MY DEVOURER SYSTEM

The air inside the Iron Gate Rift always tasted like zinc and dried copper.

Ren Kestrel wiped a streak of glowing monster bile from his forehead. His knuckles were raw beneath his cheap, military-issued work gloves. At eighteen, his frame was lean—wiry from years of forced labor and short rations. He had messy dark hair that fell right over sharp, quiet eyes.

"Move it, Zero," a voice snapped from the bright corridor ahead.

Dean Halvern stood there, his pristine silver-trimmed uniform completely spotless. A faint, crackling aura of blue lightning danced along Dean's fingers—his Tier-4 Storm Crest ability. He looked at Ren like an annoying bug.

"The main squads already cleared the nesting ground," Dean sneered, kicking a heavy metal storage box toward Ren’s feet. "The elite teams are moving to the boss room. Your job is to clean up the trash husks. Miss a single Abyssal Core, Kestrel, and I’ll make sure logistics cuts your food rations for a month."

"Understood, Cadet Officer Halvern," Ren said. His voice was flat and totally empty of emotion. Inside, his chest burned with a familiar anger.

Ren was a "Zero." In a world where humanity wielded crazy elemental powers and cosmic abilities to fight off the Abyssal invasion, Ren’s aptitude test had returned a flat, mocking 0.00%. He was only kept at the Vanguard Academy to serve as a pack mule and a meat shield for the real talents.

As Dean turned his back and walked away with a low laugh, Ren knelt down by the dead body of a Void-Hound. The creature was the size of a wolf, covered in black scales, its throat torn open by Dean's lightning.

Ren reached his hand into the bloody chest cavity, searching for the small energy fragment known as a Shattered Core. Elites didn't bother harvesting these low-grade remnants; they left the filthy work to the Zeros.

Suddenly, a massive tremor shook the cavern walls.

The blue glowing crystals lining the cave blinked out, plunging the chamber into a suffocating, pitch-black darkness.

BOOM.

A shockwave of freezing pressure erupted from the deep tunnels. From the corridor ahead, the arrogant shouts of the elite cadets instantly turned into blood-curdling screams.

"Fall back! It’s a Variant! The rift is collapsing—!" Dean’s voice shrieked in absolute terror.

Ren flattened himself against the stone wall as a stampede of heavy boots rushed past him in the dark. The elite cadets were fleeing, using their speed skills to sprint toward the extraction portal.

"Halvern!" Ren shouted, reaching out into the dark as a figure bolted past. "The heavy blast doors—don't lock them yet!"

Dean Halvern didn't even look back. With a desperate swipe of his hand, Dean smashed his palm against the emergency button on the wall. "Sorry, Kestrel! Survival of the fittest!"

The massive, three-ton titanium blast door slammed shut with a loud hydraulic hiss.

Clank.

Ren was sealed inside. Completely alone.

From the shadows at the far end of the cave, a pair of glowing red eyes ignited. A low, rhythmic clicking sound echoed against the stone. It wasn't a standard Void-Hound. It was something way worse—an Abyssal Stalker, its massive spider-like legs scraping against the floor, its mandibles dripping with black acid.

The creature lunged.

Ren didn't even have time to scream. A massive, bladed leg pierced directly through his right shoulder, pinning him brutally to the cavern floor. Agonizing pain flared through his body, blinding him. Bright red blood spurted onto the cold stone.

The Stalker hovered over him, its gaping mouth opening to reveal rows of jagged teeth. It was going to eat him alive.

Is this it? Ren’s vision blurred. Born a zero. Died as bait for cowards.

Pure, venomous rage suddenly overcame the pain. As the creature lowered its head to crush his skull, Ren’s flailing left hand struck something sharp inside the open chest of the dead Void-Hound beside him. His fingers closed around a strange, pulsing object. It wasn't a standard blue core. It was a jagged, pitch-black crystal that throbbed like a dying heart, oozing an oily liquid.

It was a rogue Abyssal Parasite Core. Touching it meant instant death via corruption.

"If I'm going to hell," Ren snarled through shattered teeth, "I'm taking you with me."

With the last ounce of his strength, Ren shoved the pulsing, corrupted black core straight into his own open, bleeding shoulder wound, jamming it deep into his flesh.

A scream tore from his throat as black veins instantly erupted across his skin, racing toward his neck and eyes. His heart seized. His vision went entirely dark.

But instead of the silence of death, a sharp, mechanical chime rang directly inside his skull.

[CRITICAL COMPATIBILITY DETECTED.]

[99.9% Gene-Void Match Found. Initiating Soul-Bind...]

[The Universe Abhors a Vacuum. You Are the Void.]

[Welcome to the Devourer System, Host: Ren Kestrel.]

Ren’s eyes snapped open. They were no longer human; the white parts of his eyes had turned completely black, his irises glowing a predatory gold. The agonizing pain vanished, replaced by an insatiable, roaring emptiness inside his gut.

A holographic screen floated in the darkness before him, burning with crimson text:

[Emergency Quest: First Feed]

[Objective: The Abyssal Stalker seeks to consume you. Invert the hierarchy. Consume it instead.]

[Time Remaining: 00:59]

[Failure Penalty: Complete molecular dissolution.]

The Abyssal Stalker paused. Its alien instincts were suddenly screaming that the weak prey beneath its leg had just changed into something deeply wrong.

Ren’s bloody lips peeled back into a terrifying grin. His hand closed around the monster's bladed leg, his grip suddenly tightening with a strength that cracked the hard shell.

"My turn," Ren whispered.