I didn't move at first. My body felt like it had shattered from the fall, every breath sharp and uneven. The darkness around me wasn't normal dungeon dark—it felt thick, like it was pressing against my skin. I tried to sit up and nearly blacked out. "Great," I muttered through clenched teeth. "Defeated the Demon King yesterday. Dying in a hole today."
A faint blue glow flickered above me. Not bright enough to see far, just enough to show cracked stone and jagged walls stretching upward into nothing. No visible exit. Of course. I pushed myself onto my elbows and checked my status window. My HP was dangerously low, blinking red. No party link. No shared regeneration. Just me. I let out a slow breath and forced myself to stand. My legs shook, but they held. "You've survived worse," I whispered. "Probably."
The silence down there wasn't peaceful. It felt aware. Like something was listening. I picked up my broken shield out of habit even though it wouldn't block much now. "If there's a boss," I murmured, scanning the darkness, "just make it quick."
A system notification appeared, but it wasn't the normal gold text.
It was black.
[Hero Qualification: Revoked.]
[Alternative Path Detected.]
[Would you like to awaken a Disqualified Class?]
I stared at it. My first reaction wasn't excitement. It was confusion. "Disqualified?" I laughed weakly. "You're late. That already happened." The option hovered in front of me.
YES
YES
"No 'No,' huh?" I wiped blood from the corner of my mouth and looked around the empty abyss. No team. No recognition. No name in history. "Guess I don't have much left to lose."
I pressed yes.
Pain hit instantly—not physical, not like broken ribs or bruised skin. This was deeper. It felt like something was reaching into my chest, into the place where the party link used to sit, and pulling it open. I dropped to one knee, gasping. "What—what is this?" My vision blurred as black lines crawled across my status screen.
[Hidden Class Unlocked: Void Sovereign.]
[Path of the Discarded Initiated.]
The air around me shifted. I could feel it now—energy, heavy and cold, flowing through the abyss like a slow river. It wasn't heroic. It wasn't warm. It didn't feel righteous. It felt patient. Ancient. Watching.
"Void Sovereign," I whispered. The title sounded wrong on my tongue. Too big. Too dark. "You couldn't give me something normal?"
Something moved again in the shadows. This time I saw it clearly—a creature dragging itself along the stone, twisted and thin, its eyes glowing faintly. A dungeon monster. Weak, but aggressive. It lunged.
I reacted on instinct, raising my broken shield. The impact knocked me backward, pain shooting through my arms. "Still hurts," I muttered as I pushed forward and slammed the edge of the shield into its skull. The creature screeched and bit into my shoulder before I managed to kick it off and crush its head with the shield's cracked rim.
I stood there breathing heavily, blood dripping down my arm. The wound burned—but then something strange happened. The pain dulled faster than it should have. My HP ticked upward slowly.
[Void Absorption Activated.]
[Damage Converted to Energy.]
I blinked. "You're kidding." I flexed my fingers, feeling strength pulse faintly through them. Not explosive. Not dramatic. Just… steady. Like the abyss itself had lent me something.
I looked around the darkness again. It didn't feel as suffocating anymore. If anything, it felt familiar. "So this is it," I murmured to myself. "No hero title. No party. Just this."
For the first time since they erased my name, I didn't feel empty.
I felt something else.
Hungry.