Chapter 1: The Awakening of a Defect
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Darkness.
It was the kind of black that swallowed everything—the kind where you couldn’t tell if your eyes were open or closed.
I was floating. Or falling. Or maybe I had already hit the ground and just hadn’t realized it yet.
The last thing I remembered was the Enforcers. Their cold voices. The shackles digging into my wrists. The quiet, accepted truth that I was about to die.
And then—
Something spoke to me.
<blockquote>
[ABYSSAL OVERRIDE INSTALLING...]
[ERROR: UNREGISTERED ENTITY DETECTED]
[REWRITING SYSTEM PARAMETERS...]
</blockquote>
The words weren’t spoken aloud. They weren’t even thoughts. They just… were. Like a truth being carved directly into my existence.
I should have been terrified.
Instead, I felt something else.
A pull. A whisper. A sense that, for the first time in my life, the system wasn’t rejecting me.
It was changing for me.
And then—
Pain.
A searing, mind-breaking agony tore through my veins like molten metal. My body arched, my breath caught, and I would have screamed—except there was no air, no sound, no me beyond the pain itself.
<blockquote>
[ERROR STABILIZED.]
[SYSTEM ACCEPTANCE: PARTIAL.]
[NEW CLASS ACQUIRED: VOID REAPER]
</blockquote>
The darkness shattered.
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Waking Up a Different Person
I gasped awake, coughing as cold air rushed into my lungs.
My body ached, my head throbbed, but I was alive.
Blinking against the dim light, I pushed myself upright. My wrists were still red from where the shackles had been, but the chains were gone. So were the Enforcers.
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I wasn’t in the dungeon anymore.
I wasn’t sure where I was.
The floor beneath me was smooth black stone, polished like a mirror. The sky overhead wasn’t a sky at all—just an endless void, swirling with faint pinpricks of light. It felt too big, too empty, too wrong.
I wasn’t alone.
A figure stood in front of me.
Tall, draped in flowing obsidian robes. Their face was hidden behind an ornate mask, carved with twisting patterns that seemed to shift when I wasn’t looking.
And when they spoke, their voice echoed inside my skull.
"The system has rejected you."
I stiffened, my hands clenching into fists.
No. Not again.
The figure tilted their head slightly, as if studying me. "And yet, you still live. Curious."
I swallowed. My throat was dry. "Who are you?"
They didn’t answer. Instead, they raised a hand.
"Tatsuya Vael. You are no longer bound by the laws of this world. But that freedom comes with a cost."
The air shimmered around them, and suddenly, I was drowning in pressure. It wasn’t like a killing intent. It wasn’t even something I could describe in words.
It was existence itself pressing down on me.
A test. A warning. A promise.
And then—
They were gone.
I gasped, stumbling forward as the weight vanished. The void around me cracked, like glass fracturing under pressure.
And then—
I was somewhere else.
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Back to Reality (Sort of)
I woke up in an alleyway, gasping for air like I had been drowning.
The world around me was loud, bright, real. The smell of city smog burned my nose. Distant chatter, footsteps, the hum of neon signs—sounds I hadn’t heard in weeks.
I was back.
Somehow, I had survived.
I took a shaky breath, pushing myself upright. My body felt different. Lighter. Stronger. There was no pain from my wounds, no exhaustion in my limbs. And most importantly—
The system wasn’t rejecting me anymore.
<blockquote>
[STATUS WINDOW]
NAME: Tatsuya Vael
RANK: [ERROR]
CLASS: Void Reaper (Level 1)
NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: SHADOW STRIDE
</blockquote>
I stared at the words, my breath unsteady.
This wasn’t normal.
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
And yet… here I was.
A defect with a class. A failure with power.
For the first time in my life, I had a chance.
And I was going to take it.
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A New Beginning: The School Arc Starts
The realization hit me like a freight train.
I had been gone for months. Officially, I was dead. Which meant I had no home, no money, no identity.
I needed a plan.
And as much as I hated the idea… there was only one place I could go.
The Hunter Academy.
Every city had one—a training ground for future hunters, a place where students honed their skills and earned the right to rise through the ranks.
And more importantly?
It was the only place I could blend in.
If I could get in.
If I could fake a new identity.
If I could survive whatever the hell was coming next.
I exhaled, rolling my shoulders. The city stretched out before me, filled with hunters who had spent their lives looking down on people like me.
They thought I was gone.
They thought I was nothing.
Time to prove them wrong.