The air in Eldoria City always smelled of ash and hope.
Ash from the Rifts that scarred the sky like bleeding wounds.
Hope from the thousands of sixteen-year-olds who gathered every year beneath the Grand Spire, praying the sacred crystal would choose them.
Kai Voss stood at the very back of the crowd, hood pulled low, hands buried in the pockets of his threadbare coat. He had no family box in the noble galleries, no academy uniform, no sponsor waving banners with his name.
Just a single copper token he'd saved for three years to buy entry.
Today was Awakening Day. The day the world decided if you mattered.
Drums thundered. Trumpets blared. A golden platform rose above the arena, carrying the High Examiners and the legendary Awakening Crystal, a flawless orb the size of a man's head, pulsing with soft white light.
One by one, the chosen stepped forward.
"Elara Vossari!" the herald boomed.
A girl in silk robes ascended the stairs. Daughter of Duke Vossari. The crystal flared gold. A majestic Flame Lion cub materialized beside her, roaring flames that drew cheers from half the arena.
Contract formed. Rank A potential. Future guaranteed.
Next came the sons of merchants, guild masters, generals. Wind eagles, earth tortoises, lightning wolves, beasts of silver and bronze rank. Cheers turned to polite applause.
Then the commoners. Most received F or E-rank partners: iron boars, stone lizards, mist foxes. Enough to join a guild, earn coin, live decently.
Kai watched it all with dry eyes. He had memorized every possibility.
He had no bloodline. No wealth. No connections.
But he had spent years scavenging Rift edges, studying beast patterns, training his body until it screamed. If talent was all that mattered… maybe hard work could force the crystal to see him.
"Kai Voss!" the herald finally called.
Silence rippled outward. Whispers followed.
"Who?"
"An orphan?"
"No sponsor tag. Must be a charity slot."
Kai climbed the steps slowly. Each footfall echoed louder than the last. Thousands of eyes weighed him, curious, pitying, amused.
He stopped before the crystal.
The High Examiner, an old woman with silver hair, gave him a look that wasn't unkind. "Place your hand upon the orb, child."
Kai reached out.
For a heartbeat, the crystal brightened, hope surged in his chest.
Then it cracked.
A hairline fracture spider-webbed across the surface. The light inside turned violent red, then black.
The orb shattered with a sound like breaking thunder.
Shards rained down, smoking where they touched the platform.
The entire arena went dead silent.
The old examiner's face drained of color. "Impossible… a Null."
Gasps erupted. Then laughter. Then jeers.
"Null! The first in a century!"
"Get him off the stage!"
"Waste of a slot!"
Guards in silver armor marched forward to drag him away.
Kai didn't resist. His mind was numb. All those years. All that hunger. For nothing.
As they pulled him down the steps, something changed.
The sky above the arena darkened, not with clouds, but with a tear.
A crimson Rift, deeper and more violent than any recorded, ripped open directly overhead. It howled with wind that smelled of ancient stone and forgotten divinity.
Everyone froze. Even the guards released him.
The Rift pulsed once… twice… then a voice echoed, not in the air, but inside Kai's skull alone.
"Child of the forgotten thrones… you who were rejected by the false light… accept my curse, and awaken what should remain chained."
Kai staggered.
Blue-black screens blossomed across his vision, edged in crimson runes.
[Ding!]
[Divine Beast Seal System initializing…]
[Host: Kai Voss]
[Compatibility confirmed. Binding complete.]
[Warning: This power walks the path of forbidden seals. Proceed with caution.]
[First skill unlocked: Seal Perception (Lv.1)]
The Rift above slowly closed, as if it had never been.
The crowd erupted in panic and speculation.
"What was that?!"
"A forbidden Rift in the capital?!"
"Did anyone else hear the voice?"
But Kai heard nothing except the system's cold, ancient whisper.
"Welcome, Sealbreaker. Your first beast awaits."
He looked down at his trembling hand. Dark veins pulsed faintly beneath the skin, then faded.
For the first time in his life, Kai Voss smiled.
They called him Null.
They were wrong.
He was something far more dangerous.