Yuuya stood at the edge of a new gate. A black one.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
Black gates were unstable. Dangerous. The kind of temporary dungeons that could either vanish in minutes or explode, releasing monsters into the world like a curse torn open.
And this one was just sitting there. Breathing. Watching.
> [Gate Type: BLACK - Unstable Variant] [Estimated Collapse or Outbreak: Unknown]
The Bureau hadn't tagged it yet.
There were no guards. No tape. No official presence at all.
Only two other people had noticed it.
Toma was one of them. He stood behind Yuuya, chewing his bottom lip. "We shouldn't be here."
"We are," Yuuya said.
"Yeah, and we're gonna die here."
Yuuya didn't move. The gate was pulling at him. Not like a voice or a whisper. More like hunger. The kind of pull that made your bones lean forward without permission.
> [After-Dungeon Trigger Detected] [System Override: Gate Entry Unlocked by Host Trait: System Defier]
He blinked.
That wasn't normal.
He took a step.
Toma hissed. "Wait, WAIT—"
Yuuya disappeared.
---
The black gate didn't look like the others.
It looked like a forgotten memory. A battlefield littered with ash. An empty city sky, with no stars.
> [Dungeon: Forgotten Verge - Status: Breaking Reality Layer] [Difficulty: ??? - Threat Level: Variable]
He wasn't alone.
Shadows crawled along the ruins. Massive. Four-legged. Fast.
Yuuya pulled the poker from his back. It was dented now. Scarred. It had followed him this far, and he didn't plan on giving it up yet.
The first creature lunged.
He moved on instinct.
> [Skill Activated: Echo Instincts] [Triggering Passive: Frozen Focus]
He ducked, countered, slammed the poker against its neck.
It yelped. Staggered.
Another came.
Then a third.
He jumped, rolled, swept the legs. Vision blurred from adrenaline.
> [Overflow Surge Detected] [Mental Sync Level: 14.7%]
Then they stopped.
The monsters halted.
And parted.
Something else approached. Tall. Not human. Wearing something like robes. Eyes were missing, but he could feel the stare.
> [Entity Detected: "The Watcher Without Name"] [Class: Null Echo]
"You are not of the Verge," it said.
Yuuya gritted his teeth. "Good guess."
The Watcher tilted its head. "Yet you entered. You broke the chain."
It raised a hand.
> [Trial Initiated: Shard of the Void] [Objective: Defeat the Watcher Without Name. Time Limit: 8 Minutes.]
And just like that, the world caught fire.
---
The fight didn't feel like a fight.
It felt like a storm.
Every blow was a memory. Every dodge was a scream. Every pulse of pain brought something new.
A skill. A resistance. A flicker of understanding.
> [True Learning - Critical Threshold Reached] [Skill Unlock: Reflex Copy - Temporary replication of observed movement]
Yuuya mimicked the Watcher's movement.
He blinked into the air.
Struck from above.
Fire burst from his left hand. He didn't question it.
He just used it.
> [Ash Pulse Activated]
The Watcher reeled.
Yuuya slammed into its chest, poker-first.
> [Critical Hit - Essence Fractured]
The Watcher fell.
> [Trial Complete - Time Remaining: 0:52]
> [Reward: Essence Core - Echo of the Void] [New Trait: Null Footing - Immune to Reality Collapse Zones]
The world didn't fade this time.
It cracked.
---
He woke up in an alley.
Toma was shaking him. "Dude! DUDE! You vanished and the gate—it just imploded. Bureau drones showed up after. I thought you died!"
Yuuya groaned. "Not yet."
Toma stared. "What happened in there?"
Yuuya didn't answer.
Because he didn't know how to.
He just stood up, dusted himself off, and walked away.
---
The next day, the Bureau came looking.
They didn't knock.
Two agents stood outside the Diver Registry, reading from a file.
"Yuuya. Unranked Diver. Multiple confirmed dungeon survivals. Recent unexplained presence at a classified gate collapse."
The room went quiet.
Yuuya walked out.
"I'm Yuuya."
The taller agent nodded. "Come with us."
---
At Bureau HQ, he sat in a white room.
Same setup as last time. Only this time, the eyes weren't laughing.
They were calculating.
"You have two choices," the lead agent said. "Continue as a diver. Or let us run a deeper scan."
Yuuya folded his arms. "What kind of scan?"
"One that finds out what the hell you really are."
Yuuya didn't blink. "Do it."
---
They strapped him to a chair.
Wires. Light. Pain.
The machine hummed.
> [System Interference Detected] [Lock Override Activated: Cloak Protocol Engaged]
He felt his body go still.
Then something within him shifted.
The system blurred.
> [Power Rating: F-Rank] [Compatibility: Low]
The agents looked disappointed.
"Still F."
One of them shook their head. "Guess he just gets lucky."
They released him.
Again.
Yuuya stood, picked up his report, and walked out.
But the m
oment he left the building, his system pinged.
> [New Dungeon Detected: Crimson Verge - Location: Sector 13]
He didn't smile.
He just kept walking.
Back into the fire.
Because someday, they'd realize:
He wasn't lucky.
He was inevitable.