The sky split open at 3:17 p.m.
Not metaphorically.
Literally.
Reality cracked like glass above the capital, black fractures spreading across the heavens as if something inside was pushing outward.
Then the final Demon Gate opened.
Pressure fell upon the city like a collapsing ocean. Buildings crumbled. Mana circuits overloaded. Hunters dropped to their knees as the air itself became poison.
Kael Ardent stood among them.
Bleeding. Breath ragged. Still alive.
Around him lay the elite of the Demon Hunter Academy.
Rank A.
Rank S.
Rank SSS.
The "chosen generation."
They had promised victory.
They had promised humanity would survive.
They were wrong.
Above the ruined academy plaza, the Gate expanded into a swirling abyss. Two colossal eyes opened within the darkness.
The Demon Sovereign had arrived.
One of the SSS prodigies roared and charged, blade blazing with condensed mana.
He vanished mid-step.
Erased.
The second lasted three seconds longer.
The third didn't even scream.
Kael didn't move.
He had already seen this.
He had already memorized the sequence.
Three minutes until the plaza collapses.
Five minutes until spatial distortion expands.
Seven minutes until complete annihilation.
He had always been good at observing.
Because when you are F-Class—
You survive by watching.
Not by fighting.
A broken laugh left his lips.
The weakest student in academy history.
Mocked for three years.
Used as live bait during dungeon evaluations.
Left behind during evacuation drills because "he would only slow them down."
And now?
He was the last one standing.
The Sovereign's gaze descended.
Kael felt gravity crush his bones.
So this is how it ends.
Not with glory.
Not with revenge.
Just extinction.
If only I had known earlier…
If only someone weak had known everything…
Darkness swallowed him.
—
Kael gasped.
Sunlight hit his face.
Clean air filled his lungs.
He staggered—
And froze.
The academy courtyard.
Untouched.
Students in uniform.
Laughing.
Alive.
At the center stood the Ranking Crystal.
Whole.
Unbroken.
A familiar voice echoed.
"Welcome to the Demon Hunter Academy."
His blood ran cold.
Entrance ceremony.
Three years ago.
This isn't possible.
His hands trembled as he looked around.
The same faces.
The same future heroes.
The same future traitor smiling casually in the third row.
He remembered everything.
The first catastrophic gate.
The professor who would die protecting students.
The classmate who would sell humanity for power.
The hidden dungeon beneath the west training hall.
He knew it all.
A second chance.
His name was called.
"Kael Ardent."
Whispers began immediately.
"That's the one with the lowest mana compatibility, right?"
"He barely passed the entrance exam."
"He'll be F-Class for sure."
Same voices.
Same contempt.
He walked forward slowly.
This time, his eyes were calm.
He placed his hand on the crystal.
It glowed.
Dim.
Gray.
Cold.
A number materialized above him.
F-Class.
Silence.
Then laughter erupted across the courtyard.
Some shook their heads.
One of the top-ranked candidates smirked openly.
Pathetic.
Exactly as before.
Kael lowered his hand.
Good.
Let them underestimate me.
This time, I know where the power is buried.
This time, I know who dies first.
This time—
A sharp pain pierced his skull.
He staggered.
A flash crossed his mind—
The final Gate.
The Sovereign's eyes.
But something was different.
The Sovereign had been looking at him.
Not past him.
At him.
Another image surfaced—
A voice he hadn't heard before.
"You returned."
Kael's breathing grew uneven.
That voice wasn't in the original timeline.
It wasn't part of his memory.
Cold sweat ran down his back.
Above the academy, for just a fraction of a second—
The sky flickered.
No one else reacted.
But Kael saw it.
A thin black crack—
Gone in an instant.
His pupils shrank.
The regression… wasn't clean.
Something remembers.
And it knows I'm here.
The ceremony continued as if nothing happened.
But Kael no longer felt relief.
This wasn't a gift.
This was a move.
And something had just responded.