Despite losing in front of the whole class, I didn't care.
As I walked back to the dormitory with a bruised body and an aching jaw, I kept thinking about him—the man in my dreams.
Those purple, glowing eyes.
That voice, deep and distant, calling me again and again.
Why… does he feel so familiar?
It wasn't just a dream. No—this felt real. Like a memory clawing its way back from the depths of time.
After showering off the sweat and blood, I collapsed into my bed. The aches in my body faded as sleep pulled me down into the same dream—again.
Chains rattling in the dark.
A silhouette suspended in midair.
And a whisper this time:
"Come… to the gate."
I shot awake, heart pounding.
A location flashed through my mind—an abandoned factory just outside Babylon Academy's lower district. I didn't question it. I just… knew.
---
The next morning, before sunrise, I snuck past the academy walls and made my way through twisted alleys and broken-down roads. The air was thick with dust and decay as I reached the factory grounds.
Behind the collapsed scaffolding and rusted machinery stood something impossible.
A massive gate.
Towering, ancient, and glowing with a faint purple hue—like it had always been there, waiting.
"No way… this gate—it's enormous."
"How has no one discovered this?"
The closer I got, the heavier the air became. My legs trembled. Something inside was alive. Watching.
I reached out—and the moment my foot crossed the threshold, a violent burst of mana exploded outward.
The shockwave sent my body flying back several meters. My vision blurred.
Inside the gate—
---
Somewhere deep inside the dungeon…
The beasts stirred.
Eyes opened in the dark. Rows of fangs. Claws scraping the stone. Their instincts screamed.
"H-He's here?"
"No… he was sealed. He was sealed by the corrupt gods!"
A voice—ancient and vast—whispered directly into their minds.
> "Even if he is me, try and kill him…
If you succeed, power will be yours.
You may even attain a human form."
The dungeon trembled.
Greed overtook fear. The monsters began to move—thousands of them. Crawling, sprinting, flying through the tunnels toward the entrance.
---
Meanwhile…
I stood up, coughing, the world around me… changed.
Pitch-black walls. A void-like cavern that stretched endlessly. No sky. No light. Just silence.
My body felt heavy.
I stepped forward, deeper into the abyss. Each breath echoed.
And then I heard it—
CRKKKHHH—!
Something scraped across the stone ahead.
Not just one thing.
Dozens. No—hundreds.
They were coming.
And I was alone.