Chapter 3 — Blood on the Wind
The air was unnaturally still that morning.
Sector 12 usually echoed with the sound of trains, factory engines, and the clamor of life clawing to survive. But on this day, it was silent.
As if the city itself knew that something terrible was about to happen.
Jin-Ho stepped out of the building, mana suppressor ring still on his finger, bag slung over his shoulder. His father had gone back to work—head bowed, as always, enduring. His mother was recovering slowly, her memory of the incident cloudy.
He hadn't told them about the letter.
Delivered without a seal, no return address. A single line:
"You should have stayed in your place."
He had burned it.
But the fire inside him hadn't faded.
Jin-Ho made it halfway to the station before he felt it.
That shift in the air.
He froze, his senses sharpening. Not a single car on the street. No sounds. No movement.
Then—
Boom.
The explosion shattered the side of the street.
A barrier dome of advanced magic surged into existence around the entire block, locking out sound, light, and escape.
A figure stepped forward from the dust.
Tall. Black trench coat. A silver crest pinned to the chest:
"DONGJIN ELITE SECURITY FORCE".
Behind him, a dozen more appeared. Men and women in combat robes, silent and expressionless. Their levels surged—each one a fully certified Level 7 or higher.
Jin-Ho's heart thundered in his chest.
They weren't here to warn him.
They were here to erase him.
"Seo Jin-Ho," the lead agent said flatly. "By decree of the Dongjin Internal Tribunal, you are hereby classified as a destabilizing threat to noble order. You are to be eliminated."
Jin-Ho's eyes narrowed.
"So the noble dogs are done barking. Now they bite."
A smirk formed on the agent's lips. "You were warned."
They moved as one.
Jin-Ho's suppressor ring shattered as his mana erupted outward, a shimmering field of pure elemental power flooding the area.
But it wasn't enough.
Not against twelve Level 7s trained in coordinated assault magic.
He dodged the first barrage, countered a fire spear with a wind burst, but a paralysis rune struck his shoulder. He stumbled, then caught himself—only to be blasted back by a sonic wave.
His vision spun.
Blood ran from his mouth.
They were toying with him.
"Pathetic," one agent muttered. "They said he was Level 5. He's barely above 4."
The lead agent raised his hand to finish it—
But then, the sky above them darkened.
Wind howled unnaturally through the alley.
Behind Jin-Ho, the very air seemed to twist—and from the shadows emerged a sigil. Faint. Ancient.
A summoning gate, not cast by him.
A location lock.
"Shit—he's being extracted!" one of the agents shouted.
The sigil pulsed, and Jin-Ho was yanked backward—vanished in a burst of crimson mist.
He landed hard in a forest clearing.
The smell of blood soaked the air.
He pushed himself up, coughing, limbs shaking. The trees were twisted, blackened as if scorched by centuries of war.
And there, at the center of the clearing—stood a throne.
A throne drenched in blood, its jeweled surface glinting darkly under the weight of its curse. At its heart, a single draconic eye burns—a red predator's gaze, unblinking and eternal. Blood drips steadily, a relentless testament to the lives it has claimed. It's not just a seat of power—it's the seat of RULER.
As he approached, something called to him.
A voice—not spoken aloud, but inside his mind.
"Var-Nyx…"
Jin-Ho froze.
"What…?"
He looked around—nothing but the throne, and silence.
He reached out.
The moment his fingers brushed the armrest—the throne vanished.
So did the forest.
Suddenly, he stood surrounded.
More than five hundred magic users encircled him—uniformed, cloaked, armed. An elite army of the Dongjin Clan's war division. Their levels registered between 7 and 8.
And above them—seven shadows hovered in the sky.
Seven Level 9s.
Three revealed—smiling coldly.
Three wore identical robes, but no faces could be seen—just blank mana-masked voids.
And the seventh…
A figure cloaked in pitch-black, not even the face visible. A human-shaped shadow, radiating power so dense that even the wind avoided him.
In his hand—a golden sword, glowing faintly against the night-split sky.
They all looked at Jin-Ho.
And laughed.
"This is the threat?"
"They said he was dangerous. This is just a kid."
"We were paid billions to kill this? Waste of a Power."
Jin-Ho reached into his shirt.
Pulled out the dull metallic sphere.
His father's inheritance.
He didn't know why—but something told him this was the only way out.
The moonlight hit the orb—and it began to glow.
The laughter stopped.
The Level 9s reacted immediately.
"Retrieve that artifact!"
"NOW!"
But Jin-Ho didn't want to let his father's inheritance fall into the hands of the enemies, so he swallowed it without thinking about anything and thanking is father and mother for the life he lived.
As he swallowed it, The moment it entered his body, his body ignited from within, his mana core started to react vigorously.
Pain. Heat. Transformation.
One of the cloaked Level 7s lunged toward him—but before he got close, his body melted into ash.
The next—an 8—tried to impale Jin-Ho with a lance of lightning. But the moment it touched him, the lightning recoiled, and the L8 burst into flame.
Panic spread through the army.
One of the L9s—the green-robed one—hurled a massive enchanted axe.
It touched Jin-Ho's aura—and the axe disintegrated like dry wood in fire.
Then, Jin-Ho roared.
A roar that shattered the clouds.
Weapons exploded.
L7s collapsed.
The sky trembled.
And the Level 9s… realized it too late.
"His core—! It's evolving!" "L6… L7… L8… L9!?" "Impossible! This shouldn't—he's forcing it!!"
But it didn't stop.
His core surged past L9.
Not real. Not complete. An artificial Level 10—unstable, imperfect, but enough to terrify even the strongest beings on the continent.
The L9s felt a wave of aura that threatened their existences, a power that can destroy them in the matter of seconds. Fearing the growth of Jin Ho, they immediately started to use their strongest attacks on Jin Ho.
As the L9's started to attack , Jin Ho gathered mana around him and created a sword from thin air.
The L9's new that it was the stage of Creation and Destruction that is heard of but never achieved.
Jin ho created a mana sword that was used to block the attack and as he waved his sword, the space and mana in that area got split. It was as if there was the sword that cut the world itself.
At that moment all their attacks were destroyed. L9's stood there in shock and angry. They realised that his existence itself is a threatening thing to the universe.
As Jin Ho stood on the dark forest, the moonlight shined on his eyes that the L9's felt fear after a long time.