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sector 12

The wind in Sector 12 was unnatural.

It didn't howl.

It whispered.

Kairo stood on the edge of a broken rooftop, eyes locked on the flickering light in the distance. It pulsed irregularly—like a heartbeat. Not magical. Not mechanical.

Something else.

He adjusted his cloak and slipped on his new Void-Fangs, the twin daggers humming with unstable energy in his grip. The stealth enchantment of his Void-Cloak shimmered to life, folding around him like flowing mist.

The tower was at the far end of the ruins, beyond collapsed bridges and sunken buildings. It hadn't been on any maps—not even the updated hunter network scans. That alone was strange.

But it wasn't what made Kairo uneasy.

No.

It was his Mark.

Ever since the chimera fight, it had pulsed sometimes. Especially near high-threat monsters or dungeon rifts. But this was different.

This was... calling it was hungry.

Thirty minutes later

The tower rose before him—jagged and crooked, as if grown rather than built. Its base was wrapped in vines of black crystal, and the air around it shimmered with distortion. Energy bled into the atmosphere like invisible fog.

Kairo crouched in the shadows of a shattered wall and activated his appraisal lens again.

[Warning: Unable to identify structure.]
[Error: Anomaly interference detected.]

That had never happened before.

Suddenly, a voice crackled in his earpiece—an automated guild notice.

"Attention: All hunters avoid Sector 12 effective immediately. Unknown Rift signature expanding. Investigators en route."
Too late.

The tower pulsed again, and the ground beneath Kairo's feet began to vibrate. From the base of the structure, humanoid figures crawled out—tall, gaunt things with hollow masks and elongated limbs. Their movements were erratic, like broken puppets.

[Rift Entity – Unknown Class]
[Estimated Threat: Tier 4]

There were three of them.

Maybe more.

Kairo blinked backward through a portal, landing on a rooftop three stories up. He pressed a hand to his chest, feeling his heartbeat accelerate.

I could run.
Call for backup.
Wait for a higher-tier party to handle it.

But then he remembered Mina's smile.

The food plaza lights.

How she leaned on him and said, "I'm glad you remembered how to live."

His jaw tightened.

"I'm not weak anymore." " i'll live till i die "

He opened a portal behind the nearest entity and tossed in a flash bomb. It exploded inside the creature's hollow body—light bursting from its eye sockets. It screamed like shattered glass.

Voidstep—triggered.

Kairo appeared behind it mid-scream and drove both Void-Fangs into the back of its neck.

SWIK.

It convulsed, arms flailing wildly, then fell to ash.

But the other two had already sensed him.

They charged, fast.

Kairo threw up a Void-Cloak wall—one of his new skills. The air shimmered, and he vanished from sight. The creatures ran through the illusion, confused. He used the moment to reposition and portal-slice through the tendons of the taller one's legs.

Another collapsed.
One left.

But this one... it laughed.

No mouth. No lungs.

But somehow—he heard it.

The mask on its face cracked open like a blooming flower, revealing a black gem embedded in its skull. Kairo didn't recognize the magic radiating from it, but it felt... wrong. Too ancient. Too intelligent.

It raised its arms—and space folded.

Not his portals.

Something else.

Kairo stumbled as the ground beneath him twisted, gravity shifting. His satchel pulled open slightly, items rattling inside.

Then—

A pulse.

Not from the tower.

From him.

His System Mark flashed, then flared—bright blue and gold, glowing like a beacon. The Rift-warped gravity halted. The world snapped back to normal. And the entity... froze.

It stared at him.

It hissed.

And then—it retreated.

Not fled.

Vanished.

Just like that.

Kairo collapsed onto one knee, panting, daggers flickering in and out of existence.

He wasn't sure if he won...

...or if he'd just been marked.

Back at the apartment – Hours later

Kairo staggered into the living room, covered in soot and blood.

Mina looked up from the couch, worried. "You said you were just going hunting!"

"I did."

"That's not what your face says."

He grinned weakly and ruffled her hair. "Don't worry, I won."

She narrowed her eyes. "Promise?"

"Promise."

Later, after she fell asleep, Kairo sat on the fire escape outside their window. The city buzzed below. Rift storms flickered above.

He opened his status window.

[Level: 31]
[Voidstep: Rank C → Rank B]
[New Passive Acquired: Rift Sense]
[Your system has begun to awaken new functions...]

And beneath it all, a faint new message.

[You are marked for death by void stalker.]

"humph what do ya know that bitch wants round two".