The rain hadn't stopped. For three days, it poured as though the sky was mourning something only it understood.
She stood barefoot in the dirt training yard—her uniform soaked, torn, and stained with crimson. Before her, three students towered with cruel grins. Class 4 initiates. Stronger. Trained. Magical.
She was still in Class 0.
One of them swung a wooden blade. It cracked against her shoulder, and she didn't fall. Another strike. Then another. Blood mixed with rain. She didn't scream.
Until she moved.
Snap!
Her foot twisted mid-air and slammed into one boy's jaw with such raw instinct that his neck snapped sideways. He crumpled.
The others stared, frozen.
Then they rushed her.
She welcomed it.
Inside the control room above the field, instructors watched.
"That girl... No Name. She's learning without a system. She's adapting like a beast."
"We should stop it before she kills someone."
"No."
The voice was cold, commanding.
Lucifer's first apostle stood behind them, arms folded.
"Let her break. Let her understand what blood tastes like when it belongs to someone else."
She dodged a spell blast—barely.
Then a sword grazed her face. Her eye swelled. One rib fractured.
But then she grabbed the attacker's wrist, twisted it backward, and drove her knee into his gut. He vomited blood. She spun and slammed her forehead into the last boy's nose.
Three down.
She stood in the blood and the mud. Panting. Crying.
"I'm still here."
The silver-haired girl from before appeared, stepping into the rain.
"You really don't know when to stay down, do you?"
No Name staggered.
"Huh… that look in your eyes," the silver-haired girl whispered, stepping closer. "Are you scared of me or… of what you're becoming?"
No answer.
Just blood. Just rain. Just silence.
AI SCALING SYSTEM UPDATED...
durability: D-
experience: D
strength: D-
biq: D-
iq: D
hax: Locked
ability: Locked
endurance: C-
agility: D
intelligence: D-
power: D-
weaponry: F+
stamina: C
combat: D
feat: D
AP: D
DC: D
attack speed: D
combat speed: D
base movement: D
narrative speed: D
healing restoration: D
soul speed: D-
reaction speed: D
combat movement: D
physical speed: D
teleportation speed: Locked
attack speed: D
healing speed: D
Emotion Detected:Raw survival. First taste of dominance.
Stability: 42%
She sat under the broken gate that night, bleeding into the earth.
The silver-haired girl approached again, quietly.
"Still nameless?"
The girl didn't respond.
"I'll call you something… Until you earn your real name."
"What?"
"…Ashen."
And for the first time…
She smiled.