The city smelled of smoke, scorched earth, and fear.
The Verdant Blaze forest that Cyrus had summoned was gone, reduced to faint traces of ash. Shops were ruined, pedestrians fled, and hunter patrols swarmed the streets. Somewhere, the faint wail of emergency alarms cut through the haze.
Drax walked calmly, almost lazily, down the alleyways of Norn City, unnoticed. His white eyes scanned the ruined streets, his black coat fluttering like a shadow in motion. His Abyssal World hummed in his mind, extending tendrils through the cracks of reality itself, assessing the environment, noting threats.
The Inner World Association will respond soon, he thought. Better to remain unseen for now.
He glanced at the faint black residue trailing from Cyrus's collapse. Essence remnants, unclaimed and powerful, were being absorbed silently into the Abyss.
Someone is noticing.
Drax's suspicions were correct.
Far above the city, in a sleek observation tower of the Inner World Association, agents monitored the energy spike. The Abyssal Surge—an unprecedented disturbance caused by Drax absorbing Cyrus's essence—was visible on their instruments like a dark storm overtaking reality.
"Report!" an agent barked, pointing at the monitor.
The head analyst's eyes widened. "It's… untraceable. Nothing matches this signature in our database. It's… abyssal in nature… and it's moving."
"Who is it?" the director asked.
"Unknown… but it's dangerous. Extremely dangerous."
Drax's steps brought him to the edge of the ruined marketplace. The air shifted. Shadows coalesced into a form—tall, imposing, with essence swirling like liquid silver across his arms.
He came because of the Abyssal Surge, Drax noted. Someone with enough sense to feel power when it shifts…
The figure's eyes glimmered. A hunter, rogue and practiced, drawn to Abyssal energy like a predator.
"You're Drax Magna," the man said, voice calm but cutting like steel. "The one who shattered a public battle with the Verdant Blaze rogue."
Drax's lips curved slightly. "And you are?"
"Call me Eryndor Vale." His hand hovered near his weapon sheath. "I'm… curious."
Drax tilted his head, letting the black aura of the Abyss drip faintly into the surroundings. "Curiosity is expensive," he said. "Why risk your life for mine?"
Eryndor smiled faintly, his aura flaring. "Because the Abyss doesn't go unnoticed. And I want to see… how deep it goes."
Drax didn't answer. He simply began walking toward the far edge of the city, ignoring the chaos, allowing Eryndor to follow.
He'll either be useful… or disposable.
As he moved, Drax's mind wandered to the bounty he remembered—the one that drew Cyrus Veyra. Whoever had put it there wasn't random. It was personal.
His thoughts returned to Kane's brother, the S-Rank hunter who had first crossed paths with him after the Abyssal-Rank portal. The man's presence had been unnerving, calculated, almost… testing.
Drax's white eyes narrowed. So it begins. Kane's brother is behind this, or at least, he knows something. Whoever set the bounty wants to see me fail… or dead. Time to find out which.
He allowed his Abyssal World to reach outward subtly, sending whispers of essence into the city. Shards of black fog slithered under doors, along alleyways, across rooftops. It touched every corner, every hiding spot where rogue hunters might have eyes or ears.
The traces of Cyrus's essence glowed faintly to him, revealing a trail — faint, but traceable.
Drax's lips curved in that cold, confident smirk.
Let's see… who dares to challenge the Abyss.
From above, the Inner World Association watched the surge and the movement of the unknown hunter. Reports flooded in: citizens saw shadows moving faster than light, rubble shifting as if alive, and a black mist that seemed to devour the glow of street lamps.
Inside the Abyss, Drax felt the black tree pulse. His female spirit whispered faintly:
"Everything approaches… under your dominion. The world bends to the Abyss, Jax."
"Good," Drax muttered. "Let them approach. They'll learn… or be devoured."
A single thought carried weight in the city: the Abyssal Storm had begun.
And somewhere, just beyond the city's limits, Kane's brother felt a familiar, devouring presence. Not direct, not close—yet unmistakable. The same abyss he had seen before. It had grown. It had learned. It was… waiting.
And now, a S-Rank hunter was personally moving to intercept.