Silence settled over the battlefield like a heavy shroud, stretching just long enough to feel unnatural, as if even time itself had faltered for a brief, uncertain moment.
For a single heartbeat, no one moved.
Students stared through the screen with wide, unblinking eyes, their mouths slightly open in disbelief, while the instructors outside stood frozen in place, their minds struggling to process what they had just witnessed.
"…Did someone just…"
a voice whispered from somewhere in the crowd, barely audible, as if speaking any louder might shatter the fragile moment,
"... appear and hit the dragon?"
The dust began to settle slowly, drifting apart in thin layers.
And then,
They saw him.
At the center of the crater, standing as if he had always been there, was a lone figure.
A black robe fluttered faintly around his body, untouched by the chaos that had just erupted, his face concealed behind a mask that revealed nothing, while one foot rested casually against the dragon's lower jaw, pressing its massive head into the fractured ground as though the creature beneath him weighed no more than a stone.
Cracks spread outward from the point of contact, deepening under the sheer, unrelenting pressure.
The dragon groaned, disoriented, its thoughts sluggish.
"What… hit me…?"
The figure looked down.
Calm.
Cold.
And unmistakably in control.
Behind the mask, his crimson eyes gleamed, intricate patterns slowly turning within them, radiating something far more dangerous than simple hostility.
Ashan.
He shifted his stance slightly, not out of necessity but comfort, as if adjusting his footing on uneven ground, before speaking in a low, steady voice that carried effortlessly across the ruined field.
"…You were about to step on people."
Nothing more.
And yet,
Something changed.
A pressure spread outward from him, rolling across the battlefield in a silent wave that didn't resemble mana or any known energy, but instead felt like something far more primal, something born purely from physical existence pushed beyond its natural limits.
The force behind it was overwhelming.
Every muscle in his body, refined and driven beyond human thresholds, reinforced by the strain of opened gates and sustained through relentless self-repair, radiated an intensity that pressed down on everything around him, while a faint green aura flickered along his form, barely contained yet terrifyingly stable.
The reaction was immediate.
Every single person present felt it.
Their instincts screamed.
Aren's eyes narrowed sharply, his expression shifting for the first time.
"That presence…" he muttered under his breath, his voice tight with disbelief.
"There's no mana in it. Not even a trace. That's pure physical pressure."
The dragon finally focused its vision, its blurred sight sharpening as it locked onto the figure standing over it, and for the first time since its rebirth, something unfamiliar crept into its mind.
Fear.
"Y-you…" it growled, its voice trembling despite its attempt to sound threatening. "What are you?"
—-------------------------------------
Name: ???
Type: Soul Dragon
Age: ???
[Power Rank: S+]
[Strength: ???]
[Stamina: ???]
[Endurance: ???]
[Agility: ???]
[Other powers and skills]
<> Artificial Immortality
A construct that does not age, decay, or deteriorate. As long as the core remains intact, the vessel will persist indefinitely.
<> Perfect Regeneration
The body reconstructs itself instantly by converting surrounding mana into matter.
Physical destruction is meaningless unless its mana supply is severed or its core destabilized. Without mana intake, or without a controlling soul, the regeneration will cease.
<> Reconstruction
The vessel can freely reshape its structure within certain unknown limits. Mass redistribution, limb alteration, and structural reinforcement are possible in real time.
<> Elemental Manipulation
Capable of wielding all four primary elements simultaneously without instability.
—-------------------------------------
Ashan tilted his head slightly, as if genuinely considering the question, before answering with quiet indifference.
"Right now?"
A brief pause.
"I'm your problem."
He lifted his foot.
For the briefest instant, the dragon felt relief.
Then,
The heel came down again.
The impact made almost no sound, yet the effect was absolute.
The force didn't scatter outward; it drove straight through the dragon's skull and into the ground beneath, compressing everything in its path as the crater deepened violently, while its lower jaw shattered completely under the pressure, fragments of stone and broken teeth exploding outward in all directions.
That was when the shock broke.
Voices erupted from every direction at once.
"That's not normal.. no S-ranker can do that!"
"He didn't even use mana!"
"He just overpowered it with raw strength… what the hell is he?!"
Roswayn stared without blinking, her eyes gleaming with a mixture of shock and fascination.
"…That's insane."
Morevan's expression hardened, his instincts screaming warnings he couldn't ignore.
"That's him," he said quietly. "The one from the dungeon."
Inside the academy, Narasha watched without moving, a slow, knowing smirk forming on her lips.
'So he finally showed up…'
'Then the one standing with them earlier really was a clone.'
Eirena's breath caught in her throat as she stared at the masked figure, something in her chest tightening unexpectedly.
As if sensing her gaze, Ashan turned his head slightly.
Their eyes met.
For a fleeting moment, everything else seemed to fade.
And then, a translucent window appeared before him.
—-------------------------------------
New mission.
Defeat the Soul Dragon using only chakra-based techniques.
Rewards:
– Prison Realm (Front Gate)
– 1000 points
—-------------------------------------
For the first time since his arrival, his composure shifted ever so slightly.
'What? The Prison Realm?'
That reward alone made the situation far more interesting than it already was.
Before he could dwell on it further, the dragon suddenly thrashed violently, forcing its body to react on instinct as it shook its head with explosive force, throwing him upward into the air.
Its shattered jaw reformed almost instantly, stone knitting together as if it had never been broken, while a furious roar erupted from its throat.
"How dare you…!"
"I'll burn you to ash!"
A beam of fire erupted forward, not a simple blast but a concentrated torrent of destruction that carved through the air in a straight line, tearing toward Ashan with enough force to melt stone and erase everything in its path.
Before the flames could even reach him, he was gone.
Not retreating.
Not dodging.
Simply… gone.
The space he had occupied remained untouched for a fraction of a second, the fire passing through empty air, before his presence reappeared above the dragon's head as if he had never been anywhere else.
The dragon's pupils shrank.
"So fast… I didn't even see him move.."
Ashan's gaze sharpened, the crimson patterns of his eyes spinning slowly as he looked down with clear, unhidden disdain.
"After getting hit like that, you're still relying on something this weak?" he said calmly, his voice carrying a quiet edge that cut deeper than shouting ever could.
"I thought you would've understood by now… I'm not someone you can handle so easily."
A faint pause.
Then,
"If that wasn't enough… I'll make it clearer."
His body shifted midair.
The next instant, his leg came crashing down.
The kick landed squarely against the dragon's head, the force behind it overwhelming, forcing its jaws shut instantly and cutting off the fire beam mid-release as the impact drove its skull downward with brutal finality.
The ground shattered again.
A deep, violent slam echoed as its head was smashed into the earth, cracks spreading outward in jagged lines while fragments of stone burst away from the point of impact.
It didn't even get the chance to recover.
Ashan's eyes changed.
The pattern deepened.
Evolved.
"Let me show you what real power looks like."
Darkness ignited.
[Amaterasu]
Black fire erupted across the dragon's head in an instant, thick and consuming, spreading rapidly as if it had been waiting for this exact moment, devouring everything it touched without hesitation or mercy.
The air itself seemed to recoil.
The dragon screamed.
A raw, unfiltered roar tore from its throat as it jerked violently upward, staggering to its feet while shaking its head in a desperate attempt to rid itself of the flames that clung to it like a curse.
But they didn't fade.
They didn't weaken.
Even as its body regenerated, even as shattered stone reformed and broken structures rebuilt themselves, the flames continued to burn, eating away at it relentlessly while feeding on something deeper than simple matter.
"What… is this…?" the dragon growled, its voice breaking under strain as panic began to seep through. "Why can't I absorb it…?"
Its thoughts spiraled.
'Impossible.'
A Soul Dragon could absorb anything formed from mana.
Anything.
"Don't tell me…" its voice faltered. "This isn't made of mana…?"
The realization hit like a blow.
And there was nothing it could do.
While it struggled, writhing under the relentless torment of those black flames, Ashan's attention had already shifted away from it, his interest fading as if the outcome was no longer worth watching.
'That should keep it busy for a while.'
His gaze drifted toward the formation in the distance.
'Might as well see their reactions up close.'
He stepped forward.
And disappeared again.
In the next instant, he stood directly before them.
No warning.
Just presence.
Now that he was close, there was no mistaking it.
The black robe concealed every inch of his body, giving nothing away, while the mask hid his expression entirely, leaving only the glowing crimson eyes visible through narrow openings, their shifting patterns radiating something dangerous, something unnatural.
The pressure hit them immediately.
Draven's expression hardened at once, his posture tightening as his instincts screamed at him to stay alert.
Around him, the other S-rankers reacted the same way, their bodies adjusting without conscious thought as they prepared themselves for the unknown standing right in front of them.
Roswayn bit her lip unconsciously, her fingers brushing against her weapon as frustration and tension mixed within her.
Dessa and Elarith shifted their stances, ready to act at a moment's notice.
Magnar's fists clenched tightly.
Morevan's eyes widened, recognition flashing through them.
Rowan's expression darkened, irritation rising.
Maren and Lia didn't move.
They simply stared.
Inside the academy, the reaction was the complete opposite.
The students erupted.
"It's him… the masked one!"
"He just smashed that dragon like it was nothing!"
"That speed… did you see that?! That's not normal movement!"
"And those flames… what kind of spell creates black fire like that?!"
Amid the chaos, Narasha stood still, her smirk slowly deepening as she watched the scene unfold.
'So this is what you look like when you're serious…'
'You really do feel like a completely different person.'
Her gaze lingered on him, thoughtful.
'And that strength… it's not the same as before.'
'He's growing faster than I realized.'
She remembered the recent moments they had shared, how he had teasingly rubbed against her chest and hugged her warmly just to annoy her.
'No wonder.. he never acts serious around me. He's always looking for a chance to tease me and piss me off.'
Her face flushed slightly. She let out a soft sigh, a small, fond smile tugging at her lips.
'Idiot.'