The city faded behind him.
Blaine walked until the neon dimmed and the crowds thinned and the buildings turned to shells. The streets cracked here. The silence grew teeth. Every step carried him further from the world above and closer to something older.
The gate appeared without warning.
Massive. Rusted. A slab of metal wedged into a concrete arch like a wound that had scarred over. Faded letters above it read SECTOR 9. No guards. No registration. No rules posted on the walls.
Rules don't matter here. Only strength does.
Blaine stopped at the threshold. The air on the other side felt heavier. Not from heat. From pressure. The kind that pressed against the chest and tested whether you belonged.
He activated Perception Scan.
The numbers came back wrong.
[Strength: 12]
[Strength: 15]
[Strength: 18]
Higher than the streets. Higher than Kade. Higher than anyone he'd fought in the city above. And those were just the signatures near the entrance.
This isn't a hunting ground. It's a filter.
He stepped through.
The world changed. The walls rose on either side—not buildings, but natural formations of black stone, jagged and uneven. The ground was hard-packed dirt streaked with old blood. Faint sounds echoed from deeper in: growls, impacts, the occasional scream that cut off too fast.
The system pulsed.
[New Zone Entered: Sector 9]
[Threat Level: High]
[Recommended: Engagements Above Strength 10 Only]
Blaine read the warning. Filed it. Ignored it.
Recommendations aren't rules. And I didn't come here to fight below my weight.
He moved deeper. Step by step. Careful. A soldier's patience. A mercenary's paranoia. The black stone walls narrowed into a corridor, then opened into a wider chamber littered with debris—broken weapons, scattered bones, the remains of something that had been large and armored and very dead.
The smell hit him before the sound.
Rot. Old and fresh at the same time.
Then the sound.
A low growl. Not warning. Recognition. Something had noticed him.
Blaine turned.
The creature emerged from the shadows of a collapsed pillar. Four legs. Low to the ground. Its body was covered in dark, hardened plates like natural armor. Its eyes—small, black, set deep in a blunt skull—locked onto him without hesitation. No curiosity. Just hunger.
Above its head:
[Strength: 13]
Stronger than me. Armored. Low stance means it charges low. Weak points: eyes, throat, underbelly if I can flip it.
The creature charged.
Fast. Faster than anything that heavy should move. Blaine stepped to the side—not far enough. The creature's shoulder caught his hip. Pain flared. He used the momentum to roll, came up on one knee, the pipe already swinging. It cracked against the creature's flank.
Nothing.
The armor absorbed it completely. Too thick. Brute force won't work.
The creature turned, claws scraping stone. It lunged again. This time Blaine was ready. He waited until the last half-second—then dropped flat. The creature passed over him. Its belly was exposed for a heartbeat. Soft. Unarmored.
He drove the pipe upward.
Stab.
The jagged edge punched through flesh. The creature shrieked—a raw ripping sound—and twisted violently. The pipe was wrenched from his grip. Blaine scrambled back, found his feet. The creature thrashed, the pipe still embedded in its underside, dark blood pooling beneath it.
It tried to charge again. The legs gave out halfway. It collapsed. Breathed once. Twice. Stopped.
Silence.
[Target Eliminated]
[Strength +2]
[Strength: 10]
Blaine retrieved the pipe. Wiped it clean on the creature's hide. His hands were steady. His breath was even. The fight had lasted eight seconds. Two seconds longer than his last alley fight. One point more than the threshold.
Double digits.
He looked at the body. At the dark blood cooling on the stone. Then deeper into Sector 9, where the shadows thickened and the signatures grew stronger.
Somewhere in this darkness, a man named Doran hunted. Strength ten. A man who didn't test people. And somewhere beyond him, things far stronger waited.
The hunger stirred. Quiet. Patient. Still dormant. But watching.
Blaine walked forward.