"Hey—hey. Wake up. Don't tell me you're dead."
Eden's eyes fluttered open. A dark shape hovered over him.
"Alice?" he muttered. Then panic hit. "ALICE!"
He jolted upright, nearly tipping over.
"Hey," Alice hissed, grabbing his arm. "Careful. Calm down and sit."
"Wait—" Eden blinked, struggling to focus. "We're alive? That fall should've killed us. We dropped from—how high was that?"
Alice planted both hands on his shoulders and forced him back down.
"I would love to explain, but right now we don't have time. It's most likely still tracking us."
"Tracking us… who?" Eden frowned.
"The teacher? Come on, were you even paying attention up there?"
"We need to leave. Now," Alice insisted.
She turned away, muttering under her breath.
A domain big enough to surround the whole area… She can talk, and it can think for itself. If we stay here too long, we're dead. But—
She thrust her hand forward. It slammed into something invisible. The air rippled like heat, but the impact felt like concrete.
"Damn it… it's refined." Her jaw tightened. "Three stars… most likely. No — it's an anomaly. Shit. If I'd known…"
Eden snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Hey. You're spacing out and saying things that make no sense. Are you losing it?"
Alice blinked, refocusing. "Huh? Oh, sorry."
She stared at him. "We can't leave this school."
Eden stared back. "What?"
"Right now we're inside its domain — basically a barrier that traps anything with a soul inside. The only way out is to kill or subdue the thing, render her unable to use her soul, or force her to open it herself."
Eden exhaled. "So we gotta kill this thing, right?"
Alice shook her head. "No. By law we can't — it's an anomaly. I have to subdue her and shut down her ability to use Soul so the barrier collapses. I'm going to fight it. You stay back and hide somewhere safe in one of the classrooms."
Eden: "Like hell I'm gonna run away and leave you by yourself."
Alice: "Right now you're useless. You can't even fight it. You'll just get in my way…"
She cocked her gun.
Eden's eyes widened. "Whoa — what are you doing?"
"Again," she said calmly, raising the barrel.
BANG.
Eden flinched. "It missed! What the—"
Something collapsed behind him.
He turned. A humanoid body lay crumpled on the floor, head covered by a filthy white sack, but the body was unmistakably that of a spider.
"The hell is that—"
"One of the teacher's children, maybe. Once human. Now… this." Alice's voice was cold. "Also, if you couldn't even sense that thing behind you, what good are you in a fight?"
The body didn't dissolve into ash.
"Damn it. Stay behind me and stay quiet," she snapped. "That was nothing more than a tracking puppet."
If this is her domain, then…
A low hissing sound spread through the hallway. The lights died instantly — only cold moonlight remained.
Alice smiled grimly. "I see she doesn't have full control over this domain."
Eden's blood ran cold as the horrific figure finally revealed itself.
At first glance it looked like a woman — thin arms folded awkwardly, fingers curled as if they had clawed at the earth in her final moments. But the longer you stared, the worse it got.
Her torso was pale and fragile, barely moving, as if breathing had become a forgotten instinct.
Where her head should have been was only a filthy white sack, stained and damp, clinging to whatever twisted shape hid beneath. It shifted slightly, like something inside was still aware.
Then came the rest.
Her lower body was not human at all. It sprawled outward into a grotesque mass of eight long, jointed legs — folded and tangled like a broken marionette. Each limb ended in a sharp point that scraped faintly against the floor with every twitch. The surface was slick and dark, catching the moonlight in unsettling glints.
For a moment everything was still.
Too still.
Then — a twitch.
One leg jerked, striking the ground with a hollow tap.
Another followed.
All at once the spider-body unfolded in a slow, unnatural sequence, lifting her higher. The movement was staggered and wrong, like something still learning how to move.
Her human hands pressed against the floor, trembling, while the spider legs did most of the work, raising her into a half-crouched stance.
Waiting.
Listening.
And then, slowly… deliberately…
She began to crawl.
"Stay back!" Alice screamed.
The teacher hissed, smirking. "Ohh, you're in trouble. By law, you're not supposed to awaken his ability."
Alice cocked her gun. "What would you know?"
"I know a lot," the teacher hissed. "I was once one of you, you know. A 4-star general — if I remember correctly."
Alice's eyes widened. "Like…?"
"Hell?" The teacher suddenly appeared inches from her face.
Alice fired without hesitation.
Point-blank — yet the teacher dodged the bullets effortlessly.
"Just like your mother," the teacher said, her voice deepening with deadly grace.
"My mom?" Alice muttered.
"Yesss. Those twin guns… I remember them well. The woman who betrayed me. The woman who killed my daughter." Her voice turned venomous. "And now I have her daughter. I'll serve your head on a platter, record it, and send it to her — along with your head in a box. Smiling. How wonderful."
Alice, disgusted: "I have no idea what you have against my mother, but I doubt she even cares if I die." She cocked her gun again. "I don't care about your bullshit right now."
If she really was a 4-star general, then we're dead. But we don't have a choice.
The teacher's smile faded. "So she's still merciless. Oh well… I'm still going to kill you."
She slithered forward. "But let's have some fun first."
The fight exploded.
Alice kicked Eden out of the way, leaped into the air, and fired two shots. The teacher blocked with her arms.
Alice followed with a blazing kick. The teacher staggered.
Then Alice faked another shot — but instead fired from her other gun, grazing the teacher's leg.
Eden, holding the spare gun, had fired at the perfect moment.
While the teacher was distracted, Alice lunged with a real punch.
The teacher caught her arm mid-swing. "I see. You're more tactical than brute force. I really like your type… but you're not experienced enough yet."
She punched Alice hard in the stomach, sending her flying back, blood spraying from her mouth.
The teacher walked over casually. "One punch? I didn't expect much." She raised her leg toward Alice's head. "I'll finish you quickly, then take the boy…"
SMACK.
A fist slammed into the teacher's jaw.
"EDEN?" Alice gasped.
The teacher stumbled, blood trickling from her mouth. "That punch… carried no Soul… yet I'm bleeding?"
Eden shook out his hand. "Argh, shit — wait, it's not broken."
The teacher burst into laughter. "HAHAHAHA! Your body is fascinating, boy. You just awakened your Soul, yet it has already adapted…"
What followed was chaos.
Eden's raw punches actually hurt the monster. Alice's trick shots and explosions kept her off balance. But the teacher was still far stronger.
Then her tail lashed out, stabbing Eden.
"Shit!" Alice screamed. "Her tail is poisonous!"
The toxin hit — but Eden only staggered for a second before shaking it off.
The teacher's eyes narrowed. "My toxin can harm 4-star generals… yet this boy…"
She was done playing.
"Release."
The domain exploded outward. Soul pressure crashed down like a tidal wave.
Eden dropped to his knees, screaming as every sense overloaded — heart pounding, vision blurring, blood pouring from his nose.
The teacher lunged, shoving Alice aside. "How did you forget the most important rule of Soul awakening? The second you awaken your soul, your senses become superhuman… and my nerve enhancement makes it unbearable."
Alice tried to raise her gun, but the teacher stabbed her hand.
Alice grunted in pain. "Eden," she muttered. "I'm sorry."
Before darkness swallowed him, a cold hand pressed against Eden's head.
"You lasted pretty well, feeling everything. Most people die from shock alone."
A calm voice spoke.
"Go to sleep, kid."
When Eden blacked out, the man stood up, facing the teacher with a relaxed smile.
The teacher rose, grinning. "I have been waiting for you. Finally — a real Soul user."
"Why are you talking like this will be a hard fight?" the man chuckled. "You're over here struggling to kill a couple of kids…"
"WAIT A MINUTE… did you just talk?"
"Impressive, right? I'm not your average Disaster," the teacher said proudly.
"No, no, no," the man laughed. "You have no idea how much that just saved your ass."
In the next instant the man moved.
One punch.
The teacher flew backward, crashing to the floor.
"5-star?" the man scoffed. "Hell no. At best you're 2-3 star."
The rest of the fight was one-sided.
Spiders and snakes swarmed him by the millions — only to be blasted off and burned to ash in a single snap of his fingers.
The teacher's eyes widened in pure terror as the man appeared right behind her.
"You're an executioner… aren't you?"
She collapsed, unconscious.
The man walked over to Alice, kneeling beside her.
"You are not authorized to fight these types of Disasters. You should have called for backup. Not only that, you gave a civilian a Soul and nearly got him killed. Two violations — one serious. Explain."
Alice struggled to sit up and gave her reasons.
The man sighed, then revealed he had been watching the entire time — to teach her a lesson about protocol and sensing domains.
He told her to pin everything on him: "Just say Lucian gave the orders."
In a blink, he vanished, carrying unconscious Eden over his shoulder.
Cleanup teams in black jumpsuits flooded the area.
A hand landed on Alice's shoulder.
"I'm Melissa Thorns, Elimination Unit — Interrogation Division. We need to talk."