SSS-RANK: Super Extraction System-Chapter 15: [15] The Hunt Begins

Chapter 15: [15] The Hunt Begins
The room didn’t exist on any official blueprint of the Vanguard Academy.
Located three floors beneath the Administration Block, accessible only by a retinal scan and a blood-sample verification, sat "The Crypt." It was a cold, windowless box of steel and blue light, humming with the sound of encrypted servers.
Leon sat at a metal table. His hands were clasped in front of him to hide the slight tremor that still lingered in his fingers. His core was empty. The Emergency Concealment Protocol from last night had left him feeling like a hollowed-out shell.
Commander Rostova stood on the other side of the table. She looked tired. There were dark circles under her eyes, and a mug of black coffee sat untouched near her elbow.
"You felt it," she said. It wasn’t a question.
"Yes," Leon replied. His voice was raspy. "At my apartment. It was looking for me."
Rostova tapped the table. A holographic display flickered to life between them. It showed a map of Neo-Veridia. A bright red pulse originated from the industrial district and swept across the residential sectors like a radar wave.
"That wasn’t a scan, Leon," Rostova said grimly. "That was a declaration of intent."
She swiped the air, changing the image. A grainy, distorted photograph appeared. It was taken by a long-range surveillance drone that had been destroyed three seconds after snapping the picture.
The image showed a figure standing atop a ruined skyscraper in the Eclipse Zone. It was tall, draped in a coat that seemed woven from the night itself. Its skin was pale as marble, and its eyes even in the low-resolution photo burned with a crimson intelligence.
Leon’s breath hitched. He recognized him. From the memory fragments. From the throne room vision.
"Marquis Kain," Rostova named the monster. "One of the Regional Commanders of the Evernight Alliance. A Royal Shadow."
"Why is he here?" Leon asked, though he already knew the answer.
"Because of you."
Rostova leaned forward, her expression hard. "Yesterday, in the arena, you did something foolish. You showed off. You used a localized shadow manifestation to humiliate a B-Rank student."
"I had to win," Leon defended.
"Winning is fine. Beaming a signal flare into the Eclipse Zone is not." Rostova sighed, rubbing her temples. "Your Shadow Core isn’t like the others, Leon. It’s... pure. To creatures like kane, you don’t look like a threat. You look like a feast. A battery of infinite potential."
She pointed at the map. "He entered the city limits two hours ago. He’s established a lair in a newly surfaced Evernight Relic ruin; the Sunken Cathedral just outside the eastern perimeter. He’s not attacking the city yet. He’s waiting."
"Waiting for what?"
"For his hounds to find you. For you to panic and run.
The silence in the room was heavy. The hum of the servers seemed to get louder.
Leon looked at the holographic face of the vampire. This creature could crush buildings. It could enslave minds. And it wanted him.
"My family," Leon whispered.
"They are save" Rostova assured him. "But I can’t keep them safe forever. If Kain decides to move, he will tear through Sector 7 like it’s made of tissue paper just to flush you out."
Leon clenched his fists.
"So what do I do?" Leon asked. "Hide? Run?"
"You can run," Rostova said. "We can give you a new identity. Move you to the interior territories. But Kain will smell you. He will hunt you. And eventually, he will find you."
She paused, letting the weight of that sink in.
"Or," she said, her voice dropping an octave, "we stop playing defense."
Leon looked up. "What are you saying?"
"The Sunken Cathedral has surfaced. It’s his domain now. As long as he sits on that throne, he projects his influence over the city. But if someone were to enter the Cathedral... and remove him..."
"You want me to kill a Marquis?" Leon looked at her like she was insane. "I’m a student. I just hit Level 2."
She looked at him with a strange mix of pity and calculation.
"Your energy signature mimics theirs. The barrier will think you belong there. You can slip inside where an army cannot."
She slid a digital dossier across the table.
"I’ve assembled a squad. Wraith Squad. Specialists in high-risk, off-the-books operations. They are waiting for a fourth member. A shadow specialist."
Leon stared at the dossier. This wasn’t a school assignment. This was an assassination mission. A suicide run.
But then he thought of the Gaze. Fear began to evaporate from Leon’s chest. In its place, a cold, jagged shard of ice formed.
He wasn’t the prey. He couldn’t afford to be the prey.
"If I kill him," Leon said, his voice steady, "will it stop?"
"If you kill him, the signal stops. The hunt ends. Your family lives."
Leon stood up. He didn’t feel like a boy anymore. He felt hollowed out and filled back up with something darker.
"I’ll do it."
[ SYSTEM ALERT ]
The interface materialized in the air, vibrating with a dark energy Leon hadn’t felt before. The text wasn’t blue anymore. It was tinged with purple.
[ NEW QUEST ISSUED: THE MONARCH’S DECREE ]
[ QUEST: HUNT THE ROYAL SHADOW ]
[ TARGET: MARQUIS KAIN (LV. ???) ]
[ LOCATION: THE SUNKEN CATHEDRAL ]
[ DESCRIPTION: A pretender sits on a throne of darkness. His existence is an insult to the true Monarch. Eliminate him and claim his essence. ]
[ REWARDS: ]
1. MONARCH’S KEY FRAGMENT (1/3)
2. SYSTEM EVOLUTION
3. ???
[ FAILURE PENALTY: ]
[ ETERNAL SERVITUDE TO THE ROYAL SHADOW ]
[ ACCEPT? Y / N ]
Eternal servitude. Being turned into a thrall. A mind-wiped slave for a vampire lord.
Leon pressed [ YES ].
"Good," Rostova said. She didn’t smile. There was nothing to smile about. She opened a drawer and pulled out a heavy black case.
Inside was a set of tactical gear. Not the student uniform. This was matte black, woven from stealth-fabric, devoid of any rank insignias. Beside it lay a pair of short, curved daggers made of a dark, non-reflective metal.
"Shadow-steel," Rostova explained. "Conductive to your energy. Sharp enough to cut through vampire hide."
Leon ran his hand over the cold metal.
"One more thing," Rostova said. She tapped the dossier again, flipping to the last page.
It was a list of names. Beside each name was a status: DECEASED or MISSING.
"Kain doesn’t just kill," she said quietly. "He collects. He takes unique awakeners, people with rare gifts like yours and he breaks them. He twists them into his personal Shadow Guards."
She pointed to a photo of a young man with bright eyes. "This was Kaito. A-Rank Wind user. He went missing two years ago. We found him last month guarding a vampire nest. He... didn’t know his own name. He killed three of my men before we put him down."
Rostova looked Leon dead in the eye.
"Do not let him take you alive, Leon. If you fail... make sure you die."
Leon took the dossier. He stared at the face of Kaito. The empty eyes.
"I understand," Leon said.
The locker room in The Crypt was silent.
Leon stood in front of the mirror. He was dressed in the black tactical gear. The shadow-steel daggers were sheathed at his hips. The high collar of the suit hid his neck.
He looked like a wraith.
He reached into his old student uniform and pulled out his datapad. He opened the gallery.
A photo filled the screen. It was taken three months ago, before the Awakening Ceremony. The sun was shining. His dad had his arm around Mom. Lily and Maya were making silly faces at the camera. Leon stood in the back, smiling, looking hopeful.
That boy seemed like a stranger now. That boy thought an F-Rank was the worst thing that could happen to him.
Leon looked at the photo for a long minute.
"I’m sorry," he whispered to the screen.
He wasn’t apologizing for leaving. He was apologizing for what he was about to become.
To kill a monster, he had to stop being human. He had to stop hesitating. He had to stop feeling fear.
He swiped the screen off. The light died, leaving him in the dim reflection of the mirror.
His eyes stared back at him. For a fleeting second, deep within the iris, a faint purple light pulsed.
[ QUEST ACTIVE: HUNT THE ROYAL SHADOW ]
[ TIME REMAINING UNTIL SUNSET: 4 HOURS ]
Leon shoved the datapad into his locker and slammed the metal door shut. The sound echoed like a gunshot.
He turned toward the exit where Wraith Squad was waiting.
School was out. The hunt was on.