The Abyss Gate was never meant for people like Aiden Kurovale.
That was the thought repeating in his head as the ground trembled beneath his boots and the air inside the dungeon warped like heated glass. The warning sirens embedded in the cavern walls screamed in distorted pulses, each one sharper than the last.
Gate Instability: Critical. Evacuation Recommended.
The message flickered in red across the shared tactical display.
No one looked at Aiden.
They never did.
He was a porter unranked, unawakened, expendable. The kind of person brought along to carry relics and supplies, not to fight. When things went wrong, porters were supposed to run. Or die quietly.
"Move!" someone shouted.
Aiden stumbled as a shockwave tore through the cavern. Jagged crystal formations burst from the walls, impaling one of the rear guards before he could even scream. Blood splattered across the stone floor, steaming where it touched the corrupted mana.
The squad formation shattered instantly.
S-rank Hunters reacted fast too fast. Barriers flared. Teleport runes ignited. Orders were barked with cold efficiency.
And then the decision was made.
Aiden felt it before he understood it.
The weight on his shoulders vanished as the supply harness was cut loose. A sharp pain bloomed across his back as someone shoved him forward hard.
He turned just in time to see Captain Rourke's eyes meet his.
There was no apology in them.
Only calculation.
"Gate's collapsing," Rourke said. "We need to reduce load."
Aiden opened his mouth. No words came out.
The ground split between them.
A wall of spatial distortion surged upward, severing the path like a blade. The last thing Aiden saw was the squad retreating protected by layers of glowing shields as the dungeon began to fold in on itself.
The Abyss Gate closed.
With him inside.
Darkness swallowed everything.
Pain followed.
Not sharp. Not sudden.
It was crushing like the dungeon itself was pressing inward, trying to erase him. Mana storms ripped through his body, tearing muscle from bone, thought from consciousness.
Aiden screamed.
No one heard him.
His vision fractured. Memories bled together his mother's tired smile, the Hunter Federation recruitment hall, the contract he'd signed without reading the fine print.
Support personnel are not guaranteed extraction.
The words echoed mockingly as his body finally gave in.
His heart stopped.
Silence.
Then.
[ANOMALY DETECTED.]
The voice was not loud. It didn't need to be.
It existed directly inside him.
[Vital functions terminated.]
[Evaluating anomaly parameters…]
Aiden gasped.
Air tore back into his lungs violently, forcing a scream from his throat. His body convulsed as if struck by lightning. Pain flooded every nerve at once then vanished just as suddenly.
He lay on cold stone.
Alive.
Above him, the collapsed remains of the dungeon hung frozen in place. Shattered rock, broken monsters, suspended debris all locked mid-motion as if time itself had been paused.
A translucent interface hovered before his eyes.
Not blue.
Not green.
Black.
With sharp white text that pulsed like a warning light.
[Classification Complete.]
[Subject: Aiden Kurovale]
[Status: Anomaly-Class]
His breath hitched.
"What…?" His voice came out hoarse, barely audible.
The interface shifted.
[Rank Evaluation: ERROR]
[Exceeds World Order Threshold.]
[Hidden Rank Assigned: SSS+]
The letters distorted as if the system itself resisted displaying them.
Aiden's vision blurred. His head throbbed violently, pressure building behind his eyes.
SSS+?
That wasn't possible.
SSS was the ceiling. Everyone knew that. The Rank System itself enforced it. No human had ever.
[WARNING.]
[Power Output: UNSTABLE.]
Something moved inside him.
Not mana.
Something deeper.
Reality bent.
The frozen debris around him began to vibrate, cracks spiderwebbing through the air itself. Aiden screamed as an unbearable force surged outward from his chest, threatening to tear him apart from the inside.
[Containment Protocol Engaged.]
Chains conceptual, invisible wrapped around his existence. The pressure didn't disappear, but it was forced inward, compressed so violently that Aiden felt his bones creak under the strain.
He collapsed to his knees, retching.
Blood splattered onto the stone.
[Anomaly Protocol Activated.]
[Primary Directive: Containment.]
[Secondary Directive: Survival.]
The world snapped back into motion.
The suspended debris crashed to the ground, pulverizing everything around him. Monsters were crushed into pulp. The cavern ceiling collapsed completely, burying the Abyss Gate's core in tons of rock.
Aiden was thrown backward.
His body slammed into the ground hard enough to shatter stone but he didn't break.
He should have.
Slowly, painfully, he pushed himself up.
His hands were shaking.
He was alive.
But the pressure inside him hadn't gone away.
It was still there.
Waiting.
Hours later, rescue teams arrived.
They found the Abyss Gate reduced to a crater.
No survivors.
At least, that was what the reports said.
Aiden staggered out of the dust cloud, clothes torn, skin streaked with dried blood. His eyes were unfocused, his movements unsteady but he was walking.
Every scanner pointed at him malfunctioned.
Mana readings spiked, then flatlined. Rank detection artifacts shattered on activation. One junior analyst fainted outright.
The Hunter Federation sealed the area within minutes.
Aiden didn't resist when they restrained him.
He didn't have the strength.
Inside his head, the black interface pulsed once more.
[Containment holding.]
[Power Output: 0.01%]
Aiden laughed weakly.
"Zero point zero one," he murmured. "That's… nothing."
The system did not respond immediately.
Then.
[Correction.]
[0.01% is sufficient to destabilize a city.]
The words sank in slowly.
Aiden looked up at the armed Hunters surrounding him, at the fear barely hidden behind their professional masks.
For the first time since waking, he understood.
He wasn't chosen.
He wasn't blessed.
He was a mistake.
And the world had already decided what to do with mistakes like him.