Five figures draped in obsidian-black robes stood at the precipice of the abyss where F-City had once been. One of them stepped closer to the jagged edge, peering into the lightless depths with a heavy sigh.

  "It’s deep. Really deep," Zack said, his voice echoing. "Archibald, do you think Allen hit the ceiling of Level One, or did he actually break through?"

  A slightly hunched figure beneath a hood shook his head dismissively. "You're looking at it all wrong, Zack. Allen doesn't have a 'Growth Level.' Binding a force like him to a system as trivial as ours makes no sense."

  Zack laughed, waving his hands as if batting away a fly. His lack of concern clearly grated on Archibald; two pinpricks of crimson light flared beneath the old man's hood where his eyes should be.

  "Are you challenging me, you little brat?" Archibald hissed.

  Under Zack's hood, two points of brilliant blue light ignited in response. "What’s the matter, old man? You want to go a round?"

  "Both of you, stop!"

  The squabble died instantly as a woman’s voice, cold as a winter grave, cut through the air. Elisse stepped forward.

  "Our priority is Allen. Capture him alive, bring him before Lord Aegis, and move Project Perfection into the next phase. Anything else is a waste of my time."

  The other four nodded in silent submission. Elisse approached the crater and extended her open palm toward the void.

  "Well, Elisse?" Archibald asked, stepping up behind her. "Can you find our little knight?"

  "I’ve had a lock on him since the start," she replied, her voice tightening. "The problem isn't where he is, but what he’s in. Do you remember what Lord Aegis taught us about the origin of the monsters?"

  One of the figures who hadn't spoken yet began to tremble. Thomas stepped forward, his fists clenched. "Are you saying... the Negative World?"

  "Exactly, Thomas. The Negative World—the nest of the monsters."

  Thomas’s shaking intensified. Beneath his hood, amidst his red eyes, thick plumes of steam began to vent from his nostrils. "Enough power to bridge the gap to the Negative World... what kind of monster has Allen become? Elisse, are you sure Aegis didn't miscalculate his growth potential?"

  Elisse’s hand began to glow with a blinding white light. Within seconds, a staircase of solid radiance began to form, winding down into the lightless pit.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  "Lord Aegis is never wrong. Allen’s potential is technically Level One. But something happened when he killed Marc. Something caused the genetic charts to spike into the red. A total imbalance."

  Archibald, the oldest among them and the one who had spent the most time in Aegis’ inner sanctum, remembered the only thing capable of causing such a destabilization.

  "Is the Darkness element influencing him?" he muttered. Realizing he had spoken aloud, he went quiet, but Elisse’s eyes were already on him, inquisitive and sharp.

  "You know something about the Onyx and the other stones, don't you, Archibald?"

  "I know how they were created. Where they came from. Why they exist, and..." He trailed off, refusing to continue. Elisse didn't push him; instead, she signaled for the group to begin their descent down the stairs of light.

  Time flowed differently in the Negative World.

  While Elisse and her team had spent only a few days preparing on Earth, several weeks had already passed for the citizens and heroes trapped in the monster’s nest. During those weeks, they had been under constant siege. Even the lowliest monsters there were Category Three nightmares.

  Under the crushing pressure of survival, Shinobi and Titan had finally come clean. They revealed their intent to overthrow Aegis and admitted their alliance with the hidden villain guilds. Paradoxically, the truth had brought order. Civilians, heroes, and "villains" were now working as a single, organized unit.

  Category Three and Four monsters were handled with grim efficiency by the combined forces. The real crisis came with the Category Fives. Allen—the man everyone now acknowledged as their strongest protector—refused to fight. He had gone as far as threatening anyone who tried to force his hand. Without his help, every Category Five encounter left a trail of mangled bodies and overflowing emergency wards.

  Currently, Shinobi and Crimson Shadow were watching Allen from a distance. He was sitting on a rusted bench, staring into the starless black sky of the Negative World, mindlessly rolling a smooth black stone between his fingers.

  "He's still the same, brother. I told you," Shadow said.

  "Can’t you do what you did months ago?" Shinobi asked. "Talk some sense into him? Give him the hard truth?"

  Shadow shook his head, his expression grim. "It’s not that simple this time. Back then, his fire was fueled by hatred for Caliber. This is deeper. A wise man once said the only cure for love is time. That’s the only thing Allen needs right now."

  "And since when did you become an expert on the heart?" Shinobi teased. "As I recall, you’ve never even had a girlfriend."

  Shadow coughed and looked away. "Do you remember when Grandpa used to throw shurikens and kunais at me, asking where I’d been all day?"

  "Yeah... wait... you mean...?"

  "I met a woman in the city years ago. Her name was Elisse. A good woman. My only regret is that she moved to A-City and we lost touch. I still wonder if she made it out okay."

  The irony was lost on them. Neither Shinobi nor Shadow could have imagined that Elisse, accompanied by four of the Federation's most dangerous hunters, had just breached the spatial rift near the city’s perimeter.

  Allen, however, felt it.

  He sensed the ripples in the fabric of space. A macabre, jagged smile slowly spread across his face, even as fresh tears welled in his eyes.

  "So, you’ve finally sent your dogs, Aegis?"

  Allen’s fist tightened around the Onyx. He looked down at the gray soil, two new tracks of black tears beginning to fall.