Elsewhere — The Dark Continent, Hidden Observatory
They felt it.
Long before the dragon turned. Before the tremor. Before the aura swallowed the battlefield—
The Dark Triad had already gone still.
Ried Stone, the leader cloaked in shadows, narrowed his eyes toward the distant east. His usually unreadable expression darkened.
Mae Lou, the Widow Witch, pressed her fingers to her temples.
> "This aura… it's not yours, Ried."
Kim Hwan stood against the wall, grinding his teeth.
> "It's darker."
> "No… it's worse."
> "It's pure."
> "That hatred… that rage… whoever it is, he's not fighting. He's punishing."
Dao and Yao, the Twin Crows, for once didn't speak.
They simply watched the arcane monitors, breath silent.
Kellan Graves, even he—the Smiler—wasn't smiling.
> "Whatever just woke up… it doesn't belong on this side of life."
---
Back in Seoul — The Battlefield
The wind screamed. Shadows twisted. The very sky recoiled.
And in the center of it all…
Rover Cheon was walking.
No longer limping. No longer bleeding. No longer the forgotten, the Unawakened, the useless boy.
Each step he took toward the wyvern echoed like a war drum.
The beast, massive and crowned with jagged horns, hesitated.
Nox whispered, "That's… that's not Rover."
Eunji, barely conscious, felt her breath hitch.
Bo Gun looked pale.
> "He's… terrifying."
Other hunters nearby backed away as he passed.
> "What is he?" one whispered.
> "Is he even on our side?" said another.
And then it happened.
---
The Wyvern screeched—charging.
Wings flared, claws glinting, it lunged at Rover with a speed born of apex instinct.
But Rover…
He simply raised his hand.
Boom.
The wyvern's claw shattered against an invisible force.
Rover's eyes, now glowing with a black-red light, met the beast's.
And then—
The massacre began.
Rover disappeared from sight.
Only flashes.
Only screams.
Slash. Crunch. Rip.
The wyvern couldn't react—couldn't even breathe.
Rover struck its wings, ripping them off, then tore through its chest with bare hands, like peeling bark from a tree.
He climbed onto its head as it screeched in pain, slammed a knee into its skull so hard the earth cracked below them, and drove a black blade formed from his aura through its eye, into its brain.
> "You took everything from me."
> "Now I take everything from you."
The final blow—a punch to its core, so powerful, it shattered the wyvern into ash.
Nothing remained.
No corpse.
No bones.
Just silence.
The world stared.
Even the SS-Rank hunters were left speechless.
---
But it wasn't over.
The dragon, the colossal beast the Celestial Order and global guilds had spent hours trying to bring down—
Stopped.
Its head turned. Slowly. Drawn.
Drawn to Rover.
It let out a guttural, low roar and reared back.
> "Void Beam incoming!" someone screamed.
The dragon released its devastating energy.
Celestial members prepared for the worst—
But Rover walked into it.
The void beam slammed into him—
And disappeared.
Absorbed. Like it belonged to him.
Like he had become a black hole.
> "...Impossible," whispered Naiomi Sasaki.
> "He… took it like it was air," said Maria del Rosario.
> "What kind of monster did this boy become?" asked Marcus Brandt.
---
The Dragon charged.
Rover raised a hand.
Dark chains burst from the ground, binding the beast's limbs.
He moved again—faster than light, faster than thought.
Punch. Snap. Slash. Crush.
The dragon couldn't fight back. Couldn't even roar.
The Celestial Order and global guilds could only watch.
In awe.
In horror.
In silence.
And the world was watching.
Every screen—military base, news network, underground hub—had switched to the live broadcast.
---
Inside a South Korean Military Facility
Professor Kuroda, Ayaka, Mina, and Vex all stood, frozen.
> "That's…" Ayaka stepped forward, wide-eyed.
> "Rover…?" Mina whispered.
> "No. That's not our Rover," said Vex, gulping.
Kuroda narrowed his eyes.
> "That power… should not exist. Not like this."
---
At a School Dorm
Gan Sae Bok stared at the TV, mouth open, sweat pouring.
His bully friends all backed away from the screen like it would bite them.
> "I… I made that guy bleed last week," Gan whispered.
> "He's a demon," said another.
> "We bullied the wrong one…"
> "We're dead."
---
At the Black Tower Ruins
Rover stood above the dragon's corpse. Breathing slowly.
The battlefield was silent.
Every guild. Every hunter. Everyone was frozen.
But then—
A final explosion of power erupted from his body.
A dark wave that pushed even SS-Ranks back several steps.
And Rover collapsed.
Fell like a broken puppet, unconscious, unmoving.
The shadows faded.
The storm calmed.
And what remained—
Was fear.
---
To Be Continue….