The air in the alleyway didn't just tear; it curdled.
To a normal citizen with a functioning A.I.S., the purple rift would be surrounded by warning markers, threat levels, and tactical suggestions. But in the Dead Zone, with the signal lost, the portal looked like a jagged wound in the fabric of the city. There was no UI to soften the blow. There was only the sound—a low, rhythmic thrumming that vibrated in Robin's molars.
Three Shadow-Hounds pulled themselves through the rift. They were nightmares of semi-solid smoke, their bodies flickering like corrupted video files. Their eyes—dozens of them scattered across their elongated skulls—glowed with a sickly, ultraviolet light.
"Don't wait for a prompt, Kid!" Jax roared. He moved with a brutal, practiced grace, his non-system blade shearing through the head of the lead hound. There was no "Skill Name" announcement, just the wet sound of mana-flesh being divided. "They don't have health bars out here. You kill them, or they eat your soul!"
The remaining two hounds pivoted. One leaped toward Jax, but the other caught Robin's scent. It hissed, a sound like steam escaping a pipe, and lunged.
[A.I.S. STATUS: OFFLINE]
[MANUAL OVERRIDE ACTIVE]
[INTELLECTUAL MAPPING: 100%]
Robin's 25 Intelligence didn't just process the hound's movement; it saw the logic behind it. The beast was a construct of pure mana. It was tethered to the rift. As it flew through the air, Robin saw the "lag" in its form—the way the smoke trailed behind its physical heart.
He didn't have a Shield Skill. He didn't have a Strength buff.
He had his feet.
Robin used his 15 Speed to pivot. It was a movement born of years of dodging bullies in the Sector 7 orphanage, now amplified by his unallocated stat points. The hound's claws whistled past his chest, close enough to shred his jacket.
He swung the rusted training dagger.
Visualize it, he told himself, his brain burning with the effort. The edge isn't steel. The edge is a hole. It doesn't cut; it removes.
The dagger passed through the hound's shoulder.
There was no resistance. The rusted metal didn't bite into flesh; it slid through the beast as if the hound were made of mist. But as the blade passed through, something happened that Robin hadn't expected.
A spark of black static jumped from the hound's wound to the dagger, and then into Robin's arm.
[A.I.S. PRIVATE LOG: ANOMALY DETECTED]
[VOID APTITUDE REACTING TO EXTERNAL MANA SOURCE]
[CONSUMPTION INITIATED...]
It felt like drinking liquid nitrogen. A cold, violent surge of energy raced up Robin's arm, colliding with the "Empty" space in his chest. For the first time in his life, the "Vacuum" in his heart didn't feel like a burden. It felt like an engine being primed.
The Shadow-Hound let out a high-pitched shriek. Its form began to destabilize, the smoke of its body being pulled toward the dagger like water down a drain.
"What the..." Jax paused, his own fight finished, watching as the beast literally unraveled into Robin's weapon.
Robin didn't stop. The cold energy was making his mind race even faster. He felt the coordinate grid of the alleyway expand. He could see the structural weaknesses in the rift itself.
I can use this, Robin realized. I don't need a mana core. I am the core.
He lunged at the third hound, which was currently trying to circle Jax. Robin didn't just swing. He imagined the Void in his chest extending through his arm, through the dagger, and out into a point in space three feet in front of him.
Fold.
He disappeared.
It wasn't a "Blink" skill bought from a book. It was a violent displacement of reality. One moment he was ten feet away; the next, he was standing directly behind the beast. The sudden movement created a vacuum pop that shattered the nearby windows.
Robin drove the dagger into the hound's spine.
"Devour," he whispered.
The Void opened. The hound didn't just die; it was erased. The mana that composed its body was sucked into the dagger in a swirling vortex of black-and-purple light. The alleyway went dark for a second as the Void swallowed even the ambient light of the neon signs.
The rift, losing its anchors, collapsed with a final, pathetic hiss.
Silence returned to the alley, broken only by the heavy breathing of the two men and the distant sirens of the Sector 12 Peacekeepers.
Robin looked at his hands. They were shaking, but not from fear. A dark, thrumming energy was swirling under his skin, slowly being digested by his "Null" core.
[SYSTEM LOG]
[BOSS/MINION ELIMINATED: SHADOW-HOUND (x2)]
[EXP GAINED: 450]
[LEVEL UP: 1 -> 2]
[S-RANK BONUS: +15 STAT POINTS RECEIVED]
[NEW MANUAL SKILL REGISTERED]
[NAME: VOID STEP (LEVEL 1)]
[DESCRIPTION: DISPLACE THROUGH FOLDED SPACE. COST: 10% STAMINA + EXTERNAL MANA.]
Jax walked over, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the spot where the hound had vanished. Not a single drop of mana-blood remained. No essence crystals. Nothing.
"You didn't just kill it," Jax said, his voice a mix of awe and genuine terror. "You ate it. The whole thing."
"I... I didn't mean to," Robin said, his voice trembling. He felt the 15 new stat points sitting in his HUD, waiting to be spent.
"Yes, you did," Jax countered. He grabbed Robin by the collar, pulling him close. "Listen to me, Kid. If the government sees that log, you aren't going to the Academy. You're going to a dissection table. An S-Rank that can consume mana? You're a predator to every 'System-User' on the planet."
Jax pushed him back and gestured toward the end of the alley. "Get out of here. Clear your logs. If you're going to use that power, do it where the A.I.S. can't see. And Robin?"
Robin looked up.
"Start training your Strength," Jax advised. "The Void is powerful, but if your body can't handle the 'G-force' of folding space, you'll tear yourself apart before you reach Level 10."
Robin nodded, turning and disappearing into the neon smog. As he walked, he pulled up his status screen. He had a new level, a new skill he had built from scratch, and 15 points that would make him even more of a monster.
[Robin's Level 2 Status]
Attribute Value Change
Level 2 (+1)
Rank S --
Intelligence 25 --
Speed 15 --
Strength 10 --
Mana [VOID] CONSUMPTION ACTIVE
[UNALLOCATED STAT POINTS: 15]
[REGISTERED SKILLS]
[Void Step (Manual)] - Level 1