The gate alarm screamed across Chicago at 3:47 PM on a Tuesday.
Ren Ashford was eating cup ramen in his cramped apartment when his phone exploded with notifications. Emergency Hunter Summons. All available personnel report immediately.
Great.
He set down his half-eaten noodles and grabbed his gear, if you could even call it that. A worn tactical vest, basic combat boots, and two daggers he'd never successfully used in actual combat.
Ren Ashford was an F-rank hunter. The lowest of the low. The bottom of the barrel. The guy everyone forgot existed until they needed someone to carry supplies.
~
The Hunter Association's transport truck was already packed when Ren arrived. Fifteen hunters, all looking various degrees of annoyed, anxious, or excited. He recognized a few faces from his guild, Iron Vanguard, one of the mid-tier guilds that took anyone with a pulse and a hunter's license.
"Oh look, it's the F-rank," someone snickered. Jace, a C-rank who never missed a chance to remind Ren how useless he was. "What're they gonna have you do, Ashford? Hold our water bottles?"
A few hunters laughed. Ren kept his mouth shut and found a seat in the back.
"Maybe he can distract the monsters by running away," another voice called out. "He's good at that!"
More laughter. Ren stared at his hands.
This was normal. This was every mission.
After some time, the truck rumbled through evacuated streets toward the gate location. Ren watched through the window as civilians fled in the opposite direction, families clutching children, elderly people being helped by neighbors. Gates had been appearing for twenty years now. Dimensional rifts that spat out monsters from God-knows-where. When they first started appearing, humanity was helpless, and millions died in the first year alone.
Then people started "awakening."
Nobody knew why or how, but some humans developed supernatural abilities. Superhuman strength. Elemental powers. Enhanced speed. They called them hunters, and they became humanity's only defense against the gate breaks.
The Hunter Association classified hunters into ranks based on power:
F-rank – Barely stronger than a normal human. That was Ren.
E-rank – Could handle low-tier monsters with proper backup.
D-rank – Competent solo hunters.
C-rank – Professional level. Could lead small teams.
B-rank – Elite. Capable of clearing C-rank gates solo.
A-rank – Powerhouses. National-level hunters.
S-rank – Living disasters. Maybe fifty worldwide.
SS-rank – Legends. Less than ten confirmed worldwide.
Ren had never seen an SS-rank in person. Nobody in his guild had. They were like mythical creatures, insanely powerful and weird-looking from all the mutations. He had heard one SS-rank in Korea had scales covering half his body and eyes that glowed red. Another in Brazil had grown extra arms.
The stronger you got, the more... different you became. Side effects of awakening, they said. Small price to pay for godlike power.
"Alright, listen up!" The team leader, a B-rank named Violet Denia, stood at the front of the truck. "This is a Code Red gate. Massive energy signature. A and S-ranks are scattered across the country on other assignments, so we're it."
Ren's stomach dropped. Code Red meant high-level threats. This was way above their pay grade.
"We hold the line until reinforcements arrive," Violet continued. "Stick to your teams. Don't play hero, and for God's sake, don't die."
She glanced at Ren. "Ashford, you're on supply duty. Stay back and don't get in the way."
"Yes, ma'am," Ren replied.
Jace leaned over and whispered, "Try not to trip over your own feet this time."
Ren ignored him as they began to move towards the gate that loomed before them. It was fucking huge.
Twenty meters tall, crackling with purple energy, distorting the air around it. It had torn open in the middle of a plaza, and the destruction was already spreading. Cracked pavement, toppled streetlights, cars flipped like toys.
Ren's hands shook as he gripped his daggers. "Movement!" someone shouted.
The gate pulsed, and something massive emerged.
It was four meters tall, covered in black chitinous armor, with six arms ending in blade-like claws. Its face was a nightmare, it had no eyes, just a gaping mouth filled with rows of teeth. Saliva dripped and sizzled where it hit the ground.
"B-rank threat! Formation beta!" Violet commanded.
The hunters moved as one, spreading out and launching attacks. Fireballs, ice spears, enhanced blade strikes, all crashing into the creature. It roared and charged forward with terrifying speed.
Then four more emerged from the gate.
"Shit! Five targets! Call for backup NOW!"
The plaza turned into chaos.
Ren stood frozen, watching hunters, people far stronger than him, getting thrown around like ragdolls. One of the creatures caught a D-rank hunter with its claws and ripped him apart. Blood sprayed across the concrete.
His legs finally moved. He ran forward, not to fight but to drag wounded hunters back from the frontlines. It was all he could do. All he was good for.
"Ashford, get back!" Violet screamed.
Unfortunately, one of the creatures noticed him. Its eyeless face turned in his direction, and without a moment's wait, it charged.
Ren raised his daggers uselessly, panting. He was definitely going to die.
The creature's claw came down, and Ren dove left, barely avoiding the strike. But his foot caught on debris, and he fell hard. His head cracked against a stone, and pain exploded through his skull. Warm blood trickled down his face. "Ah fuck." He grunted, looking up at the gate as his vision blurred.
Something else was coming through.
Not a monster. A person.
Humanoid, at least. Clad in dark armor with purple energy crackling around it like living lightning. The figure drew a jagged blade from its side, and in about three seconds, it killed all five creatures.
The monsters didn't even have time to react. One moment they were rampaging through the plaza. The next, they were collapsing in pieces, purple energy searing through their bodies.
The armored figure stood among the corpses, breathing heavily, and its helmet turned, scanning the area.
All the hunters were dead. Torn apart. Burning. Gone.
Except Ren.
The figure's gaze locked onto him, and behind the helmet, Ren saw a faint purple glow.
It grunted, a sound of frustration and resignation. "That's unfortunate. You'll have to do." The voice was masculine, exhausted, and oddly... sad.
It started walking toward Ren. His body screamed at him to run, but he couldn't move. Blood loss. Fear. Shock. Pick one.
The gate pulsed again.
Another creature emerged, bigger than the others, with eight legs and a tail like a scorpion. It saw the armored figure and attacked. The figure tried to dodge it, but the strike was too fast, and its tail pierced straight through its chest armor.
Purple blood sprayed.
The figure staggered, dropping to one knee. It killed the creature with a wild slash, but the damage was done. The chest wound was fatal.
It kept walking toward Ren, each step leaving a trail of glowing blood.
"No," it rasped. "Not like this." Ren tried to speak, to ask what was happening, but only a weak groan escaped. And his already fading heartbeat came to a complete stop.
The figure collapsed beside him and grabbed his hand with crushing strength.
"No, you don't. You don't get to die," it growled.
Its helmet cracked and fell away, revealing a face that was both human and not, sharp angular features, skin with dark crystalline fragments, one eye glowing bright purple.
"Forgive me, human," it whispered. "But I need your body to deliver the truth."
Purple energy exploded from its hand into Ren's, and his eyes immediately snapped open.
His scream died in his throat as agony unlike anything he had ever felt consumed him. It felt like his body was being torn apart and rebuilt simultaneously. Memories that weren't his flooded his mind, towers, realms, battles, faces, a name: Kyrenth.
The world went black.
[SOUL FUSION COMPLETE]
[WELCOME TO FLOOR 1, HYBRID #001]
[CALAMITY INDEX: 0.02%... RECALCULATING...]
[CALAMITY INDEX: 61.3% - STABLE]
[WARNING: DUAL CONSCIOUSNESS DETECTED]
[ASCENDER MATRIX: ACTIVE]
[HUMAN CORE: ACTIVE]
[ERROR: THIS SHOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE]