absolute manipulation of gravity and dimension, finally shattered. It broke with a deafening noise like thick glass caught in a violent earthquake.Jihan stepped right through the raining shards of magical energy. His body was an absolute, horrifying mess. The protective cosmic layers had fought him every single inch of the way, slicing into his skin like invisible razors. The sleek black fabric of his Reaper suit was completely torn to rags. Deep gashes littered his arms, his chest, and his shoulders, freely bleeding thick crimson fluid onto the ruined marble floor.Half of his face was covered in a fresh mask of his own blood. In the heat of the previous struggle to ignore the excruciating sensory glitches, Jihan had inadvertently bitten completely through his own lower lip. He tore it clean off because his brain, liquidated of all its pain receptors, simply failed to calculate the raw, crushing power of his own jaw. His lower teeth were

Jihan pressed the final confirmation button.DEPOSIT SUCCESSFULLY SENT.For one second, nothing happened.Then, the Death Bank System screen froze.The transaction notification sound that usually rang loud only managed to let out two tones before turning into a crackling noise. The red color on the screen suddenly switched to blue, then black, then red again. Rows of numbers moved randomly. Transaction windows piled on top of each other until not a single piece of information could be read.Jihan raised an eyebrow."Huh? What happened? Not enough money?"The screen flickered faster.KRRRZZZTT!A warning appeared.[ERROR. ASSET PROCESSING FAILURE.]Followed by a second message.[SOUL DATA PACKAGE INCOMPATIBLE.]Then a third message.[WARNING. ANOMALY DETECTED IN CENTRAL MAINFRAME.]Jihan was silent for a moment. The corner of his mouth lifted."Ah, finally."He lowered his hand. His body was still covered in wounds from the previous battle. Dried blood stained the edge of his black coa

Human screams mingled with the deafening sounds of skyscrapers collapsing. Within minutes, the capital had transformed into a slaughterhouse.Gray smoke blanketed the streets. Flames erupted from cracks in the shattered asphalt, engulfing cars trapped in the middle of traffic. Hundreds of purple portals opened across the sky, endlessly spewing monsters into the world.Amid the chaos, military forces had formed a barricade at an intersection."Prepare the cannons! Aim at the nearest monster!""Target locked!""FIRE!"Four tanks fired simultaneously. The deafening blasts shook the surrounding buildings. Their shells slammed into the body of a Gargoyle Collector as it lunged toward an armored vehicle.An explosion engulfed the monster in smoke."Got it! We took it down!"A soldier's triumphant shout was cut short when the four-meter-tall creature emerged from the smoke. Its body was covered in soot, but its rock-hard skin showed no significant damage."Impossible..." A commander stumbled

The colossal gate slammed shut directly behind Jihan.THUUUD!The impact reverberated through the void for a split second before vanishing into nothingness.Jihan did not move right away.Just moments ago, he had been standing in the heart of a ruined Jakarta. The sky burned a sickening crimson, skyscrapers crumbled into rubble, asphalt tore open into jagged chasms, and grotesque abominations prowled among citizens scrambling for their lives. Screams echoed from every direction as endless detonations tore through a city that no longer belonged to humanity.Yet the instant that gate sealed shut, the nightmare vanished.No gunfire.No explosions.No dying screams.Just a heavy, suffocating silence.Jihan lifted his head, his dark eyes adjusting to the space before him.A stark white corridor stretched into infinity, devoid of any visible ceiling, sidewalls, or exits. The floor beneath his boots was polished to a mirror finish, pristine and sterile, as though no living creature had ever