The canyon yawned before Aiden Draven like the mouth of something ancient and half-awake. The ground cracked beneath his boots, black stone veined with glowing violet that pulsed faintly, as if alive. The cliffs rose on either side, serrated and cruel, etched with scars left by forgotten wars. Every gust of wind carried ash and whispers — faint, broken things that might have once been voices.
The air was thick here, almost liquid. Aiden could taste the iron on his tongue, the tang of burnt ozone, and something darker — the faint sweetness of corruption, of life energy curdled and warped.
The Devourer stirred within him, restless and eager. Its pulse beat against his chest like a second heart, whispering in a voice only he could hear. Consume. Grow. Evolve.
He ignored it. For now.
He crouched at the canyon's edge, eyes narrowing as he scanned the vast expanse below. It wasn't just a battlefield; it was a graveyard — bones fossilized into the cliffs, shattered armor embedded into rock like insects in amber. Yet beneath the ruin, there was life. Or something that mimicked it.
> [Warning: Biome Corruption Level – Extreme]
[Multiple Core Fragments detected. Quantity: Unknown.]
The holographic text flickered across his vision, fading almost instantly into static. EVE's voice — the system's ghost — had been silent since dawn. That alone meant danger.
Aiden drew in a slow breath. The Devourer's energy rippled faintly under his skin, hungry, patient, lethal. He knew this sensation. It always came before something went terribly wrong.
He stepped forward.
The earth groaned. The canyon shifted.
And then it screamed....
---
The first sound was not mechanical — it was alive, raw, and furious. A shriek ripped through the air, echoing down the chasm like the wail of a dying god. Shadows convulsed against the walls, twisting until they formed something massive and impossibly wrong.
From the depths rose the Corrupted Guardian — a monstrosity of stone, Core crystal, and bone fused together in a form that mocked symmetry. Veins of violet energy ran across its limbs like lightning, and its head… its head bore the grotesque imprint of a human face, stretched and frozen in silent agony.
> [Entity detected: Corrupted Guardian – Level 52 – Extreme Threat]
Aiden's hand slid to his blade. The Devourer purred like a beast scenting prey.
The Guardian's movements were erratic — one moment sluggish, the next blindingly fast. Limbs detached and reattached mid-swing, warping through the air as if time itself bent to its will.
Aiden smiled faintly. "So that's what we're doing today."
He moved.
The clash was instantaneous.
Red energy flared from his blade, meeting the Guardian's violet surge with a blast that split the air like thunder. Shards of crystal scattered, embedding themselves in the canyon walls. The Devourer fed greedily on the energy released, its hum deepening into something close to pleasure.
Every strike was a conversation — his blade spoke in data and death, the Guardian replied with chaos and noise. Sparks of corrupted light flickered between them, blinding, dazzling, and utterly destructive.
> [Entity partially consumed. Skill acquired: Fragmented Strike Lv.1 | Core Echo Lv.1]
The Guardian's scream deepened into something more primal. Its fractured limbs lengthened, slamming into the cliffside with enough force to shatter boulders. The canyon shook. Dust cascaded from above.
Aiden ducked under a swing, slashed across its core joint, and pivoted. His movements weren't human — too precise, too calculating. The Devourer wasn't just inside him now. It was with him, moving in harmony, hungry for perfection.
---
Then came the interruption — the living kind.
Footsteps echoed behind him. Light refracted off metal.
Five figures emerged from the cracks in the canyon walls — players, armed and smiling the way only those who thought they were in control could smile. Their gear glowed faintly with frost enchantments; their movements were disciplined, practiced.
Aiden didn't need to ask. He knew what they wanted — the Guardian's Core, and his head.
"Draven," one called, his voice metallic through the helmet. "You've been busy."
Aiden tilted his head slightly, expression unreadable. "You followed me here. Brave. Or stupid."
They fanned out, herding him toward the Guardian like hounds guiding prey. He could see it in their stances — they weren't new. They'd done this before. Team hunts. Traps. Shared kills.
Aiden's lips curved, but not in amusement. "Good," he murmured. "You'll make the lesson worth it."
The first charged. Aiden sidestepped, parried, and let the Devourer taste. The energy rippled, absorbing fragments of technique, motion, intent. The player barely had time to register his mistake before Aiden twisted, drove his elbow into his throat, and kicked him into the abyss.
Another raised a crossbow — fired. Aiden turned his wrist, red energy pulsing. The bolt shattered midair. The feedback burst in a flare of kinetic light.
> [Human Combat Insight +7% | PvP Skill Lv.2 acquired]
The Guardian roared again, catching one of the players mid-dash and crushing him against the canyon wall. His scream was short-lived. The remaining three froze — for a moment — long enough for Aiden to move.
He became a blur — red and black. Every strike was clean, mathematical, merciless. He didn't waste breath, didn't taunt. He was beyond that.
To fight Aiden Draven was not to fight a man. It was to be dissected by hunger given form.
> [PvP Outcome: Elite group neutralized. Human Data partially acquired.]
---
When the last body fell, the canyon seemed to breathe again.
The Guardian, enraged and dying, swung its last blow. Aiden met it head-on, his blade glowing bright crimson as the Devourer flared to life. The collision tore through space itself — light bending, dust turning to glass.
Then silence.
The Guardian froze mid-motion. Cracks spiderwebbed across its form. Light leaked through, and then —
— it shattered, collapsing into a thousand fragments of violet crystal.
> [Core Energy Consumed. Skills acquired: Ashen Pulse Lv.1 | Fragmented Core Lv.2]
The canyon dimmed. The oppressive hum quieted. The wind returned, carrying with it the scent of ozone and death.
Aiden stood amidst the wreckage, chest rising and falling steadily. Ash drifted through the air like snow.
"Still hungry?" he asked the Devourer.
It pulsed faintly inside him — not in words, but in raw emotion. Hunger was eternal. Satisfaction was temporary.
He stepped toward the Guardian's remains. At the center of the rubble lay something different — a fragment larger, darker, pulsing like a living heart.
When he touched it, the world bled.
Pain tore through him — a scream of energy and memory fused. Images flooded his mind: ancient cities built from living code, towers reaching through fractured skies, faces twisted by fear and ambition.
And then a voice.
> "Aiden Draven… you are learning too fast. Too much. But you still do not understand the design."
It wasn't EVE. This voice was older — raw, resonant, infinite.
Aiden forced himself upright, hand pressed against the fragment as it burned his palm.
> [Core Fragment Acquired: Forbidden Heart | Skills gained: Void Pulse Lv.1 | Devourer Insight Lv.1]
The whisper faded, leaving silence in its wake. The canyon was dead again.
Aiden exhaled slowly, brushing ash from his coat. The glow in his eyes dimmed, though faint traces of red still flickered in the shadows.
He turned north. Beyond the canyon stretched an expanse of ruins, broken towers, and the faint glimmer of unclaimed Core fragments. The air shimmered — unstable, beckoning.
EVE's voice finally returned, weak and distant.
> "You are closer, Aiden… but the true test lies beyond what you can perceive. The Devourer alone cannot save you."
He smiled — a small, tired, human smile. "Then I'll surpass it."
The Devourer pulsed again, warm and approving.
The wind picked up, carrying whispers that sounded almost like applause.
Aiden took one step forward, then another. The canyon swallowed his silhouette until only his faint red glow remained — the mark of a survivor, a predator, a man reshaped by what he chose to consume.
> [Cycle Two – Survival Day 6 begins…]