Zayn sat alone on the rooftop while the rest of the academy buzzed with evening noise.Laughter echoed from the dorm halls below, footsteps stomped through the stone corridors, but none of it touched him.
His eyes were closed.
He didn't need them anymore.
He could hear too much.
Heartbeats.
Dozens of them.
Fast, slow, uneven.Some filled with adrenaline.Some fluttered with fear.One beat slower than the rest, tired, sickly...Keira.
He could hear hers too.
[Wild Instinct Passive Enhanced]
The system didn't speak like a voice.It simply was.Like breathing.
A silent presence in his bones.
He stood up and looked down at the courtyard.
Below, a group of third-years circled a first-year boy.The kid was small, glasses cracked, holding his ribs like they were broken.
Zayn saw the ringleader.It was Magnus.Rank thirty-five.Son of a noble.Expert in sword aura.
Zayn's eyes didn't blink.
"Devour him."
He wasn't sure if the voice was the system anymore.
Or his own.
He walked down slowly.Floor by floor.Like he had all the time in the world.
When he stepped into the courtyard, the crowd turned.
Some sneered.Some whispered.
Magnus noticed him and smirked.
"Here to cry for your little friend, Zero?"
Zayn didn't reply.
He kept walking.
"You deaf too?"
Zayn didn't stop.
Magnus's smile faded.
He grabbed his sword from his back.
"I said—"
Zayn touched his wrist.
[Devour Attempt Initiated]
The sword dropped to the floor before Magnus could react.
He screamed.
A red thread coiled out from his wrist and vanished into Zayn's palm.
[Partial Extraction Successful: Aura Flow (Fragment)]
Zayn staggered backward.It wasn't full devour.But it worked.
Magnus clutched his arm, gasping like something inside him had been ripped.
"What...what did you do?!"
Zayn looked him in the eyes.
"I'm hungry."
The entire courtyard fell into silence.
Even the wind stopped moving.
And then...
Keira came running through the gates, eyes wide.
"Zayn—what happened?!"
He looked at her for a moment.
Then he smiled.
"I think I know how to rise now."
He turned to walk away.
Behind him, Magnus lay twitching on the floor, his sword aura flickering like a dying candle.
Zayn didn't need to be feared.
He needed to be unpredictable.
Because the real hunger hadn't even started yet.