The Ogre didn't roar; it static-screamed.
The sound was a digital tear in reality, grinding against Kael's eardrums. The massive creature towered twenty feet high, its texture flickering between rocky skin and wireframe code. One eye was missing, replaced by a floating block of error text.
[ WARNING: Simulation Instability Detected. ] [ Entity: Glitch-Ogre (Variant) ] [ Aggro Logic: Attracted to High Mana Signatures. ]
Kael read the Codex prompt and smiled. It was a small, cruel smile.
"High mana signatures," Kael whispered. He looked up at the stone pillar where Vane Thorne stood, practically glowing with arrogance and crackling blue lightning.
Vane was a lighthouse in a dark ocean. And the Ogre was the ship looking to crash.
"Eren," Kael said, his voice low and urgent. "Change of plans. Don't shield me."
Eren gripped his staff, knuckles white. "What? That thing will crush you in one hit!"
"Buff my speed," Kael ordered. "We aren't fighting it. We're delivering it."
Eren hesitated for a fraction of a second, then nodded. He slammed the butt of his staff onto the stone floor. [ Skill: Windstep Blessing ] A green, swirling aura wrapped around Kael's boots. His body felt instantly lighter, gravity losing its grip.
"Stay here," Kael said. "And try not to look guilty."
Kael moved.
He didn't run away from the monster. He sprinted straight at it.
The Ogre raised a fist the size of a boulder. Kael slid underneath the swing, the wind pressure alone nearly knocking him flat. He skidded to a stop right between the beast's legs and looked up.
[ Fire Spark (Lvl 2) ]
Kael snapped his fingers. A concentrated blast of fire exploded against the Ogre's inner knee. It wasn't enough to kill it—not even close—but it was enough to piss it off.
The Ogre looked down, its single good eye locking onto Kael. It roared again.
"Come on, big guy," Kael taunted, backing away. "Time to meet your new owner."
Kael turned and sprinted toward Vane's pillar.
The Ogre gave chase. For a creature so large, it was terrifyingly fast, tearing through stone walls and crushing other unfortunate applicants who got in the way. The ground shook with every step, a rhythmic earthquake closing in on Kael's heels.
High above, Vane Thorne watched Kael sprinting toward him. The noble laughed, the sound amplified by the arena acoustics.
"Look at him run!" Vane shouted to his lackeys. "The rat is coming to beg for protection! Pathetic!"
Vane raised his hand, lightning coiling around his fingers. "Don't let him up. Blast him back into the monster's path."
His two shield-bearers stepped forward to block the ramp, grinning malicious grins.
Kael didn't slow down. He saw the lightning gathering in Vane's hand. He saw the Ogre's shadow looming over him, a massive fist raising for a killing blow.
"Perfect," Kael muttered.
Just as Vane fired a bolt of lightning and the Ogre's fist came down—Kael dissolved.
[ Skill: Ash Phase (Lvl 2) ] [ Duration: 5 Seconds ]
Kael became a stream of grey smoke.
Vane's lightning bolt passed harmlessly through the smoke. The Ogre's fist slammed into the ground where Kael had been a millisecond ago, sending shockwaves rippling out.
But the smoke didn't stop. It flowed through the shield-bearers, ignoring their physical blockade. It surged up the ramp, reforming into Kael directly behind Vane Thorne.
Vane blinked, realizing his target was gone. "What the—"
"Special delivery," Kael whispered in his ear.
Vane spun around, sword raised, but Kael was already moving. He didn't attack Vane. He simply kicked the back of Vane's knee—not to injure, but to buckle his stance—and then vaulted off the pillar back into the crowd.
Vane stumbled, correcting his balance, and looked up.
Straight into the face of the Glitch-Ogre.
The monster, having lost its original target (Kael), instantly locked onto the next highest energy source: The idiot holding a sword made of literal lightning.
[ Aggro Switched. Target: Vane Thorne. ]
The Ogre didn't hesitate. It backhanded Vane with enough force to shatter stone.
"Aaargh!" Vane screamed as his expensive mana-shield flared and shattered. He was launched backward, crashing into his own shield-bearers.
"Kill it! Kill it!" Vane shrieked, panic cracking his noble voice. He scrambled backward, firing desperate arcs of lightning that only made the Ogre angrier.
Chaos erupted on the pillar. Vane's pristine armor was dented, his formation broken. In the confusion, a golden Token that had been juggling in Vane's hand rolled across the floor, ignored in the panic.
Kael, now safe in the shadows of a lower wall, watched the chaos with cold satisfaction.
"You dropped this," Kael murmured.
He didn't need to go back up there. He had spotted a loose Token near the base of the pillar, dropped by one of Vane's lackeys when the Ogre impacted.
Kael scooped it up.
[ Objective Complete: Tokens Secured (2/2). ]
He walked back to Eren, tossing the gold coin to him. Eren caught it, staring wide-eyed at the pillar where Vane was currently fighting for his life against a glitching behemoth.
"You..." Eren swallowed hard. "You just used a boss monster as a weapon."
"Efficiency," Kael said, dusting ash off his shoulder. "Why use my mana when I can use his?"
Above them, Vane finally managed to coordinate a counter-attack. A massive storm-strike blew the Ogre's head off, dissolving the glitch into a shower of digital pixels. Vane stood panting, humiliated, his armor scorched and his face bleeding.
He scanned the crowd below, his eyes locking onto Kael.
If looks could kill, Kael would have been vaporized. Vane pointed his sword at Kael, mouthing a word that was unmistakably: Dead.
Kael just held up his Token and smirked.
Suddenly, a notification chimed in Kael's mind. It wasn't the Trial system. It was the Sanctum.
[ SANCTUM NOTICE ] [ Nearby Essence Detected: Glitch-Ogre (Deceased) ] [ The Sanctum hungers. ]
Kael froze. He looked at the dissolving pixels of the Ogre. He felt a strange tug in his chest, a vacuum trying to pull the "soul" of the monster inward.
It wants to eat it, Kael realized. Not the core. The shadow.
He resisted the urge. Not here. Not with Overseer Ironwood watching. He clamped down on the Sanctum's hunger, forcing the feeling away.
Later, he promised the Codex. We eat later.
"CEASE!"
Ironwood's voice boomed across the arena. The remaining holographic monsters vanished. The pillars sank back into the ground.
"Phase One is complete!" Ironwood announced. "Those without Tokens, leave the arena immediately. You have failed."
Groans and cries of protest filled the air as nearly half the applicants were escorted out by Protectors.
Kael stood amidst the thinning crowd, Eren by his side. He looked up at the VIP box, where the shadowy figures of the Protector Vanguard watched.
He had survived the Culling. He had humiliated a noble. And he had a hunger in his chest that was growing stronger by the minute.
[ Phase One: Passed. ] [ Reward: 50 System Points. ] [ Current Rank: F (Pending Ascension) ]
Kael checked his points. He was close to another upgrade.
"Ready for Phase Two?" Eren asked, his voice shaking but his grip firm on his Token.
Kael looked at Vane Thorne, who was glaring at him from across the arena floor.
"I'm counting on it," Kael said.