Max stared at the screen hovering before him, the words glowing with eerie finality.
Essence Reaver.
His grip tightened on the blade pulsing faintly against his palm.
"…Raven. Did you do this?"
A long pause.
[No. And the fact that I didn't is… concerning.]
"Concerning?"
[Your weapon reacted to me to my soul energy and evolved on its own. Combine that with your mutated Scan ability, and… congratulations.]
Her tone shifted faintly impressed.
[You've created something that should not exist.]
Before Max could respond, the rat he'd wounded earlier let out a piercing screech offended at being ignored.
It lunged.
Fur bristling. Muscles coiled. Fangs bared.
It slammed into Max like a fury-driven battering ram.
Stone cracked as his body hit the cavern wall dust exploding outward, fragments raining across the ground. The impact knocked the air from his lungs and a warm copper taste flooded his mouth.
Max coughed blood, vision swimming.
No time to breathe.
The beast charged again faster than before, eyes glowing with a primal hunger.
Its jaws opened wide, rows of jagged teeth eager to rip through flesh and bone.
Max reacted on instinct.
He raised his Essence Reaver.
Steel met bone.
The impact rattled through his arms as the rat's teeth scraped along the side of the blade sending sparks flying.
Max's feet slid against the stone as he struggled to hold himself upright.
Then… something shifted.
His strength surged, His muscles tightened.
He stepped to the side fast, controlled, and fluid.
He slashed.
Essence Reaver cut through fur, flesh, and bone as if the creature were made of paper.
A diagonal line of darkness carved across its side.
For a heartbeat, the rat froze with its eyes wide then collapsed, lifeless, as its crimson gaze flickered out dimming forever into darkness.
A notification blinked into view.
[Dark Rat Beast defeated.]
[Obtained: Dark Essence (3)]
Max stared at the glowing words.
"…Dark Essence?"
Raven finally spoke her voice analytical.
[Your weapon doesn't just kill looks like it harvests as well. Every creature has essence: memory, power, the last echoes of its life force. Essence Reaver collects it.]
A hint of something—fascination? fear? delight?—threaded through her tone.
[You aren't just killing these creatures. You're taking pieces of their soul.]
Max swallowed.
"That's… horrifying."
[And useful.]
Silence stretched.
Then Raven's voice darkened more serious for once.
[Listen to me carefully, Max.]
[You are no longer playing by the academy's rules. You are no longer normal. Whatever you become from here you know there is no going back.]
Another pause.
[…Don't disappoint me. And don't die.]
Then—nothing.
Raven vanished from his thoughts.
Only the cavern remained and the sound of soft scratching.
Then louder.
Then multiplying.
Tiny claws against stone.
Breathing.
Growling.
Dozens of red eyes lit up in the tunnel ahead and behind.
Max's heartbeat quickened.
"…Okay. So running isn't cowardice I think it's strategy but oh well."
He pivoted and sprinted ahead into the hoard.
The rats behind followed with their shrill screeches echoing off the stone walls.
His new speed surged through him sharp, graceful, but feeling completely natural.
Max slashed without stopping each movement instinctive.
One rat leaped—
SLASH.
Another lunged—
THUD.
Essence Reaver drank with every kill.
Notifications blurred across his vision as he raced through the tunnels:
[Dark Essence +1]
[Dark Essence +2]
[Dark Essence +1]
Max's lungs burned. His muscles strained. Yet he kept moving.
Running.
Cutting.
Surviving.
Until finally—
The echoes faded.
The rats stopped following.
And Max stumbled into a wider cavern gasping, drenched in sweat and adrenaline, Essence Reaver still in his grasp.
He leaned against the wall and let out a shaky, breathless laugh.
"…Next time somebody drops me into a dungeon full of demon rats, I'm suing the school. Actually maybe I will now."
No answer.
Just darkness.
And the quiet pulse of a weapon that hungered for more.