In life, there are people who run from danger and there are people who face it head on. Stuck at the middle are people who are magnets for danger, no matter what choice they made.
Unfortunately, Levi always seemed to end up stuck in the middle.
“Hey, guys…” Kyle’s voice dropped to a quiet murmur carrying a touch of reckless curiosity. “How about we go see what it is.”
To Levi, the request was so outrageous he made himself believe he misheard.
He turned his head slowly, looking at Kyle like he’d just suggested they go hug an electric pole.
“Okay, wait wait wait.” Levi said, waving his hand. “so let me get this straight…”
He raised a finger, closing his eyes as if he needed to break the logic down for himself.
“There’s something or someone in the building killing people. That’s what we’re working with, right?”
"Hmmm, hm" Violet hummed, giving a small nod. “Based on what I’ve picked up so far? Yeah. That adds up.”
"Okay" Levi exhaled heavily, turning to look at Kyle again. “And you,” he jabbed a finger at him, “think it’s a brilliant record breaking idea to go toward that instead of—oh, I don’t know—literally anything else?!”
Kyle shrugged with the enthusiasm of a child picking between toys. "Come on you big baby. It's better than sitting around waiting for it to come to us, right?”
Levi didn’t answer. He was too busy trying to figure out if his friends were reckless, or just ignorant towards danger.
He turned towards Violet, slowly.
"And you... you’re just okay with this? You’re saying nothing like this is all completely normal.”
Violet tilted her head, arms crossed loosely. “Yeah,” she said. “I’m actually kinda curious to see what it is.”
Levi let out a long, slow groan and slapped a hand to his face. “Why… Why do I always get stuck with the crazy ones?”
“Oh come on.” Kyle grinned and threw an arm around Levi’s shoulders. “You’ve gotta learn to live life to the fullest, man.”
“I don’t remember anyone ever saying walking into a death trap was part of that lifestyle,” Levi muttered, still not moving.
Violet chuckled, the sound light and unbothered.
Levi turned to her, his voice edged with tired disbelief. “You were looking serious just a minute ago. How are you okay with this now? I thought you were scared?”
She shook her head, lips quirking slightly. “Nah. I was just surprised. That’s all.”
“Don’t worry,” she added, already turning toward the exit. “We’re just going to check things out. We’ll be careful.”
“And the second it looks bad,” Kyle said, raising a hand like he was swearing an oath, “we book it.”
Levi looked from one to the other. Their expressions were set. It was obvious they didn't plan on letting go of the idea.
But Levi was just as determined to avoid it. He had already had his fill of life threatening situations for the week.
Just as he was about to piece together another argument with actual logic that might snap his friends out of whatever daze they were in, the system's screen popped up in front of him.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[NEW QUEST]
[OBJECTIVE: Investigate the Unidentified Threat on the Ground Floor]
[TIME LIMIT: 30:00]
[PENALTY FOR FAILURE: TERMINATION OF USER (DEATH)]
"Death?" Levi thought. "Does this thing ever think of mild consequences? Like... I don’t know, a slap on the wrist? A stern warning?"
He reflexively let out a groan before he realized. Immediately he tried to cover it by rolling his eyes and sighing, hoping Violet and Kyle would realize they were not the target of his frustration anymore.
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Not again. He had promised himself—after the last time—that he’d stop dragging them into his system’s twisted assignments.
But thirty minutes?
He glanced toward the exit, then let his gaze wander through the crowd of students who were chatting in clusters.
Then his eyes landed on Raika.
The boy stood apart from the others, arms crossed and one hand against his chin. His brows were drawn tightly together, lips pressed in a firm line. Not his usual smug self.
At first Levi thought it was still his annoyance from earlier, but when he looked closer, Raika looked more disturbed than annoyed.
"He knows something’s off too," Levi thought.
“Probably trying to figure it out,” Kyle said, as if reading his thoughts.
“Huh?” Levi turned slightly.
“You were wondering if Raika noticed it too, right?” Kyle added, nodding toward him. “He did. I’m sure of it.”
Violet folded her arms. “The idiot might be a jerk, but his skill level’s not a joke.”
Levi stayed silent, eyes still locked on Raika.
Whatever was coming, they weren’t the only ones bracing for it.
“Anywayyy,” Violet said, her voice shifting from cautious to playful, like she’d flipped a switch. “What do you say? Shall we?” She gestured toward the door with a half-smile.
Levi sighed deeply. He stared at her hand for a moment, then at Kyle, who was already bouncing on the balls of his feet like this was some exciting field trip.
Free will? That concept had officially packed its bags and left. Between Violet’s enthusiasm, Kyle’s stubborn optimism, and the system’s delightful promise of death if he failed the quest, Levi couldn’t tell which was worse.
“Fine…” he muttered, running a hand down his face. “Let’s walk straight into our deaths.”
***
While Layla and the others deliberated the harrowing situation in her office, weighing possibilities that stretched from bad to catastrophic, something else was unfolding on the ground floor.
Levi, Violet, and Kyle made their way silently down the dim stairwell, the air growing colder with each descending step. They finally reached the building’s main entrance.
And that was where they saw them.
Two men, guards by the looks of their uniforms, lay limp across the floor near the sliding glass doors. Their bodies were twisted unnaturally, limbs bent in ways no human body should ever bend.
One of them had his throat torn wide open, not cleanly, but rough like something had clawed at it.
The other was missing an entire arm, his mouth frozen mid-scream. Blood painted the tiles beneath them in sticky, sluggish pools, still fresh.
Levi instinctively froze as a strange sensation crawled down his spine. It was like an running down his back. Like someone had just placed an invisible weight across his shoulders.
[PASSIVE SKILL ACTIVATED]
[ENEMY DETECT: HOSTILE INTENT WITHIN 10 METERS]
“Someone’s here…” he said quietly, his voice low and tense.
Violet, already scanning the darkened hallway beyond the entrance, nodded. “Yeah. I felt it too.”
Among demons, perception was a natural strength. But for Blood demons, it was more than instinct, it was survival.
Their senses, especially smell, were heightened far beyond that of most living beings. They didn’t just smell blood, they sensed essence, energy, presence like it was natural.
While Levi’s new skill allowed him to feel hostility like a ripple in still water, Violet could find a needle in a haystack—blindfolded—if it had a heartbeat.
In their group, she wasn’t just a fighter. She was the early warning system.
“Let’s just stay close,” she murmured, her eyes still fixed ahead, with a tense posture
Levi nodded.
Whatever had done this, they knew it hadn’t gone far.
As the trio moved toward the front of the building, something flickered faintly in the air ahead.
Levi slowed his steps. “Wait…”
A nearly invisible wall was shining before them, glowing faintly like heat rising off pavement. It curved up, bending in a perfect dome above the building.
Violet stepped forward and pressed her palm gently against it.
“A barrier…” she muttered. She didn't sound surprised, but rather, concerned. “A very complex one at that.”
Levi watched as her fingers traced the surface, barely disturbing it. It rippled slightly under her touch, but remained firm.
“I can’t sense anything beyond it,” she added, pulling her hand back. “It’s like… this entire place has been severed from the outside world.”
“Like we’re existing in a pocket space,” Kyle said, stepping beside her. “Completely cut off. Another dimension.”
"That's freaking cool though. Would be better if we weren't the victims..."
He let out a breath, then muttered, “At least now we know this isn’t just a wild mana beast.”
“So we’re not being attacked by something,” Levi said slowly, piecing it together. “But someone.”
He glanced around the hallway, his body tensing. “Hell… could even be some people.”
Suddenly, Violet stiffened.
Her head jerked up like she’d just heard something only she could hear. “Guys…” she said, her voice tightening, “their presence... It just vanished.”
Levi’s chest grew cold.
The invisible weight he’d felt pressing down on him was gone.
“They may have a way to pass through the barrier at will,” he said. “If that’s true, we’re just boxed in here with an enemy who isn’t.”
“My range should naturally stretch to like thirty meters,” Violet added. Her brows were furrowed in frustration now. “But this… it’s like my senses are being drowned in fog.”
Which meant Levi’s guess wasn’t far off. It couldn’t be just some fluke or power suppression.
The only thing that could neutralize something as innate as Violet’s blood perception was this barrier.
“Great, we’re sitting ducks,” Levi muttered.
Then he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I think this is where we quit and head back.”
“Fine, fine,” Kyle agreed with a shrug. “We’ve seen enough. At least now we know what we’re dealing with.”
He turned first, Violet falling into step beside him and Levi followed behind her.
They hadn’t made it more than a few steps when it happened.
A figure burst from the darkness behind Levi, the glint of a blade catching the faint light. It was a human figure with a face hidden beneath a hood.
The dagger in his hand was angled precisely for Levi’s neck.
“Levi—!” Violet’s voice rang out.
Kyle spun, eyes wide. “Behind you!”
But Levi already knew.
He didn’t need Violet’s warning. The system's notification hadn't popped up either, but the chill he felt earlier came back, screaming at him a moment before it happened.
And yet there wasn’t enough time.
The assassin was too close. The distance too tight. Escape? Impossible.
He was caught.
