The world had turned its back on him.
Now, Kai Arashi would return the favor — one corpse at a time.
A low hum vibrated through his bones as the Abyss Copy System finished fusing with his soul.
His body still trembled from the contract, but already he could feel it:
strength — hidden, unfamiliar, hungry — coiling inside his veins.
Before him lay the corpse of a fallen Sigil User — a student discarded after a forbidden duel, left to rot in the outer zone.
Above the boy's body, a faint shimmering mark floated — the dying embers of a weak healing Sigil.
Kai's new instincts took over.
[Target Detected.]
[Initiating Ability Copy.]
Pain lanced through Kai's arm as a black rune etched itself into his skin.
His muscles spasmed violently, but he did not scream.
Instead, he laughed — a low, broken sound torn from the pit of his soul.
[Ability Copied: Minor Regeneration (Level 1).]
The moment the message flickered across his vision, warmth flooded Kai's battered body.
His broken ribs shifted, knitting themselves painfully back together.
The blood leaking from his wounds slowed.
Weak — but it was a start.
And now…
now he had more than nothing.
He had a future written in stolen power.
Kai rose from the ground, one cracked boot pressing against the gravel.
Above him, the neon lights of the city glowed cold and distant.
He wasn't going back to the Academy.
He wasn't going back to be their toy.
He was going to hunt.
And first…
first he would pay a visit to Riku Kanzaki.
The golden boy who broke him.
The parasite who thought power belonged only to the chosen.
[New Quest: First Blood.]
[Target: Riku Kanzaki.]
[Reward: Sigil Evolution Unlock.]
Kai smiled — a grim, blood-streaked grin that didn't reach his eyes.
"Wait for me, Kanzaki," he whispered.
"Wait for me… in the dark."
The abyss stirred around him, hungry and ancient.
And Kai — no, the thing that Kai was becoming — would answer that hunger.
Tonight…
blood would baptize his rebirth.