The Sea of Silence waited in the distance… but before Rengoku Hayate could step into the next realm of gods and forgotten saints, the memories returned—sharp, vivid, and soaked in the blood of betrayal.
He had tried to leave it behind.
He had tried to bury it.
But betrayal never dies quietly.
Especially when the betrayer stands smiling on a holy platform, praised as a hero by the world you once bled for.
It began three weeks earlier—on the burning plains outside Silverlight City.
Hayate had walked through the town's gates wearing a black cloak, his hood low, the Devouring Star hidden beneath his ribs. The world did not know him… or so he believed.
Then he saw him.
The man who abandoned him in the dungeon.The man who closed the door in his face while Hayate screamed for help.The man who called him "dead weight" and left him to die.
Ishida Ren.
Once a classmate.Once an ally.Now a fraud hailed as humanity's "Shining Savior."
He stood atop a platform, sword raised, basking in cheers. His party behind him—five classmates, smug and proud, wearing the badges of the "Chosen Heroes of Silverlight."
Hayate froze.
He had thought he was numb.He had thought nothing could hurt him anymore.
But seeing Ren's smile—that arrogant, triumphant smile—ignited something black and ancient inside him.
"Ren!""You're the strongest!""Thank you for saving the northern outpost!"
Hayate laughed under his breath.
Because he knew the truth.
They didn't save anyone.They didn't conquer that dungeon.They ran.They always ran.
He was the one who fought.He was the one who bled.He was the one who was left behind.
And now they were celebrated as legends?
Fine.
Hayate walked forward.
Ren noticed him first.
The hero's smug smile faltered for a split second—just a flicker of fear—before he smoothed it over.
"Oh? A fan who wants an autograph?" Ren laughed."Or someone come to beg for protection?"
The crowd laughed with him.
Hayate didn't.
He lifted his hood.
Gasps.Shock.Disbelief.
Someone screamed.
"T-that's—! He was reported dead!""The failure from the beginner dungeon!""How is he alive?!"
Ren's face turned white.
"You… You were supposed to die.""You left me to," Hayate replied calmly. "But death was too small for me."
Ren instinctively stepped back.
Hayate's presence pressed down on them—not with killing intent, but with the oppressive weight of a being who had touched divinity and devoured it.
Ren's party reached for their weapons.
Fools.
"Hayate," Ren spat, forcing confidence into his voice. "Leave. You're nothing. You were always nothing."
Hayate smirked.
"Then beat me.""...What?""Prove it. Here. In front of your fans."
The crowd exploded with whispers.
Ren hesitated—then pride poisoned his mind, as it always had.
"Fine. I'll show them how weak you—"
His sentence never finished.
Hayate moved.
Just one step.
One flicker of cosmic light.
And Ren's proud sword shattered.
His arm trembled violently as invisible pressure pinned him to the stage, forcing him to his knees.
The crowd screamed as the "hero" knelt helplessly.
Ren's team panicked and charged him.
They didn't last a breath.
Hayate didn't strike them—he simply extended his hand.
[Devouring Field: 3% Release]
A ripple of power swept across the plaza.
Ren's party collapsed, vomiting blood, their weapons exploding into shards of mana dust. They writhed on the ground, unable to lift their heads.
Hayate stepped closer.
Ren trembled.
"W-what are you—?!""The one you threw away," Hayate whispered."The one the dungeon tried to kill.""The one who survived."
He grabbed Ren by the hair.
Lifting him easily.
Ren's legs dangled like a child's.
"Hayate, stop—! The people—!""Let them watch."
And they did.
The plaza fell silent.
Every man, woman, and child watched as their "hero" choked under the power of the man he betrayed.
Hayate let Ren drop, his head slamming against the stage.
"I'm not killing you.""Y-you're sparing me…?""No. I'm humiliating you."
He pressed his foot lightly on Ren's chest.Just enough to make him scream.
"Heroes don't run.""You did.""Heroes don't abandon their allies.""You did.""Heroes don't lie.""And you always did."
Then Hayate whispered something only Ren could hear:
"You were right about one thing. I was weak.""But the dungeon made me strong.""And now I'm coming for its core."
He turned his back to Ren—the ultimate humiliation.
The crowd parted like the sea.
No cheers.No applause.Just silence.
A silence that swallowed the "hero's" reputation whole.
But the humiliation didn't end there.
Not five minutes later—
The dungeon beneath Silverlight City trembled.
A roar split the sky.
Cracks of black mana tore through the air, and monstrous forms spilled into the streets—the 20th Floor beasts, then the 30th, then the 40th—
Something had awakened.Something that recognized Hayate's return.
Screams filled the city as thousands fled.
Hayate stepped forward without hesitation.
"So… the dungeon wants to greet me personally.""Fine."
His cloak fluttered as cosmic sparks gathered around him.
Behind him, Ren watched in terror as the man he once mocked walked alone into a hoard of monstrosities—
—slaughtering them like fallen leaves.
The world saw.
The city saw.
Everyone saw.
That Hayate was no longer a forgotten student.No longer a weakling.No longer a victim.
He was becoming something far greater.
And when the monsters fled back into the depths—when the ground cracked open and the massive staircase to the dungeon revealed itself—Hayate stood at the entrance.
The air pulsed with the promise of power.
And danger.
"Floors 1–100… and the Core.""I'm coming."
With a final glance at the city he saved—and the former friend he destroyed—Hayate descended into the abyss.
And the dungeon sealed behind him.