The monster didn’t spare the girls who’d crumpled to the ground. It simply turned—slowly, deliberately—back toward Ethan Parker.

  It was obvious now: Ethan’s little rock toss hadn’t just gotten its attention. It had humiliated it.

  A vicious glint flashed in its eyes.

  Then it charged.

  Not like an animal—like a runaway battering ram. Each step slammed the rooftop hard enough to make the concrete tremble beneath everyone’s feet.

  Ethan didn’t retreat.

  He snatched the fruit knife and drew it across his wrist—deep, right over the artery.

  Blood burst out.

  But instead of spraying uselessly into the air, it stopped—hanging there as if the world had briefly forgotten gravity. The crimson stream thickened, hardened, and stretched into the shape of a long blade.

  A blood-red longsword.

  Ethan caught the hilt as if he’d held it his whole life.

  The instant the monster reached him, Ethan moved.

  One clean swing.

  A crescent of red light carved through the air—

  —and the monster’s head dropped.

  It hit the ground, bounced, rolled several times… and came to a stop right in front of Sophie Lane.

  “AHHHH—!!!”

  She collapsed backward with a strangled scream, both hands over her head, completely losing it.

  Ethan’s blood-blade dissolved and flowed back into his body like it had never existed. The gash on his wrist knitted closed at a speed that made people’s stomachs turn.

  [Divine Mission Complete! Blood Strength permanently +6%]

  [Demon slain. “Hunting Thirst” triggered. Blood Strength permanently +2%]

  Ethan’s mind clicked into place.

  If his blood could become any weapon—or armor—then Blood Strength wasn’t just “damage.” It was everything. Offense, defense, endurance… all rising together.

  So as long as he kept killing monsters, he’d keep getting stronger. Faster. Harder to kill.

  And every time Blood Strength climbed another ten percent, he got a new draw—another chance at a new power.

  Kill more. Draw more.

  The kind of loop that never ends.

  Ethan felt his pulse hammer in his ears—not from fear, but from something dangerously close to exhilaration.

  Around him, the rooftop was silent for half a second… then it exploded.

  “He… he killed it?”

  “Thank you—thank you for saving us!” One of the girls started sobbing so hard she could barely breathe, bowing and babbling at the same time.

  “One hit… He cut it down in one hit! Ethan Parker—how is that even possible?!”

  “If it weren’t for him, we’d all be—”

  Grateful, stunned, terrified eyes kept locking onto Ethan.

  Meanwhile, the guy Ethan had dropped earlier—the loud one—just stood there with a blank face, one hand pressed to his chest.

  The pain was real.

  Which meant this was real.

  “Holy—” he muttered to himself, pale. “Good thing he didn’t do that to me. What was I thinking? Jumping in for a girl I don’t even know…”

  A few minutes later, the sky shifted again.

  The thick black clouds thinned out, the strange lightning faded, and blue daylight returned like someone had flipped a switch. Even that oppressive, gray filter in the air seemed to evaporate.

  Like the world had reset.

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Ethan stared upward, uneasy.

  So that “other place” really existed… and they’d just been pulled back out.

  But the bodies on the rooftop didn’t vanish.

  The dead stayed dead.

  Then a man in tactical gear burst onto the roof—moving fast, scanning for survivors—only to freeze mid-step.

  His gaze snapped to the monster’s corpse, and the shock on his face was immediate.

  He’d been dispatched to fight.

  And someone had already finished the job.

  “That’s a first-rank Green Troll…” he murmured, stunned. “Second-realm threat. Even I’d have to work for this.”

  His eyes lifted to the crowd—and landed on Ethan.

  Among a rooftop full of shaking students and hysterical sobbing, Ethan’s calm looked almost unnatural.

  But the man didn’t press him yet. He tapped his comms immediately.

  “Medical team, move in. Treat the wounded. Cleanup protocol: memory wipe where required, family stabilization, NDAs—full containment. Now.”

  Within minutes, personnel swarmed the building. Students were escorted away in groups.

  Everyone left…

  Except Ethan.

  The tactical man stepped closer. “I’m Grant Mercer. Probationary field investigator. Unit 749.”

  Ethan’s brows rose.

  749

  The name carried weight—like an organization you didn’t stumble upon unless your life had already gone sideways.

  He’d heard rumors before. People who handled the things ordinary departments pretended didn’t exist.

  “Ethan Parker,” he said evenly.

  Grant nodded toward the corpse. “You killed it?”

  “If I said no,” Ethan replied, “would you believe me?”

  Grant blinked once, then actually laughed under his breath. “Ridiculous.”

  Then, more carefully: “You just awakened, didn’t you?”

  “Awakened?” Ethan repeated.

  Grant lifted his palm.

  A flame ignited there—clean, bright, controlled.

  “People like us are called psionics,” Grant said. “Awakening can happen at any time, and it always comes with a Sequence Ability.”

  He curled his fingers and the flame danced without burning him.

  “Mine’s Fire-line. Sequence 78: Blazing Flame Orb.”

  “Most awakenings fall between Sequences 11 to 100. The rare few who get top ten… those are called God-Chosen.”

  He lowered his hand. “We also train techniques and combat skills, but Sequence Abilities are usually your trump card.”

  Ethan didn’t deny it. He just asked the question that mattered.

  “What happened to the sky? And how did that thing show up here?”

  Before Grant could answer, footsteps pounded up the stairwell. A woman in a black uniform reached the roof and looked around, breathing hard.

  “Grant!” she called. “I got the emergency ping and came straight over. Is it under control?”

  “It’s handled,” Grant said. “Just… not by me.”

  He gestured at Ethan. “This is Ethan Parker. Freshly awakened, and he just killed a first-rank Green Troll.”

  Her eyes widened. Then she broke into a grin and walked up like she’d just found buried treasure.

  “No way. That’s insane.” She stuck out her hand. “I’m Megan Hayes. Probationary investigator, Unit 749. Also—technically—your alum senior.”

  Grant glanced at Ethan. “You wanted an explanation. Megan, you take it. I’ll send a quick field report.”

  Megan waited until Grant stepped aside, then leaned in slightly and said one word like it was a password:

  “The Reverse World.”

  Ethan’s expression didn’t change, but his attention sharpened.

  “It’s almost identical to our world,” Megan continued. “Like the reflection on the other side of a mirror. Same buildings, same streets… except that side is crawling with demons.”

  “What hit this campus was a Rift—a tear where the two worlds overlap. When the tear opens, the Reverse World bleeds into ours. When it closes, things snap back.”

  Ethan nodded slowly. “So we got caught in the overlap… until the Rift shut.”

  Megan pointed at him like she was impressed. “Exactly. You’re quick.”

  Then her face fell a little. “It’s rare, though. I can’t believe it happened here.”

  Ethan looked from her to Grant. “So Unit 749 exists to deal with incidents like this. And to train psionics.”

  “Bingo,” Megan said, brightening again instantly. “And if you join, the benefits are real: solid base pay plus mission bonuses, proper training facilities, instructors, and a full resource system. Contribution points can be exchanged for techniques, gear, combat skills—the works.”

  Grant added, “Full investigators also get housing assigned in the city, legal firearm privileges, and the authority to demand cooperation from local security during supernatural operations.”

  Megan smirked. “And mental health support. Therapists on call. The kind who actually understand what you’ve seen.”

  Ethan almost laughed. The pitch was absurdly good.

  Power, resources, access, legitimacy.

  Still, he asked, “And if I don’t join?”

  Megan shrugged. “You register, do periodic check-ins, and as long as you’re not a threat, you live your life.”

  Grant returned, eyes sharp. “Why are you selling it like that? Ethan’s my find. If he signs, that’s my recruitment credit. Don’t even think about stealing it.”

  Megan rolled her eyes. “Relax. I’m just taking care of a junior from my old school.”

  Ethan cut through the bickering with the only question he cared about.

  “I awakened. How do I get stronger?”

  Megan lifted her wrist. Her terminal lit up, projecting a blue holographic panel.

  Name: Megan Hayes

  Realm: Mountain-Shift Realm (lv34)

  “This terminal does everything—ID verification, records, resource exchange, calling the Bureau’s super AI… all of it.”

  Ethan pointed at the number. “What does lv34 mean?”

  “Everyone has a hundred spiritual apertures,” she explained. “Fill them and you break through realms. Our super AI—Aimee—translates the data into levels.”

  “So lv100 equals a breakthrough,” Ethan said immediately. “How do you level?”

  Megan counted on her fingers.

  “First: cultivate normally—absorb spiritual energy, circulate it, steady progress. Slower, and people vary.”

  “Second: use resources. Faster. Unit 749 lets you trade contribution points for those.”

  “Third: go to the Reverse World. The energy there is denser, and killing demons yields energy too—but it’s dangerous.”

  Ethan remembered the warmth that had surged through him after the kill.

  So that was it.

  “And the fourth?” he asked.

  Megan’s tone shifted. “Missions.”

  Grant nodded grimly. “Awakened can receive random missions. Survival missions. Extermination missions. Even high-fatality confrontation missions. Some missions pull you straight into the Reverse World.”

  “But you can refuse,” Megan added. “Lie low. Cultivate slowly.”

  So the fastest path was the Reverse World.

  Which meant sooner or later… he’d go back.

  Ethan’s eyes narrowed slightly.

  Who issued these missions? The world itself? Something watching from above? Gods?

  Before he could chase the thought, text appeared in front of his vision—cold, clean, unmistakable.

  [Survival Mission Received — Survive for 8 hours]

  [Teleport Countdown: 168:00:00]