Ravian watched the man with guarded eyes, every muscle coiled tight and ready to react at the smallest movement. His heart hammered inside his chest, each beat loud enough that he almost worried the stranger could hear it.

After several suffocating seconds, Ravian slowly realized that Karius did not seem particularly eager to attack.

At least, not yet.

With no better option available, he decided to play along until a chance to run presented itself. Unfortunately, that chance felt impossibly far away.

"Who are you... and what do you want?" Ravian finally asked, forcing his breathing to steady.

"Huh?" The man tilted his head, genuinely puzzled.

"Didn’t I already say? I’m Karius. As for what I want—"

He stepped forward, and his massive frame loomed over Ravian like a wall with a pulse. His presence alone seemed to compress the air inside the blacksmith’s shop, making it harder to breathe than it had any right to be.

"It’s simple." He smiled.

"Where is Max from the Black Crow Gang? You came out of the same alley his people used. I’m certain of it."

Ravian’s eyes flickered.

So that was it.

The man hadn’t been looking for him. Not at first, anyway. Max had been the real target all along.

"...Damn it," Ravian muttered.

"What was that?" Karius asked, eyes narrowing.

Ravian raised both hands quickly.

"S-Sir Karius, about Max—" He scratched the back of his head, arranging the most innocent expression he could manage.

"I’m not entirely sure how to explain this."

He had never considered himself a skilled liar. But right now, lying was considerably better than the alternative.

"What happened to Max?" Karius demanded, patience thinning.

"Do you know where he is?"

"Well..." Ravian coughed lightly, then delivered his answer with the reluctant air of someone passing on unfortunate news.

"Max is dead."

The moment the words left his mouth, he turned his head away and found the nearby display of swords suddenly very interesting — as if the matter had nothing whatsoever to do with him.

Silence.

"...What?" Karius blinked.

The disbelief in his voice was almost amusing.

Earlier that day, rumors had filtered through the slums about a particular Black Crow Gang squad that had grown too reckless, too visible, drawing the kind of attention that made his job complicated. Karius had come to deal with it quickly — cut them down, send the message, and move on. A simple task.

And now this scrawny young man was standing in front of him, calmly reporting that the squad leader was already dead.

"And how exactly did he die?" Karius asked slowly.

"Did you kill him?"

"Uh, well... it all happened very fast," Ravian said, waving a hand vaguely.

"Max broke into my house, slipped, dropped his sword, and then... uh, somehow the blade fell and cut his throat."

He paused.

"Total accident."

Karius stared at him.

Ravian nodded again, apparently attempting to convince both of them simultaneously.

For several long seconds, Karius’s face remained completely blank. He had entered this shop suspicious. He was leaving it certain.

The boy was lying.

And more importantly — he was the one who had killed Max. That explained why he had been chasing the rest of the squad. It explained why he had come from the same alley they had fled through.

Before Ravian could blink, Karius was gone.

Not gone. He had simply moved faster than Ravian could follow.

In the next instant, the distance between them no longer existed, and a massive hand clamped down on top of Ravian’s head. His pupils contracted. He tried to pull back, but his body refused the instruction. Karius’s palm rested against his skull like something immovable, while his other hand held the bag slung over his back without any sign of strain.

Then something cold seeped into Ravian’s body.

Soul power.

It flowed through him like invisible threads — probing his flesh, his veins, his bones — searching for something beneath the surface.

Ravian’s breath caught. The moment Karius made contact, his body locked up entirely, as if invisible chains had closed around every nerve at once.

Paralysis?

No. This was worse than paralysis.

Suppression — absolute, total suppression.

Only then did Ravian truly understand the gap between them. If Karius wanted him dead, there would be no fight. It would end before Ravian even understood it had started.

"So," Karius said at last, releasing his grip.

"You’re already Awakened."

The pressure vanished. Ravian sucked in a sharp breath, nearly stumbling as control flooded back into his limbs.

He did not step back. There was no point. If the man wanted to catch him, one step in any direction would be enough.

"Well then, boy," Karius said, his tone shifting as if he had reached some internal conclusion. "I have an offer."

Ravian stayed quiet and listened.

"Option one." Karius raised a finger.

"You come with me. Join my unit — become a soldier of the Imperial Army and its allied border forces."

Ravian’s expression tightened.

"Option two." A second finger.

"I hand you over to the City Guards. An Awakened who kills another Awakened cannot simply be overlooked. Someone like you doesn’t get to disappear back into the civilian population."

He added, almost as an afterthought...

"Of course, that would be after I verify that Max is actually dead."

His smile widened.

It contained no warmth at all.

"So — which will it be?"

A dull ache settled behind Ravian’s eyes.

’Damn you, old man. Can’t you just leave me alone?’

Trouble was no longer approaching. It had already arrived, kicked the door down, and was now sitting directly in front of him, smiling with entirely too much satisfaction.

Ravian met Karius’s gaze. He wasn’t bluffing. This, or the City Guards — and the second option would be considerably worse.

"Is the Viera Empire involved in any conflicts right now?" Clinging to one last thread of hope, Ravian asked quietly,

A faint, desperate flicker crossed his eyes.

Maybe the borders were at peace. Maybe this was routine. Maybe—

"Heh." Karius chuckled.

Ravian’s heart sank before the man even continued.

"Was it that obvious?" Karius said with amusement.

"A war is about to break out with the Twilight Empire. Classified, of course — keep it to yourself." For the first time since he had entered the shop, his expression turned genuinely serious.

"And yes," he added, as casually as one might mention the weather, "there are beast waves every month."

Ravian nearly blacked out.

A war between empires. And constant beast invasions.

Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.

"S-Sir Karius," Ravian said quickly, forcing his most pitiful expression to the surface.

"Don’t you think I’m a little young for a blood-soaked battlefield? I only just Awakened. Surely you have some mercy in that heart of yours?"

Karius looked down at him.

"That might have worked," he said flatly.

"If you had not just slit the throat of a Black Crow leader." His eyes communicated the rest clearly enough.

Who exactly do you think you’re fooling?

’Sharp old bastard...’ Ravian cursed inwardly, keeping his smile in place on the outside.

"Hahaha!" Karius laughed suddenly.

"I can tell you just cursed me in your head."

Ravian’s smile froze on his face.

Karius looked entertained.

"Relax," he said, waving it off.

"I won’t throw you straight into a suicide squad."

Ravian let out a small breath.

"Not exactly."

He stopped letting it out.

"Still better than the guards. They’d send you to the front lines as cannon fodder and call it justice." Karius grinned.

He stroked his chin, studying Ravian the way someone might examine a newly discovered weapon rather than a person.

"I’ll give you a few days of sword training. You’re rough, but not entirely hopeless. You might even have talent."

Then, as if mentioning something entirely ordinary, he added, "The battlefield could help you rise. From Awakened... to Walker... to Soul Liberator... then Riftmaker."

He paused briefly.

"And if you don’t die too soon, perhaps you’ll become a Guardian — like me."

Ravian absorbed the information buried in those offhand words.

Awakened. Walker. Soul Liberator. Riftmaker. Guardian.

Each title felt heavier than the one before it — steps on a staircase that disappeared into clouds he couldn’t see.

’So these are the ranks of power...’

And there were surely more. Karius was not a general. He was not one of the true forces commanding from somewhere far above all of this.

Ravian swallowed.

This world was far deeper, and far more dangerous, than he had allowed himself to imagine.

As he processed everything, a cold, familiar sensation stirred at the edge of his awareness.

Translucent text appeared.

[Ding!]

[Successfully devoured the Records of an Awakened stronger than the host: Emy.]

[Reward: Two extra lives.]

The last line hit him like a thunderclap.

His eyes went wide.

Karius noticed immediately.

"Are you alright?" he asked, eyes narrowing.

Ravian couldn’t answer.

It had said lives.

’Two lives?’