The ruins did not breathe.
It wasn't peace. It wasn't stillness. It was the dead pause between a candle flame and its extinguishing that moment where the air holds its breath.
Kairen stood beneath a leaning arch of blackened stone, the chill mist curling around his boots like something alive. Each droplet clung to the worn leather, seeping in, and the cold bit harder than it should have.
The creature on the other side of the clearing didn't move.
It wasn't quite wolf. Not quite man. Its spine jutted like broken spears beneath a coat of matte, matted fur. One yellow eye gleamed through the shadowed skull mask it wore, the other a pulsing socket of faint red light. It didn't blink. It just watched him, slow and deliberate, as though deciding if the effort of tearing him apart was worth the calories.
The mist between them coiled unnaturally, curling into fractal patterns that broke and reformed the air itself was glitching.
And then, like a slap to the face, the panel appeared.
No sound, no fade-in. Just there front and center, cold and clean against the grit of the world.
> [Demon Vein Surge: LOCKED]
[Brute Awakening: 4% — Incomplete]
Choose Combat Mode:
[1] Bare Survival
[2] Blood Baptism
Kairen exhaled slowly through his teeth.
"Really?" he muttered. "Monster on one side, eldritch pop quiz on the other. Great."
He flexed his fingers around the jagged stone shard he'd grabbed earlier. It wasn't a weapon not a real one. More like a desperate placeholder for courage.
He didn't know what Blood Baptism meant, but every instinct told him it wasn't just a fancy term for 'extra damage.' It sounded like something permanent. Something binding.
Bare Survival, then. The devil you know. Or in this case, the devil you might survive.
> Mode Selected: Bare Survival
Pain Suppression: 20% Activated
Adrenal Enhancement: 5%
Physical Reinforcement: Temporary Buff Applied
The change was not kind.
It felt like someone had jammed live wires into his spine and then poured molten glass through his veins. His muscles tightened violently, jerking his arms as though something else had taken the controls. His vision flickered then sharpened into something almost alien.
The beast moved.
It didn't roar. Didn't snarl. Just appeared in motion, claws slicing the mist in a blur of dark steel.
Kairen's body reacted before his brain could. His head tilted left, torso twisting as a hooked claw tore the air where his face had been a second earlier. The sound was like fabric ripping and stone splitting at once.
The fight had begun.
The beast's steps cracked the ancient flagstones. Every move was predatory grace a nightmare designed for close-quarters killing.
Its claws scraped the floor as it lunged again, a screech like nails across a coffin lid. Kairen ducked, but not enough one claw caught his shoulder, slicing clean through coat and skin.
Pain flared white-hot. Not the muted ache of a training sim, not the distant throb of game damage. This was raw.
He stumbled behind a fallen pillar, biting down on a curse.
"Okay," he hissed through gritted teeth. "Ow. Real pain. Ten out of ten. Not tutorial pain."
Blood soaked through his coat, warm against the cold mist.
The beast didn't chase recklessly. It stalked. The sound of claws dragging along stone was deliberate, taunting.
Kairen grabbed a loose rock from the ground and hurled it. The stone struck the creature's chest with a dull thud. It staggered not wounded, but disrupted.
He didn't waste the beat. He vaulted over a low root, snatched the decapitated head of a fallen statue, and swung it like a club.
The marble smashed against its jaw, cracking the mask. The beast yelped not in pain so much as surprise and stumbled back.
Kairen dropped low, sliding beneath its reach, and kicked hard at the bend of its leg.
It buckled.
> Combat Improvisation Recognized
[Passive Skill Unlocked: Scrapper's Grit — Lv.1]
Minor boost to reaction time and resilience in unarmed/low-resource combat.
The system's tone was too calm, almost smug.
The beast straightened, blood leaking from the fracture in its mask. Its voice rasped like two stones grinding together.
> "You stink of the old blood. The cursed throne. Why you?"
Kairen spat copper from his mouth.
"I don't even know what that means," he said, "and I still find it insulting."
The beast came faster this time.
Kairen raised his arm to block and regretted it immediately. Its strength was monstrous. The impact sent him crashing into an altar, ribs screaming.
Air fled his lungs. His vision dimmed at the edges.
It pinned him with one claw to the stone, leaning close.
The stink of its breath was rot and smoke.
> "You're not ready," it whispered.
Maybe it was right.
But something deeper uglier disagreed.
The heat began low in his chest, coiling tighter and tighter. Not just adrenaline. Something else.
The panel flickered again, this time with a sound like tearing metal.
> Critical State Detected
[Demon Vein Surge] — Emergency Override
Engaging: [Feral Crown Protocol]
Everything burned.
The black lines under his skin ignited, tracing along his veins in molten red light. His right arm twisted bones shifting, muscles bulging. Claw-like ridges tore through the skin along his forearm, steaming in the cold air.
A faint, jagged crown of shadow flickered above his brow for half a heartbeat before fading.
The beast froze.
> "No… it can't be active this soon."
Kairen's smile was humorless, teeth bared.
"Surprise."
He drove forward, faster than thought. His clawed arm punched into the beast's ribs deep. Bone snapped like dry twigs. Black blood sprayed across the altar.
> Combat Mode: Feral Crown Activated
Stat Surge: +40% (Temporary)
Blood Resonance Detected
Evolution Seed — Partial Unlock
The beast thrashed, slashing wildly. Kairen ducked under a hook, ripped a shard of broken bone from the ground, and jammed it into its thigh.
It howled.
Kairen didn't stop. His movements blurred not controlled, but not entirely reckless. A strange rhythm pulsed in his head, like the beat of a war drum he didn't remember learning.
He pivoted, kicked the beast's spine, and rolled to avoid its collapsing weight.
> "Oh great," he muttered between breaths, "possessed by a gym rat demon."
The beast staggered, one arm hanging limp, its breath ragged.
> "You don't even know what you are," it rasped. "Foolish vessel… the gods will come for you."
Kairen's eyes still glowed faintly red.
He crouched, bone shard in hand.
"Yeah?" he said, voice raw. "Get in line."
He shoved the shard into its eye.
The creature convulsed, claws scraping deep gouges into the stone, then collapsed.
> Sentient Kill Confirmed
Tutorial Complete
+1 Core Fragment Acquired
Title Gained: [First Blood]
Minor intimidation bonus against lower-ranked entities.
The body dissolved into ash, scattering into the mist. Only a jagged black crystal remained, pulsing faintly.
The burning under Kairen's skin faded, leaving exhaustion in its wake. He staggered back, laughing raggedly.
"Well," he gasped. "That was a hell of a welcoming party."
The ghost of the crown faded. His arm returned to human shape, trembling violently.
Then the pain hit all of it.
He dropped to his knees and vomited, spitting blood onto the ancient floor. The cold stone under his palms was slick with his own.
Another panel flickered into being, gold-tinged and slow, as though savoring the moment.
> Core Absorption Available
The soul of the fallen awaits inte
gration.
Choose Path:
[1] Bestial Path — Instinct, Rage, Survival
[2] Sovereign Path — Command, Power, Legacy
Kairen stared at it for a long moment. His breath still came ragged.
"…Why," he whispered, "do I feel like either way, I'm going to regret this?"