"In the stillness of evening, the echoes of tomorrow's chaos begin to resonate. A serene sunset often precedes the storm of the unknown."
It was evening, the sun was setting, painting the sky in a pretty orange.
The sun hid behind the mountains visible on the horizon, creating a beautiful picture some would dream to witness.
A woman was looking at the scenery from inside a window of a mansion.
Her glossy black hair fell down her shoulders, onto the backrest of the sofa she was sitting on.
Her posture was relaxed, as if she was enjoying watching this scenery by heart.
On her lap was resting the head of a boy, his black hair a splitting image of hers.
She continually tapped the boy's forehead lightly. The boy had a smile on his face, liking the sensation of the tender touch.
The woman looked at the boy. Seeing the smile on his face, her own lips curled up into a little smile.
But, a flicker of sadness passed her eyes.
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(POV: Ryomen Sukuna)
I slowly woke up from sleep.
I don't exactly remember what happened, but I was extremely sleepy, and fell asleep on the sofa.
I felt a warm sensation on my forehead, which I honestly liked.
I opened my eyes groggily, a smiling face coming into view.
I smiled back, as if it were instinct, before pushing myself up into a sitting position.
"Good morning," a sweet voice, laced with playfulness, came from my side. I turned to my side, a woman with a relaxed expression came into view.
I looked out of the window and saw that it was almost sunset.
I sighed, not expecting to sleep for so long.
"It's already evening, mom," I said, before leaning my head on her shoulders.
A light chuckle escaped her lips as she bent a little towards me to make sure that I'm comfortable.
"Where's dad?" I asked, my voice still weak as I had just woken up.
She stroked my hair using her hand as she spoke. "He's out for the investigation."
I closed my eyes again, completely relaxed. He had been quite busy in this investigation, as they hadn't been able to find even a single clue.
"Speaking of which, didn't you declare that you'd do an investigation yourself?" she said, her voice playful, as she tried to poke fun at me.
She knew that I was focusing more on training myself and my friends than this investigation, and she'd not leave a chance to tease me about it.
"I've just been busy," I replied, opening my eyes back up to the delightful scenery.
The sun had set, and the sky was slowly turning blue as night approached.
A little sigh escaped her mouth, her expression turning sad.
"If anything is on your mind, Sukuna..." she said, her voice serious yet sweet at the same time. "Don't hesitate to approach me about it."
"Why this all of a sudden?" I asked, my eyebrows raised.
"I've noticed, Sukuna. Your eyes carry no joy, no emotion, it feels like I'm looking at an empty space. It's as if all the emotions you show are just..."
She cut herself off, sighing at the end.
She retracted her hand from my head. A flicker of disappointment made its way into my thoughts as I was enjoying her touch.
"Just remember, I'm here for you. Your dad is too."
I saw a flicker of sadness pass her face, her eyes melancholic.
I smiled at her words.
"Of course."
When I first came here, I didn't realize how much I craved for love, the love of parents I never got.
But now, I know that I can't live without it.
I hope this never changes... No, I'll never let it change.
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(The Next Morning, in a different place...)
"Zekuth," a heavy and authoritative voice rang out.
Two men were sitting in an office, the office of the Head of the Hunter Association.
The room was illuminated by natural light, which came in due to one of the walls being fully made of glass, which allows people to see outside.
This office was on the 75th floor of the main building, and you could see the whole city from there.
The Head, Aiden, was wearing jeans with a pink T-shirt and was standing gazing at the beautiful sunrise through the windows.
As he called his name, Zekuth, the man sitting on the sofa, which was about 10 steps away from the window, turned to look at him.
Aiden continued, his voice grave, yet carrying amusement. "I can't see today."
Zekuth's eyes widened, a realization dawned on him. He shot up from his seat.
"So that means..."
Zekuth looked at Aiden for confirmation, to which the latter merely nodded.
Aiden walked to his seat and slowly sat down, picking up his phone and dialing a number.
"Something will happen..."
He said, not looking at the man on the sofa. His voice carried no fear nor did it carry any anxiety.
"...something very big..."
His expression morphed into a grin, looking like a pedo who had found a new victim in his neighborhood.
"...let's see what he changes."
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(A/N: I did Aiden dirty with that :P)
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(POV: Ryomen Sukuna)
I like coffee.
That is the reason why I'm having my very luxurious breakfast right now, sitting in the cafeteria of the academy.
Coffee as a beverage, coffee jelly as an appetizer, coffee cake as the main dish, and coffee ice-cream as the dessert.
In case I forgot to tell you, I like coffee.
My very important thoughts were rudely interrupted by a loud screeching sound, followed by a bang.
I didn't care though, probably some malfunction, or short-circuit, or mayb–aaand there's a huge swirly gate on top of the Academy.
It is like a dungeon gate, but it exudes more energy than any I've seen before.
Also, it seems like it is moving downwards, well, that is to be expected, because dungeon gates usually sink until they are on top of something with enough mana concentration.
It's like...they sink akin to a ship in water, but they stop if they something with a lot of mana comes under them, like the seafloor in the ship example.
Well, this one is quite big, the amount of energy coming out of this suggests that it is an A-Rank, maybe even reaching S-Rank.
I took a bite from the coffee jelly.
Glancing around, I saw nearly everyone panicking, trying to run out of the cafeteria into the ground outside.
Well, I can't escape now, it's already really close.
I lied, I can, but I don't want to, because this will probably be fun.
Now, while the gate comes down, I will give a little explanation of the high ranked gates, trying to ignore everyone who is running around and shouting.
A-Rank gates are basically like the lower ranked dungeons, just bigger, but some high A-Ranks can transport you into open places, unlike the rooms seen normally.
I took another bite from the coffee jelly.
My chair got kicked by a guy trying to run to the door, so I extended my leg. He tripped and fell on his face.
He didn't say anything in response though, just got back up and ran out, not even looking back.
There are so many boring people here.
Looking out of the window, I saw the Gate had gotten much closer, it would reach the ground in around a minute.
Continuing, S and S+ Rank gates are more interesting.
Some S-Rank and all S+ Rank gates have their own sets of civilizations.
A lot of hunters that went to clear these dungeons said that some monsters had gained human levels of intelligence, and created villages and even towns.
An S+ Rank dungeon's exploration party said that the dungeon was literally like a 'second world', divided into countries with people having a real power struggle.
One of the hunters that were first to enter an S+ Ranked dungeon, was quoted saying:
'That dungeon was so realistic that I thought I died as soon as I entered and got isekai'd.'
Another one of the same party was quoted saying:
'It was an otherworldly experience, literally'
The condition for the clearance of a dungeon is the death of the dungeon boss.
Another teammate of the party was quoted saying:
'Usually in dungeons, there is a 'way' to go, there is a path, no matter how vague, there is one to reach the end, but in that dungeon, there wasn't, we had to roam around, gathering information for a long time before we even had an idea of what to do.'
The first S+ Rank dungeon was cleared in 203 days, 21 hours, 13 minutes.
I tried to reach my glass of cold coffee, then noticed that someone had knocked it over, probably while they were running. So I just took a bite of my coffee cake, but then I noticed that my ice-cream was melting.
I sighed, getting up and walking out of the cafeteria.
That was the inner workings of the dungeons, as for their impact on the outside, S and S+ Ranked gates exude so much mana that the surroundings near them start to erode.
The humans near these gates start to experience organ failure due to dangerous levels of mana concentration.
All in all, the effects of S and S+ Rank gates are close to that of a smaller scale nuclear explosion.
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I walked outside into the open, where teachers were trying to calm the students down and help them evacuate, which went very poorly as the students were DUMB and ran all around the place.
I looked around the crowd and spotted Nect. She was quite easy to spot as no one was near her.
She was visibly shaken, her eyes widened and darting all around the place.
Eva was near her. She was much calmer than other students, but still, her eyes held a bit of fear and anticipation.
Our eyes met, and she looked at me with focus, as if to ask what she should do, what she can do to escape this situation.
Looking at her face, I just smiled and stretched my hands into the air, as if warming up to exercise.
Less than 20 seconds later, the gate had engulfed the whole Academy, and trapped all the humans in there, students, teachers, and sweepers alike.
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(With Aiden...)
Aiden had a grave expression as he sat on his seat, which did not go well with his pink shirt that said 'I Like Tomatoes'.
Zekuth was reporting his findings to him about the recent event.
"It has mana levels of a low S-Rank, but..."
He unconsciously paused before hurriedly continuing.
"...it is a portal."
Aiden's jaw almost dropped, saying that he was surprised would be an understatement.
He wanted to get the students of the Academy under his control by closing the Academy down by repeated disasters.
But, this was a completely unforeseen disaster. Gates and portals are two different things.
Portals allow people to travel to different worlds, like different dimensions, which is why S+ Rank dungeons have literal civilizations and countries, because all S+ Rank gates are portals.
But, a portal with mana only of a low S-Rank was thought to be impossible by him.
This is quite disastrous for his plan. Some of the people he had an eye on might die.
This event was sure to cause a huge uproar.
He paused for a few seconds, a long sigh escaping his mouth, before he got up from his seat.
"Zekuth," he said in a serious tone, his expression mirroring the graveness of his voice. "We're speeding up the plan, no more gaining anyone's trust, or enslaving anyone..."
He continued without stopping.
"...we'll plunge this world into chaos, not from the shadows, but from right in front of everyone."
He mumbled something to himself that Zekuth couldn't make out. "Like the old days."
He had a melancholic smile by the time he ended that sentence.
He stood behind the window, his arms spread wide, looking down on the city which was the heart of the Hunter Union.
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"Let the games begin!"
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What do you think of the chapter?
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Fret not, for I crave not riches not jewels, but merely a token of your amusement, your POWER STONES.