Chapter 6: Blood Domain
The night was still. Too still.
Somewhere in the distance, a stray dog barked once and fell silent. A streetlight flickered, struggling to keep its glow alive in the haze of early morning fog.
Ryz opened the door quietly, his footsteps light on the wooden floorboards. Kaela slept soundly on the couch, the soft sound of her breathing the only life in the room.
He didn't bother with shoes. Just a dark coat and quiet thoughts.
It was 2:03 a.m.
And the world outside felt… wrong.
He didn't know why he walked. Only that he needed to. Like something was pulling him. Whispering in the corners of his mind. The mist inside him stirred, but not in hunger something else.
Curiosity.
The city at night was different. Streets that were noisy in the day became haunted corridors. Buildings loomed like quiet titans. The shadows no longer felt like absence, but intention.
Ryz walked through it all without fear. His presence didn't disturb the silence. If anything, it deepened it.
He was rounding a corner near the edge of the district when he saw them.
Four figures in dark hunter jackets, lounging near a closed gate shop, smoking and laughing too loud.
They looked up as he passed.
"Hey," one of them called out. "Who walks around here barefoot at two in the damn morning?"
Ryz ignored him.
Another one stepped forward taller, bulkier. He wore a crimson armband that marked him as a C-rank from the looks of it. "Oi. I asked you something."
The shortest one probably D-rank, judging by the weak aura scoffed. "Bet he's one of those failed awakens. No flare, no badge."
"Maybe he's drunk."
"I bet he's just some old freak creeping around."
They moved to block his path.
Ryz stopped, eyes dull and unreadable.
The tallest of them stepped closer. a B-rank, judging by the confident aura and gear quality. He smiled like a wolf. "Come on, say something. Or are you mute too?"
The D-rank laughed. "He looks like he'd cry if you poked him."
And so he did. Stuck out his foot and tripped Ryz as he walked past.
Ryz stumbled but didn't fall. His foot shifted, his coat flared slightly, and he looked up.
Eyes cold. Empty.
The mist stirred behind them.
"You shouldn't have done that," Ryz said softly.
"Oh no," the B-rank said in mock terror. "He spoke."
But by then it was already too late.
Ryz's eyes closed.
And when they opened again, they glowed faint red.
He raised one hand not high, just barely, fingers uncurling like a dead blossom.
The air shattered.
The alley split open.
The buildings groaned, as if the world tried to protest. But then it peeled, like skin torn from flesh.
And the hunters screamed as the street disappeared beneath them.
They fell.
Into the Blood Domain
It was not fire.
It was not ice.
It was blood.
Dark red and endless. The ground was slick and soft, made of pulsing veins and wet stone. The sky was black, not because it lacked stars but because it was watching.
From above, massive eyes opened one by one.
Red, gold, white, hollow.
They stared down.
Ryz walked between the hunters as they crawled on their knees, covered in grime and panic.
The B-rank lashed out with his arm blade steel covered in mana.
It broke on the ground like glass.
The D-rank tried to scream, but his mouth filled with blood not his own. Blood that wasn't wet, wasn't warm. Just… alive.
The C-ranks stumbled into one another, trying to run, but the air twisted around them like liquid mirrors.
"Where are we!?" one of them cried.
Ryz did not answer.
This place was not meant to be answered.
It was not a space.
It was a judgment.
The mist took shape behind him, forming into spears, wings, chains, and smoke that rose and vanished.
A heartbeat echoed across the field.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
With each beat, something pressed down harder on the four hunters like a mountain made of thought and guilt.
The D-rank's eyes turned red as vessels burst. He convulsed once, twice, then vanished into ash without sound.
One of the C-ranks screamed, turning to fire magic but the flame snuffed out the moment it lit. In its place, cold blood rose from the ground and swallowed him slowly. As he sank, he begged for someone to remember his name.
No one would.
The other C-rank fell to his knees, sobbing. "Please… I didn't mean it. It was just a joke!"
Ryz said nothing. The eyes above began to open wider.
A voice not his spoke through the sky.
"The weak die in silence. The arrogant die in shame."
The man screamed and was gone.
That left only the B-rank. He stood, trembling, eyes locked on Ryz.
"W-what are you?"
Ryz finally stopped walking and turned toward him fully.
He didn't need to raise a hand again.
The Domain listened.
The man's body began to bend bones cracking in unnatural angles. Not violently. Just... deliberately. Like he was being reshaped for something worse.
The man gasped, choking.
Ryz leaned in slightly.
"I am what your kind created."
And with those words, the last hunter collapsed into himself, his body folding like paper.
The Blood Domain pulsed one final time.
Then
Silence.
Back to the Real World
Ryz stood alone in the alley.
The four were gone.
The mist inside him calmed.
He walked away slowly, the wind brushing his coat like the world sighing in relief.
Not a trace was left.
By the time the sun began to rise behind the eastern buildings, Ryz was home.
Morning
Kaela yawned as she shuffled into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes.
"Why does it smell like the sky is about to rain?"
Ryz, sitting by the window, answered without turning.
"Storm's passing."
Kaela blinked, still half-asleep. "You sleep?"
"No."
"…Weirdo."
She poured coffee and sat across from him, sipping slowly. Then, glancing at him again, narrowed her eyes.
"You look more relaxed today."
"I went for a walk."
She squinted. "Alone?"
He nodded.
"You're lucky this city's quiet," she muttered. "There are still scumbag hunters out there who like picking on people for fun."
Ryz looked out the window again.
"Yes," he said softly. "There are."
---
Elsewhere…
In the office of the Iron Howl Guild, Aeris Renn stood before a wall of data charts and blinking sensors.
One of the junior analysts rushed in.
"Ma'am! There's something strange from the west side. Four hunter flares disappeared last night. No combat signals, no gate energy. It's like they just… blinked out."
Aeris turned slowly.
"No trace?"
"None. But… the system logged one thing."
She stepped forward.
"Show me."
On the monitor, a single word shimmered faintly burned into the residual mana trail.
Blood.