The sky was torn.
Above the shattered skyline of Arcadia, black rift clouds coiled like serpents, flickering with violet lightning. Wind howled through broken towers, carrying ash and static. Amid the chaos stood a lone figure—unmoving, masked, cloaked in flickering shadows.
His name was Kael Riven.
But to the world now, he was the Echo Reaper.
A twisted monstrosity lunged from the rubble, all fangs and boneblades.
[ALERT: Class-A Rift Aberration Detected]
[Echo Field: ACTIVE]
[Soul Echo: Shadow Lancer — Loaded]
Kael shifted slightly. In his gloved hands, a jagged scythe materialized, the metal warping like smoke, infused with whispers. One swing—silent, fluid, final. The creature split in half before it even screamed.
More closed in. Dozens.
Kael tilted his head "You really want to die again?"
The battlefield lit up.
Ghostly afterimages followed every movement. His scythe carved clean arcs through the fog. Explosions of black blood. Faint echoes—screams from another time—spilled from the scythe's blade.
He wasn't just fighting.He was remembering the monsters he'd already killed.
The last beast dropped.
Kael stood over the carnage, breathing slow."They call me the Echo Reaper now…But I used to be no one. A failure. Just a ghost…"
And ghosts remember everything. Six Months Earlier — Rift District, Arcadia
The lower levels of Arcadia were rotting.
Dilapidated housing blocks sagged like corpses. Steam hissed from broken vents. Rift energy leaks shimmered on the ground like oil. Neon signs blinked through the gloom, offering cheap repairs, counterfeit system boosters, and debt traps.
Seventeen-year-old Kael Riven stepped off the mag-rail and into the dirt.
No one looked at him. No one cared. Why would they?
He had no System Core. No scan results. No glow. Nothing. Kael Riven — Status: System Ghost
"Non-Ascendant. No Rank. No Class. No Future."
Kael's body was a map of old wounds—faded bruises, shallow scars, and fresh cuts from countless dungeon runs etched across his skin like reminders of a life spent surviving, not living.
In Arcadia, he was just another so-called "failed Ascendant,"or a "Ghost" a title spat at anyone who didn't awaken properly. But failure didn't excuse hunger or rent. Not after his mother died. Since then, it had been on him to keep both himself and his little brother, Niko, alive. In one hand, he clutched a half-warm Sprite bottle he'd grabbed from a corner stall just five minutes ago.
After five long gulps, the fizz was gone, the bottle empty. "Shit," he muttered, tossing it aside. He dug through his torn pockets, fingertips brushing a loose thread before slipping through a hole. "Fuck… where's my silver coin?" The weight of frustration boiled over.
He slammed his fist into the cracked wall, scraping his knuckles against the rough concrete. Blood trickled from the split skin as he stared down at his hand, jaw clenched. Just another wound—one of many he didn't have time to care about.
Kael kept his hood up and his head low. Slung over his shoulder was a delivery pack filled with scavenged power nodes. He dodged a group of armed Ascendants arguing over bounty zones and walked past a flickering ad:
"Want to be an S-Rank Ascendant? Activate your Core TODAY and claim your destiny!"
He snorted.
Destiny didn't apply to ghosts. Kael didn't believe in destiny. Sometimes he asks himself why he's alive, he feels like there is no point of living but he's still here because of his little brother.
He reached his stop—Unit 17-B, second floor, barely holding together. He pushed open the rusted door.
"Niko," he called softly.
A small head peeked out from under a patchy blanket. Ten years old, dark-haired, pale, but smiling.
"You're back!" Niko said, coughing into his sleeve.
Kael crouched beside him and placed a plastic food tray down.
"Best I could get today. It's warm, though."
Niko didn't complain. He never did.
They ate together, quietly, the way they always did.
Later that night, Kael sat on the broken windowsill, overlooking the Rift District's dead glow. Kael trying to use his phone but has not signal because he didn't pay his phone bill.
He couldn't sleep. He couldn't afford to.
Rent was due in two days. Niko's medicine was almost gone. And his last job barely covered the lights.
"If I had a system… just one damn ability…" Kael's mind drifted to the father he never met, a ghost of a man he only knew through the stories his mother used to whisper on cold nights—tales of a fierce Ascendant who once defied the System itself, vanished into a Rift, and never came back. Kael sometimes think he's the reason why he's a failed Ascendant. It's probably a punishment.
Next Morning
Kael checked the bounty boards—shady job offers flickered on cracked screens. He was going to do anything to provide for him and his little brother he needed to pay the rent and his phone bill.
Most of jobswere for licensed Ascendants. But one caught his eye:
"Rift Relic Retrieval — Forbidden Zone
High pay. High risk. Must sign waiver. Minimal team.
System compatibility not required."
That last part was a lie. It always was. But Kael didn't hesitate.
He signed the waiver.
6 hours later Kael showed up with not gear. Just in a hoodie with a pocket knife.
The air was different here.
Colder. Quieter. Like the city itself was holding its breath.
Kael joined a crew of five—mercs and scavengers. Most gave him side-eyes.
The strongest one is a B rank and had heavy armor on with a large sword "Ghost, huh?" He scoffed. "Just stay out of the way." They four laughed but he didn't care it wasn't the first time anyways this always happens.
The Rift Gate shimmered—jagged, unstable.
"Let's make this fast," the team lead said. "In, grab the core shard, out. Nothing fancy."
Kael having his pocket knife being the last to enter the rift gate "Shit here we go."
They stepped through. Inside the Dungeon
The instant Kael entered, he felt it.
Wrongness.
They started walking through the dungeon behind the four.
One of the Scavengers glanced at Kael and let out a low chuckle. "Why'd you even bother showing up if you knew you'd end up at the back of the line? I mean, what can I say—you're just a shitty ghost anyway."
They all burst into laughter, throwing jabs and mocking Kael without holding back. But Kael stayed silent, his eyes cold beneath the shadow of his hood, letting their words wash over him like static. He'd heard worse. He'd survived worse.
Moments later, the atmosphere shifted.
Suddenly, the four Ascendants' systems began to flicker and glitch, blue and red warning runes stuttering across their HUDs.
"What the hell is going on?" one muttered, swiping at the air as his interface glitched out.
"I don't even know… this can't be good," another replied, unease creeping into his voice.
The B-rank Ascendant—cocky, broad-shouldered, and always running his mouth—turned to them with a smug grin. He thumped a fist against his chest plate. "Hey, don't bug out, guys," he said confidently. "You've got me."
They all smiled "Yea your right." One said.
The walls were stone—but pulsed. The air flickered with static. The ' System UIs were still glitching but wildly it even started to bother the B rank.
Then came the sound.
Clicking. Slithering. Breathing.
The first monster hit like a train—black limbs and bone-blades.
They got there weapons out the B rank in the lead with his heavy sword. And Kael in the back.
"Ready to get shitted on." The B Rank said with a smile.
But in the blink of an eye—before anyone could react—Kael's vision blurred for a split second. When it cleared, the three Ascendants standing behind the B-rank were already down, sprawled lifeless on the ground. Gaping holes tore through their chests, blood pooling beneath them as their systems fizzled out with a soft whine.
Kael's breath caught in his throat. His heart pounded violently against his ribs, loud and relentless—thump-thump-thump—like it was trying to escape. Whatever just happened, it was fast… too fast.
The B-rank's cocky grin vanished as he turned his head slightly, sensing the shift in the air. A wave of cold dread settled over him. Then—shhk!—a massive, jagged claw punched straight through his chest from behind, piercing through the core of his armor like paper.
He gasped, choking on blood, and slowly looked down at the thick claw tearing through him. "What the f—" The word was cut off as the claw twisted. His body dropped lifelessly to the dirt, thudding beside the others.
Blood. There System flashes—[ERROR], [LINK LOST], [FORCE LOGOUT FAILED].
Kael tried to run. A claw caught him across the chest. But didn't go deep
He fell, coughing blood, back hitting a strange altar in the center of the room.
His vision dimmed. Everyone else was dead.
"Niko… I'm sorry…"
But then—
[SYSTEM ALERT: USER DEATH IMMINENT]
[OVERRIDE PROTOCOL: INITIATED]
[SSS SYSTEM — ACTIVATION COMPLETE]
[Welcome, Kael Riven]
[You are now linked to: ECHO PROTOCOL]
[Class: Reaper of Echoes — Bound]
[Soul Synchronization: 9%… 28%… 47%…]
Violet light surged across his veins. The altar cracked beneath him. He rose, gasping.
The monster turned, screeching in surprise.
Kael reached out—and something ancient responded.
[Soul Echo Absorbed: Fangreaper Drone]
[Ability: Razor Pounce — LOADED]
"…What…the hell is this?" Kael whispered.
[System Voice: Echo Protocol online. Welcome back.]
The monster lunged.
Kael didn't dodge.
He stepped forward—vanished—and reappeared behind it.
Slash.
The creature's body froze, then shattered into black shards.
Kael dropped to one knee, panting. His body trembled. The thing he slashed the monster with was a long black obsidian shiny scythe.
But his mind was clear.
He wasn't dead.
He wasn't a ghost anymore.
He was something else entirely.
[SSS-Rank System Confirmed]
[Echo Protocol: Growing… Waiting… Listening…]
Kael clenched his fist, violet sparks flickering at the edges of his eyes. Something was shifting—inside him, around him. The weight in the air was suffocating, electric.
"What the hell is going on?" he muttered, voice low and trembling, a mix of fear and something darker—excitement.
He looked up at the fractured sky of the dungeon, its twisted, obsidian clouds splitting like shattered glass. A savage grin crept across his face. Something ancient had stirred.
And then he saw it—his vision lit up in a flash of static and red glyphs. The System.
[WARNING: SYSTEM BREACH DETECTED]
[Unauthorized Awakening Detected…]
[Echo Protocol Initializing…]
—CLASS: REAPER OF ECHOES—
Requirements Met:
• Exposure to Fatal Threat: COMPLETE
• Soul Instability Threshold: EXCEEDED
• Resonance Catalyst (Blood of Ascendants): ACQUIRED
Activating Reaper Mask
Acquired Bound Weapon: "Noctblade Scythe"
Alert: This path is irreversible. You are no longer recognized by the Standard System.
SSS SYSTEM AWAKENING: ECHO PROTOCOL
Welcome, Kael Riven.
As the final words etched themselves into his vision, dark violet energy surged around his body. A spectral mask began forming over his face—sharp, jagged, horned like a demon out of myth. In his right hand, shadow twisted and condensed into a long obsidian scythe, glowing with faint echo trails of the dead Ascendants' systems.
Kael's looks confused widened beneath the forming mask.
"What the fu-"