The lunch bell rang, a sharp, electronic chime that cut through the tension of the morning classes. Zack gathered his books, his face a mask of mild, harmless confusion as other students pushed past him in the hallway.
He kept his head down, navigating the sea of gray and colored uniforms. He could feel eyes on him—not of respect, but of ridicule. The "clumsy" Healer who had survived the D-Rank warrior's assault by pure, dumb luck. He heard the whispers.
"That's him. The one who tripped."
"Vane looked so pissed."
"Lucky idiot. He's going to get crushed in the dungeons."
Zack ignored them. He walked out of the main building and headed toward the "Support Wing" roof. It was a restricted area, mostly because the ventilation units were noisy, but Emily had texted him the location. It was private.
When he pushed open the heavy maintenance door, the wind hit him. The roof offered a panoramic view of Sector 1, the high walls of the Academy separating them from the sprawling city beyond.
Sitting on a large HVAC unit were Emily, Ben, and Maya. They looked out of place in the Academy setting—too experienced, too weary compared to the fresh-faced students below.
"You're late," Maya said, biting into an apple. "Get lost on the stairs?"
"Just dodging admirers," Zack said, dropping his bag and sitting next to them. The "scared student" act dropped from his shoulders the moment the door clicked shut. His posture straightened, his eyes grew sharp. "So. Kael Vane."
Emily sighed, crushing her empty soda can in her hand. "Yeah. Kael Vane. I checked his file. I knew the name sounded familiar."
She looked at Zack, her expression grim. "His father is Marcus Vane. He's the Guildmaster of the 'Iron Leos'."
Ben let out a low whistle. "The Iron Leos? They're a B-Rank Guild. Heavy hitters. They control most of the mining dungeons in the northern district. They're known for being... aggressive."
"Aggressive is a nice way of putting it," Maya muttered. "They're thugs with licenses. If they want a dungeon, they take it. If a smaller guild gets in their way, that guild usually has a lot of 'accidents'."
Zack nodded slowly. "B-Rank. That explains the arrogance."
A B-Rank Guildmaster would have stats in the 200s or 300s. He was a powerhouse compared to the current Zack. If Zack had humiliated Kael publicly—if he had snapped Kael's wrist or dodged with superhuman speed—word would have gotten back to Marcus Vane. And a B-Rank Guildmaster wouldn't tolerate an "upstart E-Rank" embarrassing his son.
"He's going to come for you, Zack," Emily said, worry creasing her forehead. "You embarrassed him. Kael isn't the type to let that go. He'll try to hurt you during the practical exams. Or worse, he'll catch you outside the safe zones."
"I know," Zack said calmly. He opened a protein bar and took a bite.
Ben leaned forward, his massive frame casting a shadow over Zack. "Kid, I gotta ask. I watched you today. You moved like... well, like you. But you made it look like an accident. Why?"
Ben gestured with his thick hands. "You're strong. You're D-Rank (Beginner) at least. You could have laid Vane out flat. You could have shown the whole class that you're not someone to mess with. Deterrence, you know?"
Maya nodded in agreement. "Ben's right for once. In this place, weakness is blood in the water. If you act like a victim, you attract predators. If you showed them your speed—just your speed, not the dark stuff—they'd back off. Why play the fool?"
Zack chewed slowly, swallowing before he answered. He looked at his three friends. They were the only ones in the world who knew the truth. They had seen him scale a Brood Mother and rip its life force out.
"Deterrence works on smart people," Zack said quietly. "But it doesn't work on bullies like Vane. And it definitely doesn't work on the people watching him."
He stood up and walked to the edge of the roof, looking down at the students milling about in the courtyard.
"If I showed my strength today," Zack explained, "if I beat Kael fair and square... what happens next?"
"He backs off?" Ben suggested.
"No," Zack shook his head. "He comes back with his friends. He brings three D-Ranks instead of fighting solo. Or he calls his dad. Then I have a B-Rank Guildmaster asking why an E-Rank Healer has the physical stats of a D-Rank Warrior."
Zack turned to face them. His eyes were cold. Not cruel, but devoid of the warmth they usually held.
"If I show I'm D-Rank," Zack continued, "then C-Rank bullies will want to test me. If I beat them, B-Ranks will take notice. I become a target. I become a curiosity. People start digging into my past. They look at my company. They look at my father's death."
"So you hide," Maya said, her voice flat. "You let them push you around. You let them insult you. To stay safe."
"No," Zack said. The word hung in the air, heavy and sharp.
"I don't hide to stay safe, Maya. I hide so I can solve the problem permanently."
The temperature on the roof seemed to drop a few degrees.
Emily frowned. "Solve... permanently? Zack, what do you mean?"
Zack walked back to them. He lowered his voice, though there was no one else around.
"Kael Vane is a problem," Zack stated, as if discussing a broken spreadsheet. "Right now, he thinks I'm a worm. He thinks he can crush me whenever he wants. That makes him careless. He'll try to corner me. He'll try to get me alone in a dungeon, or a training exercise where the cameras are off, so he can 'teach me a lesson'."
Zack looked at his hands—the hands that had drained a Death Knight and a Cerberus.
"And when he does," Zack whispered, "when he thinks he's the predator and I'm the prey... that's when I make him disappear."
Ben stopped chewing. Maya went perfectly still. Emily's breath hitched.
"Disappear?" Emily whispered. "Zack... you mean..."
"I mean I kill him," Zack said. His voice was calm. It wasn't a threat; it was a statement of fact. "If he pushes too far. If he threatens my life, or yours, or my company... I will kill him. And because everyone thinks I'm a clumsy, F-Rank Healer who trips over his own feet, no one will suspect me."
He looked at them, his gaze intense. "If I beat him up in class, I make an enemy for life. If I kill him in a dungeon and blame it on a monster... the problem is gone. The Iron Leos will look for a strong enemy, a rival guild. They won't look at the support kid who was crying in the corner."
A silence stretched between them. It was a heavy, cold silence.
For a moment, they didn't see Zack the friend. They saw the God-Eater.
They remembered the Brood Mother.
They remembered how he had climbed the screaming beast, how he had punched through its skull, how he had drained it into dust.
They remembered that beneath the kind smile and the clumsy act was a being that fed on death to grow stronger.
Ben swallowed hard. He had faced D-Rank monsters without flinching, but the look in Zack's eyes right now made the hair on his arms stand up.
"You're... you're talking about murder, kid," Ben said, his voice unusually soft.
"I'm talking about survival," Zack corrected. "I won't hunt him down. I won't start it. But if he tries to kill me... I won't hesitate. I can't hesitate. I have too much to lose."
He looked at Emily. He saw the fear in her eyes, but also the understanding. She knew what he was up against with Vanguard Industries. She knew the stakes.
"That's why I hide my power," Zack said, his voice softening, returning to something more human. "Because the moment I reveal it, I lose my greatest weapon: the element of surprise. I'd rather be underestimated and alive than respected and dead."
Emily let out a long, shaky breath. She stood up and walked over to him. She didn't hug him this time. She just placed a hand on his arm, feeling the rock-hard muscle beneath the cheap tracksuit.
"You're terrifying, Zack," she said quietly. "You know that?"
"I have to be," Zack replied. "The world isn't kind, Em. You told me that yourself."
"The Iron Leos," Maya said, breaking the tension. She stood up, spinning a dagger in her hand. "If Kael disappears, they'll tear the school apart looking for answers."
"Let them look," Zack said. "They'll find a Healer who barely passed his physical exam. They'll find a kid who runs a logistics company. They won't find the killer."
Maya looked at him, and for the first time, she smiled a real, dangerous smile. "Remind me never to piss you off, Healer. I like my life."
"Just don't become a bully," Zack smiled back, the kind mask slipping back into place as if it had never left. "I'm very nice to my friends."
The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch.
"Back to the grind," Ben groaned, picking up his shield. "I have 'Defensive Theory'. Which is basically an hour of a guy hitting me with a stick while I stand still."
"I have 'Advanced Mana Manipulation'," Emily said. "Zack?"
"Basic Anatomy," Zack said. "Learning where the liver is."
"You already know where the liver is," Maya noted dryly. "You punched a Death Knight in it."
"Refresher course," Zack winked.
They walked to the door. Before they opened it, Emily stopped.
"Zack," she said. "Just... be careful. Kael isn't alone. He has a team, too."
"I know," Zack said. "But I have you guys."
"Yeah," Ben grunted, clapping him on the back. "You do. And if the Iron Leos come knocking... well, walls are meant to be broken, right?"
Zack watched them leave, then paused for a moment on the roof.
He looked out at the city. Somewhere out there was the Iron Leos guild hall. Somewhere, Marcus Vane was probably sitting on a throne of money and power.
Zack clenched his fist.
He needed to be stronger.
D-Rank (Beginner) was good. It was enough to handle Kael.
But to handle Marcus Vane? To handle a B-Rank Guildmaster?
He needed to be C-Rank. Maybe B-Rank.
He needed to enter the dimension again tonight.
"I need more cubes," he whispered to the wind.
He opened the door and stepped back into the Academy, his shoulders hunched, his eyes wide and nervous, transforming back into the prey.
But inside, the predator was starving.
[Reader's Note: Zack's Stats -]
Rank: D (Beginner) / (System Rank: D (Beginner))
Class: Healer / God-Eater (Mythical)
Strength: 51.0
Agility: 52.0
Stamina: 50.0
Spirit: 50.0
Defense: 50.0
(Skills: [Heal Lv. 2], [Energy Drain Lv. 2], [Shadow's Cloak Lv. 2])
(Storage: 3x Mid-Grade Healing Potions, 5x Low-Grade Recovery Potions, 245 Shop Points)