The Author's Draft-Chapter 41: Unregistered II

Sword Aura extended from his hands, forming those claw-like projections he’d used against the lycans. He blocked Martinez’s daggers, redirected the shield user’s charge, deflected arrows with precise swipes.

But he couldn’t go on the offensive, use lethal techniques or aim for throats or hearts or anything that would kill.

He was fighting with one hand tied behind his back and they knew it.

"He’s holding back," Martinez said between exchanges. "He could’ve killed me twice already."

"Noted." Kane’s eyes never left Aiden. "Continue pressure, wear him down."

They pressed harder, faster. Not trying to kill—trying to exhaust. To break his defense through attrition.

And it was working.

Aiden’s qi reserves dropped further. Thirty percent, twenty-five. His movements slowed by fractions, his blocks came a heartbeat later than they should.

A binding spell caught his left leg and Martinez’s dagger grazed his shoulder. The shield user’s ram caught him in the ribs, sending him stumbling backward.

’I can’t win this, not without killing them. And I won’t do that.’

Kane sensed the shift. "Stand down. Last chance."

Aiden’s mind raced. He needed an exit, something that would let him escape without lethal force.

Then he remembered.

Dragon Roar.

A soul technique, non-lethal if controlled properly. But devastating enough to create the opening he needed.

"Sorry about this," Aiden muttered.

He drew in a deep breath. Channeled qi through specific meridians toward his throat and let his dragon bloodline flow into his vocal cords.

Then he released it.

"ROAR!"

The sound that erupted wasn’t human. It was deep, primal, resonant—a dragon’s roar condensed into pure spiritual pressure.

But Aiden controlled it, kept it below lethal threshold. Just enough to disorient, to stun and to overwhelm their senses without destroying their souls.

The wave of sound and pressure hit Kane’s team like a physical wall.

Martinez dropped to her knees, hands clutching her head. The shield user’s barrier shattered, the archer fell from his perch, his bow clattering away. The mage’s prepared spell detonated prematurely, the backlash knocking him unconscious.

Even Kane stumbled, his steps unsteady as the Dragon Roar attacked his consciousness directly.

Aiden didn’t wait. He turned and ran, Phantom Step carrying him across the street in blurred movements.

Behind him, Kane forced himself upright, blood trickling from his nose. His vision swam, but he was still conscious. Still aware.

"After him!" Kane’s voice was rough, strained. "Don’t let him—"

But Aiden was already gone, disappearing between buildings.

Kane stood there for a moment, supporting himself against a wall, watching his team recover slowly from the soul attack.

"Sir," Martinez gasped out, still on her knees. "What... what was that?"

"Should we pursue?"

Kane considered it. His team was disoriented, his own spiritual pressure was unstable from the soul attack. And the mysterious masked awakener had escaped into the urban maze with enhanced speed.

Pursuit would be difficult, maybe impossible.

But Kane didn’t become an Enforcer by giving up easily.

"Regroup," he ordered. "Recover, then we track him. I want surveillance footage from every camera in a five-block radius. I want witness statements, I want everything."

"Yes, sir."

Kane looked at the dead A-rank Alpha lying headless in the street, the scattered corpses of B-rank lycans and the destruction caused by a single unregistered awakener.

"Find him," Kane said coldly. "Whatever that man is, whoever he is—he’s too dangerous to leave unchecked."

-----

Aiden ran for three blocks before he had to stop.

His qi reserves were critical, maybe fifteen percent left. His body ached, his breathing came in ragged gasps.

He ducked into an alley and pressed his back against the wall, trying to catch his breath.

"System," he panted. "I’m running low, critically low. I need qi."

[Acknowledged. Current reserves: 14%]

[Warning: Insufficient energy for extended combat or technique use]

[Recommendation: Absorb spiritual energy from available source]

"There is no spiritual energy here. This isn’t the cultivation world."

[Incorrect. Dungeon gates emit mana—a form of spiritual energy native to this world.]

[While not identical to qi, mana can be converted and absorbed to replenish your reserves.]

[The B-rank gate from the dungeon break is still active. Distance: 0.8 kilometers.]

Aiden’s eyes widened. "I can absorb energy from the gate?"

[Affirmative. Place your hand on the gate’s surface. I will handle the conversion process.]

[Warning: Absorbing energy from an active gate may destabilize it. Recommend quick extraction and immediate departure.]

Quick extraction, right. Because what this day needed was more complications.

But he didn’t have a choice. Fifteen percent qi wasn’t enough to get home safely and defend himself if Kane tracked him down.

He needed to refuel.

Aiden pushed off the wall and started moving again, this time heading back toward the dungeon break zone, the B-rank gate still pulsing with dark energy.

The streets were empty here—evacuated, barricaded and abandoned. Perfect. No witnesses.

He found the gate easily. It hung in the air like a tear in reality, pulsing with malevolent purple-black energy. The rift was maybe three meters across, swirling with power that made Aiden’s skin tingle from ten meters away.

Active dungeon gates were dangerous, unstable and you weren’t supposed to touch them.

Aiden walked up to it anyway.

He raised his hand and pressed his palm flat against the gate’s surface.

The energy was wrong, alien. Nothing like the clean spiritual qi from the cultivation world. This was twisted, dark, and contaminated with something that felt almost alive.

"System. Do it."

[Initiating mana absorption and conversion...]

Power flooded into Aiden’s hand. It wasn’t gently. It felt like grabbing a live wire and holding on while electricity tore through his nervous system.

The gate’s energy poured into him in streams—raw, chaotic, and burning. His meridians screamed in protest. His dantian churned as foreign mana collided with his qi.

But the system worked. It filtered, converted and refined the mana into something his cultivation could use.

His qi reserves began climbing. Fifteen percent. Twenty. Thirty.

The gate flickered. Its swirling energy destabilized, and pulsing erratically.

Forty percent. Fifty.

The gate’s edges began fraying, whatever structure kept it stable was breaking down.

Sixty percent. Seventy.

[Warning: Gate collapse imminent]

[Recommend immediate withdrawal]

Eighty percent, that was good enough.

Aiden yanked his hand back.

The gate shuddered violently, its surface rippling like disturbed water. Then, with a sound like tearing fabric amplified a thousand times, it collapsed.

The rift imploded, the dark energy sucked back into nothing, leaving only empty air where a dimensional tear had been seconds before.

Silence.

Aiden stood there, his hand still tingling, his qi reserves replenished to eighty percent. Not full, but functional. Enough to fight if needed and to run if necessary.

He was about to leave when he heard it.

A voice, not from outside but inside his head.

Close, almost intimate, like someone whispering directly into his mind.

A voice he recognized immediately.