The air in northern Aomori felt cleaner than most places Eliza Park had been lately—crisp, pine-scented, and deceptively peaceful. But the peace ended about a kilometer east, where a web of barbed fencing and motionless drones surrounded the infamous Ruins 07-Z.
Eliza stood on a cliff just outside the restricted perimeter, coat flapping softly in the wind. From this height, she could see the collapsed outer wall of the ruin. It looked dead—quiet, overgrown, abandoned by both time and men. But everyone knew ruins like this didn't die. They slept.
Behind her, a soft voice broke the silence.
"So, uh… we're really doing this, huh?"
Harper Lee appeared beside her, hair tied into a lazy bun, oversized hoodie bulging with hidden tech. Her hands were in her pockets, shoulders hunched against the breeze.
Eliza didn't respond right away. She was too focused on the distant structure, on the stillness that didn't feel natural.
"We're not breaking into a museum, Harper," she said eventually. "You sure you're ready for this?"
Harper rolled her eyes. "Please. I watched six hours of ancient ruin documentaries and installed three different hacking scripts just for this trip. I'm emotionally attached now."
Eliza smiled faintly. "Emotional attachment to death traps. That's new."
"Only when you're involved."
They stood there for a moment in easy silence. Eliza appreciated Harper's presence more than she let on. They'd been through too much together—especially since Seoul Gatefall six months ago. Harper had barely made it out of that mess. Eliza had changed after it. Something had clicked—or maybe cracked.
Behind them, the loud thrum of rotor blades signaled the arrival of a private transport chopper. Dust swirled. Eliza turned.
Ivana Markov climbed down without waiting for assistance, leather jacket whipping in the wind. The Russian woman looked as unbothered as ever, chewing on a toothpick instead of a cigarette for once. She carried herself like a tank that didn't know how to stop moving.
"Eliza," she greeted. "Still dragging children into your messes?"
Harper lifted a middle finger. "Hi to you, too."
Ivana chuckled, boots thudding on rock. "Cute. She still talks."
"I pay her in sarcasm," Eliza said.
The three stood together on the overlook, staring down at the ruins.
"So," Ivana said, "what do we know?"
Eliza pulled out her tablet, the surface lighting up with a local scan map and old report clippings. "Not much. Government's keeping this one sealed tighter than usual. They filed it as a structural hazard after the Nagoya Collapse, but that was just a cover. There were whispers it was one of the unmapped Gate Sites—the kind that predates modern awakenings."
According to the data cited, this is a category 7 ROAC (ruin of ancient civilization), which is undoubtedly far worse than the other two ancient temples explored, which were type O3 and type O5 ROAC.
Ancient civilization symbols were graded from type O1 to type O7, each with a unique degree of difficulty determined by the number of persons who perished attempting to enter. Even the Egyptian pyramids, the most enigmatic ROAC in the world, were merely type 5.
"Any anomalies?" Ivana asked.
"Not publicly. But off-record?" Eliza tapped a data stream. "Three separate F-rank scouts reported distortion before they vanished. No bodies. No alerts. The Japanese Bureau scrubbed all data within six hours."
"F-ranks," Harper muttered. "We're seriously risking our lives because three disposable grunts tripped an energy wire?"
"Everything starts somewhere," Eliza replied. "Even gatequakes."
Ivana narrowed her eyes. "You think this is related to the other flares?"
"The energy signature's too similar to ignore. Cairo, Buenos Aires, New Delhi… and now here. The spikes are low-level, but they're consistent. Someone—or something—is planting these sites like seeds."
Harper leaned in. "So what are we actually looking for? A dungeon core? A sealed monster? Buried magic tech?"
Eliza shook her head. "I don't know."
Ivana laughed. "Well, that's comforting."
Eliza tucked the tablet away. "What I do know is that something inside matches the spiritual residue from the Berlin Incident."
Ivana's expression changed. Slightly.
"You were there, weren't you?" Harper asked.
The Russian woman didn't answer.
They didn't press her.
Instead, Ivana looked back down at the ruins. "What's your level now, Eliza?"
"Balistic firepower warrior " she replied. "Three-Ring Awakened. I'm close to breaching into B."
Ivana tilted her head. "You weren't even fully Awakened when we met in Mexico."
"That was six months ago."
"Six months," Ivana repeated, whistling low. "Solo leveling, then?"
Eliza didn't answer.
But the silence said enough.
Harper glanced between them. "Wait. Wait. Three rings in six months? That's… absurd. That's like, monster-slaying speed."
"Yeah," Ivana muttered. "Or corpse-making."
Eliza turned away from them. "Let's not pretend we haven't all done things we regret."
No one responded to that.
Instead, Harper tried to lighten the mood. "So… how does power grading actually work? I mean, past C-rank?"
Ivana crossed her arms. "You start with the Five-Tier System—F to S, standard. But once you're Awakened, it goes by Ring Count. Each ring represents a completed cycle of spiritual refinement. Most never go past one ring. Three rings is rare. Five is elite. Seven… well, you start getting government eyes on you."
"And after that?"
Eliza answered. "After seven, your soul either burns out or changes. People say you become something else entirely. A few call it Black-Ranking. Others just say it's a new class—one not meant to exist."
Harper nodded slowly. "So… and I'm just spitballing here… if something inside this ruin is a Black-Rank?"
"We run," Ivana said flatly.
"No," Eliza said at the same time. "We observe."
Ivana gave her a sideways look. "You're getting reckless."
Atleast I am not a scared cat anymore, anyone who date tries to stop me, I will tear him to streads.
The wind picked up again, stirring dust and dry leaves. Eliza felt it deep in her bones—like standing at the edge of a cliff and knowing the earth might shift beneath you. The ruin waited below like a sleeping beast.
"So, we are going to slay people ," Harper said after a while, voice quieter. "Why this ruin? Out of all the hot spots… why this one?"
Eliza took a long breath before answering.
"Because my brother's last message pinged from here. Four months ago. It was encrypted, buried in a fragment of a dead channel only I knew to check."
Harper's eyes widened. "I thought—"
"He's missing," Eliza said. "Not dead. And if there's even a fraction of a chance…"
Ivana looked away, rubbing her jaw. "Hell of a reason."
A mercenary approached from the helicopter, nodding toward Ivana. "We've got eyes on the path. No patrols. Drone frequency's predictable."
Ivana waved him off. "We move in thirty, tell all the others to get ready."
Harper bit her lip. "So… just to confirm: no idea what's inside, no permission to be here, no guaranteed backup, and a non-zero chance of being erased from existence."
The Japanese bereau and the extremist Tiger association have apparently cooperated so as to make sure, no foreign company gains Intel on anything concerning new discovered ROAC, so pretty much we are as explorers", Eliza said.
Harper sighed.
Now to be sure, we are like terrorists or should I say thieves trying to rob Japanese people of their property.
Ivana smiled, the kind that didn't quite reach her eyes.
Correct baby girl, that is why i am here . We Russians are an unstoppable force ready to crush anyone who comes in our way.
A voice came from behind.
"Let me guess—you're dragging us into another suicidal expedition, Eliza?"
Eliza Park didn't flinch. She recognized that sarcastic drawl anywhere.
Seth Wu stepped into the clearing, hands in his pockets, scarf fluttering behind him like some dramatic war banner. He smirked at Eliza, then glanced at Harper, who was hunched over a tablet, tapping like her life depended on it.
"Seriously," Seth continued, "the last time we followed you, I almost lost a leg in Mexico. This time, I brought both my insurance cards."
"I thought you weren't coming," Harper said dryly, not looking up.
"I wasn't. Then Ivana sent some giant with no neck to drag me out of bed."
Eliza allowed herself a small smile.
Harper glanced up. "You better have brought your suppressors."
"I brought coffee. And a flare gun."
"God help us all."
Before anyone could reply, the sound of boots crunching leaves echoed down the slope. The rest of the crew had arrived.
Kaede Morimoto was first,her tight bun and weathered prayer beads contrasted the sleek black of her combat robes. She barely made a sound. Her spiritual affinity had earned her a C+ grade, but after the Kyoto Rift, most ranked her higher—unofficially B-.
She gave Eliza a respectful nod.
Behind her came Omar Salim, tall and silent as ever. His movements were efficient, almost clinical. He greeted no one but gave Harper a light nod as he passed, setting down his customized disruptors.
Then came Mikhail Antonov, wearing a fur-lined coat that looked like it belonged to a Siberian warlord. He let out a low whistle when he reached the clearing.
"This it?" he asked, unslinging his rifle and leaning it against a tree. "Doesn't look like much."
"Neither did Chernobyl," Kaede said.
Seth raised a brow. "Did you just compare our destination to one of the world's worst nuclear disasters?"
Kaede shrugged. "Just a vibe."
Omar crouched beside a tree, setting up signal dampeners with practiced ease.
"You think Japan's watching this place?" Harper asked without looking up from her device.
"Definitely," Omar replied. "But not closely. They fear it more than they want it."
She walked to the edge of the cliff, where broken stone slabs peeked through vines and moss. The ruins loomed in the mist below, hidden like a buried memory.
The others followed her gaze.
"Anyone else feel like we're standing on the edge of something that doesn't want to be found?" Seth muttered.
"It's not about want," Eliza said, voice low. "It's about inevitability."
That earned a few glances.
Kaede stood beside her, hands folded.
"Cool," Seth said. "So we're walking into a mouth."
Mikhail grunted. "I've dealt with anomalies. Creatures. War zones. But this? I don't like it."
Omar finally broke his silence. "Then why stay?"
Mikhail smirked. "Because Eliza always pays triple."
There was a ripple of laughter.
Eliza turned to face them.
"You all know your roles. You've worked together before. I hope you don't act like babies
Harper looked up. "What does that mean?"
Eliza paused, choosing her words.
Don't die.
"Still keeping secrets from us?" Kaede asked.
Eliza nodded. Very many
Eliza was just 19 years old, but managed to intimidate all the mercenaries, maybe because of her wealth amounting to over 47000. 259 million US dollars. Even the government of Japan and all other organizations were afraid to point direct fingers at her
Seth leaned on his rifle. "Come on, you have to give us something. A creepy ruin in the middle of nowhere, scrambled Japanese satellites, and you're the only one who hears the pulse? We're walking blind."
Harper stood. "Eliza doesn't work on guesses. If she says it's worth it, it is."
Mikhail muttered a curse in Russian.
Harper snorted. "Now that's ominous."
A long silence followed.
Then Seth clapped his hands. "Great. Can't wait. But why do then, what about these Japanese
Harper nodded. "Still testing their firewall layers. Japanese tech is aggressive lately."
"They're trying to keep this place buried," Eliza said.
"And we're the shovels," Seth sighed.
Cut the crap, get ready to jump into hell.
Wait ivano, not before one last breath, one last casual joke, one last moment of peace.