The sky looked different when you climbed out of death.
It wasn't brighter. Just… quieter.
Reika's boots touched the edge of the ruined dungeon gate as she emerged from the collapsed underground tunnel. Her cloak was torn, streaked with blood both old and fresh, and her left arm hung limp at her side. She didn't feel the pain anymore. Not in the way she used to. She was numb. But not broken. Behind her, the fractured dungeon still pulsed faintly. The Eclipse Core had vanished, absorbed into her body. The chamber she'd left behind had already begun to collapse as if the world wanted to erase what had happened.
But it had happened. She was alive. She should've been dead. The city lights flickered in the distance, far beyond the treeline. Reika stood still for a moment, watching.
It was surreal how normal everything looked. Cars moved. Lights blinked. Somewhere, a siren wailed. And yet, in her chest, a shadow pulsed quietly, like a heartbeat that didn't belong to this world. Kuro stood behind her, silent and still, half-melted into her own shadow like a guardian spirit. Reika took a shaky breath and started walking.
The Hunter's South Branch looked the same. Too clean. Too loud. Too fake. Hunters lounged near the check-in terminals, sharing stories, showing off loot, pretending they weren't still afraid of what lurked beyond the gates. No one noticed the girl who stepped in, cloak dragging, eyes sharp, body humming with something unnatural. At first. Then whispers began. "Wait… is that?" "No way…"
"She's alive?" Kenji turned. He was mid-conversation with an A-rank hunter, laughing about "clearing dead weight" when his eyes met hers. His voice died in his throat. Reika didn't blink. Didn't look away. She walked straight past him. Didn't say a word.
But her eyes they said everything. You left me to die. And now I know.
The guild reception froze as she reached the counter. The woman behind the desk blinked several times. "R-Reika Aizora?" "I need medical clearance and a raid report form," Reika said calmly. "You were… declared missing." "I'm not missing. I'm here. Report form?" The woman stumbled to obey. "Y-Yes, of course."
Reika signed without a pause. And as she turned to leave, she felt the eyes again. Not fear. Not yet. But discomfort. Confusion.
They were trying to understand how an E-Rank girl, with no team, no gear, and no sponsor, had walked out of a collapsed dungeon alone when even C-Rank hunters had fallen before in similar gates. She didn't offer them answers. Let them wonder. Let it stew. That night, in her apartment a one-room corner in the slums with broken heating and peeling walls she sat in silence. Kuro stood near the window, watching the rain. "You should rest," he said, his voice deeper now, more grounded than before.
She didn't respond at first.
Then: "Do you remember who you were… before?" A pause. "No."
"Do you feel pain?"
"Only what you carry."
She glanced up. "What does that mean?" He turned. "Your summons are born from fragments of shadow. But shadow… is born from suffering. From memory. From the things light tries to erase." She looked down at her hands. Pale. Bruised. Trembling slightly.
"I don't want to suffer anymore."
Kuro stepped closer. "Then give it to us."
She looked up. "To… the shadows?"
"To me. To those you will summon. Let us carry your wounds. You… carry the blade."
It began with whispers. By morning, Reika's name was on the lips of hunters who had never even looked at her before. An E-rank girl, presumed dead, walks out of a collapsed dungeon… alone? Rumor mutated faster than fact. Some said she was rescued by a rogue S-ranker.
Others claimed she found a hidden relic. A few murmured darker tales of curses, of blood rituals, of a girl who returned from the shadows with eyes that weren't hers anymore. No one could agree on what had happened. But they all agreed on one thing.
She shouldn't have survived.
Inside the South Branch guild HQ, Kenji Yamada sat at a long conference table, arms folded, jaw tight. Across from him sat three senior officers — two B-rankers and one guild rep. "Your official report," one of them said, sliding a document across. "States that Reika Aizora fell during the dungeon collapse. That her signal crystal went dark."
Kenji nodded. "That's what happened." The woman narrowed her eyes. "So how is she alive?" Kenji leaned back in his chair. "I don't know. Maybe someone else pulled her out. I didn't see anything." "Convenient," another said flatly. "Especially for someone with three dungeon strikes on record and a reputation for throwing low-ranks at the front line."
Kenji's jaw twitched. "I followed protocol. She knew the risks. Everyone signs the waiver."
"Maybe so," the senior rep replied, lacing his fingers. "But if she files a counter-report... and if there's evidence of abandonment... the guild will open a formal investigation."
Kenji scoffed. "You're taking her word over mine? Over a no-name E-rank?" "She's not a no-name anymore," the rep said coldly. "She walked out of a place none of your team did. That alone has value. Be careful, Yamada. The eyes watching you now aren't the same as yesterday."
Across the city, in the slums, Reika knelt on the rooftop of an abandoned warehouse. Her fingers traced the edge of a rusted blade a newer one than her old dagger, looted off a corpse she'd passed in the dungeon. Still chipped. Still worn. But slightly better.
Kuro stood nearby, silent as always. "I saw him," Reika said softly. "Kenji. He couldn't even look at me." "He fears what you became," Kuro answered. "Fear is more useful than rage."
She looked up. "Useful for what?"
"For the war that is coming."
Reika paused. "What war?" But Kuro said nothing more.
Only turned his head toward the distance, where a red light had begun to pulse near the horizon. A new gate had opened. And Reika felt it. In her blood. It was calling her.
Later that evening, she stood at the edge of the new dungeon crack a minor one. Solo-clearable. Assigned only to D and E-ranks. A dozen hunters were there. Most ignored her.
But one a boy maybe two years older than her stepped close, eyes narrow. "You sure you're in the right place?" he asked.
Reika didn't answer. He pointed at the board. "Solo clear only. No parties. You go in, you deal with the consequences. You can still back out." "I'm not backing out."
"You don't even have proper gear."
She looked at him for the first time.
"I don't need it."
He blinked. Something in her tone made him step back.
Inside, the dungeon was cold. Not the same darkness as before but hollow, like a building that had forgotten why it was built. Cracked walls. Empty corridors. The faint sound of dripping water. Reika walked slowly, blade in hand, eyes scanning. And then movement. A hiss. Two goblin-like creatures leapt from the shadows.
Instinct screamed at her to duck. She didn't.
She just stepped aside calmly and let Kuro rise. The shadow erupted from beneath her feet, forming mid-leap. A blade of pure darkness slashed upward, cutting both beasts mid-air. They hit the ground before they even knew what had killed them. Reika didn't blink. This time, there was no fear. Only silence. She looked at the goblins' corpses, then turned deeper into the dungeon. There were more. And she wanted them to come.
The goblins didn't scream. They barely had the time. Shadow sliced through their ranks like a blade through smoke fast, fluid, and merciless. Where other hunters would stumble, block, dodge, Reika simply moved through the corridor with quiet steps and deadly precision. Kuro didn't fight like a summon.
He fought like instinct weaponized every twitch of Reika's breath mirrored in his movements. One by one, the monsters fell.
Not a single hit landed on her. Not even close.
At the dungeon's midpoint, a larger chamber waited cracked stone pillars, broken torch mounts, and in the center… a single hulking figure. Dungeon boss.
It was taller than any goblin seven feet at least with gray, stretched skin and armor made of scavenged metal. A jagged axe rested in its palm, too large for a normal man to wield. It growled when it saw her. Then charged. Most E-rank hunters would run. Or freeze. Or both. Reika did neither. She raised her hand slightly. "Kuro." Her shadow uncoiled behind her like a serpent.
The goblin lord roared and brought its axe down with a thundering crack smashing the ground where she had stood a moment ago. Dust exploded outward. But when it cleared…Reika was behind it.
Kuro's blade had already pierced the monster's spine. The creature staggered, snarled, and swung wildly but Kuro flowed like liquid shadow, stepping between attacks, arms twisting into blades, spears, hooks. Reika watched eyes sharp, expression unreadable.
Then… she stepped forward. And for the first time, she moved. Her blade struck low precise and fast. Behind the knee. Into the neck. Across the chest.Not to kill. To weaken. To give Kuro the final blow. And he delivered. The goblin lord fell.
A slow, gurgling growl escaped its throat as it hit the ground, twitching once… then went still. Silence filled the chamber. Reika exhaled. And smiled. Not with joy. Not with pride. But with clarity.
She was never meant to be cannon fodder. She was meant to survive. To rule the dark.
A few floors above, hidden in the skeletal remains of a ruined bell tower, a figure lowered their binoculars. He wore no guild emblem. Just a black coat. White gloves. And a single silver ring etched with unfamiliar runes. He tapped the side of his comm crystal. "Target confirmed," he said calmly. A voice responded, fuzzy and male.
"Name?" "Reika Aizora. E-Rank. No sponsor. No known bloodline.""…And she cleared that gate solo?"
"Confirmed. Shadow-type ability. Unknown classification. Not registered in any archive."
The line crackled. Then: "Monitor. Do not engage." The man smirked. "She's not ready yet?"
"No. But she's waking up. And when she does… we want her grateful. Not hostile."
"Understood."
The comm went dead. The man leaned back, eyes still on the dungeon entrance. Reika hadn't stepped out yet. But he could feel it. She wasn't going to stay in the dark much longer. And when she emerged… The world would notice.
Down below, Reika stood over the dungeon core. It shimmered softly a translucent crystal orb pulsing with red light. Normal procedure was to destroy it. Or turn it in.
She stared at it. The dungeon pulsed again. And for a moment… something inside her responded. Not with words. Not with thought. But with hunger. Kuro stepped beside her. "This one is small," he said. "What happens if I take it?"
"Nothing… at first. But the shadows will remember."
She paused. Then reached out. Her palm touched the core. And instead of shattering, it melted into her hand a glow of light consumed by darkness. Her veins flashed violet for a moment. Then went still.
Outside, when she stepped into daylight, the waiting hunters froze. They'd come to check on her. Maybe even to see if the rumors were true. And now, they saw her walking out alone, blood-smeared, calm, without a scratch. One of them took a photo. Another whispered her name. "Is that… her?"
Reika didn't stop. She didn't look back..She simply walked past them into a world that had already started whispering her legend.