The city never truly slept. Even in the deepest hours of the night, when most lights dimmed and streets grew quieter, there was always a restless pulse beneath the surface—like something unseen breathing through concrete and steel. To most people, it was just another modern мегacity filled with opportunity. But to Kael Varyn, it felt more like a prison built out of glass and noise, where people like him existed only in the background.

Kael adjusted the strap of his worn delivery bag as he stepped out onto the cracked rooftop corridor of Block C. The cold night air brushed against his face, carrying with it the distant hum of traffic and flickering neon lights that painted the skyline in shades of blue and violet. His body ached from exhaustion. Three part-time jobs, endless deliveries, and barely any sleep—yet somehow, it was never enough. It never changed anything.

He checked his phone again.

......................

Room 1907. Urgent delivery.

Letting out a quiet sigh, Kael pushed open the stairwell door. The elevator had been out of order for weeks now, but that didn’t surprise him anymore. Nothing in this city worked unless you had money. And Kael… had none.

The climb was long, each step heavier than the last, but he didn’t complain. By the time he reached the nineteenth floor, his breathing had grown uneven, though his expression remained as calm and unreadable as ever. He walked down the dim hallway, stopped in front of the door, and knocked twice.

No response.

He waited a moment, then knocked again, a little harder this time. Still nothing.

Frowning slightly, Kael glanced at his phone once more to confirm the address. Everything was correct. Yet something about the silence on the other side of the door felt… off. Too still. Too empty.

“…Seriously?” he muttered under his breath.

Carefully, he reached for the handle and gave it a slight push.

The door creaked open.

Unlocked.

That alone was enough to make him pause.

For a brief second, Kael considered turning around, leaving the package at the door, and walking away. But something—perhaps curiosity, or maybe just habit—pushed him forward instead. He stepped inside.

Darkness swallowed the room whole.

There were no lights, no sounds, no signs of life. The air felt unnaturally cold, brushing against his skin like something alive. Kael’s eyes slowly adjusted, trying to make sense of the shadows stretching across the apartment.

“…Hello?” he called out quietly.

No answer came.

Then, suddenly—

A faint sound broke the silence.

Drip… drip… drip…

It echoed softly, like water falling onto a hard surface somewhere deeper inside the room.

Kael’s gaze shifted toward the source of the sound, and that’s when he saw it.

A figure.

Standing in the middle of the living room.

Completely still.

For a moment, Kael thought it was just a person standing in the dark. But something about the posture… the stillness… felt wrong. It didn’t move. It didn’t breathe. It simply stood there, as if waiting.

“…Hey,” Kael said cautiously, taking a small step forward. “I’ve got your delivery.”

The moment the words left his mouth, the figure moved.

But not like a human would.

Its head turned slowly—too slowly—twisting at an unnatural angle until it faced him directly. The movement was stiff, almost mechanical, as if reality itself resisted what it was trying to do.

Then its eyes opened.

Kael froze.

They weren’t normal eyes. There was no color, no life—just an empty, endless void staring back at him. It felt like looking into something that shouldn’t exist.

A chill ran down his spine.

“What… the hell are you?” he whispered.

The figure’s lips curled upward.

Its mouth stretched wider than any human’s ever could, forming a grotesque smile that seemed to tear across its face. And when it spoke, its voice didn’t belong to a single being. It sounded like multiple voices overlapping, whispering and screaming all at once.

“You can see me…”

Kael’s heart skipped a beat.

Every instinct in his body screamed at him to run. To get out. To not look back.

But he couldn’t move.

It was as if something invisible had locked him in place.

The thing tilted its head slightly, studying him with unnatural curiosity.

“You are not supposed to be here.”

The temperature in the room dropped instantly. Kael could see his own breath now, faint and white in the air. His fingers twitched, but his legs refused to obey.

The creature took a step closer.

Then another.

Each movement felt… wrong. Like a glitch in reality. Like it existed outside the rules that governed everything else.

“You shouldn’t exist.”

Before Kael could react—

The lights flickered violently.

Once.

Twice.

Then—

A deafening explosion shook the entire building.

The floor trembled beneath his feet as a massive boom echoed from somewhere outside. Kael stumbled backward, barely catching himself before falling.

“What was that—?!”

Ignoring the creature for a split second, he rushed toward the window and looked outside.

And what he saw…

Made his blood run cold.

The sky was breaking.

Not metaphorically. Not like a storm.

It was literally cracking apart.

Huge fractures spread across the night sky like shattered glass, glowing with an eerie purple light that pulsed like something alive. And from those cracks… something was emerging.

Massive shapes moved beyond the fractures—indistinct, terrifying, and far too large to comprehend.

Kael’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“This… this isn’t real…”

Behind him, the creature began to laugh.

A distorted, chilling sound that echoed through the empty apartment.

“It has begun.”

Kael turned around—

But the creature was gone.

Vanished without a trace.

As if it had never been there at all.

Only silence remained.

And the distant chaos rising from the city below.

Sirens screamed.

People shouted.

Explosions echoed in the distance.

Kael stood there, frozen, his mind struggling to catch up with reality.

Then—

A voice spoke.

Not from outside.

Not from the room.

But from within his own mind.

“Finally…”

Kael grabbed his head, his breath hitching as a sharp pain shot through him.

“Who’s there?!” he shouted.

“We found you.”

His vision blurred. The world around him began to distort, bending and twisting like a broken reflection.

“The one who should not exist…”

Kael dropped to his knees, gripping his head as the pain intensified.

And then—

Everything stopped.

Time froze.

The flickering lights, the distant sounds, even the air itself—everything stood still.

Except him.

Slowly, Kael lifted his head.

And in front of him, suspended in the frozen air—

A glowing symbol appeared.

A Sigil.

But it was different.

Cracked. Broken. Glitching.

As if it wasn’t meant to exist in this world.

“Take it…”

The voice whispered.

Kael stared at it, his hand trembling slightly.

“…And if I don’t?”

There was a brief moment of silence.

Then—

“Then you die.”

Kael let out a weak, breathless laugh.

“…Figures.”

With hesitation, he reached out.

His fingers slowly moved closer… closer…

And the moment he touched the Sigil—

A violent surge of energy exploded through his entire body.

Kael screamed as purple light surged through his veins, tearing through him from the inside out. His vision shattered into fragments, reality breaking apart like glass around him.

And in that single moment—

He saw something impossible.

A throne.

Forged from broken stars and endless darkness.

And sitting upon it—

A presence.

Watching him.

Smiling.

Then—

Everything went black.

Darkness did not come gently. It swallowed Kael whole, as if the world itself had decided to erase him from existence, pulling him into a void where neither sound nor light could survive. For a moment—or perhaps an eternity—there was nothing. No pain, no thought, no sense of self. Just an endless, suffocating silence that stretched beyond comprehension. And yet, somewhere within that emptiness, something remained… something that refused to disappear.

A heartbeat.

Slow at first.

Then louder.

Then violently, uncontrollably loud.

Kael’s eyes snapped open.

Air rushed back into his lungs as if he had been drowning, his body jerking forward while a sharp gasp tore through his chest. The world slammed back into place around him in a chaotic blur of motion and noise. The apartment was no longer silent. It was shaking—no, trembling—as if something enormous was pressing down on reality itself.

......................

Pain followed.

Not the dull ache he was used to from exhaustion, but something far worse. It burned through his veins like molten metal, spreading from his chest to every part of his body. Kael clenched his teeth, his hands gripping the floor beneath him as cracks began to spread across the tiles, thin lines fracturing outward from where his fingers pressed.

“…What… is happening to me…?”

His voice came out strained, barely holding together under the weight of the pain. The purple glow that had once flickered within the Sigil now pulsed beneath his skin, visible through his veins like threads of light stitched into his body. It wasn’t just energy. It felt alive.

Watching.

Waiting.

And then—

Something moved.

Not outside.

Inside him.

Kael's body froze as a foreign presence brushed against his thoughts, like a shadow slipping through a door that had never been meant to open. It wasn’t speaking, not in words, but its intent was clear—ancient, vast, and utterly inhuman.

......................

You are incomplete.

The voice echoed without sound, vibrating through his mind in a way that made reality itself feel unstable. Kael’s breath hitched as he tried to push himself up, but his arms trembled violently, refusing to obey him fully.

“…Get out… of my head…”

There was no response.

Only pressure.

A crushing, overwhelming pressure that built within his chest, as if something was trying to force its way out from the inside. Kael staggered to his feet, his vision spinning as the room around him warped and twisted. The walls stretched unnaturally, shadows bending at impossible angles as if the laws of space had begun to break down.

And then—

The window shattered.

A deafening crash exploded through the apartment as glass burst inward, scattering like a storm of blades across the floor. A violent gust of wind followed, carrying with it the distant screams of the city and something far more terrifying beneath it—a low, guttural roar that didn’t belong to any creature Kael had ever heard before.

He turned instinctively, his body reacting before his mind could catch up.

And that’s when he saw it.

Hovering just beyond the broken window, suspended in midair against the fractured sky, was a creature that defied all logic. Its body was massive, its form shifting and unstable as if it couldn’t fully exist in this world. Dark tendrils of energy twisted around it, stretching out like broken limbs that phased in and out of reality.

......................

A Null Beast.

Even without knowing the name, Kael understood one thing instantly—

This thing was not meant to exist here.

Its presence alone made the air feel heavy, suffocating, like the world itself was rejecting it.

And yet…

It was looking directly at him.

Its hollow, glowing eyes locked onto Kael with terrifying precision, as if it could see something no one else could.

As if it recognized him.

A deep, resonating sound emerged from the creature, somewhere between a growl and a distorted whisper, vibrating through the air and into Kael’s bones.

Then it moved.

Not forward.

Not slowly.

But instantly.

One moment it was outside—

The next, it was inside.

The space between them collapsed in a way that made no sense, and suddenly the creature’s massive form loomed over him, its presence overwhelming, suffocating, absolute.

Kael’s body reacted on instinct.

He threw himself backward just as a massive claw-like distortion tore through the space where he had been standing. The impact shattered the floor, sending debris flying in all directions as a deep crater formed beneath the force of the attack.

Kael hit the ground hard, rolling to the side as another strike came down, barely missing him by inches. His heart pounded violently in his chest, adrenaline surging through him as his mind finally caught up to reality.

This wasn’t a nightmare.

This wasn’t a hallucination.

If he didn’t move—

He would die.

Forcing himself to stand, Kael stumbled backward, his breathing uneven as he tried to create distance between himself and the creature. But it didn’t give him the chance. The Null Beast shifted again, its body distorting as it lunged forward with unnatural speed, closing the gap instantly.

Too fast.

There was no way to dodge.

No way to escape.

Kael’s eyes widened as the attack came straight at him—

And then—

Everything slowed.

The world around him dimmed, colors draining as if time itself had begun to lose its meaning. The movement of the creature stretched, its attack slowing to an almost frozen crawl.

Kael blinked.

“…What…?”

His body moved on its own.

Not from instinct.

Not from training.

But from something else entirely.

Something deeper.

His hand rose slowly, almost effortlessly, as the purple glow within his veins surged outward, gathering at his fingertips. The air around him began to distort, bending slightly as if reality itself was reacting to his presence.

The claw was inches away from his face.

And yet—

It couldn’t reach him.

A faint crackling sound echoed through the air, like glass under pressure.

Then—

Reality broke.

A thin fracture appeared in front of Kael’s hand, slicing through space itself like a line drawn across existence. The creature’s attack collided with it—

And stopped.

Completely.

As if it had hit an invisible wall.

Kael’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“…I did that…?”

The fracture spread.

Slowly at first.

Then violently.

The space in front of him shattered outward, and with it, the creature’s attack was torn apart, its form destabilizing as fragments of its existence flickered and collapsed into nothingness.

The Null Beast let out a distorted roar, its body glitching violently as if it couldn’t maintain its structure.

Kael stared at his hand.

At the fading glow.

At the impossible power that had just saved his life.

And in that moment—

He realized something.

This wasn’t normal.

This wasn’t human.

This was something else entirely.

Something broken.

Something dangerous.

Something that should never have existed.

Outside, the city burned.

And Kael Varyn…

Had just taken his first step into a world far beyond his understanding.

The moment the fractured space collapsed back into place, the air inside the apartment grew unbearably heavy, as if reality itself had taken a breath it wasn’t supposed to take and now struggled to recover from it. Kael stood frozen, his arm still slightly raised, fingers trembling faintly as the last traces of violet energy flickered and died out around his hand. For a brief, fragile second, there was silence—a hollow, unnatural silence that felt far more terrifying than the chaos that had come before it.

Then the creature screamed.

The sound didn’t belong to any living thing. It tore through the air like a distortion, bending the space around it as the Null Beast staggered backward, its massive form glitching violently as pieces of its body flickered in and out of existence. Where Kael’s power had touched it, the creature’s structure seemed unstable, as if parts of it had been erased improperly, leaving behind cracks in its very being.

Kael’s breath came in sharp, uneven bursts as he stared at what he had just done, his mind struggling to process the impossible reality unfolding before him. That attack… it hadn’t just blocked the creature—it had broken it. Not physically, not in any normal sense, but on a level that went far deeper than flesh or bone. It was as if he had reached into the fabric of existence itself and forced it to change.

“…What… am I…?” he whispered under his breath, his voice barely audible over the low hum building around him.

But there was no time to think.

The Null Beast recovered faster than it should have. Its distorted form twisted violently, snapping back into a more stable shape as its hollow eyes burned with something far more intense than before—not just hunger, not just instinct, but something closer to awareness.

Recognition.

It had understood.

And now, it saw Kael not as prey…

But as a threat.

With a sudden, explosive movement, the creature lunged forward again, its entire body collapsing and reforming in midair as it closed the distance between them in an instant. The force of its movement shattered what remained of the apartment walls, concrete and metal ripping apart as if they were nothing more than paper.

Kael barely had time to react.

His body moved again, faster this time, more instinctive, as the strange energy within him surged violently in response to the danger. The world slowed once more—but not as smoothly as before. This time, it stuttered, skipping frames like a broken recording, reality itself struggling to keep up with the force now awakening inside him.

“Move…!” Kael forced out through clenched teeth, his muscles screaming in protest as he threw himself sideways just as the creature’s attack tore through the space he had occupied a split second earlier.

The impact was catastrophic.

The entire section of the building collapsed outward, the outer wall exploding into debris as the force carried through into the open air. A massive chunk of concrete fell away into the streets below, sending shockwaves through the already panicking city.

Kael hit the ground hard, rolling across the fractured floor before slamming into what remained of a support beam. Pain shot through his side, sharp and immediate, but he ignored it. There was no room for pain. Not now.

Not when death was standing right in front of him.

He pushed himself up again, his legs unsteady but refusing to give out. The purple glow beneath his skin had grown stronger now, more aggressive, pulsing in irregular patterns as if it had a will of its own. It wasn’t just responding to him anymore—it was reacting independently.

And that terrified him.

Because he could feel it.

The way it wanted to be used.

The way it enjoyed breaking things.

The way it whispered, not in words, but in intent—

More.

Kael clenched his fists tightly, trying to suppress the rising sensation, but it only grew stronger, spreading through his chest like fire.

“I’m not… losing control…” he muttered, though even he wasn’t sure if he believed it.

The Null Beast roared again, louder this time, its entire form expanding as if reacting to the surge of energy coming from Kael. The cracks in the sky above pulsed violently in response, beams of distorted light spilling down into the city as more shapes moved behind the fractures, pressing against the barrier between worlds.

It wasn’t just one.

More were coming.

Kael looked up for a split second, his heart sinking as he realized the scale of what was happening. This wasn’t an isolated incident. This wasn’t something contained.

This was the beginning of something far worse.

And right now—

He was standing at the center of it.

The creature attacked again.

Faster.

More aggressive.

This time, Kael didn’t dodge immediately.

Instead, he raised his hand again.

But it wasn’t as easy as before.

The energy resisted him.

No—it fought him.

It surged wildly, unstable, threatening to tear through his body instead of obeying his command. Kael gritted his teeth, forcing his focus to narrow, ignoring the pain, ignoring the fear, forcing everything into a single point.

“Just… listen to me…!” he shouted, his voice echoing against the collapsing structure.

For a split second—

The energy responded.

A fracture appeared again.

But this time—

It wasn’t small.

It spread outward violently, tearing through the air in jagged lines that cracked across the space between Kael and the creature like a spiderweb of broken reality. The Null Beast’s attack collided with it—

And everything exploded.

The force of the impact ripped through the entire floor, sending a shockwave outward that shattered every remaining window in the surrounding buildings. The structure beneath them gave way completely, the apartment collapsing as the ground beneath Kael disappeared.

He fell.

The world spun violently as he dropped through the air, debris falling alongside him, the city below rushing up at terrifying speed. The wind tore past him, cold and violent, but even that felt distant compared to the chaos inside his own body.

The energy was out of control now.

Completely.

It surged through him without restraint, flooding his senses, distorting his vision as flashes of something else—something not his own—began to bleed into his mind.

Images.

Fragments.

Memories that didn’t belong to him.

A battlefield beneath a shattered sky.

Endless figures kneeling before something unseen.

A throne… towering… absolute…

And a voice.

Clearer this time.

Colder.

“You are not ready.”

Kael’s eyes widened as the voice cut through everything else, silencing the chaos for just a moment.

“…Then why give me this power?!” he shouted into the void, though he didn’t know who—or what—he was speaking to.

There was no answer.

Only the ground rushing closer.

And then—

A sudden force.

Something grabbed him.

Not physically.

But something stopped his fall.

Kael’s body jerked violently as the descent halted midair, his entire form suspended just above the ground, the debris around him crashing down in a violent storm of destruction.

For a brief second, everything went still again.

Kael’s breathing was ragged, his vision blurred as he tried to understand what had just happened.

And then—

Footsteps.

Slow.

Deliberate.

Echoing through the dust and smoke.

Kael forced his head up.

And through the settling debris—

He saw them.

Figures.

Dressed in dark, uniform-like coats, standing unnaturally calm amidst the destruction, as if the collapsing city around them meant nothing at all.

One of them stepped forward.

A woman.

Her eyes locked onto Kael with sharp, calculating intensity.

“…So,” she said quietly, her voice cutting cleanly through the chaos, “you’re the anomaly.”

Kael stared at her, his body still trembling from the overwhelming surge of power.

“…Who… are you people…?”

The woman didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, her gaze shifted briefly to the sky—to the cracks, to the creatures still pressing against the boundary of their world.

Then back to him.

“…We’re the ones who clean up what shouldn’t exist,” she said calmly.

A pause.

Then—

Her expression hardened slightly.

“And right now… that includes you.”