The Only Powerless is the Apex Predator

The Price of Evolution

The damp air of the alleyway didn't just turn cold; it decayed.

As Zuraiz stood over the empty space where Tariq had just fled, the dark gold energy around his hands began to change. It didn't fade like a normal fighter’s aura. Instead, it dissolved into a coarse, ash-colored fog—an Extinction Mist that smelled of petrified soil and ancient death. Where the mist touched the brick walls, tiny, jagged Black-Gold Primordial Cracks materialized in the air, spider-webbing outward as if the reality of Sector 9 couldn't handle the density of his presence.

This energy... it feels heavy. Heavy like a graveyard, Zuraiz thought, looking down at his trembling fingers. The obsidian talons receded back into his skin, leaving his hands stained with faint, charcoal-like residue.

"Brother..." Amaya’s soft voice broke his concentration.

Zuraiz closed his eyes, forcing the ash-mist and the black-gold cracks to snap shut. When he turned around, the terrifying predator was gone, replaced by the protective older brother. He carefully helped Amaya stand, supporting her weak frame.

"We need to move. Now," Zuraiz whispered, his mind already calculating the fallout. "Tariq was just a foot soldier. When Riaz sees what I did to his B-Rank enforcer, he won't send thugs next time."

Amaya looked at the cracked concrete where Tariq’s knee had shattered, her voice shaking. "But Zuraiz, Riaz isn't just a D-Rank Ankylosaurus like the rumors say. I saw him at the district borders last month. When he gets angry, his scales don't just harden—they combust. He has a mutated primal gene."

Zuraiz’s eyes narrowed. A mutated gene? A pyro-ankylosaur? That explained how a low-tier D-Rank had managed to control the entire underworld of Sector 9 slums. If Riaz could generate explosive heat through his armor, a simple strike to his joints wouldn't work. Zuraiz’s newly copied Deinonychus speed would melt before he could even get close.

I need more data. And I need to know what this system can actually do, Zuraiz thought as they hurried back to their crumbling apartment.

Once inside, Zuraiz locked the heavy iron door and made sure Amaya was resting in her room with a fresh dose of her cellular suppressants. Only when the apartment fell completely silent did he sit on the floor of the kitchen, pulling up the blue holographic panel.

System, Zuraiz commanded in his mind. Explain the parameters of 'Hybrid Genesis'. How do I combine the bloodlines?

A harsh, red static flickered across the blue screen.

[Warning: Host's Current Evolution Tier is too low (Tier 0 - Mortal Core).]

[Data Encrypted. To unlock 'Hybrid Genesis' blueprint directory, Host must reach Tier 1: Iron Bloodline.]

[Requirement for Advancement: Absorb 3 distinct Carnivore Bloodlines of B-Rank or higher, and accumulate 500 Evolution Points.]

Zuraiz let out a cold, frustrated breath. So it won't just hand me god-like powers on a silver platter. It’s holding back.

He tried another angle. Show me the file on Restricted Zone 7. Where are my parents?

[Ding! Access Denied.]

[Error: Security Clearance Level 1 Required. Current Clearance: Level 0.]

[System Note: Extinction is a slow process, Host. Evolve or be erased.]

The screen abruptly vanished, leaving Zuraiz in the dim light of the kitchen. He clenched his fists. The system was a black box. His parents had designed it to protect him, but they had also designed it to ensure he earned his survival. It was testing him.

Three carnivore bloodlines, Zuraiz calculated, his analytical mind breaking down the problem. I have Tariq's Deinonychus code at 100% extraction, but my current body can only handle one active strain without collapsing. I need to hunt. But right now, the hunter is being hunted.

Meanwhile, in the highest tower of Sector 9—a polished fortress of glass and steel built right on top of the misery of the slums—the air was thick with the scent of burning iron.

Tariq was on his knees, his shattered right leg bound in a crude metallic brace. Blood and sweat poured down his pale face as he looked up at the man sitting behind the massive obsidian desk.

Riaz, the syndicate boss, didn't look like a thug. He wore a pristine, tailored white suit, contrasting sharply with the thick, black, volcanic scales protruding from his neck and jaw. As he breathed, faint wisps of gray smoke escaped his nostrils, and the air around him rippled with distorting heat waves.

"A Zero-Aura broke your B-Rank defense with a single palm strike?" Riaz’s voice was dangerously quiet, like the rumbling of a dormant volcano.

"B-Boss, it wasn't a normal strike!" Tariq pleaded, his voice cracking with terror. "He didn't just overpower me. It was like... like he knew exactly when my bone would snap. And his aura... it wasn't golden light like the High Academies. It was like dead ash. It felt like... like looking into a grave."

Riaz stopped swirling the glass of amber liquid in his hand. His vertical reptilian pupils snapped toward Tariq.

"Dead ash?" Riaz muttered, his mind wandering to the classified reports he had received from the First District years ago regarding the banned experiments of Dr. Idris. "So... the old doctor's ghost has finally crawled out of the dirt."

Riaz stood up. As his feet touched the floor, the white suit fabric around his shoulders singed, turning black as embers ignited beneath his skin. The spectral silhouette of a massive, armored beast with a club-tail materialized behind him, its eyes burning with molten lava.

"Boss, should I gather the elite squadron?" Tariq asked, trembling.

"No," Riaz sneered, a dark, calculating smile spreading across his scaled face. "A wild beast is most dangerous when it thinks it has just won its first hunt. If the boy has awakened that specific lineage, raw force will only make him adapt. We don't fight him in the alleys."

Riaz walked over to the glass window, looking down at the flickering neon lights of the slums.

"Tomorrow is the registration for the Slum Selection Trials for the First District Academy," Riaz whispered, his fingers leaving melted burn marks on the glass pane. "Force him into the arena. If he wants to protect his sister, he will have to sign up. And once he is inside that cage... we will see if his ash can withstand my fire."