The Mist Forest swallowed light.
Not gently. Not slowly. But like a living thing with teeth.
Thunder still echoed from the storm that had torn apart the sky. Steam clung to the ground in thick ribbons,
hissing as it touched burnt earth. Every breath tasted of metal and wet ash.
Auren moved through the shifting haze alone.
His armor bore the scars of the storm—scorched, cracked, dented—but his body stood firm. His flame
pulsed beneath his skin like a heartbeat.
But something else pulsed with it.
A warning. A sensation that prickled at the back of his mind.
Danger.
He stopped.
Silence.
Then—
TWANG.
A silver arrow streaked from the mist.
Auren jerked his head aside; the arrow grazed his cheek and buried itself in a twisted tree, its shaft still
crackling with kinetic energy.
A second arrow fired.
Auren raised a flickering barrier of blue flame.
PSSHK.
The arrow disintegrated upon impact.
A mocking voice drifted through the fog. Cold. Detached. Amused.
"So you're the stray from Team 10… the one who dodged my first shot by luck."
1
A figure emerged.
A woman clad in black tactical gear. Emerald targeting lens. Energy-bow humming with latent power.
Every movement precise. Efficient. Deadly.
Her bow split into three energy lines.
"Let's fix that mistake," she said.
Auren exhaled.
"Arrow specialist," he murmured. "You picked the wrong prey."
She smirked. "No. You're just another corpse on my scoreboard."
Hunter vs Flame
Three arrows split midair into nine.
Auren moved.
Flame surged beneath his boots, propelling him sideways. He dodged two arrows, ducked under three,
then twisted through the remaining volley with a blur of movement.
The arrows detonated behind him, lighting the mist in brief, violent bursts.
Auren sprinted. She fired.
Auren spun. She recalculated.
He vanished. She cursed.
"He's reading my shot patterns—impossible!"
Auren reappeared behind her. His fist blazed.
CRACK.
She flew backward, smashing into an ancient root. Her bow snapped.
She coughed blood.
"Someone… like you… from a low-tier city…?"
2
Auren lowered his hand. Eyes calm. Unforgiving.
"Power doesn't care where it's born. Only who can claim it."
Her form flickered and dissolved—the simulation marking her defeat.
As the particles faded, faint runes glowed on the scorched ground.
Auren knelt.
"What are you…?" he whispered.
The runes pulsed once—then faded like a sigh.
Watching Eyes
Far above the forest, inside the control dome, Owen monitored hundreds of flickering life-signs.
One signal blinked out.
Auren. Eliminated a Team 7 challenger.
Another blinked—Alys. Three opponents erased.
A third blinked—Team 9 collapsing.
Owen frowned.
"Skyliner City… Monsters this year."
But something else caught his eye.
Auren's signal veered. Sharply. Away from the core.
"What are you doing, kid?" Owen muttered.
Cave of Venflare
The mist thickened until it became a shroud.
At the foot of a blackened cliff, Auren found the cave. Half-buried. Dead trees clawed around it.
Heat radiated from within. Sharp. Oily. Wrong.
3
Auren stepped inside. His inner flame pulsed. Not with fear. With hunger.
The darkness stirred.
A hiss.
Then—the ground exploded.
A massive serpent surged forth—scales glowing amethyst, fangs dripping purple fire. Its twin violet flames
for eyes burned with ancient fury.
The Venflare Serpent.
A predator among predators.
Its first breath nearly melted the cave.
Auren leapt aside as a torrent of corrosive flame incinerated the stone where he stood.
Auren responded with a burst of blue fire.
The cave trembled.
Blue and violet clashed. Corrosive heat tore at the walls.
Auren's flame twisted. Hungrier. Sharper.
"So you're a predator… just like me," he whispered.
He shed restraint.
Blood and flame intertwined. A vortex of emerald-blue swallowed the serpent's venom.
The beast screamed. Its power peeled away, ripped into Auren's core.
Pain ripped through him. Muscles spasmed. Skin split.
The corrosive flame raged inside him like a demon.
"I don't want to use it yet…" Auren gasped. "But you leave me no choice."
His fingers flashed through a seal.
"Bloodburn—Level One."
4
The world ignited.
His strength surged. A tidal wave of flame burst outward.
The serpent recoiled.
Auren's flame devoured the corrosive fire—consuming it like a starving beast.
The serpent shrieked. Shuddered. Collapsed.
Auren dropped to one knee. Veins glowing black.
The backlash of Bloodburn tore through him.
But he held on.
He forced the corrupt flame into submission.
And refined it.
His core shifted. Deepened. Darkened.
Auren gasped. Sweat dripped. His flame flickered violently—between life and collapse.
But he endured.
He always endured.
And when he rose, the cave glowed with a faint, eerie violet.
Auren stepped forward. The forest waited. Hungry. Alive. Watching.
5