The door creaked as I opened it, letting in the cool night air.
It smelled like rain. And old pavement. The kind of scent you get when the world is quiet — when things are still breathing, not screaming.
I stepped out into the alley, the light from the bar flickering behind me, casting my shadow across the puddled stone. It was peaceful… unnaturally so.
"Headin' out?" the bartender called from inside.
I didn't turn. "Just for some air."
A warm, easy voice. The kind I hadn't heard in… too long.
"You've been out for three days. Don't go wandering too far, alright?"
I didn't answer. Just let the door close behind me with a gentle click.
The alley led to a narrow street — small shops, food stalls, neon signs humming softly in the distance. A few people passed by, chatting, laughing. A couple shared skewers under an umbrella. A girl dragged her boyfriend toward a magic item stall.
I walked slowly.
Not because I was tired. But because it'd been a long time since I walked without blood on my hands.
My senses spread on instinct.
I could hear the buzz of a fly near a fruit vendor two blocks down. I could feel the heartbeats of children in an apartment above me. If I focused, I could listen to a whisper ten cities away.
But I didn't.
Just close. Just enough to stay aware.
Three people stood out — faint pulses of power. Two behind me, watching from a rooftop. One across the street, seated outside a noodle shop, pretending to eat. Hunters.
Not threats.
Just… trained.
One of them spoke.
"I finally made it to B-Rank. Can you believe it? I'm officially out of the mid-tier."
B-Rank?
In Vanyr, that mana level wouldn't even qualify someone as a Disciple. Maybe a child just starting to grasp the flow of energy. Maybe.
I kept walking.
The buildings here weren't fortified. The people weren't armed. The hunters smiled too easily. The air wasn't thick with death
It was strange.
Comforting, in a way I didn't trust.
Back in Vanyr, I spent decades watching cities fall in silence. Even the sky learned to bleed.
Here?
Someone was selling grilled squid.
I stopped beside a vending machine, not for a drink, but to watch the reflections. One of the hunters was still watching me. His aura was trying too hard to stay hidden. It trembled slightly — fear? Instinct?
He should trust that instinct.
The ring on my hand pulsed.
I glanced at it. Just once.
It was heavy with memory — with gold, relics, weapons that sang when drawn, corpses that once ruled mountains… and her locket. I hadn't opened the ring's seal since arriving. Not even a flicker of power.
Not yet.
My gaze lifted toward the rooftops.
The city was still alive. But the mana here… it was different. Soft. Kind. Too kind.
Even now, I could feel it — not chaos, but tension.
A ripple in the mana flow. Like something distant was shifting.
But not tonight.
Tonight, I walked back toward the bar.
My hand hovered over my chest — the place where others would form their circles. Mine were long gone.
Instead, I felt my dantians hum quietly. Qi coiling silently within me like a beast asleep.
This world was calm.
But I wasn't
As I turned the final corner back toward the bar—
A scream.
High. Raw. Real.
"Get away from me!"
I paused.
Another voice answered. Male. Cruel. Confident.
"Don't you know who we are, little girl? We're Black Snake."
The name rang. Foul. The kind of title that spreads like infection — not by power, but filth.
I walked.
The alley was narrow, damp with rot. One buzzing light above flickered like it was afraid to stay on.
She was young — no more than twenty. Dirt on her face. Mana signature faint, untrained.
Two men loomed over her, both wrapped in greasy, unstable auras. Trained, but barely.
One laughed, tugging at her collar.
"Trainee from the White Tiger Guild, huh? Cute. Think that title means anything?"
The girl shoved his hand away and shouted:
"I'm registered! I'm in White Tiger Guild, you idiots! My division leader is the Tower Destroyer—SSS-rank Jinhwan Ra! If you hurt me, he'll come for you himself!"
That name — Jinhwan Ra.
I'd heard it in the bar. The kind of name that made hunters lean in and whisper. A righteous powerhouse. One of the few guild leaders who still inspired respect.
The other thug snorted.
"Pfft. Jinhwan won't lift a finger for some no-name rookie. You think he's got time to save trash like you?"
The first man grinned.
"Exactly. Now stop squirming and enjoy this."
He reached forward, tearing her shirt.
She screamed.
And that's when the light overhead shattered.
Not from touch — from pressure.
I stepped into the alley. Silent.
The air changed. The wind stopped.
The temperature dipped.
My eyes glowed pale silver, washing the alley in a dim, ghostly light. My aura — unshaped, untamed — poured out like smoke under a mountain.
The girl froze, breath catching.
The two hunters went still. Their bodies knew before their minds.
They didn't move.
They couldn't.
The taller one tried to turn, voice quivering:
"Wh… Who the hell—?"
They never saw my face.
My hands clamped down on the backs of their skulls — slow, deliberate.
Their bodies locked.
I didn't speak.
I didn't threaten.
I just clenched.
CRACK.
Two skulls collapsed under my palms. Bone and blood exploded in silence.
Their bodies dropped, twitching once, then still.
The girl didn't scream. She didn't run.
She just stood there, frozen — eyes wide, lips trembling.
Fear still clung to her, but so did something else.
Relief.
I looked at her.
Gray eyes met hers — quiet, unreadable. My aura faded as I turned.
No words. No gesture.
I walked away.
Raindrops returned. A gust of wind swept the alley clean of silence.
She stood there a long moment, unmoving.
Then — with shaking fingers — she reached into her coat pocket, pulled out a thin, silver comm crystal, and pressed it to her ear.
"H-Headquarters… this is Arin, White Tiger Guild trainee. We have a situation."
Her voice cracked.
"Two Black Snake members assaulted me in the 8th Ward. They're dead now. Someone… saved me. I—I don't know who. He… he wasn't human."
She looked down at the blood.
"Please send someone."
The line clicked.
She stared after the man's fading silhouette, still half-afraid to breathe.