The gates appeared without warning in 2025.
Twelve tears in reality, each a wound in the fabric of our world, bleeding impossible horrors into unsuspecting cities. Geneva. Tokyo. New York. Moscow. Within hours, three billion people died. Within days, civilization as we knew it collapsed. Within weeks, humanity learned to fight back.
We called it the Cataclysm. The moment everything changed.
But from catastrophe came transformation. The crystalline matter that poured from the gates - beautiful, deadly, invaluable - changed some of us. Awakened something that had always slumbered in human DNA. Powers beyond imagination. Abilities that defied physics. A new breed of warrior emerged: the Awakened. Hunters who could stand against the horrors from beyond the gates.
Now, 175 years later, we endure. We adapt. We thrive.
Massive safezone cities rise behind crystal-powered barriers, bastions of humanity housing hundreds of millions. The strongest among us - S-rank hunters with godlike powers - have become living legends. Their corporations control the flow of crystals that power our world. Their academies train the next generation. Their might keeps the gates in check.
But power breeds hunger for more power.
In Neo-Atlanta, third largest of the American safezones, the Hunter's Crucible burns bright. Three prestigious academies form the Triangle - Ascension, Vanguard, and Empyrean - each producing the elite hunters that corporations and governments desperately need. Their graduates shape the future, commanding wealth and influence beyond measure.
Yet even here, in this city of crystal spires and soaring ambitions, darkness festers. In the Foundation level far below the glittering Crown, desperate people take desperate risks. Unauthorized gate diving. Black market crystal trading. Fake hunter licenses that let the unqualified chase dreams of rising above their station.
And the gates... the gates are changing.
More appear each year. Larger. More unstable. The barriers between dimensions grow thinner. Strange entities emerge that seem to possess intelligence far beyond mere monsters. They whisper of coming changes. Of a weakening in reality itself. Of forces that have watched humanity's evolution since that first tear opened in Geneva.
What truth lies behind the gates' origin? What really happened in that Swiss laboratory 175 years ago? Why do some whisper that it wasn't an accident at all, but a deliberate act by those who called themselves the Architects?
These questions echo through the ranks of hunters, from the lowest D-rank porter to the legendary S-rank champions who shape society itself. But answers remain elusive, hidden behind veils of corporate secrecy and government classification.
Now a new variable enters the equation. Catalyst Academy opens its doors on the outskirts of Neo-Atlanta, challenging the Triangle's monopoly on hunter education. Its mission: to nurture those the traditional system overlooks. Late-bloomers. Unconventional talents. Those whose abilities defy standard classification.
Nine students. One passionate teacher. A converted crystal refinery serving as their home and training ground. On paper, they seem insignificant compared to the thousands studying at the Triangle academies. Yet something stirs in the depths of The Maw - Neo-Atlanta's permanent gate - as if ancient powers have suddenly taken notice.
The wheel of destiny turns. Forces beyond human comprehension move their pieces into position. And in a small refinery on the edge of Neo-Atlanta, nine young hunters begin a journey that will shake the very foundations of their world.
This is their story. A tale of power and sacrifice. Of bonds forged in battle and broken by betrayal. Of secrets buried since the Cataclysm and truths that could shatter civilization itself.
Welcome to the world of Zeroes.