I walked through the morning fog. My stomach didn't growl for food. My legs didn't feel tired. At Level 7, I felt like I was made of lightning and steel. Nero was hidden under my cloak, his small claws digging into my shoulder. He was sleeping, his belly full of monster energy.
As I turned the corner toward my apartment, I saw a crowd of people. They were standing in front of a giant TV screen on the side of a building.
"Look! Someone is fighting back!" a woman screamed, pointing at the screen.
I stopped and looked up. It was a live news broadcast. The camera was shaking. It showed a park in the middle of the city. A small rift had opened there, and three Lesser Ghouls were chasing a group of kids.
Then, a man stepped in front of the camera. He was wearing a police vest and holding a heavy metal bat.
"Get back!" the man yelled. He swung the bat and hit a ghoul in the shoulder. The monster hissed and fell back, but it wasn't dead.
The crowd around me started to cheer.
"He's a hero!" a man yelled. "The police can handle them!"
I watched the screen with cold eyes. I knew that man. In my past life, his name was Captain Choi. He was the first person to "awaken" in public. The news called him the 'First Hero.' They used him to make people feel safe.
It was a lie.
The screen showed Choi hitting the ghoul again. A small gold light appeared around his bat. He had awakened an F-Rank skill: 'Strong Hit.' It was the weakest skill in the world, but to the people watching, it looked like magic.
"He's going to win!" someone in the crowd shouted.
I shook my head. "He's going to die," I whispered.
A woman next to me turned and glared. "How can you say that? He's saving those kids!"
I didn't answer. I looked back at the screen. Choi was breathing hard. He didn't know that ghouls hunt in packs. He didn't know that for every ghoul you see, there are two more in the shadows.
On the TV, a second ghoul jumped from a tree. It landed on Choi's back. Its black claws dug into his neck.
"No!" the crowd around me gasped.
Choi screamed. He tried to shake the monster off, but the third ghoul lunged at his legs. The camera zoomed in. You could see the terror in Choi's eyes. He wasn't a hero. He was just a man with a bat who didn't understand the new rules.
The screen went black as the cameraman started running. The last thing we heard were the screams of the "hero" being eaten alive.
The crowd was silent. The woman who glared at me started to cry. The hope was gone. The lie had been broken in less than five minutes.
"They are coming," I said to nobody.
I didn't go home. I looked at my map. A new red dot was blinking. It was the park. The rift there was growing. If I didn't close it, it would turn into a 'Gate,' and hundreds of monsters would pour out into the streets.
"Nero," I whispered. "Wake up. It's time for dessert."
Nero poked his head out from under my cloak. His four eyes blinked. He saw the fear in the people around us, and he let out a low, hungry purr.
I used Shadow Blink.
I vanished from the sidewalk. The people around me didn't even notice. One second I was there, the next I was gone.
I appeared on top of a tall tree overlooking the park. Below me, the scene was a bloodbath. Choi was dead. His body was being torn apart by five ghouls. The kids were trapped against a fence.
One ghoul was crawling toward a little girl. It opened its mouth, showing rows of yellow teeth.
I didn't wait.
I jumped.
I didn't fall like a normal person. I used the energy in my legs to move faster. I looked like a black spear falling from the sky.
CRUNCH.
I landed directly on the head of the ghoul near the girl. My boots crushed its skull into the grass.
[Exp +40]
The other four ghouls stopped eating. they looked up, their faces covered in blood. They saw a man in a tattered black cloak with eyes that glowed like silver fire.
"Get behind me," I told the kids. My voice was calm, like I was talking about the weather.
The kids didn't move. They were frozen in fear.
The ghouls roared and ran at me. They were faster than the ones in the warehouse. They were "fed" ghouls. They had tasted human blood, which made them stronger.
"Nero, keep the kids safe," I commanded.
Nero jumped off my shoulder. He didn't look like a kitten anymore. He grew to the size of a large dog, his black wings spreading out. He landed in front of the kids and let out a roar that sounded like a volcano exploding.
The ghouls flinched. They felt the "Sovereign" energy coming from the dragon.
I moved.
I used Shadow Blink to appear in the center of the pack. I didn't swing my blade once; I swung it four times in a single second.
Flash. Flash. Flash. Flash.
The ghouls didn't even have time to scream. Their bodies were sliced into pieces before they could lift a claw.
[Exp +40, +40, +40, +40]
I stood in the grass, my blade dripping with black slime. I looked at the body of Captain Choi. He was the "Hero" the world wanted. I was the "Monster" the world needed.
I reached out my hand toward the rift. It was a swirling vortex of purple energy.
"Eat it, Nero."
Nero walked to the rift. He didn't bite it. He opened his mouth and started to breathe in. The purple energy began to stretch and pull, flowing into Nero's mouth like water down a drain.
[Skill Activated: Mana Devour.] [Nero is consuming the Rift...]
The rift shrank. It got smaller and smaller until it vanished with a loud POP.
[Ding! World-First News: You have closed a Rift before it became a Gate!] [Rewards: 1,000 Exp, Title Upgrade!]
[Ding! Level Up!] [Current Level: 8]
I felt the power surge through me. My skin felt like it was made of diamonds.
I turned to the kids. They were staring at me, their mouths open. The little girl looked at Nero, then at me.
"Are you an angel?" she asked, her voice shaking.
I looked at my black blade. I looked at my blood-stained cloak. I looked at my dragon, who was licking his lips after eating a hole in reality.
"No," I said. "I'm just the guy who survived."
I heard sirens in the distance. The police were coming. The news cameras would be here soon. They would find the dead ghouls and the dead hero. They would look for me, but they wouldn't find anything.
"Nero, let's go."
I grabbed the kids and used Shadow Blink to move them a block away, near a group of adults. Before they could say thank you, I vanished again.
I was back in the shadows, watching the police arrive at the empty park.
The world was mourning their hero. They were crying for Captain Choi. They didn't know that the real war was just beginning. They didn't know that the "Hero" era was over before it even started.
It was the era of the Sovereign now.
I looked at the red numbers in the sky.
[29:12:05:44]
I had a lot of work to do. And I was just getting started.