Location: Global / Dharavi, Mumbai
Date & Time: January 15, 2025 | 11:30 PM (IST)
The world was busy preparing for the G.D.A.'s upcoming Hell Gates, convinced they still had time. But time is a luxury that never bows to human plans.
At exactly 11:30 PM, a strange, silent jolt rippled across the entire planet. The earth didn't shake, but the air suddenly became heavy, almost suffocating. From the neon lights of Times Square in New York to the frozen peaks of the Himalayas, from the dense forests of Madhya Pradesh to the quiet villages of Rajasthan—reality began to tear open simultaneously.
Vertical fractures appeared in the air, floating just inches above the ground. These weren't swirling, sci-fi portals. They looked like jagged wounds carved into space itself by a giant blade. The edges were rough, like shattered glass, and from within them, a thick, dark crimson-black mana began to ooze out like blood from a fresh cut.
Location: Dharavi, Mumbai
Rudra was walking through a deserted alleyway, feeling more secure than ever with his D-Rank power and his dark dagger tucked in his inventory. Suddenly, right in the middle of the street, a fifteen-foot fracture ripped open. The oozing dark mana scorched the asphalt, turning it into a charred, blackened mass.
Rudra froze. He instantly activated [Primal Adaptation]. An alarm blared in his mind, louder and more desperate than anything he had ever felt before.
"What is this..." Rudra whispered, taking a cautious step back.
A blood-curdling shriek erupted from inside the tear. And then... the flow began.
Like a fountain erupting from a burst dam, monsters began to spill out of the dark fracture. E-Rank mutated hounds and grotesque, four-armed D-Rank creatures didn't just walk out—they were vomited out in a continuous, unstoppable stream. Within seconds, over fifty monsters had flooded the narrow alley, and the fracture showed no signs of stopping.
A feral D-Rank beast spotted Rudra and lunged.
Rudra's eyes were cold and calculating. He threw a punch into the air, summoning his dark curved dagger through the Phantom Blade trick at the exact second of impact.
Slash!
The D-Rank monster's head was severed cleanly from its body. The dagger had sliced through its reinforced skin like butter. With lightning-fast D-Rank speed, Rudra cut down a second and a third beast. For a moment, he thought he could handle this tide.
"You fool! Look around you!" Ruin Soul's voice exploded in his mind like a thunderclap. "This isn't a street fight. This is a flood meant to swallow the world!"
Rudra looked up. For every monster he killed, ten more spilled from the tear. Suddenly, a heavy, suffocating energy radiated from the fracture, stealing the very breath from his lungs. A massive, twelve-foot-tall C-Rank monster emerged from the tear. Its eyes were solid black, and the temperature in the alley spiked the moment it stepped onto the concrete.
Rudra's hand, still gripping the dagger, trembled slightly. He realized that even as a D-Ranker, if he stayed another second, there wouldn't even be enough of him left to bury.
"Run..." Rudra whispered to himself.
He vanished the dagger back into his Inventory and bolted toward the opposite end of the alley, pushing his body to its absolute limit.
Hell had truly arrived on the streets of Dharavi. Terrified screams filled the air. The E and D rankers of the N.D.A.I., who had felt like super-soldiers only yesterday, were being slaughtered like cattle. Their bronze and iron weapons shattered like toys against the endless wave of monsters.
Rudra ran blindly—through one alley, across another street—but everywhere he turned, a new 'bleeding' fracture had opened. The skyscrapers of Mumbai were beginning to burn. Cars were flipped, and blood began to flow through the gutters like rivers.
After hours of running, Rudra finally found refuge on the top floor of an under-construction building. From there, he looked out at the city. All of Mumbai was burning. Every few hundred meters, a bleeding fracture sat like a wound on the earth, ugalte (spitting) out a fountain of monsters.
"This is only the beginning, kid," Ruin Soul said, staring at the collapsing city with a cold detachment. "The system that promised to protect you will fall to its knees tonight. This is where real survival begins."
Rudra sat on the edge of the concrete floor and took a deep breath. The fear of an eighteen-year-old boy was gone from his eyes. In its place was a strange, haunting peace—the peace of someone who had accepted a dark, ruthless world. He knew then that the common people and the government were already relics of the past.
Chapter Summary
Location & Time: Global / Mumbai | January 15, 2025, 11:30 PM.
The Event: Reality "fractures" open worldwide, leaking dark mana and monsters in a continuous stream. The Hell Gates have arrived prematurely and in a more chaotic form than expected.
The Encounter: Rudra encounters a fracture in Dharavi. He successfully uses his Phantom Blade to kill D-Rank monsters but is forced to flee when a C-Rank monster emerges and the sheer volume of enemies becomes overwhelming.
The Global Collapse: The N.D.A.I. and G.D.A. systems fail to contain the breach. Cities are burning, and low-rank Dungers are being decimated.
Character Realization: Rudra reaches high ground and observes the destruction of Mumbai. He accepts that the old world order is dead and that his survival depends solely on his own strength and Ruin Soul's guidance.