The obsidian chamber was quiet.
Too quiet.
A massive floating screen displayed hunter activity across the city.
Level fluctuations.
Shard awakenings.
Casualty reports.
And one name highlighted faintly.
Narukaze — Level 1.
A High-Rank Hunter adjusted his gloves.
"He remains at Level 1."
Another scoffed. "After that mission? Impossible."
The God Sister stood before the screen, calm.
"Not impossible," she said softly. "Suppressed."
The room stiffened.
One of the elders spoke carefully. "So it's confirmed? The same blood as Kaelen?"
She nodded once.
"Infinite growth potential. Just dormant."
Silence.
Another High-Rank frowned. "Then why has he not leveled?"
"Because," she replied, "he has not yet crossed the threshold."
The screen shifted.
Kaelen's image appeared.
Far beyond the walls.
Level: 327… rising.
Monsters surrounded him.
Falling one after another.
"He grows efficiently," one of them muttered.
"As intended," she replied.
A younger High-Rank hesitated.
"If Kaelen surpasses Zerath after awakening… we win. But if Narukaze awakens first…"
"He cannot be allowed to," she interrupted coldly.
The chamber darkened slightly as her aura intensified.
"Kaelen must continue leveling. No interference. No assassination attempts. No destruction near him."
"And the child?" someone asked quietly.
Her gaze hardened.
"We accelerate the plan."
A High-Rank stepped forward.
"The betrayal?"
She nodded.
"Push it sooner. Emotional collapse increases awakening probability. If he breaks correctly, we control the outcome. If he breaks incorrectly—"
She let the sentence hang.
One of the elders finished it.
"We eliminate him."
The screen zoomed back to Narukaze's profile.
Level 1.
But beneath it—
A faint flicker.
A hidden line of code within the system.
Unregistered potential.
Uncapped growth.
The God Sister smiled faintly.
"Let him suffer a little longer."
Far outside the walls—
Kaelen split a monster in half.
Inside the city—
Narukaze stared at the ceiling, unaware that gods had just decided his emotional breaking point would determine the fate of the world.