It began with a scream.Not a human one.
The ground trembled, the air cracked with a low, bone-deep rumble.Karn was halfway through the east courtyard when the first explosion of dust and debris ripped through the city's outer wall.
"Monsters breaching Gate Three!" someone shouted.Panic spread like wildfire — guards scrambling, alarms wailing, steel clashing.
From the roiling smoke, a hulking beast emerged — fur black as midnight, eyes molten gold, muscles rippling under its skin. Its claws could split stone, its breath burned hot enough to melt armor.
Archers loosed volleys, mages hurled flame, but nothing slowed it down. The monster smashed through defensive lines like they were paper doors.
Karn spotted his siblings in the chaos — shields raised, ushering civilians toward safety. Then his gaze snapped to a collapsed cart pinning three children. The beast's head turned. Its gaze fixed on them.
It charged.
Karn didn't think.He moved.
He vaulted rubble in a blur, boots cracking cobblestone on landing. The air around him shifted — shadows stretching unnaturally far, clinging to him like living smoke.
"W-What the hell?!" a guard yelped, stumbling back.
The beast's claw swung, a blur of black and gold. Karn's hand shot up.
The world seemed to pause.Stone cracked beneath his feet. The claw stopped cold, caught in his grip.
Gasps."WTF— did he just—?""Impossible…"
Karn's eyes burned faintly, just for a second — a ghost of a mark, a sun-scar etched in gold.
He spoke softly."Move… before I stop holding back."
Then he shoved.
The beast was flung like a ragdoll, crashing into a stone wall with a thunderclap of shattering masonry. Dust rained down as the courtyard fell into stunned silence.
People stared."That's not unawakened.""What is he?""No way a normal hunter could—"
Karn didn't linger. Before anyone could approach, he stepped backward into the smoke, his presence dissolving with the shadows. One moment he was there, the next — gone.
The mages and guards rushed to finish off the stunned monster, still murmuring, still shaken. But even as they worked, every single person who saw what happened would remember that instant — that impossible strength.
Karn moved through the alleys away from the battlefield, his heartbeat steady. That… wasn't even close to his limit. But it was enough to send a message.
Let them think it was luck.Let them whisper.The hunt had already shifted — and he wasn't the prey anymore.