The air inside Breach Zero-7 stank of sulfur and rot, thick enough to choke on even through the rebreathers. Black ichor dripped from the ceiling like tar, hissing where it touched the reinforced concrete floor. Twelve elite exorcists moved in practiced formation, ritual circles glowing under their boots, but the thing at the center of the chamber didn't care about formations.
It was a living shadow, fifty meters of writhing tentacles tipped with snapping jaws, a core of burning crimson eyes floating in the middle like a hateful sun. Every time it moved, the temperature dropped another degree. Corruption seeped into the walls, turning steel brittle.
Noah Kartin stood at the vanguard, silver hair plastered to his forehead with sweat, black combat coat snapping in the unnatural wind. His hands traced sigils in the air faster than most people could blink. Crimson lines followed his fingers, weaving into a massive containment array that pinned three of the largest tentacles to the ground.
"Left flank, tighten the circle!" he called, voice calm, almost bored. "Reyes, your seal is slipping on the eastern node."
Commander Javier Reyes, broad-shouldered, scarred, the kind of man who'd earned his rank the hard way, gritted his teeth and poured more mana into his ritual. "Copy that, Kartin. Just keep that thing from eating Alvarez."
Noah didn't answer. He was already moving.
A tentacle thicker than a subway car whipped toward Operative Alvarez, a rookie who'd only made A-Rank last month. The kid froze for half a second, long enough. Noah stepped in, palm slamming against the air. A hexagonal barrier of blood-red light flared into existence, stopping the strike cold. The impact rattled his bones, but he didn't flinch.
"Move," he told Alvarez without looking back.
The rookie scrambled away, face pale. "Th-thank you, sir—"
"Focus on your quadrant."
That was Noah. No praise, no scolding. Just results.
Inside his head, though, the calculations never stopped.
'This entity is adapting too fast. Standard S-Rank profiles don't evolve mid-containment. Something's wrong.'
Two days ago, Breach Zero-7 had torn open beneath an abandoned particle accelerator in the Swiss Alps. No warning. No precursor readings. Just a gate straight to somewhere that hated light. High Command had ordered live capture, said the creature's core could unlock new ritual frameworks. Noah had argued for immediate extermination. They'd overruled him.
Now twelve of A.E.G.I.S.'s best were paying the price.
"Commander," Noah said quietly, sidestepping a spray of black flame that melted the floor where he'd stood. "We should switch to Protocol Erebus. This thing isn't going to stay bound."
Javier's voice crackled over the comm. "Negative. Orders stand. We capture it."
Noah's jaw tightened. Orders were orders. But orders didn't bleed.
The containment array groaned. Hairline fractures spider-webbed across the glowing seals. The entity's core pulsed brighter, and every exorcist felt it, a pressure behind the eyes, like something ancient was waking up and noticing them.
Then the seal shattered.
The explosion of shadow and sound hit like a bomb. Three operatives were gone before they could scream, swallowed whole. Black fire rolled across the chamber, eating through barriers like paper.
"Fall back to secondary line!" Javier roared.
Too late.
Tentacles lashed out in every direction. One speared through Operative Lin's chest, lifting her into the air. Another crushed Vargas against the wall with a sickening crunch.
Noah moved on instinct. He blurred forward, sigils igniting along his arms. A blade of condensed ritual energy formed in his right hand, scarlet, humming with power. He severed the tentacle holding Lin, caught her as she fell, and shoved her toward the extraction tunnel.
"Go!"
She stared at him, blood bubbling at her lips. "Commander—"
Noah was already gone.
Javier Reyes stood in the center, both hands raised, pouring everything he had into a final containment circle. The entity bore down on him, jaws wide enough to swallow a tank.
"Kartin!" Javier shouted. "Get them out! That's an order!"
Noah skidded to a halt twenty meters away. His eyes narrowed.
Javier met his gaze across the chaos. There was no fear in the commander's face, just grim acceptance. He nodded once.
Then the tentacles took him.
Noah didn't scream. He didn't curse. He just watched his commander disappear into the dark, and something cold settled in his chest.
The remaining five exorcists were retreating, dragging the wounded. Noah stood alone between them and the entity.
The shadow loomed, core blazing like a dying star.
Noah exhaled slowly.
"Fine," he said to no one. "Live capture it is."
He stepped forward.
Power surged through his veins, not the familiar mana flow he'd commanded since awakening at sixteen, but something deeper. Older. Words he'd never learned rose unbidden to his tongue, ancient syllables that tasted like iron and starlight.
His hands moved without thought. Crimson sigils exploded into existence around him, layering into a ritual circle so complex it hurt to look at directly. Chains of pure authority erupted from the ground, black iron wrapped in scarlet runes, snaking toward the entity faster than it could react.
The creature shrieked, a sound that shattered eardrums and cracked the remaining lights.
The chains wrapped its tentacles, its core, its very essence. Each link burned with impossible power, overriding every defense the entity threw up. Black flames died against them. Corruption recoiled.
Noah's voice rang out, calm and absolute.
"Instant Ritual Deployment: Chains of Eternal Binding."
The chains tightened. The entity convulsed once, twice, then collapsed inward, compressed into a sphere of writhing darkness no larger than a basketball. It hovered in the air, bound, silent.
The chamber fell still.
Emergency lights flickered on. Alarms blared in the distance. The facility's self-destruct countdown began somewhere far above.
Noah stood in the center of the devastation, breathing steady, coat torn, blood trickling from a cut on his cheek.
He was the only one still on his feet.
Then the silence broke.
A black panel edged in crimson text materialized in his vision, floating like glass.
[Ritual Authority System Activated]
[You have been acknowledged by a Forgotten Law.]
[User: Noah Kartin]
[Authority Rank: Black Sigil (Initial)]
[Level: 1 → 27 (Compensatory Awakening)]
[Unique Class: Ritual Sovereign (SSS)]
[Core Skills Acquired:]
- Instant Ritual Deployment (SSS)
- Contract Override (SS)
- Domain Seed: Authority of Binding (S)
[Welcome, Sovereign. The old pacts are broken. New ones begin with you.]
Noah stared at the panel.
For the first time in years, the corner of his mouth curved upward.
Power, true power, flooded his body like he'd been drowning and finally broke the surface. Every cell sang. The air itself felt thinner, easier to command.
He reached out and plucked the bound core from the air. It pulsed weakly in his grip.
Another notification appeared.
[Hidden Entity Core Detected: Abyssal Progenitor Fragment]
[Quest Generated: Absorb the core to claim your first true authority.]
[Reward: Authority Rank Promotion | Ritual Tier Unlock | Title Acquisition]
Noah didn't hesitate.
He crushed the sphere in his fist.
Darkness rushed into him, cold, vast, hungry. For a moment he thought it would tear him apart.
Then the system seized it, refined it, made it his.
[Core Absorbed]
[Level 27 → 34]
[Authority Rank: Black Sigil → Crimson Sigil]
[New Title Acquired: He Who Binds the Unbindable]
[Skill Evolution: Instant Ritual Deployment → Instant Ritual Dominion (SSS+)]
The rush faded, leaving only clarity. Strength. Purpose.
Noah looked around at the ruined chamber, at the bodies of his team.
He felt no grief yet. That would come later.
Right now, there was only the thrum of limitless potential.
Far above, in A.E.G.I.S. European Headquarters, Captain Elena Reyes sat alone in the darkened observation room.
The helmet cam footage from Breach Zero-7 played on the main screen, frozen on the final frame: Noah Kartin standing untouched amid total destruction, crimson chains fading around him, eyes glowing faintly with new power.
Elena's hand trembled as she paused the video.
Her brother's last transmission still echoed in her ears.
She was beautiful in the way sharpened steel was beautiful, dark hair pulled tight, green eyes that missed nothing. Right now those eyes were wide with something between awe and dread.
"Noah Kartin…" she whispered to the empty room.
The screen reflected in her pupils.
"What the hell are you now?"
Back in the depths, Noah turned as the extraction team finally breached the sealed doors, late, armed to the teeth, expecting a massacre.
They found only one man standing.
He looked up at them, expression unreadable.
Then a new panel appeared in his vision, crimson text blazing.
[Global Anomaly Detected]
[Multiple SSS-Rank Breaches manifesting simultaneously worldwide.]
[Main Quest Unlocked: Become the Shield Humanity Needs]
[Failure Condition: Extinction]
Noah's smile returned, smaller this time.
He cracked his neck.
"Let's get started."
As the extraction team finally breached the ruins, Noah stood tall amid the destruction, the new power thrumming in his veins.