The Gate did not close.
That alone was enough to trigger global emergency protocols.
Above the city, the White Gate burned brighter than any classification allowed. Its surface fractured into layered rings, each inscribed with symbols no modern system could translate.
Satellites reoriented.
Mana seismographs spiked.
Every major guild, academy, and government monitoring station received the same impossible alert.
[ANOMALOUS GATE EVENT – PRIORITY BLACK][UNREGISTERED AWAKENING CONFIRMED][DESIGNATION FLAG: GATE-BEARER]
No one spoke at first.
Then the panic began.
—
Central Hunter Authority – Observation Room
The chamber was dark except for the massive projection of the dungeon feed. Kayden's image stood frozen at the center—runes still faintly glowing across his skin, the dungeon bowed around him like a kneeling beast.
A woman in a silver uniform gripped the table edge. Her mana flickered uncontrollably.
"That designation…" she whispered. "It shouldn't exist."
An elderly man beside her—robes blackened with age and authority—closed his eyes.
"It does," he said quietly. "And that's the problem."
Screens lit up with archived footage. Redacted files. Classified symbols.
A younger analyst frowned. "Sir, the files are fragmented. Most of the data is missing."
The old man didn't look surprised.
"It always is."
He tapped the table.
A single phrase appeared, stamped across every recovered document.
GATE-BEARER CASUALTY RATE: 100%
The room went silent.
—
Inside the Dungeon
Kayden felt it before he heard it.
The dungeon's earlier warmth—its acceptance—had shifted. Not hostile. But… resigned.
—You are seen now, the Gate Voice said.—This is where most of you begin to die.—
Kayden's breath caught. "Most of who?"
The Core dimmed further, its light unstable.
—Those like you.——Those who listen.—
Rovan stood rigid nearby, watching the sealed runes as outside communication channels struggled to reestablish.
"Kayden," he said carefully. "Command is screaming in my ear. They want you extracted immediately."
Kayden turned. "Why?"
Rovan didn't answer.
The mage looked away.
The healer's hands trembled.
Because they knew.
The system text returned—no longer neutral.
[WARNING][POST-AWAKENING SURVIVAL PROBABILITY: <3%]
Kayden laughed once.
A short, disbelieving sound.
"So that's it?" he said. "I finally matter—and now I'm already dead?"
The Gate Voice was silent for a moment.
Then—
—You misunderstand.——You do not die because you are weak.——You die because the world will not allow what you are.—
—
World Broadcast – Emergency Council
The image of Kayden standing in the dungeon was now public.
Unavoidable.
Gate Resonance interference had overridden containment protocols. Every screen within range of the city flickered with the same feed.
Panic spread faster than mana ever had.
A councilwoman slammed her fist on the table. "Shut it down! Classify it as a mutation, a curse—anything!"
A guildmaster sneered. "If the Gates can choose people, then our rankings are meaningless."
An academy head whispered, horrified, "What if the students find out…?"
Another voice cut in—cold, precise.
"Gate-Bearers destabilize the system."
Eyes turned to the speaker.
A man whose sigil pulsed Black.
"They bypass mana. They bypass control. And historically—" he gestured, and more files surfaced, faces blurred, names erased, all marked with the same symbol Kayden now carried. "—they don't survive long enough to become a problem."
Someone swallowed. "You mean they're… removed?"
"Contained," the man corrected. "Sent into impossible Gates. Classified as heroic losses."
Silence.
Then someone asked the question no one wanted answered.
"Why hasn't it worked this time?"
The man stared at Kayden's image.
"Because this one awakened publicly."
—
Back in the Dungeon
The Gate trembled.
Not collapsing.
Responding.
—They will send you to die, the voice said.—As they always do.——But this time… the Gates are watching back.—
Kayden clenched his fists.
His hands were steady now.
"Then I'll survive," he said. "Not because they want me to."
The dungeon's runes flared once more.
Approval.
—Good.——Let us see how long the world lasts without its lies.—
Outside, the White Gate finally began to close.
But the damage was already done.
The world had seen Kayden Campbell.
And somewhere deep in forgotten archives, an old note—long ignored—flickered back to life.
Gate-Bearers do not save the world.
They expose it.
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