Author's Preface
Blue kept walking. Each step left a faint imprint in the floor beneath him. Derek’s confidence wavered, just slightly. “Look… whatever this is, we can…” Blue didn’t stop. Didn’t answer. Derek’s jaw tightened. He moved first. A quick lunge, fast, aggressive, meant to catch him off guard. Blue shifted. Not fast. Not rushed. Just… not there. Derek stumbled past him, barely catching his balance before spinning around. His hand flared with flame. “Don’t just stand there!” he snapped. “Do something!”
Before his team could move, Chris stepped forward, planting himself in their path. “Go on,” he said, calm. “I fucking dare you.” Samantha stood beside him, fire flickering in one hand, ice forming in the other. Darrien crouched low, aether pulsing through the daggers in his grip, a grin tugging at his lips. “Please… try me.” No one moved. Derek turned back. Panic was starting to bleed through. He thrust his hand forward, launching a fireball straight at Blue.
Blue raised his hand. The fireball slammed into his palm, bursting, crackling, and died. The flames scattered harmlessly around his fingers. Blue flicked his hand once, like brushing away ash. “…That’s all you got?”
Derek’s breath hitched. For a moment, he hesitated. Then he rushed him again. Desperate. Blue stepped aside. As Derek passed him, Blue’s foot drove into his stomach, clean, precise. The air left Derek’s lungs in a sharp gasp as his body folded forward. He tried to recover. Blue’s foot was already there. Planted against the back of his head. A single motion and he drove Derek face-first into the floor. The impact cracked through the lobby. Derek went still, body trembling, barely conscious. Blue didn’t move his foot. Slowly, he crouched. Placed his hand against Derek’s back. There was no flare. No explosion. Just pressure. Heat. Derek’s body tensed as the burn took shape. Blue's handprint, charred into his skin. A quiet, controlled release of qi. Blue leaned in slightly. “How does it feel?” Derek couldn’t answer.
A hand caught Blue’s arm. “…That’s enough.” Eve. Blue stilled. For a second, the aura around him lingered, heavy, suffocating. Then it receded. Just like that.
He stood, stepping back from Derek without another glance. Reaching into his coat, he pulled out a small vial and gently took Eve’s arm. He applied the ointment, his touch careful. “Hold still.” Eve didn’t argue. When he finished, Blue capped the vial and looked past her toward the guildmembers in the lobby watching. “Let’s go. I'm hungry.” He glanced at the team, calm again. “I’m buying.” They followed without a word. Behind them, Derek lay motionless on the cracked floor. No one moved to help him. No one said a thing.
The next day, the team stood at the entrance of the S-rank gate. Aaron was already there, waiting. As they stepped out of their vehicles, they all knew what was coming. Blue glanced between them. “Sorry, guys. I’ll take the fall for this one.”
Aaron started walking toward them. He passed the entire team and stopped in front of Eve. Gently, he took her arm, moving it slightly as he checked it. “Are you okay?” he asked. “You don’t have to do this gate if you’re injured.”
Eve smiled. “I’m fine. Between the ointment Blue used and Nomi, I’m perfectly okay.”
Aaron studied her for a moment, then nodded. He turned back to the team. “I’m sorry about what happened. After yesterday’s incident, and what happened with what Olivia told me about the previous gate, we’ve removed Derek and his team from the Buckeye Guild.” Aaron paused and looked between the rest of the the team. "The Association has also suspended them while they conduct their own investigation.” He looked at Blue. “He won’t be a problem anymore. So for now, focus on the gate." Aarons head shook slightly. "Now, you’re also the only team representing this guild at the ranker tournament. So go get stronger… and don’t waste this opportunity.”
Across town, Derek sat slumped against a building in an alley a few blocks from the Buckeye Guild. Frustration twisted across his face. His fists slammed into the brick wall, skin splitting as blood ran down his knuckles. “I’m not done with you…” A voice cut through the alley. “I hear you’ve been suspended from hunting. And kicked from the Buckeye Guild.”
Derek’s head snapped up. A cloaked man stood a few feet away. He flicked a card toward him. It landed at Derek’s feet. “When you’re done wallowing,” the man said calmly, “come find us.” A brief pause. “We can help you.” Then he turned and walked away. Derek stared at the card for a moment… then picked it up. One word was written across the front. Midnight. He flipped it over. Coordinates. Derek’s grip tightened around the card. He looked up, and the man was gone.
Back at the gate, the team prepared to enter. No one was nervous. Only anticipation lingered in the air. They were ready to prove it. The team entered the gate. If they hadn’t known before, the aura here screamed danger. Trees towered over two hundred feet high, their thick canopy blotting out nearly all light. It was pitch black. Through the gaps above, three moons were barely visible, their glow choked out by the dense foliage. Blue’s system pinged.
[System Notification]
[Bosses remaining: 3/3]
[Cleanse the anchor]
[Perceive what you cannot see.]
Blue glanced at Eve. “I think we’re in for a tough one.”
Eve didn’t hesitate. “Stay close.” The team moved forward, slashing their way through the dense vegetation covering the ground.
“Something’s watching us,” Darrien whispered to Blue.
“I feel it too,” Blue murmured back. “But I can’t sense them.”
Samantha groaned. “I can’t see shit.” She tossed a fireball into the air, forcing light into the darkness above them. For a brief moment, the team felt relief.
Then they heard it. A sharp, piercing whistle cut through the trees. A massive arrow, nearly two feet long, shot through the air and sliced straight through Samantha’s fireball. Darrien bent down and picked up the arrow, turning it slightly in his hand. “Yeah… we’re definitely being followed.”
Chris’s voice cut through the darkness. “Did anyone see where that came from?” Nomi stood beside Eve, biting lightly at her leg. When she looked down at him, she gestured toward the woods.
“Everyone, quiet.” For the first time, they could all hear it. The rustling of leaves. Twigs snapping. Movement just beyond their reach. They couldn’t see anything. It was almost as if whatever was out there… was toying with them. The team formed a tight circle, with Cynthia at the center. The sounds moved closer. “Get ready,” Chris whispered.
Before anyone could respond, metal slammed against Chris’s shield. A blade sliced across Eve’s arm. Samantha took one to the leg. Darrien dropped low, as always, already hurling daggers in every direction. Blue stood still. His qi spread outward, searching, reaching for what he couldn’t see. “On your left, Chris!” Chris shifted instantly, raising his shield just in time to block a blade aimed straight for Cynthia. “I can only sense them when they’re close!” Blue shouted. Chaos erupted. Again and again, the attacks came, relentless, constant, until even Blue couldn’t keep up with sensing them all.
“Fuck this!” Samantha snapped. She raised both hands. The temperature dropped instantly. Ice spread outward in every direction, crawling across the ground, creeping up the trees. Then, snow. Snow began to fall from above, thick and endless.
“There!” Eve called out. Two footprints pressed into the fresh snow. Darrien smirked. “Got ya, you slippery bastard.” He drove his dagger straight into where the body should be. The creature dropped. Its invisibility shattered. “…What the hell?” Darrien looked down in disgust.
Black skin, black eyes. Its arms were severed at the elbows, replaced with jagged blades. Like someone had intentionally mutilated it and replzced what was lost with a sword. It had a small frame. Lean muscle. It was a body built for one thing... hunting in the dark.